Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Bugaboo!”

Chat’s exuberant cry broke Marinette out of her stupor, and she jolted just the smallest bit at her partner’s sudden arrival.

“Hey Chaton.” she replied, getting up just a bit slower than she usually did and turning around to face him. As always, she felt her spirits lift at the sight of that cocky grin and sharp yet kind green eyes. No, no you like Adrien. ADRIEN.

Her partner retracted his baton, taking a few steps towards her, and oh. There it was again. That pity in his gaze, that same ‘walking on eggshells’ vibe she had been getting from him since the day Chloé was last akumatized.

She hated it.

She had not-so-indirectly caused her mentor to be found out, and subsequently forced to use the last-ditch resort for transferring the guardianship to her. (the one in which a former guardian’s memories are wiped)

She had nearly lost the entire miracle box.

She had exposed the identities of all the auxiliary holders, and it was only by some miracle that Hawk Moth hadn’t taken the opportunity to go after them, and as such she was theoretically going to still be able to trust them with their Miraculouses when needed.

The problem was, she didn’t want to, and she deserved no pity for the rest.

Oh she loved working with her friends, even if she was the only one who really knew about that little detail, but she just couldn’t in good conscience expect them to follow her, the Ladybug who nearly lost everything, into battle.

She couldn’t expect it of Chat, either.

“It’s simply paw-some to see you back in red again,” Chat began, eyes lit up, even if he was still being oddly quiet and… gentle today. “How long has it been, two, three weeks?”

“Something like that.” Marinette replied, and then, since he was clearly waiting for her to make a move, she went and wrapped him in a massive hug, which he promptly and enthusiastically returned.

He shouldn’t be that happy to see her.

“So,” he began, in a suspiciously happy tone. “How are things?”

There it was.

“Um, good, I suppose.” She said in return, stepping back and heading to the edge of the terrace they often met for patrol on. The resident of the apartment directly below had left out two cups of hot chocolate for them, as she often did, and she handed one to Chat as he sat down beside her. “Quiet. No akumas recently, so… yeah.” Chat nodded. The lack of akuma’s recently had been both a much needed respite for both of them, as well as deeply suspicious.

“Guardianship going well?” He asked, with a nearly imperceptible hint of hesitation, that he obviously ignored in favour of asking the question.

Still, she could hardly hold it agains him. He was worried, and it was quite sweet, even though she hadn’t done anything to deserve it. She debated telling him; about the nightmares that filled her head at night, flooded with Hawaiian shirts, white leather, and blue eyes. About her complete lack of sleep that led her to transform and head to an old attic at François-Dupont during lunch just to catch a couple extra winks. About Lila’s near constant attempts to belittle her that had lead to three almost-akumatizations this week alone. About the near constant eye she kept on the auxiliary holders whenever they were around, perpetually on the look out for a purple butterfly or a supervillain disguised as a fashion disaster.

And of course, about the fact that she had no idea what she was doing.

The only thing she did know, was that she, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, was not the right person for the job. She was chronically late, had both social anxiety and general anxiety disorder, and most importantly, had failed.

(More than once, said a part of her brain that had never quite come back from the lonely roof of Montparnasse tower, one of the only bits of solid ground still peeking above the waves of a flooded Paris, as a cracked moon floated far too close in the sky above both her, and the boy in white with cold blue eyes.)

She very much wanted to tell him everything, get even just the smallest bit of the load off her chest, but she couldn’t do that to him. She wouldn’t do that to him. It wasn’t fair.

A small voice, that sounded particularly like Tikki, whispered in her head that he would want to know, want to help her in any way that he could.

That was just the problem. That damn cat worried about everyone other than himself, and if she could prevent that, give him less to worry about, she would.

But, he was asking, and it would be suspicious if she said nothing, so she opted to just tell him the good news.

“I mean, I guess it is?” She said. “I finally took the Kwamis out of the box yesterday, so thats progress I think. I’ve decided I’m just going to let them roam around in my room, as long as they hide when someone comes in.” She shifted her feet. “They seem to like that.” She said absentmindedly.

That was true, and a part of her brain that she had firmly labelled as traitorous wondered why Fu hadn’t done so as well.

Chat made an approving noise, and Marinette turned to him, wondering, not for the first time, how she had been so lucky as to end up with him as her partner.

“Hey, I’m sorry I haven’t been coming on patrols recently, I know—“ Chat cut her off with a nose boop, grinning mischievously the whole time, and she scowled at him.

“Ah-ah, none of that here. You've become the guardian of practical demigods overnight. Nothing to apologise for.” He smiled again, a little cheekily, a little shy. “I did miss you though, of course.”

“I missed you too, Minou.” She said, returning his smile, before suddenly facepalming with a groan. “Aw shoot, I completely forgot to ask you how you’re doing!”

He grinned at her. “Oh, i’m fur-bulous. worried about your Ladyship of course, but I never had any doubts.” The sheer certainty in his voice broke her heart. “Always knew you were gonna be a purr-fect garden-ian.” Marinette felt her eyes water up, and she looked away for a brief second. Chat was still gazing out at the soft nighttime lights, but at the suspicious lack of a retort her turned to her again, nudging her gently.

“No? Garden-ian? Cause ladybugs? And gardens?” His face fell into a mock-pout. “come on, that was pun-derful!”

She laughed at that. A little wet, and rather weak, but it was a real laugh, and that was more that had come from her in that department in three weeks.

“M’Lady?” Chat asked, cautiously and quietly.

“I’m fine,” She hurriedly responded, rising from the ledge and dislodging her Yo-Yo from its place on her hip. “The city isn’t going to patrol itself.”

Chat, eyebrows scrunched together, and a tiny frown on his lips, rose as well.

“After you.”

***

It was after about thirty minuets of quiet patrolling (only broken by Chat asking how she was doing like a billion times) that the Akuma Alert sounded, ringing from the phones of everyone in Paris.

Said akuma was, predictably, at the Eiffel Tower.

Olympio (another horrid akuma name for the book) was wreaking havoc everywhere he went, destroying the city with superhuman Strength, Speed, Agility, and Reflexes. He was clad in a deep orange tracksuit, with spiked boots and spiky, gelled hair, and an unhinged grin was spread across his face, his familiar face.

Something flickered along Chat’s eyes as well once he got there, and he turned to her with a gaping expression.

“Thats—“

“Roi Singh, yes.” She responded absently, too focused on the horrid reality in front of her. She had known this would happen eventually; Hawkmoth was not one to give up an advantage, and the Akuma in front of them was, based on the destuction before them, easily going to be one of the most powerful they had ever faced.

And it was all her fault.

“So that means…”

“He’s finally doing it.”

Chapter Text

The battle against Olympio lasted four hours, encompassing no small amount of recharges, seven cataclysms, and three lucky charms, while destroying a sizeable chunk of the downtown core in the process.

The Miraculous Cure fixed everything, of course, but that didn’t make it any easier to look upon her city, the paramedics swarming the ruined streets, and know that it was her who brought Paris to this.

She didn’t sleep a wink that night, not that she had many hours left to in the first place.

Kim had been horrified once he was finally de-akumatized, apparently the cause had been Chloé insulting his athletic skill repeatedly as he was training for an upcoming marathon.

Her and Chat were understandably concerned, especially considering Chloé's recent actions, but Marinette tried not to jump to conclusions, and resolved to just keep a closer eye on the girl in future

The most disconcerting thing about the battle, however, was the seeming lack of the typical ‘give me your miraculous’ demand ever-present in Akuma takedowns. Kim hadn’t even asked for them once.

Marinette puzzled over that well into the early hours of the morning, despite Tikki and the other Kwami’s attempts to get her to sleep.

Why would Hawkmoth Akumatize him, if not for another attempt at stealing their Miraculouses?

It just didn’t make any sense.

***

In the week that had passed since the battle at the Eiffel tower, Ladybug had managed to get back to regular patrols with Chat, while still managing to spend ample time on her guardian-related studies, complete Jagged Stone’s new album cover, design the new Kitty Section outfits for their upcoming concert, successfully lobby for student’s ability to listen to music (with headphones) while in the library, bake no less than seven different cakes for a special order in the bakery, finish her blazer design for an upcoming contest, and schedule time to get to know all the Kwamis.

‘Managing,’ might be a stretch.

Marinette knew that she was reaching her limit. She was constantly on edge; Chat had landed on their roof last night, just as he always did, and she had jumped no less than three feet into the air from surprise.

But, to her, a breaking point was only reached when it was broken.

She couldn’t fail, not again.

Never again.

To her credit (or pity, depending on your point of view) she had gotten exceptionally good at keeping face. The only one who Marinette thought knew much she was struggling was Tikki, and while her Kwami had been trying to get her to talk to someone— her, Chat, one of the other worried Kwamis, anyone— for weeks, Marinette had finally begged her to stop trying to help.

She didn’t deserve it.

Tikki had relented after that, but still worked to help Marinette whenever she could, whether taking notes for her holder when she was too stressed to focus in class, helping her keep her project notes organised, or any number of small and large things.

It wasn't even a decision then— that when Marinette had off-handedly mentioned the possibility of portaging to Tibet in order to consult with the revived order, and Tikki had tensed just the smallest bit— Marinette had dropped the topic instantly.

Tikki still tried to get her to talk to someone, but Marinette couldn’t do that.

She got herself and Paris into this mess, she had to get them out of it herself.

Chat, on the other hand, had come to no such deal.

He had no reason to help her.

All of that was why it was so strange that she had been having a relatively good morning; or at least, a not immediately horrible morning.

Then she had to go and fall asleep in class.

(She hadn’t had a good sleep the night before thanks to another screening of her brain’s apparent favourite nightmare; Chat Blanc obliterating her with a single blast, just before the akuma was released. He would always turn back into her kitty, who would weep over her fossilised form, all alone, with nothing but his trauma in a ruined world)

It was only for a few seconds; her head drooping and falling onto the desk in front of her for less than a moment before she snapped back up again, but Mme. Bustier gave her a sharp look before getting back to her lecture on Greek mythology.

They started on their assignments shortly after, and Marinette really did make a valiant effort to focus and get some actual work done.

But fate, or to be more accurate, Lila, had different plans.

It was all because of her enhanced hearing, one of the left-over remnants of the transformation that had been popping up ever since a couple months after she got her Miraculous.

At least thats what she told herself, because the fact that she could clearly hear Lila’s ‘quiet’ conversation with the rest of the girls in class could very easily be a deliberate choice on Lila’s part.

“I just feel so bad for her.” Lila simpered, as Marinette upped her efforts to focus on the composition in front of her. “I know that she’s been kind of slacking off in her representative duties—“ Marinette clenched her metal pen a little harder in her grip. “—and not spending nearly enough time with you all, and she doesn’t have any out-of school commitments—“ the pencil creaked a little. “—But that doesn’t mean her… issues, should be discounted! Some people just have a little less motivation or endurance than others, is all.”

The pen was really creaking now, Marinette’s knuckles white with her grip as Alya spoke up, her voice intentionally soft.

“I mean, I guess I kinda see your point, but Mari is literally one of the most driven and dedicated people I have ever met.” Marinette could see Alya turning to cast a quick glance at her out of the corner of her eye. Surprisingly, she could feel the faint vibrations of Tikki’s buzzing in her purse, and her Kwami was certainly agitated, if past experience was anything to go by.

The pen was gripped harder still.

Lazy

Clumsy

Selfish

Weak

Alone.

“Maybe she just wanted you all to think that.” Lila responded, her words coated with sickly sweet syrup. Marinette let out a slow breath, trying desperately to quiet the rushing noise of the blood in her ears. “I can’t be the only one who’s noticed, right? Marinette’s been… a little… incompetent lately.”

The pen shattered, literally shattered, in Marinette’s hand, fragments of the metal and ink flying across the room. Curse her weirdly enhanced strength.

Thankfully, and perhaps thanks to Tikki, no-one was speared by a shard, but her entire class was looking directly at her now, shock and wariness on their faces as Marinette sat, quietly and unnoticeably heaving, in her seat.

“Oh no, you didn’t hear that, did you?” Lila asked, rife with fake kindness. “I was only trying to help, I mean, if you cant take care of us—“ Marinette’s eyes were wet. “—Then perhaps you just aren’t right for your position, don’t you think?” Perhaps to maintain her illusion of sympathy, she added on. “I’m sure it would be wonderful to get some of that stress of your back”

Red and black spots flashed in the edge of her vision.

If you can’t take care of us, perhaps you aren’t right for your position.

“Lila,” Mari hissed, barely loud enough to be heard. “Shut. Up.”

Lila gasped in mock hurt. “I was only trying to help! Why do you have to be so cruel?”

Cruel

Liar

Failure

Incompetent.

She was vaguely aware that she was trembling by now, as Lila continued on about how she was ‘just helping.’ Her classmates, save for Adrien and Nino, were rushing to the crocodile tears, consoling Lila and casting glares Marinette’s way. Then, Alya turned around, casting a worried glance Marinette’s way, only for her eyes to widen as she took in the sight of her best friend.

“Quiet!” She whisper-yelled to the rest of the class, who complied, shock etching across their faces as they turned and took in their softly trembling, wet eyed classmate. “Mari?” she asked hesitantly, to no response.

“Dudette?” Nino tried, only to be met with the same blank, thousand-year stare that Marinette was fixing on her shoes. Even Tikki’s frantic buzzing in her purse did not help anything.

Lazy

Clumsy

Selfish

Weak

Cruel

Liar

Failure

Incompetent.

Alone. terrifying when she’s angry. If Marinette squinted, she could almost see storm clouds gathering around her.

“You aren’t Marinette,” Tikki repeated, still deadly calm.

