The princess returns (Book 2)

Paris

"Good luck Marinette."

I looked upon my mother, my father and Eleanor with tears in my eyes. Tears of happiness to finally see Adrien again. And tears of sadness because I knew why I was giving up my dream.
"We will be helping you with money," said Dad, as he took my hand in his. We bowed our heads before hugging. Mum joined in the hug and we said our farewells.

I took my place in the limo and awaited to arrive at the airport. I phoned Alya on my way there.
"Hey girl. I can't really talk right now," she whispered.
"Oh sorry. Why?" I asked in a whisper.
"I'm in class," she answered in a hushed voice.
"Oh yeah. Right. Sorry. Have fun," I whispered before hanging up.

I called Adrien. It rang a while before he finally picked up.
"Hey m'lady. What's wrong?" he asked.
"Nothing. Just lonely. Alya's in class and so I have no one to talk to," I answered glumly.
"Don't be sad! Lady Butterfly would akumatize you," said Adrien. "After all, she is stalking you."
"Adrien, she won't akumatize me. She's akumatizing others to kill me," I explained nervously.
"Oh right. Damn it!" he hissed.
"I'm not going to die. I'll get to her Miraculous before I let that happen. I just wish I knew where she was," I said with a smirk.
"Okay. See you later," he said quickly before hanging up.

My eyes widened. That was rude. A gentlemen never is too quick to end a conversation with a princess. Especially when the gentlemen loves the princess with all of his heart.

After hours and hours of travelling in car and plane, I was in Paris. I took a deep breath in and let out a sigh of contentment. I took in my familiar surroundings before running out of the airport with my bags.

I got my phone out and saw the text message.
Meet me at the park x
I quickly tested a response before putting out my hand in the middle of the road to summon a taxi. As if on cue, one pulled up beside me. I told him where to go and he obliged.

Within minutes, I was standing outside of the gate, looking in on the park. I turned around and saw the bakery I used to live in. There was a SOLD sign at the front.

I opened the gate, picked up my bags and entered the park. I scanned around and then my heart pounded at the sight.

Adrien, Alya, Nino were sat on a bench. Next to them stood those who remained in Paris. Ivan and Mylene, Juleka and Rose and Kim. Kim and Ivan held a sign that said
'Welcome home, Princess Marinette!'. In front of them was a blanket full of food. Next to the bench was Adrien's, Alya's and Nino's bags. It looked as if they had just arrived like I had.

I ran over to the group and they all yelled,"Surprise!" I wrapped everyone in a hug and dropped my bags.
"You guys!" I said happily. "You didn't have to do this."
"But we wanted to Marinette," said Rose our hug ended.
"Yeah dudette. You were our everyday Ladybug and so we did something for you in return. Everyone is coming home," explained Nino.
"Everyone?" I said with a gasp.
"Everyone. Alix is coming back from Egypt. Max is taking a month break from M.I.T, Sabrina is delaying her time at the police academy for two weeks," said Mylene.
"Nathaniel is starting art school next year instead of this year and is coming back from Italy," added Mylene.
"And get this. Chloe is coming back from New York too," said Kim, as he pointed at a helicopter that flew over them and made its way to the airport.

"Everyone.. is coming back... for me?" mumbled Marinette sadly. Adrien put his arm on her shoulder.
"Marinette, we told them that you were Ladybug and they want to help. Don't feel bad that you delayed their dreams, feel grateful. They chose to do this," explained Adrien.

I smiled and nodded.
"Wait? Everyone knows?" I wailed.
"Yeah, sorry," said Alya, blushing in embarrassment.
"Oh well. As long as they promise not to tell all of Paris," I said with a shrug. I hugged everyone again before a limo pulled up.

"Guess who I found waiting for a cab. Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous," scoffed an all-too-familiar voice. Chloe Bourgeois.

I had only not seen her for a month or two and I could barely recognise her. She had cut her hair to jaw length and wore a blue knee-length dress. She wasn't wearing yellow anymore. As she came out, so did Max. He looked all the same except he was a little taller than I remembered.

"Chloe! Max!" I cried, almost choking when I said Chloe. They came into the park and Max wrapped me in a hug.
"There was a 23.2% chance that I saw this coming," he informed me as he took a seat next to Kim. Chloe and I exchanged looks before her facial expression relaxed.

"So, I hear you're Ladybug," she said, folding her arms.
"And I see you're no longer wearing yellow," I said. She gave me a smile.
"Marinette, you have helped me in so many ways and I belittled you in your clumsiness as Marinette. For that, I am sorry. And I am here to help," she explained softly.

I wrapped her in a hug. She stiffened but then relaxed and hugged me back.
"All is forgiven," I whispered. She took a seat next to Adrien and we all began to dig in.

"You're all eating without me?" yelled a voice. It had been about 15 minutes since Chloe and Max arrived. When we looked up, Alix roller skated her way down to us all and dropped her backpack.
"Hey Marinette," she said with a smile.
"Alix!" I cried happily. She took a seat next to me and I hugged her. "Thank you for coming."

About 10 minutes later, a car pulled up and Nathaniel came out with Marc.
"Oh my god! Nathaniel! And Marc. I didn't know you were coming!" I cried, running up to them and wrapping my arms around them both.
"Anything for you Marinette," said Nathaniel as they both hugged me back.

Nathaniel saw the others (who had still had their bags with them) and pointed to his car. Everyone immediately placed their luggage in his car and thanked him before taking their seats back at the picnic.

We all began to talk about what we had gotten up to over the summer when a familiar voice caught our attention.
"Picnics in the park are banned and you know that." We all looked up in confusion and saw Sabrina smiling down at us.
"Wow Sabrina. You got brave," commented Alya.
"Yeah. Last time I remember you were still a shy mouse who would never be able to point out when someone was breaking the rules," said Alix with a smirk.
"Is this seat taken?" asked Sabrina, pointing to a spot next to Chloe. Chloe gave her a friendly smile before shaking her head.

"Thank you guys for coming. You really didn't have to," I said with a shy smile.
"Marinette, you are Ladybug," said Chloe, before taking a bite out of a sandwich.
"You have saved Paris countless times," added Kim.
"And not only that, but as Marinette, well," said Rose.
"You have helped us resolve our issues," said Juleka.
"You were our everyday Ladybug," said Max.
"And because of this, we love you," said Alya.
"And if we have to put everything on hold because Miss Lies has a bone to pick with you," started Mylene.
"Then we would gladly do it," said Ivan.
"Cause we know you would drop everything to make us happy," said Nathaniel.
"So don't ever let yourself be sad because of this," said Adrien.
"Because we're not sad to help you," said Nino.
"Did you rehearse this or something?" I asked with a questioning look.

Everyone burst out laughing as we finished our picnic.