Adrien couldn't find it in himself to do anything. Although it was fun to get to know Tikki, he just couldn't seem to see color or light in his life anymore. Everything was grey, even things that had used to belong to Marinette.

As he sat in the garden in his backyard, fingering the said gift that she had last given him, footsteps from the house began to approach him.

Adrien didn't have to look up to know who it was- the footsteps were carefree, and a bit sloppy. Only one person in the household had that kind of walk.

And don't get him wrong, he loved being able to spend time with his mother, but…

He wanted Marinette.

Emilie Agreste sat down beside Adrien, and together they sat in silence. It lasted for several moments as he continued to play with his beanie, and she took a deep breath.

"I… I wasn't actually in a coma, was I?"

The question sounded more like a statement, and Adrien looked up and into the green eyes that he had inherited from her. He couldn't find it in himself to say anything- all he could do was blink.

Yes, he knew that Gabriel had essentially lied to Emilie about what happened, but Adrien hadn't expected her to see through it.

Emilie placed a hand on her son's leg, giving it a light, supportive squeeze.

"What actually happened, Adrien?" She asked softly. "Please, tell me."

Adrien hesitated. Now, instead of it being his father's choice, it was his. Keep his mother forever, or have the chance of getting Marinette back?

The words fell out of his mouth before he could stop them.

"You died." His voice cracked when he said it, and Emilie wrapped a comforting arm around him, pulling him into a hug. Adrien practically melted into the embrace, tears falling from his eyes.

"Y-You died, and father changed, and I changed. A-And after a year, father decided that he'd try to bring you back to life. No one knew that he was behind it, b-but he found an ancient artifact called the butterfly Miraculous and used it to become a super villain."

"Super villain?" Emilie questioned, and Adrien nodded.

"Y-You see, in order to bring you back, h-he needed to find two specific Miraculous. Th-the ring of the black cat, a-and the earrings of the Ladybug. They're the t-two most powerful. And the only w-way to do that was to give u-us something to fight. Sp-speaking of- Tikki, do you want to come out?"

The said Kwami flew out of the flower bush that they were next to, and Emilie gasped.

"Oh my."

"Hello!" Tikki greeted in her best cheerful voice at the moment. "I'm Tikki, it's nice to meet you!"

"Tikki's a kwami." Adrien explained. "They help people who hold the Miraculous transform into heroes. Originally, when father first became a super villain, I was given the ring of the black cat to fight against him."

"Was… Tikki, was it?- Given a hero as well?" Adrien grimaced, looking down and at where his ring would normally lie.

"Yes." Adrien answered brokenly, a sad smile on her face. "Her name was Marinette, a-and she was the sweetest, kindest, most beautiful girl you could ever meet. O-Of course, back then, we didn't know who anyone was under the mask, b-but I knew the second that I saw her that she-she was, and still is, my everything."

"... What happened, Adrien?" Emilie asked in a whisper, her hands combing through his hair. "Why do you speak of her in the past tense?"

"Fr-From what I gather…" He swallowed nervously- a pathetic attempt to stop him from crying more. "About two weeks a-ago, she found out that f-father was the villain. She was going to tell me superhero identity, but then walked in on me changing back into Adrien. She decided to confront farther on her own, and-and-" Adrien's throat grew tight around his vocal chords, begging him not to speak as more tears fell.

He spoke anyway.

"A-And father told her that he wanted to use the two most powerful Miraculous together to bring you back. Th-the thing with the wish is… is that in order for you to get your wish, something must be sacrificed instead. If father wanted to bring you back from the dead, someone… someone would have to die."

"I don't know what she was thinking." He confessed. "She agreed to help him in exchange for me to be able to do as I please, and then convinced me that my identity was in jeopardy so that she could get my Miraculous for him. By the time I figured it out, You were here, and she-... and she-"

"Shhh…" Emilie soothed, hugging him tighter.

"She's gone, mother." He said. "The love of my life and my best friend are gone because father wanted to bring you back. And I love having you, but- I love her more. I want her back, mother, why can't I have her back?!"

