This chapter is very much about Felix and Marinette's relationship with each other and how they each brought comfort to each other, since other than Marinette, it would be Felix who is the most affected by Adrien's death. So I think they have that mutual feeling of love for Adrien which makes them care for each other a lot as well.

Other than that, we have sadness. Again. I'm sorry.

On we go! To the finale!

............

Adrien was dead.

Adrien died.

Adrien sacrificed himself for her.

Adrien-

"No. No, no, NO! NO!"

She stood up quickly, rushing forward towards what was left of the bridge. Her heart didn't even lurch as her feet kicked some stray rock off the edge and it fell straight into the deep and now ravaging waters.

"Marinette!" It was Felix who came after her before she could fall into the Celestial River, holding her up by the waist and spinning her so she was away from the edge.

"Let go of me," she kicked her legs as she was in the air, "Felix, LET ME DOWN!"

He ignored her plea and the way she kept on hitting at his arms in an effort to put her down. He wouldn't admit it, but with her uncontrollable strength, he almost did.

"I know," his voice croaked "I know you want to go to him. I know that. I do too," he admitted.

He wanted to just forget everything and run to his brother, or what was remaining to him. Just one last time, if he could, he wanted to see him. He wished that this was all just a big prank. That what Adrien had done had not caused him to self-destruct, just cause the surroundings to be destroyed. And that after the blackness cleared, he would walk through as if nothing happened, free from their father and free from the eternal burden he had carried since even before he had started to train in accordance with their father's wishes.

He knew that would never happen now. And all that hope he had that it could, disappeared as soon as Marinette had dropped down to the floor with a devastatingly knowing look.

"Then put me down," she demanded, her hands tightening around his arms with a deathly grip.

"But you know, Adrien would never want you to die for him again."

They had spoken about it in the small amount of time he had brought her back from the mortal world. How grateful he was that she was willing to sacrifice herself for him. Yet he was so scared that she would do it again, so frightened that if she did it another time, it would be more permanent. That he might not have a chance to see her again. He had said that if there was a choice between the one who creates and the one who destroys, it would be better for the one who destroys to leave the world.

Creation actually had a chance of creating peace, unlike Destruction.

But for Adrien, it was more than that. It was the fact that he wouldn't be able to bear losing the one he loved anymore. He had spent so much time without her by his side that he felt, if he lost another day with her, it would be excruciating.

Even if he was... dead, Felix knew that Adrien did not want Marinette to join him.

"What's the point? What's the point if he's not here?" She cried. Her grip loosened a bit as her tears continued to flow down her face, a constant reminder that nothing was right with the world she was in, "Why do I have to still be here if he isn't?"

'Because that's what Adrien wants.'

"Because you are Creation and you have a duty to your people," it was the Emperor who spoke, trying to disregard the despair his niece was going through, though he was not able to completely let go of his worry for her, even if it wasn't evident on his face.

"Oh wow," Felix could practically see the bitterness she was expressing when she heard her uncle speak, "Here we go again- Felix, please let me down. Now!"

This time, he obliged, knowing that her focus was on her uncle for the time being. He watched as she stalked forward to the Solerian Emperor with seething steps, her entourage of Gods following closely behind. With them surrounding her, he knew that if she attempted to do anything rash, he would have time to react.

A hand held his. Kagami.

"What do we do Felix?" She whispered, her voice relatively tame compared to usual.

Though he could see a few small tears leave her eyes, he knew she would wait until they were in the privacy of their own room to break down completely. He felt relieved that she wasn't crying just yet, a small comfort for him. But it still hurt to hear her like this, just as it hurt to think about the fact that he would never be able to see the bright green eyes of his little brother anymore.

He didn't even want to reply. He didn't want to do anything more than just weep for the loss of his brother, his leader, and his supporter.

His family.

'Why Adrien? Why did it have to be him?'

"I- I don't know."

"Do you see that right there?" Felix's and Kagami's attention was directed to Marinette, who was pointing her hand shakily at the bridge (could it even be called that anymore?) and looking angrily at her uncle, "Because of you- because you were the one who started this whole thing, even when I had asked you time and time again to make peace. To prevent war. To not see Luneith as beneath you or as a threat to you. Because you didn't want to listen to my warnings that it would do more harm than good, we have ended up like this. You try to talk to me about my duty to my people. What about every single life lost because of your provocation- no- your thirstiness for war?" Her voice echoed around the planes so surely, that everyone could hear her accusing the Emperor.

