They stood on the Matura beach of Trinidad as waves rolled over each other racing rhythmically to the shore. A playful inland breeze tossed Chat Noir's blonde hair, and whipped dark strands of Ladybug's out of her ponytails. They scanned the palm fringed beach, but there were no creatures besides a wayward bird in the distance.
"You must wait," Ember instructed them. "Stay right here and I will seek out the kwami guide," he said firmly.
"Is he far?" Ladybug inquired curiously.
"She could be fathoms away, but no matter what don't move from this spot," the Phoenix flapped his wings and set off out to sea.
"What kind of wild kwami are we waiting for?" Chat Noir called after him.
"You'll know when the Leatherheads arrive!" Ember called over his shoulder.
"Leatherheads?" Chat Noir asked Ladybug, who just shrugged in response. "Sounds like a motorcycle gang or rock band!"
Ladybug laughed, "I doubt either of those will be rolling in this afternoon, but that could make an interesting beach party!"
"Well no matter who shows up, at least we get to wait on this gorgeous beach!" Chat Noir threaded his fingers into Ladybug's.
They spent the morning walking up and down the ripples of sand talking. Then they tossed smooth stones into the waves. Finally they just settled down looking out to the sea on the warm sand. Hours ticked by as they scanned the horizon, but the only fire they saw was the burning sun rising higher and higher into the sky.
Sitting on the beach Chat Noir had quickly made himself comfortable (as any proper cat would) laying his head on Ladybug's lap. At first Ladybug froze, but when she saw how her kitty's features relaxed as she drew her hands tentatively through his hair and across the back of his neck, she started to relax too. As their tension sunk, so did the sun, leaving traces of the day behind.
"Mari?" Chat Noir broke the peaceful quiet between them. "Do you think...um...would it...do you think we could maybe drop our transformations while we wait?"
Ladybug's hand paused on the curve of his neck, and froze.
"Not that we have to if you don't want to!" Chat Noir rushed, turning back to try to read her expression. "I just thought we could maybe let Plagg and Tiki rest...and it's so hot in these suits...and..."
"No, I mean yeah..." Ladybug sputtered the calm of the afternoon unraveling at the thought of lying on the beach with Adrien without the disarming catsuit. " I mean...you're so hot in that suit...I mean you should take it off...No no...I mean...ahhh! I'll just jump in the ocean now!" she groaned weakly into her arm, hiding her burning face.
Chat Noir slid himself up to her, and kissed her lightly on the tip of her nose, making her hesitantly peek out at him.
His face was the picture of sincerity, as he took her hand in his paw and spoke gravely, "I'm glad you can finally admit how irresistible you think I am."
Then that same Cheshire grin broke out across his face, and Ladybug swatted at him, pushing him backwards into the sand calling out exasperatedly, "You're such an tease!"
"I'm just saying what you've known all along, but kept denying!" he called back, scrambling just out of reach.
"Don't forget you were the one chasing me too all these years!" Ladybug lept after him.
"Look who is chasing me now!" Chat Noir laughed racing towards the waves with Ladybug right on his heels.
Ladybug tackled him into the surf, and the two tumbled into the water with a splash. The two re-emerged sputtering and giggling together, and Ladybug splashed the "mouthy Tom Cat" for good measure.
Finally Chat Noir begged her for a truce, which she reluctantly allowed (caving when he slipped his muscular arms around her, and utilized his truly adorable "kitten eyes" to disarm her).
Chat Noir pressed his forehead to his lady's and sighed, "You know that you're the one who is irresistible. I don't know how I got so lucky."
"I'm lucky!" Ladybug insisted with emotion. "After all the times I turned you down or held you at arms length...how did you never just gave up on me?!"
"Because you're worth the wait Mi'lady Marinette!" Chat Noir replied softly carefully drawing his hand up her back. I love you with every part of me." Then he held her close and whispered "Plagg, claws in," and dropped his transformation.
"Even though it has taken me so long to actually tell you how I feel, I'm glad it didn't happen right away," Ladybug draped her slender arms over Adrien's shoulders, looking out at the waves that collided against them, pushing them closer.
"What do you mean?" Adrien asked quietly, knitting his brow together.
Ladybug looked up at him, and caught her breath seeing the way his beautiful jade eyes focused so intently at her. "I mean sure it would have saved so much heart ache and confusion if we had just got together from the start...but going through everything...actually getting to know both sides of each other...well...the Ladybug part of me had to catch up to what Marinette obsessed over." Then she paused briefly moving a hand to tap her right earring. "Tiki, spots off." As her transformation faded in Adrien's arms she raised herself up on her top toes, and kissed Adrien's lips. She breathed out, and once more gazed lovingly up at him. "And my Marinette self just had to summon her Ladybug courage to put everything on the line!"
Let's meet these two back on shore," Tiki nudged Plagg, and tugged at his paw.
Marinette & Adrien were vaguely aware of Plagg's complaints about cheese shortages as the kwami headed in. Adrien drew Marinetter into his arms again, and kissed her savouring the softness of her skin against him. His tongue traced hers, and he breathed in deeply. Her mouth danced with his, angling her head slightly to deepen their kiss.
