It's the final chapter and the last we will see of this particular Marinette/Adrien pair for a bit. The next one shot will be a complete stand alone and will have nothing to do with any previous stories or future ones. As for the story, when they are transformed they will be referred as Chat and Ladybug. When they are in civilian form or the hybrid state they are referred as Adrien and Marinette. I just wanted to put that out there in case it gets confusing for people. Also this story was a whopping 19,520 words. It took up 43 pages in word... its my longest one to date although the other thing I'm working on blows all my short stories out of the water.
SilverDragon-Purity, Avatar NIX... I will probably do the Marichat story first then the Marigolds sequel next so you guys will get both stories eventually.
Ms McClue... I wanted this story to be a bit more fun and fluffy since I've critically injured them in the last few. Glad you have had fun reading it!
quaylacheers... I read my friend Meaning of Marigolds way back when and they became interested in the show because of it. The other day they were going back to watch some of the episodes and asked me which episode was the one with the plant kid in it. I couldn't stop laughing when I told them it wasn't an actual episode. They made me read it to them again.
Hispanicin... So uh when I first started writing these stories some people were using Tiki and others were writing Tikki. It was new enough in the US that I literally could not find how to spell it properly so I just picked one. I picked wrong and now its ingrained that way so yeah... Tiki will be spelled wrong in every story I write.
When an akuma transforms people into what they are on the inside Marinette and Adrien realize something very important as to who they are down to their very cores.
I own nothing... Except my imagination.
Secrets Within (Part 6)
It felt fantastic to fly and Marinette wished that her normal costume gave her this ability. Swinging on a yoyo string was epic and a ton of fun but it had nothing on true flight. Angling them towards downtown Adrien pointed her in the direction to go since as they got closer he could hear the ruckus the akuma was causing. They zoomed up over the peak of a building and suddenly they had a front row seat to the Exposers mischief. She had gotten her hands on another jetpack and her back was to them as she pegged anything and everything in the street below.
"Throw me!" Adrien called as Marinette darted towards her.
There was no time to demand an explanation so biting her lip Marinette did as he asked spinning round to build up some extra momentum and releasing him at the perfect moment. He surged from her grasp raising the staff as he came down upon Exposer. Exposer didn't have a chance to even see him coming and Adrien slammed the staff home into the jet pact busting it before leaping off once more. Marinette swooped in snatching the raised staff catching him before he could fall too far while Exposer let out a shriek as she fell into an uncontrolled spiraled towards the ground. Somehow Exposer managed to shuck the jetpack and in a puff of rainbow colored smoke what looked like an oversized marshmallow sprang from the air enveloping Exposer before they struck the hard ground.
"Is that a packing peanut?" Marinette queried as she flew down towards the ground.
"Who know My Lady that bag of hers if probably packed with all kinds of things!" Adrien answered with a chuckle.
Marinette glared. "Don't make me drop you Chat."
Adrien grinned up at her and did a pull up to press a swift kiss to her lips. Startled Marinette did drop him but thankfully they were only a few feet from the ground. Adrien laughed as he landed on his feet and Marinette growled as she settled down on the ground next to him.
"OH MY GOSH THAT WAS AMAZING!" A voice squealed from off to the side and the duo spun ready to fight.
Alya stepped out of an alley and the two heroes groaned. Alya had of course been hit by Exposer at some point and now she was dressed in a fashion that reminded them of when she was Lady Wifi. She didn't have a mask on but she did have several little high tech looking balls that were clearly some kind of camera.
"What are you doing here?" Marinette demanded flinching back as one of the cameras zoomed over to them.
"Duh! Getting my scoop! I've already been hit by her powers and unlike Chloe I'm like a super reporter on the inside! These little cameras are epic!" Alya answered a wide grin plastered across her face. "But enough about me! What happened to you two! I mean Ladybug you have wings and Chat Noir is that a real cat tail?!"
Marinette groaned "Alya this is not the time…"
"You will pay for breaking my jet pack again!" Exposer screeched from behind them and Adrien darted in front of Ladybug as a beam of light shot from Exposers hand. Adrien yelped as the beam hit him and his cat characteristics vanished. Unbalanced by the sudden change he stumbled and Marinette caught him tuning her body so she blocked the view of the camera that was pointed their way. Adrien was back to normal and the only thing protecting his identity was the black mask that covered his face.
"So my powers did work on you!" Exposer yelled sounding triumphant. "I can't believe you actually came back to fight without your miraculous!"
"We will always fight to protect Paris no matter what form we take!" Marinette snarled as she glared up at Exposer. Then in a softer voice she whispered to Adrien "Are you ok?"
Adriens head nodded against her as he turned in her arms. "I'm fine, that felt really weird but if I'm back to normal then I can transform."
"Better hurry I think I made her mad." Marinette answered not liking the look on Exposers face just before she was enveloped by rainbow smoke.
