Summary:

There's a bud of guilt growing in everyone, everyone except one.

Chapter: Blooming P.1

Marinette's nervous, she couldn't help but keep flicking her eyes to the time displayed on the car's dash, it was already 5pm. She and Chloé had their talk around 1, she showered by 2 and ate by 3, by 4 she found herself getting cold feet, trying to prolong the inevitable.

But, Chloé was firm, pushing her to set things right, which Marinette was grateful for. Deep down.

The car comes to a stop, the driver clears his throat, "We are here, Miss Bourgeois."

"Great, thank you.", Chloé says, she then turns to Marinette, "you ready?"

Marinette swallows thickly, she couldn't help but nervously fidget in place. "Uh...well…", she whispered softly, she paled.

Chloé softened her expression, "Love, please, your parents need you.", she reaches out, placing a comforting hand over Marinette's own, gently giving it a light squeeze.

Marinette nods her head. She can't muster any words up at the moment, she merely releases a heavy sigh, she turns her head to face Chloé, eyes slightly watery.

Chloé gives her a small encouraging smile before leaning in, she brushes her nose against Marinette's own before going in for a soft kiss, she gives her lover's lips two tender pecks. Marinette hums softly, eyes closing, welcoming her girlfriend's affections.

"I'm with you, don't worry.", Chloé whispers against Marinette's lips, slowly pulling away, leaning back to meet Marinette's nervous watery gaze.

Marinette nods her head, keeping Chloé's gaze, "Okay. I'm ready.", she manages to say, throat vibrating slightly due to her voice coming out slightly hoarse.

Alya's alone, having barricaded herself in her room. Refusing to do anything but continue to beat herself up. She failed, failed Marinette, failed her in every way possible. She had one job, to just be her friend, to be her rock.

And she couldn't even do that.

She had hurt Marinette, been a part of the problems for her before becoming the problem. She couldn't even imagine it, imagine how Marinette felt, afraid and alone.

And it was too late, too late to try to fix things.

Alya hugged herself tightly, her body trembling. She deserved this guilt.

And suddenly it dawns upon her, like a light bulb turning on in the deepest crevices of her mind where the light of reasoning did not typically reach.

Lila.

The name, just thinking about it...it makes her feel a tidal wave of things, but it mostly ranges from anger to a new kind of rage she had no idea she could feel.

She knew it was her fault, she knew she didn't have to be cruel to Marinette, she could live with that, live with her guilt, but Lila, Oh Lila would be a different story, something inside of Alya told her that someone like Lila didn't feel things like guilt, she probably couldn't feel them.

And it's then that she feels something snap inside of her.

She'd done her digging, found the evidence Marinette had told her to find oh so long ago, evidence she'd kept to herself due to the immense disappointment she felt for herself.

"She's gonna pay.", Alya whispers to herself. Her expression becomes blank, she raises her arm and wipes her face of the dried tear tracks that stained her cheeks. Marinette may be gone, but Lila will not get away with what she's done, no, oh no.

Alya can't right things, but she can destroy things, and by things, she means Lila.

She hops out of messy bed and stomps over to her desk, she harshly pulls her computer chair back and sits in it, she opens her laptop and prepares to throw her evidence onto her blog, a blog that everyone in Paris has access to, would have access to, she was done with it, done with the Ladyblog, 'Ladybug', she thought to herself bitterly, this was her fault too, she gave Marinette a miraculous, let Marinette and some other 'Ladybug' wannabe run around while she ran off to do whatever the hell it was she went off to do.

She opens the blog page up on her screen and begins typing away. Her fingers going at the keyboard without stop, she wanted this out there, wanted everyone to know who Lila was, what she was responsible for, she wanted everyone to know the truth.

And while she knew this would no doubt come back to bite her, it would certainly not bite her as hard as it was going to bite Lila.

Adrien is simply sitting in the silence of his room, his jaw clenched tightly.

He saw the news coverage, saw Noir go down and saw the transformation fade away to reveal who was Plagg's new holder. A part of him was bitter still, but his guilt outweighed it. Marinette was gone, she was declared to be dead despite the missing body. Chloé was missing but then 'found' a few hours later.

Fu had no doubt taken their miraculous back, no way would he allow Chloé to keep the earrings after all that.

He had thoughts, many since yesterday. How much did Marinette and Chloé know about the miraculous and Fu, if there was even a chance they knew about him being Plagg's previous holder, if they knew who Ladybug was.

So many questions lingered, plaguing him.

He had half the mind to call Chloé, to ask, but he stopped himself, he would give Chloé space. He'd ask later, another time, after the dust has settled.

After all, Chloé has just lost her Black Cat.

Chloé sighed softly, they've been standing in front of the locked bakery doors for the past 5 minutes. She wanted Marinette to set things right, but also didn't want to pressure her, after all, they were here, and that was a good start and a step in the right direction.

