Chapter Text
The fashion show Marinette had prepared for over the last several months was finally over. She and her fellow coworkers and interns were waving at the crowd from a balcony overlooking the outdoor arena when she noticed the first signs of something going wrong. A tremor vibrated through the ground, followed by a sudden jolt that caused Marinette to stumble to the side. The crowd below began crying out in confusion, and then in fear as everything began to shake.
Marinette managed to make it to the railing, holding on as she looked to the ground. The strong rumbling of the earth continued, causing those on the ground to struggle to remain on their feet as well. An earthquake? In Paris? That didn’t seem normal. Another jolt sent more cries echoing in the square, and Marinette felt the balcony shifting beneath her. She turned around abruptly, looking for the door that led inside. She had to get everyone down from this balcony. Several of her coworkers who had been closer were already at the door, trying and failing to open it. Something had apparently shifted inside, blocking the door from opening. Damn , Marinette thought. That wasn’t good.
A loud cackle echoed from behind her, and she turned to see someone sliding into the square on what looked like a wave of earth. Marinette cursed silently again, realizing that Shadow Moth must have sent in an akuma.
Chat Noir would come soon, and Marinette knew Adrien would be worried if he knew she was so close. She needed to get down and away before he knew she was here.
Since the door seemed to be barricaded from the inside, Marinette carefully made her way to the side of the railing. With so many people she knew up here with her, she couldn’t transform into Silver Spectre, so she needed to find another way down. A glance down the side offered her no options, however, as there was no way to climb down, and she was too far off the ground to consider jumping.
She noticed Scarabella had arrived quickly, and was now taking on the akumatized woman. Marinette’s brief glance at the fight revealed that the villain was able to manipulate the earth quite well, sending blasts of rock and stone followed by more earthquakes in whatever direction she aimed for. The continued attacks throughout the square were having a rippling effect, the damage quickly escalating. Concrete debris from her own building was starting to rain down, and Marinette had to dodge the falling rubble as she made her way to the other side.
She had no more luck on that side, however.
Frustration welled within her, and her hand flew to her stomach as she felt Emma's kicks start up in a frenzy.
She turned her head to the city and saw Chat Noir leap into the fight. She felt her heart lodge in her throat as she watched him. This was the first time Marinette had seen him in action, knowing that it was Adrien underneath the suit. She stood frozen for a few seconds, worry growing for the man she loved who was fighting without her by his side, a worry that briefly overwhelmed her knowledge that Scarabella was just as capable as she was, and that they had fought effectively over the past month.
Before she could regain her bearing, something clipped her shoulder, sending a shooting pain radiating through her and causing her to cry out, though she tried to muffle it with her hand pressed to her mouth.
Across the square, Chat Noir’s gaze snapped to hers, eyes going wide.
Marinette ducked down, wincing at the pain and hoping that Adrien hadn't seen her. He needed to be focused on the fight, not her. Unfortunately, the railings of the balcony didn't completely block her view, and she watched as Chat turned away from the fight, heading in her direction.
No!
She tried to wave him off, standing back up and gesturing wildly away from herself, but he didn’t change his trajectory.
Marinette yelled out as the villain aimed at his unprotected back, “CHAT, LOOK OUT!” Heeding her warning, he managed to use his baton to force himself in another direction to avoid most of the rock.
Realizing that she needed to take herself out of the equation as quickly as possible, she looked at her surroundings once again. Some of her fellow interns had collapsed, but most were simply cowered down, watching the fight. Unfortunately, she was still in plain view, and unable to transform. Perhaps she could pretend to fall off the balcony, and transform on the way down? The glint of multiple camera lenses from the citizens hiding down below dashed that plan as well.
Distracted by her attempts to plan a way out, she didn’t notice the building crashing down above her.
The jarring impact caused the balcony to collapse beneath her, leaving Marinette suddenly in free fall.
This is not good.
As she fell, time seemed to slow, and she decided that she needed to transform, no matter who might see her.
“Trixx, let’s pounce!”
Nothing happened.
Her necklace was gone, lifted from her neck in the fall.
She could do nothing.
She thought she heard her name during that strange period of frozen time.
Oh no.
Adrien.
She hit the ground.
Pain.
Then nothing, as she succumbed to the darkness.
***
Adrien couldn’t breathe as he watched Marinette fall from the balcony.
“MARINETTE, NO!” He didn’t register that the tortured shout came from his own mouth as he tore through the cloud of dust, not accepting that he’d been too late until he was confronted by the pile of rubble in front of him.
He’d lost them.
He hadn’t been fast enough.
Scarabella had to pull him away from mindlessly digging through the remains of the balcony. “Chat, no!” Her voice was ragged, though Chat hardly noticed.
He wrenched himself from her grip, desperately calling his power into his fist to clear his way through.
Scarabella grabbed his arm, holding him back. “That won’t help them, Chat. She’s gone. You can help them, we just need to get back in this fight.”
He sagged to the ground as she released him, his eye catching something in the rubble. A rose, dusty and torn, lay before him, and he picked it up without thinking.
It was Marinette’s hair clip. A gift he had given her before he’d revealed himself to her as Chat Noir.
It crumbled to ash in his hand, as he’d forgotten his cataclysm was activated.
Tears he hadn’t noticed fell into his hand.
He clenched his fist, keeping the remains from continuing to drift away, before he stood up abruptly.
He hadn’t failed them yet. He needed to finish this fight.
Scarabella would bring them back.
She had to.
“Let’s do this.”
***
One moment, Marinette was up on the balcony, waving to the crowd, and the next, she was down on the road, blinking in confusion.
What–
She had no time to take stock of her situation before Chat Noir swooped in, taking her into his arms as he launched them into the air and out of the area.
