Chapter Thirty-Two:

Mist flooded over Marinette inside of the healing chamber. Adrien rushed forward and put a hand to the glass. He watched as her body relaxed, free from any pain that she had been experiencing. Adrien rested his forehead against the glass and closed his eyes. He could feel his heart climb up in his throat.

"I believe in you, My Lady... I'll take care of things while you're gone. I promise."

"That is very noble of you," Master Fu said, coming up behind the boy. Adrien glanced at the trainer, only to see that his eyes were focused on the pod. "Ladybug is a strong Charm, stronger than most. You needn't worry about her."

Adrien nodded. He tried to swallow the emotional lump that had gotten stuck in his throat as he pulled away from the pod. He glanced at Nathanael's pod, then back to Marinette's. Together till the very end, apparently.

"Sir," Adrien began. "I was wondering if-"

"Where is she? Where's Marinette?"

Master Fu and Adrien turned to find a girl walking into the room. Adrien didn't recognize her in the slightest. She wore a plaid shirt with a white under top and light blue pants to match. Her brown-to-red ombre hair curled over her shoulders, pulled back just enough on her forehead to reveal a beauty mark. She stopped in front of Adrien and Master Fu, her hip popped and glasses perched crookedly on her nose.

"Well?" she asked, glaring at Adrien as if he were the answer to all of her problems.

"I-uh..." Adrien couldn't form any coherent words under the girl's scary gaze, so he merely pointed to the pod. The sassy girl turned her attention to it. Once her gaze fell upon Marinette, her shoulders drooped and she let out a sigh.

"Good, I'm glad she's in healing. I was afraid she was already thrown into a casket."

"Don't worry so much, dudette," said a familiar voice. "You'll give yourself acne."

Adrien cringed. Only one person he knew would come up with something like that. He glanced over the girl's shoulder and smiled as Nino waltzed up, putting an arm around the new girl's shoulders, holding a jacket in that hand.

"Nice to see you, man," Adrien said and held up a fist. Nino smiled.

"You too, bro." They fist bumped. Nino gestured at the jacket. "And, hey, I figured you would need this. It seemed a little too important to keep at the 'crime scene'." He made air quotes with his fingers. Adrien chuckled and took the jacket from him.

"Thanks, Nino."

Master Fu bowed to the two arrivals. "It is a pleasure to meet you both. May I learn your names so we may become acquainted?"

The girl smiled and held out a hand. "Alya Cesaire."

The trainer dipped his head as he took her outstretched hand. "I am Master Fu, trainer for the Charms."

"Sweet, dude. Sounds like it's a crazy job." Nino shook hands with the old man. "Name's Nino Lahffie. I'm this dude's number one bro." He elbowed Adrien playfully and the two shared a smile.

"Have you two come alone?" Master Fu questioned.

Alya shook her head. "No. Marinette's parents are here, but they're just talking to the other Charms out there." She jabbed a thumb toward the door, referring to the training room.

"Ah, I see. Would you be so kind to go and fetch them? I would like to discuss something with them." He glanced at Adrien, but just long enough for it to be suspicious. Nino and Alya nodded, then left the room. Before he left, however, Nino shot one last look back at Adrien as if to ask, 'you need anything?". His friend shook his head and waved him on. Nino took the hint and left.

"Adrien," Master Fu said softly, "when I have finished discussing Marinette's well-being with her guardians, would you mind if we talked privately?"

Adrien blinked, surprised at the old man's question, then nodded. "Yes, sir. Of course."

Master Fu smiled and bowed his head. "Wonderful."

Before the two of them could continue their conversation, they were interrupted by four people entering the room. Two were Alya and Nino, but the older ones Adrien assumed to be Marinette's parents. They seemed a lot kinder than Adrien had been anticipating. Then again, creating a wonderful daughter like Marinette must have taken some talented parenting. Adrien respected them almost instantly.

Marinette's mother was much smaller than he was, maybe three inches shorter. She had the same black hair and eye shape as Marinette but had a rounder face than her daughter. She wore a white Chinese-style dress with red and yellow accents. She smiled at Adrien as if she were gazing at her own son.

"So you must be Adrien," she said sweetly. "We've been hearing so much about you."

Adrien hunched his shoulders and awkwardly shoved his hands into his pockets. "Oh, uh... thanks, I guess."

She held out a delicate hand. "My name is Sabine, and this is my husband, Tom."

The man she gestured to was much taller than Adrien. He was a sturdily built man with wide shoulders, thick legs, and big feet. He wore a blue collared shirt and simple brown pants. Down the sides of his face, his jawline was covered by muttonchops. He smiled at Adrien, his top lip covered by a thick mustache, and extended a hand to shake.

"A pleasure to meet you, young man," he greeted. The two shook hands, and Adrien was taken off guard by how big Tom's hands were. He could crush him like a bug if Adrien stepped out of line.

