A/N: Alright sorry for the very ungodly wait, I actually updated this chapter on AO3 over a year ago and forgot to put it on FFN, now that chapter 4 is ready I'm releasing both at the same time on FFN, sorry again
GOW
Master fu took a breath, his head slowly turning towards the door to his shop as Marinette walked inside.
"I take it you have a few questions about why I chose Adrien as Chat Noir." Master Fu said.
"Actually I don't, he did start out as someone who wanted to do the right thing it was over time that he fell, your decision makes perfect sense master I only wish that he didn't fall." Marinette said offering a small smile for her teacher.
"I see, you have grown up into a wise young woman and I am proud to call you my successor." Master Fu said earning a smile from Marinette.
"Thank you Master." she said, she opened her bag and three Kawmi flew out. Plagg and Wayzz flew next to Fu floating in silence on either side of him while Tikki slowly glided through the air stopping only once she was an inch from Marinette's nose, a soft choking noise coming from the little Kwamii as her eyes began to moisten. Time seemed to stop, Marinette's eyes grew moist as well and the two began letting tears slowly fall down staring at the other in silence as the seconds marched on the tears grew, and the silent chokes grew into loud sobs as they recounted everything the two went through together in the past two years, every event flashed in their minds.
The light teasing for her former crush on Adrien, the constant guidance, the Kwagatama gifted on her 14th birthday which she still keeps around her neck, the long nights where the little Kwami comforted her during the viscous bullying, and the endless moments where they supported and loved each other
The little Kwami rushed in hugging her former holder who returned the gesture in as best a way she could with the small size of her companion.
Eventually they separated, Marinette began taking her earrings off and with a sniff managed to mutter out four words that broke her heart. "Tikki, I-I renounce you" she barely choked out, her companion closed her eyes, body glowing red as she was sucked once more into the earings now resting in Marinette's hands causing the girl to burst out into a new set of tears. Her body collapsed as she clutched the earrings tightly, the pricks at the end dug into her hands causing a few drops of blood to begin leaking out not that she noticed as her eyes let out a flood of tears as she felt the weight of the world, all that she's carried for so long hit her once more and she felt even more alone than ever before as she lay there crying on the floor.
GOW
After the Akuma was beaten Lila made her way back to the Picnic area where she was met with Alya and Nino both freshly arriving, Adrien was nowhere to be seen but that was normal after an attack, he said his Father always liked him to be home during and after Akuma attacks so he'd have to check in and probably miss the rest of the date.
"Oh girl, I'm so glad your safe!" Alya said, rushing forward to envelop Lila in a hug which the Italian returned automatically, a reflex from hanging out with Alya so often, "I thought that Akuma did something terrible to you! Especially after I saw Marinette going up the akuma near the end of the fight" she finished, spitting her former friend's name.
"How sweet, I'm okay I got a little hurt by Marinette and that nasty Akuma but Ladybug's cure fixed me right up." Lila said, her voice entering her emotional tone to make sure Alya bought it, not that she had to put any effort in the journalist instantly snarled at the thought of Marinette, and that's the moment Lila reached into her purse. "I did notice she dropped this though, do you think we should return it?" Lila asked batting her eyelashes like an innocent Damsel in distress.
"Of course not! That bitch hurt you during an Akuma attack of all things, we should make her pay" Alya said, her hand reaching forward to grab the sketch book, once it was in her hands she looked at it confused, "Marinette never showed me this book, I wonder what's in it." Alya said, flipping it open she skimmed through the note on front and began flipping through, the beginning had a lot of decent work, nothing special but a lot of doodles that were clearly done at a young age that as much as Lila hated to admit it didn't look too bad for what they were, and she also knew just how good Marinette's artistic ability is and it was apparent that this was a gift she's had for years according to the book Alya was flipping through.
"I can't believe she never showed me this book! That selfish bitch, we need to teach her a lesson about this." Alya seethed, her muscles began shaking while her eyes flashed with a burning hatred of this book as the mental gears slugged along trying oh so hard to function, Lila found it amusing how pathetic self serving and most of all, destructive Alya was, after all Lila never needed to do much to get Alya's fire bursting all she needed to do was point, and then the wannabe reporter jumped half cocked to deal as much damage as possible.
"well how we do some defacing?" Nino offered, he was harder to turn but over time he was firmly planted on Lila's side wrapped around her finger due to all the time he spent with her due to his girlfriend, he was a loyal one she had to give him that but his loyalty to his girlfriend was greater than that to Marinette which served Lila well enough, he was calmer than Alya normally but he had his moments where he was an asset to making Marinette's life a living hell.
"We need to do more than just defacing it, we can ruin all the art and drawings inside then we can burn it! I can even record it and we can put it in the video I took of Marinette falling down the stairs!" Alya said, a satanic grin touched upon her lips. And this was why Lila loved her company, such malice and hatred, so much evil and all that Lila needed to do to make it come out was give the faux reporter a target.
"Well, if your sure I guess we could do it," Lila said, adopting the shy victim once more channeling it into her voice, and she could see the look on her tool's faces they were now officially locked onto this plan, once she brings the shy scared victim out they act putty in her hands, it really is what makes them such effective tools.
"of course I'm sure! Marinette is going to be taught a lesson!" Alya said conviction in her heart as she set off to begin her plan.
Lila couldn't help but smile.
GOW
Kagami walked into her room panting, she had a long hard day of training with her mother, as usual she couldn't get a single hit on the elder but that was usual, she did enjoy training with her mother especially since Adrien has begun to act like an ass the past few months, her mother has sense limited her interactions with him which Kagami was okay with, it gave her more time to hang out with Marinette, her mother recently started allowing more contact between the two a welcome development as Kagami was concerned. Granted while they did hang out more that wasn't saying much, they only saw each other once every two weeks, once a week if lucky due to the strict mental and physical exercise Kagami found herself under.
