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Marinette had had a bad day. Scratch that it had been a bad month and she was tired. Tired of being bullied, tired of having to fight to prove that she was telling the truth about her work being her own, tired of having to explain to her parents that she wasn’t lying about having homework and that that was why she wasn’t able to take the delivery to someone of the opposite side of the city. She was tired of telling Tikki she was alright and not being able to mean it.
‘ When was the last time I was able to simply sit and design something just because I wanted to?’ She thought. ‘Heck when was the last time I had the inspiration to design in the first place?’ She honestly couldn’t remember the last time she had just been able to relax. She had tried meditation, but each time she started she was interrupted. She tried writing her frustrations down but had stopped after the third time someone broke into her room.
It was 10 pm and she was sitting on her normal perch on the Effiel Tower when the solution came to her. One of her biggest problems came not from Lila of school but from Hawkmoth himself! If she sent Tikki to find a temporary ladybug, she could let Hawkmoth come after her and she, in turn, could attack him! She wouldn’t be able to talk to Tkki about this plan as she would never approve but as Marinette was the guardian she could make her own rules now.
She had guessed that Chat Noir was Adrien after a few too many of chat’s comments to Marinette had been too familiar. ‘ I guess giving the benefit of the doubt really is my weakness’ She sighed well she was done, something major needed to happen and if it took her being the bad guy for once then maybe she needed to step up to that plate. Closing her eyes she nodded, then reached up and took the ladybug earring off for the third time since had received them, back when she was 13. Tikki looked at her and opened her mouth to talk scold her but Marinette stopped her.
“Not now Tikki. I need to be able to let everything out and it occurred to me that the best way to prove to my class that I’m not Hawkmoth is to make sure he is defeated once and for all. I think we need a trap for him, and the easiest bait we have is myself. Take the earrings to Kagami, you’ll know what to do when the time is right.”
Tikki looked at Marinette and for the first time, she seemed to realise just how close to breaking her chosen truly was. With a resigned sigh, she took the earrings and flew off as fast as she could. As soon as Tikki was out of sight, Marinette let go of the tight hold she had on her emotions. She didn’t have to wait too long for the Akuma Butterfly to arrive and for her to hear Hawkmoths voice whispering insidiously to her about being able to take revenge on those who had wronged her. She could see how so many people just gave in without even trying to fight when they were given such offers.
She let herself agree to what Hawkmoth had offered, then felt the tainted magic wash over herself. It was only after the magic had done what it needed to that she let her consciousness return and focused on Hawkmoths voice. She had heard it before, she had won several competitions that his company had hosted. But worst of all for her she used to have a major crush on his son. Gabriel Agreste was Hawkmoth. She sighed and headed towards the Agreste Mansion with a heavy heart. This would break Adrien, she knew, but she also knew that Hawkmoth had to be stopped.
She hoped she could take out hawkmoth before Chat could arrive on the scene or else things would get messy. It was with this in mind that she made her way to the mansion as stealthily as she could, the tacky dress that hawkmoth had designed for her swishing around her legs and arms as she moved. She made it to the mansion without getting detected which she counted as a win, then slipped into the shadows.
She felt Hawkmoth stir in the back of her mind and guessed he was about to talk to her so she closed her eyes to prevent him from seeing through them. The presence faded away almost immediately but she still waited for 5 minutes before opening her eyes and moving. Finally, she found what she had been looking for and she shook her head in disgust. A large window with a butterfly shape made out of metal support beams stood in stark relief against the looming facade of the mansions gloomy walls. With a quiet sigh, she slipped through the window, landing on silent feet behind the oblivious villain. He was talking to himself she noticed and she couldn’t help but wonder if that was because he was abusing the butterfly miraculous. She would deal with him later though. Mayura needed to be taken down first so that she couldn’t come to his aid.
She moved through the mansion, sticking to the shadows to where she sensed the Peacock miraculous to be and had to stop herself from being sick. In the centre of the room was the new peacock wielder. Their hair was much longer than the original Mayura’s was and was medium brown. Her suit was almost as garish as some of the Akuma’s that Hawkmoth had made. It was royal blue and skin-tight with a skirt that resembled a peacocks tail but it seemed to be made from glitter and sequins. In her hair was a crest that was completely impractical and had the fashion designer in her want to throw up. From the reflection in the window, she could see that the front of the suit dipped down to the belly button and that her breasts were covered by fabric that seemed to be an extension of the tail skirt. The only thing that seemed to be holding it up was the peacock miraculous itself and possibly some magic too. The new Mayura would never be able to fight as if she so much as moved in the wrong way she would expose herself to the world!
