Hi everyone! I hope you guys have had an alright March and a nice pi day - I made excellent use of the days before finals by memorizing another handful of digits. I'm very happy to have managed to stay on schedule for this, and hope to be doing the same next month, though my classes that quarter are likely going to be more time-consuming.

Thank you for every fav, follow, review, and casual read thus far. To leafwing2, thank you so much! I'm really glad you like it so much. To the returning guest reviewer, I'm quite touched by how much thought you put into your comments. Definitely a dangerous decision, but why play it safe when you're the embodiment of destruction? Hope you two like what I've done with this chapter as well.

Last time on A Mother's Love (added in later because I completely forgot when uploading, sorry!): Adrien and Plagg spend some time practicing Plagg's control over his powers, then Adrien heads to Marinette's to catch up on missed work. Adrien and Plagg then go investigating, leading Adrien to find Emilie, which prompts him to run off to some unknown park.

I hope you all enjoy chapter 4, "Don't Let Go."


Marinette was exhausted. It had been a long couple of days. A long several months, in fact. She hadn't slept properly since before Master Fu . . .

She didn't want to think about that.

For all she tried to swim, she was slowly sinking, weight after weight latching onto her ankles as she drowned. Her roles as Ladybug, class president, fashion designer, student, friend, partner, daughter, and now guardian, too, were pulling her down, inch by inch, the threat of water pouring into her lungs too great to risk a scream for help.

It was too much. It always seemed to be too much these past few months.

She needed an out. But there wasn't an out, so the next best thing would be a temporary breath of fresh air.

After gently prodding Tikki, Ladybug was soon soaring through sunset skies. She did love Paris at this beautiful hour. It was like a promise: that the city would see the sun again, that tomorrow was on its way, only waiting for daybreak.

Marinette wished she could keep a promise half as well as a sunset. But there would be no sunset if Ladybug wasn't there to stop the world from ending, so a lifetime supply of broken promises it was.

Ladybug shook her head, desperate to escape the thoughts piling up in her head. She drew her focus to the crunch of little pebbles against the slate beneath her feet, the steady breaths she took with every leap, the way the breeze tugged at her pigtails as her yoyo zipped through the air.

She couldn't help but marvel at the way brilliant hues of red, yellow, and purple clung to the clouds, a sharp contrast to the rich blue directly above. She longed for a mood in which she could better appreciate the gorgeous sight. Instead, she paused to use her yoyo to capture a few quick pictures before she was off again.

Her mind wandered back to what had started this particular downward spiral: the message she'd received upon transforming this morning. To think - if she hadn't been overwhelmed to the point of missing patrol yesterday, she wouldn't have had to message him to let him know what had happened and that she'd be doing it tonight instead. She wouldn't have seen the little notification on the screen, wouldn't have listened to her partner tell her he was investigating his father, wouldn't have spent every minute of this strange day worrying about what he was going to do before she was there to protect him from whatever horrors lay ahead.

And what a strange day it had been indeed.

From the odd purple and green lightning that had woken her to Chat's message, Adrien's unusually distracted nature during their study session (she was still giddy about at how almost normally she'd eventually managed to talk around him), the dead sort of look to his newly blackened fingernails (she remembered they looked fine at school on Friday), the beanie he'd kept on the entire time to cover his apparently soot-smelling hair, the bizarre way he'd dashed off when she called him out on it, and, now that she was reflecting on it, a sudden absence of both akumas and sentimonsters after a week of non-stop attacks.

Ordinarily, she would've been overjoyed at the break from the fights, but in light of the message from her partner, she was left feeling a suspicious sense of foreboding rather than relief as her yoyo wrapped around one of the Eiffel Tower's highest beams.

She landed delicately at their favorite spot.

"Go to our spot on the Eiffel Tower," he'd said, "where I'll have hidden a letter that contains everything you need to know."

She should wait. She shouldn't look. She should know the temptation would be too much.

"I've signed the note with my real name."

A sliver of red caught the corner of her eye as she hesitated. Fear and eager anticipation tingled in her spine. She stared at the letter.

What if Thursday had been the last she would ever see of her partner? If those moments, of frantically scrambling to figure out how a paper bag was supposed to help while he lay him collapsed by her feet, were to linger in her head whenever she thought of him? If him sacrificing himself so she'd have just one weapon to worry about and then returning only for a brief goodbye would be her last memory of him?

"In the event that I don't show up for patrol on Sunday . . ."

She couldn't read it. Not yet. She loved and trusted him too much to do that.

Pulling out her yoyo, Ladybug zipped away again, back into the sunset.

. . .

Family dinners felt like as much of a break as a pretense nowadays. She was so grateful to have a family so willing to carve out time for them all to be together like this, but it was difficult to have to wear a constant facade around her favorite people, hiding the stress she couldn't explain.

She shot an awkward grin across the table. Her parents paused their part of the conversation to smile uncertainly back.