“No, no. I’m honestly and completely fine.” Marinette said, but her heart just wasn’t in it.

“Marinette, you are the furthest thing from fine. You literally just shattered a metal pen with your bare hand, and if you think I don’t notice you barely being able to hold it together most of the time?” Tikki shook her head again. “Then you’re wrong.” Her gaze softened as she looked at her chosen, eyes turning from sharp sapphires to placid pools once more, but they hardened again not five-seconds later, and the sound of her voice was joined by furious buzzing.

“I know you told me to drop the ‘talk to someone’ thing, but Lila is deliberately antagonising you, and I know I haven’t been the best at supporting your feelings, but—“ Tikki moved to sit on her shoulder. “You do know it's ok not to be ok, right?”

Oh how she wanted to. All Marinette wanted to do at this moment was bring down the barriers she had so carefully constructed over the past weeks, and just let herself feel again.

But she couldn’t. Not just because she didn’t deserve to until Hawk Moth had been defeated, but also because, as Ladybug, she didn’t have that luxury.

As if the universe took it upon itself to prove her point, the flap of wings echoed from the small window at the top of the stall. Marinette shrieked, before getting ready to compartmentalise as she always did to get rid of the akuma, (and wasn’t that sad, that she had a routine in place for these situations?) But before she could start, a blur of red flashed across her vision, and Tikki was suddenly right in front of her.

“Marinette, listen to me. Your anger is justified, your fear is justified, all your emotions matter. They matter. Don’t think about the akuma, but let’s think about what we can do in this moment to deal with it.” Tikki murmured comfortingly, careful to stay out of the akuma, and Hawkmoth’s, line of sight.

“I-I can’t Tikki!” Marinette cried, clutching her head as the akuma flew ever closer to her purse.

“Yes, you can.” Tikki said with utter conviction. “Don’t think about it right now. I’m right here, so what can we do, right now, to help you?”

“I—“ Marinette started, stuttering a little as tears began to well in her eyes. “I don’t know! There's too much, I can’t…”

“Marinette look at me.” Tikki said soothingly. “Don’t think big right now. Small steps.” Tikki thought for a brief moment, before looking back to Marinette. “Ok, I want you to look around the room, and pick an object. Name it’s colour. Can you do that for me?”

Marinette nodded shakily, casting her gaze around the tiny space she and her Kwami were huddled in together. Eventually, she landed on the walls of the stall.

“Um— the walls. they’re, they’re red.” she said, gulping halfway through.

“Good, really good.” Tikki said. “Can you do another for me?” Marinette nodded again.

“The floor.” She said, her eyes falling to the floor. “the floor is, is, a kind of light blue.”

“You’re doing amazing,” Tikki smiled. “Another?”

“The akuma—“ Marinette said, looking at the oddly stationary butterfly.

“No, no.” Tikki interrupted kindly. “Don’t look at the akuma. Something else?” Marinette nodded yet again.

“The writing, over there on the wall.” She tried again. “It’s blue too, but darker.”

They continued like this for a few more rounds, before Tikki pressed up to her cheek with a comforting buzz.

“You did wonderfully Marinette,” She said, a little quieter than normal. Marinette felt a little of a familiar frustration rise up in her at Tikki’s concerned look, but she pressed it back down, adding another layer to the mental walls she had built. “So, is there anything we can do. right now, to fix an issue?”

Marinette thought for a moment.

“I guess I’m a bit thirsty?”

Tikki smiled. “Do you want to go get some water?”

Marinette nodded, wiping a few fallen tears from her cheeks before opening the door and making her way to the water fountains on the far side of the bathroom. When she finished getting a drink, she turned around, and to her utter disbelief, the akuma was gone.

“What… How…” she stammered, looking to her Kwami in shock and awe. Tikki lightly giggled in response.

“It’s called grounding. It breaks a cycle of overthinking and allows you to calm down, without compartmentalising and pretending your feelings aren’t there. I wasn’t sure if it would work against the akuma, but I thought it was worth a try, and you did amazing.”

Marinette took a deep, shaky breath, looking up at her Kwami with tears in her eyes.

“Thanks Tikki.”

“Anytime.”

Marinette looked back at the stall, before her eyebrows furrowed just a bit.

“Where did the akuma go, anyway?” Tikki followed her gaze.

“Probably back to Hawk Moth? That’s where they usually seem to go, no?”

That was when screaming began to ring through the halls of François-Dupont. Marinette jumped, the truth resonating through her mind like the chime of a bell.

The akuma found somebody else.

“Tikki, Spo—“

“Marinette wait!” Tikki cried, and Marinette did, although with no small amount of confusion. “Are you sure you want to do this right now? I can go to Chat, transform him into Mister Bug, and we could get one of the Auxiliary Holders—“

“No!” Marinette sharply interjected, before repeating herself more softly at the sight of her taken-aback Kwami. “No, no I have to do this. This one’s obviously on me.”

“It isn’t”

“Yeah, yeah it is.” Marinette sighed, getting into her usual stance for transforming. “Tikki, spots on.”

The pink light of her transformation washed over her, but it was far less comforting than usual. Bracing herself, she darted out of the bathroom, only to find Chat Noir facing off against a horde of students with green, blinking lights embedded in their foreheads, Nathanël and Kim among them. Chat was expertly wielding his baton with his usual fluid grace, but there were far too many for him to take on single-handedly. With a battle cry, Ladybug joined him, her yo-yo flying into a shield in-between attacks. Chat’s face lit up as he saw her, and although she would never admit it, her’s did the same.

“Afternoon, M’lady!” he greeted, extending his baton to knock away two encroaching students and Mme. Mendelieve.

“Afternoon, Kitty,” she responded with a tight smile. “You sure got here fast?”

“I was—“ Chat paused to parry an attack from a younger student with a grunt. “—I was walking by when I heard the screams.” Marinette hummed, impressed.

“I thought luck was supposed to be my department?” she said, extending her shield just a bit to catch an attack from Kim.

“What, can’t share the wealth once in a while?” Chat bantered back with a cheeky grin, causing Marinette to roll her eyes as she lunged into an attack, her yo-yo whipping around Kim and gently flinging him into a storage closet, the door banging shut as her yo-yo came back.

“Any idea what we’re up against?” she asked, her yo-yo back as a shield while Chat faced off against Nathanël.

“I do, but you won’t like it.” Chat said, glancing towards her with that same sympathy that sparked guilt and anger all at once.

“Just tell me.”

“Our new akuma seems to be able to control anyone he comes across, just like characters in a video game.” He sighed, not able to meet her eyes. “It’s Gamer again, Bugaboo. 3.0 this time.”

Marinette’s breath caught in her throat, and she almost missed an attack from Mme. Mendelieve.

“Pegasus.”

Chat nodded sadly. “Yeah. I was able—“ he batted away the still-advancing Nathanël. “—to get a couple of the class out safely, including that Adrien guy.” Marinette whipped her head around to look at him for a brief second as he continued, before returning to the battle. Adrien was safe. He was safe. “Personally, I think it was something to do with that Lila girl.” That caused Marinette’s head to snap up, looking at him again with no small amount of disbelief.

“You’re kidding.”

“I know, I never would have expected it.” He said, and while normally Marinette would have interpreted that as ‘never expected that Lila could cause an akuma’ and been offended on her own behalf as a result, there was something in the way he said those words that made it abundantly clear that his meaning was different. Finally taking an opening to knock Nathanël and a couple other students into a classroom and locking the door, he turned back to her.

“I don’t know a whole lot, Adrien was looking for a classmate when M—Pegasus was akumatized, but he did run back to the class after he heard the screams, and Gamer 3.0 was right there.” His ears suddenly flicked up, and he turned away from the student he was facing to look at her with a surprising amount of worry. “He was looking for Marinette, that girl I’ve had to save from akuma’s a few times—you know her, you’ve saved her too, and she was Multimouse. Have you seen her?”

The concern in his voice for her civilian identity both warmed and broke her heart. “Yes, I got her out. She’s fine, safely hidden.” Chat sighed in audible relief as the two of them locked Mme. Mendelieve and the last few students into another classroom.

“MARINETTE!” a shout suddenly rang through the halls, and Chat clutched his ears; his hearing was far more enhanced than hers, and her ears were definitely ringing at the volume.

“Looks like you and Adrien aren’t the only ones looking for her.” Marinette softly murmured to Chat as his hearing recovered. He looked to her thankfully for the lowered volume as he shook his head to clear it.

“Shall we?” He asked, holding out his hand with a little bow. Marinette took it delicately.

“We shall.”

Chapter Text

“Pound it?” Chat asked hesitantly, looking more than a little concerned.

Marinette didn’t even have it in her to be mad about that, or confused about the once-again lack of demands for their Miraculous.

Max had been akumatized because of her.

According to Max, after she had left Lila had posed the question of whether Marinette’s outburst and subsequent fleeing had anything to do with her, if she had done something wrong. It was a painfully obvious ploy to gain sympathy, to elicit the all too familiar cries of “Marinette was just being unreasonable, surely. You’ve done nothing wrong.” That hadn’t gone according to plan.

The class had immediately rushed to absolve Lila of any wrongdoing, but once they started to consider why she had reacted the way she did, they had started talking about all the ways Marinette had been acting differently. More tired, more distant, and quieter, her once noticeable presence in the class diminished to the point where she was hardly even there.

All the worry had been an irresistible target for the akuma, and Max just happened to be standing closest to the door.

“Y-yeah.” She managed to say, shaking her head a little. “Pound it.” She lightly bumped chat’s fist with her own, before the beeping of her earrings jolted her back to reality.

“Sorry, I’ve got to go.” She mumbled, backing away and throwing her yo-yo to the nearest support beam to swing away.

It missed.

She never missed.

She caught it on the second try, determinedly not looking at Chat’s surprised grimace, before swinging up and away to the roof and vaulting down to a small alley, releasing her transformation with a whispered “spots off.”
Tikki, upon being released from her earrings, immediately pressed to her cheek.

“Marinette, this wasn’t your fault.” She said.

“Wasn't it?” Marinette said, with a wet chuckle.

“It was Lila,” Tikki enunciated, deep sadness in her eyes. “Not you.”

“Look, even if Lila antagonised me, I still caused the emotion. I didn’t hide it well enough. It was my fault.”

“No, it isn't!” Tikki shouted, before jolting, casting a few quick glances around the alley to make sure nobody was around to hear or see her, before continuing softer than before. “No, it isn't. Lila did antagonise you, and thats what summoned the akuma, so that’s what caused Gamer to show up again.”

Marinette sniffed.

“Thanks for trying to make me feel better, but I should have done things differently. We both know that.”

Tikki only shook her head, and it was abundantly clear how much she did not agree, but she didn’t press the issue. She must have realised by now that Marinette wasn’t going to listen.

She exited the alley, Tikki giving her one more sad and concerned look before zipping into her purse. The walk back to François-Dupont was quiet and uneventful, although Tikki pressed up against her a couple times in a silent show of reassurance.

Walking up the stairs to her classroom felt like she was sealing her own doom with some very expensive sealing wax.

That was very quickly proved correct.

The low murmur of chatter emanating from the door was cut off as soon as she stepped inside, thirteen pairs of eyes swivelling around to stare at her.

Adrien wasn’t there, but he often took a little longer coming back from Akuma attacks, so that wasn’t surprising.

Rose broke the silence, walking up to Marinette with a smile in her eyes and on her face.

“Oh thank goodness!” she exclaimed, clasping her hands together over her heart. “We were all so worried when the Akuma hit and we couldn’t find you!”

“Yeah, where were you dudette?” Nino asked, that infuriating walking-on-eggshells tone in his words. She wasn’t mad he used it, she never was when anybody did, but something about that tone just… she couldn’t place it. She just knew she didn’t like it.

“Bathroom.” Marinette said simply, with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. That would have once looked so out of place on her, but it had become a much more common sight in the past weeks. “I was just splashing a little water on my face when I heard the akuma. I hid in a stall.” Her words weren’t unfriendly, just… Clipped. Emotionless.

She made her way back to her seat, taking notice of the way nobody moved to take their attention off of her, and the unreadable look on Alya’s face. “What did I miss?”

Kim scoffed, but there wasn’t any depreciation in it. “So we aren’t going to talk about it, then?”

Welp. Not surprising, but not welcome either.

She decided to take the oblivious approach. “What do you mean?”

“There is a 99.352% chance she is not going to say anything.” Max stated, looking for all the world like this was not the first time he’d said those words.

Alix shushed him and raised her eyebrows. “Ok Mari, look. We know you know ‘what.’ You know you know. Can we just talk about it?”

“Yeah,” Rose said in agreement, her voice gentle. “You just… broke down out of the blue.”

Marinette could have laughed. She almost wanted to, but she didn’t. ‘Out of the blue’ was the furthest thing from what had really happened.

“Well, it wasn’t exactly unprompted,” Alix said pensively.

Oh?

“But Lila was only trying to help, Mari, and I know you know that. So what’s really going on?”

Oh.

“I don’t really want to talk about it, if that's ok.” Marinette said, her voice a little quieter, as Alya continued to regard her with that unreadable gaze.

“No, no it’s not.” Nino said, a little apprehensive, but determined nonetheless. “I want to respect your privacy, we all do, but you can’t just expect us to pretend that—“ he gestured to her. “—never happened.”

“Not to mention how odd you’ve been acting the past few weeks.” Alix continued, as Nathanël nodded beside her.

“Yeah, we’re worried about you.” Ivan said, soft and compassion-filled.

Marinette remained silent, eyes lowered to the floor and looking for all the world like she wished she could disappear, and Nino frowned.

“Come on, ‘Nette. We’re your friends, you can talk to us.” He said calmly, almost placatingly, but not quite.

