Chapter 8-Answers

This chapter and the next were some of the ones that I've been looking forward to the most since I started working on this fanfiction. One of my favorite authors has stated that his way of writing is to think of an epic moment and then write your way to it. And that's exactly what I'm shooting for. Which chapter is that moment in? Let's find out.

Both sets of Cat Noir and Ladybug landed on a rooftop some distance away. The shorter of the two Cat Noir's held the akuma in the jar conjured by Caprikid. She hadn't gotten much of the explanation yet on the trip away from the Eiffel Tower; all they had told her was they were from another universe, like Shadybug and Claw Noir had been, and that her Cat Noir had been sent to their universe and brought them back to help. They'd even brought their recovered butterfly miraculous to de-akumatize Hole Spacer.

The foreign pair and her own Cat Noir seemed slightly tense to Ladybug, though she couldn't tell why. Ladybug looked over at her counterpart. She decided to break the ice first.

"Okay, I'd say this is a little more private. What do we need that akuma for so much that I, or well, either one of us," she nodded her chin toward her counterpart, "couldn't purify it?"

The other three superheroes glanced at each other.

"Well," Cat Noir, her Cat Noir started, "there's actually a lot of things I wanted to talk to you about after meeting these two," Cat Noir gestured to the side, "but I guess first things first. I think we figured out a way to make sure neither of the two of us ever get akumatized."

Ladybug's eyes lit up, but she could feel a certain amount of suspicion settle over her. How could they possibly guarantee that?

Her counterpart could clearly read the disbelief on her face, because she quickly said, "Your partner told us about the magical charms that you make. The ones that protect people from being akumatized."

"Yes," Ladybug said slowly, "but in order to make one for someone they have to be akumatized first. Which kind of defeats the purpose, in our case. If the new Hawk Moth akumatizes either of us, she'll get her hands on our Miraculous. Or at least compromise our secret identities. We can't take that chance."

"Who said anything about Hawk Moth akumatizing you?" the taller Cat Noir said with a playful smile on his face. Yes, he was definitely the same as her partner. He reached to his chest and pulled the butterfly miraculous they'd used earlier and held it in front of him. "If one of us akumatizes my counterpart, then you can break whatever we use to do it and undo it. Then you purify it and make him a magical charm."

"And if we trade our miraculous," Ladybug said, growing excited and looking at her partner, "then you could make one for me the same way." With a huge grin on her face, she nodded. "Let's do it. Monarch managed to break through magical charms before, so it's not a guarantee, but it could still make a big difference." She paused. "By the way, how exactly did you manage to come up with all this so fast? You were only gone for a few moments."

"About that," the shorter Cat Noir replied, "I was in their universe for longer than that. A few days, actually."

"A few days?"

"Yep." Cat Noir said simply. "We used the rabbit miraculous to travel back in time to right when I entered their universe." The two taller superheroes nodded their confirmation. "That way I'd be able to make it back here as if I had never left, and it gave them a few days to spend here before we send them back. I kind of owe them a mini vacation."

"Oh, well that explains it." Ladybug laughed. "Well, then that means that you've had some time to think it over, so let's go ahead and-"

"Actually," her partner interjected, "there's more to the plan than just the magical charms. And I think it would be better if we talk through the plan completely before we begin. So before we use the butterfly, there are a few things we need to discuss. I suppose we should probably get the big one out of the way." He glanced at the taller Ladybug, who nodded and took a deep breath.

"I kind of owe you an apology." The other Ladybug said, with a very uncomfortable look on her face.

"For what?" Ladybug asked, completely confused.

"Well, you see," the taller Ladybug continued awkwardly, "when your Cat Noir fell out of the sky in the middle of our Paris, I'd been hanging out with my best friend, I'm sure you know who I mean," the taller Ladybug looked at her pointedly and Ladybug nodded, "and I just naturally assumed that he was my Cat Noir. I thought some sort of emergency had happened. So I made an excuse and ducked away. But the thing is, I ducked toward where I had seen him run off to, after a crowd of fangirls surrounded him, wanting pictures."

