AN: Not much to say before this chapter gets started, so let's just jump right in! Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 4: The Grief of a Son

The temperature outside had dropped once the sun went down and the skies of Paris grew dark. Even through his leather suit, Cat Noir shivered at the biting December wind. He was cold and alone. His heart ached; he didn't want to be in pain.

Christmas was fast approaching, but Cat Noir was not looking forward to it. In a way, it was going to again feel like that first Christmas without his mother. Cat Noir sighed. There was nothing he wanted for Christmas this year. Well, at least, there was nothing he could be gifted, anyway. Above all, Cat Noir just wanted his family to go back to the way it had been before his mother's "disappearance", before Master Fu gave Adrien the Cat Noir Miraculous.

Cat Noir knew that he should go home, just in case his father decided to try to tell Adrien about what happened to Emilie. Slowly, he picked himself back up. He continued to lean his back against the chimney behind him as he grabbed his staff. The message indicator still flashed, showing that he still needed to listen to Ladybug's voicemail message. Never having been one to like seeing unread notifications, Cat Noir played the message even though he really did not feel like listening to it right now.

"Cat Noir," Ladybug's voice played through his ear as he held the staff phone up to listen. Her words were sad; she was clearly worried about him. "I know we did not get much time to talk after we defeated Hawk Moth and Mayura. I was just hoping we could check in sometime. Hopefully, you'll be free to meet some night? I hope to see you again soon, Kitty. Bye."

The message ended there. With a sigh, Cat Noir opened up a new text message. He did not trust himself to speak with her right now. In a brief message, Cat Noir typed that he would probably be spending some nights out on the Eiffel Tower, but could not guarantee when those would be. That was the best he could offer right now. Life was just too uncertain.

Cat Noir looked out to the Eiffel Tower. Even in the nighttime, it was beautiful, just like the entire city of Paris. Through his sadness, Cat Noir mustered a small smile as he thought of his amazing city. Then, he turned in the opposite direction and, using his staff, made his way back to the way from which he had come, back home to the Agreste mansion.

The second floor window to his bedroom was still open and the lights were still lit. Everything looked to be just as Adrien had left them when he had snuck out to meet up with Ladybug, before returning back to this very same location to defeat Hawk Moth and Mayura.

Cat Noir jumped into his bedroom, relieved to find it empty. "Claws in," he called somberly, feeling himself turning back into Adrien Agreste.

For once, Plagg sensed the mood and did not whine for a slice of Camembert. Adrien gave the Kwami one anyway, though. Then, he shut his window, turned off the light, and crawled into bed. It had been a long night and he just wanted to forget everything that had happened.

The news the next morning betrayed the secrets of the Agreste family. News coverage declared how Emilie Agreste had finally been found and newscasters rued the premature passing of an extraordinary actress. Adrien had turned off the news stories, though. The news coverage would only talk about Emilie's professional achievements. They did not see his mother the way that Adrien once had. His relationship with his mother was more intimate and personal.

Nathalie had woken Adrien for school that next morning, but he politely declined to attend today. Usually he loved going to school, but he could not muster that feeling today. Not surprisingly, Nathalie had nodded in understanding and left Adrien's bedroom. It had still been hard for Adrien to look at Nathalie. He kept seeing Mayura when he looked at Nathalie.

For the whole day, Adrien laid on his bed and stared up at his bedroom ceiling above him. Off and on, he allowed himself to cry and grieve for his mother's passing. He even managed to forget that Plagg was in the room with him; the black cat Kwami was so uncharacteristically quiet today!

In fact, the room was quiet until a ping from Adrien's computer startled him. Rolling over, Adrien looked across the distance to see that someone was requesting to video chat with him. Though he knew he looked horrible right now, Adrien figured that he should at least see who was sending the request. He scrubbed at his eyes wiping away the tears. Adrien also knew that his hair was a mess right now. His appearance right now was a far cry from the illusion of perfection that normally was Adrien Agreste. Surely no one could expect him to look like a model right now—he had just lost his mother!

Sitting down at his computer, Adrien saw that the message request was from Marinette. Glancing at the clock in his room, Adrien saw that it was lunch break. Marinette was using her break time to check on him. He smiled a little through his sadness. Marinette was always so kind, thinking of others before herself. Her friendship was something that Adrien valued greatly.

Sighing briefly to compose himself a little more, Adrien clicked the "accept" button and Marinette's face showed up on his computer screen. "Hi, Marinette," he greeted her in the most cheerful tone that he could currently muster.

Marinette, who has not exactly been looking at the screen, startled a little. "Oh, hi, Adrien, I didn't expect you to answer," she admitted, a little shyly. "I mean, it's okay if you didn't want to, I would understand."

Adrien smiled a little. Marinette was rambling again, like she always seemed to do whenever she talked with him. "It's okay, Marinette. I would not have accepted if I didn't want to," he reminded her.

"Oh, uh, yeah," Marinette replied, her voice still failing to hide her nervousness. "I just wanted to see how you were doing. I saw the news this morning, about your mother," she stuttered. "I guess I wanted you to know that you aren't alone. All your friends care about you, Adrien. They'll help you through your grief."

Adrien smiled again. It was funny how just talking with Marinette could always bring a smile to Adrien's face, even if it was just the small one that brought some sunlight into the darkness of his grief. "I know, Marinette. You all are so great." He looked down at his desk and busied himself by tracing his finger across his desk. "I will be back to school after the winter break."

Today was to be the last day of school before the long break that included the Christmas and New Year's holidays. With over two weeks off from school, Adrien would have plenty of time to recover from the emotional strain of his mother's passing.

"That's good!" Marinette smiled, one little expression that brightened Adrien's mood instantly. "Oh, I have a Christmas gift that I was going to give to you today! Should I just bring it to your house?"

Marinette had a Christmas gift for him? That was awesome! Adrien always liked getting gifts from her because they were always homemade and she put so much love and care into her projects. "Yeah, that will be fine," Adrien told Marinette. "I'll just let, uh, Nathalie know that you'll be doing that." Adrien hoped that Marinette had not noticed how he had stumbled slightly over the name of his father's assistant. Marinette did not know that his father and Nathalie were the two who had been responsible for akumatizing people and creating sentimonsters.

"Great! I'll do that this afternoon once school's over!" Adrien watched Marinette glance away from the computer screen. "Well, the lunch break is almost over, so I need to go back to school now."

Adrien understood that Marinette had to leave, but he was a little sad that she needed to go now. He waved and gave her a small smile. "Bye, Marinette. I hope that we can talk again soon. You can video call me anytime."

"Bye, Adrien," Marinette replied. "Merry Christmas if I don't see you before then!"

"Merry Christmas, Marinette," Adrien replied before clicking the button to end the video call.

Seriously, Adrien is my favorite character. Poor guy…I do hate making him suffer so much!