Placing her equiptment down in it's designated corner Kagami went to her bed and began to relax, now that school was out she was looking forward to spending more time working out physically and spending time with Marinette, perhaps she could finally figure out what's been bothering her friend these past few months? These thoughts muddled through Kagami's mind as she reached over to her night stand, perhaps a book might pass the time until dinner. However she felt something new on her stand, perplexed she looked towards the stand and sure enough someone moved her stuff. But what she saw there was even more peculiar, a hexagonal box the same looking box that she found herself being gifted whenever Ladybug called her to be Ryuko.
"This can't be right, Ladybug just announced her retirement earlier today," Kagami muttered to herself, sitting up as her hands grabbed the box and lightly lifted the lid up causing her room to fill with a bright pink Glow.
When the light subsided she blinked the spots out of her eyes and in the light of the setting sun she saw a Kwamii, not Longg but a similar red color, this one however was covered in black spots. With a smile the small deity spoke, "hello Kagami Tsurugi , I'm Tikki the Kwami of creation and I will give you the power to turn into a hero and defeat Hawkmoth and his Akumas" the tiny female voice said.
GOW
The next thing Adrien knew he was walking into his house, his mind was still on the rooftop and what ladybug said, ever since he just started drifting around the city for a few hours unsure what to do, his finger felt bare without his ring and his pocket empty without Plagg. He walked on not noticing the world around him, dull and dead to the world as he sluggishly made his way to his bedroom.
"Adrien!" Natalie's voice snapped, the voice barely registered in his head but he managed to turn around and fake a smile, pretending he had interest. "I can't believe you forgot about your Chinese test today! Your sub has been here waiting for an hour. Not to mention your father was furious that he couldn't find you! There was just an akuma attack where you were and you didn't come straight home."
"Sorry Natalie, I wanted to stay with Lila for a little longer I- my Chinese sub is here" Adrien said, his voice barely a whisper. He took off running towards his room, the guardian was here he'd sort this out and return Plagg, so with that his feet pounded into the ground faster than ever before as he ignored Natalie's cries for him, the Gorilla's surprised expression and he didn't even notice the tall well dressed figure of his father watching him from the top of the stairs, he merely ran into his room and saw him.
The master was waiting patiently for Adrien, merely meditating on his bed causing the young man to stop and hold his breath.
"you are here, so you're going to give me Plagg back!" Adrien said, his voice rising with joy until he was silenced by a glance, the master's eyes locked with Adrien's own before turning to the door, Adrien caught the signal and shut the door before inching closer to Master Fu.
"I made a mistake," Fu began.
"It's fine, we just need to clear up this little misunderstanding with Ladybug and everything will be fine, and since she knows who I am could you maybe tell me-" the young man began, to be silenced once more by a look from Fu.
"The mistake was not with Ladybug, it was in choosing you to be the Black Chat," He stated, the breath from Adrien's lungs vanished leaving him wide eyed staring at the old man in front of him. "No it was not in choosing you. You were a good choice at the time, but you never took the job seriously, your only care became courting your partner. You let civilians die Adrien Agreste. There were innocent people who experienced death because of your selfishness, people were hurt by you in and out of the mask and that is why you no longer are worthy of holding the miraculous." Each word caused the boys shaking to increase, the words tore at him like a knife cutting through his whole self, piercing through his flesh and tissue, even the bones down to his spirit leaving him shaking and blinking tears out of his eyes.
"However this isn't the end for you Mr. Agreste," Fu said. Adrien's focus snapped back upon hearing those words, "You are at a crossroads Adrien, and it's time for you to choose where you go from here. Your actions from here on out are up to you to decide. I look forward to seeing the choices you make young man, hopefully we will meet again under better circumstances." Fu said, he slowly stood making his way outside of the room. Adrien couldn't move could barely breath, all he could do was think about the words the old man just spoke to him letting them turn over and over in his head until his eyelids grew weary, his body fell and he left the waking world.
GOW
The setting sun cast a beautiful glow over the Paris streets, the buildings and plants illuminated in a golden light that while beautiful was not enough to help Marinette distract from her thoughts, she finished dropping off Tikki and Plagg to the new holders, a task Master Fu insisted she do while he went out to complete an errand, she could feel an encouraging pat on her side as Wayzz drifted just into her view offering her a small smile, and she did suppose it could be worse, thankfully her use of Miraculous Ladybug healed her injuries from the school day, a parting gift from Tikki she supposed, but it still felt wrong not having her Kwami with her, she knew why she left Tikki of course Paris needs a Ladybug to purify akumas.
It took her awhile but she made her way to the bakery, opening the door she saw her family who immediately rushed her and dog piled her in hugs.
"We were so worried about you dear," her mother said.
"I'm so glad your safe," Her father said.
She returned the hug, and made eye contact with her uncle, his eyes moistened when he saw her as he joined the hug unable to speak. Marinette made sure to give him a big hug.
"I'm glad your okay kid," he choked out.
"I'm glad your okay uncle Vinny," she said.
After explaining to her family that she went to Fu's to quit her job like she planned to do anyways today the family found themselves moving upstairs, Tom and Vincent went to the kitchen while Sabine and Marinette sat in the dining room, the conversation began to flow more naturally once more with Vincent sharing stories about Tom and Tom returning the favor about Vincent, now and then Sabine would chime in to fix details for a story she knew or to add another embarrassing tale to the brothers stories that they managed to leave out.
Once dinner was finished the family sat together around the table eating and laughing as they settled into the normal routine they had when Vincent was around, the horrors of the day drifted off as they sat in comfort and joy together.
