Chapter 2: The revelation

Marinette had returned home. With one jump, she reached her balcony. She entered through the door of her room, falling into bed.

She left all the rings on the bed and all the kwamis came out of them.

"Where we are?" The kwamis immediately recognized Marinette's room. They saw her expectantly.

"We're free!" The kwamis hugged her, happy to finally be free. They soon noticed that someone was missing at the reunion. After breaking the hug, they looked at each other before Sass asked what everyone was wondering.

"Where is Nooroo? And where is Duusu?" Sass looked at all the kwamis around her.

Marinette showed a sad face.

"The... the butterfly Miraculous disappeared, again." Marinette answered.

"Poor Nooroo!"

The happiness in the room faded with the last bit.

"But what are you going to do now, Marinette?" Wayzz asked.

"I know that Duusu is with Felix. And I'm going to talk with him to make sure he takes good care of Duusu. And as for you, I would prefer that you stay here for the moment. The person who took Nooroo mustn't have good intentions and besides, I have another problem."

The kwamis began to ask questions without waiting for Marinette to answer them.

"Can we help?" Barkk asked.

"Please Ladybug, tell us what it is, we can help you."

Plagg floated in front of them to stop them.

"It's a problem between Marinette and my holder. They will deal with it themselves; you don't have to intervene."

"Thank you Plagg." Marinette watched as Plagg sat on her shoulder.

"And what about Gabriel Agreste?" Sass said, noticing that he was able to say his name without bubbles coming out, indicating that Gabriel had given up on them "What do you plan to do with him?"

"I, I left him free for the moment," Marinette didn't know another way to answer to that question.

All the kwamis began to protest.

"Did you even give him a chance? Why?" Sass asked calmly as the other kwamis protested around her.

Marinette backed up on the bed as all the kwamis floated in front of her speaking all at the same time.

"Calm down guys, I did it because I saw him vulnerable and... Besides, I don't have the heart to do it. I didn't want Adrien to suffer. And even less for him to become an orphan."

The kwamis looked nervous.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, Ladybug," the dog's kwami said. "It's just that it surprises us all that you made a decision like that."

But Marinette was suspecting that the kwamis knew something that she didn't.

"I know, I know that what I did was very questionable. But I will take care of it so that Mr. Agreste pays for what he did."

For now, Marinette had to stick with the plan.

"Plagg, I need you to go look for your holder now."

Marinette took the ring containing the horse's Miraculous and put it on.

"We're going to use the horse Miraculous to send you there, so you can find your holder as quickly as possible, okay?" Marinette got up from her bed to look for a place to safely open the portal.

"Okay Ladybug."

Plagg gave her coordinates for an area of Gales to avoid suspicions. He did not want his holder to be left without the opportunity to reveal his identity to his lady himself.

Marinette placed the ring on her hand and Kaalki stepped out of it.

"Kaalki, full gallop!"

Marinette immediately opened a portal where Plagg had indicated.

"I will go as quickly as possible to find my holder so you can talk. If you can, go rest for a while Marinette" Plagg took the cat's Miraculous between his paws.

"I'll do it Plagg. Good luck."

Plagg left through the portal and quickly flew towards his destination.

Gabriel asked Nathalie to log into the system with her username and password. Upon entering, she found the interface and the cameras in his son's room.

Adrien was on the floor completely asleep.

"Nathalie, I need you to call Adrien and make him wake up. We need to get him out of there and fast."

"And Tomoe isn't going to ask anything? Because the last time I heard, you and her were pretty involved in the plan," she said acidly.

"I know Nathalie. I know I shouldn't have allied myself with Tomoe. I'll deal with her myself later."

Gabriel was on the phone waiting to give instructions to the Gorilla. He had asked him to be ready for his call, to give him the signal so he could leave that place.

"Nathalie prepare to…"

Before finishing her sentence Nathalie interrupted him very abruptly, covering the speaker of her phone in case Adrien decided to answer. She made a missed call so that Adrien would hear the phone ring and finally decide to pick it up.

"I know Gabriel. I have to make sure Adrien takes his phone. You don't have to tell me."

They waited a few minutes until Nathalie saw Adrien get up and take the phone from the mini robot.

At one point, they both watched as the room's cameras deactivated. Same with all the noise.

That meant Plagg was already there. That was their sign.

Gabriel immediately dialed the Gorilla's phone.

"Placide, get Adrien out of there now."

A few seconds later, Gabriel heard the Gorilla nod. They activated the robot's camera once again, making sure Adrien was no longer there.