Suddenly Marinette was surprised when she felt something graze her lower back and drift lower.
"Adrien?!" Marinette gasped in surprise.
"What?" He asked confused.
"It's okay, I mean we're dating. I just didn't expect it," she brushed off her reaction.
"Expect what?" Adrien asked cluelessly.
"Come on! She smiled at him with a raised eyebrow. You think I wouldn't notice Adrien Agreste letting his hands drift..."she said before Adrien interrupted her, throwing up his hands defensively.
"I assure you I didn't! I swear! I would never...!" his eyes went wide and his face went red. "Not that I never want to...I do...uh..but would've asked...or..I mean I don't want you to think I'm not...ieeehip!!" Adrien fumbled, before ending in a startled yelp when he felt something pass across the back of his legs.
Both Adrien and Marinette's eyes met. In that instant they realized one startling fact! They weren't alone in the water!
Marinette quickly made gestures in alarm above the water to where huge shadows passed all around them. Then she pointed urgently towards shore. Their kwami were too far away to call on their transformation, and they dared not yell out at the risk of startling the mysterious phantoms in the water. Adrien wordlessly counted down on his fingers and the two sped as quickly as possible to shore.
Breathing hard, they clamoured up to shore, looking back expectantly to the encroaching waves getting into their fighting stance ready to transform...but they both felt more than a little foolish when the saw what was slowly rising from the foam of the waves behind them; the ridged tops of sea turtles! Dozens and dozens of sea turtles began rising from the sea, and belabouringly spread their great wide flippers and pulled their heavy shells further up on the beach.
Adrien looked over at Marinette, and she looked over at him, and they burst out laughing. Marinette had been grazed by a huge migrating turtle,and Adrien had been clipped with a wayward flipper. They laughed, until they were out of breath, and rolled onto their sides in the sand. Looking expectantly out to where the gentle giants were silently storming the beach, they waited for one of them to come up to them and introduce themselves as the guiding kwami of the next trial...but none of the turtles did. The turtles seemed preoccupied with their own agenda and paid little attention to the two somewhat soggy youth lounging on their beach.
Adrien and Marinette could only watch silently as the turtles made themselves at home and stragicically found their space. Still there was no sign of Ember or a Kwami-like talking creature. Only their Plagg and Tiki buzzed around them, until even they settled down in Marinette's purse, when Plagg made himself quiet comfortable with the last wheel of cheese.
"Sorry I thought you...um...tried to make a move on me," whispered Marinette to Adrien with a blush. "I should known my Kitty is too gallant for that!"
"I can't believe some turtle was putting the moves on my woman!" Adrien teased back good-naturedly.
"Oh you don't have to worry about Carapace and I, we're just good friends," Ladybug grinned mischievously.
"Ummm hmmm," Adrien narrowed his eyes, "I seem to remember agreeing to help that particular turtle to ask you out! I can't believe I nearly set up the love of my life with my best friend...good thing you locked him up with a certain foxy lady that same afternoon at the zoo or who knows what would have happened!"
"You know I was actually waiting for you to show up that day right?!" Marinette rested her head on her hand, wondering how their signals had missed the mark so many times over the years.
"Technically I was there," he smiled sheepishly, "and we did end up seeing the animals at the zoo...as Ladybug and Chat Noir at least." Then Adrien suddenly became serious, and pulled his arm quietly around Marinette's waist, and drew her closer. He tucked his head into the crock of her neck, and whispered solumly, "that was the first day I really thought I had lost you forever."
"I didn't mean to scare you with the whole T-Rex stunt," she soothed, drawing her fingers absentmindedly up and down his back. "I know what it felt like for me...loosing you I mean...I was so desperate to bring you back after Timetagger. It all happened so fast, but all I could think of was making sure I got you back."
"Really?!" Adrien pulled back so he could look her in the eye. "Even way back then?"
"Um Hmm," she smiled softly at him, and snuggled up to him again, draping his arm around her and putting her head on his chest. "Let's just try to avoid those type of situations...I'd like to keep you around!"
"Keep me around as your personal pillow!" Adrien smiled down at Marinette yawning at that moment, and nuzzling in a ridiculously cute manor into the cotton fabric of his back t-shirt.
"I do have a big cat-pillow at home...but yes...I like you much better," she murmured with another yawn taking over.
"Oh good," Adrien laughed, "I'm so relieved!" Then he watched her fondly as she fought to keep her eyes opening a loosing battle in the deliciously warm late afternoon sun.
"Just relax, and get some sleep," Adrien reassured her. "I'll keep an eye out for Ember and the kwami guide."
"Oh no, it's okay. I'm just gonna rest my eyes for a sec. I'm not even all that tired..." Marinette mumbled, but her breathing quickly timed itself with the waves, and released in deep sighs. Her head sunk heavily against Adrien,making him quiver with happiness.
