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Boulangérella: A Miraculous Fairy Tale AU - Chapter Twenty-Six

Table of Contents Read on Ao3 Prologue

The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes were the white flowers beside her bed, bound in red thread. She brushed her fingers along the pale petals before she quite understood what she was looking at.

And when she did realize what they were, she knew, suddenly, who had left them.

Marinette sat up and looked wildly around her room, as if she might find him still lounging in the corner, but her only company was the late morning sunlight streaming through her window. She could not remember ever sleeping so late in her life.

As she threw on a dress over her shift, her panic pressed out the self-doubt of last night. She didn’t have time to be concerned with a year of failing to catch Hawk Moth and a night of being unable to help her friends when she had no idea what time it was, where she was supposed to be, and how much of her day she had missed.

Tikki had been right: things did look different after a good night’s sleep. But the difference was that she just had other, more pressing things to be worried about.

Marinette crashed into the kitchen quite literally, but the shelves were used to her and only wobbled slightly. They coated her in a dusting of flour for her trouble. The pain itself did not last, either, but her panic only increased as she realized that the bustle of the kitchen had already waned. Her parents were tying ribbons on the last of the delivery boxes for the palace and Alya and Nino were lounging against the shop counter, resting after the morning’s hard work.

“There’s Sleeping Beauty,” Alya laughed. “We were just saying we might have to send for one of the princes to wake you.”

Marinette’s cheeks burned, and she did not dare mention that there had already been a young man in her room. She wondered once again if her thief might be a prince, but she could not reason how or why. It had to be a coincidence that he and the two princes all sported matching injuries. “What time is it? What have I missed?”

“It’s just before lunch,” Sabine said. “You must be hungry. You didn’t even eat when you came home last night.”

Her father piled a tray high with biscuits and cookies and winter fruits, not unlike the tray she had put together for Chat Noir just two nights ago and carried it to a table near the door.

“Sit and eat before you go.”

Marinette shook her head. “Papa, I can’t. I have to get to Master Fu’s and fit the princes and—”

Marinette was cut off by the sound of a carriage and heavy boots outside the shop door. Alya and Nino’s lazy leans shifted into stiff shoulders and hard glares. A tension built up in their spines unlike any Marinette had known from them before. She supposed she couldn’t blame them after what King Gabriel had done to them yesterday, but there was no reason to think that the Crown had any further interest in them nor any further interest in this shop.

As four soldiers dressed in the white and red uniforms of the palace pushed their way inside, Marinette wondered if someone had perhaps seen a thief entering her room to leave flowers. Or, perhaps there was more to Nino and Alya’s grim expressions. Perhaps her thief had left more than one gift behind last night.

Anxiety pooled in Marinette’s gut. She had planned to discuss Trixx’s capture with Chat Noir and make a plan to get Trixx back, but she had never thought that he might run off and rob the palace on his own. Then again, he had never consulted her about Volpina, either.

But as the castle soldiers flanked either side of the door, it was not a captain nor officer with arrest papers in hand who entered next. It was Duchess Amelie Graham de Vanily who swept in, dressed in a black gown decorated with white pearls. Her sleeves were edged with silver-white vines, trailing from shoulder to wrist along the outside seam, where ribbons fastened the sleeves closed. She smiled pleasantly at the group, and her dark green eyes even lit up when she saw Alya and Nino behind the counter.

Alya resisted the urge to press her hand to her chest, resisted the instinct to shield Trixx from whatever was about to happen. Nino had warned her that continuing to wear the pendant would put her in danger, but she could not bear the thought of leaving Trixx alone and unprotected. A part of her began to regret her decision not to return Trixx to the Forest of Fay.

Last night, after Tikki had left her and Nino, Alya had done as she had promised. She had let Trixx go.

But Trixx had perched on her shoulder. “Technically, I owe you.”

Alya had shaken her head. “You don’t owe me anything. I didn’t rescue you for a favor.”

“Yeah, but even before that, I promised you another turn with the magic of illusion in exchange for head scritches. I never made good on that promise.”

“But I promised Tikki that I would return you to the Forest of Fay.”

The trickster had wrinkled his small, snout-like nose. “Did you tell her when?”

“Aren’t fay really concerned with manners and things?” Nino had asked. “I don’t think we should anger the Fay of Creation.”

