Marinette sat in the middle of her room, staring at the spot right in front of her. A frown pulled at her lips and her brow furrowed in confusion.

"T-Tiki?" Her voice was soft and cautious, even a little scared. One moment her kwami had been in front of her, congratulating her on the defeat of Hawkmoth and the next she was gone. Disappeared into thin air. It was almost as if-

Marinette froze, her breathing stopped and her eyes widening in fear. It couldn't be. It just couldn't. Her hand shakily went to touch her ear, hoping to find the cool metal that would reassure her that her fears had no hold. Except her fingers came up empty. All that was there to touch was smooth skin, empty of any sign of a miraculous.

"No… no… no, no, no, no." Marinette became more and more frantic as it sunk in what had happened. Her miraculous was gone and a part of her registered that the butterfly miraculous had disappeared as well but it wasn't that important in that moment. All that mattered was Tiki.

"Tiki?" She started to move from her place on the floor, her eyes daring all around the room for a sign of the little red being. "Tiki where are you? Tiki?"

Marinette began going through her room, opening drawers and emptying their contents as she searched for her friend. She treated it like a game of hide and seek, searching every nook and cranny that Tiki could possibly be hiding in. She had to. She had to act like her kwami was just hiding because she could face that she was gone. Marinette just couldn't believe that it was over, that the adventure was up. It wasn't true and all Marinette had to do was find her kwami. She was still Ladybug, she still had her friend. Of course she did and Marinette didn't dare to touch her ear again. It would just prove her frantic wishing to be wrong and she couldn't deal with that. It couldn't be over and so Marinette continued to look.

"Come on Tiki, this isn't funny. Where are you?" Another drawer lost its contents to the floor. "Tiki? Tiki come on. Where are you? Where did you go?"

It was no use though. All of her calling and searching yeilding nothing. Tiki was nowhere to be found. All Marinette had to show for it was a mess of a room and an even greater feeling of panic causing a shortage of breath. Despite the evidence, Marinette still didn't dare to touch her ears. She still couldn't bring herself to accept the truth. Instead Marinette grabbed her purse - the same purse she kept Tiki in that was suspiciously light which she ignored - and bolted downstairs.

"I'll be back later," Marinette absently called out as she sprinted out the doors of the bakery.

Truthfully, the last thing on her mind was her parents' worry for her. She really needed to find out what happened to Tiki. Running through the streets of Paris, Marinette picked up a chant unconsciously, the rhythm of the words matching with the rhythm of her feet.

Tiki can't be gone. Tiki can't be gone. Tiki can't be gone. No other thoughts could make it passed her screaming emotions as they worked over time to drown out the truth. Tiki can't be gone. Tiki can't be gone. Tiki can't be gone.

Finally, after an eternity later, Marinette reached her destination. She was breathing like crazy, barely able to catch her breath after her sprint through the city, but she barely noticed. She wasn't important. What was important was finding out where Tiki had gone to and getting her back.

Marinette reached out and knocked on the door, finally allowing a moment to catch her breath as she leaned over onto her knees, gasping heavily. After a few moments of no answer she knocked again.

"Master Fu?" she called out to accompany her knock.

Still silence.

"Master Fu?" Marinette knock once more while her other hand reached for the door knob. It opened easily, as she knew it would, and she stepped inside. "Master Fu?"

A gasp and then a sob escaped Marinette's mouth. The place was completely empty. There was no sign of anyone having even lived there at all. With a terrible wrench to her heart, she sunk to her knees in the middle of the doorway and allowed the tears to finally fall unhindered. Mast Fu was gone. Tiki was gone. It was all over.