"Claws out Plagg." Adrien hissed and with a whoop Plagg vanished into his ring.
Marinette closed her eyes as the flash of green light enveloped him then yelped as Adrien threw them both sideways flames scorching the place where they had just been. Her wings opened instinctively and she shot forward with Chat clinging to her as the flames followed them hungrily. Taking a sharp turn into an alley Marinette slowed and Chat let go dropping to the ground the to look himself over.
"It worked!" he cried then threw his arms around Marinette dancing her around in a quick circle.
"That's not fair!" Exposer screamed from out in the street and Chat moved back to the corner to peer out. Flames shot past and he yanked his head back just in time to avoid a scorched nose although it singed his hair.
Marinette rolled her eyes "You are going to get your nose burned, frozen, or cut off one of these days doing that."
Chat snickered and rubbed his noes as he made his way back to her side. "Since you still have wings you want to go high and I will go low?"
"I don't think there is another choice. Although…" Marinette paused for a second thinking then pulled out the can of pepper spray. "Give me the silly string and you take the pepper spray."
Chat cocked an eyebrow at her "Do you have a plan?"
Marinette nodded "Silly string will explode when exposed to heat and flames. When that happens you dart in and spray her. Once she is blind she should be easier to deal with."
Chat grinned a wide mischievous grin that made Marinettes heart flutter. "That is brilliant My Lady! Its as good as done!" He reached into his pocket on his suit and to Marinettes surprise pulled out the silly string can.
"I really need a magic pocket in my suit." Marinette grumbled handing over the pepper spray as she took the silly string.
"That could probably be arranged." Tiki squeaked from her shoulder and Marinette smiled at her kwami.
"Awesome Tiki. Now hold on tight because I'm probably going to be flying a little crazy."
Tiki nodded and darted into her pigtails as Marinette opened her wings once more. Before she could take off Chat grabbed her hand.
"Please be careful. If she hits you midair with her detransforming beam you could get hurt." Chat murmured his bright green eyes wide and pleading.
Marinette pressed a hand to his cheek. "I will kitty. Besides even if I fall I know you will always catch me."
Chat nodded once and let her hand go allowing Marinette to shoot up out of the alley. Marinette spiraled up into the air relishing in the feeling before turning over to find Exposer. Almost immediately she spotted her and Marinette dove for Exposer yelling out. "It doesn't seem like your powers worked so well on us! All you did was make us stronger!"
Exposer let loose a shriek of combined surprise and rage then pointed the device in her hand skywards. Fire surged from the tip and Marinette twisted midair the fire missing her by inches. Zipping forwards Marinette dropped lower still keeping an eye out for Chat as he darted from the alleys entrance.
"I'm going to burn you to a crisp!" Exposer squealed shooting another wall of flame at her. Lobbing the can of silly string into the heart of the flames Marinette banked as heat made her skin uncomfortably warm. A boom echoed a moment later and Exposer shrieked throwing the fire gun away from her body as the exploded can of silly string rained fire down around her. A couple pieces landed on her and she yelped at the contact swiftly patting out her pompoms. Chat flew over a car a moment later staff in hand as he took a swing at Exposers legs. The strike landed sweeping her legs right out from under her and Chat moved forward to follow through. Marinette flipped around to keep a better eye on the battle when a puff of smoke enveloped Exposers hands. Chat couldn't see what she had done but Marinette could. It had been a toy sword before, one that Exposer had pulled from her bag as she fell, but on contact with the pompoms it suddenly became very real, very sharp, and very dangerous.
"Chat back!" Marinette yelled as Exposer thrust forward.
Chat reacted instantly leaping to the top of his staff as a sword slashed at the place where he had been a moment before. The sword clanged harshly on his staff and Exposer was on her feet in a second aiming higher with her second thrust. Chat flipped back off his staff avoiding the blow with ease then swung the staff up to parry a clumsy downward strike. The sword slid off the staff with a screech and the end of the staff cracked into Exposers chin causing her to stumble back a few steps.
"That's a nasty little habit you have there, with the sneak attacks through the smoke. My Lady will be fur-ious with me if I let you cut me again. Might we try a safer object to fight with?" Chat asked as he lazily parried her next blow.
Exposer gave a wordless shout of rage at his total nonchalance and tried her absolute best to skewer Chat. He dodged with a laugh while Marinette hovered and watched for an opening fingering the length of rope at her side. Silently she told herself not to worry, Chat was a master at fencing and even she could tell Exposer had no clue as to what she was doing when it came to swinging a sword. The problem was that even though she had no idea how to fight with one she was still far stronger than the average person and one lucky hit was all she needed. Exposer slashed down again and Chat caught the sword on his staff bracing against the straining sword with both hands.
"You don't seem to be improving at this so how about we call it quits and try something different?" Chat asked a sly grin on his face.