“But bargains are the my thing,” Trixx had replied. “If Tikki wasn’t specific, that’s on her. She should know better.”

Alya, flattered as she was by Trixx’s loyalty, knew that she would never be able to become Rena Rouge again anymore than she could become Scarabella again. King Gabriel must already be calling for Scarabella’s head; if he knew that Alya had become Rena Rouge once again, she imagined she’d quick become his target.

But if Trixx truly wanted to stay with her, she would let him. Even if she never got a turn at the magic of illusion again, that was all right by her. All she wanted was to be certain that Trixx did not feel trapped again.

Now, standing before the duchess, she worried that his freedom was not going to last much longer, and neither was hers, especially not after the wanted posters that had appeared last night.

The duchess, however, did not look anything like King Gabriel had yesterday when he had questioned her and Nino. There was no hard line set in her jaw, no coldness in her eyes. In fact, her smile looked warm and inviting, which startled Alya.

Sabine Cheng curtsied first, and the others followed suit suddenly, as if they had all forgotten their manners in the shock of the Duchess’s arrival, and only Sabine reminded them of their decorum.

“Your Grace,” Sabine said, “it is an honor to have you here. Is everything all right? We were only just preparing to take the last delivery up to the palace.”

“Everything is well, Madame Cheng,” the duchess smiled. “In fact, if you would like to give your delivery to my soldiers, they’ll see it safely to the palace.”

“We appreciate the assistance,” Tom Dupain said with another bow, but he exchanged a worried glance with Sabine.

“You didn’t come all this way to pick up desserts, though, did you?” Alya asked.

Nino tightened a hand on Alya’s wrist. He may have promised to try and be better about understanding her reckless drive, but he still thought it unwise to speak to a duchess in that tone. He prepared to grab Alya and run if the duchess ordered the guards to search Alya.

The duchess, however, was unperturbed and gave no such order. “I came to extend an invitation and an apology.”

Nino and Alya’s eyes met. Suspicion lingered in their expressions and worry creased their brows.

“The palace’s decisions yestereve,” the duchess continued, “were of a manner unbecoming to that of our station. We are, all of us, regardless of position, subject to the whims of the villain Hawk Moth, and it would be remiss to claim that what happened to Mademoiselle Césaire was in any way her fault. I would like to personally invite Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng, Mademoiselle Césaire, and Monsieur Lahiffe to attend my son’s birthday celebration this evening as my guests.”

None of them moved. Nino’s hand tightened on Alya’s wrist and she shifted a bit closer to him, as if she was just as likely to step between him and the soldiers as he was to protect her.

“It is a high honor,” Tom finally said. His gaze flicked over the tension in Nino and Alya’s shoulders and, despite his and Sabine’s original decision to allow the two to take the evening off and enjoy themselves, he said, “I’m afraid the bakery cannot spare these two this evening. We have a lot of work to be done in the wake of the ball.”

Sabine cleared her throat uncertainly. Direct invitations from royalty were not something lightly turned down. She would do anything she could to spare Nino and Alya further indignity—for everyone had heard what had happened to the two yesterday afternoon—but she was afraid that by denying the duchess’s invitation, they may be putting Nino and Alya in the path of worse harm.

Duchess Amelie pursed her lips, but the warmth in her dark green eyes was unchanged. “I suppose after my brother’s decisions, I cannot blame you for being wary. I shall entertain you at your pleasure. But it would be a great honor to have all three of you in attendance.”

“Respectfully, Your Grace,” Nino said, careful to keep his tone as unchallenging as possible, “Alya and I aren’t even a part of the ball’s celebrations, are we? If the invitations went out to eligible brides for the princes, I don’t see how we ought to attend at all.”

The duchess’s eyes flicked over Monsieur Lahiffe and Mademoiselle Césaire’s tense shoulders and the way they practically leaned against one another. Then she looked behind them, to the shelves of flour where Mademoiselle Dupain-Chang still stood, frozen in half of a curtsy as she stared at the duchess.

She had been unsure what to expect of the girl her nephew might be in love with. She only knew the seamstress through the notes and designs she had sent to the palace as she put together Félix’s outfits for the ball. Amelie had found her talented and capable, but that did not necessarily speak to her character. She certainly had not been prepared to see the girl in a wrinkled chemise and a poorly tied dress, all covered in flour. It was not what she had come to expect from the very professional seamstress.