"Grab hold of her."

Immediately some people moved, attempting to do as they were told, but Marinette quickly defended herself, sending a blast their way, "Come near me and I won't be so gracious next time," she viciously warned them. Although the blast itself did not do any harm, the impact it caused did. Next time though, as she had warned, she wouldn't be as kind.

She was done with everyone and everything around her preventing her from doing what she wanted. What she had tried to do for years and years. She was done with people saying they wanted peace but working actively against it. Why did she have to be an enemy to the Fates just because she wanted to be happy? 

Well, they won. 

How could she be happy without Adrien? She would just be numb, without feeling. Her mind would be petrified at the loss of him.

At that moment, something which hadn't happened for a while decided to interrupt her train of thought. Without prompt, Marinette collapsed down again, this time clutching her head tightly as she squeezed her eyes shut. She let out a painful groan and muttered incomprehensible words under her ragged breath.

Some of the guards who had previously been thwarted in their attempts to capture decided it was the most opportune moment to try to do so again.

Felix immediately rushed forward, still holding Kagami's hand, "Marinette!"

He sent his own blast, pushing them back away from her, and her friends, Kagami and himself formed a defensive circle around her.

Only Alya kneeled down beside the Goddess of Creation, stroking the back of Marinette's hair lightly as she assessed the pain she was going through. However, it seemed like Marinette couldn't even discern the feather-light but calming touches Alya was trying to provide. She hadn't even flinched when Alya had laid her hands on her.

All of a sudden, Marinette's eyes shot open and Alya gasped in recognition of what was occurring.

"What is it?" Kagami also gasped, having also seen Marinette's eyes, but it was more in shock at such a bewildering image before her.

Marinette's eyes had no sign of white within them, and as if they were truly that of a bug, her eyes had become a full glossy black all over. As shocking as it was, Kagami had no time to dwell on it as almost immediately after she asked, Marinette's eyes began to change again. The black began to fade slowly until what was left was her round, blue eyes.

A tear had escaped from her tear duct but Marinette seemed more relaxed than ever.

"You had another vision," Alya stated, familiar with this situation, though it had never happened like this before.

This time it looked more intense, almost as if it had taken over her whole mind. She had become unaware of the things around her as all that mattered in those few moments was the vision.

Marinette nodded and Alya helped her get back up on her feet as she reeled her new findings in.

She cleared her throat, "I have to go to him."

"What?! It's dangerous!" Alya replied, still holding onto Marinette and in fact, tightening her arms securely around her friend.

It was Alix who came to her rescue, tapping on Alya's shoulder, "You have to let her go. She's right. She has to do this."

Reluctantly, Alya let go.

Marinette's eye caught Felix's, trying to appeal to him as she knew he would be the most wary of them. The way her eyes bore into his had him almost waver and let her go but he shook his head at her, even knowing that he wouldn't be able to stop her.

The most vocal protestor, however, was the Emperor,  "Princess Creation. You will not-"

"No. I'm speaking now," she turned to him, her voice loud enough for so many to hear, "You think this is over? That just because he is gone, everything will be fine? It was never going to be this easy, you fool. Just take a look."

Felix could hear the way people turned at the same time, trying to get a glimpse of where she was still pointing, her hand a bit steadier as she allowed herself to breathe for a few moments.

When he turned, he understood the shock in people's faces and the exclamations they let out. He wondered how none of them had noticed.

"What is- what's happening?" Luka asked.

Before, it seemed that the black was starting to clear up a bit, and Felix thought that they would soon be able to see a shadow of a body from where they were standing, even if it was quite far. But the darkness had built up again, and it was slowly creeping back to them, almost as if lights in a large town were all being turned off from the centre to the outskirts, one by one.

"What's happening is Destruction. Without someone to control his power, soon, it will grow larger and larger until there is nothing. But go on. Go ahead. Grab me and prevent me from doing the one thing that will save my people," her eyes flicked to where Felix and Kagami were standing, "All of them."

The people of Luneith had already accepted Marinette as their Queen. How could they not when they could tell their Lune Supreme had finally found someone who could take away all of his terrors, his anguish, his remorse, his sadness? She made him happier and everyone in Luneith knew that. Moreover, she cared about the people in a way that their previous queen had, but even more than that. She was the only huge figure who always only wanted peace between the two realms. Whose goal had always been uniting the two realms in harmony.