She tensed in his arms, worried that he would draw attention to the two of them. What was Adrien thinking?
Her intention to voice her confusion when they landed on a rooftop out of the public eye was swept away when he crushed her into his arms, holding her tightly to him.
She gripped his suit between her fingers, confusion and worry for him crowding away everything else.
“Chat,” she breathed, “what is –”
He let her go only to bring his head down, lips pressing against hers in a desperate kiss. His hands wandered down her body, though not out of passion, but in a searching way.
When Marinette realized she could taste salt in the kiss, she yanked back, shocked at the redness in his eyes.
Her voice was soft as her hands brushed his mask, “ Adrien , what’s wrong?”
“Marinette,” he choked out, and then his face was burrowed into her neck and he was crying.
They sank to their knees as Marinette held him to her, her heart breaking and she had no idea why.
His hand eventually found her rounded stomach, and he finally calmed down enough to lift his head.
“I'm sorry,” he croaked out.
She caressed his face beneath the mask. “Will you tell me what happened, Chaton?”
He took a deep breath. “There was an akuma that attacked your show. You were on the balcony, and–” he seemed to struggle, fighting though his emotions, “I tried to get to you. But I wasn't able to get there fast enough. You fell, Mari.” His voice broke, “You were gone.”
A strange echo of forgotten pain passed through her, though not nearly as strong as the pain she felt in her heart for the man before her.
“Oh, no, Adrien. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry you had to see that.” His forehead found hers as they leaned on one another.
Ladybug had gone through losing friends many times during attacks. She’d even dealt with the struggle of watching Chat Noir sacrifice himself for her on multiple occasions.
But that was before she knew his identity. She could imagine what it would feel like to be Ladybug and watch as Adrien–
She held him close. “It wasn’t your fault, minou. It was Shadow Moth’s. I’m here now. You defeated the akuma in the end.”
He shuddered against her before leaning back to run his hand over her face again. “You’re here,” he repeated, taking in every inch of her as though trying to convince himself. “You’re alive.” His other hand found her stomach once again, and he glanced down. “Is she okay? Do we need to get you checked out?”
Marinette hesitated, reaching down to join her hand with his. “There haven’t been any records of akuma attacks leaving behind lasting effects. Well, besides this one,” she added with a wry laugh as she indicated her stomach.
He didn’t laugh, his face going rigid as his eyes caught on something near her head. His hand lifted to touch her hair, and Marinette realized he was looking at the rose hair clip pinned near her ear. He suddenly snatched his hand away as though burned.
“ Plagg, claws in.”
After the transformation dropped, Adrien stared down at his hand, clenching and unclenching his fingers. He looked back up at her, a bleak look on his face. “Your power allowed Emma as a loophole. What if I have one as well? Is there something I could destroy that wouldn’t come back?”
She felt taken aback, but needed to reassure him. “ No, Adrien. It’s not like that.” She hesitated, however, as Plagg flew up to hover between them.
“She’s right, Adrien. Sugarcube here is special like that. She always has been.”
Tikki joined him, causing Marinette to startle and glance around. “Scarabella is nearby, Alya was worried about you,” Tikki whispered in her ear before turning to Adrien. “You don’t have anything to fear. It’s true that our powers tend to balance out, but if creation didn’t have an edge, then the end result would be nothing existing at all.” The red Kwami drifted forward, nuzzling Adrien’s cheek and causing him to crack a smile as he reached up to cup her in his hand.
Tikki flew back to Marinette’s ear once again. “I’ll let her know you’re alright.”
“Thank you, Tikki.” She felt immensely grateful for her friend’s words of encouragement. Tikki disappeared over the side of the building.
***
Adrien turned away from the Kwami and back to Marinette. He took her hand in his. “You don’t remember anything, then, from the attack? You didn’t transform, and I didn’t know why.”
She shook her head. “I’m not sure. I could see if there were any news feeds…” She reached for her phone briefly, but a cautious glance at him had her leaving it in her pocket. “Nevermind. I don’t want to put you through that again.” She grew pensive as she thought it through. “If I couldn’t get down for whatever reason, then I can guess what happened. There were a lot of us up there. I’m guessing I had no way to hide my identity were I to transform. I would have trusted you and Scarabella.”
As much as Adrien hated that, it made sense. Still, he found himself shaking his head. “Marinette…I’m not sure I can do that again. I can’t watch you die like that. If you’re in danger again, please just transform.”
What he was asking was selfish, he knew, but he couldn’t hold back the request. He had to try.
She watched him with pain in her eyes. “Adrien, I know that must have been impossibly difficult. I don’t want to pretend I know exactly what you went through, but I do have some experience with loss during attacks. I may not have known who you were then, but I had to watch you go down quite a few times. Nothing like this, granted.” She squeezed his hand. “Sometimes, pushing through and compartmentalizing is all you can do, when it’s up to you to defeat the bad guy.”
He’d known this, having practiced it enough over the years. Still, nothing had come close to what had just happened. He felt a new appreciation for his partner, however. “I guess I can understand why you were always so upset with me whenever I’d sacrifice myself for you.”
The corner of her mouth lifted. “Well, yeah, it does help to get a little angry afterwards.”
His eyes traced over the features of her face. “You’re so strong, my lady. I never fully realized what you must have gone through. I can’t even seem to hold it together, and I have you right here.”
Her smile trembled, just a bit. “I didn’t have anyone I could talk to about it, not for a very long time. But It’s not a weakness to feel, Adrien. And I’m right here, if you need me. I’m not leaving you.”
Adrien struggled to drag in a few choppy breaths before he crashed into her arms, drowning in her comforting touches as he broke down once again.