Epilogue

A light snow was falling as two young people made their way through Venice to their hotel. The young man ran a hand through his sunshine hair, holding tightly to his small suitcase with the other. He looked a little dazed, and definitely as though he were coming down from an adrenaline high.

"I can't believe I didn't know you were scared of flying, Kitty!" his raven-haired companion was saying in consternation, looking at him in concern. "Why didn't you tell me- before we got on the plane?"

"Kitty" shot her a disgruntled look. "Probably the same reason you didn't tell me you were afraid of spiders, Mari," he teased, though he still looked a bit put out. "Or, possibly, because I didn't remember."

"Oh. Right," she said, fingering her black hair awkwardly. "Sorry Adrien." They walked in silence for a few minutes, taking in the scenery. "It was really nice of your dad to pay for our trip," she said, changing the subject a moment later.

Adrien grinned, remembering what had led up to said event. On the day Nathalie had been arrested for aiding and abetting Papillon, Adrien had shown up at his childhood home, being tailed nonstop by paparazzi all the way up to the gate. A few had even tried to follow him inside, but as Ladybug had come along as his personal security detail, no one actually managed it.

Adrien met with Gabriel, who tried to use the paparazzi's presence to get Adrien to come back to the manor, but Adrien wouldn't budge. He told Gabriel that he knew he had been Hawkmoth, and that under no circumstances was he going to go back to living under Gabriel's thumb. Then Adrien issued an ultimatum- If Gabriel left him alone to live his own life, gave him his rightful earnings from his teenage employment, and turned himself over to the police for his actions as Hawkmoth, Adrien would be sure to continue to visit him regularly for the rest of the elder gentleman's remaining life and beg for leniency and anonymity for his father in court. If not, he would walk away and never look back. It was obvious which option Gabriel had chosen; the thought of losing his only remaining family was too difficult to fathom.

In the end, Gabriel and Nathalie had both been sentenced to twelve years in prison- Gabriel for being Hawkmoth, and Nathalie for willingly aiding two supervillains and taking bribes from Gabriel in order to win her office. Needless to say, Ladybug and Chat Noir had been relieved to see them go.

"Technically, I paid for it using my earnings from my teenage modeling days," Adrien said, pulling himself back to the present. "It is rather nice to discover you have money you didn't know you had from a job you don't remember working, don't you think, Bugaboo?"

Mari smirked at him. "I wouldn't know, Kitty," she said coyly, taking his free hand and intertwining their fingers as they walked. "I tend to remember most of my life experiences, thanks very much."

"Except for the Oblivio incident," Adrien muttered. Mari stared at him, her eyes flashing dangerously as she put on a sultry expression.

"What was that, Chaton? I couldn't hear you," she said sweetly.

"Nothing, cherie," he replied smoothly. "Just saying how glad I am that you remembered I wanted to go to Italy. This is going to be fantastic!"

Mari smirked. "Nice save, Adrien." She checked her phone. "The hotel should be right…over…there!" she said, pointing to a nice-looking building with a view out towards the sea. They crossed to the door, walking up to the front desk.

"Buona giornata! Come posso aiutarti?" The man behind the counter asked.

Mari looked to Adrien uncertainly. "Uh…" But Adrien stepped forward without hesitation and greeted the man and explained that they had a reservation under the name Agreste, all in perfect Italian. Mari's eyes widened, but she stayed silent until they'd finished their exchange.

"I didn't know you spoke Italian," she said, impressed. Adrien shrugged.

"Yet another thing I seem to have forgotten," he said indifferently. "Not a big deal, Mari. I expect I'll probably be having these kind of moments for the rest of my life. May as well get used to it."

She pulled him in for a kiss. "May as well," she echoed with a fake sigh. "Guess I'm stuck with you." Adrien grinned.

"The cat that gets fed keeps coming back, after all. You should know that by now."

They settled into their luxurious-looking suite before going out to see the rest of the city, leaving their luggage behind. They chose to do a private gondola ride first down the Grand Canal. As they set off, Adrien nervously twisted his ring around his finger. He had a plan, but he couldn't pretend that he wasn't beyond terrified. Mari eyed him.

"You aren't afraid of water, too? Like a real cat?" she asked him curiously. Adrien tried to smile, but it came out as more of a grimace. His anxiety really was getting the better of him.

"N-no, Mari, water is fine," he stuttered out, stuffing his hands into his coat pockets and forcing himself to breathe. Everything would be fine, he told himself. Marinette studied him in confusion, then changed the subject, hoping to draw him out a little.