Marinette looked around the room, barely moving her head. Juleka had moved to stand with Rose, the two of them wearing matching concerned expressions. Nathaniël had put down his pencil, a very rare sight, to watch her with that piercing artist’s gaze.

Myléne and Ivan were sitting in their seats as well, visibly worried. Chloé was being, well, Chloé, examining her fingernails as Sabrina fed her grapes, but she wasn’t insulting her at the moment, so that was a plus.

Kim looked ready to fight someone if anyone gave him the word, but that was his reaction to most negative emotions, so what he was really feeling was anyone's guess. Max sat beside him, obviously well on the road to recovery from his akumatization but looking rather exasperated at the whole situation; he was, though, looking at her with outright sympathy. Alix had laced her fingers together and rested her head on top, looking at her with a calculating gaze, although her gaze was flooded with a compassionate worry rarely seen on her.

Marinette wanted to scream, to shout, to ask them why, why were they this worried about her? Why, when she didn’t deserve the smallest bit?

She wanted to yell, to let all her pain fall out of her mouth, and finally get them to understand that Lila was right. All those times she cornered her in the bathroom, all those times she’d whispered taunts, sent satisfied glared whenever Marinette was pushed away by her class, blamed her for something that she had done, she had always said essentially the same thing.

You’re worthless.

Sometimes it was with different words, sometimes she’d replace the latter with weak, or alone, or pathetic, or incompetent like she had today, but they all meant the same in the end.

She didn’t believe her, of course. Lila did nothing but lie.

But she couldn’t deny that it hurt.

And she couldn’t deny that there was a nugget of truth in there as well.

The girl in question was sitting behind everyone else, taking advantage of the lack of eyes on her to send a malicious smirk Marinette’s way.

She thought back to Nino’s question. She thought about all Lila had done to her, her slow loss of her usual brightness, and her perpetually melancholy state.

She thought about how this was honestly the first time any of her class had noticed, or brought it up at least, and about how surprised they were by what they all saw as a ‘sudden change’ in her mood that, in their eyes, had only showed up in the last few weeks, a change that none of them had seen until today.

And with that thought, and the emotions from earlier in the day still swirling around under a hastily constructed barrier of gossamer in her brain that had sprung up as Gamer 3.0 did, she let out a question in a tiny voice, with the tiniest breath.

“Are you though?”

It was so quiet that no normal civilian could have heard it.

She didn’t know why Alya suddenly tensed up, a smidge more of what she could now identify as horror weaving it’s way into her still inscrutable expression.

That was when Myléne piped up, hesitant but sure.

“Marinette, Lila brought it up, and we think it might be the best idea for you to… step back from your representative stuff for a while. To get some rest.” She was oozing kindness as the class, including Nino, nodded along with sympathetic gazes, while Alya tensed beside her for some reason, but Marinette’s heart dropped as her posture, previously so carefully kept perfect, drooped.

She knew this was coming eventually, Lila had been subtly dropping enough snide comments about her performance to make the fact that Marinette’s position was her next target abundantly clear.

Maybe it was for the best. Maybe —and she shuddered to even consider the possibility— Lila was right, even if that only came about because of her own selfish agenda.

She’d clearly not been enough for Paris, so how was she supposed to trust herself to lead a class, especially a class in which the majority of the kids she’d put in danger attended?

Now that she thought about it, she should have stepped down sooner. If not because of how obviously terrible of a job she was doing, then out of respect for those she put in danger.

Ladybug couldn’t lead them; neither could Marinette.

“Ok.” She murmured, in a tiny, broken voice that was so not Marinette and that she had tried so hard to make sound normal. “I think that might be for the best.” She cautiously spared a glance at Lila, and to her surprise, Lila looked genuinely shocked at her willingness to concede.

A hush fell over the room, although Marinette truly couldn’t figure out why.

“…Just like that?” Nathanël asked, speaking for the first time since she had come back into class.

“Just like that.” Marinette echoed, with a note of finality.

For some reason, a shift she couldn’t quite place went over the class. Marinette could feel her emotions threatening to burst out of control; to overwhelm her with despair and the remaining threads of rage from that morning.

She needed to get out of there.

“It’s for the best.” She followed up, beginning to pack her things away, much to the shock of a few of her classmates.

“Wait, Marinette where are you—“ Rose asked, but Marinette gently cut her off with a raised hand.

“I have a headache.” Marinette stated matter-of-factly, trying desperately to regain that control over her emotions that she had walked into the classroom with. That wasn’t a lie —Gamer had smashed her into a row of lockers pretty hard at one point in the fight, and the cure didn’t seem to work on her as well when it came to non-life threatening stuff. Her voice returned to how it was, no longer tiny and broken but more classically Marinette, if more clipped and brisk, but still kind. “Speaking of, would someone tell Mme. Bustier?”

Nino nodded absently, but rose from his seat to face her as he did.

“Wait, Dudette—“

Marinette didn’t know what he was going to say, but she did know that she needed to get out of there before the dams burst again.

“Nino, I'm fine. I did just want to clarify; something tells me Alya isn’t going to be taking over for me, despite the fact that she was my deputy?” The class looked a little taken aback, but Juleka and Ivan nodded. “Ok. Then Lila, I wish you the best of luck on your campaign and subsequent election-slash-term in office.” Oh that was hard to say —it was practically like chewing sandpaper— but the last thing she needed now was to give Lila more ammunition to use against her after she left for the day.

Myléne blinked. “wait a second, Lila hasn’t said anything about running herself, and even if she had, there’s no guarantee she’d win!”

Marinette, at the door by now with her bag swung over her shoulder, paused for a moment, turning back with a soft, sad smile.

“I know, but there’s no other way this can end.”

With that she left, only to run into Adrien as he jogged up to the classroom.

“Sorry I’m back late—Marinette?” he asked, confusion and worry dancing in those beautiful emerald eyes. “Why do you have your bag?”

“I have a headache, so i’ve decided to go home for the rest of the day. See you tomorrow?” she asked, smiling, and although she spoke with a much more relaxed tone than she previously had, she still desperately needed to get out of there.

“Yeah… sure…”. Adrien said skeptically as he lightly frowned, concern flooding more into his gaze. As she turned away, he called back. “Wait! Marinette—“ She faced him again. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah, yeah sure!” she said, mustering every last ounce of brightness she had left in her and pouring it into those words. She knew he was going to find out sooner or later, but she also knew he had the kind of wonderful heart that would drive him to follow and try to comfort her if she told him right now.

She couldn’t risk him being near her if another akuma showed up.

“O-ok then.” Adrien said, eyebrows furrowed. “As long as you’re sure.”

“Totally am.” She said determinedly. “See you tomorrow?”

“Yeah… see you tomorrow.” He waved, entering into the classroom with one last glance at her. She started to walk towards the stairs, her words playing in her head.

Totally fine, I’m totally fine.

100% fine.

Finerino.

Couldn’t be more fine with this whole situation.

In the back of her head however, one little thought beamed up from behind the once gossamer, now more like cotton barrier.

Except you’re not, are you?

Chapter Text

Marinette slowly climbed the stairs to her room, the faint sounds of music floating up from the bakery below.

Her mom had been happy to let her stay home for the rest of the day, and in all likelihood she was calling the school now to excuse her absence. The headache hadn’t been a lie —Gamer had smashed her into a row of lockers pretty hard at one point in the fight, and the cure didn’t seem to work on her as well when it came to non-life threatening stuff.

Tikki poked out of her purse, zipping up to her trapdoor and phasing through. Her Kwami had been mostly silent since they left the school, only asking if she was ok once they were away from the building. Aside from that, her face had been suffused with a quiet rage that she tried very hard to keep hidden from Marinette.

The first thing she saw as she pushed the trapdoor open were the faces of sixteen worried Kwamis crowding around the trapdoor.

So that was why Tikki had gone ahead.

She spared a small glare towards the Kwami, before marching determinedly past them all and heading up the stairs to her bed.

They all followed her, of course, but it was the principle.

She fell face first onto her bed, mind racing.

She couldn’t blame her class, of course, she definitely hadn’t been a very good representative in the past few weeks, but if she couldn’t manage a single class, then how was Paris supposed to manage?

It was only a matter of time before she couldn’t figure out her lucky charm or wasn’t able to find the akumatized object or got trapped and unable to fight. Or maybe she would just break? Make another stupid mistake like she had with Miracle Queen, and then Paris would be doomed.

Or what if her Kitty got hurt.

What if she made a mistake, and Chat paid for it?

Then Paris would be at Hawk Moth’s mercy, and France, and Europe, and probably the whole fricking world, and—“

“Marinette,” Tikki’s voice broke her out of her catastrophizing, but she kept her face firmly planted in her mattress. “What can I—we, do to help?”

“Nothing.” Marinette mumbled, voice muffled by the soft bedding. “I’m… I’m fine. Totally fine. Nothing to worry about here.”

“She does realise we can see her, right?” Daizzy whispered to Ziggy beside her.

“Doess thisss happen often?” Sass asked Tikki, floating up to hover beside her.

“More than it should.” Was Tikki’s only response.

“Seriously, I’m fine. Stop worrying.” Marinette sat up, finally seeing the Kwamis floating in a messy semi-circle around her. Tikki was the only one all that close, but that wasn’t new. The other Kwamis had always seemed to give her a lot of distance. Tikki seemed like she knew why, but any time Marinette asked, she would just say that it was nothing. There had been a little progress on that regard, but it was slow.

They certainly seemed to like being out of the box though, but something about the shock awe, and disbelief that had flitted across all their faces when she had made the move sat a little wrong in her stomach. She couldn’t quite place it.

All she knew was that they all seemed to quite like being able to roam around her room, so that was obviously how things were going to stay.

Tikki floated closer, pain and worry in her eyes.

“Marinette, you need to stop saying that. You are the furthest thing from fine. Just say the word and I will go blast that girl into oblivion.” Marinette let out a shocked chuckle at both her words and the furious expression on her face.

“You would never—“

“Oh I think I would.” Tikki hissed, and Marinette somehow knew that this reaction had been a long time coming. A long time of built-up rage on Marinette’s behalf.

She didn’t understand that.

She didn’t understand a lot of this.

“But…”. She murmured, confusion lacing into her voice. “What about taking the high road?” Tikki, at those words, visibly drooped, floating a few inches lower as guilt threaded its way into her expression.

“I did say that, and I’m sorry.” Marinette blinked, her jaw dropping an inch. “That wasn’t right. I was so focused on preventing akumas coming for you when I wasn’t around that I completely lost sight of your own wellbeing. That’s on me, and I am so, so sorry Marinette.”

“Tikki, it’s fine, it was the right tactical move.“ She said, fully meaning it. Tikki’s eyes widened.

“Tactical move? What on earth are you talking about?” Tikki whispered, before her voice grew a little louder. “You are a literal teenager, fighting a magical war against a man who feeds on negativity, and instead of supporting your emotions and helping you express them, I decided to get you to… to push them all away!” She finished in a yell. Tikki breathed heavily for a few seconds, before swallowing and composing herself once again. “That’s all on me, but I was wrong. Marinette, you have been through so much more than anyone your age should have, and it’s ok to not be fine. It's ok to be upset, to be sad, scared, angry.”

Marinette sat, a little shellshocked. She would be honest, hearing this from Tikki meant everything to her, and yet that not-so-small, not-so-secret voice in her head kept whispering. You can’t though. You already are a failure, imagine if you were akumatized and Chat had to defeat you? What if you defeated him? What if you hurt him?

“Thanks for saying that Tikki,” she whispered. “It means a lot, but I can’t right now. Not yet at least.” Tikki looked stricken, but Wayzz zipped a little closer to her.

“Master—“ He began, and Marinette froze. “if you would allow me to put my own opinion forward, I think you should listen to Tikki.”

Marinette didn’t respond at first, her head still turning over his words in her mind. Oh she had been trying, trying for weeks to get the Kwami’s to stop with the ‘master,’ but they almost seemed scared to. Wayzz’s asking permission to give her advice was also part of a repeating pattern.

And if she was being honest, that scared her.

Add that to the Kwamis’… submissiveness and demure manners that some old talks with Tikki proved was very abnormal for them, and Marinette was verging on terrified.

Because if what she was beginning to think was correct, it opened up a whole lot of absolutely horrifying avenues that she really, really didn’t want to be true.

For her sake, a tiny, selfish bit, but for the Kwamis’ sake most of all.

She turned her attention back to the Kwamis in front of her, giving her head a tiny shake.

“We talked about this…”. Wayzz slapped a paw to his mouth way, way too quickly.

“Deepest apologies ma—Marinette.” He said quickly, words spilling out in a breathless apology, and Marinette’s heart cracked.

“Don’t worry about it,” she softly reassured. “All good.”

He gave her a small smile.

“I do still think you should listen to Tikki.” he said after, and Trixx floated up to join him.

“Agreed. Bug here is a bit of a stick-in-the-mud—“ there was an angry buzz from Tikki, to which Trixx dismissively flicked his tail, “—But I have to admit she knows her stuff. Come on, she apologised, she wants to help. Let her.” Trixx rolled his eyes fondly, but there was that same reservation in his smile, and a surprising amount of worry hidden behind his eyes.

“I appreciate it, I do, but I’m fine. Really.”

“Saying it over and over again isn’t going to make it any more true you know— if I may interject.” Xuppu called from the back as Stompp nodded.

Marinette rolled her eyes. So what if she said that phrase a bit more than most people do? Didn't make it any less correct.

