No Way Out

A Reunion and An Ending

Hearing the nickname, Adrien smiled. "You've actually called me that before. I like it."

Marinette smiled too. "I know."

He pulled away to see her better. "You know... that I like it?"

"No, I know that I've called you that nickname before. It brings back a good memory, doesn't it?"

Now he was having trouble breathing. "A memory? Are you saying that you..."

"Yes," she interrupted softly. "I remember. I remember everything."

A smile erupted on his face as Adrien picked Marinette up and spun her around. Then once she was on her feet again, he kissed her the way he had been wanting to kiss her for the last three days.

Both of them were elated, but the other person in the room didn't share their sentiment. In contrast to their happiness, Gabriel felt a horrible sinking feeling.

"How is this possible?" Adrien asked after coming up for air. "I thought your memories were gone forever."

"I don't know," Marinette said. "I suddenly remembered everything as soon as Simone named me the Guardian again." Shaking her head, she called for a kwami. "Mullo?"

"Yes?" she replied, appearing at her side.

"I thought you said that my memory loss was permanent. You said that nothing could bring them back."

"Yes, that's right. I did say that, because that's what we always thought. None of the other Guardians ever regained their memories."

"But none of them were named the Guardian a second time," Tikki said, appearing next to her. "This situation has never happened before, and it's the only thing that explains it."

"Makes sense to me," Plagg added, also appearing. Then he took a moment to look at Tikki before flying up and giving her a big hug. A second later he let go and flew back like it never happened. "It's nice to see you again, Sugar Cube," he said nonchalantly.

Tikki giggled. "I missed you too, Plagg."

The black kwami rolled his eyes before disappearing into Adrien's shirt. The other two kwamis then disappeared too.

Gabriel finally moved up to Marinette, a tight-lipped scowl on his face. "Your memories are back?"

She nodded. "Yes."

"All of them?"

Another nod, this one much slower.

They stared at each other for a moment before Gabriel made a suggestion. "You've already dedicated too much of your life to being the Guardian. What if I take over for you?"

"Are you crazy?" Adrien asked before Marinette had a chance to reply. "First of all, no. And second of all, she'll lose her memories again if she gives up the Guardianship. She just got them back. You can't take her away from me again."

He raised an eyebrow at him. "Five minutes ago you said that you were fine with her memory loss."

"You know what I mean," Adrien growled. "She's already been through enough. We all have. Things are finally back the way they used to be. Why mess with that?"

"Because things could be better than they used to be. Marinette shouldn't have to be tormented for the rest of her life..."

"Gabriel," she interrupted quietly. "It's okay. You don't need to worry about me."

Gabriel seemed pained as he faced her. "You shouldn't have to suffer. We can make him disappear permanently..."

"No we can't." Marinette paused to make sure that he was really listening to her. "Gabriel, we need to deal with this another way. Chat Blanc existed, and we can't change that. But we can stop him from tormenting us for the rest of our lives. It's our decision. We can either take that power away from him, or not. For me, it's time to take it away. From now on, when I think about Adrien wearing white, I'm going to be reminded of a happy moment. A moment in the bakery when he was covered in flour. It was the moment when I fell in love with him all over again. That's all I'm going to think about, not something that happened twenty years ago."