A wet wind blew and whistled through the rubble of various buildings. Dread stalked the lone teens in their long shadows beneath the purple sky.

Marinette sniffled, her arms wrapped around herself tightly. Tikki huddled in her shirt pocket, whining when Marinette would occasionally wipe her eyes. Adrien kept his arms around her the entire journey to the bakery, silent and solemn.

"Tikki could die, Adrien," Marinette whispered suddenly.

"You heard what Plagg said; if you take care of her she'll be okay," Adrien responded, "and I know you will."

Marinette forced a nod and was quiet for a moment. "How are we gonna tell my parents? Or your dad?"

"I'm not telling my father. He's not the kind of man who deserves to know that information. But don't worry about your parents, they'll take it better than most people I know."

"O…okay."

"They just...oh god, Mari, your face."

Marinette took a deep breath. "I know, it's bad, isn't it?" she mumbled. "Mom and dad are gonna kill me."

"Well, on the bright side of things, you were gonna have to tell them you were Ladybug at some point," Adrien suggested.

"You're not helping, cat."

The bakery came into view. It was a little damaged, with part of Marinette's room gone as well as a small portion of the kitchen in the apartment, but the bakery below was untouched and inside Tom and Sabine baked loaves of bread by the dozen. No one was fetching their rations, which was fortunate.

The less outsiders that knew Ladybug and Chat's identities, the better.

The two stopped outside the door and Marinette took another deep breath. Adrien squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. "Hey, if you want me to explain-"

"Please." Mari looked like she was tearing up again. She put her face in her hands. "Oh, what'll they do? They'll get so mad at me for sure."

"Mari, it's okay. Like I said, they'll understand," Adrien soothed. "It'll be fine."

He stepped up to the door and knocked. Mari let out a half-hearted snort behind him.

"You don't have to knock," she muttered. "It's a store."

Adrien puffed out his cheeks indignantly, trying to formulate a comeback and failing miserably. He decided to just pull the door open when Tom and Sabine greeted them.

Tom laughed. "You know you don't have to knock, Adrien. Why-"

The parents' grins melted when they saw Adrien's grim expression and their daughter behind him, looking at everything besides her parents and bleeding a little from a long scratch that started at her jaw and ran to the bridge of her nose, and from a rip in her ear.

Sabine rushed out the door and enveloped Marinette in her arms. "Oh my goodness! Mari, what happened?! Who hurt you?! How deep is it?!"

Adrien bit his lip. "We can explain," he started, "but we'll have to go inside."

"Why?"

"If I told you outright you wouldn't believe me."

Marinette nodded in her mother's arms. "Mom, he's right. It's best that as little people know as possible."

Sabine and Tom exchanged wary glances before nodding and bringing the two inside.

They gathered around one of the tables, Marinette sitting down. Tom spread his arms. "What happened?"

Mari and Adrien looked at each other, and Mari sighed. "Mom, dad, do you know why I have so many tardies in my classes? Why I'm never around when Ladybug is?"

"The tardies were because you were busy or in the bathroom, I thought we talked about this," Tom put in.

"That's what I told you, but only to protect myself." Marinette stopped and closed her eyes, pulling Tikki gently out of her pocket along with the earring. "Truth is...I'm Ladybug herself."

Sabine gasped when Marinette revealed Tikki and her earring. "Adrien is Chat Noir. And these are our kwamis," Plagg came into view, "who help us turn into our hero selves."

Sabine sat down heavily, her head in her hands. Tom looked at them, his face unreadable. "How long have you known each other's identities?"

Adrien winced. "Not...n-not until today, sir," he answered. "That's why Marinette's kwami is hurt...that's why Marinette is hurt."

"Mom, dad, we fought that akuma today, and this is what came out of that." Tom looked like he was about to say something and Marinette stopped him. "I know you're gonna say that I can't be Ladybug and that I have to stay behind from here on out but listen; I can't. I didn't have a choice to become Ladybug and I can't stop being her now, especially when everything is as it is. What we need to do now is get Tikki-my kwami-some sugar and help her heal or else I can't fix this." She stared at her parents for a moment. "Please. Chat-Adrien-can't fight on his own and if Tikki dies, there may never be another Ladybug."

Sabine looked up. "Alright, you know where the cookies are. And clean up your face, it'll get infected."

Marinette nodded gratefully, relieved, and ran to grab a handful of chocolate chip cookies. Sabine followed her to help with her face.

Adrien collapsed into a chair, exhausted. He winced as he realized how tired his muscles were and how many minor injuries he had that he didn't notice before. Tom sat next to him. "Chat Noir, eh?"

"Yeah." It came out shakier than Adrien intended it to as the weight of the situation fell on him. Tom noticed and gave him a concerned look.

"What's eating at you, boy?"

"I…don't know. I guess I feel like part of this is my fault somehow." He looked away from Marinette's father. "She got hurt because I wasn't on my toes like I should have been. She insists it's all her fault but if I'd just protected her better…" His voice broke and he bit his lip. Adrien had only felt like this once and that was four years ago. When his mother left.

There was a hand on his shoulder and he looked up at Tom. "I-I'm sorry."

"Don't be, kid," Tom said warmly, smiling a little. "You do a better job of protecting her than I do, every single day. In the grand scheme of things, this was only a little slip-up, and if I know my daughter, she can handle this no matter what. She's tough and being a superhero only emphasizes that. It's…very shocking to hear it but when you really think about it she couldn't be anyone else. The same goes for you. You protect her whether you're a civilian or not and in more ways than one." He ruffled Adrien's hair lightly and Adrien laughed a little. Tom smiled. "I wouldn't want anyone else having her back, Adrien. Ever. Think about that for a while."

He stood and went to join his wife and daughter, adding over his shoulder, "There's cookies behind the counter; grab a couple if you want. We'll be back down in a bit."

Adrien watched him go and smiled to himself. His own father had never been like that. I guess it's more the family you choose than the family you're born to that cares for you.

Plagg floated by his head and coughed. "Ugh, it sounded like he was giving you his blessing to marry her," he muttered disgustedly.

"Plagg!"

"What? Also, do you think they have Camembert?"