"Yeah, we've dealt with that a few times in our universe too." Ladybug sighed.

"I bet you have." her counterpart continued. "But here's the thing, it took a while for both of us to finally ditch the crowds, so when I caught up to him, I hadn't had the chance to transform into Ladybug yet."

"So?"

"Well, it's just," the Cat Noir not holding the akuma said, "Since we managed to recover the butterfly miraculous, neither of us has to worry about getting akumatized."

"I repeat, so?"

"So," her counterpart answered, "we don't have as strong a need to keep our identities a secret. At least, not from each other."

Ladybug froze. She looked from her counterpart to her counterpart's Cat Noir, who just nodded. "Yeah, I know who she is. And she knows who I am."

Ladybug looked back to her counterpart, and she could feel the terror leaking onto her face. She swallowed slowly and, with more trepidation than she had ever felt before, asked, "And what happened after you caught up to my Cat Noir?"

"I think you can guess, Marinette."

The one who spoke was neither her counterpart nor her counterpart's Cat Noir, but her own Cat Noir. Ladybug locked onto her partner's eyes. Despite his earlier brusque attitude, his voice was gentle and apologetic; his face even more so.

"Oh no…this can't…you didn't…we can't…oh no…" Ladybug started breathing heavily.

"I'm so sorry." the taller Ladybug said, holding her palms forward. "I swear, I swear I didn't know. The only difference between them is a couple of inches in their height, if that. And when I found him, he was on the ground, so I couldn't tell. Trust me, I've been beating myself up for the past few days for not being able to tell them apart-"

"Something we've been trying to reassure her about, I swear." the taller Cat Noir interrupted. "My counterpart said that you and my Ladybug are pretty much identical too, and I can tell he was right." He looked her up and down and shrugged. "Which is how he knew we're just different versions of ourselves. It makes sense that we'd be identical."

Ladybug barely heard them; her mind was reeling too fast. Her eyes had never left her partner's face since he had said her name. His expression was becoming more and more concerned. Her breathing was coming in faster and faster gasps; she was close to hyperventilating. She could tell the two were still talking, but she couldn't take it in. If the new Hawk Moth akumatized her Cat Noir, that would end everything all over again. She couldn't let that happen, she couldn't-

Very slowly, as if not to startle her, the shorter Cat Noir, her Cat Noir, set down the jar he was holding and stepped toward her. The other two superheroes stopped speaking as he put his arms around her, pulling her into a tight hug.

"It's going to be okay," he promised. "I meant it when I said that I think that we can make sure that we don't ever get akumatized. But, if you don't agree with that plan, we can have Rooster Bold give himself the power to erase my memory."

Ladybug pulled back slightly, her breathing steadying a little as she looked up at him.

"I don't want to do that," her partner continued, "because I very much like knowing that my partner isn't just one of my favorite girls in Paris, but two of them." He winked at her with a brief grin, however he was serious again after a moment. "But I also understand that you've always been worried about what would happen if one of us got akumatized. Worried about how one of us could compromise both our identities."

Ladybug nodded.

"The three of us talked it over," he continued, "and I think we have something that's close to fool proof. There's no way to know for sure, but I think you'll like it. Your counterpart did."

Ladybug looked to her right, and saw the taller girl nod. Taking one last deep breath to steady herself, she asked, "Okay, I'm glad that you took your time to think this through, that's reassuring." She stepped back out of her partner's grasp and fully regained her composure. "What exactly is this plan of yours?"

The other three looked at each other. "Before we cover that, there are a couple of other things I want to talk to you about." the shorter Cat Noir responded. "I think it'll go smoother if we get those out of the way first."

"Why?" Ladybug asked. "We can just get to those afterward."

"It's complicated," Cat Noir evaded. He looked at the other two superheroes. "Could you guys give us a little while? We'll wait for you here." They nodded, pulling out their weapons and turning to leave.

"Wait."

The foreign Cat Noir had already launched himself into the air, but the other Ladybug turned to look back at her. The taller girl smiled at the confusion that was clearly all over the shorter girl's face. "I promise, it'll all make sense soon."