Gabriel sighed knowing that Adrien had already left there safely. Approaching Nathalie, it was time for them to prepare the plane for Adrien to return to Paris.

After a few hours of sleep, Adrien heard that the machine was insisting for him to take the Alliance. Her decided to try to sleep again. Maybe then the machine would ignore him.

He could hear a tone similar to the one he uses in his cell phone. He thought it was a dream.

"Adrien… Adrien."

An insistent voice called him. In the middle of his sleep, he couldn't recognize who the voice belonged to.

"Adrien!"

He stood up furious, about to hit the robot once and for all. But he found that he was no longer alone. Plagg was floating in front of him.

"Wait Adrien! I'm not going to hurt you," Plagg shook his paws before he hit the robot.

"I'm sorry Plagg. I just wanted the robot to leave me alone." Adrien rubbed his eyes, still getting used to the bright light in the room.

Again, he heard his cell phone ringing. He approached the sound slowly until the robot's automatic door opened showing that it had his cell phone was inside it. Adrien took it quickly before the machine decided to change its mind. He checked the time on his phone. It was midnight back in Paris. There were some of Nathalie's missed calls which were quite recent.

Adrien heard the notification sound from his cellphone. He checked who the sender was: A message from his father was on his phone.

Had his father sent him a message at this time?

Adrien looked through his most recent messages, finding the message that had arrived in the chat he had with his father just a few seconds ago.

Gabriel_ 00:01

Adrien, are you awake?

Gabriel_ 00:03

Adrien, you're going back to Paris right away.

That was very strange, his father insisted for days that he was going to take him to England, but now he wanted him to return immediately?

Adrien heard how the door to the room he was in was forced open. Adrien stepped back, not understanding what was happening.

The Gorilla entered. He took the robot that had given him the phone and threw it to the other side. Adrien was surprised at how strong his bodyguard was. Without saying a word and before Adrien could ask, his bodyguard took him in his arms and ran outside the facility where his father had sent him. The gorilla ran with Adrien, destroying doors until they managed to leave the place.

Gorilla lowered him to the ground and motioned for him to follow him. Adrien followed him, until they reached the car and the Gorilla drove him to an unknown destination.

Adrien was wondering what just happened. He and the Gorilla headed to the airport and the plane was ready to take off. The Gorilla parked as close as possible and opened the door for Adrien to get on the plane. Adrien began to walk up the stairs to the plane, quickly sitting in his designated seat.

He still didn't understand his father's sudden change of attitude. Everything seemed very strange to him.

Another person he was worried about was Nathalie.

He hadn't heard from her in a couple of hours. And the last time, he had seen her sick, but despite that, she took the time to say goodbye to him.

This time he wasn't as excited to see his father.

The Gorilla was in charge of putting Adrien's seat belt on. The plane took off immediately. Adrien felt a bit of turbulence so he gripped the seat as it passed. Once in the air he prepared to settle into his seat and put on his headphones.

He would have time to think about what he was going to do. For the moment he would listen to music and find a way to escape so he could see Marinette like he had promised her.

Adrien sat down in his seat and looked out the window. Adrien felt a little guilty for leaving Kagami on her own, but what other choice did he have?

Gabriel was asking Nathalie to cut the airplane's communications so Tomoe couldn't immediately find out what had happened. Nathalie was helping him from the computer she had given him.

Gabriel breathed easier when Nathalie cut off the last communication.

"You should rest," he said to Nathalie once they finished their task. "Adrien will arrive at any moment."

"I'm going to wait for Adrien, Gabriel." Nathalie turned off the computer so Gabriel could remove it from his space.

"Nathalie, tomorrow we will have to explain everything to Adrien. Don't you think that being well rested is something very important?"

"Welcoming Adrien is something very important too, Gabriel," Nathalie repeated, crossing her arms and leaning on the pillow. "We already did things wrong with him for us to repeat the same pattern."

"Alright. Then tomorrow morning I'll give him a proper welcome." Gabriel sighed. "I don't think Adrien will be very happy to see me now."

Nathalie couldn't believe that Gabriel didn't understand what she wanted him to do.

"No Gabriel, you are going to get him NOW. As much as Adrien may not be happy with you, I think you should at least show him that you care enough to welcome him when he gets here."

Gabriel was going to protest, but thinking about it, he decided to keep his mouth shut and not continue arguing with Nathalie and do what she said.

"Then I'm going to go wait for him at the airport. Is the car ready?"

"Yes, the car has full tank" Nathalie told him before Gabriel left "Adrien will arrive shortly, I put the plane at maximum speed, so it shouldn't take long. You should hurry up."

