In the original past Adrien was looking out the window at the clear skies with a frown. He was currently in a plane that was headed to Paris, France from LA, California. Adrien sighs and looks over to his right where his mother Emilie was sitting next to him and she was asleep.
'At the end of my junior year of high school mom said we were moving to Paris. Mom always made decisions without even asking for my Input.'
Once they got in their new house Adrien started unpacking his things though as he was doing it he realize that some of his things were missing so he left his new room and went to the living room where many boxes were and went through them since he thought that maybe some of his things were misplaced while packing everything but he still had no luck in finding his things… more specifically his sports things.
"Mom, where is my soccer bag and my cleats?" Adrien asked out loud as he kept looking for them.
Emilie walked over to the living room with a glass of water and two pills since she was taking her medicine. "I threw them away."
Adrien stopped looking and looked at her in disbelief. "What?"
"You promised me that you wouldn't join any sports team at your new school so you don't need them anymore." Emilie replied before putting the pills in her mouth and drinking the water.
Adrien clenched his fists in anger. "Give me a break! You didn't have to throw them out!" Adrien stormed past her and went up to his room. From downstairs Emilie heard him slam his door shut and she flinched slightly.
Adrien leaned against his door and took deep breaths to calm down.
'Even when I was little mom got a divorce without saying anything to me first.'
Adrien's first day at school went well and when the final bell rang he got up to leave but a boy with black hair and teal tips and had teal eyes, walked over to him. "Adrien right?" He asked with a smile.
Adrien would soon learn that his name was Luka and he invited Adrien to hang out with his friend group Juleka his twin sister who had black hair with purple tips and had reddish eyes, Marinette who had blue hair and eyes, Alya who had brownish hair and light brown eyes, and Alya's boyfriend Nino who had dark brown hair and light brown eyes. Adrien knew who the latter three were since Nino sat next to him while Marinette and Alya sat behind them. Adrien agreed to hang out with them but first he said that he had to make a phone call. Adrien tried calling his mom to let her know that he wouldn't be able to go with her to the new hospital like he promised. Emilie didn't answer so he decided to try again later.
"Where should we go?" Luka asked the group with a smile as they were leaving the school.
"The bakery!" Alya exclaimed. "Marinette's parents make the best bread ever. Then we should eat it at the park."
"Sounds good." Juleka stated softly.
While Adrien was at the park eating bread and having fun with the group he received a text so Adrien took out his phone and saw that it was from his mom.
Where are you? I need to go to the hospital. Stop playing around and come home this instant.
'What a pain.'
Adrien gave a quick response back.
I don't think I can go anymore you're not a child, you can go on your own. Stop bothering me.
After sending the text Adrien put his phone back in his pocket and continued hanging out with the group.
'I'm gonna forget about mom for now and just have fun. I'll apologize to her later.'
Emilie didn't respond to Adrien's text that was the last conversation he had with his mom.
Adrien didn't get the chance to apologize to his mother because she died that very same day. The next two weeks were a chaos with the funeral for Emile and Adrien's aunt Amelie and cousin Felix moving in with him since Amelie didn't think it was fair for Adrien to have to move to a different country again so soon as Amelie and Felix lived in London.
During the whole time Adrien wasn't able to go to school and once he was able to, Adrien walked alone to school while lost in his thoughts.
'Nobody knows that my mom died… even if someone dies the world doesn't change.'
It was sports day and from afar he saw Marinette Juleka and Alya playing in the softball game. The other team was so good that their team started asking Marinette to be the last pitch hitter since apparently she was really good but Marinette refused after Adrien mentioned to the team that she had a hurt foot so Alya took her place but she couldn't hit the ball and the team lost.
"It's my fault. I'm so sorry." Alya told the team ashamed.
"It's not your fault Alya." Juleka replied. "You did your best."
"I really am sorry." Alya repeated looking down.
Adrien frowned at the incident as he thought about a similar situation that happened to him back in California.
THIS IS YOUR FAULT ADRIEN! We don't need you on the team!
'Just forget about it…'
Since Adrien noticed that Marinette's ankle was hurting her at the end of the day he was cuing her with the first aid kid. "This happened because I bowed out." Marinette said, referring to the softball game from earlier.
"You didn't do anything wrong." Adrien replied with a smile. "I'm the one who stopped you anyway."
