A/N: Just a quick warning. This chapter does depict a character death. Before this scene will be a line to signify where you need to stop reading if you would like to skip this section. Similarly, there will be another line at the end of the scene.

Chat placed the earrings gently into his pocket before he rushed to Marinette's apartment. When he got there, he rifled through the old statements. After finding the correct one and snagging the insurance statement, he made his way back to his home. After slipping through the window, he let his transformation drop.

"Cheese!" Plagg demanded.

"You hardly did anything!" Adrien snapped as he made his way to his computer and scanned the statements to his computer to make sure he would always have a copy.

"I still need cheese." Plagg stated.

Adrien pulled Ladybug's earrings out of his pocket. "How am I supposed to let Tikki eat cookies?" He asked, confused as he stared at the earrings. "I mean, when I got you, you just popped into existence from nowhere. How do I get her out?" He asked.

"Well, I assume that it has to do with you not being the owner of the earrings." Plagg stated.

"So, I need Marinette to get her out?" Adrien asked.

"Not necessarily. Put them on." Plagg said in a bored voice. "Seriously, though, cheese." He said.

"You know where the cheese is, Plagg." Adrien replied, annoyed. His ears weren't pierced. He didn't know how he would be able to wear the earrings without piercing them. "I guess you'll have to wait until I get Marinette out of jail. Don't worry, though, you'll get lots of cookies." He said to the earrings.

"She can't hear you." Plagg called from inside the small refrigerator in the room.

"Shut up, Plagg." Adrien called, frustrated.

"Look, let's face the facts here, kid." Plagg said, coming out of the refrigerator and belching.

"What do you mean?" Adrien asked.

"They're not just going to let her go, genius. Even if you prove the mayor was behind her parents' deaths she still robbed and threatened people. One might even call your lady love a terrorist." Plagg said nonchalantly. Adrien opened his mouth to speak, but Plagg continued. "It would've been best for you to just use your cataclysm to get her out." He added.

"I couldn't just break her out. Then she'd look guilty and I would be guilty, too." Adrien said. "We'd have to be on the run." He added.

"And exposing her identity did...what exactly?" Plagg asked.

"What do you mean?" Adrien asked.

"I'm sure they will have seen her by now and will know who she is." Plagg said.

"It's the middle of the night! Why would they check her cell now?" He asked.

Plagg sighed. "I thought you were supposed to be smart, Adrien. They were investigating the light! They wouldn't just stop because they walked past her." He said. "To be honest, though, I'm surprised that you're not more worried about the Mayor knowing." He added.

"What? How would the mayor know already?" Adrien asked with wide eyes. Plagg, meanwhile, wondered what he did to deserve this specific moment.

"During your fight Ladybug dropped her yoyo." Plagg said, figuring that Adrien would understand.

"Okay?" Adrien asked. He didn't see the significance of the yoyo. In his defense, he was sleep deprived.

"...and she didn't pick it back up." Plagg continued still figuring that Adrien would figure it out. When he received a blank stare Plagg rolled his eyes. "...and you didn't pick it up." He said. Adrien continued to stare at the small black being. "Adrien, what happens to your staff when the transformation ends?" He asked.

"It disappears." Adrien said, clearly not understanding what Plagg was getting at for a moment. Plagg knew the exact moment that it clicked for Adrien as his eyes flew wide. "Ladybug's yoyo would have been with Mayor Bourgeois when it disappeared!" He nearly shouted.

"Bingo. Knew you had it in you, kid." Plagg said as Adrien stood. "Oh no…" the small creature said before Adrien transformed. He, again, snagged the statements and earrings before vaulting out of the room. He traversed the city quickly and was soon back at the police station.

His first stop was the barred window to Marinette's cell. His eyes widened as he realized that it was empty. Quickly he rushed into the station. He slammed the statements down on the counter.

"Where's Ladybug?" He asked, expecting to be told, again, that visiting hours were over.

"You can quit coming here. She was officially pardoned by the Mayor." The dispatcher said. Chat's eyes widened.