"An excellent idea lets see what I've got!" Exposer panted with a grin of her own then reached into her bag once more.
Chats eyes flicked up to Marinette and she dove throwing the weighted end of the rope at the hand going into the bag. Throwing a weighted rope and throwing a yoyo were two totally different things and Marinette only realized it after the weight had left her hand. She missed and the weight struck Exposer in the back instead causing her to stumble forwards a step with a gasp. With the pressure on his staff released Chat dropped one hand his other flinging the sword sideways with a shriek of metal scraping metal. In the next second Exposer screamed as Chat leapt back the pepper spray in hand. Dropping the sword Exposers hands flew to her face as she screamed again and one handed started flinging random objects with poofs of rainbow smoke everywhere. Chat ducked a bowling ball, dodged a playing card the size of a sheet and then leapt straight into the air bouncing off a chucked car to gain more height with his hand outstretched. Marinette swooped down, caught him, and then swung away as a beam of green light flashed past them.
"What did you do to me?!" Exposer screamed her eyes slits as she tried to fire at them through tear filled puffy eyes.
"Pepper spray!" Chat called down gleefully as Marinette swung to the side to avoid what looked like an oversized quarter.
Exposer shrieked in fury and pain as Marinette shook him.
"Not helping" she snarled and braked suddenly as a beam of green light flashed past them once more.
Chat reached up grabbing the mirror at her waist and brought it up as another beam of light shot towards them.
"Wait!" Marinette yelped but it was too late. The beam of light reflected off the mirror and a moment later struck Exposer.
Rainbow smoke proofed into a massive cloud then suddenly they were falling.
"Tiki Spots On!" Marinette cried and feeling the tingle of magic she snatched up then threw her yoyo at the closest thing she locked eyes on. It was a chimney and as the string went taught it swung them up Chats toes just barely tapping the ground before they were airborne again. Ladybug landed on her feet at the edge of the roof but Chat wasn't so luck with his footing. Thankfully he still had a grip on Ladybugs hand and she hauled him up over the edge.
"I'm guessing I got her." Chat said feeling sheepish.
Ladybug chuckled "This is why I make the plans kitten. It was a good idea though."
The smoke down below dissipated as Chat handed Ladybug her mirror back and the two of them dropped back down to street level approaching a still screaming Exposer. Except it didn't look like exposer anymore.
"Lark?" Ladybug asked studying the still screeching puffy eyed girl.
"NO I'm the Exposer and I am going to get you for this!" She screamed then charged right at them.
Ladybug rolled her eyes and tossed the yoyo out so it tangled in her legs and trapped her arms at her sides. Exposer lurched forward and Chat caught her before she hit the ground by the yoyo string on her back.
"What did you do to me?!" Exposer screamed as she tried and failed to get out of the yoyo.
"Uh you did it to yourself actually." Chat answered as he pulled the akumafied object from her hair.
"NOOOO!" Exposer screamed again and Chat laid her down on the ground before joining Ladybug a few feet away.
"How about we go to the roof where it's a bit quieter?" Chat asked and Ladybug nodded.
Slipping her free arm around his shoulders Chat wrapped his one arm about her waist then used his staff to launch them up to the roof. Ladybug recalled her yoyo then turned to Chat with a nod.
"Come on out you nasty akuma."Ladybug called and Chat shredded the band beneath his claws. The butterfly wiggled out and Ladybug snatched it from the air catching the yoyo easily in her grip.
Chat moved forward "Can I?" he asked wiggling a little in happiness as she held the yoyo out with a grin.
He pressed a gently claw to the surface and it opened releasing the white butterfly within. "Bye, bye little butterfly!" they called together then laughed.
Hand dropping to her side Ladybug pulled the mirror out and tossed it high into the air. "Miraculous Cleanse!"
Light exploded from the object and spiraled around the two of them briefly before shooting all over the city fixing everything Exposer had done. After a moment of silence Ladybug held up a fist and Chat grinned. For once they weren't running low on time, unconscious, or injured after an akuma battle.
"POUND IT!" They both cried knocking their fists together with a laugh.
"Awe… I liked my inner reporter!" A voice cried and Ladybug glanced over the roofs edge to see Alya holding her phone up recording them and pouting. "Since you guys are still here do you mind if I get a scoop?"
Ladybug sighed and for once she really didn't feel like playing 20 questions with Alya. After all she still had a talk with her parents to look forward to.
"Sorry miss reporter but we have a previous engagement we must attend to. Maybe next time though!" Chat answered for her knowing she had a hard time refusing Alya in general. Before Alya could yell anything back the duo was off heading for Marinettes house since they both knew her parents would be waiting. They tumbled into her room dropping their transformations as they bounced to the bed. Adrien nearly went over the edge as the staff sprang back into being and tripped him up but Marinette grabbed him with a giggle managing to keep him on the bed.
