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“M’lady….M’LADY. Please, I need you to wake up!! Come on!!!”
Marinette had a headache.
Why was someone shaking her shoulders?
….was she lying on the ground?
“…ibuprofen...I need ibuprofen…..” she grumbled, opening her eyes warily.
“Wait...Chat Noir?”
“LADYBUG!!!!!”
Chat didn’t think twice before wrapping his lady in a tight hug, tears of relief swimming in his eyes.
“I’m so glad you’re okay!!!!”
Marinette shifted uncomfortably in his arms. “Ladybug? What are you talking about? I don’t see Ladybug anywhere.”
Chat Noir stiffened, and he slowly retracted himself from the hug.
“....oh no.”
He examined his partner closely. She still LOOKED exactly like his lady, even if she was acting a little strange.
“Do you know who you are?” he asked tentatively.
“Of course I do!” his partner replied. “I’m M--mmpH!”
“DON’T!!!!!” Chat hissed, pressing a hand against Ladybug’s mouth in a panic. “You can’t tell me your real name!!!!!”
Marinette cocked her head at him, puzzled, before pushing his hand away. “Why not?” she asked. “I don’t have any other name to tell you.”
Chat’s heart sank. “...the akuma victim got you after all….” he muttered sadly, ears drooping.
“Akuma??” Marinette flinched and whipped her head back and forth (and then winced because it still hurt like crazy). “Where?? What akuma?? Where’s Ladybug? Don’t you and her usually take care of this sort of thing??
“Wait….did I get HIT by an akuma victim???”
She held her hands in front of her face and examined the spots covering her body. “Oh NO, did they turn me into some sort of Ladybug clone?? I don’t think I’m really the Ladybug-type, per say...where’s the real Ladybug??”
Chat took a few seconds to breathe deeply and blink away the spots of panic hovering in his vision.
“...before I answer that, I’m going to ask you a few questions,” he voiced gently, trying to hide the shakiness in his tone. “I don’t want you to elaborate on them, though! Just think about them in your head and shake your head yes or no. Can you do that for me?”
Ladybug gave him a thumbs up.
“Do you remember your name?”
Ladybug nodded.
“Your family?”
She nodded again, smiling a bit fondly this time.
(Chat Noir tried to ignore the pang he felt in his chest at her expression.)
“How about where you go to school? Or what you’d like to be when you grow up?”
His lady continued nodding, though the final question made her wince a little bit.
Chat chuckled lightly. “Yeah, no one ever likes to be asked what they want to be when they grow up, sorry!”
“So what’s going on, Chat Noir?” Ladybug asked. “Why am I dressed up like Ladybug in the middle of an akuma battle? Why can’t I tell you my name?”
“Because you aren’t dressed up like Ladybug, you ARE Ladybug,” Chat replied.
Marinette’s eyes widened, and she frantically shook her head.
“What???!?!! No way!!! That’s crazy!!!! I think YOU got hit, not me!!!! How can I be Ladybug??? I’m not cut out to be a superhero!!!!!”
“Woah, woah, please don’t freak out!!!” Chat said, unable to fathom how differently his lady was acting (and trying to shake the nagging sense of familiarity he felt after listening to her hysterics).
“I can break everything down for you,” he continued gently, placing a comforting hand on his lady’s shoulder. “We’ll just take this one step at a time.”
Marinette took a deep breath, struggling to hold back tears of panic and anxiety. “...alright…” she replied softly.
“You just got hit by a blast that made you forget a part of your life,” Chat explained. “I tried to take the hit for you but...I was too slow…”
He gulped, swallowing down his guilt.
He needed to be strong for Ladybug right now, not wallow in self-pity.
“...I was hoping it wouldn’t affect you, or maybe it would just make you forget about some after school club you’re in, but it must have made you forget all about being Ladybug.”
“.....I guess my memories of Ladybug ARE a little fuzzy…” Marinette mused quietly. “I can’t picture her face...all I remember is she and you saving the day.”
“You remember you and I saving the day,” Chat replied with a soft smile. “You’re an amazing hero, Ladybug. Even if you don’t remember it right now.”
“But…” Marinette blinked a few times, trying to corral the thoughts swimming around her brain. “...if I’m Ladybug, that means I have to help you capture the akuma to get back to normal….and I have no idea how to do that anymore. I don’t even remember how my powers work. What are we going to do?”
Chat took her hand and squeezed it. “Fortunately for you, I have a BIT of experience wearing the ladybug miraculous. I’ll give you the breakdown of how it all works, and then we’ll go save that akuma victim and get your memories back! What do you say?”
Marinette pondered the situation for a moment.
“Well…” she began hesitantly, still uncertain about it all.
Then, memories of balconies, candles, roses, and one somewhat-hard-to-recall but nonetheless eventful brunch flashed through Marinette’s mind. Her eyes widened with clarity.
“I may not remember being Ladybug, but I remember YOU, Chat Noir. So if you think I can do this….”
She squeezed his hand in return and gave him a smile, one filled with both determination and care.
“...then so do I.”
Chat Noir beamed.
“...there you are, m’lady.”
“That’s it!! We did it!!!!!”
Chat Noir and Ladybug both let out cheers of joy as the akuma victim’s bright green costume bubbled away.
“Don’t forget to capture the akuma!” Chat said.
“Oh, right!!!” Ladybug awkwardly shot her yo-yo in the direction of the purple butterfly and snatched it out of the sky.
“Uh…bye bye, little butterfly!!!”
She opened her yo-yo and then watched in awe as the purified butterfly flitted away.
“Alright, now you throw your lucky charm into the air and shout ‘MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!!’” Chat reminded her. “Then everything will go back to normal.”
“Alright!!” With a cheer of excitement, Marinette threw her lucky charm into the sky.
“MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!!!!!!”
Ladybugs whipped out of her yo-yo and carried the akuma victim back home (presumably to reconcile with those she’d felt wronged by). They soared down into the streets, over buildings, and finally around Marinette herself.
“Hey….I REMEMBER NOW!!!!!!!”
Ladybug took in the sight of her gloved hands and yo-yo, relishing in once more feeling comfortable in her own skin.
“Chat Noir!!!! I remember!!!!!!!” She flew at Chat Noir and hugged him fiercely, memory after memory of him being her amazing, supportive, wonderful partner flooding back into her mind.
She didn’t realize just how hollow she’d felt without those memories.
“Thank you, kitty….I couldn’t have gotten my memories back without you….”
Chat Noir didn’t respond for a few moments...now that the urgency of defeating the akuma was dealt with, all the emotions he’d been repressing came rushing back.
“....if it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have needed my help to get your memories back in the first place…. “ he managed to mutter.
Ladybug pulled away from the hug so she could look her partner in the eye, heart aching at the sight of tears swimming in his eyes.
“Hey,” she whispered, reaching up to brush a tear from his cheek. “I’ve seen you take hits NUMEROUS times because I didn’t reach you fast enough or because you jumped in the way to protect me. Does it hurt my heart every time it happens? Of course. But I understand that sometimes, getting hit by akuma victims is a part of our job description.
“These things happen, kitty. It’s okay. All that matters is that you were there for me when I needed you most.”
A surge of longing to cheer Chat up, to make him understand just how thankful she was for him, suddenly filled Ladybug from head to toe...so she inclined her head up and brushed a soft kiss against his cheek.
“There…” she whispered with a small smile. “Feel better?”
And for just a moment, Chat Noir found himself free of the fears burdening his mind, fears that revolved around Ladybug losing her memories for good due to his inability to save her.
“....maybe a little….” he replied with a small smile.
The fears would return later.
But for now...being with his lady was all that really mattered.