Marinette swallowed thickly, eyes staring at the 'closed' sign that hung against the glass of the door. She released a heavy exhale through her lips, she felt her hands growing more and more clammy, her knees felt like jelly.

"It's okay, everything's going to be okay, Marinette.", Chloé says encouragingly.

"I know, I just...what am I gonna say to them? I don't have my story straight.", Marinette said shakily, turning to face Chloé.

"We'll tell them-", Chloé starts but pauses, "I'll tell them that you were unconscious for a bit, that we brought you back with us to protect you. That you had to turn your miraculous in along with mine.", she continued, "I'll tell them that we had to keep the status of your being a secret until you were on your feet completely."

It sounds good, sounds well thought out.

Marinette nods, still hesitant, but she knows they can't keep standing out here, she had matters to fix. She returns her gaze to the door for a moment, still contemplating.

"Love.", Chloé speaks softly.

Marinette hums and turns to once again meet Chloé's supportive gaze, and it's the final push she needs. She reaches out and takes a hold of Chloé's soft hand, she feels her resolve strengthen when she feels Chloé lace their fingers together. She takes a deep breath in and releases it in a soft huff, she straightens her posture before stepping forwards, she lifts her free hand and opens the mail box, dipping her hand in she grabs the spare key, she gives it a small glance before she brings it to the knob, she dips the key in and turns it, unlocking the door, she pulls the key back and puts it in her pocket before reaching out again, taking the cold steel door knob into her hand, she grips it tightly before she turns it.

And pushes.

The first thing they notice once inside, is the lack of baked goods. It was cleaned out, no bread, no pies, no cookies, nothing.

Marinette kept it together and continued moving forwards, her hand still in Chloé's own, they walked past the counter and to the metal stairs, they walked up, both feeling more and more anxiousness weighing in on them, settling over their shoulders.

Neither knowing what to expect.

Marinette's breathing grew a little uneven, more so when they finally reached the top of the stairs, she slowly stepped into home, it was silent, it felt cold, it didn't feel like it should, like it did.

"Marinette.", Chloé's voice pulls her from her thoughts, thoughts she'd been falling deeper and deeper into, so deep that she nearly misses the sensation of tears rolling down her cheeks.

Marinette's lips pull into a watery, trembling frown, she raises a hand up and cups her mouth.

Chloé sighs softly, she hugs Marinette's arm now, rubbing the arm, wanting to comfort her.

"Sorry, sorry, I just…", Marinette clears her throat slightly, swallowing her sobs, she brings her hand down to the front of her shirt and tugs at the material, tugging it up to use it as a cloth to wipe her eyes and cheeks dry of tears, "I feel like shit now."

"It's okay Marinette.", Chloé said, wearing a sympathetic look.

"Is it though, I...I hurt my parents-", she pauses for a moment before correcting herself, "-I'm hurting them."

"Not for long.", Chloé speaks again. "C'mon, let's find them."

Marinette nods, she releases the material of her shirt and begins to step again.

They walk through the home, peering into all the rooms, but find no one, Marinette feels anxious and worry washing in, at least, until she hears it.

Foot steps.

Chloé hugs Marinette's arm a little tighter. They both look up to the ceiling as the sound of footsteps occur again.

"They're...they're in my room.", Marinette concludes before lowering her head, bringing her gaze to the very stairs that led up to her room. She feels her heart speeding up, feels it practically beating in her throat.

"Are you ready?", Chloé asks as she too brings her gaze to the stairs.

"Yeah, I am.", Marinette swallows thickly. "They need to know that I'm okay."

They begin to move again, Marinette moved with more confidence, more drive and resolve. She forced her fears and insecurities down, she took the first step on the stairs and continued from there, each step weighed more than the other, but it didn't slow her down, she pressed on until she reached the closed trap door.

They were both breathing heavily at this point, Marinette was actually sweating. She released Chloé's hand for the first time since entering the home, she blew out a shaky breath and placed her hands flat against the trap door and pushed up, lifting as she stepped up the final steps, her heart beating in her ears.

The first thing she sees is her parents, sitting on the wooden floor, backs to her, both were holding each other, crying, they hadn't noticed her yet.

Marinette feels tears welling up in her eyes again, feels sobs and whimpers building up in her throat. She keeps it together, gently laying the trap door down, being as quiet as possible, she reaches out to Chloé, bending slightly, she helps the girl up into her room, her hand shakes in Chloé's own.

Chloé says nothing, she merely looks at her and gives her one last smile, she nods her head in Marinette's parents direction, encouraging her to make her presence known.

Marinette nods and let's go of Chloé's hand again. She steps closer, thinking about how to make her presence known. She sighs softly, keeps a few feet away from her parents before she finally says something.

