Fury burned so thickly in his veins all Adrien saw was red. Gabriel's eyes widened and Adrien revealed at the shock flitting through them. He felt proud, strong and seen.

Marinette didn't deserve to be treated like that.

No one does.

Nathalie looked between them anxiously, no doubt sensing the growing tension in the room. Gabriel closed off his expression, hardening it into his usual facade. He inclined his head towards his assistant, but kept his eyes locked on Adrien. "Nathalie, would you excuse us? I need to speak to my son alone."

It wasn't a request. She knew that. They both did.

She bowed her head respectfully and made her way towards the dining hall. Hesitating in the archway, she frowned at Adrien, and disappeared from view into the other room.

His father closed in on him and Adrien's eyes snapped back to his. "You can be as angry as you like," he said, "It doesn't change the fact I simply did what was best for the both of you."

"And what was that?"

"I told her the truth, that she's a bad influence and that it's better if you two don't see each other anymore, both inside and outside of school."

Adrien balked. "You think Marinette's a bad influence? But you don't know anything about her!"

"And neither do you." His instincts hissed at him to back down, his father's tone demanding nothing but submission. Adrien stared at his father defiantly, but kept his mouth shut. "How well do you really know this girl? You've been at school for less than a year and you think she's something special?"

Gabriel readjusted his glasses, "Miss Bourgeois has known that girl for years, they've been in class together almost every year, and you can clearly see how well they get along. Not to mention how she was expelled for actively harming Miss Rossi – your other friend."

"That wasn't her. Marinette wouldn't do that," he said, "She's innocent."

"Your teacher pulled the test answers from her backpack. Miss Rossi's necklace fell out of her locker. Everyone at school saw it, including you. What other proof do you need?" Adrien gritted his teeth. "Such character isn't displayed by anyone worth knowing. The sooner you learn that, the better."

"She was framed!"

"Framed?" Gabriel scoffed, "Honestly Adrien, I can't help you if you refuse to see what's right in front of you. Yes, there may be superheroes in Paris, but life isn't a fairytale. Actions have consequences and people closest to you can still hurt you."

"Like you?" snapped Adrien.

Gabriel glared at him. "Everything I do is to protect you."

"To protect me? Is that what you call this?" Adrien swept his hand through the air, gesturing to the foyer. "You think keeping me locked in here, alone, was protecting me? I didn't have any friends before I went to school – a school you didn't want me to go to. I didn't have anyone to talk to, to laugh with."

"A lot of good they did you."

He flinched. Adrien should stop. He knew that he wouldn't win no matter how hard he pushed. But he couldn't keep living like this, not with his father going against every decision he made. Why was it so hard for him to see, to understand that he wasn't the only one suffering?

I miss her too.

Adrien clenched his fist and slammed it against the door, "I was alone! You left me alone!"

Gabriel sighed. "And what do you want me to do about it? Do you want an apology? For me to get on my knees and tell you I'm sorry? To tell you that this has all been some kind of misunderstanding? It hasn't, Adrien. I love you and everything I do I'm doing to protect this family. If this is the only way, then so be it."

He couldn't believe it. He didn't want to. His eyes burned, but he wouldn't blink them back. He wanted to remember the way his father was looking at him, the frost in his eyes and the finality of his tone.

He didn't care about him, wouldn't listen to what he wanted. How could he?

Who would ever take you seriously...?

Gabriel breathed deeply and his anger subsided like the calming of a storm. He composed himself, "Now, I'm going to be frank with you, Adrien. I don't want you spending any more time with that girl. Do you understand?"

Adrien's palms were sweating. "I can't do that."

His father brushed him off. "That's fine, but it would be wise to reconsider. Because if you disobey me, it will be the last you ever see of public school."

His eyes widened. "What?"

"It's clear to me that your time there has done nothing but make you disobedient and disrespectful." Gabriel gazed thoughtfully at the ceiling, "Perhaps I should phone the school now and get it over with. That way we can have you start with a more advanced syllabus tomorrow."

Adrien struggled to breathe, his knees feeling weak. If it weren't for the door behind him, he wasn't sure he'd still be standing. Confronting his father was a nightmare, every passing second draining him of what little strength he had.

"You wouldn't."

Gabriel's eyes glinted darkly. "Try me, and let's see what happens."

"You're not listening to me," cried Adrien, "You never listen!"

"Life is filled with choices, Adrien. I'm simply giving you one. Make a decision, and do it quickly before someone does it for you." Gabriel turned away from Adrien and began ascending the staircase back towards his study.

Adrien's vision swam. "This isn't right!"