"Maman and Papa seemed really happy when I visited them yesterday. Everything is almost ready for the re-opening," she said excitedly.

The fire in the bakery, while it had been set by an akuma, had left some emotional scarring for everyone involved. Sabine had been fully healed and the bakery fully repaired by the Miraculous Ladybug spell, but Mari and Adrien had suggested that they take a well-earned vacation and reopen after the holidays. While the holiday rush was important for the financial well-being of the bakery, Tom and Sabine agreed it would be a good idea to give themselves time to readjust. They took advantage of the time off to experiment with new recipes and do some redecorating, and now Tom could hardly wait to get back to baking full-time again.

Adrien smiled at her enthusiasm, despite his nervousness. He didn't think he would ever tire of seeing her sparkle like that. "I'm glad," he said with a sigh. "Your parents are seriously the nicest people in the entire world. They deserve to have things work out for them."

He couldn't help but remember the previous evening when he'd sneaked out of Mari's apartment to visit her folks unannounced, telling Mari he had to run to the store for a couple last-minute items for their trip. She'd just shrugged and waved him goodbye as he left, not suspecting a thing, before he'd transformed and run as fast as his legs could carry him over the rooftops to his future-in-laws home. They'd been overjoyed when he'd told them the news. They'd given him bear hugs and kisses (in Sabine's case), plus the good old-fashioned ribbing that came with the territory.

"Yeah," Marinette agreed. "Although, they're sure going to miss you. Papa even asked me if I could talk you out of that, by the way, but I told him, 'not a chance'. I'd never ask you to give up fencing."

Adrien smiled at Marinette's protectiveness. Once Adrien had called the police to arrest Lila and Nathalie (a fact which he explained away by saying he had ducked into the City Hall to hide from the chaos and happened to see Chat hightailing it before he changed back, but not before Chat requested he stick around to assist Ladybug), nearly all of Paris was quickly informed of his return via the main news channels.

Shortly after, Adrien had gone to Master D'Argentcour and explained himself. The master fencer was overjoyed that his star pupil had returned, understanding his previous need for secrecy, and immediately asked him if he would become a part-time fencing instructor and Francois Dupont. Adrien readily accepted, deciding he would work part time in the bakery from then on. Tom and Sabine were, of course, highly congratulatory of their surrogate son, telling him he could set his schedule as worked best for him. Adrien appreciated that, and loved being able to pursue his interests equally.

"Tom's just a little jealous," Adrien quipped. "After all, it would be shame to keep this much raw awesomeness contained." He pulled a flexing pose while Mari rolled her eyes, giggling.

"You're something else, Kitty," she smiled, burrowing into his side. As they lapsed into silence, Adrien felt his nervousness return. He fingered his Miraculous again inside his pocket.

"What are you waiting for, kid?" Plagg whispered from inside the hood of his jacket. "Get a move on, will ya?"

"Not yet, Plagg!" he hissed quietly so that the gondolier wouldn't hear him. Marinette gave him a look, but didn't comment. He was grateful for that.

Their boat tour ended in front of the Rialto Bridge. Adrien thanked the gondolier, leading Marinette up to the very middle of the bridge so they could look out over the water. The sun was beginning to set, and the lights from the street lamps shone on the water.

"It's beautiful," she whispered, watching as the ripples reflected the light every whichaway, making the scene look like a master artist's painting.

"Yeah, it is," Adrien replied. The city was beautiful, but he only had eyes for Marinette. He wrapped his arms around her from behind as she shivered, setting his chin comfortably in the crook of her neck. Snow was beginning to fall again as they stood there, gazing out into the evening.

"You hear about Lila?" he asked finally, breaking the silence that stretched between them. Lila had been sentenced officially only the week before. It had taken a long time for the courts to know what to do with her, and she had had to wait to be tried until after Hawkmoth and Nathalie, as she'd been involved in both of the elder villains' schemes. She had done her best to spin some giant web of lies, but a tip-off from an anonymous source (aka. Adrien Agreste) requested she be questioned using a lie detector. After that, the web unraveled quickly. Lila was sentenced to two years in prison for her short stint as Papillon and a given a court order to have absolutely nothing to do with Marinette, as half of her trial consisted of Lila raving about how Marinette, as Ladybug, was behind the whole thing and how Lila, herself, was actually framed. The court ruled that she had some sort of unhealthy obsession with the raven-haired young lady, and issued a restraining order.