Master Fu stepped forward and introduced himself in a similar way he did to Alya and Nino. The group of grown ups then changed the topic to Marinette's well-being. As they did so, Adrien zoned out and turned his attention to the pod they were looking into.

Marinette's body didn't appear to have changed that much, but Adrien did notice that she was paler. He wondered if that was a normal thing of if it was something he should be concerned about. He didn't realize it at first, but the more he stared, the more he felt like something was missing. It was like a piece of his gut was missing. Though he could still function, something seemed off. Could it have been Marinette's presence?

"Dude, are you okay?" Nino asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Adrien jumped, surprised by his friend's sudden appearance, then relaxed and sighed. "I... I don't know yet."

Nino didn't say anything in reply. He only patted his shoulder supportively. On the other side of Adrien, Alya came up and put a hand on her hip.

"So, you got a thing for my best friend, huh?"

Adrien's face flushed pink. "Well, I, uh..."

"You do know that Chat is in love with her too, right?"

"Well, actually-"

"And Nathanael? Are you sure you want to play this game?"

"Alya," Nino urged, "he's trying to answer your questions."

"Thanks, man, but I think I've got this." Adrien looked at her and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Well, it kinda turns out that there never was a 'Chat' in the first place."

Alya raised her perfectly plucked eyebrow. "Oh?"

He nodded and gestured to his jacket. "I was Chat the whole time."

She broke into a heart-smashing grin. "Ha! I knew it! Nobody in my class believed me when I said that you and Chat looked familiar. You know, with the green eyes and blonde hair 'n all."

"Oh, so you figured out his identity before I did?" Nino sassed. "I'm his best friend, dudette."

Alya laughed, and Adrien noticed a change of expression on Nino's face. He knew exactly what it was right away. His best friend was totally falling for this girl. How did he know? Adrien had a feeling he had that exact same look when he saw Marinette for the first time.

"I'm almost positive I found out before you. I'm the head journalist on my school newspaper staff and I have proof that I came up with all kinds of theories. I can show you!" She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. The two of them focused on the phone, getting into their own conversation. Adrien decided that he should probably leave them to it. He didn't want to get in the way of their bonding. He had experienced what that had been like and he didn't want to be that burden for someone else.

It was then that he decided to look more closely at the jacket Nino had given him. He didn't realize at first, but it was Marinette's. Her blood stains were still splattered across it, one big hole ripped in the center of the back. Why had Nino insisted on bringing this to him? Did he want Adrien to keep it for a keepsake or something?

For the first time, Adrien flipped the jacket around and looked at the inside of it. He was expecting to see normal cloth, but it wasn't just that. All of the pins that they had stolen from the arena were pinned to the inside of her jacket. Eagle, Hummingbird, Wolf, every single one was accounted for. And, to finish it off, a circle Ladybug pin was clipped to the zipper.

Adrien smiled to himself but broke out of his trance when someone called his name.

"Adrien?"

He looked up. Master Fu gestured for him to come over to where the adults had been talking. He drifted over, unsure what was going on. Tom and Sabine were looking at him expectantly as if they wanted him to do a backflip or something.

"We want to thank you," Sabine said.

"For what?" he asked, genuinely confused.

"You saved our daughter and protected her from danger we couldn't."

Adrien blushed. "Oh, really, it wasn't too hard. I just looked after her that's all and-"

"No, son," Tom interrupted. "You taught her something that neither of us could: you taught her about loyalty. You took her under your wing and stayed loyal to her through the entire games."

Adrien rubbed the back of his neck and smiled. "Thank you, sir, but I honestly believe that she was the one who taught me the more important lesson."

Sabine tilted her head. "And that is that?"

"She taught me what love feels like..." He lowered his head and dropped his hand. "I've had a hard upbringing and I think that Marinette was placed in my life for a reason. She taught me what love can do and what it can give to others; hope, charity, courage, bravery..." He stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I wouldn't have discovered that on my own."

Tom clapped him on the shoulder. "Son, if you ever need to get away from the Capital, feel free to come to our district. We will gladly give you a place to stay."

"Besides," Sabine chuckled, "I have a feeling Marinette wouldn't protest in you coming to visit."

Adrien smiled. Tears gathered in the corners of his eyes and he attempted to wipe them away. "I... I don't know what to say, thank you."

Sabine pulled him into a hug and ran a hand across his back. Tom joined the hug, squeezing the three of them tightly.

Master Fu watched all of this from the sidelines. Adrien noticed this and found it kinda odd to see the old man smiling at them. Had he wanted this to happen?

"Adrien," he stated, "it's time to talk."

He nodded, pulling away from Tom and Sabine. The two parents smiled at him and something tugged at Adrien deep down in his heart. What was this feeling? It took him a minute, but he was able to connect the dots. They were proud of him. They looked at him as if he were their own son, not just some boy who had fallen in love with their daughter. It was as if they had already accepted him into their family.

And that, for some reason, made Adrien want to cry.

