"Tikki... Things are going to be harder for Marinette. Especially since her parents are gone. I... I know she can't be ladybug. It might be better if-"

"It's alright Adrien. I understand. You can always depend on me when you find the next Ladybug... but for now, it would be better if she didn't see me." Tikki said, forcing a smile.

Adrien nodded and gave her a saddened expression.

"This isn't goodbye Adrien. I'm sure Marinette will be fine with you by her side. I'm also confident that you will find an amazing new Ladybug." Tikki smiled.

"Thank Tikki." Adrien smiled, seeing her disappear as he put them into the miracle box. Adrien looked over at the stairs that led up to the roof and sighed. He walked over to them and started climbing, knowing she would be sitting up on the roof.

"How are you doing?" Adrien asked, sticking his head up to find Marinette sitting on the roof.

Marinette turned her head to find Adrien climbing up the ladder toward her and then sitting down next to her. She didn't respond but instead, she turned back toward the direction of where her parents were headed. They sat there for another two hours until they saw in the far distance a plane flying away from Paris. He heard Marinette hold her breath and hold back her tears as she turned her head away from the direction of the plane.

It was official. Her parents were now no longer in Paris. He could understand the feeling... His mother was no longer with him. He held her close and pulled her into his lap and held her in an embrace.

"It'll be ok, you have me right?" He smiled looking down at her.

She looked up at his light smile that seemed to wash away some grief. She pushed herself toward him until she felt his lips against hers. The familiar touch again, yet she heard him slightly laugh through the kiss. She pulled away from him softly, wondering why he was laughing.

She looked at him and saw a glistening reflection on his face that went from his cheeks down to his lips. He wiped it off his lips and he smiled at her.

"You know you should probably not cry and then kiss someone... or it's going to taste salty." He laughed.

For some reason, his usual teasing felt so warm and fuzzy and caused her to laugh along with him.

"Let's go Milady." He said standing up, extending his hand for her to take.

"Go where?" She asked, taking his hand to pick herself up.

"Let's go talk to Alix. Wanna be milady again?" He winked.

"Chat... no. I may have my memories but that is dangerous." She rolled her eyes, crossing her arms.

"Aw come on, I'm the guardian after all... and your boss at work... so technically... you have to listen to me." He laughed.

"Ugh... I'll transform but not as Ladybug." She laughed, booping his nose.

"Fine. I know the perfect miraculous for you." He smiled, jumping down the ladder.

Marinette waited and saw him return with his hand closed. She assumed it was another miraculous, but had no idea which one he had in mind.

"I've always wanted to do this." He said excitedly.

"Ugh.. come on kitty. Hurry up." She rolled her eyes.

"Marinette Dupain Cheng, here is the miraculous of the mouse. You will use it for the greater good. Once the job is done, you will return it to me..." He said with a serious face.

"And become my princess and we get married and have 3 kids and a hamster." He teased.

"Adrien!" Marinette rolled her eyes while taking the miraculous from him.

"Sorry... I couldn't resist." He laughed.

"Alright alright... Plagg claws out." Adrien said, after making sure no one was around to see him transform.

Marinette put the necklace around her neck, seeing Mullo fly around her.

"Mullo, get squeaky!" Marinette said, transforming into Multimouse.

"Ready kitty?" She smiled.

"As always... my little Mouseketeer." He chuckled.

"Ugh... Just because I'm a mouse now does not mean you can just call me different things because you're a cat. We're still people, Chat noir." She rolled her eyes.

"Aww come on, you thought that was too cheesy?" He laughed.

"Chat!" She groaned.

"Sorry milady, didn't mean to make you squeak." He laughed.

"Chat... you need to stop. Cat jokes I could manage. Mouse jokes... too terrible.. Even for you." She rolled her eyes.

"You're still the Lady, I remember." He laughed, seeing her take off toward where Alix lives.

Chat noir extended his staff, flying through the air to catch up to Multimouse and started running beside her. Multimouse smirked at him as she jumped into the air, trying to show off, causing him to smile with amazement.

"Are you showing off, milady?" He laughed.

"Not at all." She laughed.

As Multimouse looked over at Chat noir, she didn't see the house come to a stop sooner than expected and felt herself begin to fall. She started to scream but felt Chat noir catch her mid-fall. She looked up at him as he was looking down at her with a sly smirk.

"Am I too distracting?" He smiled.

"Distracting as you are foolish." She rolled her eyes, pushing the button for his staff to unextend, causing him to fall with her. She gripped onto a nearby pole that was sticking out of the building, watching him fall. As he fell she used her jump rope to tie around him, catching him in mid-fall. He looked up at her with a smile as she giggled.

"I knew you'd never let me fall. Though usually, it's the cat that catches the mouse." He winked.

Multimouse rolled her eyes and hopped up onto the building, pulling him up with her. They finally made it to Alix's house and saw her sitting on the couch eating, and watching TV. They jumped onto her window sill and pushed the window open. They both quietly hopped inside. Multimouse shut the window back and followed Chat noir closely.

"What do you two think you're doing?" Alix said, turning her head, causing Chat noir to suddenly stop... which also caused Multimouse to bump into him.

"How did you know that we were here? We were quiet... as a mouse." Chat noir laughed.

"Ugh... chat!" Multimouse rolled her eyes.

"I know what's going to happen... well.. Mostly." Alix smiled, standing up with her now empty plate and putting it into the sink.

"So why are you two here... also why is she Multimouse?" Alix said, washing her plate.

"Uh well... LB... I mean uh...Multimouse?" Chat said, unsure how to ask.

"I remember everything, Alix. I also had a warning from a previous miraculous holder... that if we discovered something that... despair would follow." Multimouse explained.

Chat sat down on the couch, seeing that the bunny kwami was sitting there munching on a carrot piece.

