Flashback Cutscene: Morning

9 years and 5 months ago...

Marinette stretched in her bed as the morning sunlight shone in her eyes, surprised as her arm hit something — or someone — solid beside her. She turned her head and looked at bright, sunshine hair. He was breathing lightly, a slight snore leaving his lips as he stayed content in a deep, restful state.

He looked so calm. So young and angelic – the complete opposite to how he was last night.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, reaching up and brushing a section of stray hair from his face. "But I promise I will tell you what I can. Just give me time."

After placing a gentle kiss to his forehead, Marinette rolled to the side and climbed carefully out of bed, not wanting to wake him. She shuffled cautiously. Standing over him and heading for the ladder leading down into the main area of her room.

Her feet hit the floor, the coolness shocking her and making her scramble to find her slippers, only to see her phone flashing instead. Making her way to the object, Marinette looked down and noticed the name on her screen.

Alya.

Answering the call, Marinette headed down the stairs and into the main area of her home. Her parents would already be in the bakery, giving her free reign to the kitchen and lounge.

"Alya, hi!" she whispered, not wanting to wake Adrien up. Even though her parents knew he was there, they were under strict orders that the trapdoor remained open, at least until they could properly talk about it.

'What's with the whispering, girl? Do you have someone there?'

"You know, don't you?"

'He rang Nino last night from your balcony.'

"How romantic!" Marinette laughed, Alya echoing the sound down the phone line.

'How is he?'

"Pissed off, as expected. I think we'll be okay though."

Alya's silence had the hairs on Marinette's arms stand on end.

'Adrien sent something to the Ladyblog last night. He asked me to send it onto Ladybug. I promise I haven't read it.'

Ice circulated around her body, quickly chased by molten heat sending her into a shivering mess.

"Send it to me!" she said, the demand was neither kind, nor polite.

'Just remember the facts... I'll speak to you later.'

Ending the call, Marinette opened her inbox finding one email forwarded to her from [email protected]

With a deep breath she opened it and sat down on the sofa.

'Ladybug,

There are things I still don't know and things I am reluctant to understand, and I can choose to blame my circumstances on fate or bad luck, or even bad choices... but I need to decide when I can finally sort through my feelings and confusion.

I understand that things aren't always going to be fair in the real world, and that's just the way it is. But this has hit me hard. The love, the loss, the betrayal.

It's going to take me time to piece together how I feel, and what I want to do. And it pains me to say this, but I can't see you again. I don't know if this will be forever or just whilst I sort my feelings and life out?

What has happened is almost irreparable, something that I can't just get over easily and act like it never happened.

So for now.

Goodbye Ladybug,

A.'

A disgusted feeling overcame her as she looked up towards the trapdoor – she was despicable. The conversation needed to take place sooner rather than later, and one thing she knew for sure was that regardless of how long it took, she was going to fight for him.

*****

Warning: Low Health

Present Day...

"I'm pregnant."

The words hit him like a thick, wooden plank to the head. No, it couldn't be. She couldn't be.

She can't be...

The similarities to the conversation had his world spinning, his heart losing blood as his vision blurred and he could feel his stability failing.

"You're — you're —"

His whole world crashed down before him, his body reacting the same way as his knees collided with the floor.

The love of his life. Gone.

His own life. Gone.

His child's life...

His child.

"I'm pregnant." The words sounded so similar, like an echo of a past conversation. One playing on repeat since he'd heard it a week ago.

"I'm pregnant."

"How — when?"

The echo returned as she filled in the gaps. "Four weeks."

Four weeks. Four... weeks.

He looked into the blue eyes of someone who'd been beside him since the beginning. Comforting him, hurting him...

"Get out!" The words came out his mouth in an instant. A bubble of confusing, yet overpowering, emotions consumed him. "Go!"

Though not entirely malicious, the words came out in a bite, harmful to the attendee and also to his heart. He just needed space to figure this out. He couldn't breathe. "Now!"

Talking through clenched teeth, his feline counterpart seemed to be channelling through without the need for transformation. He felt the growl in his throat and the need to throw her off him as she knelt beside him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

"Adrien?" Her voice wobbled. "Adrien, what's wrong?"

"You need to get out before I throw you out." His hand reached for his throat, needing it to loosen so he could breathe again. If only she would just move away. He needed space.

"Adrien, you need to calm down. You're having a panic attack again."

