All The Bright Places

The Letters

"Plagg, claws out." Adrien whispered quietly, stepping out of the closet. He started to leave until he noticed another small box poking out from under her bed.

The blonde pulled it out and peeked inside. There were letters neatly stacked beside each other.

9 letters total.

The names on them read,

Mama
Papa
Alya
Adrien
Nino
Luka
Chaton
Chat Noir
Master Fu

Wait... master fu?!
Why was she giving him a letter?

And why are there two letters addressed to Chat Noir?

'Master Fu has meditation classes. She must be a... student or something. Yeah! A student."

Adrien shook his head, turning his attention back to the three that read,
Chaton, Chat Noir, and Adrien.

He carefully peeled the back apart and pulled out the letter of the one that was addressed to Adrien.

'Dear Adrien,
Thank you for being so sweet and kind to me. Even though you didn't have to, you did. Maybe that's why I fell in love with you so easily.
But that's not the point because none of that matters anymore. I want you to know that, I'm very grateful for your friendship while it lasted. It meant so, so much to me.
I just hope that you, along with Alya and Nino can forgive me.
With all love, Marinette.'

Adrien quickly realized what these were and he became even more upset and angry.
He opened the next which was assigned to Chaton.

'Chaton,
There are so many things I want to write to you, but I'd be here for hours and I don't have that much time.
So I wanted to thank you. You've done so much for me. You made me happy on my worst days, and you made me feel so... so loved.
But that scares me.
I can't get close to you for certain reasons.
But I can't stop the overflowing feelings and emotions I feel towards you.
Every time I try to push you away, I can't.
I don't try to push you away because I want to, but because I don't want to hurt you in the end.
Chaton, I think I've fallen in love with you, and that's one of the many reasons of why I have to go.
Thank you again for everything, Chaton.
With all of my love, Marinette.'

Tears stung his eyes as he picked up the next letter addressed to Chat Noir. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to continue reading.
The hurt he felt made him sick. It was the same hurt he felt when his mother disappeared.

'Chat Noir,
I can't keep this responsibility anymore. There's things going on in my personal life that I need to figure out.
But I've already made my mind up about what I'm going to do and that involves someone else taking my place as'

Chat Noir's eyes went huge as he stared in disbelief at the next part. Was he reading this correctly?

'Ladybug. This isn't temporary, this is forever. I've come to realize that Paris needs more than I can give, and that you deserve a much better partner. I don't know how to keep hiding behind this mask anymore.
I hate lying to you.
I hate lying to everyone.
But I do want you to know that this isn't your fault so please don't ever think that it is.
Please keep fighting for me. Don't give up, Kitty.
With love, Ladybug.'

The hero stood in a shock as he kept reading the same words over and over.

Marinette was Ladybug.
Ladybug was Marinette.

'She held so much responsibility on her shoulders. It all made sense now.
She was hanging at the end of her rope. Everyone counted on her but... she felt like she had no one. That's why she couldn't tell me everything.'

Adrien mentally beat himself up over this. He couldn't help but think he could've prevented this somehow.

But now he had even more reasons to protect his Princess. Of course he wouldn't tell her that he knew her identity, but he had to come up with a plan. He had to show Marinette how much everyone cared about her so she'd want to stay. He had to stand up for her in more ways than one. Even if she didn't want to be Ladybug anymore, he hated the thought of that, but that was fine. As long as she was safe and okay. That's all that matters to him now. Her safety.

He closed the letters back and pushed the box under her bed with his foot. He let out a sad sigh and climbed through the balcony door to finally go home. He had so much to process.

•

Adrien woke up the next day fairly early. He was supposed to go to school, but he knew if he saw Lila, he'd explode on her so he decided to stay home.

"Adrien, you're going to be late for school."

"I feel sick, Nathalie. I don't think I'm going today."

Nathalie sighed and nodded.

"I will inform your father. Do you need anything?"

"Just sleep, please don't bother me for the next hour?"

"Alright. Let me know if you do need something. Adrien... I hope you feel better."

She pulled the door until the latch clicked. Ever since his mother disappeared, Adrien saw Nathalie as a mother figure. Of course she'd never take Emilie's place, but it was nice to have someone like her around.

Adrien pulled himself out of bed. His eyes had dark circles around them from not being able to sleep. He had too much on his mind.

He got a shower and got dressed. Plagg sat on the desk, eating a wheel of Camembert as Adrien called out to him.

"Plagg, claws out!"

Plagg grumbled as he was pulled into the ring. Adrien wasted no time and before his transformation was even complete, he was jumping from the window.

When he reached the hospital, he quickly detransformed and found himself inside the empty elevator.
But something seemed... off and Adrien had a bad 'gut' feeling when the doors opened on the 5th floor.
Maybe it was because he had to face her, even though she was unconscious and didn't know that he knew or maybe it was...

"Watch out, kid!"

Adrien jumped back, being snapped away from his thoughts.

"S-Sorry!"

He watched as they rushed past him and to a room. When the nurses opened the door, he heard an oddly familiar scream.

"Marinette..."

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Gonna stop this chapter here! I could have kept going but I don't want this chapter to be too long. <3

I was very hesitant about "publishing" this chapter as well. Was the reveal too soon?