"Thank you for informing me, Nathalie. I'll go back to Adrien then. Get some rest if you can Nathalie, good night."

Gabriel turned off the light and left the room. Nathalie was a little surprised that Gabriel was not very opposed to her idea. She settled back into the pillow, hoping to get some sleep while Adrien arrived back home.

Gabriel retired to his bedroom to fix himself a little. He didn't want Adrien to ask him if something had happened to him while he was away. He went to his private bathroom, where he washed his face with cold water to remove the sleepiness off his face. He took out his comb, and fixed his hair which had become a little disheveled. Gabriel looked in the mirror after getting ready.

He knew that Adrien wouldn't be very happy to see him. Despite that, he had to give his son a proper welcome as Nathalie asked him to.

So, he was going to wait for him at the airport.

Gabriel went down to the first floor to look for the car; and he drove directly to the airport.

In just a few hours, Adrien had returned to Paris. He hoped as soon as they were able to return, he would communicate to Marinette that he had returned.

He arrived at the airport early in the morning. When they landed, the black car used by the mansion members was already parked on the landing strip.

The front door of the car opened and he saw none other than his father.

"Good night, Adrien." Gabriel stepped aside for Adrien to enter as he approached the car.

"Good night, father." Adrien said back, monotonously.

"I hope you had a good flight."

Adrien reluctantly handed his luggage to his father and took a step forward. He stepped inside the back of the car and closed the door.

Calm down Gabriel, he is angry with you and it is normal for him to act like that Gabriel took a deep breath. He had to start being a lot kinder to him if he wanted Adrien to trust him again.

The Gorilla would be in charge of driving. Gabriel, for his part, sat at Adrien's side, in the seat that was free. Gorilla started the car to take them back to the mansion.

The atmosphere in the car was especially uncomfortable with Adrien and Gabriel in the car next to each other. No one was saying anything, and Adrien thought maybe it was for the best.

But Gabriel needed to take the opportunity to apologize to Adrien.

"Adrien, I… I'm sorry. I shouldn't have sent you to London against your will."

But Adrien said absolutely nothing.

Arriving, Adrien dragged his feet from the car to the entrance. His father opened the door for him. He saw that Adrien was going to the second floor.

"Adrien, wait! I would like to talk to you."

Adrien.

"I'm tired, we'll talk tomorrow, father," Adrien said dryly.

"It's okay." Gabriel stood at the entrance to the lobby when he saw that there was no case "Go rest Adrien."

Adrien completely ignored what his father told him and headed up to the second floor.

The Gorilla went after him, but Adrien stopped him.

"You can go rest," he said to his bodyguard. "Don't worry about me."

The bodyguard growled at him.

"Good night." Adrien went directly to Nathalie's room to see if she was still awake. He cracked the door open to check if his caregiver was awake.

"Nathalie?" He whispered to avoid waking Nathalie if she was asleep. She was sitting on the bed, awake.

"Come in Adrien," Nathalie said gently. Adrien approached the bed. He noticed that Nathalie looked much better than she was when he left.

"Welcome Adrien, how was your trip?" Nathalie offered him her hand and Adrien took it without hesitation.

"There was no complications Nathalie, thanks for asking."

Nathalie could tell how tired Adrien was.

"Why don't you go to sleep? Tomorrow we will talk more and you will tell me how everything went" She took Adrien's hand with both hands and massageD it lovingly "You look tired."

"Of course, Nathalie. You rest too." Adrien released Nathalie's grip gently. He understood that Nathalie would be tired too.

Adrien headed towards his room. When he entered his room, he locked the door, so that none of those who lived in that house would realize what he was going to do. But first, he was going to call Marinette.

Plagg came out of his pocket once everything was clear.

"What are you doing?" Plagg asked curiously.

"Calling Marinette."

"Well, Adrien, Marinette might have to wait. It's time for us to go see Ladybug. She is getting ready, because she is going to look for you."

"Did Ladybug mention a place where we should meet?" Adrien asked.

"I'll go and let her know that you're here, first. Wait here Adrien, it won't be long."

Plagg went out the window in an unknown direction. The only thing Adrien could do was wait.

Plagg went to Marinette's house the same way he had taken last time. He went through the wall heading towards girl's room.

Marinette was fast asleep. Plagg went to wake Marinette up from her bed.

"Marinette." Plagg whispered. Marinette remained asleep.

Plagg leaned closer to her ear and cleared his throat.

"Marinette!"

Marinette screamed at how sudden it was and she almost fell off the bed.

"Plagg! Don't scare her!" Tikki exclaimed, seeing her carrier on the ground.