"You ready?" Marinette asked softly slipping the mask she had worn off her face and Adrien nodded.
"Time to face the music I suppose." He answered removing his mask looking a touch nervous as he did. With a smile she took his mask and tossed them down onto her bed before taking a deep breath. Marinette understood how he felt. She was nervous too but so far her parents had taken everything in stride so one could always hope.
"Mama! Papa! We're home!" Marinette cried leaping down her ladder with Adrien hot on her heels.
Together they went through her trap door and found both of her parents sitting on the couch waiting for them. Taking in their grinning normal faces Sabine sighed in relief.
"I take it the battle went well then?" Sabine asked quietly
"Yep and I'm all healed so no need to worry." Adrien answered patting his side as Marinette nodded.
"Good." Sabine said the relief obvious on her face. "You kids need to sit down then because we have some things to discuss."
Marinette and Adrien shared a look that held worry as well as a multitude of other emotions.
"You're not… going to tell my father are you?" Adrien asked the fear evident on his face.
Sabine frowned not liking the fact that Adrien seemed to fear the idea of his father finding out. "We will not tell your father Adrien. That is something you should do on your own when you feel the time is right."
Adrien sighed in relief then took Marinettes hand walking over to the other couch. Marinette cuddled close once they sat and the two kwami landed on their chosen's laps ready to answer questions if asked.
"So… How much trouble are we in?" Marinette asked finally and to her surprise her father was the one to start laughing.
In the end a whole new set of ground rules were created for the Dupein-Cheng household. Curfew was 2am unless they were fighting an akuma or couldn't make it home however, warning was required if curfew couldn't be met for any reason. Adrien was allowed to sleep over at anytime however he had to let Marinette parents know that he was there even if he needed to wake them up to do so. To Adriens shock they even gave him a key and Sabines comment of coming home like a normal human being made him tear up for a minute. They didn't put restrictions on them which shocked Adrien but Marinette wasn't all that surprised. Her parents were easy going people and they knew that she wouldn't abuse their trust in her. Besides her mom had apparently known that Chat had been sleeping in the bed with her for weeks now and hadn't said anything in favor of waiting to see what was really going on. The only thing Tom had to say to that was that he was too young to be a grandfather. The comment had mortified both Adrien and Marinette as they both spluttered out "ITS NOT LIKE THAT!"
Eventually Adrien needed to return home if only for a little while and get lectured since he had not showed up for his photo shoot. Sabine stopped him on the way out and asked if he would be returning that night to join them for a late night movie marathon and Adrien had enthusiastically agreed.
Thankfully Adrien was able to cite the akuma attack for not being able to show up and he was let off with a stern lecture and confinement to his room for the rest of the day. Once he was sent to his room Adrien waited for nightfall then slipped from his room as Chat. Arriving at Marinettes house he dropped his transformation in a nearby alley then walked to the front door. It was open and nervously he slipped in through the door. It felt weird walking into the house even though he had a key so he called out a greeting trying to figure out where everyone was. Marinette stuck her head around the wall and waved at him "Come on up!"
He did and found to his delight warm cookies, milk, and a mess of pillows complete with blankets on the floor. Marinette was in her pjs already and she grinned at the ecstatic look on his face.
"You have some pjs upstairs if you want to get changed." Marinette chuckled
Adrien darted forward to give her a peck on the cheek then launched himself up her stairs eager to get comfy on the pillows and blankets in the living room. He was back in minutes remembering to greet her parents this time before snuggling against Marinette with a purr. Neither of them lasted long though and somewhere in the middle of the movie they passed out exhausted from the long day.
Marinettes parents eyed the two kids before them with a sigh. Adrien was curled up around Marinette their legs tangled and her nose pressed to the soft cotton shirt on his chest. A soft purr rumbled from Adrien every so often and he was almost always answered by a soft hum from Marinette. Both of them were smiling in their sleep their kwamis curled up together on a nearby pillow. Tom wrapped an arm around his wife pressing a kiss to her head enjoying the fact that the two kids before him were safe, warm, and happy.
"You think we did what was best?" He asked his voice a hushed whisper.
Sabine nodded "You know as well as I that we couldn't stop either of them even though we might want to. All we can do as parents is give them a safe place to come home to as well as the tools needed to survive out there. Helping them like this is the best way to keep them safe I think."
"They're good kids." Tom sighed unhappy with the fact that they really couldn't do more.
"Yes they are." Sabine agreed "And one day Adrien will make an excellent son in law."
Tom chuckled quietly in agreement wrapping his arms around the woman he loved with all his heart. The adults sighed leaning against each other content to let the two teens sleep because for now the warm house was quiet, safe, and everyone was finally home.
I really liked the way i ended this one so this Arc is officially finished! See everyone in a week.