Summary:

Marinette visits Fu. Together she, Tikki, Plagg, Wayzz and Fu come up with a plan to put an end to Chat's ways; Chat Noir eagerly awaits 'his' lady, but not all goes the way he expects.

Chapter: Ephemeral P.2

She's nervous, each step she takes towards where the guardian resides gets heavier and heavier. Tikki encourages her every step of the way. She can't help but feel herself wanting to just spin around on her heel and run the opposite direction and run back home. 'Keep it together.', Marinette thinks to herself, she sucks in a shaky breath and exhales. She feels her hands shaking.

Tikki in merely sitting inside the warm jacket pocket, her masters body warmth radiates onto her, keeping her warm. "You're doing the right thing, Marinette, you'll see.", Tikki says. She knows, she knows what must be done in this situation, it's happened before, to a previous master she loved with all her heart, sadly, it was too late for anything to be done,the Black Cat of that era had obliterated the balance, the destruction of the balance led to a 200 year era drowned in famine, disease and despair for their homeland, the very homeland that both Chosens were from and wanted to protect. Tikki had the chance to act now, and if it meant hurting herself in the process, then so bit it.

The Dupain-Cheng weekly nods, her eyes forward, she can see the place just across the street, she swallows thickly as she keeps walking, she makes it to the crosswalk and hesitates.

"Mari.", the Kwami cajoled. Coaxing the teen to keep going.

"Okay, okay.", Marinette sighed and finally crossed the street, she held her bag's strap tightly, her knuckles grew white. When finally made it to the door, she fidgeted for a moment. 'You can do this.', she encourages herself, and she reaches out, and pushes the door, she slips in.

"You okay?", Nino spoke softly, he sat on the edge of Alya's bed, fiddling with his fingers a little nervously.

The brunette nodded, "I just...I feel like shit.", brown eyes grew watery. The teen turned to her boyfriend, her expression was glum. How long had Chat been acting like that with Ladybug? Alya couldn't fathom it, she couldn't stomach it, it made her feel sick, she knew problems like that existed in the real world, she knew men took advantage of women on the daily, whether in a small way, or a really traumatic big way, but she never expected Ladybug and Chat Noir to have those problems as well, or rather, expect Chat to act like those imbeciles and hurt Ladybug. "I don't know why she doesn't want us there tonight, he's going to hurt her.", she breathed out.

Nino frowned heavily, his gaze hardened in disgust, he too had trouble digesting Chat Noir's true colors, he felt this need to protect Ladybug, he didn't know why or understand it completely, but he knew it would only be right for him to feel angry at what Chat had done. "Ladybug's smart, I'm sure she's coming up with something.", he said, wanting to comfort Alya, he knew what she was thinking, he knew that Alya was thinking the worst of the situation. He hoped that Chat wouldn't hurt Ladybug.

Alya looked away, balling her fists up, "She seemed set on going to see him tonight, Nino. Despite knowing full well what Chat can do to her...she'll be all alone with him.", the brunette couldn't bear the thought of what would happen. She knew that if Chat was okay with force kissing Ladybug in front of them, he would be capable of doing much more than that when no one else was around, he'd hurt her, he would take something from Ladybug that Ladybug clearly didn't want to give, at least, not to him. "That bastard will...he'll…", Alya pressed her lips into a tight line.

Nino clenched his jaw, he wrapped an arm around Alya, pulling her into his side, "Relax.", he said softly. He hated Chat, he had considered Chat to be a cool dude, but after this...no, Nino could only see Chat as a fraud, "Don't worry."

"How can I not worry, dammit. She's just going to do whatever he wants.", Alya trembled slightly, tears running down her cheeks, "I mean...she defended him, she told us to not say anything, she's slipping into just accepting what he's doing to her.", she wrapped her arms around herself and leaned into Nino's side, sniffling as she cried softly, the image she had of her idol and the joking Cat, shattered, and it was a little too much to take.

The boy held the girl closer, "Sh.", he hushed softly, "I'm sure Ladybug will find a way, she has her reasons, and I'm sure she only spoke to calm him down, she also doesn't want people to get in their business either, just...relax, She'll be fine, I'm sure of it.", but the boy wasn't sure, he just wanted Alya to relax, the knowledge of what was really going on, hurt him too, but he had to keep it together, he had to try and believe that Ladybug was going to do something that didn't end up with her getting hurt.

Both teens held onto each other.