Marinette, or Phantom as Hawkmothhad named her, slide from the shadow she was hiding in into the other woman's shadow then stilled as she listened to what the woman was saying. It looked like she was planning on waiting until Hawkmoth had both Chat Noir and Ladybugs miraculi so that she could steal them and crown herself as a Goddess in the new world that she planned on creating. Phantom shook her head then manipulated the shadows to create a replica of the Peacock pin and with a quick sleight of hand that could have been mistaken for a blink, swapped the true pin for the fake she had created and vanished back into the shadows again. She watched as Lila Rossi appeared where the new Mayura had been and shook her head in disgust. She should have known.
A quickly as she had arrived, she vanished back into Hawkmoths Lair but she waited until she heard Rossi’s scream of realisation before she attacked. She knew that Ladybug would be arriving any minute and wanted the fight to be over by then so that she could rip her hair ties to free her Akuma for purification, and head home after dropping Kagami off.
The scream seemed to come right on cue and as Hawkmoth moved to investigate he found himself bound by ropes made of shadows, yet somehow stronger than any fabric or material known to man. He tried to struggle but Phantom held him firmly as she openly approached him. She removed his Miraculous revealing Gabriel Agreste’s face to her.
“Gabriel Agreste, a man who as far as the world knows has everything the world could ever want.” Her voice had a darkly ethereal quality to it as she spoke. “A man who let himself be blinded by greed.”
“That’s not why I want those miraculous!” He protested, “I want the wish so that I can have my wife back! So that my son can have his mother back!”
“At what cost?” She replied softly. “You wish for her return but what would the cost be? Would it be your life? Your son’s? Would the cost be the life of some random stranger’s life?”
Gabriel was silent then answered, “It would be at the cost of my own life.”
“Ah, but who says you can choose who pays the price for your wish? Would you really want to take that chance? Would she be happy, living with the knowledge that the only reason she is alive is because someone else’s life was sacrificed for her?”
It was at that moment that Kagami broke through the window and landed heavily on the floor, making sure she could fight even if she wasn’t truly steady enough on her feet to be able to deflect any attacks. She frowned as she took in the scene in front of her. An Akuma that looked live a living shadow standing calmly on one side of the room, two miraculi held aloft by a pedestal made of yet more shadows. Ropes binding Mr Agreste who had a defeated look on his face as tears trailed slowly down his cheeks. She sighed and rubbed her eyes.
“Do I want to know what happened here?” She asked.
Phantom smiled softly before answering, “Not really, in fact, it’s probably better if you don’t.”
Mr Agreste looked at Phantom, “When you are purified and the cure cast, what will happen?”
“That depends on you. Are you willing to accept what I have said tonight and accept your defeat? Or will you fight to reclaim the Butterfly and Peacock pins the second the ropes fall? The yo-yo can store them and would probably be the best place for them as it can fix the damage that the abuse has brought on them so you would have to fight without powers for them.”
“I’ll concede,” he said softly pain evident in his voice.
Phantom nodded at the spot clad Kagami, who moved to the pedestal and removed the pins, quickly storing them in the yo-yo. Once that was done Phantom held out a had, offering her the hair ties that help the Akuma. Kagami moved quickly to rip them and free the Akuma butterfly, purifying it and leaving Marinette standing where phantom once was. Kagami looked at her with pity before volunteering to take her home.
“What’s the point? I was Akumatised because I finally let myself feel all the pain and anger that I’ve been suppressing but at the end of the night nothing has changed. Sure, Hawkmoth has been defeated so Paris can breathe easily again but my life is still a mess. Lila Rossi still has my class wrapped around her pinkie finger, my parents are also still under her spell and I’m still exhausted from trying to wear a mask that says I’m happy when I’m not. My teacher wants me to set an example for everyone yet won’t provide the discipline that the class needs.” Marinette’s voice cracked as she gazed unseeingly out the still broken window.
For the first time in a long time, Gabriel realised that there was nothing he could do to fix everything. Sure he could throw money at the problem but it wouldn’t change the actions of the past. A burst of light startled everyone in the room and Kagami’s eyes widened as the Ladybug transformation dropped without any warning. Frantically she checked her ears for the earrings, only to breath a sigh of relief when she found they were still there.
“Tikki, why did you” Marinette was cut off before she could finish her question.