It was at that point that he basically fell apart in her arms, weeping like a newborn babe in her arms as she soothed and comforted him like the amazing mother that she was. Tikki watched on and eventually managed to find a place for her to comfort him alongside his mother.

This continued on for what felt like hours before he calmed down from broken to a sniffling, hiccuping, wanting-to-shut-himself-off-from-the-world ball of massy emotions.

"Oh, my sweet, sweet honey bun…" Emilie soothed in a whisper, almost more to herself than him. She leaned down and kissed his head, and in his emotionally distraught and tired mind, he spoke again.

"I really love having you back, but I want Marinette. Everything's grey without her. Why can't I have Marinette?"

His eyes grew heavy, and just as a well-needed sleep came to finally claim his conscience, his mother spoke.

"I'm going to have a talk with your father."

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Needless to say, after proving his mother after he woke up the next day from his much-needed rest, she hadn't managed to persuade Gabriel.

Not that any of us actually expected her to, we all know that Gabriel is a very stubborn man, but that small seedling of hope was now squashed under his foot.

Adrien's life grew increasingly more grey. Gabriel often summoned the three of them together to go and do family related things around the house (Emilie was 'too weak' to go outside, but from what Adrien had heard from the news, no memories had been altered in cause of Gabriel's wish), but Adrien was slowly declining them and resorting to stay in his room.

As he fiddled with the bracelet that Marinette had given him a week after his mother had first tried to convince his father, he ignored the cold, now disgusting food that the cook had tried to feed him for breakfast.

He hadn't been able to keep anything down for a few days now, much less want to eat anything. He couldn't bring himself to try to change things back to normal or fight against his father in general.

Speaking of- Gabriel was full heartedly keeping his promise to Marinette. Adrien could literally walk downstairs and say 'I'm going to explore and I don't want anyone to follow me or protect me', and his father would approve.

Probably with great hesitance though, and a LOT of other things, but he'd still let him.

But, as he always was, he was denied the one thing that he truly wanted.

There was a way, he realized. A way that he could see her again.

No, he couldn't. Marinette wouldn't want that.

...

But wasn't he already?

No, no, he wasn't actually considering this, right? This was ridiculous! Marinette would litterally kill him!

…

It would be worth it.

Adrien slowly sat up from where he lay, head dizzy.

Maybe he could get rid of the feeling by transforming.

But he didn't know how to get around Paris with a Yoyo, not to mention it would cause a riot. The people of Paris were already freaking out about Ladybug and Chat Noir vanishing, and the lack of akumas terrorizing Paris.

Adrien slowly stood up from his bed, his vision swimming for a moment before he could see clearly again. He walked over to his window-wall, where he could see the blue sky that only served to remind him of her eyes.

It was suffocating, really. School still had a month left until it started, but he couldn't even find it in himself to enjoy the idea of going back.

Not with her gone.

Slowly, he reached down for his remote on his table, pressing the button to open his window.

"Adrien?" Tikki questioned tiredly, a small cookie to snack on in her paws.

"We could use some fresh air." He replied, voice a little hoarse. "I'm sorry, my staying in here is preventing you from going out and about."

"Don't be silly, Adrien." Tikki flew over to him and landed lightly on his shoulder. "What you're going through is completely understandable."

"Tikki…" He swallowed. "I… I kinda want to stand on the window cill." He admitted. Tikki breathed in sharply. "I'm not gonna let myself fall or anything, but…"

When Tikki didn't say anything, he slowly moved until he was standing on the said cill, staring out and into the streets of Paris. A soft breeze brush passed, musing through his tangled and unkempt hair.

"Do you want to talk about anything?" Tikki asked after a moment. Adrien paused before speaking.

"It's just the same thing." He sighed. "I want to see Marinette again."

"I do too, Adrien." Tikki sighed. "I do too."

"Tikki…" He looked down and to his right, away from the kwami, almost ashamed. "Is there another way to see her again? Without using the Miraculous?"

It seemed as though she instantly understood what he meant, because she rapped her paws around his cheek and hugged as best as she could.

