Time Is Up

Marinette ran across the street away from the school and to a familiar alley way she usually used to transform. After telling her mom she had a class project she needed to work on at the school she had rushed out to transform. She reached the alleyway, transformed and made her way up to the roof. She swung past the school on her way to Master Fu's shop. She noticed a familiar head of golden blonde hair outside on the steps of the school. Adrien was always early to school, she remarked in her head. Unlike me. She stumbled a bit in her next swing when the light caught, just right, in his golden hair. He had a literal golden halo. She sighed as she continued swinging to the masters shop.

She swiftly ducked into another alleyway and detransformed making her way over to the front door. Before she could knock the door opened.

"Ah, Marinette. How nice it is to see you again." He gestured for her to enter and sit down at a low table. She noticed that a steaming cup of tea was already poured out for her.

"So, Marinette. How have your responsibilities as Ladybug been since the fall of Hawkmoth?"

"Ummm, well quiet. There isn't really much to do now that Hawkmoth has been defeated. Only the occasional cat stuck in a tree." Marinette giggled at imagining Chat stuck in a tree, she really needed to stop thinking about him so much.

"That is good to hear. I would be saddened if you weren't able to celebrate defeating Hawkmoth with a few days of relaxation." Master Fu commented.

Marinette had to admit that it was nice these past two weeks, but Chat's comments still niggled at the back of her mind. There's no need to reveal our identities.

"Master? Now that Hawkmoth is gone. Should Chat Noir and I reveal our identities to each other?"

"Ah, that is up to both of you." Master Fu answered. "But, that brings me to the reason I have called you here. You have been a wonderful Ladybug filled with creativity. A Ladybug that has done her best to be honest and virtuous despite the requirement of hiding your identity to those you love."

Marinette felt a chill run through her at his comments. What was Master Fu saying? It almost sounded like…

"It is with great sadness that I inform you that the time has come for the Miraculous of the Ladybug and Black Cat to be returned to the Miraculous Box for safekeeping and future use." Master Fu looked at her with sad old eyes watching the growing confusion on her face.

"What? I… I don't understand?" Marinette grew pale at his words as the implications of them rang through her mind. "Tikki?" Marinette turned to her Kwami who sat on the table in front of an untouched cookie.

"I am sorry Marinette. I couldn't tell you. After the defeat of the danger that we were called upon to destroy we have one codon to stay and make sure that the world is safe once again."

"What… What's a codon?" Marinette asked as she analyzed Tiki's expression.

"It's approximately three weeks in your human time." Tikki sadly stated as she looked up at Marinette.

Three weeks… that left only one more before… before she lost tikki. One more week with her best friend. What would happen to her? Would she forget Marinette even existed? Would she sleep until another disaster wrecked the world and become the best friend to a different Ladybug? Leaving Marinette alone for the rest of her life?

Marinette hadn't realized that she was crying until Tikki came and wiped her tears from her eyes.

"Marinette, I love you! You are the best Ladybug I could have ever asked for. You are so loving and kind and have the best cookies of all of time and I am not exaggerating. I will always remember you no matter what." Tikki told her as she hugged marinette's still weeping cheeks.

Marinette hugged her Kwami back and just relished in the tiny hug because she knew that she wouldn't be getting the chance to hug her kwami in another week. She was now calmed down enough to remember that they were not alone. She turned to see Master Fu sitting and waiting patiently.

"Marinette, you should take the week and spend time saying goodbye to your kwami as well as talk to Chat Noir. It is imperative that you discuss with him the nature of the Kwami and that I will be waiting to receive both of your Miraculous next week." Marinette nodded to Master Fu. "I would also advise talking to Chat Noir about revealing your identities. You will not have another chance to do so."

Marinette grew worried at that last sentence and started biting her lips. Now she really needed to talk to Chat about the Identity reveal. With that said, Master Fu led her to the front door and said goodbye.

