"You know, at the beginning of the year, I didn't think I would find myself fancy dancing with you." Marinette admitted.

Adrien chuckles. "Neither did I." He replies. "But if I'm going to be honest, I'm glad that this year has ended the way it is."

"Once we go back home, will we still be friends?" She asked, a little bit of worry slipping in to her voice.

"Of course." He replies, giving her a spin.

"I'm glad." She murmurs, but then she hums with displeasure. "I think we're going to have to keep this from Chloe."

"Chloe Bourgeois?" He asks. Marinette nods. "How do you know her?"

"She's in my class. My friend, Alya? She was losing it when she found we were not-so-much-roommates." She rolls her eyes lightly.

Adrien chuckled. "Why is that?" He questions.

"Simply put, we don't get along peachy." Marinette replies.

Adrien couldn't help his laughter, contaging Marinette, and they were both a giggling mess as they danced.

The party continues and sure, while some of the rich people aren't as humble as Marinette would hope, but they enjoy themselves nonetheless.

"Ladies and gentlemen, our esteemed guests, it's been a great honor for you to join us this evening." Kyoya speaks up, standing up on a raised floor. "I'd like to thank Tamaki, who's our club president, who gathered you all here today. All of our members and the guests that make our club continue."

An applause went through the ballroom, some soft murmurs spreading through.

"I'd also like to give a special thank you to our exchange students, Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste, who contributed to the club during their stay here."

Another set of claps went through the ballroom, a little more noisy as Marinette's parents got in the mix. She blushed, waving her hand to get them to settle down.

"Our club thanks you for your participation and patronage on behalf of our auction, but I would like to thank a special guest, who made a special contribution to today." The woman with the mixed mask joins Kyoya on the raised floor silently. "Adrien and Tamaki, if you could please join us." Kyoya asks.

Adrien straightened as his name was called and he looked to Marinette. "He asked for me?" He points to himself.

Marinette nodded, ushering him forward.

The two of them went to Kyoya, seeing that practiced smile on his lips. The woman next to him was looking at Adrien, smiling softly, before she looked to Tamaki.

The woman, her eyes, they held some softness that Adrien thought was familiar, but couldn't put his finger to it...

"What's up, Kyoya?" Tamaki asks, looking at the special guest with a polite smile before focusing back on Kyoya.

"Madame Emilie, if you will." Kyoya gives her a nod.

She gave a nod as well, reaching up to remove her mask. When she removed her mask and looked up, Adrien gasped.

"Mama?" Adrien whispers.

She smiles and nods, holding her arms out to him. "Hello, my sunshine."

Adrien laughed breathlessly, running into his mother and embracing her tightly.

They hugged, tightly, lovingly, both of them in near tears.

The moment was no so much ruined when Tamaki spoke up. "Mama...?"

Adrien pulls away from the hug slightly, looking to Tamaki, who was starstruck.

Tamaki never really knew his mother. She had left him shortly after being born. There were no photos of her, and it was forbidden to speak about her, ask questions about her.

It wasn't long ago that Kyoya revealed that Adrien and him were half-brothers, meaning that they shared the same mother. Which ultimately meant that the woman before him was his mother.

"Tamaki," she spoke softly. "My beautiful boy. You... You're so handsome." She extended a hand out to him and he raised his hand to place it on hers, but he hesitated.

This was the woman who walked out of his life, and not just his life, but his half-brother's life too. Who... What's to guarantee that she won't do it again? How did she get here? How was it--

"Tamaki."

A voice brought him out of his racing thoughts, and he looked beside him. It was Haruhi, giving him a reassuring smile. "Go on." She ushered softly.

Tamaki gave a robotic nod and he took steps forward, his hand gently sitting on top of Emilie's.

"Tamaki, I'd like you to official meet our mother, Emilie Agreste." Adrien introduces.

Tamaki watches as Emilie takes his hand and clasps it between her two. She sniffles lightly and steps closer, bringing his hand to her chest and placing one hand on his cheek.

"My boy... Look at you, so tall, so handsome. I'm sorry... I'm sorry I abandoned you, my sweet boy." She murmurs, looking up at him.

"Mama." He tests the word and Emilie smiles, giving a watery chuckle.

"Yes, that's me." She replies.

Tamaki chuckles and leans into her hand, before he steps forward and hugs her tightly. There's some familiarity in her voice, and Tamaki can only assume that it's his childhood memories of his mother rising from the dust.

Eventually, the two break and they give half quiet sobs and laughs, before starting a group hug with Adrien.

"My two boys, together, with me." Emilie mused. "I'm so sorry I left you both." She apologizes.

The boys were going to ask their own barrage of questions, until applause spread across the ballroom.

They all kind of forgot that they were having this touching moment with an audience. The three of them wiped their faces of any loose tears, laughing quietly among themselves.

Kyoya was going to usher them somewhere more quiet, but as Kyoya started to lead them away, they were stopped.

"Emilie." There was a man with a golden mask, fumbling to take it off.

"Dad." Tamaki starts.

"Yuzuru." Emilie speaks up. There's fondness in her voice that makes the man in front of them chuckle softly.

"It's really you." He replies, breathless.

There's a smile on her face as she nods. "Yes, it is." She replies.

Yuzuru is about to take steps to bound to her, when another voice comes from behind.

"Emile."

She stops and she looks back, seeing Gabriel. He was clutching his mask in his hand, his eyes narrowing on the woman beside her son.

"Gabriel." She replies shortly.

"Where have you been? I have been searching everywhere for you." He's taking steps closer to Emilie, but the manner in which he's approaching makes her take a few back.

Gabriel processes that and he stops, eyebrows furrowing. "You left your family. You left us, disappeared off the radar, had another family?"