He could have watched his Lady nap against him all day, but occasionally he trained his sight on the horizon to scan for the absent Phoenix. Yet even as the sun started to droop lower, taking a dip in the ocean, there was no kwami in sight.
Adrien's stomach growled in protest of the long day without food, making him tense self consciously. Marinette shifted with a light sigh against him, and nuzzled against his chest. Then she slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes, and arching her back in a luxurious stretch. When she opened her eyes she caught Adrien stating.
"Was I out long?" She tried to pull her hair into her ponytails. "Sorry, your arm must have gone numb with me leaning on you so long" Marinette apologized noticing Adrien stretch his arm over his shoulder self consciously.
"Naw, it was nice," Adrien smiled shyly all of a sudden.
"Still no sign of ember of the kwami huh?!" Marinette looked out to where the sun was now setting, leaving a trail of tangerine and pinks in its wake.
"Not yet," Adrien confirmed. "I hope he is okay."
The two sat shoulder to shoulder looking out until the last smudge of light in the sky was swallowed up by the sea. They were left in darkness. It was not quiet though. New arrivals from the seakept arriving and finding their own spot on shore. The turtles started to dig in the sand, labouring with their flippers, making whooshing sounds of flinging cascaded of the grit was throw back. It seems like such a difficult task for them, but they seem so so determined
"They're nesting!" Marinette whispered excitedly. "This is so amazing! They migrate so far to come back to where their own lives first started and lay their eggs to start a new generation!"
They sat in the midst of the miracle taking place along the beach in Aww. All night they waited and watched. Eventually hundreds of turtles one by one finished laying and covering their eggs with a layer of protective and insulating sand. Then without a sound or a glance back they slipped back onto the wide open sea.
"They just leave them here? But how do they know everything will turn out okay?" Adrien whispered as the last turtle passed beneath the surf.
"I guess they don't," Marinette whispered back
"In time what they have started here will break forth in life and new beginnings," a voice spoke out over their heads.
"Ember!" they both chorused.
"You've been patient," the Phoenix said pleased, while illuminating their faces with his steady flame in fading darkness that had begun to take on the warmer hue of dawn.
"Did you not find the kwami you were looking for?" Marinette asked disappointedly.
"Oh no I found her!" Embers eyes shown. "Look now! She has arrived!"
The water on the surface churned and boiled, foaming with frothy white spray. A island or sandbar seemed to emerge just off shore, spanning nearly 15feet. Sure enough it was no earth taking form, but the breaking of the most massive sea turtle ever in existence. Warm rays of light played off her shining patterned shell. Her great head stretched from her curved haul, and her curved beak tilted down toward them in a turtle-ish grin.
"My gift is patience," the tutle said in a warm voice. " I usually have weilders wait for what their heart desires the most, but with you too...well you've already done the trial on your own...and for much longer than I've ever run a trial," she chuckled sweetly.
"Umm...we already completed the trial...like waiting for you today ?" Adrien asked.
"Thank you for waiting on me darling boy, but I doubt I am your greatest desire?" she smiled in amusement.
"We...we waited for each other!" Marinette looked over at Adrien.
The turtle nodded, "what a true test in pure patience, but so difficult too...waiting and being faithful in the hopes that the one you love might some day return those feelings...well, that trial is no easy task!"
"I wasn't always that patient," Adrien admitted, dropping his shoulders. "I was tempted to figure out who Ladybug was, and it was sometimes so frustrating and devastating knowing that she was in love with someone else."
The turtle nodded, without judgement.
"I didn't always want to be patient either," Marinette jumped in. "I tried to get you to notice me, and had all these elaborate schemes to make you fall in love with me, even though all my plans backfired...or worse...Made you just see me as a 'very good friend." Marinette face palmed, shaking her head embarrassed my at all the things she had done over the years.
"I do love a good Marinette scheme!" Adrien nudged her shoulder with his own, "especially when it reveals that I'm not the only hopeless romantic in this duo!" he smiled.
"Your Chat Noir advances were romantic...sometimes cheesy...("hey!" both Asrien and Plagg protested)...but romantic...mine were just plain hopeless."
The sea turtle laughed outright, and winked at Ember, "they really are made for each other!" Then she turned back to the weilders. "Your temptations, frustrations, loneliness, anger, longing, and failures just show how challenging patience can be...but through it all you both were unwilling to take the easy path. All these turtles you observed on this beach faced dangers across thousands of miles to come to these shores."
The turtle crossed her wide flipper in front of herself, uncovering a clear rock in the sand.
"Often patience has its rewards," she nodded knowingly after the two young humans, and then looked down at the stone before them. "Fluorspar crystals have been used in the lenses of both microscopes and telescopes. They can help reveal thing in far off places, or minuscule details right under your nose!"
"We don't have to wait any more?" Adrien hesitated before scooping up the from the sand into both hands.
"You'll find that you never stop needing an ounce more patience in a relationship...but knowing when to make a move is also important," the turtle pushed herself back into the sea. "Good luck precious weilders! Until we meet again"
"When will we see you again!" Marinette called.
"All in good time! All in good time!" her voice sang back over the waves."