{———}
The next day, Marinette grabbed control on herself. She decided she was not going to focus on what happened. Dwelling on past things was unhealthy, she needed to move on with her life. She would not— could not worry about any of her past problems.
However, one problem that was not in the past was making Marinette pace around her room.
"Tikki!" She nudged the kwami persistently.
"Hmm?" Tikki rolled to the side, obviously not understanding.
"Tikki!" Marinette said closer to her ear.
The kwami didn't respond, just layed on her mini-bed never the wiser, not stirring a bit in her deep slumber.
Marinette pulled her lips into a tight line, she was getting slightly frustrated, as she actually was worried about something important.
"Akuma!" She half-shouted.
The little bug's eyelids flew open, she sat up immediately, the word automatically putting her in defense mode.
"What? Marinette, you need to transform!" Tikki shouted.
She looked around, before slumping her shoulders and closing her eyes with a sigh.
"There is no akuma, because we are in Gotham." She explained to herself.
"But we still have a problem nonetheless," Marinette said, getting back on her bed.
"How will we get to Paris if there is an akuma?" Marinette's eyes were filled with worry as she looked at Tikki.
Tikki put her hand to her chin, thinking intensely.
"Well, I suppose we could have Chloé teleport here with Kaalki, but that plan would involve you revealing your Ladybug. Which could cause some problems....."
Marinette's whole face brightened at the thought of having the Horse Miraculous. She could go home!
"But you would only be able to use it for saving Paris, not going home."
Marinette's hope disappeared. Tikki's reasoning made sense, she just wished in this case it didn't.
She wasn't sure if she was ready to tell Chloé her identity, but she knew if she told Chloé , then she would also tell Adrien.
But was she ready for that?
"Tikki, if I tell Chloé I'm going to tell Adrien as well, but do you think this is the proper time to tell them?"
Tikki looked at her for a long time before finally nodding. "It would be best. As for you telling Adrien, I think that is fine. But they will need to be careful to not get akumatized."
They were older now, no longer young children terrified of Akumas'—no, now they were teenagers frightened by Hawkmoth's presence alone.
But maybe this could bring them together.
She nodded at Tikki, then thought about which way she wanted to tell them.
She pulled out her phone and facetimed Chloé and Adrien at the same time.
"Yello, Mari! How are you?" Chloe said, instantly answering the phone.
"Hello fellow people with brain cells, what can I do to help you today?" Adrien joked.
"Hey guys, I'm fine. But I have something I need to tell you," She paused.
She knew it would be best to get it over with, just making it plain and simple.
"Tikki, spots on!" A pink light enveloped her.
She heard an intake of breath and a gasp.
When she opened her eyes, she saw Chloe had her mouth open, while Adrien's eyes were barely staying in his head.
"Hey! You're Ladybug!!" Chloe said in amazement.
"I can't believe it!" Adrien said.
"Queen, I need you to teleport to Gotham, my apartment specifically. Bring Adrien with you."
Chloe nodded, while Adrien's face paled.
She then ended the call, waiting patiently for them to arrive.
She was confused when Chloe entered her room with Cat Noir behind her.
"Chloe, did you tell him?" She said, bewildered.
Chloe winked at her.
"Nope, you did. We were literally just on the phone with him."
Marinette froze for a second, before she finally smiled, amusement filling her eyes.
"You always seem to know how to put on a good show, Adrien," Marinette said, slight disbelief in her voice.
Marinette watched as Cat Noir broke out into laughter. Soon he was literally on the floor banging his fist on the ground laughing like a mad-man.
"Y-Your face!" He said between spurts of horrible contained laughter.
Marinette tried to look annoyed. But soon she was snorting.
Chloe looked annoyed but soon she smiled a huge ear-to-ear grin.
Abruptly, Cat—Adrien stopped laughing. "But what about that one time? You were MultiMouse."
"I suppose you could say a little illusion covered that up." She replied cheekily.
Adrien gasped in realization, then smirked.
"I should've known." He said, shaking his head in amusement.
Then he looked at Chloe.
"And you! Of course, your name is still royalty!"
Chloe smirked. "Of course!"
That reminded Marinette.
"Spots off," She was once again enveloped in a pink light, but this time Tikki popped out of her earrings.
"Claws in."
"Dismount."
Chloe handed Marinette the Horse Miraculous.
"I assume you might want this."
"Thank you. I was thinking, since it might take me a little longer than usual to get to the Akuma, we may need some more help. So I am going to give you another Miraculous," She explained to the two of them.
Marinette put the Horse Miraculous on.
"Here, are cookies fine?" She asked the Horse Kwami.
"They will do, though I normally prefer sugar cubes," Kaalki said, grabbing a cookie and quickly munching on it.
"Ready?" Marinette asked after the Kwami was done.
She nodded.
"Kaalki, full gallop!" Marinette said.
She watched as an outfit formed.
She walked to a corner in the room.
"Voyage!" She whispered.
She watched with satisfaction as a circle opening to her bedroom appeared.
She walked in and quickly grabbed the miracle box, then came back through the portal.
She detransformed right after it closed.
She put the Miracle box on the bed and opened the drawers. She grabbed the Bee Miraculous, then looked at Chloe.
"I, Ladybug, am bestowing the Bee Miraculous for you to use to accompany Cat Noir and me in getting rid of Akumas. Can I trust you to permanently wield a Miraculous?"
{———}
E X T R A F L U F F
"Hand it over!" Tikki said, putting her hand in front of him.
"No fair! Your chosen is the Guardian! The Guardian! How was I supposed to win this bet!" Plagg exclaimed in outrage.
Tikki got really close to him.
"How I won when your chosen was Guardian," She replied.
"My kittens aren't near as open with their feelings! How did you even find out when he decided to reveal each other's identities?"
"My secret!" Tikki replied cheekily."Now, hand it over!"
He reluctantly handed over the small camera.
"No one finds out what audio is on there alright?" Plagg whispered.
"We'll see.." Tikki said smiling.
But the smile held mischief behind it.
}———{