Master Fu quickly looked up from his spot on the ground where he was meditating and glanced back to his window overlooking the streets of Paris. The sound of cars passing and muffled voices of people was all that filled the air. Nothing out of the ordinary, yet the man narrowed his eyes as he continued to look out the window. He could feel something, it was close…

"Master?" a soft voice questioned.

Master Fu turned his head toward the small voice. "Sorry, Wayzz. I felt… Nevermind..."

The little turtle kwami shook his head, "No Master. I felt it too, a great evil was near."

Master Fu sighed, "Yes, Wayzz. I haven't felt a presence like that since…" He closed his eyes taking a deep sigh before looking back at Wayzz. "We must warn the others…. before it's too late."

Wayzz sighed, "But without a Ladybug…"

The wise master nodded, "I know Wayzz. We are in danger but with the team unbalanced… I fear what may happen." He looked off toward the window again, afraid to leave it unguarded. He knew what he needed to do. "Come, we must speak to them."

The old man stood slowly, reaching for his cane that was leaning against the wall. Once he neared the doorway, he gave one last look at the apartment. As Wayzz hid in his shirt, Master Fu narrowed his eyes at the window once more before closing the door behind him.

Soon after the door shut, a dark figure appeared in the window. It rose up slowly, turning the entire apartment to black. In mere seconds it was gone, leaving behind no evidence that it was ever there in the first place.

"Emma…"

The blonde girl let out a loud sigh before banging her head against the table in front of her, ponytail swaying slightly from the sudden movement. She left her head there for a moment before her blue eyes finally looked back up to the laptop screen and stared at the blank page in front of her. She sighed and blew her bangs slightly out of her face.

"You have got to be kidding me. I can't do this." She leaned back, crossing her arms, and opened her mouth to speak once more. However, before she could get a word out, her brother interrupted, chuckling behind her. Emma quickly glared over her shoulder at the dark haired boy who was smirking at her from the leather couch, his own laptop in his lap and notebook sitting next to him. The room was relatively big and had large windows that let plenty of light stream in. Emma often wished they had a bit more privacy, however when her mom chose the apartment, Emma was only eight years old and in Paris with her dad.

"Don't patronize me, you would not believe the paper I have to write by the end of today."

The boy shrugged, "It's fun seeing you struggle, seeing as I'm already working on my finals. What does your paper have to be about?"

Louis set the laptop down next to him and stretched his arms over his head before walking over to his sister, fixing his glasses slightly as he went. Emma rolled her eyes. Of course, he was going to be smart about it. Then again, Louis was pretty good at helping with homework, even though you would never be heard it from her.

"Other than the table? Don't act like you're my teacher or something. I'm the older sibling, I know what I'm doing," she said, putting her nose in the air and crossing her arms.

The boy stared at Emma for second before shrugging, "Fine." Louis turned around, heading back to his spot on the couch.

Emma bit her lip, looking at her brother and the paper before she groaned. "Wait!" She said, leaning back in the chair, defeated. "Fine, I just…"

Louis turned around, crossing his arms and narrowing his bright green eyes at his big sister. As he stood there waiting for her to reply, Emma bit her lip thinking of what to say.

"Well?" Louis said, keeping his stance.

Emma sighed slowly turning back toward the laptop once again. "It wants me to write a paper about how our decisions can affect the lives of others. I feel like I should know a lot about that, you know? I just can't write it…" The girl closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.

Louis' eyes softened for his older sister, and he nodded in understanding, "I get that… and I know what you're thinking, but maybe it's best that you write about you? I know it seems really tempting to write about mom, dad, and everything..."

Emma nodded, "But that not what they are asking for…"

Louis smiled, "Exactly. Maybe just write the general effects of living with divorced parents. Just don't be… too detailed, you know?"

Emma grinned back, "For only thirteen, you sure are knowledgeable, little brother."

Louis laughed, "Hey, one of us had to get it."

