You're The Music That's Been Playing In My Head: Book 3

The Legend of Lady Dragon (Shanghai Special): Part 1

School was finally out and it was gonna be amazing, we'd already made plenty of plans to go swimming, go to the movies, etc. To start the break off our class had decided to host a potluck picnic at the park and amazingly everyone was gonna be there including Adrien and Chloé who after the whole Miracle Queen ordeal worked hard to get along with everyone else but that's not all it seemed as if a holiday started for Ladybug, Chat Noir, and (s/n) as well as there seemed to be a nice lasting peace in Paris. Of course, we still had to do some missions but there was no akumatized victim in sight almost as if Hawkmoth went on holiday too giving us a chance to relax.

Marinette and I get home where we find Sabine taping a box and she asks for help. "Sorry Marinette but I can't get away from the bakery today and if the package isn't set off today Uncle Wang won't get it in time for his birthday," Marinette agrees and frowns while Sabine heads down to the bakery and I try to cheer Marinette up. "Come on it's not that bad we'll just be a little late to the potluck." "That's not why I'm upset, I'm used to being late for almost everything. I'm upset because it's already Uncle Wang's birthday and I couldn't save up for the gift I wanted to get him..." "Oh yeah that does suck, what we're you planning on getting him?" "I was saving up for a trip to Shanghai but with all the akuma attacks I couldn't complete enough commissions to afford it this year," She admits and I ask "Why didn't you ask your parents for help? I'm sure they would've, maybe it's not too late to see," Marinette shrugs. "I guess let me call Alya first."

She calls Alya to let her know we'd be late because we had to run an errand for Sabine. "Why doesn't that surprise me in the slightest?" "Just promise to save us a seat. Also hope everyone's having fun especially Adrien I know how excited he was about this." "Don't you know?" "Know what?" I ask and Alya tells us the news. "Adrien has gone to Shanghai." "What? Since when? Wasn't he supposed to go to Shanghai next month?" Mari asks, just as confused as I was. "Yeah, but it was a surprise he told Nino the opening of his dad's shop was moved up at the last minute so he had to go as soon as possible." "That's unfortunate. We gotta go see ya," We head downstairs and Sabine gasps. 

"What are you two still doing here? It'll never make it at this rate." "Yes it will but I wanted to ask if there was a way for me to go to Shanghai and visit Uncle Wang as my birthday gift. I tried to save up for it but I couldn't save enough plus I wanna learn more about my Chinese heritage ever since I was told more about it," Tom and Sabine visibly become happy as Tom races back upstairs and back down, carrying a small box. "Your mother and I have been waiting for this moment for so long." "We always thought that one day you'd want to see your ancestor's country to connect with your heritage so we've been putting money aside since the day you were born with enough money for a family trip we were just waiting for you to ask. Still, this is a bit sudden, we only have enough for three people and we can't close the bakery for a trip right now so if you really wanna do this..." "You'll have to go alone or with (y/n)," Tom and Sabine explain and Marinette looks at me. "Would you please come? I don't wanna go alone," I smile and nod before we go in for a group hug before we get ready for the trip.

Hours later and we're both in Shanghai on Uncle Wang's birthday. "What a joy to see you again. I'm so happy you could make the trip. Your mother told me you wanted to learn more about your heritage which makes me so happy I canceled the restaurant's plans for the week. It's also wonderful that you could bring a friend with you I'm happy to have you with us (y/n)," Wang exclaims happily. "I'm very grateful that you'll have me. I see your English has improved a lot since the last time we saw you," I comment and he nods.

"I have worked hard so it'll be easier to communicate. Now I can tell you all about your ancestors, show you every family photo, show every wonder of Shanghai, and teach you the Cheng's traditional songs," Wang says, catching Marinette's attention. "The Chengs have traditional songs?" The rest of the drive Wang talks about the many traditional songs her family has and dived more into her ancestry as we entered his home. "So your great great great grandfather designed dresses for the Beijing opera performers." "Really? That's so cool! So I had a family member who wanted to be a fashion designer too?" Marinette asks but before Wang could respond an African Grey parrot flies in her face squawking "Marinette! Marinette! It's Marinette!" "Yes, Bastille I'm very proud to finally introduce my grand niece to you," Marinette and I approach and give Bastille some head scritches while Wang points to some family photos.

"Bastille has always been in the family. Here he is with Grandpa Yan and Granny Mei Chei, and here he is with Xia Bing, your mother," Wang explains pointing to some photos hanging on the wall as Marinette asked "Xia Bing?" "Yes. Sabine was the name she took after moving to France," Marinette looks at the photo of her mom and so do I, Sabine looked so pretty. That's when Bastille starting repeating the words magic ingredient and Wang nods. "Thanks, Bastille, I haven't forgotten. Do you remember my style of cooking?" We both nod and state in unison, "You always improvise with whatever fate brings you." "Yes, and today fate has brought me you two."

"But we don't have any ingredients," I point out when Mari perks up. "What if we go out for a walk and see what fate brings us?" "Won't you get lost? You don't speak Mandarin." "It's ok we won't get lost, we'll have our phones, it has a GPS and translator," Mari reassures him and so do I. "We won't go too far plus it'll be good to get to know the area a little bit," Wang agrees to this and we head on out, walking down the streets when Tikki pokes her head out of Mari's purse asking "What are we looking for?"

"I'm not sure, I'm sure we'll know when we see it." "Well if you need to speak to any of the locals we can help," Flaake interjects and I raise an eyebrow. "You speak Mandarin?" "Kwamiis speak all languages." "Makes sense, they'll never know who their next holder will be," Marinette chimes in as we continue to look around.

Author: While watching season 5 I realized I've made a slight error within the timeline. I thought these kids were in high school they're not, they're in middle school and my dumb ass forgot that not all school systems are the same, didn't check to see how Europe does their school system till now and have been writing this as if they were American high schoolers because the original timeline for season 1-5 happens within 9 months if I remember correctly which is just impossible so I started the timeline off at the beginning of high school and been stating when a year has passed but since their not high schoolers it started at the beginning of middle school which with how Europe does their school system with four years of middle school and three years of high school this has thankfully worked out in my favor. As it stands now the class will be entering their third year of middle school at the start of season 4. As for ages, the class is 13-14, Luka and Juleka are 16, and y/n depending on how you imagined her school career is either 13-14 now and started at 11-12 at the beginning of the story or if y/n is imagined to have been held back a year is 16 now and at the beginning of the story was 14-15. I apologize for this and have fixed this within the Befana episode. I also realize this might not have been too big of a deal but I wanted this continuity error to be fixed especially if seasons 6+ will be following their high school years.