"How would he have pardoned her so quickly? Doesn't that take a lot of paperwork?" He asked. The dispatcher shrugged.

"No idea." He said.

"Where is she?" He asked.

"I don't know, she left with the mayor about...ten minutes ago." The dispatcher stated nonchalantly.

"Didn't you realize who she was? And that she might be in danger?" Chat shrieked.

The dispatcher looked at him blankly. "...we have no idea who she was. Were we supposed to?" He asked. Chat let out a shout of frustration before rushing out of the building. He tried to focus. Where would the mayor take Marinette? Chat inhaled deeply. A familiar scent wafted into his nose. He recognized it instantly and made to chase after it. It was difficult for him to track the scent. He didn't even know where it was taking him until he was standing in front of the Grand Paris Hotel. His eyes narrowed.

He knew the Bourgeois used the 7th floor as their home. He didn't bother going through the entrance, not that the doorman would have been too keen on letting in a teenager in a cat suit even if he'd tried. He simply vaulted to the fire escape of their floor and tried to open the door. It was locked. Chat didn't want to waste time. He raised his hand and opened his mouth to initiate his power when the door burst open. "Come on, Kitty!" The high pitched voice said as a small hand wrapped around his wrist and yanked him into the building with more strength than he thought the young woman should have.

"Chloe?" He asked as she started dragging him down the hall without an explanation. "I don't have time for this Chloe, I…"

"Do you want to save her or not?" Chloe demanded without missing a beat.

"What?" He asked.

"Ladybug? Marinette Dupain-Cheng?" Chloe said, not bothering to look at the surprised hero. "Daddy brought her here a few minutes ago. Then I heard you." She said as Chat started walking in stride with her.

"Why aren't we running?" He asked.

"Because I couldn't drag you while running." Chloe stated before she let go of his wrist with a smirk and ran ahead of him. Chat had known that Chloe had never been the biggest fan of Marinette, but she had been devastated just like the rest of the class when the fire happened. Chloe ran up to a door and tried the handle. It didn't turn. She knocked on the door. "Daddy, open the door." She demanded.

"Not now, pumpkin." Mayor Bourgeois said from inside the room. This was followed by mumbles. Chat raised his hand again, but Chloe stopped him.

"Daddy, I need to talk to you now!" Chloe shouted.

—

—

"In a minute." Came a somewhat muffled reply. Then Chat heard screaming and a scuffle. He shoved Chloe out of the way and didn't think to use his cataclysm this time. He simply kicked the door in in time to see a wide-eyed Marinette fall from the very window she'd tried to send the Mayor and his wife out of earlier that day.

"Marinette!" Chat shouted as he dove across the room after her, but it was far too late, he realized as he followed her out of the window to see her already sprawled on the ground. He barely managed to use his staff to slow his descent. Once he was on the ground beside her, he hesitantly reached out to her, terrified of moving the hair away from her face and seeing the expression underneath.

With a shaking hand, he touched the hair, but then pulled back. He didn't notice the crowd that was forming. Slowly and shakily, he reached forward again and moved the hair away from her face. He couldn't breathe as he looked into her still, glossy eyes.

"M-Marinette?" He breathed, still not believing what he was seeing. It seemed so surreal that even though she was there he still couldn't imagine it. "Marinette." He said, placing a hand on her still shoulder. "No, no, no, no." He said when she didn't respond as he gently shook her. "Marinette, no." He said, a tear managing to streak down his cheek. "No.." He said, pulling her into his lap as he heard police sirens in the distance.

He started rocking her gently back and forth. His breath was ragged as he held her to his chest, ignoring how quickly the warmth went from her still form. He shook his head as he held her close and more tears fell. He let out a strangled cry, still not bothering to pay attention to the people around him.

"Y-you can't go. Not like this, Marinette. You can't leave me like this...again." He said, not looking at the body in his arms as he wept.

—

—

"Chat Noir…" Officer Roger called out hesitantly. Chat didn't hear him at first. It wasn't until the fourth or fifth time that he did actually hear. "Chat Noir, you need to put the girl down. Nice and slow." He said.

