Shattered - A Miraculous Ladybug fanfic

Epilogue

It was a particularly sunny day. The cemetery had a fresh scent from the slight drizzle the night before, and even the birds sang as if there was no tomorrow. The world seemed to shimmer and thrive even though it was a sad day for many people.

The funeral wasn't public, although there was a public ceremony in the city that day to celebrate the life of Adrien Agreste. To the relief of Marinette, that is where Gabriel was. It took weeks to negotiate, with Nathalie being the middleman. Gabriel hated Marinette, and she had no warmer feelings for the villain.

It has been nearly half a year, yet they only now had a proper funeral for the beloved model and superhero. The guestlist was pretty short; only Adrien's class, Nathalie, Amily, and Felix, were on it, although Félix and Lila didn't show up.

Alya and Nathalie were standing at the gate, looking around, waiting for the last person to arrive. Nathalie kept looking at her watch, while Alya didn't dare to look at her phone, dreading any message from her black-haired friend. She was the most likely from Adrien's friend group not to show up, although both women hoped she would.

A flash of red caught Alya's eyes as the girl in question rounded the corner with the unusually colored bag against her chest. She sped down the street and tried to halt in front of the gate, resulting in her falling face flat on the pavement. Or almost faceplanting; instead, Nathalie caught her and helped her stand up.

"I am so sorry I'm late, Miss Sancoeur," Marinette said as she found her balance and caught her breath.

"We're just happy you're here at all," Alya replied as they walked inside.

"Took a little convincing." Marinette glanced at the bag in her hands. Tikki's head was visible as Alya looked at it too.

"I was wondering where she went," she whispered before the ceremony started.

Since there weren't any remains to bury or burn, the funeral was more of a ceremony to help the living. For that reason, it was held at the Agreste mansion. Marinette and Gabriel agreed on one thing: the ring that once held Adrien's amok would be buried as his earthly remains.

Since it wasn't a typical funeral, they didn't really follow the usual customs. Some people spoke about Adrien. Marinette was asked, but she said she couldn't, so instead, they kept it short and let everyone voice their goodbyes in private at the marked place of the ring.

The part where everyone was there and ceremoniously buried the ring didn't last more than thirty minutes. The goodbyes, though, stretched into the afternoon. Everyone had a lot to tell Adrien, and everyone was missing him. Some of his classmates didn't know him enough to spend more than five minutes saying their goodbyes, but those who worked with him, and especially those who were there at his final battle, had more to say than what they generally ended up saying.

Alya made a replica of the black cat ring and placed it on the wall's ledge above the burial place. She wanted to use the real one, but that wasn't an option. She and Nathalie were the last ones before Marinette finally worked up the courage to even look toward the commemoration of her partner. Nathalie, as always, was quiet and stood there more than actually talked, leaving a replica of the peacock Miraculous. Alya was more or less talkative, although she didn't take long.

When everyone went home, and even Nathalie went inside the house, Marinette finally stepped up to the gravesite. She had no words for what she felt. Her past week was spent with crying. Originally she didn't even plan on attending, thinking it would be too much pain. It was painful, but as she stood in front of the wall engraved with Adrien's name, she finally felt like it was gone.

She wasn't okay, and she knew that. The therapist she had seen for a few months had helped her in a lot of ways, but they had only started to scratch the surface of her trauma and problems. But at that moment, she knew that she could go on with him gone. Her tears made their way down her cheeks as she thought of everything she had done with Chat and Adrien together. She now remembered the good times, too, and she wasn't about to stop her mind.

She pulled the black blanket spotted with green cat paws out of the red bag as she said. "I will always love you, Chaton. No matter what." she placed the neatly folded fabric on the ledge, arranged the two pieces of jewelry on top, and finally left the garden too. Alya was waiting for her outside, and they started walking together. They were sad, but Marinette had finally accepted what happened and could let go of Adrien.

A/N:

So I have finally finished it. This chapter is just a little "funeral" for closure. I tried to find funeral customs but decided to go with this "everyone says their goodbyes" so Marinette could have a moment to herself with Adrien.

Also, people can cross over to death from the in-between realm where Mari met Adrien if the person holding on to them too desperately finally lets them go. I might explore this idea in another story of mine, but here you only need to know that when Mari put the blanket down, Adrien could leave.

Thank you for sticking with me through this sad journey. I have learned a lot about my feelings while writing it, and I also learned a lot about my writing style. I hope you are all well.

Goodbye until my next fanfic or original story (which will be happier, I promise).