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The rain poured down, as heavy as Ladybug's heart as she watched the butterflies cleanse the mess created by the final battle. Gabriel Agreste, the man who scarce left his home and never seemed to show love to his son, was Hawk Moth. The fact didn't really surprised her, she'd figured it out before, but he'd fooled her. Her and Chat Noir.
Chat Noir... Where was he? During the fight, Scarlet Moth had come again. There had been many akumas to fight, much more dangerous then back when they were 15. It was almost as though Hawk Moth knew it was his last chance. More than once, Chat took painful blows. A scratch here, a punch there, a barely dodged jab over there... It was a miracle how he kept going.
Now, however, as Ladybug looked around, she couldn't find him anywhere. Maybe it was the haze from the rain, maybe it was the darkness of the night that was quickly arriving, but whatever it was, she couldn't find him. Until she did.
There he was, slumped against the wall of an alley. She couldn't tell if he was breathing from the distance she was at. She hoped he was. As she got closer, she found his hand was draped over his side, his head lulling back against the brick of the alley wall. The light of the street lamp nearby luminated the glistening cuts and bruises, still present on his body. There were far fewer than when she last saw him in battle, but not all of them had healed.
She dropped beside him on her knees, cautiously moving his hand, only to find something glistening in the light. Blood. She moved Chat aside, rolling him over slightly to find a pool of blood underneath him. Quickly she checked for his pulse. Nothing. Immediately, she wished she'd taken the time to do CPR training. Maybe she could've saved him. Tears gathered in her eyes, but she tried to blink them away. She didn't have time to cry.
Her miraculous beeped, a warning to let her know she was running out of time. She gathered Chat in her arms, ready to lift him up and carry him to an ambulance. Before she could do so, the urgent beeping of his miraculous went off, then, in a flash of green, his transformation dropped. In his place lay a battered Adrien Agreste.
Ladybug gasped, the tears that had gathered in her eyes blurring her vision as they tumbled down her cheeks. No. It couldn't be. She'd finally gotten over her love for Adrien, making peace with simply being a friend, finally decided she should confess to her partner, to let him know how much she really loved him, and, now, she was losing the two boys she loved so much.
She lifted Adrien in her arms and rushed to the nearest hospital; she was faster than any ambulance, anyway. Ladybug burst inside the emergency room, "This is an emergency," she cried, "I can't find his pulse!" Everyone stared at her, dumbfounded, then after a moment, the hospital staff jumped into action. Before she knew it, Adrien was carried away from her.
Unfortunately, her last memory of him would be his blood on her hands.
The funeral was short and small, only herself, Alya, Nino, a few other classmates, and, surprisingly, Felix, had shown up. It was only two days after the final battle. Gabriel Agreste--or as she thought of him, Hawk Moth-- was there too, in a far corner with police officers around him. She only glanced at him once, eyes steely and jaw rigged as she did so. The man was as emotionless as always, though she almost thought she saw a single tear roll down his cheek. She must've imagined it.
At the service, one of the emergency room was there. After the funeral, she asked if anyone knew what to do with the bracelet she'd found in Adrien's pocket. Marinette told her she'd been the one to make it. The woman handed it to her with a sad smile, one made to offer comfort. Marinette waited until she got home to cry. It wasn't until then that Tikki noticed the chipped miraculous. Everything made sense after that.
Not long after, it was Valentine's Day. It must've been the most gloomy day of love for her and her friends. Most of Paris celebrated the fact that Hawk Moth was gone and going to rot in prison. Marinette was devastated by the fresh loss of her partner, friend, and love. Alya and Nino offered to provide her some comfort, asking if she wanted to play the newest edition of Ultimate Mecha Strike, but she refused.
Plagg was in a similar state, the kwami barely having much of an appetite or much mischief on his mind. "I've lost too many holders," he'd told her. "It's getting to be too much."
Being the class representative, she was given the task of clearing Adrien's locker. Some had offered to take over for her, but she'd insisted that she would be fine. She knew she wouldn't be, but maybe it would provide her some sort of comfort, some sort of closure, to allow her to grieve.
There wasn't much in his locker, just fencing gear that he'd left, probably because he was going to have fencing the day the final battle arrived suddenly. His bag was still there, full of papers and pencils. There was a little letter on the shelf of his locker, enclosed in a pink envelope. Her name was on it, she realized as she took it out. Was it for her?
She bit her lip as her eyes darted around, making sure she was alone. Surely, it wasn't a crime to read a letter that might've been many for her to read anyway. Unless he never wanted her to read it. Shaking her head, Marinette opened the letter, taking it out of the envelope gingerly and unfolding the paper.
"Dear Marinette,
Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you're doing well today, and that you are happy. I hope your dream guy finally asked you out." At this, Marinette frowned. Dream guy? "I want you to know that I cherished every moment I spent with you, both in and out of the mask. Even if some of the time was spent talking about our woes with our unrequited love." Marinette's heart sped up. Could it be...?
"You were always my first love, my lady, and my princess, Marinette. Even if I can't make you happy, I know in my heart that one day you will be, with someone you love and who loves you." Tears began to fall, her vision rapidly blurring, but she kept reading. "Thank you for being the most wonderful partner I could have ever asked for, and my very best friend. I know we will be graduating soon, so I wanted to tell you all of this before then. Maybe a guy can hope that something can happen, right? You always knew I was a hopeless romantic.
Love,
Adrien ฅ"
By the end, Marinette was sobbing. The tears kept coming, her sides hurt, her heart ached, and her rips felt like they were going to break from the force of her sobs. He knew. Plagg and Tikki came out from her purse, cuddling her cheeks. Plagg even started to purr to comfort her.
"Even if I can't make you happy, I know in my heart that one day you will be, with someone you love and who loves you," the letter told her. She wasn't sure if she should've laughed or cried at the irony. Her body decided crying harder would be the appropriate response. She loved him, but he was gone.
But, a small reasonable part of her reasoned, maybe that line was something she needed to hear. (Or read.) After all, even if she couldn't fathom how she would be happy with someone else at the moment, if Adrien believed she would find happiness maybe she would. It wouldn't be then. It probably wouldn't be by the end of the school year, a few months from then. But eventually, happiness would come her way, and maybe she just needed to hold on to that.
So, Marinette folded the letter, slid it in the envelope, and placed it in her purse.