"Despair huh? Well... all I can say is... the despair that the miraculous holder told you about... was not 'catastrophic' enough to involve me." Alix laughed, hinting at Chat noir's power.

"Alix, please. Do you have any idea what this despair could be?" Multimouse pleaded.

"I'm sorry Multimouse. I don't. Even if I did, I couldn't tell you. I told you the rules when you were younger. You also found out the hard way, remember?" Alix winked, walking over and sitting down beside her kwami.

"What's she talking about Multimouse?" Chat noir asked.

"We went in time to prevent you from destroying the world..." Multimouse sighed.

"I.. what?! I destroyed the world?! Wait... is that the despair that the miraculous holder was talking about?" Chat said looking toward Alix in a panic.

"Calm down Chat noir. Like I said, my future self would have alerted me and we would have fixed things if you two did something to... break time again." Alix laughed.

Multimouse sat down beside Chat noir, turning to look at him.

"Sorry I couldn't be much help," Alix said, seeing Multimouse and Chat noir both unsure of what to say.

"It's alright Alix. You did help. The despair... would only affect us. That's good."

"Good?" Chat said turning, confused.

"That means, Paris won't be affected by our mistake if we do end up figuring it out," Multimouse said.

"We better... get back soon little mouse. It's going to get dark soon." Chat said, turning to Multimouse.

"If I hear anything about this so-called despair... I'll let you know," Alix said, seeing Chat noir and Multimouse both stand-up.

Multimouse walked over to the window and unlatched it, opening it for them. Chat noir waved goodbye to Alix before jumping through the window, Multimouse doing the same shortly after. They quickly made their way back to their house and jumped into Adrien's window.

As Marinette detransformed from Multimouse and Adrien detransformed from Chat noir, they heard Marinette's phone vibrate. Adrien continued to walk over to his bed where he face-planted onto his pillow. Marinette walked over and sat the necklace that Adrien had given to her to transform into Multimouse onto his side table.

"Who's texting you? An admirer for Multimouse? Maybe... a Multinoir shipper that saw us out tonight?" Adrien teased.

"Haha, very funny. Actually..." Marinette trailed off, pulling up her phone to take a look.

As Marinette pulled up her texts, she sat on her side of the bed.

"Actually... it's Luka." Marinette said.

"Luka? What does he want?" Adrien said, turning his head with a groan.

"Calm down." Marinette giggled.

Adrien watched Marinette text Luka. After a few minutes of watching Marinette text Luka, he couldn't help but peek over her shoulder and see what they were texting about. Marinette saw the reflection of blonde curls in her phone and quickly turned her head toward him, dropping her phone away from his sight.

"What do you think you're doing?" Marinette laughed.

"Ugh.. princess... what are you doing.. You're basically texting your ex... come on.." Adrien groaned.

"I'm texting Luka.. your friend... someone who knows our identities... because you weren't careful... about the despair situation." Marinette booped his nose.

Marinette lifted the phone back up and let Adrien read the texts that they were sending and Adrien saw that she was right. Luka asked if she remembered anything and she explained that she remembered everything. They talked about her being ladybug and he asked her things only the old Marinette would know. Then Marinette went on to explain what the previous miraculous holder explained to her.

"Ok... ok... I may be just a little jealous." Adrien smiled sheepishly.

"A little?" Marinette giggled.

"Hey.. you were jealous of Kagami!"

"For good reason! You literally left in the middle of the night to go see her. Which was extremely shady." Marinette crossed her arms.

"Ok.. ok.. I'm sorry. I just don't think sometimes. I'm sorry princess." Adrien said, giving Marinette a pout.

Marinette groaned and started to giggle.

"Alright, well... we need to go to bed... We both have work in the morning." Marinette said pulling one of her pillows off her side and throwing it onto Adrien.

"Aw come on bugaboo, it's only... oh... It's already... 11:30." Adrien said, looking at Marinette's phone one last time before handing it to her.

Marinette grabbed her phone and hooked it up to her charger. She crawled under her blankets and grabbed her pillow that she threw at him and placed it back where it originally was. Adrien went into the bathroom, taking a change of pants, and returned with a fresh pair of pants to sleep in. As he walked back to the bed he noticed Marinette also changed while he was gone into her usual tank tops and pajama pants.

Adrien smirked and took off his shirt and climbed into bed, pulling the blankets over top of him. He saw Marinette's face turn bright pink, noticing her staring at him. Adrien saw the necklace for multimouse and took it, he kneeled down and pulled the miracle box that was hidden in a secret compartment in the floor and placed it within it.

"You-you're not going to put on a shirt to sleep in?" Marinette said wide-eyed.

"Should I? I get hot at night so... I figured I would sleep with just my pants." Adrien smiled.

Marinette narrowed her eyes, not buying it.

"You just love teasing me, don't you?" Marinette sighed.

"Aw come on Milady. You know I would never do that." He said, trying to retain a laugh as he reached over and turned off his side table lamp.

"Ugh... Adrien..." Marinette said, turning on her side toward Adrien.

Adrien turned toward Marinette and smiled as he wrapped his arms around her waist as he pulled her into an embrace.

"Ugh... Marinette." He said, mimicking her tone of voice to tease her.

"Stop.. we need to go to sleep." Marinette giggled.

"Then go to sleep. I'll be here to protect you." Adrien smiled, closing his eyes.

Those words that were meant to be comforting hurt deep down. She was no longer a miraculous holder. At least a permanent miraculous holder. Of course, he would depend on her and she knew that... but... she could no longer be Ladybug. How long until Hawk Moth would akumatize someone else? They needed to find another Ladybug and fast. It would hurt to see someone else be ladybug. She needed to brace for that emotional impact... because Hawkmoth could take advantage of that and akumatize her.