She can't read his expression from where she's sitting and a part of her doesn't want to. She and Tikki were separated, Master Fu saw Tikki in her weakened state, and took her off her hands and before Marinette could follow them, Tikki spoke up weakly, telling Fu that they needed to talk in private without her, The Man gave her an odd look, Marinette smiled brokenly and shrugged, turning away to give them space. She's been sitting in the wooden chair for the past 15 minutes, she couldn't hear them from where she was, she could only see them. She opted to just look down at her hands and wait.

"Marinette.", Master Fu's voice brought Marinette out of her thoughts. "Please come.", he spoke again.

Marinette looked up, she found the old man gesturing with a hand, beckoning her to come to where he and Tikki were, she sucked in a breath, she felt apprehension wash over her, she exhaled as she got up from the chair, her legs felt like jelly, she swore she could feel her heart thumping in her head, she could hear her heart racing, thumping hard. The look of hesitation must have been clear on her face because Master Fu wore a rather gentle look, sympathetic even. She finally started to walk, forcing her legs to move and carry her to the next room, she slowly, but surely made to the table, she looked at both Fu and a more energetic Tikki who was munching on some crackers beside a sympathetic looking Wayzz.

"Please sit, Marinette.", Fu says softly, his expression only grows more sympathetic.

Marinette silently sits, she glances at both Kwamis, Wayzz and Tikki both give her soft smiles. It feels reassuring. Marinette sighs softly and brings her eyes to meet Fu's own, she knows he's got something to say, but she wasn't sure just what it was.

"First, let me start by apologizing.", he starts, and he could see that Marinette is taken aback by how her shoulders twitched suddenly. He sighs deeply, he feels a mix of emotions fill him, Tikki had filled him in, told him about Chat's actions and how he's been relentlessly forcing Marinette to reciprocate his feelings. It made him feel guilty, because he felt as if he'd done something that made Marinette feel as if she had to carry this burden all on her own, he knew she was strong willed and capable, but he felt that if she had the help, why not ask for it?

Marinette looked away for a moment, shame filled her.

"Mari, please, talk.", Tikki spoke, she put her cracker down and slowly made her way to her chosen, a chosen she loved with all her heart, a chosen that was so full of life and didn't deserve what was happening to her. "Master Fu wants to help.", she sat in front of Marinette, "Please.", she gazed encouragingly at her master.

The teen released a shaky exhale and finally turned to the kwami, her vision blurred slightly, she reached her hands up, placing them on the table, she gathered the Kwami into her hands and held her. "What do you want me to do?", Marinette asked the man that sat across from her but her eyes remained on the kwami.

"Nothing.", He said.

Nothing. Marinette thought, she looked up to meet his gaze, she raised her eyebrows.

The man continued, "You will do nothing, because I will deal with him.", He said bluntly, his expression changed to one of disappointment, "This is my mess, I put you in harms way, the more we interacted the more I knew you were meant to be the Ladybug, but as for Chat Noir, It started to become clear to me that I took a chance on the boy, I thought he'd make a fine Black Cat, but I was mistaken, and I cannot allow for you to further be put in harms way.", Fu sighed deeply. "The more I saw of you, the more I just knew I made the right choice, the power didn't get to you, you put the mission ahead of your feelings, you are pure of heart and sure, you may make a mistake here and there, but that doesn't negate all the good you do, you prioritize. The boy however, the more I saw of him, the more I started to see his need to be put ahead of the mission, the more I saw that he had selfish tendencies, the more I saw that he wasn't really up to taking responsibility.", Fu turned to Wayzz, he was going to speak, but just as he started, an Unexpected guest arrived.

"Fu!", Came that familiar voice accompanied by the familiar sight of the Black Cat Kwami flying through the small glass window.

"Plagg?!", Tikki yelled in surprise as she left the comfort of her master's hands, she flew up to greet the kwami of destruction.

Plagg looked surprised, "Kid.", Plagg saw Marinette, he merely took Tikki's hand into his own and he immediately flew down towards the teen, "I'm so sorry.", Plagg apologized, his expression wasn't smug like it usually was.

Everyone in the room was taken aback by the Kwamis apology.

The Black Cat kwami sighed deeply and released Tikki's hand, "I promise I won't let him hurt you.", Plagg turned to Tikki, "I tried to talk to him, I tried to get him to see what he was doing was wrong, I've been trying but he just shuts me down or ignores me each time."

Master Fu sighed again, "The boy has truly spiraled.", he rose a hand to rub his chin, eyes narrowing.

