Chapter Text
The sky was grieving today. Big, fat raindrops painting the ground in a dark, wet color that made it very easy for everyone to see their own blotchy and hopeless faces. There were no sounds anywhere, something quite odd given that they lived in Paris, city that never sleeps. No one was driving anywhere, no vendors out on the streets. The Parisians were walking in masses, everyone at the same pace, everyone heading to one specific point. You could see from miles the big group of people, an obvious black blur from afar. It was quiet, too quiet except for the raindrops falling faster now. No one cared to take an umbrella .
It had been two days, just two days since the event happened. Two days since everyone decided to not talk, two days without Hawkmoth, two days since Chat Noir vanished without a single word. They knew he was in hiding; they knew he couldn’t face them, wouldn’t even want to. They also knew that she would probably be pissed that he was acting this way, but he still didn’t make an appearance. No one expected him to, even less on a day like this in this specific place. It all seemed so wrong, so weird.
They all made a circle, no seats in place for so many people, and no known family that could be in front. They stood side by side, waiting for someone to talk, someone close that knew enough. He didn’t come.
Utter silence, just plain deafening and uncomfortable. Alya stood up, whole body shivering with cold and too many emotions. The grim faces looked up to pay their attention to the girl, waiting for the first words to be spoken.
“I didn’t know Ladybug that much, only running my LadyBlog by what I could see when the fights happened.” Her first words were spoken softly, somehow matching with the somber mood set in all of them.
“She saved me a few times, I’m sure she has saved all of you at some point or another.” She smiled, a sad little twitch of her mouth. “But I don’t feel like I’m the one that should be speaking up here.”
Alya bit her lip, eyes downcast, corners filling with tears.
“Ladybug was a private person, trying to maintain order everywhere, including where her relationships were involved. And right now, at this moment, the only one that can really speak is Chat Noir.” There were intakes of breath, people closing their fists, some gasping at her bravery of mentioning his name.
“I know what happened, we all do, but I also know that it wasn’t his fault, and Ladybug wouldn’t blame him. She would want him here, the only person close enough to talk about her, her only close friend. So, if you’re hearing this, please come out. Paris already lost an amazing hero; we don’t need to lose the other one too.”
Her glasses were slipping down her nose from the water, eyes blinking to get the raindrops out. They all looked everywhere, faces turning to see if their cat hero would be brave enough to appear now. He didn’t. Alya gripped the edges of the podium, teeth gritting from the cold and anger.
“We are all here! How dare you? How dare you not come to pay respect to her? How dare you insult her this way!?” She yelled into the microphone, tears mixing with the rain on her face.
“You fought together, laughed together, cried together. You were the last person to be by her side. Didn’t you love her!?” She heard something fall to the ground but continued. “Then come here, now! This is isn’t fair, not a single thing about this is, but we can’t change it. Ladybug-” she choked, covering her mouth with a hand.
“Ladybug was great, the thing that held Paris together, and now she’s gone. So, come out! You are the only thing left from her; you are the only person who can talk the truth. Please, Chat Noir, do it for her. She would want you to. Come here now, talk to us, to her .”
Alya hunched on herself, eyes closed forcefully as rain and tears mixed together to fall down her face. Her chest burned, heart running a mile per minute, lips trembling with the emotions and the cold.
“You are the only one who can.” She whispered into the microphone, her right hand coming up to cover her face as she sobbed publicly, body moving away from the center of attention a few seconds after. Nino held her down the stairs, her face hiding in the crook of his neck as she held on to him for dear life.
No one else moved, no one else went up to talk. Rows and rows of people stared at the podium, some hoping to see their fellow hero, some knowing that he wouldn’t be there. All of them watched the red shadow coming out from the few rays of light now that the clouds made way for the sun. If they focused closed enough, they could see a tiny ladybug fly to the podium and land on the microphone for a few seconds before it flew away again.
Adrien had been there for the whole service, head bowed, and hands hidden inside his designer pants. He sheltered himself between the students of his school, just another kid grieving the loss of their superhero. No one knew what it meant to him.
He returned to his house after, ignoring the way Nino tried to get him included in a group get together for the day. The last thing he wanted was to be around people.
Nathalie greeted him when he entered the mansion, the Gorilla following him until he was inside his room. Once there, he sat down on his bed and stared at the windows for a long time, the rain stopping and the sun setting outside. He still didn’t move.
“Kid.” Plagg hovered in front of his face, small paws moving to get his attention. “Kid, you need to eat.”
“I’m not hungry.” Plagg scoffed, crossing the paws in front of his chest.
“You haven’t eaten in two whole days.”
Adrien ignored him, instead undressing himself and walking to the bathroom. Plagg watched as his holder disappeared behind the door without another word, the shower head running seconds after. The kwami closed his eyes in pain, whole body shaken.
When Ladybug had fallen, her kwami fell with her and there was nothing they could do to recover it. She was usually the one fixing everything, bringing everything back to normal, but this time that option wasn’t on the table and the world started to sink faster than they expected. Hawkmoth had ceased his attacks since then, not one single akumatized victim wreaking havoc no matter how much grief they were under. The ones that knew more about the topic had the theory that there wasn’t any need for akumas anymore, what with one of the miraculous being destroyed. A small flicker of hope between the disaster they were leaving in.
Plagg had come out of the transformation five minutes after Chat Noir had released his Cataclysm, a praise on his lips for defeating the stronger Akuma they had ever faced yet. He noticed too late, though, that Chat had detransformed in presence of Ladybug, the purified butterfly flying away, tears streaming down her red spotted mask.
Adrien and he haven’t talked much since the incident, the kid shutting himself out from everyone and everything. It was dangerous, this path he was taking, but he couldn’t blame him.
Plagg was worried, really worried and having his holder out of sight for long periods of times could make him go into a frenzy. Adrien was acting so unlike himself; he didn’t know what could happen if he left. That was the only reason as to why he hasn’t gone to see Master Fu, the fear that Adrien would do something stupid wrenching his heart. He had already lost Tikki, he didn’t want to lose anyone else.
The school opened a few days later, students walking inside with heavy steps. There was something missing from them, something missing in the air and everyone could feel it. Classrooms got filled faster than usual, no one wanting to be out of the patio when there was no reason to.
Miss Bustier entered quietly, bag and papers put down on her desk before she turned to look at the class. Every single student was present, all eyes bare of any happiness or joy, bare of any sign of life.
‘That’s right.’ Miss Bustier thought as she cleared her throat to gather her student’s attention. ‘Every single student was present except-’
“Good morning, class.” The teacher didn’t have the energy to smile this time, not with the news she was going to give. “Before starting with our lesson, I have something important to share.”
She saw how the kids turned to look at her slowly, Mylene, Alix and Adrien coming back from whatever zone they had been in. Miss Bustier felt her throat close, hands clamming up before she found her resolve once more.
“Marinette has been missing for a few days.” The shock didn’t come without its consequences, a few choked out ‘What?’s vibrating around the otherwise silent classroom. She took a deep breath and continued.
“Her parents filed a missing person’s report and wanted me to tell the class in case any one of you had any information that could help with the case. Please don’t hesitate to come forward if you do know something.”
In sync, seconds later, every single phone went off inside the classroom. The students jumped in their seats from their interruption, hands taking the devices out of their pockets and bags. The air was cold, frigid, gasps echoing like a single voice. The screens on their phones all presented the same message, the words imprinted in their brains. Markov came out from Max’s bag, moving from side to side and blinking its digital eyes before they started glowing and a hologram was shown for all of them to see.
AMBER ALERT: MARINETTE DUPAIN-CHENG