Emma smacked him on the arm, "For a second I thought we were getting along."

Louis laughed again, "Well yeah, that's why I had to ruin it."

Emma stuck her tongue out at Louis as he retreated back to his laptop, then turned around and stared once more at that the blank document before she began typing.

The decisions that we make can affect everyone, especially those closest to you. One decision that affects most families would be divorce. It can be hard on both sides of the family but the ones that I believe it affects the most are the children from the marriage. They are stuck in the middle, with nowhere to go, except back and forth. Sometimes it can cause them to feel as though they are being forced to choose a side.

Emma sighed, staring at her writing, then shook her head in disapproval and deleting the whole thing. It didn't feel right. It still felt too personal, to opinion based. Was that what they wanted? She started to type again when suddenly they heard the front door open.

"Kids! I'm home!" A female voiced yelled. Emma quickly closed her laptop, jumping out of her seat. A big smile spread across her face as she ran out of the office and into the living room to see her mom coming in with a big brown bag and a thin box underneath.

"Did you bring it?" Emma asked desperately, following her mom into the kitchen.

"Well hello to you too," Marinette said, setting her things down on the counter and coming over to pull her daughter into a big hug. "I missed you."

Emma laughed, "You literally saw me this morning."

Marinette smiled as she pulled her dark hair into a ponytail that barely reached past her shoulders. Fixing her white blouse, she responded to the blonde girl. "I know! But this time next week, I won't be able to bring home your favorite pizza for months."

Emma rolled her eyes, "Mom… you do this every time. We'll be back after Easter. Plus we still have the new year to celebrate."

"Ah yes, the most important Holiday of them all." Marinette teased.

Emma shook her head, "Literally just to New York."

Marinette laughed, "True as that may be, you know you love watching the ball drop from the window."

Emma smiled, looking over toward the window where you could hear the hustle and bustle of New York City. They were pretty high up, so it was hard to see any people, but you could still see some of the signs since their apartment was pretty far down in Time Square. Her mom had been living in this apartment since Emma was eight and she had seen the ball drop a handful of times. Unfortunately not every year, since she and Louis switched back and forth between New York and Paris for the main holiday.

"You got me…" Emma admitted, looking back at her mom. "Now, can I pretty please have my pizza? I swear, I will have this every day while I'm still here!"

Marinette laughed, "We are sharing this pizza, Emma. Go get your brother so we can all eat."

Emma shook her head in mock disappointment, "Why do you enjoy crushing my dreams?"

Marinette giggled as the dramatics of her older child as Emma headed back into the office to get her brother.

"So did anything interesting happen today?" Marinette asked, looking between her two children who were sitting across from her at the big dining table.

Emma shrugged, "Mr. Morrison came over this morning and asked us to help him find his cat again."

Marinette laughed, "Isn't that the third time this week?"

Louis groaned, "Yeah, I'm starting to think that cat isn't getting lost anymore... I think it's trying to get away."

Emma agreed, "I mean, when an old man names you Mr. Figabottom, I'd probably try to escape too."

Marinette shook her head, taking another bite of pepperoni pizza, "Did you guys get a lot of school work done today?"

Louis nodded, "I'm almost to the exams. I'm going to try to get them done before we leave for Paris."

Emma spoke, her mouth full of pizza, "Yeah, I'm almost done with all of my classes, except Chemistry, but I was going to wait until I get to Paris, so dad-" Emma stopped her sentence, coughing. "Until I get back to Paris so I can focus on getting my other classes done?" Emma grabbed her pizza again sticking it into her mouth, taking another large bite.

Marinette raised an eyebrow, staring at Emma for a second, who refused to make eye contact, "So your dad can help you?"

Emma glanced sideways at Louis who stuck up his hands as if saying, It's on you. Emma looked back at her mom, nodding before chewing and swallowing the pizza.

Marinette shook her head, "You know you can talk to me about him, right?"

