#one chapter left!!

"Anything?" Duusu asked.

"Nothing," Nathalie said. She leaned forward, elbows on her knees and head in her hands. "An eternal five minutes of nothing again. You're sure that doesn't mean that she's dead?"

"If she was dead, you wouldn't be able to connect. If she was unconscious, you would still be able to hear and maybe feel. If she was asleep, you'd see her dreams and feel wherever she was laying down."

"I should try someone else again, to see if the power itself is still working."

"We tried that," Duusu said, gently tugging Nathalie's hand from her face. "You said you never wanted to know that much about the mayor."

"This power really isn't meant to be used outside of a battle or search and rescue setting," Nathalie said, holding out a few raspberries to Duusu, who landed in her hand to eat.

"Some mysteries cannot be solved," Duusu said.

"I had to try though," Nathalie said. "And, as long as you're with me, I'll have to keep trying from time to time."

"You may want to ask the Guardian about what you're seeing. It's my power, but it's their magic."

"Maybe," Nathalie said, reaching for her tablet. She winced when the screen lit up too bright, but kept it up long enough to compose an email to Fu.

"You should also tell the boys that you've been trying," Duusu said, settling in the nest she had made herself on top of Nathalie's dresser. "They would want to know."

"I don’t want to give them false hope."

"Gabriel should know, too."

"I'm not so sure about that," she said. "He had the miraculous. I'm sure he must have tried himself."

"Sweetie, I'm the Peacock kwami. I can tell you with one hundred percent certainty that he never once used my powers. Never even tried me on."

"What do you remember after you and I said goodbye? Obviously, Emilie never returned you. Did she ever activate your miraculous?" Nathalie asked.

"Not much happened. Emilie brought me back out shortly after she got home that night. We talked for a little while. Then, a few years later, she checked on you once. That's it."

"Do you know when that was?" Nathalie asked, trying not to show how hopeful this information made her. If Emilie had used the brooch right before she went missing...

"It was while you were overseas," Duusu said with a pitying look. Nathalie had forgotten how well her kwami read her. "You were making coffee, humming to yourself. You can't sing, Sweetie. Paired with a bird and can't carry a tune. There was someone else there, but I didn't recognize them."

"I was here when she went missing," Nathalie said, more to herself than to Duusu. "Thank you. It's nice to know she thought of me while I was gone."

"I think she kept me because I was a way to check up on you," Duusu said. "She gave Fu the Turtle back before then, from what Wayzz told me."

Nathalie allowed herself a small smile. "Thank you," she said again.

"Get some sleep, Sweetie," Duusu said. "And you probably should consider telling the boys."

/*****/

Because Adrien still wore his ring, Plagg didn't disappear when Felix’s ring came off. Plagg had Nino hand him the miraculous so he could study it uninterrupted in a cupboard where none of the doctors, nurses, or techs would see him.

"Oh my gosh, Nino, you'll never believe what Nathalie just- woah, what's going on?"

Felix, who was half asleep and whose head was on Nino's chest, simply lifted his right hand in the air. Nino, who was fully asleep, must have felt Felix move because his unbroken arm wrapped tighter around him. Both looked emotionally wrung out. There was also the fact that Felix was there at all, much less cuddled up to Nino, seeing as the day before he had refused to show up at the hospital for a Miraculous Team Meeting.

"Hi to you too?" Adrien said, responding to what he thought was a weird half wave.

Felix waved his hand around in a way that seemed more significant and specific than a greeting but definitely not clear enough to actually convey his meaning.

"When did you two make up?"

"Around one or two?" Felix managed to turn a little towards Adrien without waking Nino.

"In the morning?" Adrien asked as he pulled the chair around to see Felix better.

“The ring is off," Felix said. He held his hand up again.

Adrien grabbed his hand, checking the finger for signs of damage. There was scarring and healing scratches that ended abruptly in a patch of clear skin where the ring had been.

"When? Why? How? Where is Plagg? Can he still transform me? Should I wear both rings? Are you quitting for real now? Or do you want to reverse the thing that made my ring and be the only Chat Noir again? What does-"

"Adrien," Felix said. "I don't know. Plagg's around here somewhere. But all the hero stuff? I don't know."

"What does Nino the Guardian in training say about it?"

"Nothing, so far," Felix said. "I think he was too freaked out by how hard I was crying."

"I swear, so far your relationship has been mostly you crying," Adrien said.

"He tells you too much," Felix said, scowling.

"Speaking of being told too much," Adrien said, scowling himself. "I take it Nathalie gave you a similar lecture to the one I just got?"

"Did you know she likes fighting sea monsters?" Felix asked. He didn't want to think about what Nathalie had said at all.