Cat Noir watched the pair depart before turning back to face his partner. Multiple emotions were churning inside of him. His frustration at the girl in front of him, frustration for her secrets and lies, had not abated. And he also felt concern over the blatant (and completely expected) panic that she had demonstrated just a few moments before. He felt excited in having complete confirmation that his Ladybug was in fact also his Marinette. He'd been completely sincere when saying she was two of his favorite girls in Paris. But the emotion he felt most strongly at that particular moment was nervousness. He didn't know what would result from this conversation. His continued partnership with Ladybug depended on it.

"So, the first thing I wanted to discuss is related to finding out who you are."

Ladybug flinched.

"To start with," Cat Noir paused, marshaling his thoughts. He thought back to the conversations he'd had with his counterpart and the other Marinette to prepare for this moment. "I just want to say that while it's true that I do have someone that I'm happily in love with now, that I've never stopped loving you. Plagg even challenged me about that once, and I told him that I still thought you were wonderful; I still do," he tacked on. "And finding out that you're Marinette didn't lessen my feelings for you at all. If anything, it strengthened them."

Ladybug didn't respond. Cat Noir suspected that she didn't know how to respond to that comment.

"I also happen to know," Cat Noir continued, "that Marinette Dupain-Cheng has been head over heels for Adrien Agreste pretty much since the day she met him."

Ladybug gave a slight nod to that.

"To be honest, it actually made me feel better," Cat Noir explained, "finding out that the reason you turned me down so many times was because of that situation. I knew that you were in love with someone, but finding out you were part of a couple that I think are great together made it hard to feel bitter. For the record," he added, "I have no desire to try and get in between you and him. Like I said, I like you two together."

Ladybug still didn't say anything; she could probably sense that he was building toward something. But she did have a slightly relieved smile on her face. A good sign.

"But I also remember for a while there, you seemed very interested in me. When we were hit with the power of Jubilation by Darker Owl, well, that dream was something I think we both wanted." Cat Noir said, feeling his nervousness start to climb, overshadowing all his other emotions. "And after learning your identity, I think I figured out why you acted differently."

Ladybug started to say something, but Cat Noir held up a hand. "Wait, please," he interjected. "Just let me finish what I have to say, and then I'll listen, I promise."

Ladybug nodded, "Okay."

"So, we've established that the reason you were turning me down, or at least part of the reason," Cat Noir corrected himself, "was because you love Adrien Agreste. And that was part of the reason you tried giving him a miraculous twice?"

Ladybug looked away at the ground, but nodded.

"And the second time you meant to give him one," Cat Noir plowed on, "was when you tried giving him the dog miraculous, but ended up giving it to his cousin Felix, which resulted in the miraculous being stolen."

Ladybug went rigid. Cat Noir could tell she was holding back self chastisement at that moment. She had never forgiven herself for being tricked by Felix.

"And I can't help but wonder," Cat Noir went on, carefully, "where someone with an amazing sense of responsibility might place blame in that situation. On themselves, certainly, but maybe specifically on what motivated them to hand out the miraculous. Such as, for example, the feelings that amazingly responsible person had for the one they thought they were giving a miraculous to."

Ladybug looked up, and Cat Noir hadn't seen her look so sorrowful since the day all these events had transpired. Since the day he had found her on a rooftop in the pouring rain. "You know me so well," she whispered, "You probably know me better than anyone."

"I'd like to think so," Cat Noir said gently, "after everything that we've been through together. Especially now. To be completely honest, I talked all this out with your counterpart and mine. I wanted to warn them against trusting Felix and get their advice on how to handle talking about all this with you. But I do like to think that I know you pretty well. And that's why I think I can guess what you did after that fiasco. You tried to bury your feelings for him, didn't you?"

"More like run away from them." Ladybug confirmed. "Tikki and Rena Rouge both told me that I was being foolish. But I blamed myself so much for losing the miraculous that I tried to shove myself away from Adrien completely."

