Marinette was rushing out her door to get to school. "I tried to wake you up," Tikki said from Marinette's purse. "Well, it's a lot harder when you can't shake my whole body," Marinette said back as she ran. "You need to learn how to wake up on your own. We won't always be together, you know." Tikki said. "That's both a scary and sad thought. I don't want to part with you Tikki." Marinette said back. She noticed she was getting close to the school. "Hide," she whispered. She ran up the stairs and up to the door. She stopped and rested her hands on her knees. She was breathing heavily. The sound of Alya clicking her tongue disapprovingly appeared. "Almost late again. Girl you need to get things together. I'm pretty sure Audrey would want you to be punctual all the time." Alya said. Marinette took a deep breath and stood up. "Yeah probably. I'll try to be better before the end of the year," she said. She looked inside and noticed Adrien sitting on one of the benches. Alya pulled out her phone and pulled Marinette along as they talked. "I still can't believe that Gabriel asked Audrey to take you in. He really sees potential in you. I just know one day you're going to be a great designer. You'll probably overthrow both of them and be the best designer in Paris and in New York. You'll be super famous and I'll be the one covering it all!" Alya said. Alya had pretty much shoved her phone in Marinette's face. Marinette pushed the phone away. "Oh what, you'll go to New York just to cover me being a designer. I'm sure you can get so much better stories then me being a designer," she said. "But you overthrowing Gabriel and Audrey would be an amazing story! Imagine it, 'Parisian baker's daughter turned fashion designer surpasses Parisian icon Gabriel Agreste and New York icon Audrey Bourgious.' It'd be amazing!" Alya said. Marinette laughed at Alya's over the top manner but she stopped when she noticed who they were near. She hadn't noticed they had walked towards Adrien during their conversation. How much had he heard? Another thought hit her. Why wasn't Alya asking anything about Bridgette? Or Felix? And why was she talking about Gabriel like he wasn't in jail right now because he was Paris' supervillain? "Hey Alya, what's the latest news? Can I see?" Marinette asked. Alya shrugged and started typing on her phone. "Sure but there's nothing really interesting. Pretty boring stuff like weather and all that. Trust me, if there was something big I'd totally be talking about it right now." Alya said as she handed the phone to Marinette. She was right. Nothing interesting. "Hey Adrien, don't you think it's great that your dad convinced Audrey to give Marinette another shot and take her to New York?" Alya asked. Adrien looked up. "Um yeah, I guess it is," he said. "If she becomes better than your dad and Audrey you could model for her. Wouldn't that be great?" Alya asked. "Um, actually I don't think I'd model for her," he said. Alya seemed shocked and confused. "What? Why?" she asked. "I don't think I'll be continuing modeling," he said. Alya smiled. "You mean your dad is actually going to let you go to normal college?" she asked. "Um yeah," Adrien said. "That's great! Come on. We'd better get to class." Alya said. She grabbed Marinette's wrist and pulled her to their class. When they got there Nino was already in his seat. Adrien came in shortly after the two girls. "So are you two glad to have your old seats back?" Marinette asked Alya and Nino. The couple looked at each other then back at her. "What are you talking about? These have always been our seats." Nino said. "Yeah Marinette. You ok or something? You seem to be pretty off today." Alya said. She looked at Adrien who had quietly taken his seat. "Adrien seems pretty off today as well," she said. "What?" Adrien questioned turning around. "Well you've barely spoken, you seem dazed or distracted or something and when you do speak you seem almost unsure or something," Alya said. She turned to Marinette. "You've also barely spoken and when I was talking to Adrien you seemed like you wanted to shut me up or pull me away but were afraid to. Plus you made it seem like Nino and I had recently sat in different spots which we haven't," she said. "I wasn't-" the bell rang before Marinette could finish. The whole class slowly fell silent as Miss Bustier walked in.
The bell rang and school was over. Everyone was packing their things and starting to leave. "So any special plans for Christmas this year? Anyone?" Alya asked. "Same old, same old. Spending time with family and having a good time." Nino said. "Same here. Nora will be coming back though. It'll be nice to see her. With her traveling a lot I miss her. She's been representing Paris in the States a lot lately. Ella and Etta can't wait to see her either." Alya said. "I'll be helping my parents in the bakery a lot during Christmas week but otherwise I don't really have anything special planned." Marinette said. "Nothing special planned for me." Adrien said. Alya gasped. "Adrien I swear, I'm so sorry. I keep forgetting sometimes that your dad sometimes doesn't, ugh. I'm sorry." she said. Adrien gave a soft smile. "It's fine. I've gotten used to it. I really like hearing about what you guys have planned. Besides, it's the last year of high school. After college I can spend the holidays how I want." he said. "Probably with a nice girl." Nino said with a cheeky smile. Alya looked at Marinette who was shielding herself. She knew who Nino was referring to and they didn't know anything so she had to keep up the act that she still could barely talk to Adrien. Adrien chuckled. "Probably not. I've gotten pretty used to being by myself. Besides, no girl I really have eyes for." he said. That was a huge knife to the heart. Marinette was heartbroken but she didn't show it. What did he mean there wasn't a girl he had eyes for? What about yesterday? Did none of that matter? "Dude how could you not? Girls practically fall at your feet." Nino said. "Because I'm famous. Nothing more. Most of them probably just want to brag to their friends and make them feel bad. They want to be famous. Simply gold diggers." Adrien said back. "I guess so. Ready Alya?" Nino asked. "Yep." Alya said. "Where are you two off to?" Marinette asked. "We're going to the movies then Nino is taking me home. See you guys tomorrow." Alya said as the couple walked out. "Marinette." Adrien said. Now he wanted to talk to her. She turned to face him. "Here. I want to give this back to you." he said. He held out his hand which had the bracelet she had given him. She was confused. Why was he giving it back to her? She shook her head and pushed his hand back. "No. I gave it to you. Keep it. You've had it for four years. I don't really want it anymore." she said. "No. Please take it." he insisted. "I can't. I won't." she said. "Please." he begged. "Kitty, no." she said firmly. He was silent for a moment. "Who's kitty?" he asked. Take it back! Take it back! Take it back! Words! Speak them, idiot! Take it back! His conscience shouted at him. That was the last straw. She had given him space to talk to her. She had ignored his coldness. But that was it. It was like he wasn't acknowledging anything that happened yesterday. She clenched her fist, closed her eyes and shook her head. She grabbed her stuff. "Apparently he's not the guy I thought he was." She said coldly then walked out.
This wasn't how things were supposed to go. Both kwamis were aware of this. Chat Noir stopped coming to patrols. Marinette told Tikki she was fine but Tikki knew she wasn't. Adrien barely spoke to Plagg. Anytime he did it was a complaint about his camembert. They had been driven farther apart then before all of this. If things weren't fixed by the end of the school year Tikki and Plagg would be back as humans. Only things would be very different.
And it couldn't be fixed.
Ow. That hurt. I'll have this done by Thanksgiving! Woo! I think this one is a little short. The next one may be shorter but it will be kinda happier. Basically, the ending is saying like if they don't work things out then Tikki and Plagg will become humans again and they will stay that way until their wielder dies. And they won't look like Felix & Bridgette. They'll look completely different. Even transformed.