Marinette nodded. "Yeah I did," she sighed, looking relieved. Adrien was looking upset.

"She should have gotten longer for what she did to you," he growled. Marinette shivered again as a cold gust of wind swept past.

"I'm just glad she was convicted," she said. "With her track record, I was sure she was going to talk her way out of it and walk free. If she hadn't completely lost it, I'm sure she probably would have been able to." Adrien noticed his girlfriend's teeth were chattering now. He rubbed his hands along her upper arms in an attempt to warm her.

"Maybe we should go inside and warm up," he suggested. "And get something to eat. You up for that?" Marinette nodded, to which he took her hand, steering her off the bridge and into the nearest restaurant. They found the restaurant they'd entered specialized in seafood, and they had a lot of fun looking through the menu at all the interesting dishes.

Adrien seemed to think of something suddenly. "Hey Mari, do you think the grimoire has any recipes that change a kwami's favorite food?" He made a face. "Plagg hid a wheel of Camembert inside my suitcase; I found it when we were unpacking. Now all my stuff smells like stinky old cheese," he complained.

Marinette smiled. "Poor Kitty," she teased. The grimoire, while extremely useful, did not, that she was aware of, have that capability. Her father had rescued it after the fire, and she and Adrien had spent time studying it with the Lucky Charm code they'd gotten during the battle with Scarlet Papillon, and were slowly unraveling the secrets within. They'd learned the potion recipe Lila used to level herself up enough to control the frozen akumas, among other things, but hadn't yet found anything that would explain how or why Mari's powers had disappeared. They were still proceeding under the assumption that that incident had been a soulmate thing.

She noticed that Adrien was still somewhat subdued. He hadn't made any puns for most of the afternoon, and she was starting to get worried.

"Alright, Kitty. Spill. What's going on?" she asked finally, once the food was set in front of them. He looked up at her in shock, but tried to quickly smooth his expression.

"Wh-what do you mean?" he asked not-so-innocently. She rolled her eyes at him.

"I mean, what's going on? You're acting weird, and I want to know why," she said, looking him straight in the eye. He saw a thought flicker over her face, and he answered it before she could even ask.

"No, Mari, you didn't do anything wrong," he reassured her, gently taking her hand. "I just…I'm still a little jittery from the airplane. That's all." Her raised eyebrow told him she didn't buy it, but she let it go as he continued. "You have to stop blaming yourself for things, Mari! You know, that's probably what made your powers disappear in the first place," he said half-seriously, rolling his eyes.

A squeak from Marinette's purse startled them. "Marinette! What if he's right?" Tikki squealed softly. "You blamed yourself for Chat's disappearance, the peasant girl blamed herself for the knight's betrayal, and I'll bet anything the Roman boy blamed himself for his Ladybug's death! You lost confidence in you when you blamed yourself, and your powers diminished as a result!"

Marinette's jaw dropped. "You're right!" She caught Adrien's hand in her own and kissed it. "Adrien, you're a genius! You know that, right?" The young man himself looked startled, but pleased.

"Glad to be of service, Milady."

He made a better effort to be upbeat for the rest of the meal, but he found he was too nervous to eat much. His stomach was churning unhappily, and as they stood to leave, he began twisting his ring again.

They walked down the cobblestone streets on the side of the Canal in the direction of the hotel, hand in hand. Marinette chattered happily at things she had noticed as they had explored, but Adrien was too nervous to listen. As a beautiful basilica came into sight, Adrien made his move, pulling Mari into an alleyway. She looked up at him in confusion.

"Adrien what-?"

"Plagg, claws out!" he said firmly, scooping up his Lady and whisking her off onto the roof of the basilica, careful not to be spotted. Nobody could know Chat was in Italy, after all. Taking care that they couldn't be seen, he released his transformation. Marinette was staring up at him, and he had to take a deep breath to steady himself.

"Adrien? Are you alright? Are you ill?" Marinette asked, taking his arms and studying his face. He probably looked white as a sheet, he thought off-handedly. He took Marinette in his arms, focusing on the feeling of her body against his, grounding him.

"I'll be alright," he murmured against her hair as he shuffled his hands behind her back. "Just nervous." She looked up at him.

"Why? It's just us here," she remarked, looking confused. He took her hand in one of his, cupping her jaw with his other hand.