'She kind of reminds me of me. Maybe that's why I'm so curious about her.'
Luka saw how good Adrien was at soccer one day and he offered Adrien to be part of the soccer team. After a lot of convincing Adrien agreed to be a temporary member and a week later Adrien had to decide whether to stay at the team or not.
"I can't join the soccer team after all." Adrien told Luka as they were walking home one day. "Sorry."
"I see if you ever want to join, let me know." Luka replied with a smile.
Adrien nodded. "Okay."
'I had a blast playing soccer with Luka but I made a promise to my mom.'
During those days one of his classmates Kagami Tsurugi confessed her feelings for him and Adrien told her that he would respond to her confession after fall break. That day Adrien forgot his pencil and eraser so Marinette let him borrow her supplies. When he returned them to her he left a note for her inside the cover of the eraser asking Marinette if she thought he should go out with Kagami.
'Please Marinette give me a sign.'
Marinette didn't answer him and Kagami couldn't wait until after fall break so he agreed to go out with her. Dang that was a mistake, he wasn't happy with Kagami and she didn't him hang out with his friends anymore. One day he said bye to Marinette at the end of the day and Kagami wasn't happy about it so they got into a huge fight.
"This is all your fault Adrien! Why do you always talk to her!" Kagami exclaimed.
That was the last straw for Adrien and he broke up with her at that very moment. Plus he realized that he was interested in someone else… Marinette but he didn't want to hurt her like how he hurted his mom plus he knew Luka liked her too.
During the cultural festival Adrien was at the stand he was in charge of with Luka lost in thought when Alya Juleka and Marinette suddenly threw cold water at him. "Adrien!"
"That's cold! What was that for!?" Adrien exclaimed.
"You've been standing there forever." Juleka stated with a soft smile. "You must be hot right?"
"Hey you guys stop fooling around and get back to work." Nino stated and everyone laughed.
'I have fun when I'm with all of them. I don't want them to know about my troubles or my pain. I'll keep that all to myself. I don't want them to hate me.'
One day Adrien was in his room alone when he got a text from one of his Californian friends saying that he as well as others of Adrien's friends were in Paris and they would like to see him
Adrien agreed and met up with them at a fast food restaurant and they started to catch up as they sat in a booth
"Adrien, when we were on the soccer team some of the older boys bullied you, right?" One of his friends asked him. "Sorry for not helping you out."
"Don't worry it didn't bother me." Adrien replied
"What was all of that about anyway?" Another friend asked
"It was a school match. We lost because Adrien messed up." A third friend replied. "The couch liked him as a player though so he was rewarded for doing his best and the seniors at the time were mad about it."
"Do you play soccer in your new school?" The first friend asked Adrien
"No I don't." Adrien replied
"Why not? Is it our fault?" The second friend asked
"No it's not." Adrien replied. The friends nodded and started talking about something else. "My mom passed away…" Adrien suddenly said and everyone looked at him in silence. "Because of me. Every day is a struggle I can't forgive myself. That's why I'm though playing soccer. Every day I think that I would be better off being dead."
Adrien looked at his silent Californian friends and for a split second he didn't see his Californian friends but his current friends Luka, Juleka, Marinette, Alya, and Nino.
'Maybe they'll laugh at me.'
"What are you talking about Adrien? That was a good one." the first friend said with a laugh and everyone else laughed too as Adrien chuckled softly.
'See I knew it. I'm glad that I didn't tell them.'
The next day Adrien was sitting against a wall of his bathroom hugging his legs in tears.
'It wasn't a joke.'
Adrien looked at his towel for a long time and before he knew it Adrien was opening his eyes to a bright light and doctors as well as nurses were surrounding him.
"Can you hear me? Can you tell me your name and date of birth?" A doctor asked him.
Adrien was release from the hospital soon after but it was recommended that he went to a doctor to be checked regularly in case anything happens later after that Incident. Adrien refused and Amelie and even Felix were getting worried for him.
"Adrien, please go to the hospital." Amelie told him one night during dinner when she saw that he wasn't eating.
"I don't want to." Adrien replied.
"You can at least hear what they have to say." Amelie stated.
Adrien slammed his hands on the table and stood up angrily. "I said I'm not going!"
Felix stood up quickly. "Don't talk to her like that!"
Adrien looked at Felix who had a stern look in his eyes then at Amelie who had worried eyes. "Sorry.." Adrien walked away to his room.
