"You're both eighteen now," Tikki chirps excitedly, "and have been for a couple of months now."

They nod. Adrien and Marinette had tried to bring these upgrades up to their kwami for weeks but they had always been ignored or waved on. It was driving them both a bit insane knowing that these new powers which could level the playing field with Hawkmoth were so close.

"But we've decided that you need to know the history first." Marinette and Adrien startle slightly, for years they had been denied the stories of their kwami's origins.

"But no interruptions." Plagg's stern voice overshadows Tikki's light one, bringing them back to the gravity of the conversation.

"As you know, you two were chosen by Master Fu for your charitable actions. You've both questioned why you would be chosen before, and you've both questioned our loyalties. You know that there have been other wielders and you think we are going to choose another in your lifetime. The truth is, we won't have any other Ladybugs or Chat Noirs for centuries."

They make their respective sounds of surprise, Marinette from her chair, and Adrien from the place on the ground where he had settled.

"Your presence awakens us. Without you, we remain dormant within our items. For hundreds of years you have been awakening us."

"I've seen the hieroglyphics," Marinette says, earning a glare from Plagg. "There was a Ladybug in Egypt?"

"Yes," Tikki starts, earning another glare from Plagg, "Wherever you pop up, we will be given to you."

"You mean wherever you find someone like us," Adrien points out, "Someone who can wake you up."

Tikki and Plagg share a look before Plagg floats a little closer, "Yes and no kid. It's more complicated than that. You're always different yeah, but really you're always the same. We've had you remember stuff from before, or see stuff from before. In however many years, you'll be gone, but you guys always come back, it's always the same."

"You're saying we… Reincarnate?" Marinette's voice shakes slightly.

"No it's not like that, or we don't really know or understand it. You'll know sooner or later Marinette. But for now we'll talk about upgrades! Aesthetically you'll have antenna-"

"I always wondered why I didn't get them! There's a whole forum on the Ladyblog about it-"

"I said no interruptions."

"Sorry Plagg."

"Anyways," Tikki continues, with an angry look at Plagg, "This will take some getting used to as it will alter your perception of everything around you. Ultimately though it will prevent any surprise attacks as you'll be able to see all around you without looking."

"Wow that's so cool!"

"Yes! Also you both will be given some light costume redesign. As you have aged we've altered things here and there, pockets or alternative weapon placement and all that sort of thing. Miraculous costumes change throughout the ages, you know that what your costumes are now wouldn't be ok in the 1800s. It has come to our attention that some armor would be helpful."

"That would be amazing," Adrien sighs, his hand tenderly brushing his recent stitches. Without alcohol or any kind of drug to lighten the pain, stitches were hard.

"You both can help with that, and I think that your respective areas of expertise will be very beneficial. So Marinette, right now you have your antennae and your wings. There are some new yoyo tricks which you'll learn later, but most significantly, you'll have a second yoyo. Ok so, Adrien, Plagg will explain your upgrades."

"Like I said before, you're never happy with what I have to offer you and I don't really care. Your claws get an upgrade, they're longer and you'll be able to break through metals without Cataclysm. Your baton will double as a sort of a shield type thing, you've been using it like that for a while, but now you'll be able to break it apart and actually specialize the function of each side. Your senses will all increase significantly. Up until this point you've been relying more on your human ears but now it'll be more on your cat ears. Your balance and your ability to jump will increase as well. You won't be as reliant on your baton now, and more importantly, you'll always land on your feet. Yeah that's about it."

"Hey that's not fair," Marinette breaks the brief silence, "Those are all just upgrades on what he already can do."

"He's usually the one that says that," Plagg mutters. "Chat Noir and Ladybug have to balance each other out, that's the way of the universe. He just started with more raw capabilities than you did."

"I think it's fine Mari, it sounds awesome."

"But why couldn't we just start with these powers?" Marinette says with a frown.

"It's not that simple, it could have overwhelmed you. You've lived your entire lives as normal human beings, and these added senses are a lot for you to process. Yeah, four years is a long time to wait but in the grand scheme of your hero careers, it's not that long. The threat that awakens Ladybug and Chat Noir is always different, and Hawkmoth turned one of us against you. Risking ruining the balance when you were holding your own perfectly fine could have hurt one or both of you."

