A Perfect Match for Adrien Agreste

Wait! Actually...Change My Mind?

The darkness of the lair was overwhelming as Hawkmoth and Chat Noir rode silently in the small cylindrical elevator to where he knew his lady and mother were waiting. Fortunately for Adrien, his Chat Noir night vision allowed him to make out the two glass coffins sitting directly in his view at the end of the long metal pathway leading from the elevator exit. As the doors of the elevator opened and his father took one step forward the overhead lights flickered on, verifying that Marinette was now laying in an identical container that his mother had been in for the last five years. The thought that she was experiencing a similar fate to this mom made his shutter as he followed behind the purple clad villain.

"I'm proud of you son. I didn't think you could pull it off. You really charmed Ms. Dupain-Cheng and tricked her team into false assurance," Hawkmoth said, turning and placing a hand on Chat Noir's shoulder and squeezing slightly.

After the first father son moment Adrien had experienced in years, the two men had made their way to the end of the walkway and now stood in front of Marinette and Mrs. Agreste. Both women looked to be peacefully sleeping, but Adrien knew that only one of them truly was, his lady. His mother was in a magically induced coma and had been for years, yet they both looked so incredibly similar. "Now son, hand me the miraculous please, it is time to bring your mother back to us," the smile on his father's face made Adrien tense as he held out an open palm.

Adrien knew how excited his father was to make the wish. He wanted his mother back too, but he needed to guarantee that his lady wasn't harmed in the remaking of the world. He wanted a life with her, just like his father wanted with his mother. He wanted to give his father what he wanted, but he truly loved Marinette, and if this was going to hurt her, he would stop it before it began.

Without looking at his father Chat Noir stepped forward placing a hand on the casket holding the civilian Ladybug. She was his enemy for years, she kept him from having the one person who had ever loved him from coming back to him, but now... he wasn't sure he could give up what she had given him back. Marinette, his ladybug, his bugaboo, had given him the love he never thought he would receive again. He didn't deserve her love for all he had done to her and her friends. Fighting against her on a daily basis, not caring who got hurt, and destroying Paris while doing so. Even if she could fix it all in the end.

"Father?" Chat said, finally turning his head to look at this father.

"Son."

"Are...Are you sure there isn't another way to bring mother back?" Chat looked back at his clawed hands, the black and green miraculous sitting on his right ring finger outside the gloves almost begging to stay in its place.

Lowering his hand, Hawkmoth looked to the black cat. A questioning look on his features, "are you having second thoughts? We have the miraculous, son. We have the means, and our family will be whole again, without any sacrifice to each other. Ladybug will take her place."

"That... I know, but that's the problem, because I'm in love with her," Chat said not daring to look at the disappointment he was certain now shown on Hawkmoth's face.

"In love with her?" Hawkmoth laughed loudly, the darkness of his tone bringing Chat's eyes to meet his as he asked, "how can you love someone who kept you from your mother for years? It is all her fault you had to grow up during your teen years without a mother. If she had just given up the miraculous, we would have been a family sooner!" With a shake of his head, Chat pulled the black cat ring from his finger, a flash of bright green illuminating around him as the black leather melted away, leaving Adrien in the same clothes from his date earlier as he admitted, "you are right father. I don't know what I was thinking. Here." Adrien held out the miraculous for his father to take.

"One last thing father. Can I at least say goodbye to her?"

"If you make it quick. I need the ladybug miraculous before though, then I will leave you to say your goodbyes."

"Uh. Oops. I need the ring back," Adrien reached up and rubbed the back of his neck in his usual nervous habit as he explained, "I... um, forgot them in the pocket of my suit." He gave his father an innocent lopsided smile. Grabbing the ring back from his father as he growled at his incompetence, Adrien slipped it back on his finger whispering his transformation and hitting the button to open the casket holding his Lady. Leaning over her quickly before his father could request the miraculous back, Chat swept his hand across Marinette's forehead, laying a sweet kiss to her light pink lips, as small puffs of air left the small space between them, caressing the skin that wasn't covered by his mask.

"I love you, Milady."

Chat turned back around to his father as he grabbed Marinette's hand feeling a slight squeeze. Smirking, he turned back to his father, "okay, let's do this," he sing-songed stepping away from the still open casket behind him and wrapping his arm around his father's slightly taller shoulders while turning them away. Behind them a flash of pink shown, Ladybug sitting up in the coffin, awake, and ready to fight.