"You could see her again that way, Adrien." Tikki admitted. "I'm not going to lie to you. But-"

"It's wrong?"

"No, it's natural for you to feel like this." Tikki soothed. "What I want you to think about is how everyone would react if you did do it. How would you change everyone's lives because of that one decision to simply go and see Marinette."

"Would the world be full of color again?" Adrien asked. "Would the light chase away the shadows of my life if I didn't? I-I want to do it, to be selfish, but… what would she think?"

"She wouldn't like it." Tikki sighed. "Not one bit. She really, truly thought that bringing your mother back would make you happy, Adrien. She wouldn't be as upset with you as she would be with herself, because she wasn't able to help you get happiness."

"But…" Adrien closed his eyes, a hand leaving the side of the window next to him to grip the piece of fabric over his heart. "She is my happiness."

"She didn't know that." Tears swelled in Tikki's eyes. "She didn't know that she was, otherwise she would have stopped your father instead of helping him."

"I want her back."

"I do too, Adrien. I do too."

It was then that the door to his room opened, but Adrien didn't bother to turn around.

"Adrien, I was thinking- What on earth are you doing?!" His father's fast and strict footsteps walked over to the window. "Get down, Adrien."

"I don't want to." His left hand tightened it's hold on the window next to him.

"Adrien-"

"You might've promised my freedom, but you don't listen." He continued, hate and a sickening feeling rising up from his stomach. "I wanted fresh air, so I opened the window."

"And standing in the said window will help you get it better than going down stairs and walking out the front door?" Silence, and then Gabriel sighed. "Adrien, please, get down from there. Your mother is coming up to join us for lunch in here today. We're worried about you-"

"And you don't think that Marinette's parents aren't worried about her?" Adrien looked over his shoulder and glared at Gabriel. "They have no idea that she was sacrificed to bring mother back. None of her friends do either. But I do." He looked back, towards the outside world. "I do know what happened to her, and all of the color and the light in the world has vanished."

"Son-"

"Both mother and I want you to bring her back." His hold tightened again on the window cill, and for a moment he wished that Tikki would speak. However, she had commenced a declaration of silence around the elder Agreste, which meant that he would be on his own until Gabriel left the room.

"We both know that what you did was wrong. You think that everything will go back to the way it was because mother's back, but it won't. Nothing in the world will ever be right again." He took a deep breath. "And that's not a world worth living in."

"Adrien…" Gabriel sighed. "Please, get down."

"No." Adrien stood firm against his father's will. "I like it here. I feel closer to her."

"I brought up the- Adrien? Gabriel?" Emilie placed something down and walked forward. "What's going on?"

"Father wants me to come down."

"But he's not." Gabriel finished, reaching a hand up to rub at his temples.

"Gabriel, I'm telling you, the only way to fix this would be to bring Marinette back-"

"I'm not losing you again, Emilie-"

"Who would you rather lose?" She interrupted, a hand reaching up and placed upon Adrien's foot comfortingly. "Your wife who is supposed to be dead, or our son who's supposed to be having fun, supposed to be happy?"

Gabriel stared at her for a moment, and Emilie sighed, looking up at Adrien.

"Honey bun, please get down." She said soothingly. "This isn't a good way to go and see Marinette again. If you saw her, you know that she'd be heartbroken when she learned about what happened."

Adrien stood there for a moment, unresponsive. He was staring at the rooftops, where normally he'd be hoping to see a blur of red swinging about so that he could join her.

Slowly, and carefully, he got down again and let his mother hug and fuss over him, hugging her back as well while tears began to fall down his face again for what seemed to be the millionth time.

He wasn't going to die.

Not today, anyway.

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Gabriel, for once, couldn't sleep.

He tossed and turned, but no matter how comfortable his position on his bed was, his mind continued to race.

'You're being selfish, Gabriel.' A thought that had been growing steadily stronger after he had brought Emilie back continued to haunt his subconscious. 'You're being so selfish that you're breaking your promise to Dupain-Cheng. You know that she knew that it was likely to be her and did it anyway for Adrien's sake, can't you do the same?'