“I really messed up…”. Tikki whispered, nearly silently, and Marinette turned to her with wide eyes and raised eyebrows. “you don’t feel like you can talk to me, do you?” she asked a second later with a little bit more volume. Marinette opened her mouth to respond, but Tikki cut her off. “I understand. Really, I do Marinette. I really let you down here and I have to regain that trust. I know that. But…” she trailed off as Marinette frantically searched her brain for something, anything she could say to get that horribly guilty and stricken expression off Tikki’s face.

Tikki pondered on what marinette could only assume to be her next words for a second, before she finally turned that sympathetically piercing gaze on her chosen once more.

“If you don’t want to talk to me, and I don’t blame you, then you should talk to Chat Noir.” she said at last.

Marinette froze, her only movement coming through a pair of rapid blinks.

Talk to Chat Noir.

I can’t.

I don’t deserve to have that.

He doesn’t deserve that.

I can’t ask him to take that on for me, I can’t. He already does so much for me, so I can take this myself. I can try to do something for him in return, even if it’s only keeping him from any more burdens.

And beyond that—I’ll mess it up all over again.

I’ll say something wrong, or he’ll get too worried, or start taking too many risks cause of that Kwami-forsaken self-sacrificing of his—

—And he’ll get akumatized.

And he’ll never forgive himself if that happens and he actually remembers it.

And it will —once again— be

All.

My.

Fault.

Her last three thoughts plinked into her brain like raindrops, landing with a soft, yet definitive finality.

All my fault.

She turned back to Tikki, trying to keep the waiting tears from pooling into her eyes and spilling down her cheeks.

It was in vain.

Rivulets began to drizzle down her face, trickling warmth behind them that stood out in stark contrast to the crisp February breeze streaming in through her open window.

She turned to Tikki, who looked somehow even more horrified.

“Marinette? what’s—“

“I can’t Tikki.” she breathed out with a raspy sigh. “I can’t do that to him. I can’t.”

Tikki opened her mouth to say something, (and if marinette knew her at all then that ‘something’ would no doubt be ‘oh, chat wouldn’t mind!’ or some other kind platitude to make her feel better.) But she was cut off by the sudden emergence of a few notes of a very familiar song.

We’re no strangers to love—

“Ugh!” she moaned, collapsing face first onto her bed.

You know the rules, and so do I!

“He did it again, didn’t he?” she mumbled through her comforter.

A ‘lil commitment’s what i’m—thinking of, you wouldn’t get this from any other guy—

She made no effort to reach the source.

I~ just wanna tell you how i’m feeling—

Trixx snorted, trying vainly to muffle his giggles.

Gotta make you, understand—

By Kwami, how did he keep managing to change her ringtone for him to that?

Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and—desert you—

Groaning, Marinette hauled herself out of her bed, and slowly clambered down the stairs to where the offending device lurked, the Kwamis crowding the railing of her loft to watch her as she did so.

—Never gonna make you cry, never gonna say goodbye, never gonna tell a li-ie, and hurt you!

She swiped her phone from its resting spot on her desk, and answered before Rick Astley could launch into the next verse.

“What.”

Chat didn’t reply, instead just laughing his head off. Marinette was really starting to regret routing their communicators to their civilian phones.

“When did you even have the opportunity?!” she exclaimed into her microphone, to which Chat only laughed harder.

“You should know by now, m’lady—“ he began, trying vainly to catch his breath as he did so. “There is no escaping the rick-roll.”

“How did you even figure out about this?” she asked, voice laced with thorough exasperation. “We’re french!”

“Rick-rolls are global, Bugaboo.”

“I swear, one of these days you’re going for another involuntary yo-yo bungee jump off Montparnasse.” She grumbled, as Chat burst into even harder laughter.

Against her own best efforts, she giggled a little too.

And her cheeks may have gotten a little pink.

May have.

She cleared her throat, and chat’s guffaws turned into slightly quieter chuckles. “What are you calling for, anyway?”

With one last laugh, and a sound that was undoubtedly a hand wiping away a tear, Chat finally regained control of his vocal cords.

“I thought you’d want to know that the Mayor might just happen to be asking you and your’s truly to a little soirée”

Marinette’s brain ground to a halt.

“A what now?”

“Some sort of charity gala, I think for improvments to the underground, and a few other charities as well.”

“The… underground? Isn’t that a tax-funded project?” Marinette asked as she plunked herself down on her desk chair, before another question popped into her mind. “And why do we need to be there?” Not that she wasn’t for charity (because she very much was, and that didn’t matter anyway because charity this was not) but she just… she didn’t have the time. Jagged’s outfit for his new tour was due in two weeks—and she had to do a decent bit of embroidery by hand for the cuffs on the jacket— she had to get going on growing some of the plants for different power-ups in her garden before it was too warm to plant a few of them, and she had to get her campaign plan ready for her push for music-listening rights in the library—

Well, she supposed she didn’t have to do that last one anymore.

“Oh it is, that’s just what the Mayor’s team is calling this. It's more like an election-funding gala, but Bourgeois did manage to get some actual charity in there as well. He’s gotten better, in my humble o-purr-nion, since his step-daughter came to town. How that girl is Style Queen’s daughter, I shall never know.”

That was certainly true, Marinette had noticed that since Zoé’s arrival, the mayor had been a little more able to stand up to Chloé, and she supposed that newfound confidence extended to some of his team as well.

She was growing more convinced that Zoé was some sort of miracle worker, and she was beginning to think she may have found Pollen a new chosen.

Not that she really had any right to decide that, but she just couldn't help thinking it.

“As for why we have to be there…” He cleared his throat, and Marinette could suddenly and very clearly see him reaching up to scratch the back of his neck as he often did.

If it made her heart beat a little faster, she would never tell.

“Look, he didn’t say anything specific when he flagged me down, but I think it’s about you not being around as much.” A lump formed in Marinette’s throat, and as if he was psychic, Chat was suddenly and quickly speaking reassurances. “It’s unfair of course, I, and I would sure hope the majority of Paris, completely get why you’ve been a little hard to track down, but something tells me the press is getting a little impatient for a statement.”

“On…”. Marinette began, scuffing her feet against the floor and not quite wanting to voice her deepest fear yet.

“No, no—“ Chat quickly interrupted her rocketing brain. “—No, I think just on everything else. The Hawk Moth absence up till a few weeks ago, the more powerful Akumas, everything like that. You know how the press is, they have to have their story, and with our dear Ladyblogger showcasing how much more human dignity she has than them —and not chasing you down for interviews they can cut-and-paste— they’re getting a little antsy.”

“Understandable.” Marinette said, quietly but not weakly.

“No, no it isn’t! ‘we’re superheroes, not celebrities,’ right?” Chat suddenly exclaimed, conviction oozing from his words. “We’re out there saving their buts and then they think they’re what, entitled to their scoop? We’re kids! We have other responsibilities than their view mongering! That’s why we keep most stuff for the Ladyblog, right? Alya knows when to get her scoop and when to let us just do our work” he sighed as Marinette’s heart swelled. Stupid cat. He had no right to be this nice to her when she hadn’t done anything to deserve it. “The Mayor feels kinda guilty, I think, but some of his bigger donors come straight from the press.”

Marinette quietly huffed. She really, really didn’t want to do this, but as annoying as the Mayor could be, he had helped them out on occasion, and she did owe Paris an appearance, that much was true.

It was kinda her duty to.

“We should probably go,” she said, cutting off Chat as he was in the middle of a tirade about how they had no right to demand this of her. (And she was certainly worried about how he didn’t mention their demands on him)

“What? M’lady you don’t owe them anything—“

“I might not, but I do owe Paris. They need to see that we’re still doing well.” She put a little stress on the ‘we’ part of that statement. Goodness knows her kitty needed that. Chat was silent, but eventually his voice came ringing through the speaker.

“As long as you are absolutely sure.” He enunciated, obviously following the Tikki route and realising he was not going to win this fight. “We can back out of this at any time though, you understand? I’m with you on this, whatever you need to do.”

“Mm-hm.” She hummed absently, swivelling the chair back and forth.

“Bug.”

“Yes, fine. If I need to I’ll tell you.” She sighed, before another thought occurred to her. “What’s the dress code for this thing anyway?”

Chat was silent for a second.

“Bug. No.”

“It’s fine! I can totally do this, you know we can’t wear brand.”

“We can just do our suits! There is no way you have time to make two outfits. No way. Not happening.” His voice was overflowing with that sympathy that Marinette absolutely hated. “When did I become the voice of reason?” he grumbled to himself, and despite herself Marinette almost giggled.

“First off, that’s still my thing. Second, I’m making them. End of story. We don’t have anything else we can wear.”

“We can do our suits!”

“You and I both know the press would jump all over us for that, and before you say it— our last outfits were destroyed in that surprise attack.” She sighed, her chair spinning in a full circle. “Besides—“ She turned to look at her calendar, narrowing in on the orange post-it notes that denoted her work-times and appointments for Class Representative business. “—I have time now.”

Chapter Text

Marinette returned to school the next day in a very atypical manner. Early.

Thanks to what she could only assume was stress, she had woken up at five that morning, and as such was able to make it to school a whole fifteen minuets before class started.

That would end up being the only good thing to happen that morning.

Only the earliest of arrivers were there when she walked in, namely Max and Juleka, and both of them eyed her with a little hesitancy, a helping of worry, and a heaping dose of sympathy.

It was not exactly received well by its target.

This pattern would continue as the rest of the class trickled in, most of them giving her concerned and/or compassionate glances as they headed to their seats. She almost wished they were keeping their distance from her instead of this. It would have been easier to stomach. She could have convinced herself that Lila had spun some new web to drive her classmates away, but this? The genuine kindness and caring they were emanating? It was worse.

It was worse because she didn’t deserve a single bit of it.

Nino, upon sitting down in front of her with a very worried look her direction, started hurriedly whispering to a frantic looking Adrien.

Strange thing was, those perfect emerald eyes flicked from her for a second, looking over to cast a glare Lila’s way.

That didn’t make any sense, but if she was being honest, not much had in the past few weeks.

Alya’s reaction was strangest of all. She waltzed into the room with her usual cheerful demeanour, waving to Juleka and Rose and smiling at Alix and Myléne as she plopped a kiss on Nino’s cheek, but a year of being her best friend clued Marinette in to something else.

It was the slight tension to her walk, the smile that didn’t quite meet her eyes, the very controlled wave, and the strange look on her face that had been there yesterday as she sat down next to Marinette. Something was off with her today.

This continued throughout the entirety of their morning Lit class, and Marinette swore she could see Alya sneaking looks at her out of the corner of her eye, although she managed to feign ignorance by listening to Juleka tell Rose about the gig Luka had booked; organising the musical entertainment for Mr. Bourgeois’ gala. Apparently Gabriel Agreste himself had— in a most uncharacteristic manner —taken it upon himself to plan the event.

This was even odder when you considered that said Agreste couldn’t even be bothered to remember his own son’s important events, much less celebrate them.

Yet all her pondering ceased as the bell rang; she turned to Alya, fully intending to ask her what was wrong, but Alya moved first, standing up and leading Marinette out the door, and away from an encroaching Lila.

“Alya? What are—“

“We need to talk.” Alya said, entering a storage closet with Marinette close behind. She closed and locked the door, before exhaling a deep, deep breath and turning to Marinette. She wouldn’t meet her eyes, and was fidgeting with her fingers as Marinette grew more and more confused

“Ok, now I’m worried.” Marinette said with a little nervous giggle. Alya quickly snapped her head up, frantically waving her hands in front of her face.

“No, no it’s not that. Or… it is? I don’t know…” she mumbled, and Marinette blinked.

“What’s… What’s going on?”

Alya took a deep breath, before the most unexpected sentence she could ever have said came out of her mouth.

“How long has Lila been… been bullying you?”

Marinette blanked.

“W-what?” She stammered, her overthinking brain already coming up with a million horrible reasons and outcomes that that sentence could mean. Top of the list was that this was some elaborate trick from Lila to… well she didn’t know what, but she’d bet her miraculous that it wasn’t going to be good. Thankfully, Alya spoke again before she could concoct any more scenarios.

“Mari, I know.” She swallowed, her eyes having returned to their avoidance of her own. “And… And I am so, so sorry…”

It should have been obvious what to do there. Marinette had been wanting, desperately hoping for someone to know about Lila’s bullying for months. Adrien knew about the lying, yes, but he didn’t know about the threats, the tripping, the belittlement, and by Kwami Marinette was going to keep it that way.

And she had wanted to keep Alya that way too.

She didn’t want this to happen. She knew Alya way too well, she knew how she’d blame herself for letting it happen and for buying into her lies, and Marinette couldn’t do that to her, couldn’t be the reason for that.

And yet that small part of her was so, so happy that someone knew. That small part said that Alya would prefer to know then keep going along with it, that she knew anyway, and this could end up doing more good then harm.

That small part very much wanted to hug Alya right now.

She didn’t listen to the small part very often, (or at all) but something that sounded suspiciously like Tikki whispered that maybe she should, just this once.

She listened to the small part.

Alya’s crushing grip on her as they hugged was proof enough that it was the right call.

“How long, Girl?” Alya whispered through a sprinkling of tears. Marinette swallowed, but… In for a penny, in for a pound, right?

“I’ve known she was lying since she first showed up, but the other stuff… Since she came back from her…” she dislodged her hands from Alya’s hug just long enough to make some air quotes. “…Trip.” Alya’s breath hitched.

“Six months?” She breathed, removing herself from the hug and facing Marinette with a face full of horror. The girl in question just nodded. “Why didn’t you tell me?” She asked, but the way she said it made it clear that she already knew. “I… I need to hear it.”