Marinette was so plagued with the thoughts in her head that she had made it back to school with little to no recollection of her time flying through the streets of Paris. She ducked into an alley behind the school to detransform and walked dazedly to class. She heard the bell ring for the first period and was snapped out of her thoughts.

As she ran, once again late for class, she didn't notice Adrien coming out of her Parents bakery holding a bag filled with pastries and a smile as he saw her rushing up the stairs.

oo o0oo 000 ooo0 o 0o00 000 oo0

Adrien hated the feeling of a hundred different eyes looking at him. He thought that he should be used to it by now, but it felt different than any of the times that he did a photoshoot. These were suspecting eyes. These were eyes that were searching for any reason to mark him just like his father. A villain. He closed his eyes and sighed.

"Kid, even I am getting creeped out with all of the people staring at you." Plagg said quietly enough that no one noticed. "Why don't you go in and sit in your classroom like usual? Then there won't be as many people staring you down seeing if you do anything."

"No Plagg, I want to talk to Marinette. She is my only friend left and I am scared that I made her feel uncomfortable yesterday. I want to talk to her."

"You want to spend time with her, you mean. Am I right in assuming that you have finally come to terms with your little crush on baker girl?" Plagg taunted.

"No, Plagg. Marinette is just a friend. A friend that hasn't left me. I need a friend like that right now…" He trailed off as he saw Nino and Alya walking up the stairs of the school. They noticed him and looked at eachother. Nino kissed his girlfriend on the cheek and walked in as Alya walked over to Adrien.

Adrien started getting very nervous. Alya looked determined as she walked towards him with an air of confidence. He had waited for weeks to be able to talk to one of his friends, but now it felt like he could wait another couple weeks with that look in Alya's eye.

"Adrien." Alya said in a way of greeting

"A-Alya" Adrien responded in a shaky voice. He steeled himself against her intimidating aura. He was Chat Flippin Noir he could easily deal with a conversation with the blogger. He took a deep breath as Alya started talking.

"I see that you have taken a fondness for Marinette?" Alya said in a weird formal tone.

"Uhhhh… yeah, me and Marinette are friends." Adrien said, questioning her tone of voice. Why was she acting like this?

"I need you to take that fondness and smash it to the ground. Marinette is too kind to tell you herself to back off and as her official BFF I need to protect her from people who can hurt her. So, back off." Alya said, looking into Adriens eyes.

That was when he realized what that tone of voice was. It was the tone of voice you use while speaking to a villain. Confidant, defiant, and unwavering. He has used that voice while speaking to many Akuma and he has heard it many times from Ladybug as she stared down Hawkmoth … his father. That's what this was. Alya saw him as a villain. Everyone saw him as a villain. Everyone, but Marinette. Marinette still talked to him like a friend. Comforted him like a friend. He couldn't lose that.

He stood up straighter and looked at Alya back with the same amount of defiance plus some. He had more experience with it.

"Marinette is my friend too, Alya. I'm not just going to back off because you say so." Alya looked irritated. Where did all of this hatred come from? He thought that Alya was his friend at least deep down, but he was beginning to think that there was no hope.

Alya matched his stare with her own. Adrien saw the determination spark in her eyes before she broke the stare and walked away without another word. He stared at her back as she made her way into the school and out of Adriens sight. He felt a sudden wave of sadness come over him as he lost sight of her.

"Kid, are you alright?" Plagg whispered. A lot more people were watching him now after the confrontation with Alya.

Instead of responding Adrien looked toward the bakery and started walking over to it.

Kid! What are you doing? The school is that way." Adrien pretended like he didn't hear his Kwami as he made his way over to the bakery.


Authors Note:

4/30 Yay! Another chapter another day. More like 2 days. Sorry for not posting Yesterday, but here we are getting back on track with Alya's protective nature and Marinette perpetuating tardiness.

I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. If you would write me a review telling what you like and what you didn't it goes a long way to help me improve.

Also, thank you to everyone who followed the story. 3