"Men! We will take them down! For Adrien!"

A crowd of soldiers applauded and cheered in response.

"Now! The King of the Agreste Kingdom; King Gabriel." The same man announced.

The king walked in front of his army. He began to speak.

Marinette could see and hear them from the woods entrance. The horses patiently waiting beside her.

Marinette decided that it would be best to intervene now rather than later when the army was on their way to her home.

The princess mounted her horse and pulled Tobalt as she made her way to the king.

"King Gabriel!" She called. He turned to face her, a scowl on his face. "Why do you wage war on my kingdom? We don't have Adrien; nor do we know where he is."

Gabriel scoffed in disbelief. "I don't believe you!"

"I promise! We only found his horse."

At the king's command, a guard retrieved Tobalt from Marinette. Gabriel inspected the colt. "It is his horse."

"We haven't found Adrien. But my guards are searching for him." Marinette said trying to convince him. "We can work together to find him if that helps?"

Gabriel seemed to calm down. A sign of sadness and a longing for his son was shown in his face.

"Very well. We can discuss this further through messengers. Go home to your family, and happy holidays." Gabriel concluded. He excused himself back into the castle.

Marinette cheered silently inside. She had saved her kingdom and people from an unnecessary war. She froze thinking of her angry parents; "oh geez, I hope they're not too mad" she prayed.

With that, she began to ride back to her castle.

and the princess was halfway through her trip.

She decided to rest until morning. After tying her horse to a tree, she fell right asleep.

~~~~

She woke up tired; the sun was barely rising.

She heard leaves crunching nearby- followed by a startled whinny from her horse. Marinette grabbed a small knife she always kept in her saddle bag and quickly jumped up.

A man in a cloak was trying to lead her horse away- but Nefretari was stubborn and loyal to Marinette.

Quietly, the princess snuck up to the mysterious person and pulled the cloak hoodie off. It revealed short blond locks. The man turned around- Marinette's eyes bore into the man's emerald green ones.

Marinette dropped her knife and let out a scream, "ADRIEN!?"

Adrien threw his hand over her mouth, "shhh. They'll find us."

The princess stood in shock. Adrien cocked his head in confusion, a sly smirk on his face.

"What? Miss me?" He teased.

Fury filled Marinette, "Is this a joke to you?! Everyone's worried!"

"Were you?" He whispered quietly, looking down. His blond hair covered his face.

"What?" His words caught the girl off guard.

"Marinette, were you worried about me?" He asked looking up at her.

Relief filled her eyes with tears. Unable to speak- she nodded, and Adrien pulled her into a hug.

"I was so worried. I don't know what I would do if I hadn't found you!" She said through tears.

"Princess, we're not safe here." He said quietly in her hair.

He let go of her. Adrien mounted her horse and pulled Marinette up to sit behind him. Together, they rode back to Marinette's kingdom.

"Wait! Adrien, you have to go back to your kingdom."

"I'm safer if I head to your kingdom with you."

"I can drop you off at your castle and head home by myself."

"No. I'm not letting you travel alone. The guards who attacked me could get you too."

"Ok." Marinette gave in. "What happened to you?"

"I'll tell you some other time." The prince told her.

The ride tired out Marinette, they were a few miles away now. The sleepy girl put her head on Adrien's back- this made Adrien blush.

"Sorry, I'm just tired." Marinette blushed apologetically.

"No problem princess." Adrien smiled. He remembered that Marinette could be Ladybug, this made him flustered.

"Christmas is in 2 days! We need decoration up soon." The party planner announced.

Tom and Sabine decided to through their annual Christmas party. At first, they planned to cancel this year; but Tom argued that a change in annual events could be a signal to other kingdoms that something was wrong. Sabine refuted saying "they couldn't do this without Marinette." In the end, their royal council advised a party would be nice. Invitations had been sent to friends all over: Alya, Nino, Rose, Juleka, Nathaniel, their families, and others. Sabine sent an invite to Gabriel out of sympathy.

A guard raced through the castle doors, "Your majesty! Adrien has been spotted, he's riding towards the castle."

Sabine ran outside. She recognized Marinette's horse. Adrien stopped the horse and dismounted. Sabine was overwhelmed with glee at the sight of her daughter. The princess dismounted too; she praised her horse before a guard took the Arabian filly back to the stable.

"Mama!" Marinette shouted happily as she ran to engulf her mother in a hug. She felt comforted by her mother's loving embrace. Another pair of arms wrapped around the two and squished them.

"Aww" Marinette grunted at the force of the hug. She looked up to find her father smiling widely. "Papa!" The girl laughed.

Marinette could see Adrien standing uncomfortably. Tom noticed this too and pulled the young man to be squished in the hug- this made Adrien chuckle.

The cheerful spirit was restored with the appearance of the lost royals.

The Dupain-Chengs brought Adrien inside the castle.

"Here you go!" Marinette brought plates of potatoes, fish, vegetables, and hard-boiled eggs to the dinner table.

"Thank you for the hospitality." Adrien said sincerely.

They ate happily and many stories were shared.

"You should hear the time Marinette-"

"Papa! Stop!" A flustered Marinette interrupted.

Adrien smiled at the close-bonded family. He wished he could enjoy times like these with his father.

Adrien was shown to his room and given new clothes.

He took his cloak off, and then his loose white shirt that was stained with dried blood.

Suddenly, Marinette opened his door to drop of blankets. She glimpsed at Adrien and grew flustered and red.

"S-sorry!" She squeaked. She was about to leave when Adrien's wound caught her eye- making her stop.

She entered his room further and locked the door behind her- if anyone walked in and saw them together, they would get the wrong idea.

"M-Marinette?!" Adrien blushed.

"No! I don't mean for this to seem-" she tried to explain herself. "I mean! I just saw your wound and thought I should take care of that!"

Adrien nodded in understanding- a blush still taking over his cheeks.

Marinette took a first-aid kit out of a closet shelf.

Adrien flinched when the bluenette applied antibiotics. He tried to keep as still and quiet as possible while the princess wrapped bandages around the wound and tied it off.

"There we go."

She stood and handed the blankets she brought to Adrien.

"Good night!" Marinette said with a smile.

"T-thank you, Marinette." My lady. Adrien thought.

He grabbed her arm and placed a kiss on her cheek.

"Adrien?" Marinette whispered. A deep red filling her cheeks.

"Good night, princess."

Yay! Another chapter out!

And Adrienette grows. Hope you enjoyed! :)