Wayzz groaned, "What are we going to do? The balance cannot further tip.", The turtle kwami finally spoke up, he floated up and made his way to where Tikki and Plagg were.

Marinette folded her arms over her chest, "I'm supposed to meet him tonight.", she said.

Plagg nearly hisses, "So what! Don't go, Kid.", the kwami advised as he got closer to the teen, "Look, the boy wasn't always like this, he started to get out of control after the whole oblivio thing. He wouldn't have done this before, but now it's like he just has it in his mind that you and him are meant to be.", Plagg frowned heavily, "Don't go."

Wayzz hummed softly, as if an idea had come to him.

Tikki looked on between her master and her longtime friend, Plagg. "Marinette will not go.", Tikki cut in, she turned to face the teen directly, "Right? You won't go?", she said, asking her master, wanting the girl to just agree with her.

Marinette didn't answer the Kwami, and that made Tikki and Plagg start to draw closer to her and smother her in lectures. Plagg of all Kwamis. Plagg.

"Don't be stupid, kid-", Plagg said.

"Marinette, you're being reckless-", Tikki said.

Both Kwamis talking over each other, scolding the usually logical and collected teen.

Fu rubbed his chin, her closed his eyes as he sucked in a breath, "Settle down you two.", he huffed out, opening his eyes, arms crossed over his chest, a firm expression on his face, he knew it fell onto him to retrieve the ring of The Black Cat, he wasn't sure how to do it, but he had to figure out before tonight's 'meeting'.

The Dupain-Cheng groaned a bit, when both Kwamis relaxed only to settle close to her, both sat idly, waiting for something to be said. "It's 7, we start patrolling at 8, Master.", Marinette sighed out for the thousandth time, she felt that time was running out, a plan had to be set, or she wouldn't leave Master Fu's place, "Look, I think...we should work this together, I mean, the way things are going, I don't think Chat's going to just hand over his ring.", the ravenette said bluntly, she knew damn well that Chat would probably flee with it, the boy was proving to be childish and selfish these days, he always felt a need to get his way, this Marinette had started to see. Thankfully she never revealed herself to him. 'Thank God.', she thinks to herself, it's the only relief that she knows is true, because at least she wouldn't have to worry about Chat coming after her civilian persona, that would be a nightmare.

The man nodded, he agreed with Marinette, the boy wouldn't just hand it over, he would be difficult to deal with, difficult to unarm and strip off the miraculous. He wasn't strong, even if he used Wayzz, how would he keep up with the boy, if the boy feels threatened. If only he was a few years younger, the old man thinks.

Wayzz sighs and finally pipes up, believing he has a solution. "What about the other Miraculous Wielders?", The Kwami asks, "The boy and that girl, we could even throw Pollen back in and have that Chloé girl stun the boy."

Master Fu hums, clearly thinking that their problems have been solved.

Tikki turned to Marinette, and Marinette met her gaze. "There's one problem with that plan.", Tikki sighs.

Plagg, Wayzz and Master Fu all raise their eyebrows.

"I don't trust Nino and Alya anymore, As for Chloé...well, she's a bit of a loose canon, but I do trust her more than those two.", Marinette reveals, and it hurts. The Dupain-Cheng had a tough time being around those two ever since what happened three months ago, ever since Alya snapped at her in front of everyone in class and 'dissed' her. She was labeled a bully, a fake, and a liar. The brunette had tore her heart in two that day. She had reduced the amount of times she used both Alya and Nino and when she did, she used one of them, never both, today had been an odd day, her lucky charm signalled for her to use them both, and she did only because her lucky charm had given her the signs to do so, and as much as it hurt to work beside them, she felt a little grateful that she wasn't alone when Chat decided that he was going to 'take' what was 'his'.

The man looked a little taken aback, "What happened?", he asks.

The teen falls silent for a moment, she looks away, thinking about everything that's gone terribly wrong in her life so far, it makes her heart ache.

Tikki wears a glum look. The Kwami knew why Marinette lost trust in her allies, she's been there every step of the way, she's comforted the teen as much as she could these past few months, wiping her tears away and encouraging her to be strong. It breaks her heart a little more and more everyday, how could life frown upon her chosen like this? Why was this happening, why was Marinette being put through all of this. She sometimes wondered why life had a tendency to pick on the good people. "Tell him.", she encourages softly.