Emma raised her eyebrows, "What happened to a couple months ago with that whole spiel over the phone about how you don't want to know or hear anything about dad? I mean, that's why I haven't brought him up these last three months."

Marinette sighed, "I just get sad when you guys aren't here. I apologized right after, Emma. It's just hard not being able to be with you guys all the time. You understand that, right?"

Emma looked away, "Yeah…"

Marinette smiled sadly, "Come on, this is one of our last dinners together. Let's make it count, okay?"

Emma smiled back, looking over at Louis who nodded. "Okay," Emma said, looking back at her mom with sad eyes.

Emma sat, working on her paper again. She glanced over what she had written so far. It wasn't much, that was for sure. She kept it generic, speaking only in the general sense of divorce. Louis had left her alone in the office so he could watch tv in the living room. Emma scrolled up and down the document, biting her lip.

knock knock knock

The blonde looked up quickly to see her mom standing there, dressed in a hoodie and jeans, her hair up in a bun. Emma promptly sent in the document and closed out of the submit tab. She glanced up at her mom before looking away. "Hi"

Marinette giggled, "Hi. Are you almost done? Louis said you've barely looked away from the computer all day."

Emma shrugged, "Just trying to get this all done."

Marinette nodded, stepping closer, her hands in the pockets of the hoodie. "I know, but even people that are a little behind deserve a break. Believe me, I know."

Emma smiled, "Are you behind at work again?"

Marinette sighed, sitting on the couch and putting her hands under her chin, "Only a little, but that still doesn't mean I make everyone work until their fingers fall off so I can get caught back up."

Emma laughed, "I think you just described George though."

Marinette giggled again, "You might be right about that. I get complaints from his team more than I would like to admit. The point is, if you don't get the work done on time, don't stress so much. You will get it done eventually, but you shouldn't rush it, you want to do it right."

Emma nodded, shutting the laptop. "You're right." Suddenly a thought occurred to the young girl and she looked up at her mom smiling. "You know, we still haven't played Extreme Mecha Strike II that Aunt Alya sent us for Christmas."

Marinette smirked, raising an eyebrow, "Is that a challenge I hear?"

Emma shrugged, "I don't know, old lady. It can only be a challenge if you think you have a chance of winning."

Marinette laughed, "Ohh, you're so going down."

Emma laughed too, jumping up from her seat. "I think the student surpassed the master a long time ago!" With that, Emma took off toward the living room. The rest of the night was spent playing the game. They all lost count of how many rounds they played. Louis did end up winning most of them though…

"I'm so excited to see you guys! I feel like it's been forever since I last gave you both a hug!"

Emma smiled at her dad through the phone. He was currently grading papers, his glasses sliding off his nose slightly as he glanced back up at her. "I know, we're excited too! Right, Louis?" Emma turned the camera around, so it faced her brother who had headphones in and was leaning against the wall.

"Huh?" Louis said, not glancing up.

Emma gave a huff as she reached her arm around the side of her bed, grabbing a pillow and throwing it at Louis, hitting him in the chest and almost knocking his phone out of his hands.

"Hey!" Louis glared at Emma, grabbing the pillow and throwing it back before sticking his tongue out at her and looking back down at his phone. She stared at her brother a second more before shaking her head.

"Oh yea, you guys seem ecstatic." Adrien laughed.

Emma joined in laughing, "I promise, we are. It's just been a long day. Trying to get our school work done has been torture."

Adrien gave a small nod, "I definitely know that feeling. I regret giving 40 students a five-page essay to write before the end of this semester." He looked down at the papers in front of him. "I still have a little less than half to go. Remind me never to do this again." He kept looking at the papers.

Emma watched as her father worked for a moment, she knew he didn't talk much about school, most likely for the sake of herself and Louis since they never really had the chance to go to a regular school. If Emma was honest with herself, she wished he would talk about it more. She liked to imagine what it would be like to actually sit in a classroom, have a locker, school friends… She shook her head deciding to change the subject, "So did Uncle Nino and Aunt Alya like the Christmas gift I sent them?"