“You would have believed me?” Marinette said with a half-smile, and that was clearly what Alya had been expecting, which meant her grief-stricken expression had been a long time coming. Marinette quickly spoke again. “I don’t blame you, not at all. Lila’s good. She’s really good. It’s not your fault.”

“You should and it was.” Alya huffed, wiping at an eye with the heel of her hand. “I’m literally a reporter. It's my job to figure this stuff out!” She turned back to Marinette with a piercing expression. “Look. It may not be one hundred percent on me, but I f-ed up. You have every right to be mad at me, and blaming you for that is so far from something I would do, but know this Marinette Dupain-Cheng—“ She took a step forward, poking Marinette’s collarbone with a single finger, “—I will make it up to you, as long as you let me, of course.”

Dang it. Marinette’s eyes were watering now. And yet, she couldn’t bring herself to mind.

“Thank… Thank you…” She whispered, before launching into another hug. When it eventually dissolved, she wiped a tear from her nose, feeling better than she had in a while. Alya spoke again after a minute.

“And I am so sorry about the whole representative thing. I would never take your spot like that, that's why I stepped down”

Marinette beamed at her gratefully, before asking a question that had been nagging at her for a while. “How… How did you know, anyway?”

Alya weakly smirked, a little of her mischievous sparkle coming back into her eyes, and Marinette suddenly knew with extraordinary clarity that she picked Trixx’s chosen well.

“She’s been getting sloppy. A couple stories that were just a little too fantastical. Then she started going after you…” She winced at Marinette’s unsurprised shrug. “And it was kinda obvious. It got really clear yesterday though. That was way uncool.”

“Forgive me for not being surprised.” Marinette mutters, only to immediately regret that decision as Alya’s eyes went wide.

“What?”

Marinette pressed her lips together, and Alya raised an eyebrow, before her mouth dropped open the smallest bit and her eyes soften.

“She hasn’t just been telling lies, has she?” she asked, softly and quietly, and there it was again, that stupid amount of concern for her wellbeing.

“Well, no, but it’s fine, Alya. It’s fine.”

It isn’t whispered her mind, but she shoved it back.

“It isn’t.” Alya echoed, and by Kwami was she a mind reader or something? Marinette hugged her arms around her torso, avoiding Alya’s gaze. “Marinette…” Alya swallowed. “What exactly has been going on?” She waited for a few seconds, then a few seconds more, obviously employing the ‘wait long enough and Mari will talk’ method. That lasted for thirty-seconds before she spoke again. “Mari, I know you’re probably freaking out about how I ‘can’t handle this’ or some BS like that—“ Harsh, but admittedly accurate, “—But I’m here for you, and I want to help. You just gotta let me.”

Crap. Those were… really good points. Marinette sighed. In for a penny, she supposed. Alya was in too deep to ever let this go.

So, she told her.

“Well… I suppose it really started when she threatened me in the bathroom after she came back.”

“She what?” Alya screeched, and oh, it was all too easy to see Rena Rouge in the fire in her eyes and the rage in her features.

It was oddly kinda sweet, if Marinette was being honest with herself.

In for a penny, in for a penny, you know she’s never gonna let this go now.

She took a deep breath.

“It was right after she got back from her ‘trip.’ I had just thrown the napkin, you remember that right?—“ Alya nodded, a little calmer, but still evidently furious, “—So I go into the bathroom, and she shows up. Starts going on and on about how she ‘just wants to be friends!’—“ Marinette batted her eyelashes and clasped her hands for emphasis “—but I called her out on her BS. Next thing I know, i’m being… I guess herded would be the right word? Towards the wall, then she starts going on about how she’s going to turn all of you against me, how Adrien will be hers—which is really creepy, to be honest—and how I can’t do anything about it except stay out of her way.” She shrugged nonchalantly as she finished talking, keeping the small cracks on her heart that reopened as she spoke well hidden.

Alya, on the other hand, made no such effort. Or, perhaps she did, but if that was the case it obviously wasn’t working.

She looked like she was about to spontaneously combust.

And yet, at the same time, she looked just as sad, if not more so, then she had when she first asked Marinette about Lila.

“And we proved her right, didn’t we?” she asked softly.

Marinette blinked at her.

“You said… yesterday… are we? Your friends?”

Oh right, she had said something like that.

“i mean… it was kinda spur of the moment. I didn’t mean it—“

“Mari, girl, you did and its ok. We messed the F up. We believed that… that prick over you. I mean, I can’t even imagine. You just sitting there as we… as we fawned over her, this girl who was bullying you!” she finished at a half-yell, breathing heavily as she did.

Mari felt her eyes begin to go damp.
And even though she didn’t think an apology was necessary, she couldn’t deny that it was wonderful to hear.
And she knew what Alya needed to hear too.
“I forgive you.” She whispered, before launching into another hug.

***

Marinette spent the last fifteen minuets of their lunch break telling Alya everything that had happened since; the expulsion, the kiss she forced on Adrien, the belittling, the tripping and shoving, the subtle manipulation to convince the people in her life that Marinette was being the bully, and far, far more. All ending with what had happened yesterday, although she may have left out all the near akumatizations. She had already burdened Alya enough.

By the end of her explanation, Marinette was suddenly very, very glad Alya didn’t have her miraculous right then.

She didn’t really want her best friend to be arrested on assault and battery charges.

And yet when all was said and done, it was clear Alya had one more thing still on her mind.

“Alya, what is it?”

“well… Girl, I totally get why you didn’t come to me —or anyone really— about all this, but why didn’t you go to Bustier? Damocles? Heck, even Mendeleive?”

“You think they would’ve believed me?”

And perhaps it was the sheer resignation in her voice, resignation that almost never found it’s way there, that dimmed Alya’s eyes. It was clear as day that she was well aware of the effect all this was having on Marinette, but hearing something as uncharacteristic as that from the mouth of her best friend clearly had an effect.

“Mari…”. She said, before her gaze turned to steel. “You know what? No. that’s it, that lying djakout is not keeping this up. Not now, not ever again.” Marinette blinked—although it wasn’t because of the frankly not very PG creole term Alya had used, because she had been using that liberally since her grandmother taught it to her.

“Alya—“

“No, Marinette, I am not letting her get away with this.” Alya hissed, and she started edging towards the door. “The class would believe it if we both told them, if we just—“

“No.” Marinette said as she stepped in front of Alya, blocking her path to their classroom. “No, Lila would spin something. She’d get herself out of it, and then you’d be next on her list. Before you knew it, the class is against you too, and I will not, I cannot allow that to happen to you. I've already shoved all this on you.” She finished with a sigh, and Alya’s eyes grew wide.

“You’re… you’re sacrificing yourself, aren’t you?” she asked in a hushed whisper, and Marinette attempted a cheery smile.

“I can handle it. It’s just nice knowing that someone else knows.”

“But Mari, Girl—“

“Alya, it’s fine.” Mari cut her off with a softly raised hand, her smile falling just a bit, becoming tinted with a dose of sadness. “It’s what ladybug would do, after all.”

Chapter Text

Alya didn’t leave her side for the rest of the day, and Marinette was actually very glad of that fact. It was wonderful, really, really wonderful, having someone know everything.

Not to mention Alya seemed to have taken it upon herself to scoop Adrien into her circle of protection after Marinette had told her about Lila’s harassment and sexual assault, so they had ample opportunity to talk.

It was nice. Even discounting her not-so-small crush on him, Adrien was one of her best friends. Unfortunately, the both of them had been so busy that they hadn’t had a lot of time to talk. If she was being honest, it must have been two weeks since she said more than five words to him.

The issue was that he seemed to be even more worried than the average one of her classmates, and kept siding in questions about how she was doing, and was she getting enough sleep? Drinking enough water? Taking enough time to do her own stuff? And was there anything he could do to help her out?

Honestly, he had to be some personification of sunlight or something, because how could anyone else be that sweet?

Well, perhaps one other person said a traitorous part of her mind that she really hated sometimes.

And the funny thing was, she mused in an attempt to shut that part of her brain up, the worry still bothered her coming from Adrien, but less so. About as much as it did coming from Chat, if she was being honest.

Adrien glanced at her longer than usual as he stepped into his father’s car, and she walked home from school that day feeling better than she had in a long time, even if it was paired with no small twinge of guilt for roping Alya into this along with her.

Tikki zipped out of her purse as soon as she was off her ladder, casting a smile at Marinette as she zoomed off to talk to some of the other Kwamis, who were still casting concerned looks at her. It only took her a minuet to figure out what Tikki was telling them, when a squeak of “Thank goodness my chosen finally got her head on straight!” Came from Trixx.

Marinette shook her head fondly, before seating herself at her desk and beginning the preliminary sketches for her and Chat’s outfits. Simply modern was the obvious way to go, but if she was being honest, beach themed designs did hold a certain appeal. And yet neither of those went with the ‘theme’ of the Paris Metro. She scrunched up her nose, leaning back into her chair and sighing at the ceiling.

By happenstance, her gaze happened to fall on one of her old notebooks, which happened to be opened to a sketch she had done in honour of the 20th anniversary of the Dupain-Cheng patisserie last year. She had gone back to the early 2000s, drawn inspiration from the way the world had been when they first opened.

A lightbulb went off in her head.

Five hours later, she had at least preliminary sketches for her outfit, and a full pattern for Chat’s. She worked on Jagged’s embroidery for another hour or two, before heading up to the rooftop garden, where Wayzz was waiting by the small, lockable seed box she had procured to hold some of the more magical plants for power-ups.

With the turtle Kwami’s assistance and know-how, she was able to knock off most of the seeds she needed to get planted before next week in about an hour—including the ‘ohe wai, and today just so happened to be the last day she could’ve planted it this year.

A quick survey around her garden proved that the tanaman api she managed to order from a botanist in Indonesia was finally starting to sprout glorious, warm fronds, while the Latvian ledus lolly had begun to form a small layer of ice on the top of it’s water filled pot, the Nepalese laukkia bātō’s sprout was beginning to float the smallest bit above the ground as it’s roots anchored it, the Russian stal’naya naschotychivost’s bulb had begun to grow it’s metallic casing, and both the flor furitiva (from Andorra) and the còinneach dubharach (from the Scottish Highlands) were growing very nicely indeed, the former was even beginning to show the distinctive and growing gradient of black from the stem to the leaves.

It was nice, to begin to see her work pay off.

She hadn’t felt that feeling in a while.

It was funny, now that she thought about it, that the methods Fu had taught her were so inefficient, focused more on getting the plants to grow the way you wanted them to instead of simply caring for them and letting them figure it out on their own, letting them grow with the seasons and the weather.

She planted the last seeds—a South African empatie struik, and gave Wayzz a smile before heading down to put her finishing touches on the Patisserie’s new website.

She felt… lighter than she had in a while.

It was weird, and definitely guilt inducing.

Her thoughts switched to her Chaton not long after. Perhaps her brain did it as a reminder of what she had to be guilty for. He had been so… wonderful these past few weeks. Taking on patrols without a complaint, calling her to check up on her under the guise of random reasons, and just being… Chat.

Honestly, she didn’t know how he did it. How did he go through all the two of them had, and still seem fine?

***

Adrien was decidedly not fine.

He was many things, but fine was not one of them.

It wasn’t exactly possible, if you thought about it, for him to be ok at this moment.

Besides the obvious terror of nearly losing to. Hawk Moth, and his lady’s sudden thrusting into the guardianship, his civilian life hadn’t been the best either; his father had been acting somehow even more distant, and his schedule was so packed that even finding the time to do patrols was becoming difficult.

Not to mention, his lady. She was obviously struggling, and poor, useless him couldn’t do anything to help; she just insisted on running herself further into exhaustion, and she still wasn’t talking to him about why.

We're supposed to be partners.

He knew she had to have her reasons for keeping him at a distance, but that didn’t make it hurt any less.

He was well acquainted with feeling helpless, but this was a whole new, terrifying level that he decidedly hated.

And then there was Marinette, his everyday ladybug, who’s entire demeanour had changed in the past few weeks, and he had been so wrapped up in his other duties to the city that he hadn’t noticed until far too late. He wasn’t sure when he’d ever stop feeling guilty about that.

His lady and his princess, both of whom’s smiles carried a lot less than usual, both of whom’s voices were always filled with tiredness, both of whom were uncharacteristically quiet, when before they had been such presences. Both of whom hardly laughed anymore, and most times they did it was rough, empty.

And he had no idea why, or what he could do to help them. he despised it, and if he was being honest, it was all too similar to those weeks after his mother had disappeared, when he sat in his bedroom, his father cold and distant, Nathalie barely giving him a smile, wracking his brain for something, anything he could do to get his father to notice him again, get that fake smile off Nathalie’s face, and bring his mother back from wherever she was, from whatever had happened to her.

He sighed, moving away from his position against the window and towards his computer. Plagg floated up beside him, tossing a last piece of Camembert in his mouth as he did so.

“Oh, is our daily brooding session over already?” He asked, but the tone of his voice made it abundantly clear that he was concerned. That wasn’t new; Plagg had been hovering a little closer, keeping an eye on him since Miracle Queen. He wasn’t good at showing it, but he was clearly worried.

“I don’t brood.” Adrien sighed, flopping down in his desk chair, spinning it three-sixty as he did so. “I ponder. Difference.”

“Sure kid.” Plagg deadpanned, before landing on Adrien’s desk, curling up in the small nest of dirty socks that Adrien had made for him in his laundry basket. His fur glinted purple in the sunlight as he kneaded one particularly filthy gym sock. Adrien looked at him for a second, and Plagg, paws tucked under himself, noticed. “What?”

“What are the chances Tikki would talk to you?”

“About…?”

“Oh, I don’t know… like… say… say M’lady has been acting off recently. Would she tell you why?”