He laughed at her, a humiliating laugh which caused her eyes to glisten and her chest to heave. He didn't care though, why should he? He'd been treated like an absolute idiot! Poor, old Adrien Agreste. Always one step behind and the centre of the joke.

How many others knew the woman he hated was also the one he loved more than life itself? He needed space, he needed time to wrap his head around the amalgamation of the two women, he needed... he needed... a sudden thought struck as a whole world of questions entered through the haze.

"You must have had a right laugh. You and who else? Alya? Luka? You probably met up and discussed how poor Adrien needed someone to love him. Did you volunteer yourself? Is that why you're with me? Let me guess, you pulled the shortest straw."

Adrien was seething, and he was sure if he didn't control himself soon he would be on the verge of a nervous breakdown. His body ached with hurt and embarrassment. He thought back to his therapy appointments, finding his safe space to settle him. It just so happened his safe space was her.

"Adrien, you're scaring me. Breathe! Please! You're not making any sense!"

"I'm scaring you? Oh sorry, should I not be angry that you kept the biggest secret from me for years. Years, Marinette! God dammit! You even married me knowing you were deceiving me! Is my whole life just some kind of... sick masquerade for you? What is wrong with you?"

"Wrong with me?" she retorted. "You're the one who's making these allegations like some sort of lunatic."

Standing abruptly, Adrien headed to the bookcase. Slowly, he removed one of their wedding pictures from where it sat on a shelf and launched it full throttle into the opposite wall. The glass shattering into a million pieces, not too dissimilar to the explosion of his heart.

"Get out, Ladybug!"

He heard the gasp but didn't dare turn around and face her. It was too much. He couldn't dare see how much he was hurting her, not when he was hurting so much himself.

"What? Adrien?"

"Don't! You lied to me! Time and time again! You knew! You've known for years and I've just been expected to go along with it. I loved you so much but now..." his voice broke, emotion taking him down and onto his knees, he was unsure if he would ever stand again. "I- I can't even look at you." Adrien's voice was small. His body falling forward and onto his hands and knees; breathing difficult and tears shedding. His wife, his true love, his one and only, the mother of his child had deceived him and the pain was worse than finding out what his father did.

"I know you're angry. You have every right to be. But I'm not leaving Adrien. I promised I would always be here and I will. I'll go for a walk as I need to get some vitamins, then I'll be back and we will talk!" He could hear her sniffling as she moved around the room. Her stubbornness overpowering the hurt he was sure she was feeling. "I told you I would never leave you and I'm standing by my word."

He couldn't control himself, the anger raged through him and he stood, pacing the room like a starved, caged tiger.

The slam of the front door stopped him in his tracks, his head whipping around to where she'd left. She'd actually gone. He didn't know how he felt about that. Did he want her to stay and talk now? Had he been acting out of instinct rather than reason? His heart sank as he realised that once again, one of them had left without discussing what had happened. A flaw in their relationship which seriously needed looking into. He was a therapist goddamnit! How could he keep getting it so wrong?

A black blur appeared in front of him as Plagg made his first appearance of the evening.

"I know you're upset, and you have every right to be. But-" Plagg took this moment to fly forward and slap Adrien across the face. When Adrien turned his head back to face him, Plagg continued, "Your judgement is clouded right now. You're mixing up Chat Noir's and Adrien's feelings towards Ladybug, and unfairly directing it at Marinette. She has always been there for you. Dammit kid, even as Ladybug she came to check on you after the final battle went down. She had basically outed herself to you 9 years ago. Marinette in both forms has been there for the boy who needed the help and support. She's always been there for Adrien, doing what she felt he needed, no matter what it cost her. Don't let her not knowing you were Chat Noir get in the way. She still doesn't know."

As if a dark cloud had lifted from Adrien's mind, it suddenly disintegrated into a shower of rain, washing away the tears of hurt and betrayal he'd felt. She's been honest with him from the rebirth of their relationship. Maybe not telling him she was Ladybug, like he never told her he was Chat Noir, but she had made it clear she was there the day it all went down, that she knew about his father and her reasons for keeping hush – the only thing she hadn't explained was that she was actually Ladybug, yet everything now fit together in the most perfect puzzle.

But she was going to give up her memories? She obviously didn't, but it was one more lie between them.