But all of that could be cleaned up. If anything, Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng had shown the most courtesy so far by being silent and letting the duchess speak without challenge.

“You are correct, Monsieur Lahiffe, that neither you nor Mademoiselle Césaire are eligible brides for my son or my nephew, however I was given reason to believe that a certain eligible bride would only attend if the two of you were in attendance.”

All eyes cut to Marinette and her cheeks burned hot suddenly. The implication hung in the bakery, heavy as the scent of freshly baked bread. One of the princes wanted Marinette at the ball desperately enough that the Duchess was willing to come across the city to invite her in person and to invite two persons that King Gabriel had explicitly banished from the palace.

Marinette could not stammer out so much as a “thank you.”

The wariness in Alya’s eyes flickered with mischief. “Well, we certainly couldn’t let Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng attend alone.”

“It’s settled then,” the Duchess said. “I’ve already alerted my staff that you’ll be returning to the palace with me, and they will assist you in getting ready for this evening. I’ve prepared everything for you.”

“W-wait—” Marinette finally managed. “I can’t—I have to—the princes—the dress—their suits—my Master still—I couldn’t—”

“I think what my daughter means to say,” Sabine interrupted, “is that she still needs to visit Master Fu’s shop to pick up the outfits for the princes for this evening.”

Marinette nodded.

“Of course,” Duchess Amelie smiled. “I’ll have two of my soldiers escort you, and they’ll bring you right to me when you’re finished. Monsieur Lahiffe and Mademoiselle Césaire can join me now.”

And she swept out of the bakery without another word, leaving only her soldiers behind to ensure that her commands were followed.

Tom put a protective hand on Marinette’s shoulder and said, low enough to avoid the ears of the soldiers at the door, “You don’t have to go if you don’t want to.”

But that was the trouble. Marinette did want to go. Last night, Chat Noir had tried to come and see her, but she’d been too exhausted to see him. And if his deadline was as he had promised, that at the end of the ball he would be giving up his miraculous gift, what other choice did she have?

Nino whispered to Alya, “Are you sure about this?” He glanced at her chest, where he imagined the necklace was hidden. When Alya had put it on this morning, the orange topaz pendant had turned into a simple gold loop, masking its magic in a look painfully reminiscent of the rings he and Alya had lost yesterday.

“We can’t let Marinette go alone. Going with the Duchess might even give us some protection.”

“And if it’s a trap?” Nino and Alya both had seen the wanted posters for Scarabella on their way to the bakery this morning. There was no way King Gabriel could know that Alya was the one who had stolen the pendant from him, but surely she would be the first person he ought to interrogate.

“I have at least one last turn at Trixx’s magic,” she whispered, “and I won’t hesitate to use it this time.”

Nino didn’t like any of this, but he had promised Alya that he would allow her to make her own choices. It was all he could do to try to protect her from some of the consequences.

He glanced from Alya to Marinette and saw the same resolve in her eyes as well.

“Then we go together,” he said, and slid his hand from Alya’s wrist so they were palm to palm, fingers interlaced, and he squeezed. She squeezed back.

“You still haven’t eaten, Marinette,” Sabine said worriedly as Tom began to hand the boxes of sweets and breads to the soldiers.

Marinette stuffed her purse and sewing apron pockets with food from the tray her father had put together. “I’ll eat and walk, Maman,” she promised.

Her parents exchanged a worried look, but had little else to add. Tom kissed her forehead and said, “Be safe.”

Sabine gave her a hug and said, “Could you be home by midnight tonight?”

Marinette promised that she would try.

The duchess ushered Alya and Nino into her carriage and told Marinette to come and see her as soon as she had finished fitting the princes.

The carriage was not the same as the brilliant white and gold carriage that Prince Adrien had arrived in to have his measurements taken at Master Fu’s shop a month ago. This one was plainer, with a circle of silver-white vines twisting around the carriage windows. As the duchess drew the shades to keep out the harsh glare of the winter sun, Marinette saw the vine-like crest of the Graham de Vanily family. She wondered if it was for better or worse that the duchess had come in her own rank as a duchess, and not as sister to the king.