Plagg huffed a laugh. “Oh I wish, if only to get you to stop that pouting.”

“I do not pout!”

“Oh, ponder, my deepest apologies.” Plagg drawled, a little smile on his face. “Sugarcube’s got a real professionalism issue, if I’m being honest. Not anything like yours truly in that regard. Even if she did actually know, she’s a vault.”

Adrien did pout then, even if he’d never admit it, but another thought occurred to him.

“Plagg, have you visited the other Kwamis at all?” he asked innocently. “Seen how they’re doing with Ladybug as the new guardian?” Plagg’s nose scrunched a little at the last word, and he regarded Adrien with unimpressed peridot eyes.

“I’ll be honest with you, I never was able to talk with them all that much in the first place.” Adrien’s brow furrowed a little at that wording, but Plagg continued on without much of a pause. “But no, I haven’t, and I know exactly why you’re asking, and it wouldn’t work. She's no more likely to talk to me.”

Adrien sighed, spinning around in his chair once again. “I hate this.”

“Me too kid. This pondering is getting kinda old.” He didn’t say that he was worried. Plagg wasn’t like that, but it was evident anyway.

Adrien flopped back, reclining in the chair with his head to the ceiling. He closed his eyes for a moment, just thinking.

He couldn’t do anything for himself at the moment, his father had made damn sure of that, but he could help his lady, and Marinette. He knew he could, he could try at least, but neither of them were letting him in, and he didn’t know why.

He looked back over at Plagg after a minuet. The Kwami was watching the window, curled up his nest of socks, paws tucked underneath him and tail curled neatly at his side. There was something in his expression, something uncharacteristically melancholy and demure —and oddly familiar— and it drove him to speak again.

“Plagg, I wasn’t just asking if you’d visited because I hoped she’d talk to you.” He said quietly. Plagg turned to face him, a little confusion on his face, and Adrien smiled gently. “You aren’t trapped in here, you can leave, visit Tikki and the others, anytime you want to.” Plagg blinked.

“I know that,” he said in his usual, mildly snippy tone, but there was no bite to the words.

“Oh, I know,” he said with a smile. “I just figured you could use the reminder. Kwami knows I need it from time to time, and I can’t phase through walls.” Plagg regarded him for a minuet, before huffing, that mischievous smirk back on his face.

“Well, I suppose i’m gonna have to take up that responsibility too.” He said, and Adrien laughed. Plagg grinned, before turning back to the window, and speaking softly. “But who knows? I might just run with that idea someday.”

Chapter Text

The next two weeks passed in a bit of a blur for Marinette. She’d wake up, go to school, spend the day dreading an akuma attack, go back home, and work until she went to bed. She, with a lot of effort, was able to finish Jagged’s outfit the day before he needed it—he was thrilled by the design, calling it ‘rocking wicked,’ which was a nice thing to hear—and the patisserie’s website was launched last week thanks to a little touch up on the code from Max.

She already had a line-up of new commissions, but thankfully, they were all due well after the Mayor’s gala, so she was able to devote a good portion of the remainder of her time on the outfits. Thanks to Chat, and his insistence upon making her do as little work as possible,(which was annoying, but sweet) she had come up with a way to make the outfits convertible, so they could re-wear them for future, non-vintage themed events without too much fuss.

The remainder of her time was dedicated to Ladybug-ing. She was able to get back to a semi-steady patrol schedule, a fact which Chat was ecstatic about, and although there hadn’t been any akuma’s since gamer 3.0, it was nice to get back to a form of usual, even though the guilt she felt whenever she passed by the Trocadéro was just as crushing as always

When she wasn’t patrolling, going to school, or sewing, she was gardening or speaking to the Kwamis. They were still as unsettlingly demure as ever towards her, always asking permission to give advice or voice an opinion. Tikki was silent as to why, and Marinette was just as concerned as ever. Some deep down part of her whispered a reason for why, but Marinette refused to listen. She couldn’t think about what it would mean if it was true.

As for school? Well, Alya was protective as ever, keeping her and Adrien close, while Nino also (after some convincing from Alya and a whole lot of guilt but eventually conceding it was the right thing to do for him —to not let him be taken in by Lila’s lies anymore— from Marinette) was clued in on just what, exactly, was going on. After a few thousand unnecessary apologies, he had joined Alya in enforcing the ‘circle of protection,’ as they called it.

So school was better, even if she couldn’t get rid of that guilt for dragging Alya and Nino into this along with her. And, she could reason with herself, that Adrien seemed better as a result. Alya and Nino weren’t letting Lila near him, using some frankly very clever techniques to steer her away without revealing they knew anything, and he seemed happier as a result.

And yet, there was something about his demeanour that suggested he didn’t know why.

As for the rest of her classmates, they had continued to be worried about her, a fact that caused Marinette to feel almost sick with sheer guilt whenever she noticed it. She didn’t deserve it, she had put all the people in this class in danger—at more than one point mind you—and for some of them, she had dragged them onto the front lines of a war she now realised they had no business fighting.

The one plus was that Lila obviously hated it.

But the point is, that was how it was up until that date, two weeks later, when the gala finally arrived. Her and Adrien had both happened to need excuses for tonight, so they ended up using each other—saying they had gone out to catch a movie. She had hated lying to her parents, but she wouldn’t worry them, or put them in danger, by telling them about Ladybug. Not yet.

She ended up echoing Chat when she met him on a rooftop just outside of the Mayor’s office, swinging down while his back was turned and tapping him lightly on the shoulder with a cheeky smile. He startled easily, claws extending and tail shock-stiff. His little blush when he saw it was only her was, frankly, adorable. His subsequent pout was even more so.

“But I’m supposed to be the sneaky one!” he whined, and Marinette grinned.

“Think of it as payback for calling yourself the voice of reason.”

“That was two weeks ago! How long have you been planning this?”

Thirty seconds, but he didn’t have to know that. “twelve days, fifteen hours, thirty-six minuets and twenty seconds, give or take.” She said, and it was then that she noticed the weighed-down feeling she had been carrying around since… well she couldn’t quite remember but it was a while—had vanished.

Chat laughed, before his eyes flicked to her hair, which she had done up in a pompadour roll, accessorising with a small jewelled hairpin she had found in a thrift store a while ago.

“Wow M’lady, I didn’t know you were a hairstylist,” he said, with a flirty smirk. Marinette rolled her eyes.

“Ha ha. This is all thanks to the power of youtube.”

Chat laughed again, before catching sight of the two bags in her hands. His eyes narrowed.

“Did you overwork yourself?” he asked, skeptically eying her.

“Me? Never!” she said as sincerely as she could. Chat raised an eyebrow, and she sighed. “No Chaton, I didn’t.” Chat narrowed his eyes a little more, but eventually he broke out into a beaming smile.

“Ok. Now gimme!” he said, hurrying towards her and holding out a hand, bouncing on the balls of his feet as he did so. Marinette laughed, more honestly than she had in a while.

“Why do you always get so excited?” she asked, smiling teasingly.

“Well, you’d get excited too if you had to wear what I do as a civilian,” he put his hands on his hips “LB designed clothes are the only chance I get to wear something actually purr-etty that isn't a magically generated catsuit.”

Marinette laughed, a tiny bit of blood rushing towards her cheeks, and Chat reached out once again for the bag.

“Please?” he asked, clasping his hands in front of his chest and leaning forwards with eyes wide and a hopeful smile in what she called the ‘pleading kitty’ look.

She sighed exaggeratedly. She could never say no to that look.

“Fine.” She handed him the bag, and he sprinted off, leaping across to another building and darting behind the rooftop entrance. She shook her head and headed off towards her own to change, slipping on the dress over her suit to keep the magical cloaking intact, just as chat was no doubt doing across the way. Unbidden, a thought slipped into her mind, regarding Chat if he actually had to detransform, and then change, and a blush formed on her cheeks as she frantically shook her head in an attempt to think about something, anything else.

Sweet Kwami, where did that come from?

They reconvened in about ten minuets, and Marinette couldn’t keep from smiling as she saw her minou.

He was wearing a black, leatherette tailcoat, with the tail cut and shaped in a way so that it resembled a cat’s tail, with bright green piping along the seams, edges, and openings, and a forest-green satin lining. Under, he wore a high necked, grey shirt, with purple detailing and a black tie with embroidered green paw-prints. His hair was just as cheerfully unkempt as ever. She had been a bit worried about the pants; dark grey, and baggy until they reached the knee, where they became fitted, but Chat was grinning radiantly, and kept turning to admire the back of the outfit, so she supposed he liked it.

He caught sight of her, and his mouth dropped as she self consciously swept a stray piece of hair behind her ear.

She wore an Edwardian dress; a red bodice embellished with black lace that continued down the sleeves towards red gloves, and puffed red satin shoulders. It had a v-neck that turned into a sweetheart at a modest height, just below where her grandmother’s pearls hung, and the placement of the lace on the back almost made her appear as though she had insect wings. the bodice extended further in the back than in the front, giving the appearance of a sewn-in coat of sorts, and the satin, bell shaped—and flared at the bottom—skirt was shimmering red with large black polkadots.

She sheepishly smiled as Chat seemed to regain control of his thoughts.

“Do I look ok?” she asked, one hand reaching across her torso to grab hold of her upper arm. Chat blinked.

“That’s one way to put it.”

There was a subtle, fluttery rumbling that echoed across the rooftop.

Blushing was really getting old at this point. “u-um, you grook late! I mean, you look great!” Wonderful. She was stammering. When did she start stammering around her kitty?

Chat shook his head the tiniest bit, before realising what she’d said. “oh, um, yeah! Yeah you really outdid yourself this time bugaboo. I adore the pants.” He finished with a grin.

“Oh, um, good! Yeah it was a bit of a risk, but I think it turned out pretty well?”

“It turned out amazing.” He smiled, and thankfully did not ask about how she had done this without ‘overworking herself.’

They stood for a second, in an awkward silence that was only punctuated by that fluttery rumbling, but Marinette eventually broke it.

“So! Should we…” she trailed off, gesturing at the lit up front entrance, where guests were filtering in. Chat startled, but enthusiastically agreed, and the two of them set off to the gala.
It was very tasteful, lots of vintage, turn of the century decor—she had been right about the theme—and a Metro-themed dessert bar, with some lovely looking train-car eclairs. Her and Chat entered together, practisedly ignoring the silence that fell at their arrival, and the gleeful expressions that fell over the reporters faces, to which Chat gave a quiet, low growl.

As the first chords of the music wafted over her, Marinette looked around for Luka, remembering the gig he’d booked as music planner. Even though there was certainly nothing between them anymore, he was still a friend, and she was happy for him. This was a big deal, and according to Juleka, he was beyond himself with excitement.

Strangely though, although she could pick out Juleka (wearing a lovely black lace dress) Chloé (in a neon yellow number) and Zoé (in a colourful dress suit) she couldn’t see Luka. She supposed he must be backstage, setting up the following acts.

Chat immediately beelined for the passionfruit macarons, and if Marinette had something to do with their being there, she wouldn’t tell. The happy tilt of his ears was more than worth it.

As Chat happily munched, a tap on her shoulder had her whirling around to face Mayor Bourgeois

“Oh! Mr. Mayor!” she said, smiling what she called her ‘public smile.’

“Ladybug! Wonderful to see you, thank you so much for coming.” He said, straightening his tie and beaming. “it’s been a while!”

Marinette laughed just a little awkwardly at that last statement. “it was no problem. The party is lovely by the way.”

“Why thank you.” The mayor’s smile dipped just a little. “Mademoiselle Ladybug, I absolutely hate having to ask you this…” He trailed off, gathering strength to continue. “The press have asked me if you could do an interview. They are… persistent.” She heard another growl from Chat, and knew that he had heard, thanks to his enhanced hearing. “I absolutely hate even bringing this up—“ he reiterated. “—but do you think you could…” he trailed off, and this time didn’t speak again, unable to put it to words.

Marinette didn’t want to, she really didn't want to, but… as much as she hated to admit it, she had to. Paris deserved an explanation for… a lot of things. Where she’d been, why akuma attacks were so sporadic and increasing in danger, and what Chat and she were doing about it

“Its ok Mr. Bourgeois, I’ll do it. Do you think Chat and I could have the stage?” the Mayor looked surprised, but quickly got over his shock and nodded quickly.

“Yes, yes of course. I'll get right on it.” He hurried off, and as her head fell, Chat rushed to take his place, his hands coming to rest groundingly on her shoulders.

“I know what you’re going to say,” she sighed.

“Yeah? well i’m saying it anyways. you don’t have to do this, heck, if you think it needs to be done then I’ll—“

“Chat, I appreciate that very much, but I haven’t given a statement in over a month. Paris needs to hear that I can still do my job, from me.” He looked into her eyes, worried emeralds meeting resigned sapphires.

“Of course you can still do—“

“Chat, you know that, but Paris doesn’t.”

Chat growled yet again, tail lashing underneath his waistcoat, but eventually he realised she was going to do this no matter what.

“Fine, but I hate this, and I'm coming with you.”

She smiled at him, and together they headed to the stage.

***

“Hello?” Marinette said into the microphone, tapping it a couple times and listening to the sound echo through the hall, the crystal chandeliers casting soft light throughout the space as her feet shuffled nervously on the wood floor. Instantly, the reporters in the room dashed to the foot of the stage, and Chat huffed beside her, hands clasped behind his back.

“Hi. So, as you all probably know, I'm Ladybug,” there was a ripple of soft laughter through the hall. “I realise that I haven’t been seen all that much lately, and I wanted to address you all tonight, as well as the people of Paris who are doubtlessly watching this over the air,“ she nodded to Nadja Chamak and her camera crew.