"Mari, I- I love you. So much. You are truly my better half. There's nothing more I could want than to spend the rest of my life with you," he said. He knelt on the ground in front of his partner and best friend, taking a deep breath as he held out his Miraculous ring to her. "Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Milady, my love, will you do me the highest honor you can bestow and consent to become my wife?"

She covered her face with her hands as she let out a surprised squeal. "Yes! Yes, I will marry you!" she cried, launching herself into his arms. He slid the ring onto her finger, then stood. He was about to pull her in for a hug when she took off her earrings, pinning them to his shirt.

"Claws out, " she said softly, a radiant smile lighting up her face.

"Spots on," Adrien gasped, staring thunderstruck at his Lady. He loved seeing her in his suit, he thought happily.

He gathered Marinette to his chest as he embraced her, then kissed her slowly and cautiously, as if for the first time. Electricity shot through them, and they crashed back together in the most passionate kiss they had ever known. Her hands tangled in his golden hair, and his cradled her hips, pulling her closer, as though there was never any way for them to ever be close enough. Her fingers lightly traced the contours of his chest, clearly visible through the spandex fabric, and he shivered, sending waves of sensations through both of their bodies.

When they finally broke apart, they gazed at each other giddily. "S-so…" Mister Bug began, looking a little dazed, "When do you want to get married, love? We could do a spring wedding," he suggested. "Spring is nice. Or, we could wait and have it be summer while you're not in school. Or-"

"Or we could do it now," Lady Noire threw in. Mister Bug stared at her with wide eyes.

"N-now?" he asked. "B-but-"

"Think about it Buga-boy," she smirked. "If we get married now there won't be months of tedious planning, no squabbles with in-laws about what we do and don't want, no worries about the press getting wind of Adrien Agreste's wedding and setting up camp right outside our door for months asking for details…" she giggled as he made a face at this last comment. "And-"

"Kitten," he quipped, "you had me at, 'now'." He gazed around in shock as it sunk in that this was actually happening, trying to get his tortured brain to cooperate. "So…umm…where do we go?"

Lady Noire rolled her eyes. "Cheri, there's like fifteen different basilicas along this one canal alone! We're freaking standing on one."

"Oh. Oh, right," he said dumbly, looking around. Lady Noire sighed.

"Cheri, if you're nervous about this, we don't have to do it now. We can wait-"

"No," he said firmly, his eyes glinting with determination. "We're doing this. Come on!"

He scooped his Lady up again, carrying her carefully down to the cobblestones. They de-transformed handing their Miraculous' back to their correct holders. Marinette sighed as she looked both of them up and down.

"It would have been nice if we could have dressed up a little," she said, indicating the leggings and chunky sweater she was wearing under her winter jacket, as well as his jeans, a leather jacket, and signature orange sneakers.

"Maybe we can help," Tikki piped up from Marinette's bag, Plagg floating over beside her. "Right, Plagg?" the little red kwami nudged the tiny black cat, who was rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, sure," he said, though Adrien thought he could see a fond smirk turning up the corners of Plagg's mouth.

"Just transform, we'll do the rest," Tikki commanded. "And Plagg, subtle," she warned him shooting him a look.

"Fine, fine," Plagg waved her off unconcernedly. Adrien looked at his kwami nervously, hoping he didn't have to find out what Tikki meant by that.

"Alright. Plagg, claws out!" Adrien's clothes turned into a dapper tuxedo, black with a black satin vest underneath. The bow tie at his throat and his pocket square were lime green, and his mask had morphed into a set of black, thick-rimed oval spectacles, leaving his eyes noticeably more human than his usual transformation. His shiny dress shoes reflected the light from the lamps almost as much as the water in the canal, and his golden hair was perfectly styled, a look Adrien liked to call 'messy chic'. Marinette gawked at her gorgeous boyfriend- uh, fiancé.

"Ok, Marinette, your turn!" Tikki called.

"Tikki, spots on!"

Suddenly, Marinette was standing before him, wearing a beautiful white, off-shoulder wedding dress with wrist-length sheer sleeves. The entire thing was covered in delicate lace, and a bold red satin sash was tied around her waist. Her mask, too, had been replaced with oval-shaped glasses, and her dark hair was swept into a fancy knot, speckled with tiny ladybug pins. Her strappy heels were bright red to match her sash. Marinette squealed softly as she took everything in.

"Thank you, Tikki! It's so beautiful!" she whispered, hoping Tikki could hear her from inside the Miraculous.

