"Grand-mère! Grand-mère!" Marinette called, racing down the stairs. "Look at what I found!"

Bridgette Dupain leaned on her cane, hobbling over to the hall her granddaughter was in. "What did you find, Mari?"

The little girl bounced up and down, her hands clutched together in front of her. "I found some earrings!"

"Really?" Bridgette smiled. Her son and his family were visiting today, helping her clean out her old attic. She could no longer climb the ladder up to the dusty area. Really it had become a struggle to even walk, but she wouldn't tell her worrywart of a son about that. He would just insist she move in with them, but that would be counter-productive due to the stairs. "Let me see."

Marinette held her hands out two red studs in her hands. Bridgette's eyes widened. The earrings were glowing. They hadn't glowed in years—decades even. They were the Ladybug's earrings. When Bridgette was younger, during the Second World War, she was the Ladybug, partnered with a much younger Cat Noir, as he was called in England. They were able to defeat Hawkmoth, and when that happened, Bridgette lost Tikki, her very best friend. The last time Bridgette was Ladybug, she detransformed, and Tikki stayed in the earrings. The spots never faded, but the glow did. Bridgette never was able to say goodbye. That the earrings were glowing was a new development.

Hawkmoth must have returned, Bridgette surmised. Did Tikki choose my granddaughter? Bridgette smiled, patting Marinette's head. "Do you want to keep them?"

Marinette gasped. She thought the earrings were so beautiful, that they were meant for someone more than her. "Can I?"

"Of course," assured Bridgette.

"Thank you, Grand-mère!" Marinette hugs her grandmother, making her stumble.

"Marinette," her grandmother began.

"Oops!" She let go, stepping back sheepishly.

"No, no, it's quite alright." Was it wrong to put so much responsibility on a ten-year-old? "You just have to promise me something."

"Anything, Grand-mère."

"Promise me that you will always be good, that you will always try to help others, that you will stand up for and defend the people who can't." Bridgette placed her hands on Marinette's shoulders, locking their eyes. "Can you promise me that?"

"Grand-mère…" Marinette didn't know what to say. Why was her grand-mère asking her this? "I'll try."

"There is no try," Bridgette returned. "Being good for you and for everyone else is something that you must strive to do every day. Can you be good?"

Marinette nodded, uncertain what to say.

Smiling, Bridgette raised herself off the floor. "And another thing, those earrings are very special to me. Please, do not lose them or give them away."

"Of course, Grand-mère." Marinette put the earrings in her pocket, watching her grand-mère hobble back to the couch. Satisfied, Marinette ran back up the stairs, returning to her family in the attic.

Bridgette breathed a deep sigh. Is this it, Tikki? We defended the European Union across England, France, Belgium. We did that for years before the War even began. Is this it? Bridgette smiled, listening to her granddaughter's giggles. Take care of her, Tikki. Keep her safe, she's my only granddaughter.

Closing her eyes, she thought she heard a faint voice. "Of course, Bridgette." An image of the red kwami appeared in her mind, waving goodbye.

One week later, Bridgette Dupain breathed her last.

Adrien couldn't understand why he was at the funeral home, why his mother dragged him there. She said that it was so he could meet her family. He didn't think that a death would be the best way to first meet his relatives, but there he was.

It was an uncle who passed, his mother's oldest brother. Adrien never met him, but it was obvious his mother was close. She was a bundle of sniffles and often leaned on his father, as if she had no strength to support her own body weight. His father didn't mind, placing his wife's needs first, before everything else, including business. The car ride to the funeral home was his mother holding on to his father while he sat there awkwardly.

Inside the building, it was no less awkward. Everyone was taller than him. Everyone was crying. The atmosphere was thick with grief, almost causing Adrien to choke. When his mother walked in, the other people shied away from her and avoided her gaze. This caused his mother to cry harder and his father to glare at the offenders. At least, that was until a portly man approached them.

"Papa!" his mother cried, embracing the man. She buried her head in his shoulder, and he hugged her back. This action gave everyone else in the room permission to approach her. Adrien and his father stood off to the side, watching the spectacle.

The portly man freed himself from his relatives, approaching the Agrestes. "Gabriel," the man greeted, earning a curt nod from his father. Now much closer up, Adrien could see the man's red eyes and blotchy face, most of it hidden by a brown moustache. He looked at the boy. "You must be Adrien."

Adrien didn't respond, earning a nudge from his father. "Y-yes, sir."

The man regarded Adrien for a moment before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a metal ring. "This would've belonged to your uncle," the man stated, twirling it around on his fingers. "I would've given it to him as a wedding gift, it's customary. We pass it down to the oldest son. It's been in our family since the First World War." He took Adrien's hand, pressing the ring into his palm. "Take it. You're going to be the patriarch one day. I have no more use for it." The man sniffed, his grief showing through the walls he threw up. "You better grow up strong and smart. Assured. Determined. Don't prove me wrong, young man."

Adrien nodded, clutching the ring tighter. The man wandered off to his relatives, a dainty woman in hysterics following. He opened his palm, staring at the ring. It was completely black. It was dirty, and looked rusted. Adrien ran a nail over the face of the ring, small green splotches appearing. He put the ring in his pocket, deciding to look at it later.

Adrien's mother returned. She hugged Adrien to her chest, telling him that she loved him. Then, as a family, the three of them went into the service, Adrien holding his mother's hand.

Little did he know that within the year, his mother would be gone as well.

"Tikki?" Marinette began, staring up at the skylight in her room.

"Yeah, Marinette?" The little kwami floated off the pillow, landing on Marinette's hand.

"Was my grand-mère, Bridgette Dupain, a Miraculous holder?"

Tikki rubbed her eyes. "Bridgette was the last Ladybug before you."

"Did she and Chat Noir ever beat Hawk Moth?"

"She thought so," Tikki yawned. "Truthfully, we don't know. There was so much chaos during World War II. He could've run out of power, or he could've been killed in the line of fire. All I know is that he was gone." She floated back to the pillow.

"Do you think we can defeat Hawk Moth?"

"Why do you think I chose you?" The kwami yawned again. "Go to sleep, Marinette."

The girl nodded slowly thinking. It wasn't until much later that night was Marinette able to sleep.

So, this is for ML Week Day 4: Ladybugs and Chat Noirs through the ages. How did I do? –Z

Want to read a great fanfic while the next chapter is being written? Check out heartstrings by user taylortot. Warning: Marichat fluff.