He sat up, running a hand through his hair before looking at the time on his alarm clock.

2:00AM.

'I should check on Adrien.' He thought, sliding out of bed.

'You wouldn't have to if you hadn't sacrificed her.' The thought continued, even as he walked across the hall, down and up the steps, towards Adrien's room.

'He needs his mother.'

'Does he really?' The thought asked as Gabriel quietly opened the door. His son lay on his bed, clearly having not been able to sleep until that point if the crumpled blankts and already messy blonde hair had anything to say about it. Gabriel slowly entered the room, looking down at his son's features, which were highlighted in the light of the moon.

His son did not look healthy, much less happy. Circles were under his eyes and a frown marred his features even in his sleep, whereas there used to be a dreamy smile.

'You're the only one preventing him from being happy.' The thought continued. 'Are you really willing to forever bear that guilt? That shame of not being able to make your son happy?'

No, Gabriel realised, suddenly feeling sick as he finally accepted what was really going on.

It wasn't worth it. All of this, he had supposed, was an effort to make Adrien happy again. Really, Gabriel was just being selfish. He was the only one happy in this scenario, and everyone knew it.

'I need to fix what destruction I've caused.' Gabriel gave in, head hanging in defeat. 'Adrien deserves a better father, so a better father I need to be.'

And with that, he walked out of Adrien's bed, went back to his own room, hopped into bed, and tried to go to sleep again.

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The next morning, Adrien woke up to his father lightly shaking him.

"What is it, father?" He asked. A small, sad smile was on the elder's lips.

"Adrien…" He hesitated, the smile fading, but the look remained in his eyes. "I wanted to apologize to you."

"Huh?"

"I thought bringing your mother back would make you happy." Gabriel hung his head. "But really, all of this was in an attempt for my happiness. I-I wanted to apologize because your happiness should matter more than my own. If you're not happy in this situation, then it really is all for naught."

"Father?"

"I talked with Emilie about it earlier this morning. Everything is set up." Gabriel held open his hand. "All we need are the ladybug earrings, and-" Adrien didn't let Gabriel finish before he swallowed his father up in a hug.

"Thank you!" He said earnestly. "I'm sorry that we can't both have what we want- I hope I didn't-"

"I made this choice on my own." Gabriel hugged Adrien back, sighing a bit. "And to be completely honest, you being happy makes me happy. It just took me a while to see it."

Warmth swallowed Adrien's heart, and for the first time in weeks he smiled.

"I love you, father."

"I love you too, Adrien."

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"Now, I might not've met her yet-" Emilie tapped Adrien's shoulder lightly. "But you better be a good gentlemen towards her."

"Yes mother." Adrien agreed with a nod.

"And speaking from experience, or at least what I think will happen, she'll remember just about everything that happened before she was sacrificed. She might be angry about being brought back. You'll have to be the one to calm her down."

Adrien wrapped his arms around Emilie, a tear falling from his eyes despite the smile on his face.

"I love you." He whispered. "I'm going to miss you."

"You'll see me again, one day." Emilie leaned down and kissed his head. "Know that I'll always love you, and that I'll always be watching over you, Adrien." He nodded, and Emilie left him to go and give her goodbyes to Gabriel.

"Emilie, I-" He sighed, hanging his head.

"You don't have to say anything." Emilie reached a hand up and caressed his cheek, lovingly, a smile on her face and tears in her eyes. "I already know, Gabriel."

"You always do." Gabriel offered Emilie a brief smile before leaning down to kiss her, which she returned.

"Stay safe, and don't try this again, my love."

"I won't, Em'. I'll count the days till I can see you again."

Emilie slowly slipped away from her husband, a sad smile gracing her lips. Gabriel took a deep breath, holding his hand out with both the earrings and the ring.

The ritual began.

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Huh.

That felt weird.

At first, she was nothing. She didn't know anything, couldn't feel anything, simply basked in white.

But now she was something.