"I...I was supposed to protect her…" he trailed off.

"I'm going to need to take her." Officer Roger stated. Chat looked up at him with a fierce glare.

"No, you need to arrest the man who did this." He said.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Chat." Officer Roger stated.

"Mayor Bourgeois pushed her out of a window!" Chat snarled. Officer Roger hesitated.

"Why don't you come with us. You can...carry her." He said. "But we should get her off of the street." He added.

"Aren't you going to investigate this? Or does it look like too much of an accident?" Chat snarled.

"We can't investigate with you here." Officer Roger said.

"I'm not leaving her." Chat said, clutching her closer to him.

"Come on, then. So that we can do our jobs." Roger replied. Chat sat for a moment, he wanted to look down at Marinette, but couldn't bring himself to do it again. Slowly, he nodded. He stood, holding Marinette's broken form as he made his way to an ambulance he hadn't noticed beforehand. He continued holding her as the EMTs tried to do their jobs. They didn't ask him to put her down. It was as if they knew what he would say beforehand.

Chat held her during the whole drive. He didn't realize that they were taken to a hospital. "What are we...?" He asked. "Is she...?" His eyes widened.

"I'm sorry, but no. She's going to be placed in the morgue here for now." The EMT by the back of the ambulance said. The two men in the vehicle with Chat shared a hesitant glance before the one at the back continued. "You'll need to...let her go now." He said.

Chat held her closer to him and glared angrily at the man. "There's nothing you can do for her now. I wish there was, but there isn't. All you can do is let us take her." the other one said softly. Chat continued to glare, but his grip loosened. Hesitantly, he managed to lay her down on the gurney. "We'll give you a minute." The man added before nodding to his coworker. Both left the back of the ambulance, leaving Chat alone with Marinette.

"I...I'm sorry, Princess. This is all my fault. I wanted to...I tried…" he started before he managed to force himself to look at her. Tears started pouring from his eyes. "Marinette, my Princess. I wish I could…" he trailed off as he reached into his pocket. "I wish…" he said, his gaze moving from her face to look at the earrings as he pulled them out of his pocket. He looked between the earrings and Marinette for a few moments. He opened his mouth to speak again when the doors to the ambulance opened again.

"We're sorry, but we have to go. You can come in with her if you want, but we need the ambulance." One of the EMTs said. Chat nodded. He left the ambulance with Marinette as hospital staff wheeled her to the elevator. They were silent as the elevator descended to the basement. Once there, they left him with her.

Chat didn't look at her, though. Instead, his eyes were locked on a surgical needle. It was packaged and neatly organized along with other equipment in the room that Chat didn't want to think about. Without hardly a thought, he grabbed the package and tore it open. He didn't even look at a mirror as he grabbed the needle with one hand and his ear with the other.

He had thought that it would hurt. To be honest, it probably did. He didn't notice, though. He didn't care. He had to get Tikki out of the earrings so that she would transform him and he would be able to fix this. It was the only think he could think about. Marinette couldn't just be gone. He couldn't let her be gone, not again.

Soon, he had two freshly punctured earlobes and slid the posts into place. A pink orb formed in front of him. "Tikki…" he started, but the small creature quickly put her arms up and shouted.

"Stop. Chat Noir, what are you…" she started, looking around the room. The small creature stopped speaking when her eyes landed on her chosen one. "Marinette?" She asked.

"I'm going to fix this." Chat said.

"No, you can't!" Tikki argued even as her own tears started to form.

"Like hell I can't. I know what these miraculouses can do together."

"Chat Noir, if you change this, something else will happen. The universe needs to stay in balance. If Marinette comes back, someone else will be taken in her place." Tikki said frantically.

"I don't care!" Chat said.

"Yes you do!" Tikki responded. "You just don't realize it." She said, knowing that she couldn't tell him what would happen if he made the wish. She knew it would devastate him.

