Chapter Text
Sunday, 19h02
Marinette ignored her phone the first time it rang.
“Where’s my other shoe?” she asked the house at large, rifling through her purse for her house key. “Adrien, honey, have you seen my shoe?”
“I saw one in the closet,” Adrien called back from their room.
“No, that’s where I found the one I’m wearing.” Marinette looked over at Louis, whose hair was falling into his eyes. It was about time for him to get a haircut. “Louis, put the book down, please, we’re trying to get ready to go.”
“Mama, your phone’s ringing,” Hugo said helpfully from the kitchen table, where he was playing with a Viperion action figure.
“Thanks, sweetheart,” Marinette said absently. “Go put a shirt on so we can go, okay?”
Hugo put down his action figure and ran off, hopefully to do as she asked.
“Are we ready to go?” Adrien asked, appearing in the doorway with his shoes in his hands. Plagg hovered over his shoulder, holding a tie for him and looking impatient. “Where’s Emma?” Adrien asked. “Emma! Are you ready?”
“Book down, Louis,” Marinette said again, finally spotting her shoe underneath the chair her son was sprawled on.
“But Mom, I’m ready to go!” Louis protested as Marinette crouched down to retrieve her shoe.
“Go help Hugo, then.” Marinette stood and smoothed down her skirt, looking around for Tikki, but she was nowhere to be seen.
Emma ran into the room, slipping a little in her socks as she ducked under her father’s arm. “Mom, the kwamis are all freaking out in the bedroom.”
Marinette sighed. “They’re always freaking out over something. They’ll be fine.”
“Yeah, but they look really upset,” Emma insisted. She was wearing Marinette’s old jacket—one of the ones from university, because at 15 years old, Emma was already as tall as Marinette was now.
Marinette picked up the action figure Hugo had left on the floor and put it on the counter, out of the way. “Okay, I’ll go check on them.” Marinette moved down the hallway, trying to squeeze past Adrien so she could get to the back of the house, but instead of letting her pass he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close.
“Twenty more minutes,” he murmured into her hair. “Twenty minutes, and then we’ll be on a rooftop halfway across the city."
Marinette smiled and rose on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “We’ve got to get the kids to the bakery, first. My parents have been looking forward to it all week.” Technically the kids were old enough that they didn’t need anyone to babysit them anymore, but Tom and Sabine loved any excuse to have their grandkids over.
Marinette’s phone in her back pocket started ringing again, reminding her that she had things to do. With a sigh, she extracted herself from Adrien’s embrace and turned to go down the hall—only to almost run into Hugo, who was trying to walk down the hall and put a shirt on inside out at the same time.
“Your phone’s ringing again, Mama,” he said, voice muffled as he wiggled his arms and his hips, trying to get his shirt over his head.
Marinette stifled a giggle.
Hugo’s head popped out from his shirt as he finally pulled it on, the tag poking out from under his chin. “Aren’t you going to answer it?”
Marinette pulled it out of her pocket and glanced at it. Incoming call from Jess Keynes. “I’ll call her back. We’re late.”
"Here, buddy, let me fix your shirt," Adrien said, crouching down so he was on Hugo's level.
Marinette skirted around them and headed towards the studio as Hugo started telling his father about something that had happened at school that day. Before she reached the end of the hallway, Tikki phased through the studio door, looking worried, although her expression smoothed out as she joined Marinette.
"Is it time to go?" Tikki asked.
"Yeah," Marinette said, letting it go for now. She could get the details from Tikki later. "Let's go."
In the living room, Louis had finally put his book down, but now he and Emma were arguing over the way Louis had set the book on the table, open and face down.
“It’s bad for the spine!” Emma told Louis, reaching for it.
Louis swatted her away. “But I’ll lose my page!”
“Get a bookmark!”
Marinette sighed and tried to decide whether it was worth telling them to quit bickering.
Adrien and Hugo followed her to the front door, where—finally—they all looked mostly ready to go.