"It's time," Plagg said, "My holder must be ready. I will tell him to wait for you where you are going to meet him."

"Sure Plagg." Marinette got out of bed "I'll be on my way."

Before going to her destination in a lonely area of the rooftops of Paris, she went to a restaurant that was still open to buy two cups of hot chocolate. She sat on the roof of the meeting point, waiting for Chat Noir to arrive. She was not prepared for a revelation of identities. But it would be a relief to finally know who has been behind the mask all along since she had Gabriel neutralized for the moment.

"Ladybug, can I know why you summoned me here?" Chat Noir took a sip of her drink, sitting on the roof. He still didn't know why Ladybug had summoned him there.

Ladybug had to be direct with him.

"Yes, I managed to catch Monarch today."

Chat Noir spat out what he was drinking.

"What?!"

"I found out who he was and we had a confrontation and, in the end, he asked me for his help," she said in a quiet voice.

"And you decided to help him. Ladybug, why?" Chat Noir was not understanding anything of Ladybug's actions.

"I know you have many questions Chat Noir and I plan to answer them in their own time. But the person behind the Monarch mask asked me for help and I saw him very… desperate. I couldn't refuse. Plus, there's an innocent person who's going to be affected if I don't do something." Ladybug held her hands nervously.

"And, can you tell me what Monarch's true identity is?" Chat Noir was wondering who was the individual who had been sending akumas all these months.

"I was planning for us to meet with him and we will start looking for a way to help him."

"Do you trust him?" Chat Noir was not very convinced of the decision Ladybug had made.

"Not at all." Ladybug hugged herself.

Chat Noir felt guilty for not being there to help Ladybug.

"I wish I had been there to help you," Chat Noir hugged her, something that surprised Ladybug. "I'm so sorry. I just didn't feel my mind was stable enough to help you with this whole nightmare problem."

"You don't need to apologize. It wasn't your fault, Chat Noir" Ladybug hugged him too.

Chat Noir separated from her to continue drinking his hot chocolate.

"There's something else I need to talk to you about." Ladybug grabbed her cup harder. "Now that we have caught Monarch, we are going to reveal our identities."

"What?" This time Chat Noir almost dropped his cup on the floor, if it weren't for his reflexes with the Miraculous.

"Well Plagg told me that we could reveal our identities now that we stopped Monarch."

"Are we going to reveal our identities?" Chat Noir asked unsure.

Chat Noir's reaction was not what she expected.

"Yes. But you don't look happy, Chat Noir."

"Is it a bad thing I'm not happy?" Chat Noir asked, looking at her glass.

"No, not at all. Usually when you suggested it, you seemed very happy," Ladybug reminded him.

"I am, I would be very happy, but I've been having some strange visions lately." Chat Noir rubbed his shoulder as his tail fell limply on the ground.

"Strange, in what sense?" Ladybug felt the heat of the cup in her hands.

"In my visions I am in a completely destroyed world, and instead of my usual black Chat Noir suit, I find myself dressed completely in white. In that world, you are paralyzed like a statue and I hold you in my arms for a moment, until you slowly crumble like dust."

Marinette would recognize that nightmare anywhere.

"Have you been having nightmares about Chat Blanc?" Ladybug mentioned.

"Chat Blanc?" Chat Noir realized that the name matched the description he gave her "Do you mean me in the white suit? How do you know?"

Marinette didn't know whether to mention Chat Blanc's existence to him now in a timeline that no longer existed, especially when she wasn't sure why Chat Blanc existed in the first place.

"I've had nightmares about it for a while too" Ladybug confessed "Plagg told me."

Chat Noir's ears drooped.

"Oh, did he mention that?" Chat Noir looked sad.

"It was the reason I was afraid of revealing our identities," Ladybug confessed.

"Was that the reason?" Chat Noir now understood why she was so evasive on the subject of their identities.

"Chat Noir, I'm also afraid of that nightmare becoming reality, but I think we can face it together, don't you think?"

Chat Noir stirred his chocolate nervously. It would be nice if someone other than him knew about his nightmare.

"Well, that would be fine. Maybe things will be less complicated that way. Also, I would like to meet the person behind the mask, my Lady" Chat Noir smiled sweetly at her.

That look gave Ladybug a little more peace inside her mind. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Ladybug stood up from where she was sitting. She handed her cup to Chat Noir as she stood in front of him.

"Then I'll do it first." Ladybug nervously moved her hands. "Ready?"

"Yes." Chat Noir stared at the face of the girl he once fell in love with. She was very curious about who was behind the mask.

