Butterfly Delivery - Adrinette

The Circus of Life

Nine years after Certified Baby

"I'm so sorry for your loss, Master; you should have had much longer together."

Master Fu sighed, "She was old. A hundred years younger than me, but old nonetheless. It was her time. I'm grateful to you for lifting my burden so I could at least spend my last ten years with her. Now, perhaps, I will be with her even longer, for I will soon follow her into the afterlife."

"Master Fu! Quit talking like you're going to die! You can at least make it to two hundred - just four more years!"

"I am going to die. I have already tested the limits of the human lifespan long enough, Marinette. I have no need to go on. I have lived longer than most because I had a mission I had to fulfill, but it's over now. Somehow I had the strength to stay with my love to the end of her life, but it's over now. Let me go. The old life must make way for the new."

"New life? What new life? Master?" Master Fu stilled and did not breathe again.

Adrien put a comforting hand on his wife's shoulder, tears pooling in his own eyes. "Thank you for everything, Fu Shifu," he whispered.

"Aw man, this bites!" Plagg bawled. "How many times have we got to lose a guardian?"

"Infinite times," Tikki sighed. "We are immortal; they are mortal. It still doesn't hurt any less each time, though." She fluttered down to Master Fu's still form and planted a kiss on his forehead. "Sleep well, Master, you've earned it."

--

When Adrien and Marinette got home from Master Fu's apartment, their best friends were there to ambush them. "Hey! Adrien! Marinette! Guess what! Hey, what's the mood?"

Nino and Alya, whose expressions had been full of joy seconds before, descended into worry. "What's wrong?"

"Master Fu is dead. We got a call from him last night that his wife passed away, so we went to check on him today after dropping the kids off at school. He seemed fine when he answered the door, then after saying goodbye to us, he lay down and died right in front of us. He looked perfectly healthy, must have died of a broken heart." The four shared a moment of silence for Master Fu.

"So, what was your news?"

"It seems in bad taste to share this right after such news, but, it can't be helped. We're expecting!"

"New life... that's the new life Master Fu was talking about! His last words were 'The old life must make way for the new.' Oh, I'm so happy for you!"

"Wait a second, weren't you just sad about Master Fu?"

"Of course I am! He was a valued friend and mentor, but I can be happy for you at the same time - and besides, I don't think Master Fu would want us to stay sad for long. When he died, he was happy, so we should be too."

--

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Master Fu's will named no next of kin. Any birth family had died out long ago with no way of contacting their descendants. His life of forced isolation had kept him from any progeny he may have wanted to have. Though he was able to come together with his love in the last years of his life, she had predeceased him by a single day. She had remained true in waiting for him, and allowed her childbearing years to pass her by. She'd done well going into hiding - if she had any nieces or nephews, they were not in evidence. That's why it fell to Adrien and Marinette to settle the elderly couple's estate.

Wayzz informed them that Master Fu had written an unofficial will for after his death. Upon discovering it hidden away in a drawer, they learned of his wishes to be transported back to the monastery and laid to rest however the monks saw fit. That raised the major problem of how they would get a body - much less two of them - through customs and up a mountain. They considered having them cremated to make the trip easier, but they first had to make sure that was acceptable in Tibetan custom. They did want to be respectful to his culture. By Wayzz known only to the kwami, they were able to contact the monks and ask them. They were told first of sky burial, allowing buzzards to carry the deceased away into the sky. It was the most honorable way not reserved for high-ranking leaders, but in the event one could not be performed, water and fire burials were also acceptable. Dumping two bodies into the river Seine or leaving them out to be picked at by birds both sounded like good ways to get in trouble with the law, so a fire burial it would have to be. They had both bodies cremated and their ashes mixed; Master Fu would never again be separated from the woman he loved. They packed up the ashes along with what they would need for the trip.