"—and when I went to go show it to her, Ms. Lahey said that—"
Adrien's phone rang, interrupting Hugo mid-sentence. "Sorry, buddy," Adrien said, ruffling Hugo's hair. "Hold on a minute." He answered the call and held the phone up to his ear. "Hey, what's up?”
Marinette gave him her best exasperated look.
Adrien made a face back at her. “Yeah, of course we’re still in Paris,” he said—in English, Marinette noted. “We… oh.” The change in Adrien’s expression was subtle, but Marinette instantly knew that there was bad news. “Hold on, let me get Marinette over here.” Adrien’s voice was steady, but the tightness in his expression gave himself away as he waved Marinette over.
Marinette took the phone from him and held it to her ear. “Hello?” she said in English.
“Hey, Marinette. It’s Jess.” Jess sounded friendly, but her tone was laced with seriousness. “We need your help.”
“Is there a problem?” Marinette asked, covering her other ear to block out the noise from her kids.
“A big one,” Jess admitted. “No one’s in immediate danger,” she added hurriedly. “But it’s pretty urgent. Can we talk?”
Marinette closed her eyes for a second, then opened them. She and Adrien made the briefest eye contact, Plagg and Tikki hovering anxiously between them, then she glanced towards the kids. The boys were distracted pulling their shoes on, but Emma’s eyes were wide and curious as they flicked between her two parents.
“Just a second, Jess,” Marinette said, then covered the microphone with her hand. “Kids—”
But Emma had already shoved her feet into her shoes and was snatching her purse from the counter. Before Marinette could finish her sentence, Emma yanked the front door open and ushered her younger brothers through. “Let’s go, guys.”
“But what about—” Louis started.
“Last one to the bakery is a rotten egg!” Emma said, taking Hugo’s hand.
The door slammed shut behind them, cutting off the boys’ whoops and leaving the room in silence. Saying a little prayer of gratitude in her head for having such an amazing daughter, Marinette put her phone on speaker and sat down at the kitchen table.
Adrien slid into the seat across from her. “Tell us what happened,” he said.
By the time Jess was done explaining, Adrien’s head was in his hands, and Marinette’s headache had returned in full force.
“We’ll do our best to intercept her before she gets out of the country,” Jess told them. “But… well, don’t tell anyone I said this, but I’m not optimistic. She’s a notorious criminal. We’re not sure how, but she’s already broken out of prison.”
“If she does get to Paris…” Marinette wasn’t sure how to finish the question.
“She won’t strike right away,” Jess said. “The Phantom is a planner. She’ll establish herself in the city first with a new identity, bide her time. But she won’t wait long before she goes after the miraculous. You’ll have a few days. A few weeks, maybe, if she doesn’t go straight to Paris.”
“Do you know why she wants the miraculouses?” Tikki asked. Marinette repeated the question so that Jess could hear.
“No clue. She’s always been mysterious–that’s why they call her the Phantom. We’re not even sure of half the things she’s done, because it’s impossible to tell whether she’s behind them or not. Even after she was captured, she refused to talk.”
“But her powers are damaged now,” Adrien said.
“She managed to escape prison without her powers. She’s still a threat.”
“I bet that’s why she wants our miraculouses,” Marinette mused. “To get her powers back.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Jess agreed. “But don’t rule anything out. She was a supervillain even before taking an interest in the miraculous. There’s got to be more to the story.”
Marinette frowned, trying to wrap her head around everything Jess had told them. She’d talk to Alya–Alya knew everything there was to know about the American superheroes and supervillains.
“I really am sorry to dump this on you,” Jess said. She sounded sincere, and a little bit of Marinette’s annoyance eased. It wasn’t Jess’ fault or any of the other American superheroes’ fault that the Phantom had escaped. She knew that they would do their best to keep the Phantom in the country, but it would be difficult to get her back to America if she was as good as Jess said she was at hiding. And America had plenty of other supervillains to worry about.
If the Phantom made it into Paris, looking for the miraculous, then it was the Guardian of the Miraculous’ problem.