"You mean the American flag hat? or the 'I heart NY' t-shirt?" Adrien gave a small laugh as he circled something on the paper in front of him before turning the page.

Emma narrowed her eyes, "Those were for Uncle Nino, and you know it! He asked for them!"

Adrien smiled at his daughter, holding up his hands in defense, "Okay, sure! To be fair, Aunt Alya told me to tell you to thank you for the Ladybug Comics as well."

Emma smiled, "I'm glad she liked them, it took forever to track them down at the New York Comic Con. It's kind of hard to find anything since Ladybug's not really around anymore."

Adrien smiled sadly before shaking his head, "How's Chemistry going?"

Emma sighed noticing the sudden change, she had been hoping they wouldn't discuss this until she got back in Paris. In response, she fell back onto her bed and let out a long groan. "I don't want to talk about it."

"That bad, huh?" Adrien asked, looking back down at his papers for a second.

Emma narrowed her eyes, "I don't understand how I can be so bad at Math and Chemistry when my parents are Fashion Design and Physics majors."

Adrien laughed looking back up, "Don't worry, hun. At least you got our looks."

Emma snorted, "Oh thanks, Dad. That's so much help. Really."

"Hey, I could ask grandpa to get you into modeling if you wanted to share your Agreste looks with the world. It's selfish to keep such beauty to yourself."

She sighed dramatically, sitting up in her bed. "I mustn't really. Beauty like mine is only seen once in a lifetime. I'm like…. a unicorn. A rare, but wonderful sight." Emma flipped her hair, so it ended up in her face. Her dad glanced at her, trying not to laugh, as he gave his best look of disappointment. She blew her hair out of her mouth a few times, not moving out of her pose. A snort was heard next to her, and she glanced over to Louis who was looking at her, a confused look on his face, before rolling his eyes and going back to his phone.

"Rude." She gave a small glare, and Louis shook his head again, smirking a little before he gave out a yawn.

Adrien laughed knowing that she was referring to Louis, "But a unicorn…really? More like a beautiful little mermaid that has no control over her wonderful sun-colored locks."

Emma smiled, shaking her head. "Look, it's the pot calling the kettle black." Glancing over at the clock, it was almost midnight. "You have to start getting ready for work soon, right?"

Adrien glanced at his computer frowning, "Yeah, it's almost 6…"

Emma nodded glancing over at Louis who looked half asleep sitting against the wall on his bed, still looking at his phone, "I think I'm keeping Louis awake. I should probably head to bed."

Adrien smiled, nodding. Emma looked up at Louis, "Say goodbye to dad!"

Louis stared at his sister before taking off his headphones, looking at her questioningly. Emma shook the phone lightly, and Louis nodded in understanding.

"Good Morning Dad, Goodnight Dad. Love you." Louis sat down on Emma's bed.

"Bonne Nuit, Louis. Did you have a good day?" Adrien put down his pen, not looking away from the camera as he stretched.

Louis nodded, "Yeah, we're almost done with this semester. I just have my finals now."

"That's good, maybe you can help your sister."

The boy laughed, "Like she'd let that happen with her 'older sibling dignity' and all."

"I'm right here, you know?" Emma frowned in mock hurt.

Louis laughed, putting a hand in front of her face. "Night dad, from your favorite and only child. I really don't know who this other person is."

Their father smiled, shaking his head before replying, "Good night Louis. Sweet dreams."

The dark haired boy smiled, giving a slight wave before heading to back to his bed. Emma narrowed her eyes at her brother before smiling back at her dad, "I'll call you tomorrow night, have a good day at school dad."

Adrien smiled, "Have a good night, Emma. Love you."

"Love you too." The FaceTime call ended, and Emma sighed, setting her phone on the nightstand before getting under the covers and letting sleep take over.