"Mom...Dad.", Marinette manages to say.

Tom and Sabine both tense, stiffening, both are clearly startled, they quickly turn their bodies and both gasp out, eyes wide.

"MARINETTE!", They both yell out in shock and maybe a few other things.

Sabine and Tom both stumble to their feets

Marinette wastes no time herself, she moves and meets her parents halfway, practically launching herself into their open arms.

They all fall to their knees. Crying and sobbing.

Chloé looks on, tears in her eyes, she feels relived.

Marinette whimpers softly, she feels happiness and security washing in, she basks in the warmth of her parent's arms.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry.", Marinette apologizes through whimpers.

"Oh sweetie!", Sabine sniffles, her arms wrapped tightly around her daughter.

"There's nothing for you to be sorry about.", Tom sniffles as well, holding his family in his arms, his whole family, his wife and daughter.

"Where were you, we- we were told you didn't make it. We thought we lost you.", Sabine spoke now, trying to catch her breath.

Marinette sniffles and pulled back from her mother's arms, she felt her father's arms loosen from around them, "I...I was-"

"We took her somewhere safe.", Chloé now makes her own presence known, she stands in place, fidgeting slightly, she wears a sympathetic look.

As Chloé speaks, Sabine and Tom lift their gazes to meet Chloé's own.

And suddenly the atmosphere in the room shifts.

Marinette feels it...anger.

"Oh did you now?", Sabine says, a heavy frown on her lips, her eyebrows furrow and her watery eyes narrow.

Chloé's sympathetic look melts away, it's replaced by fear.

Tom frowns heavily as well, "No one had the audacity to at least tell us our daughter was alive?", he says, his voice growing rough.

Marinette swallows thickly, 'oh no', she thinks. She feels her mother's hands giving her shoulders a tight squeeze.

"We thought Marinette was gone.", Sabine rose her voice, now glaring at Chloé.

It was clear what was happening here, her parents were suffering from the emotional whiplash, they were looking for an outlet and Chloé was unfortunately the one that was here.

"I want you out of my house!", Tom says, roughly, "don't you ever come near me daughter!", he raises a hand and a finger, pointing at Chloé, "any of you!"

Marinette feels her mother pulling her back in for another hug, but she resists and pulls away all together, she falls back onto her rear and stumbles to her feet, quick to defend Chloé, to defend her lover.

"Stop, enough!", Marinette yells over her father, she stands up and stands in front of Chloé, who was now trembling. "You don't get to blame her okay, if anyone's at fault here, it's me!"

Tom and Sabine both open their mouths to no doubt retort, but neither get the chance to say anything.

"I'm the one that waited, okay! I woke up and just...I couldn't- I wasn't ready to face either of you, I was afraid.", Marinette yelled, words spilling from her lips. "It's my fault alright. As for the miraculous...I...I had it first, before either of them had it."

Chloé felt her breath get caught in her throat.

Marinette's parents fell silent.

Marinette huffed, "I know...I know you were going to blame Chloé, blame the others for 'putting me' in that position, but in reality, If anyone got put in any position, it's the others. Everyone that holds a miraculous...I chose them-"

"Marinette, what are you doing?", Chloé says, no panicked, not knowing what Marinette was doing or planning. She takes a hold of Marinette's arm, tugging it, much like a child does when they want attention.

"What? What do you mean?", Tom asks, ignoring the blonde that was trying to silence Marinette.

"I knew about the miraculous, always have, not that it matters anymore though, I surrendered my miraculous.", Marinette shrugs.

Sabine and Tom are both clearly confused and just as they try to ask for more information, Marinette hits them with something else.

"Chloé has surrendered her miraculous as well, she's been through a lot by my side, I would really appreciate it if you both just...ease up on her…", Marinette swallows thickly. "She's important to me, neither of you have any idea what I've been through these past few months, maybe you've gotten glimpses, but that's about it. We have a lot to talk about, I understand that much and maybe that was why I was so afraid to show up so quickly.", Marinette sighs, she raises a hand up and brings it to the back of her neck, she gives it a rub before shifting and stepping to be beside Chloé.

Chloé releases Marinette's arm, she looks at her with a questioning gaze.

Marinette gives her a sympathetic look.

Tom and Sabine are both still very much confused, they both feel pretty winded, they had so many questions.

"Before we get really into it, I just, need you two to know something else.", Marinette starts up again, slowly, as if trying to ease the room up.

Chloé presses her lips together, somehow knowing what Marinette was going to do next. She reaches out and immediately feels Marinette's hand slip into her own.

Tom and Sabine's eyes drop to their hands immediately.

Marinette's lips part once more. "Chloé and I are together."

Don't forget I also post on Ao3, I go by the same username.