"Which leads me to the main reason I brought this up." Cat Noir said, hesitantly. He closed his eyes. "I'm sorry if this isn't fair of me to ask, but I need to know." He opened his eyes and stared directly into Ladybug's. Now that he knew the truth, he could recognize that they were the eyes that he loved so much. The pair of brilliant sapphire eyes that he had fallen in love with twice. "Is the only reason you were pursuing me because you were trying to run away from your feelings for Adrien? After all that happened, you seemed so much more interested, but I was trying to do better as your partner, so suddenly I was the one rejecting you." Cat Noir snorted. "And then that whole disaster when I took y-...Marinette to get ice cream from Andre."

"I'm not sure disaster is a strong enough word."

Cat Noir laughed a hollow laugh. "Yeah, I don't think that night went the way either of us wanted. But what I'm getting at is, was I just some sort of rebound guy to keep you from focusing on him? Is that all it was?"

Cat Noir knew that they had other things to discuss that night, arguably more important things, but there was a reason he had led with this topic, now that they were alone. Even with his frustration with his partner in front of him, this was potentially the most painful thing they needed to discuss.

Ladybug looked at her feet. "I'm not going to lie to you Kitty," she said slowly, "it was that."

Cat Noir could feel his insides clench as if an ice cold fist had gripped his heart and lungs.

"But," Ladybug said, with emphasis, looking up at him again "it wasn't only that."

The fist in Cat Noir's chest loosened slightly, but he still held his breath.

"Like you said, it was partly because I was trying to run away from my feelings for Adrien." Ladybug explained slowly. "You hit the nail on the head there. But I can honestly say that it was a lot more than you just being there at the time." Her face shifted a little, showing a kind of gentle intensity. "That night, after I lost the miraculous, I'll never forget what you did. You found me and without hesitation, you reached out to me. Despite everything I had done to you. Despite my not trusting you, despite me pushing you away, despite my confiding more in Rena than you; you didn't hesitate for one moment. You pulled me to my feet, put your arms around me, and did everything you could to reassure me, to prop me up. I think," Ladybug's voice grew soft, "I think that's the moment I finally discovered how good a person you really are. I didn't realize it for a while, but I think that's when I started to fall for you."

Cat Noir breathed deeply, relieved to feel that his heart and lungs felt almost normal again. "I couldn't think about any of that other stuff at that moment." he recalled. "All I could see was someone that I loved in pain. And I had to do what I could to make it better."

"That's exactly what proves how good you really are." Ladybug said, shaking her head. "Having only the two of us again changed things too. I meant it when I said that losing all the others made me see you differently," she continued. "But it wasn't until that whole mess with Manipula and the temporary heroes exhibit in the Musée Grévin that I really started to realize how I felt."

Cat Noir had to fight a laugh. That was the same day that had helped him to figure out his feelings for Marinette. The irony of the situation was more than he could have dreamed.

"That was when I started to pursue you." Ladybug went on. "But you seemed so determined to be a better hero and partner to me that you kept turning me down. And then, well, we've already established that going to see Andre was an event worthy of a Cataclysm."

Cat Noir couldn't fight it this time. He let out a laugh that threatened to knock him to the rooftop. Part of it was the need to release some of the tension the conversation had built up, but mostly it was that he had had that exact same thought before.

As Cat Noir collected himself, Ladybug kept going with her explanation. "But the funny thing is, even though you turned, well, me down that night," Ladybug said carefully, "Your reasons just made me fall for you more. It hurt so much that you thought you couldn't be with me, but it also made me respect you more. You refused to take advantage of what you saw as a fangirl infatuated with you. You proved you were someone who cared more for people's well being than getting what you wanted."

"I felt like a fool afterward." Cat Noir said, speaking for what felt like the first time in a while. "I never should have let it get that far. You'd turned me down so many times and honestly, I'd been impressed with Marinette for a while. Thinking of the other times she, well you as Marinette, and I had interacted, I thought she was someone I could really fall for. I liked her, and I let that go to my head." Cat Noir was careful to word this statement in a way as to not give away his identity, but to make his feelings for Marinette clear. He smiled at her. "And I felt an even bigger fool after I found out she was you, since you had argued so strongly that night that I wasn't taking advantage of you. And you were right! But I was so convinced that I was taking advantage that I couldn't let myself listen to you. That I couldn't let myself pursue you."