"I never told her, Tikki!" He said through gritted teeth. "I can't let her be dead again, not when I can do something about it." He said. Tikki opened her mouth to speak again. "Spots on" he shouted, remembering that was what Ladybug had said before bursting out of Marinette's locker. Tikki was sucked into the earrings and Chat closed his eyes as he felt even stronger than before. After a moment, he looked down. His normally black suit was now a metallic purple color. "One wish, huh?" He said to himself, knowing that he probably wouldn't get multiple chances to fix this.

He was about to blurt out the first wish that came to his mind, but he took a step back. He knew he needed to be careful. He couldn't just wish her alive again. If he did, they'd be in the same situation as they are now. No, he had to make sure that this wouldn't happen again.

"I wish…" he started, looking down at Marinette. What had gotten them to this point? He retraced the steps. He had accepted the earrings. If he wished that he hadn't, she would be alive. However, she would still be in jail and would be found out eventually.

He could wish that he'd never handcuffed her. Then Rena would have done the job without him. He could have wished that he stopped Rena. Then Marinette would be a murderer. He continued thinking until he realized that he would have to go back to before she committed a crime. If he wished she wouldn't have committed that first robbery, she wouldn't have been a criminal. However, then she would have been on the streets, starving. He gulped as he realized what he needed to do.

"If Marinette comes back, someone else will be taken in her place." That's what Tikki has said. That meant that three people would be taken. It was the only way. He didn't have any other options. If Marinette's parents had lived, she wouldn't have gone down the path that she did. He closed his eyes, hoping that she would forgive him if she even would ever know.

"I wish Marinette's parents had never died." He said, hoping he'd made the right choice. Suddenly, his eyelids felt heavy as if he couldn't stay awake.

When he did manage to open them, he was laying in his bed. His brow furrowed. Something felt wrong. He sat up, looking around the room. It still looked the same. He walked to his bathroom. His eyes widened when he saw his reflection. His hands flew to his face. It was far younger than it had been when he'd woken up so long ago. He noticed in the reflection that his ring was missing.

"Plagg?" He called, grabbing the naked finger. "What's going on? Plagg?" He asked. He started looking around the room for his ring when he heard a knock on his door. "Yes?" He asked.

"A-Adrien? You father needs to speak with you." Nathalie said. Her voice was shaky. Adrien slowly made his way to the door. When he opened it and saw Nathalie's face, he instantly knew something was wrong.

"What's going on? What's wrong, Nathalie?" He asked.

"Your...ahem...your father needs to speak with you. Right now." she said before turning. Adrien hesitantly followed her to his father's study.

Gabriel uncharacteristically came over to Adrien and gave him a strong hug. "Father! What is… what is going on?" Adrien asked.

"Adrien. I need for you to sit down." Gabriel said.

"What's going on?" Adrien asked as he sat down.

"It's your mother, Adrien. She's missing." Adrien's eyes nearly popped out of his head.

"What?" He asked. He didn't understand what could be happening. "I…" then he realized. It was his wish. His mother was one of the three people who took the place of Marinette and her parents. He felt like he'd been punched in the stomach.

"I know you had been looking forward to going to school next school year, but I don't think it would be the best idea now." Gabriel said.

Adrien's eyes widened. That's why he seemed so much younger. He was. "B-but Father!" He said. He was sick with himself that his mother was gone and he knew it was his fault. Knowing that he still wouldn't get to see Marinette was even worse.

"No, you will continue to be homeschooled. Until we know what happened to your mother, it's far too dangerous." Gabriel said.

"I want to go to school!" He said. "I...we'll find mom." He added, though he knew they wouldn't.

"You won't be going and that's final." Gabriel said. Adrien started to protest, but Gabriel held up his hand. "That's final, Adrien." He said.

The summer passed slowly. Adrien mourned for his mother, hating himself more than he thought possible. His father had focused on finding Emily, but Adrien knew it was futile. Adrien tried to convince his father to let him go to school each day, wanting to try to make the best out of the situation, knowing that there was no way to get his mother back. He didn't have his Miraculous let alone Ladybug's to even try to go about fixing this mess.