“As I was saying, I am aware I’ve not been much of a presence lately, and I want to take the time to thank my partner before I answer why. Chat has been incredible. He’s taken up solo patrols without a single complaint when they would’ve been very justified, and has been a constant source of support over the last few weeks. I couldn’t be any luckier, to have him in my life.” She turned to Chat for a minuet, smiling as she saw him desperately try to cover his blush.

“But on to the reason for this conference. I cannot disclose the official reason for my absence, in fear that it would give Hawk Moth, or perhaps even some other person hungry for power, information I truly would not want anyone with bad intentions to have. Chat is the only person I have discussed this with, and we agreed to keep it between ourselves. Not even the Auxiliary Holders are aware.” A flash of guilt tore through her.

“Speaking of the Auxiliary Holders, I realise I have made no comment or made any statement on the events regarding Miracle Queen.” In the periphery of her vision, she saw Chloé freeze, but Marinette had no intentions of revealing what she’d done on purpose. It wouldn’t serve anybody, and those it could impact already knew. That being said… “Queen Bee has retired effective immediately after realising Hawk Moth could use her identity against her like that. I extend my heartfelt thanks to Queen Bee for her assistance in previous battles, and wish her the best.”

Was it a bit of a white lie? Yes. Did the look of shock (and guilt, but she wouldn’t admit that) on Chloé’s face make it worth it? Also yes. Chloé may still be working for Hawkmoth, as proved by Kim’s akumatization three weeks ago, but she might not be a completely lost cause yet, and if Marinette could knock some sense into her without literally knocking it in, she would take that option.

“As for the other Auxiliary Holders, Chat and I have been in discussion about how to best work with them and protect them going forward, and I wish to express my apologies for allowing them to be put in danger like that.” When it was my own fault, she wanted to add, taking a shuddering breath. Chat edged closer, and she flashed him a grateful look.

“I wish to mention that all Miraculouses—save for the butterfly and the peacock—are safe, and Hawk Moth and Mayura were unable to claim any more.”

“To return to recent events, I wish to reassure all Parisians that I am just as capable as ever, and have been making an effort to return to regular patrolling as soon as possible. Despite my absence, I am working just as hard as ever to ensure your safety and security.” Even though it wasn’t enough last time.

“Lastly, to speak in regard to the erratic behaviour of Akumas; we are unaware as to why exactly they have been so infrequent, and so devastating when they do appear. I would like to add that we are currently investigating a number of possibilities, and are tirelessly working to find Hawk Moth, and Mayura, and bring them both to justice. Rest assured that Chat and I will always be there when one appears, and will set things right.” Marinette exhaled a long, shaky breath, and Chat placed a hand on her shoulder with a whispered. “You did amazing, Bugaboo.”

“Any questions?” she asked, and the reporters started to clamour.

But that was when the chandeliers exploded.

The South wall of the hall was soon to follow.

Chapter Text

If Marinette thought her ears were ringing bad, then Chat—with his hearing that was even more enhanced than her own—must feel like his ears were practically falling off. A quick glance at him proved her correct; while she was pressing her hands to her head, Chat had curled up into a ball on the floor, practically trembling in a display that was very unlike him. Marinette instantly ripped off her gloves, fashioning them into a quick muffler and cushioning chat’s ears. He was able to look up at her gratefully, and gave her a weak smile.

Turning around, with one hand still on Chat’s shoulder, Marinette tried to see through the dust and shattered glass, squinting her eyes and straining her enhanced vision to the end of its rope. The noise had thankfully stopped, or it was so quiet that her damaged ears could no longer pick it up.

After about a minuet, when the dust had cleared the tiniest bit, Chat had been able to sit up beside her, with her gloves over his head. Both of their outfits had torn, with Marinette’s pompadour roll having fallen, and she allowed herself the tiniest laugh as she thought about all the work she’d have to do to repair them.

That was when she heard the first, faint, chords of a guitar in the dim, dusty room.

They were familiar chords, especially to a hard-rock aficionado such as herself, she realised that she knew exactly what they were. Shoot to Thrill. AC/DC.

Chat seemed to recognise them as well, as he was finally able to unwrap her gloves with a wince, and look at her with confusion

“What?—“ he began to ask, but he stopped abruptly, staring at something behind her, and when Marinette turned to look, her breath caught in her throat.

A giant, silver guitar pick was slowly floating through the barely visible gaping hole in the wall, and standing proudly on top was a figure clad in green, reptile-skin esque material that grew lighter down his middle. His boots were black and sturdy, the guitar floating at his side blue and green, and a malicious, twisted grin on his normally so placid face. His hair was long, unruly, and a neon, ombre blue that almost seemed to truly glow.

“Luka,” both she and Chat whispered at the same time, turning to each other with grim looks. Also known as Viperion, was the unsaid implication.

It had been two weeks, but it looked like Hawk Moth was back on the warpath.

She could feel her lungs contracting, but a nudge from Chat managed to stave off the panic attack. She turned to him, but he wasn’t looking at her, he was staring at the Akumatized Luka with outright confusion.

“What?” she whispered, mentally thanking the pile of rubble that obscured them from view. Chat narrowed his eyes, peering closer.

“Is it just me, or does he look… uncannily close to Guitar Villain?” Marinette blinked.

“Jagged Stone’s akumatized form?” She looked a little closer, and… Chat was right. The similarities were uncanny. Luka’s hair was the same style, the only difference being the blue in place of purple, and his suit—while more streamlined—was incredibly similar. Even his guitar was clearly taking inspiration from Jagged’s. “Oh my Kwami, you’re right.” She breathed, just as confused as he obviously was.

As soon as she thought this couldn’t get any more nostalgic or confusing, a giant roar pierced through the hall, and a dragon followed behind Luka. It was blue and green, with speakers embedded throughout its scales and wings, while its horns were radio antennae.

“If I had a nickel for every time an akuma had a dragon…” Chat whispered, and Marinette nodded mutely.

The dust had mostly cleared from the air, so she and Chat were finally able to see the damage, and it was bad. Part of the ceiling had caved in from the aftershocks, and a fair portion of the columns were gone, fallen to the floor. Civilians were down all over the place, either blasted to their feet by the initial blow or pinned down by the fallen columns or other rubble. Out of the corner of her eye, Marinette could see Zoé helping the Mayor to his feet while Chloé hopped from foot to foot nearby, Nadja being freed from a column by two of her crew, and Clara Nightingale supporting a woman with a crushed foot as they fled, while holding her child’s hand.

Juleka was standing, having obviously realized who exactly this was, and looking horrified at the development. One hand was raised to cover her mouth, and the silken bottom of her black dress was rustling in the wind that was now free to flow through the hall that had, until moments before, been the site of a party.

“AGRESTE!” Luka shouted, and Chat tensed, a very confused look appearing on his face before the Akuma spoke again. “GABRIEL AGRESTE? WHERE ARE YOU!” Chat’s face relaxed momentarily, before morphing into shock, and then melancholy. Marinette nudged him gently, a silent are you ok? And he nodded his head, a smile spreading on his face.

That was when Marinette realized. Luka’s disappearance at the gala earlier, Gabriel’s involvement in both his hiring and, apparently, his akumatization.

“Gabriel Agreste must have fired him.” She hissed to Chat, who’s eyes widened.

“Right, he was in charge of music tonight, wasn’t he? And fa-Agreste hired him?” Marinette nodded, and that melancholy look returned to Chat’s face.

“What’s she doing?” hissed Chat suddenly, and Marinette followed his gaze to where Juleka had started to slowly walk towards her brother, mouth moving with words they couldn’t hear. Luka laughed only a few seconds after she began speaking

“Luka is gone, Second Act is all who remains! The better singer to come after the first!” that was a very confusing phrase, but before either of the heroes had time to process, Juleka was speaking again, too quiet for her to hear, but Chat was whispering in her ear.

“She’s saying something about how this isn’t him, and asking what happened”

Luka—or Second Act, laughed again, that twisted smile returning. “Oh sis, I really didn’t want to tell you until I was sure, but if you insist… He leaned in towards her, and after a few seconds, Juleka gasped and her eyes went wide, while Second Act grinned. “Don’t you worry, nothing’s gonna happen to you, just them. Juleka reached out, but Second Act had already turned away, floating back to the dragon.

A telepathy mask floated above his visage for a brief second, but that was more than enough time to realise that this was unlike either Hawk Moth’s or Mayura’s. It was indigo instead of blue or purple, and had the overall shape of Hawk Moth’s, but with the addition of curved spikes familiar from Mayura’s.

“Yes, Shadow Moth,” he said as the mask floated away, and he floated higher, oblivious to the shocked looks exchanged between Marinette and Chat. “Listen!” he called to the room, before sweeping his hand in a horizontal arc. Something shifted, and before they knew it, a blast of high pitched sonic force had knocked everyone in the room to their feet once more, with the sole exception of Juleka. “You have nothing to fear, I simply need to… speak with Gabriel Agreste, and Jagged Stone.” It was that last name that made everything yet more confusing, especially given Second Act’s similarities to Jagged’s own akumatized form that Chat had pointed out.

“I promise, nobody will be hurt as long as I get my ask.” He smiled, but it was unsettling, vicious. “However—“ he continued. “if I am not presented with these two men, as well as Ladybug and Chat Noir, in one hour…”. He arced his hand through the air as his dragon roared, and a gaping slash was formed in one of the few remaining walls. “Then Paris will fall to my whims, and I will take great joy in seeing that happen.”

Chat quietly swore, and Marinette definitely agreed. If the small exhibition they’d seen was correct, then Second Act was easily one of the most powerful Akuma’s they’d ever faced, definitely on the level of Style Queen. The other thing was just how different this Akuma was from Silencer. Luka in that form had retained much of his original characteristics, he was a rather gentle and indirect akuma, not one to threaten lives. Second Act was very, very different.

He left through the roof after that, leaving a shellshocked room. Marinette turned to chat immediately. There was… a lot to unpack there, but one thing was pressing on her most of all.

“Shadowmoth?” she said, voice a little trembly. Chat looked at her sadly.

“M’lady, I think…”. He trailed off, but she already knew what he was going to say. The name, the dragon, the telepathy mask that was such a perfect mesh of Hawk Moth’s and Mayura’s.

“He can unify miraculouses.” she finished for him. “He’s got the peacock—Duusu—active too.”

The two of them quickly slipped out of their outfits (Marinette had made sure to make that as easy as possible, just in case of an emergency like this) and darted out from behind the rubble, drawing relieved sighs from several people.

“Everyone, please evacuate this space. Get to your homes if you can, and if you are able, hide in a basement. Chat and I will take care of this, but we need you to get to safety.” Those still present hurried out as Chat and she walked up to Juleka, who, thus far, had made no effort to leave. She hurried up to meet them half-way, fiddling with her bracelet, and a stricken look on her face.

“What happened?” Chat asked as they reached each other, and Juleka took a deep breath, steadying her trembling form before she answered in a quiet mumble.

“Luka, he— he wasn’t just akumatized because Agreste Senior fired him.” She paused for a moment to gather her thoughts while Marinette and Chat exchanged a look. They were right about one thing, at least. “He… was upset before that, but Luka doesn’t get akumatizably angry that easily. He—he said…” she paused, swallowing. “He said he had found out who our dad is.”

Marinette sucked in a breath. She knew how sore of a topic that was for the Couffaine twins, and that while Juleka certainly harboured resentment towards the man who abandoned her and her brother, Luka took it to a whole other level that was most unlike how he usually was.

“And that didn’t push him over?” Chat asked softly, obviously aware of Juleka’s state at the moment. She shook her head.

“No, he kept it together until that ass fired him, and replaced him with our dad.” Marinette blanked.

“I’m sorry, what?” she said, holding up a hand. “Why would Agreste replace Luka with your dad? He couldn’t possibly know if you two didn’t—“

“Well, that’s the thing.” Juleka mumbled. “It made perfect sense.” Marinette and Chat looked at each other in confusion. Prices were beginning to come together in Marinette’s mind, but no, no that was crazy…

“Juleka, who is he?” Asked Chat kindly. “Can you tell us?” Juleka nodded.

“Yeah. Its— It’s Jagged. Stone.”

Chat’s jaw dropped as Marinette nearly fainted.

“Well—“ she said, giggling weakly. “That explains a few things,” and that it did. ‘Second Act,’ the better than the original—proving he was better than his father, for whom he had been passed over, in his mind for the second time. Luka’s resentment towards his father, the Guitar Villain-esque costume, and his addition of Jagged Stone to his list of demands.

“Do you think he knows? Jagged?” Chat asked, and to Marinette’s surprise, Juleka shook her head.

“No, I don’t.” She mumbled. “I’ve never been quite as mad as Luka, but I didn’t like my dad either. He abandoned us before we were born. But, I’ve met Jagged, a couple times actually—a friend of mine knows him—and he doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy who would abandon his kids. I just… don’t think he knew.” She finished with a sigh, and it was clear just how many conflicting and complicated emotions were coming up for her.

If Marinette was in civilian mode right now, she would’ve hugged her, but she had to settle for a comforting hand on Juleka’s shoulder and a mental promise to hug her the next time she could.

“Thank you, Juleka.” she said with a smile. “You live on a houseboat, right?” Juleka nodded. “Well, I think you might be just about the safest person in the city right now, but it might not be a bad idea to stick around here, maybe go into the mayors office, it looks relatively untouched.”

Juleka nodded. “Just… save him. Please.” She muttered, quiet and worried. It broke Marinette’s heart, especially knowing that she was the reason this had happened to Luka. But, she put on a smile anyway.

“It’s what we do,” she said, before swinging away with Chat at her side.