"That's because," Ladybug replied softly, "you have one of the biggest hearts I've ever known. Because you may be the best person that I've ever known. You once told me that you were afraid you weren't a good person; that's complete nonsense. I can't complain about how my love life is now, and I wouldn't trade what I have for anything, but part of me does wonder how it could have all worked out between you and me, especially now." Ladybug looked panicked for a moment. "But I'd really appreciate it if Adrien never found out about this conversation."

Cat Noir simply laughed, "I don't think he'd mind as much as you think," he reassured her, "but I feel the same way. Like I said, I'm not trying to claw you and your boyfriend apart or looking for an excuse to dump my girl. But I needed to know whether this was all just some kind of distraction for you, or if you genuinely had feelings for me." He hesitated. "I'd like to say there's no way Agreste could pawsibly be good enough for you, m'lady. But that's just jealousy talking."

Ladybug smiled. "I don't know who your girlfriend is, but I know there's no way she's good enough for you. Even with your terrible puns."

Cat Noir laughed once at the absurdity of both her comment and their situation. The young man closed his eyes and fell silent afterward, contemplating everything that had just been shared between them. He was vastly relieved to discover that Marinette had indeed fallen for Cat Noir as well as Adrien. He still wasn't entirely sure why he had wanted so badly for that to be proven true, but he suspected it harkened back to what Plagg had told him after he had tried to be the more serious Cat Noir, Cat Walker. "You're not Cat Noir, but you're not Adrien, either. You're both." Just as he had fallen in love with her quirky and adorable Marinette side, he also loved her brave and confident Ladybug side; he was overjoyed to know that his lady had fallen for him in his entirety, not just a part of him.

"It's funny," Ladybug added, after a while. "The first moment I fell for Adrien was shortly after school started and he held out his umbrella for me, concern written all over his face, apologizing for a misunderstanding." She smiled. "I guess I have a thing for falling for boys in the rain."

Cat Noir smiled, opening his eyes, and remembering that moment as well. It was the first time he had connected with Marinette as a friend. Handing his umbrella to her had seemed so simple an act of kindness. But to Marinette, that moment had clearly meant so much more.

The pair stood without speaking for a few moments. Breaking the silence, Cat Noir said, "There are a couple more things to discuss, so let's sit for now."

They did so, facing each other. Cat Noir could see the curiosity on his partner's face. After that last topic, she was surely wondering what else he had to say.

"Okay," Cat Noir started, nervousness clear in his voice, "I suppose the next thing to cover is that I found out a few other things when I was in their universe." He nodded in the direction their counterparts had gone.

"What things?"

"Well, I don't know if you pieced it together, but since our counterparts managed to recover the butterfly miraculous, that means they also managed to defeat their Hawk Moth."

Ladybug nodded, clearly not sure what he was getting at.

"Which means," Cat Noir continued, "that I know who he is. Or, in our universe's case, I know who Monarch was."

Ladybug froze again. Her reaction was not nearly as strong as it had been before, when she realized he knew who she was, but her sapphire blue eyes went wide.

Cat Noir sighed. "Is there a particular reason why you let everyone believe that Gabriel Agreste died a hero, helping you stop Monarch instead of revealing that he was Monarch?

Ladybug flinched. Cat Noir tried to keep the accusations out of his tone, but he could tell he wasn't very successful.

He continued. "You've always been extremely vague about how that all went down. After I found out the truth, I was able to get Plagg to give me some details. But I'd like to hear them from you. And I want to know your reasons for concealing the truth." He felt his face harden slightly. "For one thing, I'm not comfortable with lying to the man's son about it."

This got a stronger reaction from Ladybug. Cat Noir thought he could guess why, now that he knew who she was. Marinette was always trying to help people she cared about, and to make things better when they went wrong. His anger notwithstanding, he still wasn't entirely sure what to think about her unwillingness to tell him the truth about his father. Marinette may not have known it yet, but her response to this topic would determine if they could remain partners.