Adrien stuffed his hands into his pockets, moved almost to tears at the sight of his beautiful bride. All at once, he felt something hard and cold come into contact with his hand. He pulled out two rings, one small and delicate and the other larger and more heavy-looking. They were simple white gold bands, but each was inscribed with a yin-yang symbol. Perfect.

"Thank you, Plagg," he said softly. The kwamis had thought of everything.

"Shall we, Milady?" he asked her, offering Marinette his arm. She happily took it.

"We shall, cheri."

They strode into the ancient building, hoping they could convince someone to perform the ceremony at this late hour. Finally, after they had tracked down a willing officiator who had gathered all the appropriate paperwork, they finally met each other in front of the alter. They decided they would do their own vows.

"Marinette," Adrien began. "I've loved you since before I can remember. You were my partner and best friend in our work, and I cared for you deeply. I wanted to let you know how special you were to me, but the stars never seemed to align. And then one day, everything changed." He paused, seeing tears well up in her eyes. "I couldn't remember you, or me, or anything about my life. But my instinct led me back to you, eventually, and I am so grateful for that. I promise that I will love and cherish you every day for the rest of my life, and make sure that your beautiful sparkle is there to stay. You are everything to me. I see all of you, and I love every piece. And all of me is yours. Forever."

Marinette's eyes were streaming now, and the officiator kindly handed her a clean handkerchief to wipe her face with.

"Thank you," she said to him, sniffling a little, before turning back to her husband-to-be. "A-Adrien," she said, then paused. She giggled a bit. "You know I'm terrible without plans. And that usually works out ok, since you tend to like winging it better. We balance each other." She glanced at him nervously, but when she saw the love shining in his eyes, her shoulders straightened and she fully and completely became Ladybug.

"I have to admit, it wasn't love at first sight for me. In fact, I didn't know how much I cared for you until I thought I'd lost you forever. But when I met you again, I fell for you, and I fell hard. You saw the real me, through all the masks and walls and failures. And I love you for that.

You are the complete opposite to me, my missing puzzle piece. I love everything about you, too- even your purr-fectly terrible cat puns," she teased, and he choked out a laugh, his eyes filling with tears as hers had. "I couldn't ask for anything more in a partner. And I promise and swear that I will always stand by you."

Adrien took the rings out of his pocket, holding them in his outstretched palm. He slid one onto her finger, and she took the other to slip onto his.

Their kiss was sweet and tender, filled with so much love and devotion it seemed to simply emanate from them. Suddenly, a wave of familiar power swept through them, and they both gasped as they realized they were radiating light; Marinette pink, and Adrien green, like their transformations. The officiator was not looking at them any differently, so perhaps it was something only the two of them could see.

The officiator insisted on snapping a photo for them, after which they said their thank you's and good-bye's before heading out the doors and vaulting off into the darkness, once again in their normal supersuits. Upon reaching their suite, they stared at each other. The glow surrounding them was now, if anything, even brighter.

"Well, Milady Agreste," Chat purred happily, and Ladybug shivered in delight at the sound of her name as he placed his claws on her hips, pulling her closer, "looks like you're all mine now." Ladybug hummed in response, flicking his nose playfully.

"My, my, eager, aren't we, Chaton?" she teased, placing a feather-light kiss on his jaw bone just beneath his ear. His body quivered at her touch.

"Claws in."

"Spots off."

Their eyes grew wider as they realized the glow was still there, even without the suits.

"I love you, Adrien," she whispered, brushing his golden hair from his eyes. He smiled.

"And I love you, Marinette. More than you'll ever possibly know."

He kissed her tenderly and lovingly, then again, more passionately. His hand cupped her jaw, planting a row of kisses down the side of her neck. The light in the room grew brighter as they drew closer to one another, unveiling the last remaining piece to the puzzle that was their partnership- the culmination of their soulmate bond. The light shifted as they came together, the pink and green swirling into a yin-yang sign, growing brighter until the light became pure white.

The love they felt for each other raged like fire, burning through all their doubts and fears. It soothed like water, healing and nurturing their souls. Like earth, it grounded them, steadied them in their challenges. And finally, allowed them to soar, rising past the mundane to reach new heights. It was totally, completely, and utterly perfect; a delicate balance of opposites; a completeness.

The two of them gazed at each other, bathed in that beautiful light and knew then they saw their partner fully and truly. Every piece and part, every success and failure, every strength and every weakness. They saw the whole of each other, accepted it, loved it. And together, the two of them were one.