Finally, the first day of school started. Adrien hadn't made any progress with convincing his father to let him go to school. So, he did the unthinkable, something he'd never done without Plagg before. He snuck out of the house. He ran the entire way to the school. He was late, but that didn't matter to him.

As he arrived at the school, Nathalie and the Gorilla pulled up to the school and got out of the silver car. Adrien made to duck past them to run into the school. "Adrien, please reconsider. You know what your father wants." Nathalie said, causing the boy to stop and turn on the steps.

"This is what I want to do." He said, hearing someone groan on the sidewalk. His eyes widened as he looked over to see an elderly Chinese man on the ground. He'd known that things were different in this time for the simple fact that his mother and two other people were missing. He'd even noticed the absence of Chloe's mother even though she wasn't missing like his mother was. However, he didn't realize how other people would be affected. He rushed forward and made to help the man up.

"Thank you, young man." The man said. It was at that point that Adrien recognized the man. This was Master Fu. He had pretended to be Adrien's replacement Chinese tutor on a few occasions to try to help him with becoming Chat Noir. Adrien tried to focus on not showing that he recognized the man.

He thought back to the very first time he'd seen Master Fu. It had been his first day of school, but he'd seen the elderly man during his lunch period. He had been on his way to the car to go home to eat with his parents when he saw Master Fu attempting to cross the busy street. He'd rushed out to help without even thinking. It was only later that he'd realized that this act of kindness had been why he was granted his Miraculous.

Adrien turned back toward the school once Master Fu was safely back on his feet to see Nathalie and the Gorilla glaring at him. He walked back toward them. "Just want to go to school like everyone else. What's so wrong with that? Please, don't tell my father about all this." He said, adding the last part because he knew how his father would react. Adrien wouldn't be able to try to sneak out again if his father found out. Nathalie and the Gorilla led him to the car without a word.

It was while Nathalie was going over his history lesson that Adrien found out that she had told his father already about his attempted escape. As much as he tried to argue, his father was firm in his decision to keep Adrien home. He ran to his room as soon as Nathalie dismissed him. He laid on his bed. Not only was his mother gone now, but his father wouldn't be convinced to let him go to school. His father insisted that the world was too dangerous. As he lay there, he felt the ground start to shake. His eyes widened as he rushed to the front door. He saw a giant stone monster attacking the police.

He rushed back to his room and turned on the news, surprised to see Mayor Bourgeois making a statement about the monster. Bile crept up in the back of his throat as he saw the man. The news confirmed that Paris was being attacked by a super villain, something Adrien never thought would happen in real life. He then looked down to see a familiar box. "What's this doing here?" He blurted, opening the box to see his ring. Plagg formed in front of his eyes. It quickly became apparent that Plagg didn't recognize him.

Adrien decided to play along. He didn't want to admit what he'd done to the small being, knowing that Plagg wouldn't approve. So, instead he made a comment about Plagg being like a genie. When Plagg started flitting around the room, trying to find cheese, Adrien simply chased him. He tried to act like he had the first time he'd gotten his Miraculous. However, when Plagg started to actually tell him about his powers, Adrien became impatient and immediately transformed. He went out into the city in search of Marinette, knowing that she would probably be trying to find the stone giant. It was just how she was.

He was, however, surprised to see her sailing through the air toward him, screaming. They collided, her knocking him off of his staff, but managing to wrap her yoyo around both them and the staff to keep them from crashing to the ground. His heart leapt into his throat as he felt how close they were. "Well, hey there. Nice of you to drop in." He said. After a short exchange, they made to go after the stone giant. Once they had it in the stadium, he realized that he was fighting along. "Where are you...partner?" He called, almost forgetting that she hadn't identified herself as Ladybug yet. He quickly realized that she was having self-doubt as he glanced up at her briefly before seeing that the goal post Stoneheart had thrown was flying toward Alya. He threw his staff toward the reporter, managing to deflect the attack that Stoneheart had sent toward her only to get nabbed by the stone giant.