So they accepted her as an important person in their lives, as their Goddess and the wife of their precious leader. They saw her as the right person to look towards and guide them to a path of peace.

Marinette had always accepted them, not only the Solerians, as the people she served to protect.

Felix moved forward, Kagami following behind. They moved to where Marinette was standing and he held a hand out in a protective manner, glaring at the Emperor.

He whispered, "Why?"

"Felix, please," she pleaded, not answering his actual question, "You know I have to do this."

He did know. He even understood why she wanted to do this. It wasn't just because she was upset at the loss of Adrien. It wasn't that she had no motivation to live even if she had expressed it as so- she knew Adrien wouldn't have wanted it either.

But this was about the bigger picture. This was about the people she had sworn to protect, that Adrien had vowed to guard and defend for all his life. Because whilst they had both wished for the safety of each other, both knew they could never be completely selfish if it meant the devastation of their people. Neither of them had ever entirely forgotten their duty to their people, even when they were so caught up in their feelings for each other. 

That was the burden of a leader.

And so he knew that she had to do this for the sake of every single precious little life that had been born in all three realms.

Besides, whatever she had seen in that vision had made her much more confident that she had to do what no one else wanted to, what only she could do.

"I know," he turned towards her and brought her into his arms, wanting to bring the both of them a bit of comfort, "I know."

He held onto the woman who had become like a little sister to him. Who had shown his dear brother the love he deserved, that even Felix couldn't possibly give him. He held onto the one who had brought pure happiness to their family for once in a very long time. Who showed no prejudice to their race and embraced them as her own. Felix had found himself caring for her more and more as she spent time in Luneith, and he had looked forward to the life she would bring to them for the rest of their life. 

But he was about to lose her too and that scared him so much.

Marinette squeezed his waist before moving away from him a bit to hold onto his hands. He felt something form in between their hands and a wave of emotions fell over him as she removed her hands to reveal a familiar flower. It had six petals, such a light pink that it was almost white at the edges, but the middle was a darker pink with seed pods of the same colour. It was almost the same as the first flower she had given him, but it was larger and less fragile.

"I promise you everything will be okay."

He bit his lip to muffle the sob that definitely would come out before he let out a small, "Hah," his hand which wasn't holding the flower ran through his hair in a distressing manner as he looked at her, "Gosh Marinette."

She smiled even though she too was tearing up again, "This time I will keep my promise."

His hand moved to her face and he leaned in to press a light kiss on her forehead, "I'm counting on it," he whispered before taking a step back, wiping the tears on his face with the back of his hand. Then he held his head up high and turned to address both Luneith of Soleria, "This war has been going on for too long. From now on, Luneith will follow the example of Creation and Destruction to stand united in peace with Soleria."

Felix kneeled on the floor, holding his hand to his heart in a form of respect as he faced Marinette once again. Kagami followed suit and so did Luka, Alix, Alya and Nino. Soon many other soldiers also followed and before she knew it, almost everyone but her uncle and those who surrounded him were kneeling in respect towards her.

She caught the eye of her uncle and finally, she saw the remorse in his eyes which she had wished to see for so long. 

Once he realised that all she was doing was for the sake of her duty, contrary to his accusations, he finally admitted to himself that his judgement was corrupted by his prejudice and hatred. He knew she was right when she said that he was blinded by his bloodthirstiness. He knew all along that he shouldn't have disagreed with her, that he drove her away. Yet even then she had always remembered the duty he had thought she would forget once she was caught up with Destruction.

'It's my fault.'

She could tell that was what he was thinking. But it didn't matter to him anymore.

"Step down as Emperor, Uncle. It is time you retire."

"I-" he started but he couldn't find the right words. All he could say was, "I will."

Her eyes went back to the people who were on her side. Luka, Alix, Alya, Nino, Kagami and Felix. 

She walked to stand right in front of them, "From this point forward, I will entrust the six of you to unite Soleria and Luneith. You must ensure, to the best of your abilities, that you will always stand by the people so that war as long as this one may never happen again," she looked to the people around them, "This choice has not come lightly but I hope both Soleria and Luneith will accept my council and allow them to guide you to a better future."

She knew that not everything would be rainbows and happiness. There would still be opposition left and right. But these were the ones who Marinette most trusted, and whom she knew could break the realms free of the ongoing war. She knew that they, just as much as her, were tired of this war and all they wanted was peace. Even Luka felt that the war had been going on for too long- though he admitted that he may have been part of the reason for the fact- and that was why Marinette could trust him.