'What the heck am I doing I'm hurting Aunt Amelie, I'm causing trouble..'
The relay race was during winter break and Adrien was running as the anchor.
'I have to get my act together. Stand up straight, look ahead and live.'
Adrien twisted his ankle and fell to the ground as the other runners crossed the finish line. His friends looked at him worriedly.
'I'm sorry it's my fault…'
That evening the group decided to bury the time castle they made together. They went to the park and buried it at the corner which was their spot.
'If I had died then. What would a world without me be like? These guys were originally a group of 5 anyway. They'd just go back to that. Maybe I should have just stayed alone.'
I hope even 10 years in the future you guys will stay good friends and laugh together. Adrien
"You won't be alone Adrien." Marinette told Adrien during New Year's eve. They were currently headed to a coffee shop since the group wanted hot drinks and they were chosen to get them. "If something's bothering you, forget it for tonight and just have fun."
Adrien clenched his fists and looked at her angrily as he stopped walking. "What do you know, Marinette?"
'You don't even know what I did. Don't patronize me!'
Adrien sighs. "Sorry…I'm just going home."
Adrien started walking but Marinette reached out to him. "No wait -"
Adrien slapped her hand away. "You-"
'I killed her!'
"Don't just smile when you don't know anything!" Adrien yelled at her then he suddenly widened his eyes.
'No… I wasn't telling that to Marinette.'
"I don't want to talk anymore. Stay away from me." With that Adrien walked away leaving Marinette behind.
'I won't ever hurt you again… I'm sorry Marinette…. People often say even if the going is tough now keep living and it'll get better.'
Adrien stops walking and he starts crying hard.
'Essy for them to say. Just living is the most painful thing. If it would release me from my regrets I'd gladly die right now.'
"Adrien, I told Marinette how I felt about her." Luka told him the first day back from winter break as they walked home. "Aren't you going to do the same thing?"
Adrien smiled at him. "Of course not. I'm not even in love with her or anything like that. I always thought you and Marinette should just get together already. I'll cheer you on."
On Valentine's Day Adrien found Marinette standing in the middle of a hallway holding a pink box of chocolates. "Are you giving it to someone?"
Marinette nodded. "Yes."
"Someone you like?" Adrien asked.
"Yes." Marinette replied.
At that moment Adrien saw Luka ahead of them and he thinks about how close Marinette and Luka have gotten ever since New Year's. Then he thinks about all the good times he and Marinette had together.
I don't want to talk anymore
'I wanted to talk to her so much more.'
Stay away from me.
'I wanted to get closer to her. I wanted to walk together with her. I wanted to apologize to her.'
The night after Valentine's Day Adrien wanted to see the pictures of his mom so he went to her room where her things were still there. Adrien went to the closet and grabbed the box of pictures from the top but by doing that something else fell. Adrien put the box down and picked up what fell, which was his mother's phone. Adrien sighs and unlocked it to see the screen of her text messages.
'Mom did read my message right? Why didn't she text me back? She should've chewed me out'
Adrien suddenly saw something that shocked him there was a draft message on her conversation with him.
'A reply to me!'
Adrien sent it to himself so he could read the whole message.
I'm going to the hospital by myself. Have you made new friends already? There are many things that I need to apologize to you for. When you were little I knew that you loved your father but I divorced him anyway and I'm sorry. He did love us back but his work as a fashion designer was always first for him. He would always neglect important dates for us because of his work and I couldn't take it anymore. That's why I divorced him. I noticed that you were getting bullied by the other boys in your soccer team. I thought changing schools would solve the problem so I moved us to Paris. I was afraid you'd get hurt again so I didn't want you to join any sports teams in your new school. I'm sorry for being so selfish. I never considered your feelings. I was always hurting you… I can feel my heart stopping by the second I won't be able to make it… I was always hurting you… from now on I want you to have fun Adrien. I'm sorry for getting in the way…
Adrien dropped the phone as he bursted into tears and covered his mouth to hide the sobbing. He quickly got up, grabbed a piece of paper and wrote a note to his aunt before putting it on her bed. He ran downstairs past Felix and out the front door.
"Adrien, wait!" Felix called out running after him but it was going to be hard to catch up with him since Adrien took his bike and Felix was on foot.
Adrien wasn't looking at where he was going, he was still crying and he was also looking at the night sky.