"I decide what's right!" His voice bellowed through the empty foyer and Adrien suddenly felt like a cornered animal, backed up against the wall with nowhere else to turn. Adrenaline spiked through his system and his heart pounded in his ears.

"I don't know what this is," murmured Adrien, "But it isn't love."

He had to run. He had to get away.

"Adrien –,"

He turned around and wrenched open the door, fleeing outside the same way Marinette had. It slammed shut behind him and Adrien ran around the house towards the back garden. He heard a voice above him, but it was muted. Too soft compared to the pounding of his heart and his heavy breathing.

Trapped. No matter what I do. No matter where I go.

Not as Chat Noir. Not as Adrien.

I'll never be free.

"Kid! Kid, stop!"

But Adrien wasn't listening. All he could hear was Ladybug's voice alongside his father's.

This is all for the better...

I simply did what was best...

Why was it, that all the right decisions were always the ones that hurt the most: losing Plagg and the miraculous to someone else, losing Ladybug for good and losing Marinette because his father refused to see reason?

It wasn't fair.

Adrien tripped over a raised piece of concrete and slammed into the ground. His forearms scraped along the dirt, tearing up grass and staining is white over shirt. He curled into himself, pressing his hands over his ears to block out the voices.

It was too much, everything was too much. It was like he was transported back onto that rooftop with Ladybug, with her closing in on him and the walls creeping closer until they towered over him from all sides. His throat closed and his lungs burned.

I can't –I can't –

"Adrien! Adrien, look at me!"

Plagg.

"That's it, Kid! Focus on the sound of my lovely voice. In and out, like your breathing in gooiest cheese. Breathe, Adrien, breathe." The kwami's voice softened, "Everything's gonna be okay. Everything's okay."

Slowly, he registered the pain in his arms and the water dripping from his eyes. The fire in his lungs had eased and Adrien pulled his hands from his head, the voices quelled. He sat up groggily, his entire body fatigued and heavy.

He looked up and everything stopped.

His mother's statue sat before him, her silhouette carved beneath a stone arch. Her hands rested on her lap, the lap he used to sit on as child when she would sing to him. How long had it been since he'd last heard one of her lullabies, or the sound of her voice?

Could he even remember it?

"Adrien," Plagg's voice was meek, cautious, "Are you feeling all right?"

He blinked slowly and turned towards the kwami. "No." He didn't bother with the tears. They would try on their own.

Adrien looked down at his hand, at the ring resting on his finger. It wasn't anything extravagant, a simple piece of jewelry. But it alone housed the kwami of destruction.

And right now it belonged to him – to Chat Noir.

The hero he needed to be.

He thought back to the agony on Marinette's face, her head bowed before his father. He'd promised to be there for her, promised to set things right, but he'd completely forgotten about her.

He'd abandoned her.

Adrien fisted his hands.

You're pathetic...

I should return your miraculous...

He couldn't let Hawk Moth have Marinette. He had to find her. And he had to do it now.

"Plagg, claws out!"

The kwami was sucked into the ring. Green light danced along his skin, leaving impenetrable leather in its wake. It shimmered brightly, illuminating him until he rivaled a star. The suit felt natural to him, more familiar and comforting than any of his own designer clothes.

Chat Noir stood up, straightened his back and moved his gaze to the trellis on the other side of the garden. He stole one last glance at his mother's statue, his eyes lingering on her face.

Then he took off running.

Marinette sat on a bridge overlooking the Seine. The sky had turned from a pastel blue to a dark navy, shrouding all of Paris in dark, eerie hues. People were already heading home for the day, anticipating another night of bad weather. But Marinette wasn't worried. She stayed seated on the bench, ignoring the few who walked past her.

A little bit of rain was the least of her problems.

Tikki's gaze burned into her, but Marinette didn't look back at the kwami. She kept her gaze downward, her reflection staring back at her – a lone girl with red eyes and disheveled hair.

A lucky superhero with no luck at all.

How had everything gone so wrong so quickly? It had all been perfect before, when Adrien had greeted her with a smile, when her friends had messaged her late into the night about a movie they wanted to see, and when her parents had still looked at her with pride in their eyes.

Where were they now?

"Marinette, are you all right?" asked Tikki.

"No," she said, "I'm not." She couldn't cry, not because she didn't want to, but because she knew crying now would only make things worse. And for the first time she resented being Ladybug, being forced to keep her emotions in check. She could feel the negativity inside her, festering and growing until all she could think about was how badly she wanted to break.

She hadn't felt like this in such a long time, her emotions spurring the revival of long buried memories of a girl with long pigtails, a tender smile and sharp eyes.