Two of the guards escorted Marinette on her journey to Master Fu’s shop. Both were tall, though one was lanky with a loping gait, and the other thick with heavy steps. Despite their stiff uniforms, they smiled easily and the lanky one chatted freely. The other one reminded Marinette fondly of Juleka as he mumbled through his end of the conversation.

Out of habit, Marinette’s eyes drifted to the town square noticeboard as they passed it. She was used to checking for news of Chat Noir’s thievery or updates about Hawk Moth’s monsters. She was used to seeing Chat Noir’s wanted poster, but she wasn’t used to see Ladybug’s face next to it nor the label “TREASON” beneath each of their portraits.

She also did not recognize the face of the third wanted poster, but she knew what the black spots on the girl’s scarf and mask indicated. Instinctively, her hands went to her earrings, which were firmly in place. Had someone borrowed Ladybug’s notoriety to commit a crime?

“Did… Ladybug do something yesterday?” Marinette asked carefully as she approached the notice board.

“I wasn’t on duty last night,” the thinner one said, “but I heard that the girl that took down Hawk Moth’s curse last night also helped Chat Noir steal from the king. The crown wants Ladybug to answer for it, too.”

The other guard mumbled, “My wife says it’s just a conspiracy from the King, that he can’t stand someone else having power that he doesn’t.”

Marinette glanced through the notice about Hawk Moth’s latest curse: an unidentified young man who was able to bubble numerous people in the city and several palace guards. Some guards reported that the woman who defeated him was not Ladybug, but had used similar magic to restore the damage that Hawk Moth’s curse had done.

All this time Chat Noir had been telling her to find a new partner, and it sounded like he had somehow found one for himself.

Marinette nibbled on a cookie as she walked, half-listening to her talkative guard gush excitedly about the ball that evening and asking his fellow guard if he thought that Mademoiselle Chloé Bourgeois would dance with him. She didn’t think it was possible for another fay to have similar powers to Tikki, but she could ask Tikki while she was gathering the princes’ clothes. She was more nervous about seeing her face on a wanted poster. She had done nothing but help the people of the city and protected them from Hawk Moth. Apparently King Gabriel didn’t appreciate that as much as his people did.

She turned over her conversation with the king from last night. He’d told Ladybug that he didn’t want her in his city any more than he wanted Hawk Moth. She supposed she shouldn’t be surprised to see her face on a wanted poster. Suddenly, Chat Noir quitting didn’t seem like so terrible an idea. She might even quit being Ladybug if King Gabriel came after her.

Maybe If their time as heroes was coming to an end, she should just tell him who she was. Maybe she could make him stay.

And maybe, if he really was a prince, he’d ask her to stay, too.

Her feet felt heavy as she climbed the steps to Master Fu’s shop. “I’ll be out shortly,” she promised her guards.

Given the late hour, she half-expected Master Fu to have gone to the palace himself, but he was still in his shop, seated at the low table in the foyer with a steaming pot of tea ready and an empty cup set for a guest.

The creases in the corners of his eyes deepened as he smiled at Marinette. “You have been late before, but not quite like this.”

“I’m sorry, Master Fu. I didn’t mean to oversleep. I can grab the princes’ things and be on my way.”

“Please, join me,” he said, as if there was nothing more pressing than an early afternoon tea.

“But the ball—”

“There is time for tea.”

Reluctantly, Marinette took a seat at the table. She noticed a stack of papers at her master’s elbow, not unlike the stack from a month ago, when they had sat at this very table and he had given her all his notes on the Graham de Vanily twins and their dresses. Her commencement project for her apprenticeship had come to an end.

Her apprenticeship had come to an end.

Marinette gasped and her eyes darted to the seal on the end of one of the pieces of parchment at Master Fu’s elbow. She had not seen the seal since she was thirteen, since she had first signed her apprenticeship contract.

The smile on Master Fu’s face widened ever so slightly. “So you have realized what today is?”

“I didn’t think… It never occurred to me…”

“You never noticed that the princes’ birthdays fell on the last day of the year? It never occurred to you that your commencement assignment was in fact the last work you would do as an apprentice?”

Marinette had never had a head for dates. Deadlines, yes, because she was constantly aware of when things had to be done. But dates that recurred, cycles and anniversaries, were difficult to remember. She knew, of course, that the longest night of the year was the last night of the year. But it hadn’t occurred to her yet that the last night of the year was tonight.