With great difficulty, he turned away from them and followed Master Fu out of the infirmary. They walked out into the training room and skirted around the far edges of the room along the wall. As they walked, Adrien could help but feel like he was about to walk into the principal's office. What did Master Fu want to talk to him about? Was he in trouble? Had he done something wrong?

They came to the storage corner where they kept all of the spare weapons and supplies. Master Fu strolled up to a stack of boxes, then sat down on one carefully. Leaning on his cane, he looked at Adrien. He wasn't sure what the look meant, but Adrien was sure that Master Fu wanted to know something.

"Adrien, what made you want to take on the identity of Chat Noir?"

He blinked. "What, sir?"

"Why did you involve yourself with the Charms?" Master Fu clarified. "What was the deciding choice that pushed you to put on that cat costume and dive head-first into the arena?"

Adrien chewed on his bottom lip. That was a good question. Why did he risk his life in the arena?

"Well," he started, his voice wavering slightly, "I guess I felt like my mom would have supported me if she were here. I had this strong feeling that I needed to jump into the arena and save the person that I... I dunno. I felt the closest to, maybe. Marinette was the person that caught my eye. She was so confident and put together and just... real. She was the most real out of everyone there. Not saying that the other Charms were bad or anything, but I felt like..." He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "I felt like out of all the Charms, my mom would have loved her."

"What happened to your mother?" Master Fu asked carefully.

"She disappeared a year or two ago," Adrien said, tracing a finger across one of the spears that hung on the training racks. "I remember clear as day the front door, how it was barely open and the chilly air blowing inside. Nor can I ever forget the first time I found this on my side table." He pulled out his staff. He ran his hand over it, especially over the inscription that his mother had left on it. It was scratched up, but he could still read it just fine.

"After meeting Marinette's parents and... and feeling the love they have for me..." His eyes watered and he tightened his grip on the baton. "It just makes me want to have my mom back. I want her to come home and to hold me again like she used to when I was sick. I want her to sit at the piano and teach me how to play, not some stupid tutor. I want to have dinner with her, to laugh and joke about things that happened that day just to annoy my father." He squeezed his eyes shut. Tears streamed down his face, but he hastily tried to wipe them away. "I-I'm sorry, I'll keep it together."

Master Fu rested a hand on his shoulder. "The strong do not hold in their emotion. They let it flow like the water in a brook. Do not be ashamed in your sadness, it is your strength."

Adrien nodded, this time ignoring the tears that traced his cheeks. "I'll keep that in mind, thank you, sir."

Master Fu gave him a small smile, then leaned back against the boxes. "Another reason why I wanted to talk with you alone is because you deserve to hear the news about the winning Charm, Queen Bee."

Adrien folded his arms. "Okay?"

The old man paused as if he were choosing his words carefully. "There will be a ball in five days time. At this ball, your father, President Agreste, will announce Queen Bee as the winner of the Miraculous Games and as the next leader of this country."

"Wait, we only have five days? I thought it was usually weeks after the Games ended."

Master Fu shook his head. "It appears as though your father wishes to fill your position and get the Miraculous Games over with."

Adrien scowled and turned over his shoulder. "Typical, my father doesn't even care that I'm gone. Whoop-dee-do."

"I wouldn't be so sure, Adrien," he warned. "Perhaps it is his way of coping with the loss."

"By replacing me as quickly as possible? I don't believe it." He turned his back to the old man. "I need to go talk to my friends about this. If we're going to take this place down, we need to get a plan organized."

He started to walk away, but the old man called out, "Oh, and about your mother."

Adrien looked back just in time to watch Master Fu pull out a thin black box. He held it out in his palm like he expected Adrien to take it. Chat furrowed his eyebrows, confused at what he was looking at.

"What is that?"

Master Fu smirked as if he were about to tell Adrien a juicy rumor. He reached up into his ear and took out a small nude earpiece. He placed this alongside the box.

"Would you like to talk to her?" 

---

Well. That was 3000 words of filler. I am so sorry you guys had to read through all of that, but it needed to be put aside so the real action can happen. That action will probably happen in chapter 33 or 34, so be on the lookout for updates!

Sorry, I haven't updated in a while. My life has been crazy lately. From my mother's surgery to hitting crunch time for our play to the end of the semester. I'm just running out of free time. The only way that I could get this chapter written and done was by writing it at 1am when my house was completely quiet. (I won't count the distractions and heartbreak that also kept me up that late). 

But enough about me! This is you guys' story! How are you liking it? I promise it's gonna get really good super soon. 

And now, my favorite comment: 

Favorite Comment: 

By: Emerald_Heart12

Aww...

KISS, KISS, FALL IN LOVE!

... ignore me.

Because... anime. (And we had a great conversation on how we thought OHSHC was Adrien's favorite anime). 

Oh, and I wanted to give a shout out to Lillian2153 for all of the votes! Thank you so much!

And, as always, have a Miraculous day, guys!

(I HAVE BEEN SAVING THIS GIF FOR SUCH A LONG TIME OKAY?! DJWIFI FOR THE WIN)