The six of them had the same goals as she did, and she knew that so many more people, soldiers and civilians alike also had the same idea.

When her eyes rested on Felix's, he mouthed one word to her, "Go."

She nodded.

She took a deep breath as she faced her final challenge of the bridge.

Destruction.

............

'Oh, Adrien...'

"Look at you," she caressed his face, so lifeless that it was almost fragile to her touch, "Look at how we've become."

She had always feared this day would arrive. Where instead of her, it would be him who was dead. It would be he who had left their world. And with the way he had self-destructed, it was practically impossible for him to linger without a power equal to his own.

Which is why she had to do this.

"I know. I know you didn't want me to. That you did all this to keep me alive this time. I know how much you will hate my actions, but I have to do this again. I- I have to-" she choked out a sob as she stared at his hauntingly pale face, hating the fact that she was still alive while he was-

Dead.

'I want to die. I wish to die with you.'

She finally knew how he had felt both times she had died. How devastating it was to see someone she loved and cherished, someone that was embedded so deep into her memories and her soul, so... soulless.

The Adrien she knew had been so lively, so expressive even when he tried not to be. He wore his heart on his sleeve only for her so she could see and tell everything that he was thinking, that he yearned for and needed. She had known even without him telling her how much he loved her, just from the way his eyes followed her, bore into her own so deep and intense. His hands would linger to feel even a small inch of her skin, just to reassure himself that she was there and find relief in the small contact he had with her. Even when she had no memories of him and when he himself had been unsure of who she was. One thing was for certain even in its subtlety. He had always been attracted to her, regardless of denial or restraint for the sake of faithfulness (not that this had actually been a problem since the one he wanted to remain faithful to was her). She had always realised that they were drawn to each other.

But now she could see nothing, feel nothing from him. He just laid there, still. No breath, no life, no sign of awakening.

'I want to die. I want to die. I want to die.'

She remembered hearing him say the same thing once upon a time. How it had been the catalyst for her coming back as soon as she could the second time. A little part of her hoped he would hear it and come gasping back to life. She wanted him to scream at her, shout, scold her for even thinking of such a thing. And then he would hold onto her dearly murmuring to her to make a promise never to think that way again. And he would hug her and kiss her senselessly until she forgot about everything, every stupid and unfortunate thought. Every bad memory.

Everything but him.

'I have to die.'

She didn't want to. She knew she didn't truly want to die. How could she when she promised him? But she had to.

To save him, to save everyone.

She leaned down and gave his forehead a kiss before lying down next to him, "I won't just sit back and do nothing when I know I can do it. I have to die. But this time, I'll bring us both to life, I promise."

And she knew that her promise wouldn't break. Because her visions were one of two things. Something she should prevent, or something she could look forward to. Whilst most had always been something she had to prevent, there were those rare and incredible occasions where it was the latter. The picture she had seen was simply hope. Hope for the happy end they had always wished for, despite knowing that there was only a small chance they would get it.

This was their small and minute chance, and she had to seize it before time took over and the consequence became something she must prevent.

She held his hand tightly, squeezing it as, quickly she let her energy overtake her, for even if her power was creation, she could always manipulate it to bend to the desire of destruction. She was the master of creation and, therefore, she had always had the power of choice between life and death.

Perhaps it was an illusion, just her imagination as she succumbed to her own painful yet peaceful death. Imaginably... just maybe, the hand she was holding onto clasped around hers just as tightly.

Her last thought for the next thousand years- before their spiritual consciousness would reawaken once more- was, 'Only if I can save you, can I truly feel alive.'

............

Compared to the last few chapters, this one is shorter but that's it for now. I want the last chapter to be pretty long so I will keep this as it is.

Also, I didn't notice but Wattpad can literally tell you how long on average it would take to read this. Almost 11 hours! What the hell! 

Anyways, we're almost at the end WAAHH TnT. I've just been feeling so sad and happy at the same time these days because we're coming to the end of the main story.

Before I forget to say it, Sorry for being away for three weeks. I had an assessment, a presentation I was preparing for and an essay I had to write which required a lot of reading and I only finished everything yesterday. So I've had quite a few weeks.

If things go to plan, I will post the final chapter and the epilogue next week or the week after.

I'll say more after the epilogue because there is quite a lot to say.

See you soon Lovelies <3