They both pause to consider this. They had started off falling over each other, and it had taken months or even years before they could confidently say they were a cohesive team. Learning to fly or being able to see without looking could have overwhelmed them. "How come you think we can handle the powers now?" Adrien asks.

"You're older, wiser, you've been fighting for a long time. You're a lot stronger than you were when you opened the boxes at fourteen. Marinette handled the wings perfectly despite the fact that she had to receive them early."

"And Hawkmoth gets stronger at the same time that you do," Plagg says through a mouth of cheese, "The universe wants everything to be balanced."

"That's stupid! How can we have balance with our enemies?"

"Marinette, it isn't all black and white. When you defeat Hawkmoth, another villain will emerge. Maybe he or she won't be a Miraculous wielder, but good must be balanced by evil."

"Then what's the point of even fighting?"

All three look at her in surprise. Throughout everything, even when she doubted that she was meant to be Ladybug, she had never questioned the need for justice. "Well what's the point in anything then?" Adrien responds. "You're always so headstrong Marinette, you know the difference between right and wrong. Sure, you've made mistakes, but without you around there would be so many more mistakes. It might feel like a constant battle but think about how many people you save every day."

"How many people we save," she corrects quickly.

"Without darkness there cannot be light and vice versa, don't ever doubt that the world needs you two."

"I feel like you two doubt yourself every five minutes, can we just agree that you're both special yada yada and etc?" Plagg complained.

"Leave them alone," Tikki squeaks, "You know how they work Plagg."

"Doesn't mean it can't annoy me," Plagg moans.

"I've been annoying you for years now Plagg, you'd think you'd be over it."

"You know, some days I think that I am, but then you come up with brand new ways to irritate me!"

"Thanks, you know you're no cup of-"

"How will we get these upgrades?" Marinette interrupts abruptly.

"We can start designing them whenever you want Marinette!"

"Would you like to assist Chat?" Marinette asks while gesturing to her large sketchpad sprawled out on her desk. Adrien hesitates, this wouldn't be the first time he's tried to help her with her designs, and it always ends with a frustrated Adrien and a disappointed Marinette.

Within the first month of their relationship, they had decided that they each had their own talents. They had both dealt with the feeling of insignificance- Marinette as Ladybug and Adrien as himself. Ironically, Marinette was more comfortable as a civilian yet less comfortable with Adrien's civilian persona, but Adrien was more comfortable as Chat Noir and with Ladybug. Sometimes it even felt like they were in two separate relationships. With Marinette's injuries, she wasn't able to be Ladybug as often as she had been, so they spent a decent amount of time sneaking around.

"I don't know if that's a good idea Bugaboo," he says hesitantly.

"Come on, you know I love it when you help me."

His hand brushes his side again as he thinks about his recent injuries and his upcoming fashion shoot. His father would not be happy if he had bags under his eyes, especially when anticipating the negative reaction to his upcoming request to change alone to avoid detection. His costume was priority, but avoiding a fight with his father- and the fight he risked with Marinette- was probably of greater importance.

"I don't want to get in your way. You always work better without me."

She looks up at him with the blue eyes he had pined after for years and he almost wants to stay. But he looks at Plagg who nods and so he issues the command. "I'll see you tomorrow my lady?"

"It's already tomorrow chaton," she smiles slightly and he can tell it doesn't reach her eyes. She moves to get up and see him out, but he stops her with a kiss. When he backs away, her cheeks are light red and she looks a little happier.

He's about to climb out when she shouts, "Don't get into any more fights, at least not before calling me."

"Of course, there's no Chat Noir without Ladybug."

He jumps out while unintentionally thinking that the same might not be true for Ladybug.

AN: I want to thank everyone for the great reviews! I'm sorry for leaving the last chapter on an unnecessary cliffhanger but I just wanted to see if anyone was still interested. I only ever lightly edit these chapters so I apologize for any grammatical errors. I'm open to constructive criticism! Thanks again!