"Ask her," Plagg said, reading his thoughts. "Please, this has got to end. You're made for each other. Just ask her anything you need to know, she's done with secrets as are you. It's time to move on."

"How long have you been sitting on this conversation?" Adrien asked his kwami, the small creature looking at him and giving a small smile.

"Too long. Go get your Lady, Kid."

In a hurry, Adrien grabbed his key without care for his bare feet, and headed straight out into the hall. He looked left and right only to be sorely disappointed when the corridor was empty.

Pushing hard in the direction of the elevator, Adrien's feet slammed against the luxury carpeted floor as he raced to catch her before she'd have exited the building. He slammed his finger against the button. Once. Twice. Three times. His patience wore thin as he waited for the elevator to retrace its journey.

Seconds passed and it was far too long. If she'd left the building and transformed it'd be impossible for him to catch up. Turning to the right, he pushed through the door to the fire escape and began to race down the staircase, using the bannister to jump from one flight to the next; not allowing time to be wasted when he had his Lady to get to.

Finally taking the last flight of stairs, Adrien slammed out the doorway and onto the street. Darkness had blanketed over the city, the light from the local establishments the only rays illuminating the streets.

Adrien stopped for a moment considering which way to go when Plagg came to his ear.

"Right," the kwami stated with seriousness; supporting Adrien the only way a few people did.

Moving swiftly in that direction, Adrien ignored the throbbing in his feet, instead concentrating on where he was going. His heart leading the way to the woman he loved more than life itself.

He was fast on his feet. Nimble. Ducking and swerving as crowds gathered in celebration of the following day.

His thoughts ran to the woman walking heartbroken somewhere around Paris; memories of Ladybug comforting him after the defeat of Monarch. She'd never told him why she'd visit, instead using it as an excuse to find out how his mother was, and Nathalie.

Even when Marinette had broken things off with him – he now understood her pain and reasoning — Ladybug had still come around.

She was too perfect.

Too precious.

She was the most wonderful woman to walk the Earth and he almost let her go. Thank God she was stubborn and she loved him. She wanted to fight for him and the feeling truly was remarkable.

Another group of tourists got in the way. Their wall of bodies blocking his dash through the city streets. He pushed a couple out the way as he barged through. Rushed sorrys were answered with harsh calls of profanities in languages he'd never even heard before.

"She's just ahead." The hushed whisper in his ear sent his eyes into search mode.

Blonde hair. No.

Male. No.

Red head. Certainly not.

Child...

Raven hair.

"Marinette!" he shouted, heading in the direction of his wife. His concentration was purely placed on her.

He noticed her heading down the alleyway to bypass the increasing crowds on the streets. A short cut they'd taken so many times together since moving into their new apartment. It was dark and dingy, and he was quite sure he was about to walk on a path of glass, each piece slicing deeply into his skin.

"Marinette!" He continued to move, edging closer and closer. "I'm sorry!" He was only metres away now. He just needed her to hear him. "Princess!" he shouted again, causing a couple of passers by to wince.

He saw her stop and swivel around to face him. Her eyes were vivid blue and looking at him like he was her everything. Like she was his. He smiled back. His feet stopping him from continuing and just taking in this moment. They had a lot to get through, but they could do it — together. He was sure they could.

"I'm sorry," he shouted to her again, this time his feet edging towards her. The soft movements were a reality check for his lack of shoes and now damaged soles. Each step was excruciating, but nothing was stopping him from reaching her — even with such significant pain.

Her lips stretched; an upward turn of acceptance of his apology. He just wanted her to take him home and nurse his feet back to health because she would. She would do anything for him, just as he would her.

As he made his way towards her, eyes firmly locked, someone scurried past him, bumping their shoulder into his and muttering a quick apology. But Adrien could only keep his attention on one thing. On his wife. Her mouth opened to speak the soft, sweet words of her own apology. He knew that face and he knew he needed to be beside her when it was said. To kiss her. To love her. To be with her forever.

With only a couple of steps to go, her face changed. The guy who'd bumped into him had collided with her too. He must have been drunk. Who else would have a hood up in July? But it was her face that once again froze him. Her smile dipped and her glow faded as she placed a hand to her hip, pulling it back with a new red tinted glow.

She looked towards him. Terror. Fear. Pain.

He rushed to her, catching her just before she hit the ground. An abnormal, blood-curdling scream ripped from his throat in the most animalistic and unnatural of ways.