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Beau and the Beetle	By : Cat_Eyes Category: +M through R > Miraculous LadyBug Views: 3721 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug. Miraculous Ladybug is the intellectual property of Thomas Astruc and released by Zag studios. No profit was made writing this story.

Chapter List
- 1-Prologue: Alya
- 2-Adrien
- 3-Felix
- 4-Bridgette
- 5-Adrien
- 6-Sabine
- 7-Bridgette
- 8-Alya
- 9-Adrien
- 10-Felix
- 11-Sabine
- 12-Bridgette
- 13-Alya
- 14-Felix
- 15-Adrien
- 16-Alya
- 17-Felix
- 18-Bridgette
- 19-Adrien
- 20-Sabine
- 21-Felix
- 22-Alya
- 23-Bridgette
- 24-Adrien
- 25-Sabine
- 26-Adrien
- 27-Felix
- 28-Alya
- 29-Bridgette
- 30-Adrien
- 31-Sabine
- 32-Bridgette
- 33-Felix
- 34-Alya
- 35-Adrien
- 36-Felix
- 37-Sabine
- 38-Bridgette
- 39-Adrien
- 40-Felix
- 41-Adrien
- 42-Felix
- 43-Adrien
- 44-Adrien
- 45-Adrien
- 46-Epilogue
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Marinette's feet were too soft to withstand walking on the rough stone, so Adrien carried her to the open grate, then set her down, and climbed out so he could help her up from above. Then, he carried her to the station platform, where they were met by Felix and Gorilla.
Marinette hid behind him as they approached, peering nervously over his shoulder.
Felix looked like he had aged ten years. ‘Adrien, what is this?’ he asked, without preamble, gesturing with a limp hand at Marinette.
Adrien’s face hardened. ‘This is Marinette, and you both owe her an apology.’
Felix’s eyes widened, and Gorilla’s mouth dropped open in surprise.
‘But I thought,’ Felix stammered, looking between them helplessly.
‘We don’t know what happened, but the curse broke. Now apologise, both of you.’
Felix swallowed, before straightening up to address Marinette directly.
‘I am deeply sorry for the pain and suffering I have caused you. I should have checked, discerned for myself why you looked the way you did, and if I had thought to run a thorough check, all of this could have been avoided. I regret my course of action most acutely. It was brutish, cruel, and unfounded. I apologise, mademoiselle Marinette.’
A rumble bubbled up Gorilla’s body, culminating in a gruff ‘sorry, Miss.’
Adrien raised his eyebrows, unimpressed by the use of actual words. Gorilla turned away, appropriately shame faced.
Marinette nodded an acknowledgement, but didn’t speak. She was shifting uncomfortably behind him, and it was then Adrien noticed the commuters staring at them.
‘Let’s get you home,’ he murmured, shielding her from view with his body.
They exited the Metro, leaving Felix and Gorilla behind.
They both blinked in the sunlight, Marinette covering her sensitive eyes with her arm. After spending so long in the dark, Adrien theorised natural light was now too bright for comfort, so he guided her across the road, back toward the bakery. In the shade of the building, Marinette lowered her arm, to look up at the façade with trepidation. Then, she led him around to the far side of the building, and inside through a rear door. She sighed when they were in the cool interior.
‘Are you ok?’ he asked. ‘Did the light hurt your eyes?’
She hummed an affirmative, then cast a worried look toward the door to the bakery. ‘I'm just not sure what to say to them.’
Adrien swallowed the bile rising up his throat. ‘Go on up to your apartment. I’ll tell your folks to meet you there.’
Pale and sweaty, Marinette nodded. She let go of him to grab the bannister, quickly relearning how to manage stairs with only two legs.
Once she was near the top, Adrien turned toward the bakery door, his towering fury returning.
He shoved his way through, marched to the shop door, and flipped the deadbolts.
‘What do you think you’re doing?’ Sabine demanded, her voice shrill with outrage.
Slowly, Adrien turned to face her. Tom and Bridgette stuck their heads out of the kitchen, staring at him in wary confusion.
‘Upstairs, all of you. Now.’
‘Listen here, young man,’ Tom began, striding toward him purposefully.
Adrien set his shoulders back, facing Tom down. ‘I know what you did. It’s past time you explained why you left your daughter to die.’
Bridgette gasped, her hands covering her mouth, as she looked at Sabine. ‘What’s he talking about?’
Sabine returned his glare. ‘Let’s take this upstairs.’
Tom led the way, Sabine followed, then Adrien indicated Bridgette precede him. She scurried in front of him, desperate for the security provided by family, but caught by Adrien’s accusation, stayed her hand even as it reached for Sabine’s blouse.
They entered the apartment, but Tom stopped just beyond the threshold, preventing the others from entering, and blocking their view. Adrien cleared his throat obnoxiously, while Sabine prodded him gently in the back. Tom stepped forward automatically, his eyes still locked on something near the kitchen counter.
Adrien nimbly hopped over the back of the couch impatiently, then moved to stand beside Marinette. She was staring back at Tom, her eyes wide and wet. Then Sabine manoeuvred around her husband, before stopping and standing, still as any statue, as her eyes met Marinette’s.
