Chapter Text
“Cataclysm!”
Ladybug didn’t balk as Chat Noir’s arm slid around her shoulder and he pulled her close to his side. She knelt with him as he pressed his palm to the ground beneath them. Abruptly, the stone work at the base of the glass pyramid at the louvre began to crumble. Within seconds, the two heroes disappeared into the museum, the stone falling around them as Hawkmoth’s latest victim threw another attack in their direction. It sailed over their heads, but Ladybug couldn’t help a yelp of surprise as they hurtled through the air.
They landed in the thankfully empty museum, but the relief was short-lived as debris rained down around them.
“Look out!” Ladybug shoved Chat Noir out of the way as a particularly large chunk headed straight for them. Ladybug dove after him, but even her reflexes weren’t fast enough to save her. The debris crashed to the ground, pinning her by the right leg to the floor. It was true that the miraculous made them nearly invincible, but there were some wounds even they couldn’t absorb. Ladybug swallowed a cry of pain as she hit the floor.
“W-what?” She twisted to see what had caught her and paled. Without the miraculous, the rock would have shattered every bone in her leg. With it, she would suffer some bruises and strained muscles.
“Ladybug!” Chat Noir sprinted across the empty room to where she lay, trapped. He dropped to his knees as he slid to a stop beside her, assessing the damage. “This is my fault. I shouldn’t have cataclysmed the ground. What a stupid idea.”
“It’s fine,” Ladybug said with forced ease. “It was our only option. Your puns are more painful than this.” But he barely noticed her attempt at a joke. He was still staring at the rock, as though he could will it away. It was the beeping of her earring that finally made him blink. They realized it at the same time.
“Ladybug…you’re going to transform back.”
He didn’t say it the way she thought he would have. He didn’t seem happy or excited, just…sad. Maybe disappointed. But she didn’t have time to dwell on it as cold horror set in. Maybe once she would have accepted it, even toyed with the idea of letting him in on her secret. To have a friend who knew, someone to help share the burden, who truly understood the weight of it.
But now, when she knew what would happen if Adrien ever knew her true identity, if it ever got back to him… The destruction of Paris. Her own death. Fear seized her heart.
“Don’t look.” She pushed herself as far away from him as the rock would allow. Panic was setting in. “No peeking.”
But he didn’t close his eyes. “Ladybug…this rock will crush a normal leg. I can’t help you with my eyes closed.”
“Then help me now!” But even as she said it, she knew there wouldn’t be enough time to lift the slab of concrete before it happened. Still, he nodded and moved to the rock. He paused with his back to her and looked over his shoulder at her. That same sadness radiated from him.
“I just… I want you to know I never wanted to know your secret like this. I’d hoped one day that…But I’d hoped it would be your choice. I’m sorry.”
Ladybug was at a loss for words as he crouched before the rock beside her leg. She felt rather than saw his muscles begin to strain as he began to lift the rock. Her earrings gave one final beep, and just like that, her transformation dissolved as Tikki reappeared.
Marinette couldn’t help a whimper of pain as her normal body began to take on damage without the miraculous. Beside her, Tikki watched in horror.
“Hang on, m’lady,” Chat Noir said, “We’re almost there…now!”
Marinette ripped herself away from the slab of concrete, reaching for her leg.
“M’lady?”
Through the haze of pain, Marinette realized that, despite their situation, he had managed not to see her.
“Don’t look,” she pleaded. Maybe things didn’t have to change. Maybe she could still make it out as Ladybug. She thought she noticed a slight dip in Chat Noir’s shoulders, but he simply nodded.
Marinette couldn’t bring herself to look at her leg. Instead, she simply tried to stand. Pain, lightning quick, lanced through her calf and knee, and just as fast as she’d tried to stand, she fell again.
“Tikki?” Marinette turned to her kwami, but she simply shook her head. This wasn’t something the miraculous could fix. Tikki merely looked at Chat Noir and nodded. They were out of options.
“Chat Noir, I’m too injured to transform again.” Marinette hated to admit to to herself, let alone him. Her heart beat faster at the thought of her next words; the ones she had imagined dozens of times, but never like this, and sure she would never reveal. “I need you to take Tikki and finish the job. And…I need your help. I can’t walk like this.”
“Are you sure?” He was quiet, again different from what she’d been expecting. “I can try and find something in the gift shop, or from someone outside…?”
“There’s no time.” Marinette took a deep breath and settled into that quiet place in her heart, the one she’d become accustomed to since becoming Ladybug. Peace in the face of chaos. “I’m ready.”
When he turned around, his eyes were still closed. For the first time, it was like she could read him. Like part of him had wanted this for so long, but…not like this. And still another part of him resented the part that was eager to know this, to tear down this boundary. The moment hung between them, suspended, before things changed. In the space of a breath, those green eyes finally opened.