“Your apprenticeship ends today.” Master Fu pulled the contract from the stack of papers and laid it in front of her. “Tomorrow morning, you will officially be a journeyman.”

Marinette blinked slowly, unsure how to process this information. She wanted to be excited. She had waited for this moment for so long. She had worked so hard to get to this point. Why wasn’t she happier?

Master Fu also pulled five folded letters from the stack of paper and set them down on top of the contract. Each was sealed in wax, marked with a circular crest Marinette did not recognize, and addressed in five different languages.

“There is much to discuss at the end of your apprenticeship,” Master Fu said. “And perhaps if the end had not come timed with a royal ball, we may have had this conversation much sooner. And perhaps if this past year had not been plagued by Hawk Moth, we would have discussed much more.”

Marinette’s brow furrowed, unsure what Hawk Moth had to do with her apprenticeship, and Master Fu struggled to find the words to explain to Marinette all that he had to tell her.

When Master Fu had finished his apprenticeship, he had traveled the world before settling in the City of Bright Lights. He’d studied under masters in a dozen countries—but he had not only studied tailoring and dressmaking. He had studied magic, too. He had meant to share that knowledge with Marinette as her apprenticeship waned, but Hawk Moth had changed things. Ladybug had changed things.

“You do not have to choose where you will begin your studies as a journeyman right away,” Master Fu said. “But I saw the wanted posters that appeared last night and thought you might like to know all of your options.”

Marinette tore her eyes from the letters and blinked at Master Fu. “What do the wanted posters have to do with me?”

Master Fu had expected it would be hard to get his apprentice to share the truth with him after a year of secrets, but with King Gabriel’s latest proclamation, and her apprenticeship coming to its end, their only hope was to help each other as fully as they could.

“I had planned to bring this up with you a year ago, Marinette, and perhaps I should have. Perhaps we would not be so pressed for time as we are now if I had been more forward last year.”

Marinette’s brow furrowed. “‘More forward’?”

“When I was about your age, I, too, was finishing up an apprenticeship. My master presented me with my journeyman papers, my letters of recommendation to other masters, and this bracelet.”

Master Fu unclasped the small jade bracelet that he had worn for as long as Marinette had known him. But when he set it on the table it transformed into a brilliant cuff of solid green stone, smoothly polished, with thin cuts crisscrossing the band like plated armor.

“A fay gift?” Marinette asked, not even pausing to wonder if letting on that she had knowledge of such gifts and their glamor revealed too much.

A small green creature poked its head out from the collar of Master Fu’s tunic. Its bright yellow eyes were wide and nervous, but it floated forward and bowed to her, displaying its turtle-shell-like body.

“This is Wayzz,” said Master Fu, “the Fay of Protection.”

“It is a pleasure,” Wayzz said. “I have heard much about you, Marinette.”

Marinette looked up from Wayzz to Master Fu. “All this time? You’ve had a miraculous gift since… since you finished your apprenticeship?”

“I have been its keeper and bondsman since I was about your age, when my master presented it to me upon completion of my apprenticeship. Together, Wayzz and I have carried on the work of my master and his master before him. We have fought to ensure that the fay creatures of the world are protected from the greed and control of humans. When I first accepted you as my apprentice all those years ago, Marinette, I had expectations that you would one day be able to succeed me in this role, if you were willing.”

Marinette searched for her words and found them buried deep beneath her shock and anxiety. Her voice was thin as she asked, “Why are you telling me this now?”

Master Fu stroked his chin and considered his answer for a moment. “I was preparing to teach you the secrets of the fay and the magic that my master had passed to me. The seventh year of your apprenticeship, when I was confident that you were capable and trustworthy of such knowledge, seemed the opportune time to begin your instruction. However, the Fay of Time and Evolution, the fastest of the fay, arrived suddenly, and told me that a human had sacrificed another human life in exchange for a miraculous gift. Fluff also told me that this human had been in pursuit of both the Fay of Luck and Creation and the Fay of Chaos and Destruction, but Nooroo, the Fay of Transmission, had convinced this human that those fay were already bound, and the man would have to take them from their bondsmen to attain the power that he sought. In order to truly protect Tikki and Plagg, the fay would need to find bondsmen worthy of their power and capable of standing against Hawk Moth.”