"Are you ready?" She asked a little nervously.

"Yes! I'm ready, you already asked!" He laughed, his heart beating in anticipation. "Come on, do it!" He said playfully.

Ladybug let out all the air she had been holding the entire time she was talking to Chat Noir.

"Tikki, spots off."

A pink light surrounded Ladybug as her transformation finished.

Chat Noir immediately recognized the face of the girl in front once she was without the mask.

Marinette was in Ladybug's place.

Marinette is Ladybug.

Chat Noir stood up from his seat, dropping the two cups of shock.

Marinette opened one of her eyes.

"Is everything okay?"

"Marinette, is that you?" Chat Noir took her in his arms and spined around with her.

"Yes!" Marinette laughed.

"I can't believe it, it's you. It was you all this time." Chat Noir didn't care about anything else at that moment.

Marinette hugged him. She already had feelings for Chat Noir, but the fact that he was so happy it was her gave her relief.

Chat Noir stopped spinning and held her for several minutes until he finally separated from her.

"I'm so happy it's you" Chat Noir couldn't hold his happiness "I feel like a weight has lifted off my shoulders."

Marinette was also very happy that he was relieved. She was worried about getting a negative reaction from him.

"Now it's my turn" Chat Noir took her face, looking at her intently, giving her a completely sincere smile "I hope you're ready."

He backed away from her slowly. Chat Noir counted in his mind before showing Marinette who he was.

3, 2, 1...

"Plagg, claws in!"

Chat Noir's characteristic green light surrounded him, hiding for a moment who the person behind the mask was.

Marinette recognized the person in front of her instantly. Her heart sank when she saw who it was.

Adrien Agreste.

Chat Noir was Adrien Agreste.

Oh no.

That was why Plagg had insisted they had to reveal their identities.

"Marinette...Marinette!" Adrien was calling her.

Marinette wanted this to be a happy moment for them.

It wasn't.

"Yes, Adrien?"

"You don't seem very happy" Adrien's expression turned serious when he saw Marinette's reaction. Both kwamis looked at each other worried.

"Oh, I'm very happy, Adrien," Marinette assured him. "I just didn't expect it, that's all."

"Oh, ok" Adrien was surprised by the dry response he received from Marinette. An internal feeling told him that something was wrong. But for now, he'll let it pass.

"I can't believe I fell in love with the same person twice. I feel so stupid."

Marinette saw him so happy. It was a shame that his happiness would end tomorrow. For now, she would let him be.

Marinette let herself be hugged by Adrien. She could not hide was the expression of sadness which now adorned her face.

"Tomorrow we will talk, there is something very important that we have to discuss."

"Where will we meet?" Adrien asked curiously.

"Let's meet at your house," Marinette said.

Adrien got very worried.

"Won't my father be against it?" Adrien asked sadly.

"No, don't worry about anything, I'll convince him don't worry." Marinette looked very nervous. But he assumed it was because of his father's attitude. He was so difficult to talk to or even confront him.

"Adrien, I just want you to go home and rest well, okay?" Marinette caressed his hair "Tomorrow we will talk, I promise."

"Will do, Marinette." Adrien wondered what was so important that he had summoned him to his own house. "I'll be waiting for you."

"See you tomorrow, Adrien." Marinette kissed him on the cheek.

They both went straight to their house.

Ladybug was breathing fast as she ran. She was resisting the tears that began to form on her face when she separated from Chat Noir.

When Marinette got home, she collapsed right there in the center of her room. Her legs were shaking after knowing who was behind her mask.

Why did it have to be him, why?

Marinette cried right there on the floor. She covered her face, trying to hide the tears that fell down from it.

She couldn't get out of her head how much Adrien was going to suffer tomorrow.

Adrien was going to finally know the truth, but at what cost?

The kwamis went to console her.

"You knew it, right?" Marinette asked, her voice breaking.

"Yes, we're sorry. We couldn't tell you anything, you had to find out for yourself" Wayzz said.

"I know, I know," Marinette lamented. She didn't know if it was good or bad. "Adrien is going to suffer a lot when he learns the truth."

Marinette's voice was shaking so much, it made all the kwamis hug her.

"Calm down Marinette." Tikki approached her holder to comfort her.

"But what do I do now?" Marinette wiped her tears with the sleeve of her jacket.

Tikki felt bad for the holder.

"Everything will be okay, Marinette." Tikki hugged her cheek. She knew that Marinette would have a hard time from now on. "I'll be there for you."

That night Marinette couldn't sleep.

Marinette is in big trouble right now.

I might start posting updates between saturdays and sundays.