"I happen to be older than Adrien, sir." Tamaki interjected. "Plus, I'd appreciate it if you didn't speak to my mother in such an accusatory tone."

Gabriel narrowed his gaze upon Tamaki. "This has nothing to do with you, young man." He sneered.

"Don't you talk to him like that." Emilie demanded, stepping forward. "There were many reasons, albeit not justifiable ones, that I left you, Gabriel." She said, coming down to jab him in the chest with a finger.

"Once you signed your label, you got consumed with your work. You cared nothing for your own wife and son, despite how much we asked for you. Your work was far too important than your own blood."

"And you thought leaving was going to solve this issue?" He questioned.

"Of course not. If anything, I was going to bring Adrien with me." She pauses to breathe, looking to the two boys. "Tamaki's father was looking for me, and I was no longer safe in Paris. I didn't want to leave my sunshine behind, but I did, with the hopes that he would bring you back to your ways."

Emilie looks back to Gabriel, giving him a distasteful once over. "And from what I can tell, it was obviously a mistake."

Gabriel searched for words, but before he could say anything, Adrien stepped forward.

"Mama? What did you mean by you were 'no longer safe in Paris'? What's going on?" He questions, concerned for his mother's well-being.

And as fate would allow it, Tamaki's paternal grandmother, Shizue, came forward.

"You!" She pointed a finger, stopping short of Emilie. "How dare you show your face here? How dare you, in such a place like this, come back?"

Emilie couldn't help the small steps she took back as Tamaki's grandmother attacked her.

"You were, you are nothing but a lowly commoner, a good for nothing maid--"

"Grandmother!" Tamaki spoke up, standing in front of his mother. "I will not let you speak about my mother that way!"

Both Adrien and Tamaki took a stand between Emilie and Shizue.

"Mother? What's the meaning of this?" Yuzuru asks, coming to Tamaki's side, eyebrows furrowed.

"That woman, she's going to be the downfall to our family." She argued, pointing a finger at Emilie.

"What did you do?" Yuzuru asked.

"What I did, I did it for you--"

"Mother, what did you do?" Yuzuru demanded.

The old woman glared up at her son, refusing to relent.

"Mr. Suoh, if I may step in." Kyoya spoke up. "Shortly after Tamaki's birth, Mrs. Shizue ordered Emilie to leave Japan without a trace. Under the impression that an out of wedlock childbirth and Emilie's status of a ''commoner', as Mrs. Shizue put it, she fled to give both you and your son a better life."

Yuzuru looked over to Emilie and she merely ducked her head.

"She fled to France, discovered her desire to pursue fashion, and when she enrolled into fashion design school for modeling, she met Mr. Agreste."

All eyes turned to Gabriel, who didn't shift under their scrutiny.

"They worked together and got married, having Adrien shortly after."

The attention shifted to Adrien now, and he shrunk slightly under their gazes, until Emilie put a hand on his shoulder.

"Things were quite good for a while, until Gabriel signed his label." She rubbed Adrien's shoulder with a sad smile. "Things were going well, escalating almost too quickly, when Gabriel got lost in his work and neglected us."

"A private detective was contracted by Emilie, to find out about the Suohs, and that's when she found out that Mr. Suoh hired detectives of his own." Kyoya continued.

"Afraid of the harm I could cause the Suohs, and make my marriage rougher than it already was... I made the decision to pack my things and leave again." Emilie sucked in a shaky breath. "I'm not especially proud of my decisions, I was heartbroken to leave another one of my boys."

Both Adrien and Tamaki turned to her, gently trying to soothe her.

"I went to Portugal, made my own small fashion career there. I was doing relatively okay, always following, trying to hear, to watch anything in regards to my boys And it wasn't until a few short months ago, when Kyoya reached out to me." She looked to him, taking his hand and giving him a gentle squeeze. "And I couldn't be anymore grateful."

"The pleasure's all mine."

"Well, it's been an entertaining story to hear, but now I think it's time we go home. Emilie, Adrien, let's go." Gabriel said, turning.

"No." Emilie spoke up, stopping Gabriel. "I'm not going home with you. That's the last place I'd like to go."

Garbiel narrowed his gaze at her. "Very well." He spoke after a while. "I'll file for divorce. Adrien, let's go."

Gabriel takes a couple steps forward, noticing that neither Adrien or Nathalie not following behind. He stops, nearly glaring at Adrien. "Adrien." He repeats a little more sternly.

Adrien flinches, but before he can take any steps to comply, the Dupain-Chengs and Tamaki had come to step forward to stop him.

"Adrien doesn't have to go anywhere with you, Mr. Agreste" Marinette stated. As much as it intimidated her to talk back to her fashion idol, she would take a stand for Adrien.

"He should choose whom he'd like to stay with." Tamaki continued.

Gabriel made no effort to hide his glare. "Well, Adrien?"

" I want to stay with my mother." He replied.

Gabriel's glare hardened and he huffed. "Very well." He turned, walking out of the ballroom.

Nathalie faltered to follow immediately, going to Marinette and taking her hand with a light squeeze. "Thank you." She whispered, before ruffling Adrien's hair with a soft smile. "Be good."

"Thank you for everything, Nathalie." Adrien replied, before she nodded and went after Gabriel.

There was some silence before some scattered applause grew louder.

Adrien rubbed the back of his neck nervously, but he was pulled into a hug by Emilie and Tamaki, shortly followed by Marinette.

"I apologize for all the family drama." Emilie told Tamaki and Kyoya.

Tamaki chuckled. "It's okay, the Host Club is used to a little drama." He takes his mother's hand and kisses her knuckles. "However, I do think you should apologize to someone else instead." He turned her, and they were both facing Yuzuru.

A soft smile rested on his lips. "My Emilie." He spoke fondly.

"Yuzuru." She replied with the same fondness.