Marinette was tired of feeling this, of bottling everything up so she could be ready to save Paris at a moment's notice. The responsibility of being a hero, of being someone people could look to for help and guidance, was like a chain dragging her deeper to where the light couldn't find her.

A chain she wanted to break free from and never look back.

"I wish she was here, Tikki," Marinette's voice wavered, "She always knew what to do, what to say when things got hard." She laughed softly, comparing the girl in the water to the one in her memories. No matter what she did she'd always come up short.

"I'll never be anything like her."

"Don't say that, Marinette. You –,"

"You don't get it, Tikki!" She turned to face the kwami, "I should've given the miraculous to Alya sooner. You saw how she handled the akumas as Rena Rouge. She was born for this. It's been so hard for me to keep lying to everyone to keep this –this secret. And if I can't even handle being Marinette –," she sucked in a breath, a sob ripping itself from her throat, "If I can't even handle being Marinette, then how can I call myself a hero?"

Tikki's eyes were wide with compassion, worry underlying their blue hues. "But you were chosen. You were meant to be Ladybug."

"No, I wasn't."

"Yes, you were. You –,"

"No!" Marinette clenched her eyes shut, "I was the wrong choice! You chose the wrong sister!"

She didn't deserve to be Ladybug. She wasn't brave, she wasn't strong. If she couldn't even keep her life from falling apart how could she keep a city from evil? If anyone was worthy of being Ladybug it was Bridgette.

She'd always been the one with a plan, the one who'd always found a way to cope no matter how hard things had gotten. She was strong, brave, kind, a true hero more capable and willing to help that Marinette had ever been.

She was the Ladybug they needed.

And Marinette was nothing but a cheap imitation. Even Chat had noticed it.

I'm left with this sinking feeling in my stomach that maybe, she's...she's not really...

Marinette reached up to her earrings, her nimble fingers brushing against the cool metal.

"No, don't!" Tikki's voice was shrill and Marinette faltered, her hands trembling.

She bit her lip and kept her eyes closed. "Please, Tikki," she whispered, "Please don't make this harder than it already is."

"But you're making a mistake," said the kwami, "Don't you see? Look at all the good you've done for Paris, all the great things you've managed to accomplish and the people you've saved. You're not alone, you have me and Chat Noir."

"And yet all it's done for me is make my life worse," she replied. She snapped her eyes open and glared at the disheartened kwami. "How many times have I been grounded because of it? How many times have I gotten in trouble for sneaking off to save people? My parents don't even trust me anymore, Tikki. They think I hurt Lila."

She brought her knees to her chest and hugged them. "My friends can't stand the sight of me and Adrien," her lower lip quivered, "I've lost him for good. My life is nothing but a mess. I'm a mess and I'm so tired of pretending I'm not."

"But –,"

"I can't cry, I can't get angry and I can't mourn because every time I get close to that point I'm not just risking myself, but everyone around me. I'm the only one who can save them. But who's gonna be there to save me?"

"Please," said Tikki, "Please, don't do this..."

Marinette closed her eyes tightly and reached for the earrings again. She blocked out Tikki's pleas, quickly removing the miraculous from her earlobes. She held her breath until they were in her palm, until the silence was swallowed by the people mulling about and the rushing water of the river.

Until Tikki's voice was gone.

The silver studs glistened in the fading light. Tikki's red and black spots adorned them, the only sign of her dormancy inside them and the magic they held.

It was hard to think that Hawk Moth had gone through so much trouble, spread so much misery, despair and fear to search for them. And yet they'd been entrusted to her.

A high school student who after a year with them still had no idea how to do the job she'd been given with.

She should've known the pressure would be too much for her, but Chat Noir had been there too – a boy she barely even knew outside of their duty to Paris. He'd steadied her, held her close and reassured her of her place beside him, leading him and bringing peace to the people most important to her.

Bridgette would do it. She'd be proud. She'd never turn her back on people who needed her.

Marinette smiled bitterly and dropped the earrings back into her purse before closing it shut.

Once Bridgette might have sat on the bench beside her. She'd console Marinette, demean her insecurities, tell her she was being stupid for throwing away the opportunity to help someone other than herself. She'd tell Marinette how she was overreacting, then reach over and give her a hug.

But Bridgette wasn't here now. She never would be.

And for that, Marinette had only herself to blame.

Hi guys! I know this chapter is a little shorter than the others, but I hope you enjoyed like it nonetheless. Please don't forget to vote or comment if you like it, and thanks to everyone who voted or commented on the last chapters.

The next chapter will be up next week Saturday, and that's when things get...interesting.

See you then!