Plagg sits silently, he knows very well what's been happening in Marinette's school life, he was there, he couldn't say anything out loud of course, cause then he'd be revealing Adrien's identity, and the last thing he wanted was for things to spin even more out of control. The kwami wore a hard expression suddenly as a name crosses his mind, 'Lila', he thinks, the girl was foul, she was evil, deceptive and cruel, Plagg had mixed feelings about how his chosen was handling things regarding that girl, how Adrien just abandoned Marinette, leaving the poor girl to become Lila's punching bag. He frowned heavily.

The teen swallows thickly, she returns her gaze to the man and starts from the beginning, she tells him all about Lila, about how the girl with all her lies had taken everything from her, leaving her stranded and alone, in fact, her old friends had started to retaliate against her in Lila's defense, despite her not doing anything. Marinette's ocean blue eyes started to water up, lashes started to glisten, she continues and tells him about that one time that Alya had bumped into her and pushed her down into the locker room, all the while Lila watched from behind, a malicious grin on her lips, Lila always watched from behind the people that hurt her, and she always wore that twisted triumphant grin. "Alya hates me, and Nino's her boyfriend, so he's on her side...despite everyone knowing me so well…they still...", hot tears suddenly started to roll down pink cheeks, a soft sob escaped passed trembling pink lips, the teen released a shaky breath as she brought a hand to her mouth, not wanting to just let all of her pent up hurt come up all at once.

"Alya betrayed my master the most, it impacted her harder than the betrayal of her other friends.", Tikki says, as she drew closer to the hand that remained on the table, she cuddled into it, wanting to comfort her master.

Fu is completely struck speechless, he was starting to see it. The cracks in Marinette's person. Marinette had always seemed put together when she stopped by to see him, she never gave off the vibe that something was wrong, the Dupain-Cheng had hid her problems and pain well. She had been suffering in silence, carrying a lot of pain from both sides of her life.

Wayzz glances at Tikki and Plagg, he sees that the situation is straining them as well as Marinette. He feels the need to say something of encouragement, but finds that he can't, he finds that maybe it isn't his place, he doesn't understand the depth of Marinette and her problems.

The ravenette forces herself to get it together, she collects herself as quickly as she can, she uses an arm and wipes her face with her sleeve, soft sobs and whimpers still escaped passed her uncovered mouth as she desperately dries her face with her sleeve.

Master Fu swallows thickly, "You've been so good, Marinette.", He says softly, "It's only a matter of time before fortune finally shines upon you, and trust me, it will.", the man inhales through his nose and exhales through his mouth, "You're strong and good Marinette. I know you're hurting, but that hurt is only temporary. Things will get better.", the man smiled softly.

The teen sucked in a wet breath, she huffed and puffed softly as she tried to catch her breath, trying to calm herself, she felt a little better.

'Fortune will shine on you soon, kid.', Plagg couldn't help but think to himself, he knew Marinette was good, he knew that she would always put the mission before ever putting herself, Marinette was selfless and strong willed, clever and witty, she was kind and sincere. The fools that betrayed her and left her behind, will regret what they've done. Sooner or later, Lila will slip, because like all lies, they always come to light, eventually.

Eyes flickered to the wooden clock, "It's 7:45.", Marinette says as she clears her throat and finally starts to relax, gathering herself, preparing herself. "What are we going to?"

Master Fu was unsure of what they were going to do, Marinette didn't trust her allies anymore, except for Chloé, but that girl was a whole other matter, this situation would have to be dealt with precision. They had one chance to strip Adrien of the miraculous- and suddenly an idea hits him. "The book!", he exclaims, he snaps his fingers and stands up quickly, he runs to the table where the miracle box was, next to it is his phone, the one he used to take photos of the book with. "I think I saw something that made me question a lot of things.", he says as he unlocks his phone and starts to go through the gallery.

Marinette raises an eyebrow and stands up, "What do you mean?", she asks.

"The book had many things, from ingredients to give the miraculouses new powers to even redesigning the jewels.", the man explains, "I haven't fully translated everything, but from a section that I did translate, I saw a mixture powerful enough to put even a miraculous wielder to sleep, it's virtually harmless.", Fu said as he kept swiping his thumb across the screen rapidly.

Marinette hummed, interested in what Fu may have up his sleeve. She starts to make her way towards the man, the Kwamis remain on the table.

"Here it is.", Master Fu says, "I should have all the ingredients here, ever since I took the pictures I've been stocking up on plenty of exotic ingredients to make the magic work.", he explains as he starts to walk off to another room.

The Dupain-Cheng follows him, trailing behind him, "How are you going to get him to willingly take the mixture?", she asks curiously, she knew Chat would be wary of ingesting anything given to him. She crossed her arms over her chest as she waited for a reply.