'Mom always did whatever she wanted. I wish that she could have at least talked to me in the end. I'm sorry it's all my fault. I'm sorry! I wonder what happens when you die. Do your regrets disappear? Are sins atoned for? Would I be able to see mom and apologize to her? Would anyone be sad if I died? Would something good have happened tomorrow?'
Adrien suddenly saw a bright white light getting closer by the second and when he looked to his left he saw a speeding truck heading his way. In the white lights coming from the truck Adrien saw an image of a smiling Marinette.
'I wonder who she gave that chocolate to… I guess none of it really matters.'
"ADRIEN!"
Once they arrived to the field the whole group got out of the van and Luka walked over to Marinette who was holding LJ and took him is his arms with a smile before the group walked though the field to their spot not knowing that they were being watched the whole time.
'After Adrien passed away the rest of us had fewer chances to get together and talk. Getting together like this today. Talking about Adrien. Makes it feel like we're a group again. I've waited for you here every year, Adrien. Along with Luka. We made a promise didn't we? Once spring comes we would all come here together.'
Marinette didn't see or hear from Adrien during the rest of their winter break.
January 7th. As winter vacation ended the fight I had with Adrien New Year's eve was still unresolved. That morning I saw Adrien by the doors at school but I couldn't act normal.
That morning Marinette was standing by the front doors of the school and she waited for Adrien to arrive at school but when he did arrive he just walked past her without even looking in her direction.
We couldn't talk like we used to.
Alya and Juleka walked by her side. "He probably just feels awkward." Juleka stated.
"Don't worry about it, he'll bounce back soon." Alya added.
Marinette couldn't just stand there; she was worried. She quickly went to the locker room and saw Adrien at his locker. "Adrien good morning I have been trying to contact you during the rest of the break."
"Sorry my phone broke." Adrien replied, barely glancing at her before starting to walk away.
I want you to spend more time with Adrien and talk to him a lot to keep the rift between us from widening.
"I want to apologize to you!" Marinette exclaimed. Adrien stopped walking and turned to face her clearly she got his attention now. "That night on New Year's Eve…I'm sorry for being so insensitive. I spoke out of selfishness without knowing how you felt. I just wanted to cheer you up but I only made you feel worse. I'm really sorry."
Adrien smiled softly at her. "No, I'm sorry for saying such harsh things to you. You didn't do anything wrong. Just the opposite, I'm sorry for making you worry I really am terrible at keeping promises."
"Sorry? You have nothing to apologize for!" Marinette replied. "So um… I want to make up and hopefully…if you don't mind… be able to stay together… as a couple?"
Adrien chuckled. "Sure, consider it done but it's not like we had a fight or something."
Marinette blinked at him confused. "Huh? Really? So um… maybe we can hang out after school today?"
"I have practice today." Adrien replied.
"That's okay I'll wait until you're done." Marinette replied.
"We won't be done until dark. Maybe another day" Adrien replied just as the bell rang. "Well time for class Marinette." Adrien walked away leaving Marinette behind.
The rest of the group watched the whole thing and they couldn't believe it. Even though they 'made up' Adrien was still acting distant toward Marinette. Especially since Adrien stopped calling Marinette, well Marinette since they started dating he would usually call her either Mari or princess.
For days it would seem like Adrien was avoiding Marinette as she tried to talk to him and as the days went by February was getting closer.
One day during class Adrien looked through his bag. "I forgot my pencil."
Marinette quickly went through her pencil bag and took out an extra pencil and was about to give it to him when she saw that he asked Mrs Bustier for one. "... Adrien want to use this one?"
Adrien glanced at her. "I'm good."
As the class was reading from their textbooks Marinette looked down upset.
'How do I get back to the way we were? Because of one thing I said I might end up losing him.'
Marinette starts thinking about all the good times they had together.
'It all will have been for nothing.'
"Okay next up to read is Marinette." Mrs Bustier said but when she looked at her she saw Marinette was looking down and crying. "Marinette, are you okay, do you feel sick?"
Adrien glanced at Marinette with a frown before standing up. "I'll read it." As Adrien read the whole friend group looked at Marinette with concern.
'I wonder if Adrien still feels at all the way he did back then.'
"I remember the day we met Adrien like it was yesterday." Alya told the group. "It's hard to believe it was 10 years ago."