"Hey, is it alright if I head up now? I have some homework I wanted to finish tonight so I can have a chance to relax tomorrow," she said.

They exchanged a look. "Sure, sweetie," her mom said. "Just don't stay up too late, okay?"

"Sure thing! You guys are the best," Marinette said, kissing them each on the cheek, then clearing her place and hurrying to her room.

Fifteen kwamis were waiting for her, anxious expressions on adorable faces, waiting, she knew, to make sure she was okay after her patrol, especially given the message they'd all listened to earlier that day.

She couldn't meet their eyes.

"Hi, guys."

"Hi, Master Marinette!" It was Wayzz. "Did you find anything?"

"It's just Marinette, Wayzz, but yeah. It was hidden at our spot, just like he said. I didn't read it," she added, defensively.

"Alright, then. It sounds like Chat Noir knows what he's doing."

"I hope so," she mumbled, and cleared her throat. "If it's alright with you guys, I really do think I need a break from thinking about this. I'm gonna try to get my homework done tonight, but I brought coloring books and yarn if anyone wanted a nice, quiet activity."

They squealed in delight when she pulled out the materials, and so the evening passed, kwamis occasionally coming over to proudly display their creations. Only Tikki stayed with her the entire time, worried gaze never quite meeting Marinette's.

. . .

Marinette turned in her bed, trying to find a comfortable position.

She'd almost managed to fall straight asleep when she'd gotten in bed half an hour ago, only to be rudely flooded with a shot of adrenaline when another bolt of that strange purple lightning flashed through the sky once again.

She rubbed at her eyes, trying to silence the thoughts that refused to stop racing through her brain. She readjusted her pillow, trying to ease the worry that wouldn't leave her alone. She tucked her knees to her chest, trying to ignore the image of the sliver of red against reddish-brown hovering behind closed eyelids.

She'd almost succeeded when another growl of thunder rippled through the trapdoor. Marinette bolted upright. The letter. The paper letter.

And it was about to rain.

"Tikki!" she hissed. "Tikki, wake up! We have to go!" she whispered, poking the sleeping kwami.

"Marinette?" Tikki yawned. "What is it? It's almost" - another yawn and a glance to the clock - "23:00 at night."

"I know, I know, I'm sorry! But it's going to rain, and if we don't go get it now, the letter's going to be ruined!"

"Oh, no! Well, hurry then! We don't have much time!"

"On it! Tikki, spots on!"

Ladybug raced out of her room, traveling as fast as she could. A light sprinkle was already starting up by the time she passed the Notre Dame. Her arms and shoulders burned in protest as she hastened to toss the yo-yo out faster. Her heart was in her throat as she pushed on against the stinging rain. She hadn't looked close enough to tell, but she hoped beyond hope that Chat Noir had left it at least somewhat protected.

At long last, she was there, hurrying to find it in the thick rain when she spotted the rock pining down a clear plastic bag, within which lay the ruby red envelope she'd been looking for. She barely had time to register the way "Ladybug" was neatly scrawled across it before she'd stuffed it in her yo-yo with a sigh of relief.

. . .

If she'd blinked, she would've missed it. In fact, if she hadn't both had the gut urge to look down at that particular moment and been so well trained to spot that particular head of hair anywhere and everywhere, she probably would have. But even drenched in rainwater, there was no mistaking the shock of blond hair (though currently streaked with black), the now mostly translucent overshirt, and bright orange Gabrieltm sneakers of Adrien Agreste, running through the gates of the Square de la Tour Saint Jacques.

"Adrien?" she said to herself. "What on earth?

. . .

Her return home was almost as frantic as it had been when she left. Ladybug quickly pulled the letter out of her yo-yo, then detransformed to tug on some real clothes, rain boots, and a raincoat, then found one for Adrien. Marinette snatched up her purse to check for her keys and pepper spray - her parents would faint if they found out she'd snuck out without it at this hour - and was out the door, only to dash back in again to quickly grab a still snacking Tikki and her umbrella before heading out the door again to make her way as rapidly as a civilian could to find her friend.

. . .

Marinette knew immediately that something was very wrong when she found him, alone in the park. From the way his entire body was shaking to the way his hands were pressed in what was surely an air-tight seal to his face, the bag dropped at his feet to the lack of any sort of jacket or sweater, it was clear that whatever had happened, he'd been in a rush to leave.

"Adrien?" she began calling to him as she approached. "Adrien," she repeated softly, reaching out to touch his shoulder.

. . .

His breathing felt ragged, his throat sore from the screaming sobs that had ripped from his lungs. He could barely hear even the rain over his agony. To even Plagg's purrs against his chest, he was numb.

So of course, it must've just been in his head, that distant voice calling his name. He was so emotionally spent and physically exhausted that he'd managed to work himself into a state of hallucinations.

"Adrien," it - she? - called, stronger this time.