She couldn't remember what she had been doing before then, before she was pulled into this white abyss, but she knew that she had been watching. Looking down and watching events as they laid themselves out, but she couldn't remember, where, or why. Couldn't remember what or who she was watching, just that she had been.

Simple words that she couldn't remember before but knew the meaning of began forming in her head as she felt a tingling sensation spread through her. It started below her, with her… toes, and slowly spreading up her legs.

Memories from the time before she started watching began to fill her head as she gained a sense of being.

She was a girl, a girl named Marinette. She was fourteen years old, lived in a bakery with her parents, and went to school like any other normal girl.

Except… she wasn't normal.

Memories of her time as Ladybug began to fill her head- hanging out with her punny partner and fighting with him against Hawkmoth. Swooning over Adrien, her classmate, hanging out with Alya-

Wait…

…

That was right.

She was supposed to be dead.

But as the whiteness around her started to fade to black, she could feel that her eyes were closed, that she was laying down on carpet, and she didn't like it.

Smell infiltrated her mind- words and textures that were familiar to her that she never should have felt ever again were flowing in like water, and they weren't leaving.

She didn't like it.

Footsteps, and she tried to move and open her eyes at the same time, but her body was far too tired. Too exhausted.

She shouldn't be exhausted.

"Marinette?" The familiar voice that could only belong to one green eyed blonde grew closer. A hand rested on her shoulder, and somehow the physical contact gave her the ability to open her eyes. As the blurry image of Adrien Agreste slowly became focused, she found it in herself to speak.

"A… Adrien…?"

"Marinette!" A smile so wide she could've sworn it would tear his face in half grew on his lips. His eyes were alight with an immense amount of happiness and love, and it sent Marinette's mind reeling in an attempt to process it all. "Oh, Marinette! I'm so glad you're back!"

Slowly, Marinette looked up, focusing on the sad, but prideful eyes of one Gabriel Agreste.

"Why…"

"Huh?"

"Why am I… back?" She asked. "You… you were supposed to get… Emilie…"

"Adrien wasn't happy. Emilie wasn't happy." Gabriel knelt down beside Marinette with a sigh. "And we all decided that it would be best if you were here instead."

Marinette blinked, attempting to process the information, but it vanished the moment she tried to think of what his words meant.

"It's alright, Mari." Adrien spoke again, and she focused on him again. "You don't have to worry about anything."

"But…"

"We should take her to a more comfortable setting." Gabriel sood up. "The guest room perhaps?"

"Wait…"

"Of course, father." Adrien carefully scooped Mariette in his arms, lifting her up. A sense of belonging and rightfulness filled her heart, but she wasn't sure how she felt about it. She liked it, but she felt like it was wrong.

Emilie was supposed to be here, not her.

The trip to the guest room passed by in a blurr, and soon enough she was being laid down on a bed softer than her own. It made her sleepy- to want to go to sleep.

"I'll go get her some water."

"Okay, father. I'll stay here and watch her."

Marinette lolled her head to the side in order to watch Gabriel leave. Adrien situated himself so that he was laying down on the bed with her, arms wrapped around her securely.

Before he could speak, she did.

"I… I shouldn't be here."

"No, Marinette-"

"You should have your mother here with you." Marinette continued. "You should be living happily, with a complete family."

"Mari, it's not the same without you."

"I don't understand." She confessed, her tired mind going on overdrive in an attempt to piece her thoughts together. "Why am I back? Where's Emilie? What-"

She was cut off with a kiss.

It was but a simple peck, but the emotion and words from that kiss were so immense and overwhelming that her whole mind froze.

"Sleep." He whispered into her ear, voice both soft and stern, and she was compelled to do as he asked. "We'll talk later, okay?"

"O… kay…" She let her eyes slip closed, and Adrien situated himself closer to her, protecting her from any dangers of waking up from the outside world.

Sleep…

That…

That was a good idea…

And before she knew it, she was asleep, lost in the land of dreams.

Alive, the way that she was supposed to be, whether she believed it or not.

And, truly, there was no better reality to be a part of than this one.