Marinette’s phone buzzed with a notification. It was Emma, saying that she and her brothers had made it to the bakery. Marinette set her phone back down on the table.
“Thank you for the heads-up, Jess,” Marinette said. “And don’t worry. If the Phantom makes it into Paris, we’ll be ready.”
“That’s good to hear,” Jess said, sounding relieved. “I’ll keep you updated. Good luck.”
Adrien hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair. “We haven’t had a supervillain in Paris for…”
“Almost twenty years,” Marinette finished, tapping her fingers on the table. She glanced at the kitchen clock. The kids were probably helping close up the bakery so they could play video games with Grandma and Grandpa.
Adrien followed her gaze and seemed to know what she was thinking. He reached across the table and put his hand over hers.
“We retired,” he said.
“Conditionally,” Marinette corrected. “We knew something like this was bound to happen. But…”
“We have kids,” Adrien finished. “And careers.”
“And we’ve already defeated two Butterflies, a Peacock, and an alien invasion.” Not to mention countless other supervillains that didn’t have anything to do with the Butterfly miraculous.
Adrien nodded. “We’re getting too old for superheroing.” Marinette opened her mouth to protest, but Adrien stopped her. “You know it’s true.”
Marinette stared at the window, where she could see Adrien’s reflection, watching her. They’d retired after the second Butterfly supervillain had surrendered the miraculous to her, and she had finally been able to reunite it and the Peacock with the others in the miracle box. They hadn’t completely left, though—Paris still needed them. Ladybug and Chat Noir still patrolled the city at night. A few of their most trusted allies still had their miraculouses. But the police were stepping up their game, and the miraculous team was showing up less and less often. They’d pretended for years that they were ready to jump back into action, but now, Marinette wondered if that was really true. The occasional threat was one thing, but an experienced supervillain taking up residence in the city?
“There’s no way we can handle another supervillain,” Adrien said, echoing her thoughts. “Not personally.”
“We have the other miraculous holders,” Marinette suggested.
“You know we’ll need the Ladybug for this,” Adrien said.
Marinette knew he was right. Right about needing her miraculous, and right about needing “the” Ladybug—not necessarily her. “What do you think?” she asked the kwamis.
“It’s your job to find the best people to hold the miraculous,” Tikki said. “If you don’t think you and Adrien are right for the job anymore, then that’s your call.”
Plagg nodded his agreement.
Marinette ran a hand through her hair. “It’s our job to keep the city safe.”
“As Guardian of the Miraculous, yes,” Tikki said.
“And as Ladybug?”
“Do whatever you feel is right. Your instincts are good, Marinette. Trust them.”
Marinette glanced back out the window, but all she could see was their kitchen table reflected back at her. She’d come a long way since she was a teenager. Gone were the days where the only person she could rely on was Chat Noir.
But who else? Marinette had worn the earrings for the majority of her life, and Adrien had worn the ring for the majority of his. Who else could take it? Who else did they know and trust who would be willing to take on that burden? Most of the other heroes had lives and families, too. Some of them didn’t even live in Paris anymore.
Marinette knew what she needed to do. It was the obvious solution, lingering there, in the corner of her brain, patiently waiting for her to come to the realization she’d known all along.
She and her friends wouldn’t be around forever. It was about time she started finding people to take their places.
Marinette looked at Adrien. “I promised that I would never take your miraculous away.”
“No,” Adrien said immediately. “We always knew it wouldn’t last forever.”
Marinette flipped her hand over so that she and Adrien were holding hands. “I guess there’s only one thing to do, then.”
Adrien nodded and squeezed her hand. “I’m with you all the way.”
Marinette had been the Guardian for most of her life. She’d switched her strategy again and again, adapting to the villains, staying ahead of the game. What was another change, in the grand scheme of things? She’d always known she wouldn’t be the last Ladybug. She and Adrien were only two heroes in a long line of Ladybugs and Black Cats.
It was time to move on.