He heard Alya encourage Ladybug and soon, she came to his rescue. However, he could still tell that she wasn't herself and realized that she might lose more confidence if he showed that he knew how to be a hero. He let her come up with the plan before suggesting they use their powers. He decided to show her his rather than use it as an attack. He didn't know what it would do to the stone monster and had realized that it may have been an actual person. So, instead he acted like he didn't know he only had one shot at using his power and used it on the goal post.

Soon, the fight was over and he was back at home. That was when the real surprise came for Adrien as he found out that there were multiple people being turned into Stoneheart statues. Plagg explained that this was because Ladybug didn't capture the akuma at the end of their battle. It was then that he realized he had a lot to learn about this new timeline.

The next morning, he snuck to school again. This time, he didn't let Nathalie and the Gorilla stop him when he got to the school. He had to meet Marinette. He just had to. He couldn't let go of the idea that they would eventually be together. He rushed into the school, but didn't see Marinette. He made his way toward his classroom when he saw Chloe. She rushed up to him and pulled him into a hug before a group of fans surrounded him.

They made their way to the classroom where Adrien introduced himself to Nino. He wasn't prepared for the cold reception he got from the boy. That was until he remembered how much of a distaste everyone had for Chloe. He then realized that Chloe was putting gum on the seat across the steps from his.

"Hey, what's that all about?" He asked, having a feeling he knew whose seat that was.

"The brats that sat here yesterday need a little attitude adjustment. I'm just commanding a bit of respect, that's all." Chloe said.

"Think that's really necessary?" He asked as he tried to pick the gum off of Marinette's seat. He hadn't recall this instance happening before so he assumed it was because he hadn't been there the day prior. He tried to pick the gum off, not wanting Marinette to pay for his mistake. He didn't listen to Chloe as she sat back down. He just intently worked to get the gum off of the seat until he heard Marinette's voice angrily call out to him.

"Hey, what are you doing?" She asked angrily as he turned toward her, surprised. This was not the first impression that he wanted to make. He tried to explain, but it was no use. She was angry with him. He quickly realized that if he was going to win her over, it would have to be as Chat Noir. Sure, he would try as Adrien to get on her good side, but after this he thought it would probably be faster to woo her when they were both superheroes. It was only far later when he realized that this was a mistake.

A/N: And there you have it. I hope it wasn't too sad for you. I figured that tying it in with the "beginning" of the show would help to provide some hope for the characters. And if you're wondering why it sent him so far back to wish that Marinette's parents hadn't died, this is because at this point in time that he was sent back to, the bakery was doing poorly and Tom and Sabine were contemplating selling it to Mayor Bourgeois and becoming tenants instead of owners. In this timeline, Marinette helps them to re-brand the bakery (looking back to Tom's comment about her design in Origins Part 1) which saves them from having to sell and ultimately keeps them from going down the same path that they would have otherwise taken.

RushAlias: I hope you enjoyed Plagg calling him out on that very same thing.

Alascasugar: Thank you, I'm glad that you liked it and hope you like this conclusion.

DarkBat666: Thank you so much. I hope that this chapter was just as good as the last one and that you enjoyed the conclusion.

Mayuralover: To be honest, I really fought with the prospect of having Rena know about Marinette. Initially, she was going to be introduced to the story with Nath bringing her to Marinette instead of her chasing Ladybug. However, that just didn't seem right. I wanted to give her more drive to bring down Ladybug initially to make her character more of a 'threat', but then near the end wanted to make it believable that she wouldn't sacrifice her secret identity to bring her down. Hence why she needed to know about Mari in the end as then, at that point, her bringing down Ladybug wasn't personal anymore. As always, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and the resolution to the story.

Emmaleewhittaker: I'm glad that you like it and hope you liked the ending as well.

Duke: I hadn't thought of doing that before, but I just might. It would probably be from Canon Mari's perspective and would involve an akuma sending her through to this story. But yeah, I could definitely see that happening.