"We've established that I know who you are, so I'll tell you I can probably guess your reasons for not telling the guy, at least some of them," Cat Noir said dryly, "but that doesn't mean that I agree with it. So unless you can give me a really convincing reason not to, your boyfriend will be getting a visit from me." He finished, folding his arms. "And it's a visit he won't enjoy."

Ladybug looked up sharply. "You can't."

"I can." Cat Noir countered calmly. "And I will, unless you can persuade me otherwise."

"It was his father's last request." Ladybug said miserably. "He just wanted-"

"For his son to be able to remember him as a good father, I know." Cat Noir interrupted. "Plagg told me that part. He made that request to you just before he made his wish. What I don't understand is why that meant you had to make him out to be a hero. That's something you lied to all of us about."

Ladybug frowned. "I never wanted to make him out to be a hero, that just kind of happened." she closed her eyes and sighed before continuing. "But yes, that wasn't the best way it could have come out. I had two reasons for deceiving everyone. I'd been trying to get through to him during our fight, but before I managed to, he told me what he was going to wish for."

"Which was?"

"To bring his wife back," Ladybug replied mechanically, "restore the damage done from your Cataclysm, heal his assistant Natalie,"

Cat Noir flinched at that comment. That part of his father's wish had come true at least.

"And to make his son and Kagami Tsurugii into some kind of eternal icons." Ladybug concluded.

Cat Noir froze. That was new information. "What does that even mean?" He demanded. "Eternal icons?"

"I'm not really sure." Ladybug admitted, opening her eyes. "But anyway, after I finally managed to get through to him, he managed to get both our miraculous and make his wish. And in the end, I think what he really wanted above all else was to reunite with his wife and make a world where his son could be happy. That's the wish he actually made."

Cat Noir was silent. It wasn't exactly what he and Marinette's counterpart had guessed, but it was pretty close. His anger for his father, which had been shuffled under his other emotions during everything else that had been going on this evening, rose to the surface in light of this discussion. But the anger wasn't quite as red hot as it had been when he'd first found out his father had been Monarch. Part of that was probably due to his growing used to it over time, but part of it was also finding out that his father had truly shown some remorse at the end. Cat Noir could tell that he wasn't yet able to forgive his father; he was nowhere close to that, if he could ever reach it, but knowing that his father had been able to choose to make the wish for him in the end made the pain a little more bearable.

"I also think," Ladybug added, looking across the city "that he wanted to atone for all the damage he'd done. He'd been saying during our fight that he'd been doing it all for his son, but I think he finally realized that wasn't true. Adrien was probably part of his motivation, but I think he just couldn't move on from losing his wife. He just loved her so much. But he finally saw the damage he'd done and wanted to do what he could to make up for it. I think that's why the wish cost him his life. And I couldn't bring myself to dishonor the last request of someone who'd do something that noble. That's why I couldn't tell you, or anyone else."

Cat Noir could feel his eyes tearing up, and was glad that Ladybug had looked away, which gave him a moment to wipe them away before she could see them.

"Okay," Cat Noir said at last, and he was relieved that his voice was steady, "I guess that's a good enough reason for telling people he helped stop Monarch. I suppose he really did defeat him, in a split personality, overcoming an addiction sort of way. But I'm not sure I can accept that for not telling his kid."

Ladybug swallowed visibly as she turned to look back at him. "Look, I know Adrien much better than you do, okay?"

Cat Noir had to struggle to keep from laughing or rolling his eyes at that.

"I'm serious. I studied him like a hawk. He's stronger than anyone I've ever known." Ladybug said, sounding completely sincere. "You know that I've wanted to give him multiple different miraculous to try him out with joining the team, and not just because I wanted to get closer to him. And I don't doubt that he could normally handle something like this, but even without his father's last request, with everything else he's dealing with, I don't know if I can put this on him. That's the other reason I didn't want anyone to know, since there was a chance he'd find out. As strong as he is, one of the things I love most about him is how kind hearted he is. First he lost his mother, and after he finally managed to make peace with that, he lost his father too. He was barely holding himself together for a while there. If, all of a sudden, he loses the image of the father that he's so proud of…" She trailed off.