Marinette’s lips went numb as she stared at her teacher who had guided her for the last seven years and replayed every flimsy excuse and terrible lie she had ever given him for being late in the mornings or having to leave suddenly or being late on a deadline.

Marinette bit down on her lip. “So when you sent me into the Forest of Fay a year ago…”

“I had hoped that your passion and creativity would be recognized. I believe I was right, was I not?”

Marinette could see no sense sense in lying any longer. Though she chewed on her lip indecisively, she unfastened the sterling silver earrings and set them on the table, watching as the glamor dissolved and they became the brilliant ruby earrings that Ladybug wore.

She opened her purse and carefully lifted Tikki from inside.

“Master Fu, meet Tikki, the Fay of Luck and Creation.”

Tikki fluttered her small red wings and looked up at Master Fu with her brilliant violet eyes. She inclined her head respectfully, as he did for her.

“It is a pleasure to see you again, Guardian,” she said.

Marinette could not help but choke on her own voice. “But—How—”

“When I chose this city as my home,” Master Fu said, “I made introductions to the Fay of the Forest. There are other places with other forms of magic, but I thought I would settle here, where creativity thrived so beautifully.”

“But why you didn’t say anything to me before?” Marinette asked in a weak voice. Why didn’t they have this conversation a year ago? Why hadn’t he been honest with her about why he had sent her into the Forest of Fay after the Queen had fallen asleep?

“I did not tell you the truth a year ago because even though I knew you would someday make a wonderful Guardian of the Fay, I did not believe that you had the same understanding of yourself. I tell you all this now because you will have to make a choice very soon. And whether you choose to be the Guardian of the Fay or not, that choice will impact both the fay and the humans of this world.”

Marinette buried her face in her hands. “I can’t believe I never knew… I should have told you…”

“Marinette, I believe you were right to keep this gift secret. We have seen what happens when someone’s identity as a bondsman becomes public knowledge in the kingdom. Imagine if King Gabriel had put up those wanted posters and rumors about Marinette had followed.”

Her throat went dry. In the wake of Master Fu’s story, she had practically forgotten about the wanted posters.

“Speaking of the wanted posters…” Marinette turned one of the ruby earrings between her fingers. “Is there another fay with magic like Tikki’s?”

“Tikki is one of a kind,” Master Fu said. He glanced down at the small fay. “If Scarabella was not a disguise that you and Tikki put together to conceal your thievery from King Gabriel, then perhaps Tikki has something she would like to tell you.”

Tikki’s small hands clung to Marinette’s finger. “I would have told you this morning,” Tikki assured her, “you just went downstairs in such a hurry!”

Marinette blinked down at her true partner and closest confidante for the last year. “I don’t understand.”

“You were so tired last night, and you’ve already risked so much. So I… I let you sleep and I made a deal with your friend Alya to rescue Trixx.”

If Marinete had been standing, her knees might have given out. Tikki had left her. Well, that wasn’t fair. Tikki had come back. If anything, Alya had borrowed Tikki from her—though surely Alya didn’t know the gift had come from Marinette.

Marinette wrinkled her nose as she tried to sort through her thoughts. She picked up one of the letters addressed to a master in one of the eastern countries, addressed in a script familiar to her from her mother’s personal notes. She had always expected to go abroad to study her craft, but she had also hoped that Hawk Moth would have been stopped by that time. She did not think she could abandon the city and these people to his curses.

“Marinette,” Master Fu said slowly, drawing her attention away from the letter, “I would like to make one thing as plain as I can. You cannot be both Guardian of the Fay and Ladybug.”

Marinette looked down at Tikki and Wayzz, as if expecting them to contradict Master Fu, but Tikki’s normally bright eyes looked so mournful. It was a heartbreak not unlike Chat Noir’s.

“Why not?”

“To take on Wayzz is a lifetime bond, much like the bond forged when a life is sacrificed. It cannot be paired with any other bond, unless the bondsman intends to go mad.”

“But why is it so much? Tikki has never asked for more than a sweet.”