The man chuckled disheartedly, "He won't have a choice.", his tone seemed to changed along with his entire demeanor.

Their plan was going to change a lot of things.

He's been waiting for her, a rose in hand, he arrived a little early, Plagg returned to him around 7:50 and it took him only 5 minutes to get to the place he and Ladybug were supposed to meet up at. He was eager to meet up with his lady. However, time was starting to tick by, he patiently waited, keeping track of the time, glancing at his staff he saw that it was now 8:30. She was half an hour late. The boy groaned, feeling irritation starting to come over him, had he been stood up again? The thought came into his head, and it just gnawed at him as each minute started to tick by.

"Chaton!"

The sound of that familiar voice calling out to him made his smile return to his lips, he felt his heart starting to thump hard and fast, he turned around and found Ladybug landing a few feet away. "Hey, Lovebug, you're late.", he said teasingly, his eyes bright and his pearly white teeth showing through the smile, he started to step towards the girl of his dreams, he reached out the hand that held the rose and he held it out, offering the rose to Ladybug. "Here.", he said, grinning sheepishly.

Ladybug tilts her head to the side, she stares at the rose and at Chat, she feels a pang of guilt rack through her body for a moment, it's fleeting. She knows very well why it has to be this way, why he has to be stripped like this. Once upon a time, she loved him, but her love was different. She felt hurt starting to bubble in her chest and in her stomach, she felt the familiar sensation of knots building, she feels like she's losing a friend, she feels like she's losing the only friend she had left.

She would be all alone.

Chat raises an eyebrow, his smile falters when he sees the unmistakable sight of tears shining in his partner's eyes, "Milad-UNGH!", his words cut off by a surprised exhale due to him feeling a sensation of sharp stinging suddenly appear in his back, he felt as though someone had poked him with something sharp.

Ladybugs eyes grow wide, she breaks her gaze off of Chat and looks behind him to see Master Fu with a blow gun at the end of the roof, half his body still hiding behind the brick wall.

Chat grunts, he feels exhaustion starting to come over him, he drops the rose and gets to his hands and knees, groaning as his vision starts to blur and darken, everything gets distorted. "Lady...bug…", he breathes out slowly.

Master Fu clicks his tongue and brings the mouthpiece of the blow gun up to his lips and blows two more times, sending two more darts into the boys back, each one hits.

"Ungh?!", Chat releases a huff and finally falls belly down on the cement.

There's a silence, feelings of dread and guilt start to creep over Marinette as she stands over her once partner's unconscious body, tears roll down her cheeks, this was it, she was alone, she lost everything, everyone. She lost all of her friends in a span of months. Sure Chat was annoying, but deep down she knew why she put up with him, she was lonely, he was someone to talk to, someone she really wanted to keep as a friend. All those late night talks they had as Ladybug and Chat Noir, and even as Marinette and Chat Noir, were things she would miss.

Master Fu released a shaky sigh, Wayzz floated beside the man, he wore a solemn look. The atmosphere darkened and was filled with this tension that felt a little overwhelming. Fu put the blow gun down as he stepped out of his hiding spot from behind a large cement wall. "Marinette.", he spoke softly, his gaze softened.

The teen's shoulders trembled, her legs gave out from under her, she fell onto her knees beside Chat and started to cry softly. She was crumbling. "Oh Chaton.", she cried softly, whimpering and sobbing. She mourns and grieves the death of another friendship.

Wayzz and the Guardian both say nothing, they remain a few feet away, letting the Ladybug have this moment.

Wang Fu knew that he'd have to help Marinette pick up the pieces after this, he knew that she'd need him to guide her, and he'll do just that, he'll be there, he'll help mold her once she collects the pieces of herself that she's been losing for months. Marinette was young, she was growing everyday, the last thing he wanted was for the Ladybug duties to shatter her irreversibly, he knew that Marinette was alone in this, it wasn't like she could just tell her parents what was going on, all the stress she takes on and the fights she puts herself through, so this is where he'll come in, He'll be there for Ladybug and Marinette, he can be the ear that listens to her problems, and he'll advise her in any way he can. He was a Guardian, and he had to make sure to give Marinette guidance so that she could be the best Ladybug and best Marinette she could be.

Marinette like Tikki, is prone to loving deeply. It's no wonder why the both of them seem to perfectly fit together. They both grieve when love is lost.

There will be plenty of angst in this fic

Like...a lot of angst XD

Feel free to drop comments/critiques/questions.