"The only reason he has that image of his father is because you lied to him. What are you going to do, lie to him for the rest of his life?" Cat Noir pressed. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he understood what she meant, and could appreciate her motivation. She had no reason to exaggerate her opinion of Adrien's strength, which undercut much of what had worried him when he'd discovered her deception. His time in his counterpart's universe had also taught him it was easy to want to protect people you cared about, even from the truth. Ladybug's words also matched closely with what their counterparts had guessed in regards to her motivation. And he wasn't unhappy with her descriptions of him. But Cat Noir was determined to get a real answer from her.

Ladybug wavered. "I don't want to. I hate lying to him. I really don't think you understand how much I hate having to lie to him. I already have to keep being Ladybug and the Guardian from him. Adding this on top just makes it that much worse." She closed her eyes before continuing, and Cat Noir could hear the pain in her voice. "But everyone has their breaking point. Like I said, he's carrying two very large weights on his shoulders already. If I add this third one now, I don't know if he could handle it." She opened her eyes again, and Cat Noir could see her pain there as well. "I don't think I could, I don't know if anyone could. At least not right away. But you're right. I can't keep this from him forever. Not only does he deserve to know, but I'd probably slip at some point, no matter how careful I was. Felix stealing the miraculous proves anyone can make a mistake, no matter how careful. So, I'd like to make a compromise with you."

"A compromise?"

"Yes." Ladybug said, gaining some confidence back into her voice. "I swear to you that I will tell Adrien Agreste about his father, but only when I'm confident that he'll be able to handle that knowledge. You can help keep an eye on him, if you want, to help me figure out when he'll be ready. And if you think I'm putting it off for too long, then you can tell him, and put the full blame for keeping him in the dark on me."

Cat Noir stared at her. He could tell that she was being serious and trying to be reasonable, not just trying to offer a deal as a means to pacify him. Perhaps being confronted by the situation in this way had shifted Marinette's perspective. He considered. Hopefully, it was a moot point, since Adrien Agreste already knew the truth about his father. But if she insisted on the amnesia option of protecting their secret identities, he would make sure Marinette had a video message on her phone recording her promise to tell Adrien about his father. Or even find a way to make sure Plagg told him.

He had started this conversation to find out Marinette's reasons for keeping the truth from him, and find out how much she actually trusted him. Both as Adrien and Cat Noir. She may not have intended to tell him about his father at first, but her reasons weren't entirely invalid. He was still upset with her for not telling him, but he could feel that his anger had cooled during her explanation. Both for her sincere reasons and the strength of her guilt and remorse. She had been struggling with this far more than he had expected; that was something. And she had committed to telling him the truth eventually, when she felt the wounds on his heart had healed a little more. The fact that she was willing to trust Cat Noir with protecting 'Adrien' helped too. He hadn't completely forgiven her yet, but if he was being honest with himself, he knew both that she was right about his struggling under the weights he carried and that it was only a matter of time until he did forgive her. He chuckled to himself.

"I suppose that's reasonable." Cat Noir admitted. He could feel no small amount of relief at managing to make it through this part of their conversation. And while he also knew the next topic they needed to discuss would be just as challenging, if not more so, he was looking forward to the first part of that topic.

Ladybug let out an enormous sigh. "Okay, then you promise you won't tell him about his father, unless I'm dragging my feet? That you'll let me do it, when the time is right?"

"Well, about that." Cat Noir said slowly, deciding to move on to the last, and probably most important, subject he had to discuss with her. He stood up and helped Ladybug climb to her feet as well. "Neither of us has to tell him any of that," Cat Noir said, with a slight grin on his face. "He already knows."

Adrien certainly seems on his way toward forgiving Marinette, but will he truly be able to let go of his anger at her?

And this last topic they need to discuss, it seems like Adrien is about to drop his biggest bomb on Marinette. How will she take the news? What will she think of the plan to create senti-beings to protect each other? Will she go along with it? Or will she insist on erasing their memories? One way to find out. See you next time!

~Sneak Preview~

Now we're getting somewhere.

This really isn't how I expected this evening to go.

I'm sorry, Adrien.

PS.

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