Bridgette followed Adrien’s example, stumbling as she landed, her foot snagging on a cushion. When she looked up, she screamed, before throwing herself at Marinette enveloping her in a tight embrace.
‘I knew you would come back,’ she cried, tears running down her cheeks. ‘I knew we shouldn’t give up.’
Marinette returned the hug, but her movements were stilted, as if she didn’t know how to process this turn of events. Adrien supposed she didn’t.
Bridgette turned back to Tom and Sabine, a jubilant smile lighting up her face.
‘Look, Marinette’s come home. Isn’t this great?’ Slowly, her smile slipped. ‘Aunt Sabine, Uncle Tom, why aren’t you excited?’
‘Isn’t that the answer we’re all just dying to hear?’ Adrien added, emphatically.
Sabine cleared her throat. As she told everyone the whole, sordid tale, Bridgette’s expression morphed into one of abject horror. She let go of Marinette to stare at her elders with wide, disbelieving eyes.
Marinette looked like she was ready to collapse when Sabine revealed her plans to let her daughter slowly starve to death, so Adrien placed a steadying hand on her arm. She held on to him with a white knuckled grip, as she regarded her parents as if she had no idea who they were.
‘Honey, please say something,’ Sabine begged after she had finished. She watched Marinette imploringly, her hands outstretched. ‘We were only doing what we thought was right. We didn’t want you to suffer anymore.’
Marinette's eyes hardened. ‘You abandoned me. You left me to die, then you turned around and replaced me.’
‘No, Sweetheart,’ Tom tried. ‘We could never replace you.’
‘Then how do you explain this?’ Marinette pointed at Bridgette with a shaking finger. ‘I know you redecorated my room, and enrolled her in my class. You gave her my life.’
‘No,’ Bridgette objected. ‘I only came to help out. We decided together to enrol me in school so I wouldn’t fail. I’d already been here for weeks by that point.’
Marinette’s face closed down. ‘So, it was only a matter of weeks for you to find a suitable replacement. Well, I know where I stand here.’
‘It’s not like that at all,’ Sabine told her, strenuously. ‘Of course, we want you to come home. We still have your clothes, packed safely away for you.’
‘I think,’ Adrien cut in, ‘that Marinette just needs some time to come to terms with this. Fetch her things. We’re leaving.’
It was galling, having to present even a modicum of civility to her parents. But they agreed, and Tom retrieved her clothes from where he had stored them.
‘Where will you go?’ Sabine asked, as Adrien hefted one of the large boxes.
‘We’ll let you know.’ He waited while Marinette dug out undergarments and a pair of pants, then ducked into the bathroom to properly clothe herself.
When she returned, she picked up the other box, and followed Adrien outside. Her family remained in the apartment, sobbing, Bridgette’s accusing wails fading into silence as they emerged on the street.
‘You can stay with me for now, if you want.’ Adrien felt it was only right to offer. ‘I’m sure we can send Felix to military school in America, or something.’
Marinette didn’t even give him the ghost of a smile. She simply nodded once, then waited for him to take the lead.
They walked though his front door, to be met with Gabriel's cool regard.
‘What’s going on?’
Adrien matched his stare, unflinching. ‘This is Marinette. She’s going to stay with us for a while.’
‘I don’t recall giving you my approval.’
‘I’m not asking for it.’
Adrien marched past him, Marinette following like a lost shadow. He showed her to a guest room, pointing out the en suite and closets, then left her to settle in. He didn’t want to leave her alone, but thought she would appreciate the space, if only so she could come to terms with her mother's revelation in peace.
He would have waited for her in his own room, but Gabriel sent Nathalie with a summons. As he headed to his father’s office, he met Felix in the foyer, Gorilla close behind.
‘You two may as well join me.’ Adrien barely spared them another glance as he led the way into Gabriel's office.
He slumped into a guest chair, waiting for Gabriel to begin with an almost petulant air.
‘I did not give you permission to invite a guest for an extended stay, Adrien.’
Felix’s head whipped around to stare at him, his mouth agape. Gorilla gulped, taking a step back, as if preparing to flee.
‘Unfortunately, Father, we owe it to her,’ Adrien replied, with a meaningful look at Felix.
Gabriel turned to Felix, one brow raised.
Felix cleared his throat. ‘In my defence, she wasn’t human at the time.’
Gabriel's other brow rose to meet its brother by his hairline. ‘Explain.’
So, he did, revealing Adrien’s repeated trips beyond estate grounds, and whom he was meeting. He then justified the attempted murder by describing Marinette's cursed form. That was when Adrien took over the narrative, explaining Marinette’s predicament and her familial betrayal.
‘So, rather than let her stay with them, I offered her a place here, until she could think of an alternative, or we make arrangements for her.’ He concluded his recitation by folding his arms, and releasing a weary sigh.
Gabriel sat back, struggling to absorb the details. After a long moment of internal deliberation, he cleared his throat. ‘Very well, she may stay, if she is comfortable being in the same house as the men who tried to kill her.’
‘I’ll let her know,’ Adrien replied, suppressing a relieved sigh.
As Gabriel turned to Felix and Gorilla, outlining how they were to behave from now on, Adrien took his leave. It was too soon to check on Marinette, and he had no idea how to inform his friends, so he headed back outside to fetch the foodstuffs and equipment they lad left behind in Marinette's former chamber.
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