"Maybe we shouldn't have invited him to hang out with us that day." Juleka stated.
"I invited him. It's my fault." Luka mumbled.
"I invited him too." Alya stated.
"So you guys think if we haven't become friends he'd still be alive?" Nino asked with a raised eyebrow.
"That's not what I meant." Alya stated. "I just meant that we should have invited him another day."
"And what if he made a promise to his mom on that day too?" Nino asked. "It's all the same it's no one's fault, even if we feel regret nature takes its course."
"That's not true!" Alya exclaimed. "If we hadn't made a mistake somewhere Adrien would still be alive!"
LJ buried his head on Luka's chest and started crying from all the yelling. Luka rocked him up and down to calm him down. "Don't fight, LJ is with us today, remember."
Alya looked down. "Adrien is not with us now. Us being here during his birthday and bringing his picture here isn't keeping our promise. Without Adrien it doesn't mean anything."
"We can't go back and redo it." Juleka stated. "No matter what we do now, it's too late."
"Well you can't but we can." A strange voice said from the air and the whole group looked around confused.
They suddenly saw a ladybug and out of the blue the ladybug turned into a woman with red hair and blue eyes.
"EH!?" The whole group exclaimed in shock confusement and fear.
"Hi I'm Tikki Marinette's guardian." Tikki replied with a smile.
"My guardian?" Marinette asked, confused.
"Yes every person with a good heart in this world has a guardian." Tikki replied. "Each person has one guardian while a guardian has many people to guide as the years go by. From a newborn to when they die."
"That's nonsense, this is a lie, a prank or something dangerous." Nino stated.
"Then explain why I became a woman from a ladybug?" Tikki asked then smirked when Nino didn't respond.
"Wait, if you're my guardian why is this the first time I'm meeting you?" Marinette asked.
"Because people are not supposed to know about their guardian there's only special cases when that's allowed." Tikki replied. "And this is one of them but first you 4 need to meet your guardians too."
"Wait, we also have guardians?" Alya asked.
"Yes you do Alya." A voice said from nowhere and a fox suddenly appeared and it suddenly turned into a woman with orange eyes and purple eyes. "Hi Alya, I'm Trixx your guardian."
"Cool." Alya said, impressed.
A tiger appeared and went over to Juleka before turning into a woman with pink hair and orange eyes. "Hi Juleka, I'm Roarr, your guardian."
"Nice." Juleka said with a smile.
A snake appeared and turned into a man with black hair and green tips and had yellow eyes. "Hi Luka I'm Sazz your and LJ's guardian." Luka nodded.
A turtle appeared in front of Nino and it turned into a man with green hair and yellow eyes. "I'm Wayzz, your guardian Nino."
"Hold up, are we really going to listen to these people?" Nino asked the group. "Isn't this suspicious?"
"Nino, they became humans from animals." Alya stated. "And if they can help us go back in time to undo our regret of not being able to save Adrien I'm all for it." The rest of the group nodded.
"But we can't go back in time, we wouldn't be able to come back." Nino stated.
"You're right Nino you can't go back in time but we can in your place." Wayzz replied.
"Then let's send letters to our past selves telling them how to fix our regrets especially our regret of not being able to save Adrien." Marinette told the group.
"Yea!" Everyone except Nino exclaimed.
"And how would they know when to give the letters to our past selves? Do we put our address and date of our first day of senior year?" Nino asked sarcastically.
"That's it!" The whole group exclaimed.
"You don't need to do that since we were your guardians for your whole life. We know what day it was and where you lived at that time but if you want to do that sure." Tikki replied.
"What about your past selves eh?" Nino asked.
"Every time we time travel ourselves from that time disappears so we can coexist in that time and when we leave they appear again not even knowing they were gone." Roarr explained.
"Well what are you going to tell our past selves about who you are?" Nino asked.
"The truth that we are their guardian in the journey of following their letter." Sazz replied.
"Nino, our only chance is to make a miracle happen." Luka stated. "And when we do…we can save Adrien."
The whole group smiled brightly and Nino nodded. "Alright fine let's do it."
'I want to save him!'
It was the end of the day and Adrien was leaving the school when Marinette caught up to him and she took his hand. "Adrien! Wait until Valentine's Day! You have to wait until then!" Adrien looks at her confused as he took her hand back.
'I don't care if I get hurt or if he hates me. I just don't want to lose Adrien.'