Great, there it was again. He'd really lost it; he was now imagining the voice of his mother, when he'd just seen incontrovertible proof that she was - that she was -

"Adrien," she said, and his head snapped up when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"M-Marinette?" he spluttered, voice scratching his raw throat. "How - why - what are you doing here? It's - it's past midnight!" He sniffled loudly and tried to turn away so she wouldn't keep looking at him with his surely red, puffy eyes. She only moved to stay in his line of sight.

"I - I don't really know, I just had a feeling, you know, and, and here you are!" she said, easing a raincoat - she had brought a spare raincoat? - around him. He realized the rain had stopped splattering against his skin, and for the first time noticed the umbrella she was holding above their heads. He turned his gaze back to hers as she brushed the hair that had plastered itself to his forehead out of his eyes with moderate success. "Wh-Why are you here?" she asked, sitting beside him on his bench.

He wilted, and against his will, he felt his lower lip begin to tremble and his eyes start to pool.

"It's my father, he . . . I think he's . . . and he was hiding . . . my mother was . . . all this time . . . I can't" - he was sobbing again - "I can't." His voice broke at the last word and he collapsed, a weeping mess against her.

She pulled him closer, keeping the umbrella above them and wrapping her free arm tightly around his back. He buried his nose into the crook of her neck.

"I don't know what to do, I don't know where I'm going to go, I can't go home, I have to tell Lady- I have to tell someone, but I don't know how."

"Oh, Adrien." He pulled back enough to see her eyes, to search her face. She looked startled, and somewhat . . . calculating, if he had to guess, but it didn't really make sense. Her eyes were raking his own features with an almost analytical sort of gleam.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to just dump all of this on you out of nowhere, I don't even know how you found me, and I can't even properly explain any of it yet."

"You have absolutely nothing to be sorry for," she said without a shred of her usual hesitancy. "None of this is in any way, shape, or form your fault. You are not responsible for the things that happen by other people's own decisions, and you are allowed to feel all of the things you are feeling.

"Just think of it like . . . like right now, it's you and me against the world, Adrien," she told him. "Or whatever it is that's done this to you, that is. You may not be ready to talk about it just yet, but I'll be here for you whenever you are, and every second you need me supporting you or even just want a friend both before and after. I'm not gonna let you go through this on your own. You can spend the night at my house, and we can start making plans in the morning for whatever it is that's coming next.

"Like I said before, you're one of my closest friends, Adrien, and you mean way too much to me to just sit back and let you suffer like this. Too much to all of us, in fact. Nino, Alya," her nose wrinkled, "and even ChloƩ. We love you, Adrien. You couldn't change that if you tried."

"Of everyone who could've found me here, I'm glad it was you, Marinette."

"I'm glad, too, Adrien. Now come on. We're going home."

. . .

He was hyperventilating before he even woke up, thrashing violently against Marinette's chaise longue. He couldn't breathe, he was going to die with memories of his mother in that contraption flashing through his mind.

Plagg had flown to him in seconds.

"Adrien, it's okay, it's okay, it was just a nightmare. That's all it was, just another nightmare."

Just another nightmare. The third since he'd first settled into this makeshift bed.

"Th-Thanks, Plagg," he whispered, still trying to regain control of his leaving.

Plagg did not look entirely mollified, but settled back into Adrien's bag after Adrien had laid down once again.

Anxiety was still speeding up his heartbeat, and the threat of yet another nightmare was making him extremely wary of falling back asleep.

She wouldn't mind, would she?

He crept up the ladder and shook her awake.

"Marinette?"

"Adrien?" she asked drowsily. "What is it?"

"I . . . I'm sorry. It was nothing. I shouldn't have woken you."

"Adrien, you're shaking!" Her voice was clearer now. "What's wrong?"

"I . . . it's nothing!" he said, but his voice broke with the words.

A beat of silence passed. Then, without warning, Marinette lurched forward and pulled Adrien into a hug, squeezing him tightly as he sobbed against her for the second time that night. They stayed together like that for a while, and Adrien felt himself beginning to grow drowsy again.

"Is it okay if I sleep up here tonight?"

"Of course," she said, noting his drooping eyelids. "I'll see you in the morning."

"G'night, Marinette."

"Goodnight, Adrien."

Marinette combed her fingers through his hair until finally fell asleep to the steady, rhythmic beating of her heart.


End scene! I hope you liked this chapter. This and the last were actually the inspiration behind this story, and the bit in the park was where it was initially supposed to end.

Thank you for reading, and watch out for the next chapter, "Solid Ground," on roughly April 29th. April may also be quite busy, so there's a slight chance I'll fall a little behind. If that is the case, there will again be a notice posted to my profile page. It shouldn't be more than a week delayed. Hopefully, I'll see you on April 29th!

Chapter Word Count: 2,727.

Published: Friday, March 25, 2022.