“I dropped the transformation because it doesn’t matter if these two know your identity any more. Plagg will be on his way to the Miricle box with the ring as we speak and as soon as the two pins were retrieved I sent them there too. As for your situation, you can now take Jagged up on that offer from months ago! I know you really wanted to travel with him and this way you can! With Hawkmoth defeated and you needing to travel in order to find as many of my lost brethren as possible, it works out perfectly. You can still do your studies online so it’s not like you’ll miss out on schooling.”
Marinette looked at her feet and seemed to be thinking for a moment. Gabriel looked at her and couldn’t help but notice how small she was. She wasn’t very tall but life had clearly made an impact on her recently and not in a good way. She no longer looked like the brilliant girl that had looked ready to prove to the world that the bowler hat she had entered into his competition was her design. Where once her hair was glossy and smooth, it now lay limp and dull from the pigtails she still wore. She had lost weight and where once her clothes fitted her perfectly they now hung loosely on her frame. Even her clear blue eyes had lost their seemingly permanent sparkle. Judging from the other girls gasp, she was seeing the same things as he was. How did this go unnoticed?
Gabriel looked at Tikki then at Marinette and slowly, so as to be unthreatening he walked towards her and knelt so that he was able to look in her eyes properly.
“I made the mistake of not listening to someone older and wiser than me when I had the chance. Nooroo tried to warn me about the path I was on and I ignored him, now look at me. Please don’t make the mistake I did. Go, expend your wings and let yourself recover from this. I will deal with Ms Rossi. I will also try to listen to my son instead of just barking orders and threats at him. I’ve made the last 3 years of your life difficult, I think it’s time for you to unwind and let yourself relax.” He tried to put as much empathy into his voice as possible as he spoke and despite the fact that he had been her enemy mere moments ago he was shocked to see she was crying.
She nodded and held out her hand for the second time. Somehow Kagami knew what she wanted and handed over the earrings to her. As if to answer an unspoken question Tikki moved closer and all of a sudden, Ladybug stood where Marinette had been.
“I need to get home and think. I will let Paris know that it is free on Sunday and I will probably see out the last week of this school term at school. I will leave after that. I can’t stay. I don’t know if I will travel with Jagged, hope around using the horse miraculous or simply let myself vanish but I will leave either way.”
The broken tone of the once-proud Ladybug's voice made Gabriel and Kagami want to cry but they nodded in acceptance. They knew she would do what needed to be done.
10 YEARS LATER:
It was the 10-year-reunion for College Francoise Dupont and everyone was excited. Everyone in Ms Bustier’s class had achieved their dream and in some cases surpassed what they thought they ever would. The only one who hadn’t was Lila. Shortly before Hawkmoths defeat had been announced, she had gone missing. She had eventually been found but not in a place that any of them had expected. She had been found in the mental ward of a well-respected hospital in Italy and the doctors there refused to release her. They had firmly stated that she was a danger not only to society but to herself and they could not let her free for fear of what she might do. Her tower of lies had come crashing down shortly after that but it was too late for any of the class to repair their relationship with Marinette.
So far the only person who hadn’t arrived at the reunion was Marinette and while they were hopeful that she would be there, they weren’t holding their breath. It was because of this that they were surprised when Marinette walked through the doors into the ballroom they had hired. Her hair was cut into a stylish pixie cut and her makeup was absolutely on point. Her red mermaid style dress with black lace stretched over it created the illusion of ladybug’s old uniform suited her perfectly and her black high heels made her look like she belonged on a catwalk for a fashion show. There was a man with her too, which surprised them, though they guessed he was her husband when they saw something sparkle on her finger. He was dressed just as smartly as she was with his black suit tailored perfectly and a pale blue silk shirt open at the top. His shoes could have put a US marine to shame with how they shone.
To everyone’s further surprise it was Adrien that approached her.
“Welcome back to Paris, Mari. And welcome to Paris for the first time Toshiro. I’m glad you both made it.”
“Thanks,” Marinette’s voice was soft yet held a note of confidence that none of them had heard before as far as they knew. Toshiro stayed silent but his eyes seemed to see straight through them all, cutting into them like ice.
“We just came to greet everyone, we have somewhere else we need to be.”
Adrien nodded and gave them a quick hug as he knew where they were headed. They left almost immediately and the class turned to Adrien for an explanation.
“Marinette’s newest line is being presented tonight as the highlight of Paris Fashion Week. She and her husband, Toshiro Hitsugaya, are needed there to present it.” Adrien shrugged. “I think here theme for this line is Fire and Ice or maybe it was Life and Death I’m not sure. Either way, it’ll be the hit all her other lines have been. I will admit though, it’s funny seeing so many of you wearing MH designs and not realising who the designer is!”