Hi there! I hope you guys have had a nice pride month. Sorry for the shorter chapter - it's been a very chaotic several weeks between colds, finals, a number of graduations in the family, and more, not to mention my family got a new puppy! She's a handful but very sweet, and everyone loves her excluding our cat, who is not happy to have a dog back in the house to chase after him barking all over again.
Anyway, sorry for the shorter/rushed chapter. I'll be able to edit it properly over the weekend, I'm just too exhausted right now. I hope to get a lot of writing done over summer break, though! Thank you all for every fav, follow, casual read, and review. To Valedonte, is that an OC? Sounds awesome, thanks for sharing! To leafwing2, me, too. This story is very much written from the perspective of knowing how much difference support makes through the worst of times, partially in the hopes that if it reaches the right person at the right time, it inspires them to reach out for help on their own personal journey.
Last time on A Mother's Love: Gil picks up Adrien from Marinette's, where he has spent the morning recuperating. Adrien and Marinette each start walking themselves through the now undeniable clues to each other's identities, and Ladybug and Chat Noir patrol and discuss what comes next in regards to Shadow Moth.
Here's Chapter 7, "Following Leads."
Marinette clenched the ball of red yarn in one hand, rubbing her forehead and tired eyes in frustration with the other. Her elbow slid where she had braced it against the envelope that lay still closed upon her desk.
"It's just . . . so infuriating!" she told Tikki. "I had him. I had him. I knew it was him! And yet, I let the only solid lead we've had over these past three years slip right through my fingers because what, he was akumatized? Just goes to show how little I know about those all-powerful artifacts and accompanying kwamis I'm supposed to protect."
"Marinette, are you really blaming yourself for a mistake you made when you were fourteen? And might I remind you that Master Fu, with all of his decades of experience, overlooked it as easily as you did," Tikki chided.
"Well, maybe he was just as unqualified to be the Guardian as I am."
"You don't mean that."
"No, I suppose I don't," she sighed sadly. "I'm sorry, Tikki. I just can't help but feel responsible. All this pain and suffering caused by Hawk Moth, by Shadow Moth since then . . . All of Paris . . . poor little Nooroo . . . Adrien. I knew it was him, I knew it was Gabriel, but, like always," she paused, playing with her box of thumbtacks, "I couldn't trust myself to make the right call. I was looking for a reason to be wrong, to second-guess myself, to believe the designer I looked up to was indeed the kind of person I thought he was, and I jumped on the chance the second I got one. I hurt both people and kwamis as a result."
"You and I both know that's not true. Don't you remember that you thought it could be Adrien initially? Don't you remember that even though you didn't want it to be him, you waited until finding evidence that contradicted that possibility before fully crossing it off the list?
"And you can't tell me that you've ignored all evidence of Gabriel's wrongdoing. That implies that you've ignored every time he's pulled Adrien away from school or that you turned your other cheek every time Adrien's come to school way too drained and hopeless.
"You are only human, Marinette. Mistakes are both inevitable and invaluable to your existence; nothing will ever change if there isn't some reason to question the way things are. You have forged yourself in trials by fire. Failure does not detract from your every success, it just informs the path you will take to get there next time.
. . .
Adrien fiddled with the zipper of his bag of discoveries from barely twenty-four hours before.
"Well?" Plagg drawled. "Either open it or don't, kid. It's getting late."
"It's not that simple, Plagg."
"Then don't. Go to bed. Then tomorrow, go to Pigtails' place during lunch hour, and let her - let all of us help you through the worst of it."
Adrien continued to fidget with the zipper for another several minutes before yawning. He yielded to Plagg's wishes, getting ready for bed and crawling into the soft comforter waiting for him. With a click of the light switch, Plagg curled up in Adrien's hair and spent the rest of the night purring his chosen back into soothing sleep.
. . .
The next day brought Adrien a heavy, sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. If Gil noticed, he was kind enough not to comment on the constant bounce of Adrien's leg and the thump of his heel against the car's floor.
Adrien's heart spent the morning in his throat as the twisting of his insides worsened. His pulse had increased to a rapid hammering by the time lunch had arrived and his hand was, as if of its own volition, reaching out to brush Marinette's.
"Hey," he said softly.
"Hi," she practically whispered back, eyes wide.
"Is it okay if we go back to your house for lunch? There are some things that I'm ready to - that I need to talk about with you."
"Oh, o-okay, then. Let's go," she said determinedly, already starting on her way.
"Sure thing," he replied, his bag swinging against his leg in the long strides he took to hasten after her, the feeling of the journal through the fabric an uncomfortable reminder of the tough conversation that awaited him.
. . .
There was no going back once the trap door had swung shut, trapping him in the pink room. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves. It was as effective as a bandaid attempting to heal a severed limb. There was nothing else to do but take the plunge.
"Hey, Ladybug," he said.
"Hello, Chat Noir," she said back. And together, as naturally as two leaves fall from a tree, the spotless ladybug and tail-free black cat fell into an embrace. Neither noticed the kwamis zipping off to give them space. Neither spoke and neither moved for several minutes, in fact, until eventually both pulled back just enough to trace maskless skin with their gazes.
"Hi," he said, smiling.
"Hi," she said, smirking back. "Nice of you to drop in."
"I would say I'm sorry, that I didn't mean to, but only half of that would be true. This may not be how I hoped to find out, but I am so, so glad that it's you, Marinette."
She hugged him again, taking the moment to gather her words.
"It may have been hard to see at first, but there is no one else I would've wanted Chat Noir to have been, Adrien. You're the best partner I could ever ask for. I never could've done any of this without you."
. . .
It was a while before the conversation once again turned somber, neither wanting to be the one to burst their precious bubble. Adrien took up the task in the end.
"So . . . I'm sure you have a lot of questions about what exactly was going on, that night in the rain. I know I said I wanted to wait a little while before doing anything, but my father returns tonight, and while I'd still rather wait to take a few days and figure things out, Plagg suggested that I don't have to work through my next steps alone. And I'm too wound up to sit around without any plan in place when I only have hours until he gets back, which isn't doing me any good either.
"On . . . On the night you found me, Plagg and I had done some digging before . . . it doesn't matter. Anyway, we found four very useful things, three of which I want your and perhaps Plagg and Tikki's help going through. The first involves these papers. I found them in a file labeled 'Emilie' - my mother's name - which was written in my father's handwriting. Everything in here seems to be in his handwriting as well, though I haven't actually read anything yet. I was thinking we could start today."
Wordlessly, Marinette took half of the papers, settling into the considerable amount of reading that lay ahead. They sat side by side, knee to knee, and dove in.
As always, thank you so much for reading. I hope you like the new draft cover, and I wish you a lovely July, when I'll see you on the 29th for chapter 8, "Laying the Foundation."
Chapter Word Count: 1,184.
Published: Friday, June 24th, 2022.