Master Fu twisted the jade cuff between his fingers. “To be Guardian of the Fay is an enormous responsibility. It cannot be bought with trinkets or favors. It requires a hefty sacrifice of power and knowledge, for the power and knowledge received are great.” With a heavy sigh, he set the jade bracelet back down on the low table. “If I believed there was a right choice then I would advise you, but I believe there is only a right choice for you.”

Marinette stared at the miraculous gifts resting on the table and the fay that linked their power to them. If Ladybug was wanted for treason now, maybe disappearing was for the best. Maybe she and Chat Noir could runaway together. They could leave this city, she could continue to study as a seamstress and tailor, and Chat Noir could do whatever day job he claimed to have. She could become the guardian and leave Tikki with Alya, with Scarabella.

But running away didn’t feel right. Marinette had always taken on everything thrown at her. She had continued to help out at the bakery throughout her apprenticeship. She had become Ladybug without question, adding it to her responsibilities to her parents and Master Fu. She had worked on the princes’ outfits for the ball, managing all her duties as well as managing the princes’ needs alongside their parents’ desires. She always did everything asked of her, even when it was too much.

“Could I just defeat Hawk Moth first and then become Guardian of the Fay?” Marinette asked.

“Do you think you can defeat Hawk Moth before King Gabriel catches you?” Master Fu asked.

Marinette picked up the earrings and fastened them back into her ears. “I told Chat Noir I would try to catch Hawk Moth tonight. I told him we would finish this fight so that we can face together whatever deadline he has looming over him in his other life.” Her mind flashed again to the princes’ bruises and the ball tonight but it was so hard to imagine that a prince would choose to become a wanted criminal. “I’ll find Chat Noir tonight, and see if we can’t make a plan. If Ladybug is going to leave the city… that’s not a decision I want to make without my partner. And… I suppose if I fail, and I don’t catch Hawk Moth tonight… well, I’ll have to talk it over with Alya, too.”

Master Fu smiled. For as long as he had known her, she had been fiercely independent. Perhaps not independent in the way some people thought of independence. It did not shun others, nor assert itself loudly in ways that were unasked for. It was a quiet determination and stubbornness, the sort of determination that drove her into a sleepless month as she tried to finish a project that was perhaps more than she should have been given. It was the sort of stubbornness that refused to give up on people she loved.

But to hear her say she wanted to discuss such a large decision with another person, to hear her say she might ask a friend for help… It was a sort of humility that Master Fu had not seen from Marinette yet, and it only made him doubly certain that he had made the right choice by selecting her to be his apprentice in each of his crafts.

He gathered up the last of the papers at his elbow along with the letters of recommendation he had prepared for her. “These are the records from my training, both of my masters and their masters and those that I have added myself. I shall keep them safe for a time, until you have made your decision.”

“Thank you, Master Fu.” Marinette got to her feet. “I really ought to get going, though. The guards outside the door will start to worry I’ve run off on them.”

Master Fu’s eyebrows raised, but he made no move to stand. “Guards?”

Marinette explained the duchess’s sudden visit and insistence that Marinette attend the ball. Her face went red as she mentioned that the duchess seemed to want her there, personally, but she got through the story without stumbling over her words too much.

“It sounds as if you have no need of your gift, then,” Master Fu said.

Marinette frowned as she picked up the packages for the princes. “My gift?”

“The dress that I made for you to wear to the ball this evening.”

It wasn’t that Marinette had forgotten, but, well… There were just so many things for her to worry about right now, what she would wear to the ball had been lost in the chaos. “Master Fu, I’m so sorry—I didn’t even think—”

“It is nothing to be concerned about,” Master Fu said with a small smile. “It will have its time and place. For now, perhaps you should get to work. You have a long night ahead of you.”

Tikki darted into Marinette’s purse just as Marinette opened the door, and then both were gone.

Wayzz looked away from the door and up at Master Fu, who had been his partner for a human lifetime. Most of the fay did not think much of how humans passed time, but Wayzz did. Wayzz spent his life going from human to human, staying with them from youth into old age, and loving each of them fully.

“You didn’t tell her what it will cost,” Wayzz said.

“She has enough to worry about.” Master Fu pushed himself to his feet. He needed to pack Marinette’s dress. He would deliver it to her parents, along with the letters of recommendation. There would be time to tell her everything when the ball was finished. There would have to be.

#boulangerella #miraculous ladybug #ml fic #ml fairy tale au #ml fairytale au #ml

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