"No, I didn't know that. I hate sea monsters. Mostly the 'sea' part."

"I feel the same. We'll let the Turtle and the Bird handle it next time."

"You two are such cats," Nino said. His voice was gravelly from sleep and he was squinting without his glasses. Felix detangled himself to stand by the bed and stretch.

"We're aware," Felix said. "But we were that way before the miraculous, I think. Will you be offended if I do some stretches while we talk? I haven't gotten to the ballet studio in a while."

"Offended? No," Nino said, the fake innocent look on his face giving away where he was going with this. "Significantly distracted from the conversation? Absolutely."

"I can leave," Adrien offered.

"Never mind," Felix said. He picked up his book and sat at the foot of the bed, pretending that Adrien and Nino couldn't see how red he was turning.

"So!” Adrien said. “Why did the ring come off now of all times? Was it Hawkmoth's defeat?"

"No, it was more recent than that," Felix said, still staring at his book. "I caught the ring on my shirt yesterday and it tugged the skin like it always does. Did."

"True love's kiss," Plagg's muffled voice called from within his cupboard.

"Yes, because we're cartoon characters and fairy tale logic applies here," Felix said, rolling his eyes.

Plagg emerged from the cupboard clutching camembert in one paw and the ring in his other. "True love's kiss from Ladybug worked on Punny Chat when Dislocoeur hit him with an arrow. It worked for Adrien. Why would you assume it wouldn't work for you, too?" Plagg asked.

"Oh, you're serious?" Felix asked. "That has a lot of implications that I... am going to not focus on right now." He glanced at Nino to see the same baffled expression on his face that he felt on his own. "I assume you mean Nino kissing me?" Plagg nodded. "We kissed the night I ran away. Is it a delayed reaction magic kiss effect?" He sighed. “I can’t express how angry it makes me that I just said those words in that combination.”

"That was Nino and Felix. Last night, did Carapace kiss Chat Noir?"

They looked at each other, then both nodded at Plagg.

"There you go. The combination of miraculous magic being active and true love's kiss fixed your miraculous. It's safe now to put on and take off whenever you want. You're free to quit now that Hawkmoth's defeated, but if you put it back on, you're not stuck anymore. You have the freedom to choose whatever you want."

"I am absolutely not putting that back on," Felix spat. "You can't know it's fixed for sure."

"It's literally linked to my life force," Plagg said. "I know for sure. And I was the one to warn you that there was something wrong before you put it on, remember?"

"Oh, I remember," Felix said. He took the ring from Plagg, pinching it between two fingers, and held it out to Adrien. "Take it. Wear both, combine them, don't, it's up to you. I meant what I said. I'm done being Chat Noir."

Adrien started to protest, but Nino held a hand out. "Okay. I told you, whatever you need. That's fine. Right, Adrien?"

Adrien nodded and wondered how he could have ever missed the way Felix looked at Nino. No one made Felix look that happy and at peace.

/*****/

"What if, after graduation, I traveled for a while?" Felix asked the next day during physical therapy. "I know things are new with us, and I would miss you, but... I'm free. I'm free from my father, I'm free from... work..." It was a flimsy cover, but when talking in front of Karen they had talked about Felix "quitting his job" instead of "being freed from his broken miraculous."

"I'm not gonna lie, I'd miss you a lot,” Nino said, fighting with his crutch. "But that sounds like exactly what you need."

"You could come with me," he said. "Or Adrien. Or Marinette. Or Nathaniel. Or I could go alone. But being able to get up and leave just because I want to... I've read so much about so many places. I'd like to see some of them."

"Yeah, I'd like that," Nino said. "Depends on when you leave and how long you'll be gone though. It'll be a while before I can do long tourist type walking, and then there’s university in the fall."

"We'll figure out something," Felix said.

"That is a very un-Felix approach and I like it," Nino said.

The door to the physical therapy room creaked open. The boys ignored it since they were in the middle of an exercise, but Karen addressed the visitor.

"Can I help you? This is a private session."

"I apologize, I was looking for Felix."

"Nathalie!" Nino called. "That is not your happy face. Here I was hoping you came looking for us for a good reason this time."

"Unfortunately, no. Felix, I'm sorry to take you away from assisting Nino, but I need your help."

Felix turned to apologize to Nino (or ask him to beg him to stay because that was definitely not Nathalie's happy face, so whatever she wanted couldn’t be good). Before he could get out a word though, Nino gave him a quick, accepting smile and said, "Text me what happens."

"I'll probably be back later," Felix said. Nino patted his shoulder and Felix followed Nathalie out.

"What is it?" He asked in the hall.