Chapter Text

The first thing Marinette did after she jumped onto her bed from the roof and released her transformation was to fall face first into the mattress and cover herself in sheets.

She was well aware of Tikki hovering nearby, but she really, really didn’t feel like talking right then.

“Marinette…”

Then again, when had Tikki ever left her to her sadness?

“I don’t wanna talk about it.” she said, muffled by the sheets

“You weren’t kidding about this being a regular occurrence.” Barkk said, sniffing.

“Marinette, you didn’t do anything wrong.” Tikki said, and Marinette buried herself deeper into the sheets and mattress.

But that was just the thing, she had.
***

Her and Chat had followed Second Act to, predictably, the Eiffel Tower. On the way, they had run into a deeply confused Jagged Stone, and had to take a minuet to get him to safety. Once they did, he had asked the obvious question of who exactly was asking for his head, and Marinette and Chat had decided to… lay it on him gently.

“His name is Luka Couffaine.” Chat said, and Jagged’s face lit up.

“Oh, like Anarka!” He said with a smile, and Marinette and Chat just waited for the realisation to kick in.

“Wait…” He said after a few seconds, his smile fading. “Wait, how old is this kid?”

“Seventeen,” Marinette said softly, and Jagged seemed to do some mental math before his smile dropped completely.

“Oh,” was all he was able to say, and wasn’t that unlike Jagged, to be speechless.

“Same as, um, his twin sister.” Chat said after, and Jagged somehow looked even more shellshocked.

“Oh.” Was all he said again, plopping down to sit against the brick wall of the alley they had hidden in, the chords of AC/DC and screams still echoing from the street, and Marinette crouched down and placed a hand on his shoulder. She hated leaving him like this, but she had to get back out there, had to save Luka and the city both.

“I’m sure you’ll need a minute,” she said kindly. “Stay here Mr. Stone, we’ll fix this.” And, nodding to Chat, she rose to her feet. The two of them had almost reached the street again when a call from Jagged stopped them.

“Wait! Wait,” he said. “The, um, the girl. Is she alright?” Marinette smiled, the worry on Jagged’s face was clear proof that Juleka had been correct.

“Don’t worry, she’s perfectly safe.” Chat said, and although he still looked understandably like he had just come out of an explosion, Jagged visibly relaxed, with a relieved nod, and she and Chat had vaulted onto the rooftops.

They found Second Act not long after that, sitting with one knee over the other on the edge of one of the Eiffel Tower’s beams, examining his fingernails and kicking his feet as his dragon soared in circles just above him.

“Well, isn’t this just one big helping of Deja-vu,” Chat said with a grin, and Marinette couldn’t help reflecting it.

Their first attempt to engage… didn’t go well, and they retreated to a rooftop garden to regroup not long after. Chat rubbed the point on his side where he had been hit directly with a sonic blast that would surely become a bruise, and Marinette shook out her aching wrist.

“Round two?” she asked, and Chat nodded, trying his best to look enthusiastic at the prospect of another go.

Their second attempt didn’t go any better.

Neither did their third.

By their fourth, both of them were exhausted, and Chat turned to her with a worried look.

“M’lady, we aren’t getting anywhere. Maybe we need to pull in one of the others.”

Marinette froze, echoes of the last time she had dragged one of the other holders into a fight flashing through her mind.

All of them at the mercy of Miracle Queen.

Having to fight all her friends, when they weren’t even themselves.

Hawk Moth getting closer than he ever had to winning.

Failing.

Failing.

Failing.

Herself, her friends, her city, and her partner most of all.

She looked at Chat, feeling the tears beginning to pool in her eyes, and resolutely pushing them back.

“No,” she whispered, and Chat looked at her in confusion.

“You said we were talking about how to best work with them going forward, and I know we haven’t yet. Why is that, anyway? M’lady, we might not be able to win this one on our own.”

“We can’t,” she said, pushing the memories, the guilt, to the back of her mind.

“What about Marinette? Multimouse?” He said, his eyes lighting up, and Marinette inwardly cringed. “She wasn’t there during Miracle Queen, right?”

“Er…”. Crap. She probably should have guessed this was going to come up one day. “She… retired! Didn’t want the stress.” Chat had lightly smacked his forehead in a ‘right’ motion, nodding.

“Well, If this is about their identities being compromised, then why don’t we bring in someone new?” he said, and he snapped his fingers a moment later. “What about Juleka? She’d be a great holder. Smart, capable—“ He continued, oblivious to the freak-out going on in Marinette’s brain, “—Knows how to keep a secret. There’s a tiger miraculous, right? That one would be perfect for her—“

“No, no that—that wouldn’t work.” She said, I wont drag another friend into this remaining unsaid in her mind. Chat looked at her in confusion.

“But—“

“Let’s just go again. It'll work.” She said, swinging off the rooftop before he could say anything else.

About five minuets into their fifth attempt, while they chased Second Act through the beams of the Eiffel tower, she had caught sight of the Trocadéro.

Instantly she was back there, at the scene of Miracle Queen, fighting her friends as Hawk Moth and Mayura watched tauntingly from up high, the rush of magic she felt enter her as the Miracle Box passed into her protection, the shame she felt at herself for ever believing Chloé was the right person to trust with a miraculous.

And then she went even further back, and suddenly she was at the scene of a race, a broken pocket watch on the track in front of her, Chat’s arms around her as he slowly faded because she wasn’t fast enough.

And then she was fighting a giant, wind up doll, wearing a miraculous that was both strange, alien, and yet entirely familiar as Mr. Bug fought alongside her, all because she had made a stupid decision that caused yet another akumatization.

And then she was fighting with Queen Bee, with Carapace, with Rena, and watching as slowly, they all were akumatized until it was only her and Chat against a scarlet army.

And she faltered.

The blast of sound waves knocked her off her feet before she even saw them coming, and then suddenly she was falling,

down,

down,

down,

All the way to the base of the Eiffel tower as Chat screamed and the world went black.

If she was any normal civilian, the fall would’ve completely incapacitated her, maybe even killed her.

If she was a bit higher, it might have killed her too.

Luckily they weren’t that high when she fell, so none of those things happened, and she regained consciousness not thirty seconds later, Tikki’s magic speeding up the healing process.

Chat had thrown himself into the fray with even more fire than usual, darting, leaping, flipping around Second Act with superhuman speed and ferocity. He glanced down, and upon seeing her awake and sitting up, he immediately disengaged and backflipped off the tower, diving down until he could land, one hand to the ground and the other stretched out to keep his balance.

He ran towards her, dropping to his knees to wrap her in a crushing hug.

“Oh my Kwami, Bug. I thought…” He didn’t finish that sentence, and moved back just a bit—his hands still on her upper arms—to get a better look at her.

“I’m ok.” Marinette said, hissing a little as she adjusted her position and subsequently felt a stabbing pain in her left side. ”Just— might have broken a few ribs, that’s all.” She noticed a twinge in her ankle and a worse one in her wrist as she said this. “And probably twisted my ankle and fractured my wrist.”

Chat looked horrified. “We do not have the same definition of ok.” Marinette huffed, moving to get up, but Chat’s hands moved to her shoulders to stop her. “Uh-uh, no way. Stay down here, I’ll get him, you cleanse.”

“No way, I’m not—“ she winced. “—Letting you go back up there alone.” Chat’s eyes softened a little.

“Bugaboo, you can’t stand, you obviously aren’t able to swing, and another fall might completely incapacitate you, and besides the obvious ‘you are not going to be curing anybody then,’ there is also no way I ever want to see that again.”

Marinette was ready to argue, but something about her kitty’s expression stopped her. She settled for manoeuvring into a more comfortable position instead. Chat smiled gratefully, but just as he was about to launch himself back to where Second Act stood waiting, She called out.

“Wait, Chaton!” He halted, turning back to her as she called for her lucky charm. She handed it to chat, who took it slowly.

He looked at her, then at the eggbeater in his hands, then back to her, then back to the eggbeater, then back to her again.

“What am I supposed to do with this?” he practically moaned, and Marinette had to stifle a giggle at the familiar words.

“You’ll figure it out,” was her only answer, and she watched as her partner was forced to battle one of their worst akuma’s yet alone, all because of her. Because she let herself get distracted.

He did it, of course, because he’s amazing, and Marinette managed to capture the Akuma from where she sat, calling the cure a moment later, after Chat had given her the eggbeater.

The cure was somehow able to fix all the damage Second Act had done, but for her, as per usual, it only set the bones, it didn’t cure all the pain.

It was, however, enough to get her moving again.

She gingerly stood up, testing her still-sore ankle, and Chat held out his fist with that annoyingly wonderful grin.

She knew he had to be exhausted, maybe even mad at her; for being so ditzy and distracted that she got herself taken out of action and made him do all the work.

She was mad at herself, that was for certain.

With a half-smile, she completed the pound-it, but she quickly excused herself afterwards, citing that her time was running out, and she had swung back to her house on a sore wrist and worse heart.

***

“There’s no way he isn't mad at me,” Marinette mumbled as Tikki concluded telling the other Kwamis what had happened. “He probably is so dissapointed, he probably hates me, he probably realized just what a ditz I am and never wants to see me again.”

“Marinette, you made a mistake,” Tikki said, flying up to nuzzle her cheek. “Chat Noir would never be mad at you for something like that.” Trixx and Wayzz nodded in agreement.

“I wish I could believe you.” Marinette grumbled.

Tikki sighed as Marinette poked her eyes out of her blanket tent, and the Kwami pondered something for a minuet before speaking again.

“I know exactly what you are going to say to this, but you need to talk to Chat.” Marinette opened her mouth to argue, but Tikki continued talking. “I know you’re going to say you don’t want to burden him, he wouldn’t want to know, but trust me when I say that he very much would. He’s probably worried, and if you would just talk to him, let him in, he could help. He really could.”

‘If I may,” Pollen began, floating to hover beside Tikki. “I have not spent a great amount of time around Chat Noir, but it is easy to tell that he cares for you greatly. He would not only not mind, but he would want to know.”

Marinette huffed out a long breath. How could she explain, that she was never going to burden him anymore than she already did, that she couldn't bring herself to, was terrified of telling him, haunted my memories of that sweet, dorky, kind, carefree face twisted into rage and indifference, shaded not in black and green but white and blue.

“I agree.” she settled with. “But I can’t”. She flopped back onto her bed, hands pressed to her forehead.

“Oh sweet cheese, is it brooding time over here too.” Marinette startled, her gaze flicking over the room until it landed on her little circular window, upon which Plagg was lounging as though it was some kind of throne.

“Plagg!” Tikki squealed, zipping up to him and squeezing him in a tight hug, to which he responded with a pat on the back. “What are you doing here?”

“Whaaaat?” Plagg said innocently. “I can’t just pop by to pay my respects to our new all powerful guardian anymore?” It was clearly a tease, but there was an undercurrent to his words.

“Plagg,” Tikki chided softly. “You know she isn’t like that. Like them.”

“Yeah, yeah I know.” Plagg said dismissively, but it was clear he understood whatever Tikki was saying, and that the dismissiveness was just for show. “My kitten asked me to come, if you must know, and I gladly took that chance. ‘Oh, Plagg! Won't you please go and check up on my poor dear lady to make sure she hasn’t died in the thirty minuets since we’ve been apart!’” Plagg threw a paw to his forehead as he imitated Chat, and Marinette couldn’t hide a smile. “It's a nightmare. I'd take the brooding over this.”

Daizzy and Sass exchanged a knowing smile while Trixx turned to Marinette with a smirk on his face. “See? Not mad at you.”

“Mad? At his darling bugaboo? What a concept.” Plagg drawled, before turning to Marinette. “Glad you haven’t died of frustration yet Pigtails, with all them hanging around.” There was an indignant ‘hey!’ from Roaar, and Plagg snorted. “You know it’s true. Just because we didn't see each other on a regular basis for two hundred years doesn’t mean I forgot what you all are like.”

Something was definitely off about that to Marinette, but she pushed it to the back of her head to examine later as she climbed down the ladder, heading to the spot where she always kept a small stash of the Kwami’s favourite treats on hand. Plagg lit up as soon as he saw the cheese bread.

“Tikkiiiiiiii—“ he whined through a full mouth as he swooped down, snatching it from Marinette’s hand and devouring it in two bites. “How come you got the chosen who bakes again. Mine only orders cheese off some fancy website from Provence.”

Marinette passed around snacks to the rest of the Kwamis and left them to sit on her carpet as she sat down at her desk and started writing the last few paragraphs of her lit essay. Hearing Plagg say that Chat was worried about her instead of mad had lifted her mood a bit, even though it also made her guilty because he should be mad at her damn it!

She quietly typed away, listening to the Kwamis converse in front of her as she did so.

“So what have you been up to Plagg?” Orikko asked as he munched on some sunflower seeds from the garden.

“Dealing with a broody kitten who has a severe self-esteem issue.” Plagg deadpanned as he reached for his third piece of bread. “It’s annoying, but it turns out I like the kitten, so I don’t mind that much.”

“Awww, kitty has a heart!” Xuppu said, earning a swipe in return.

“Hardy-har.” Plagg said, now on bun number five. “You try living with him for a week and not finding him endearing. Kid’s the personification of sunshine like ninety-five percent of the time.” He snatched another cheese bread. “Plus, he actually lets me go out if I wanna, so no complaints.” He plucked yet another roll as Marinette froze, some of the Kwamis furrowed their brows, and something unspoken passed between Tikki, Wayzz, and Sass. “Anyway—“ He continued, leaving no doubt that they would not be expanding on that last sentence, no matter how much Marinette wanted to hear. “How’s life been in the home of all things cheezy bread?”

“Wonderfully, actually.” Said Longg with a smile, and a small, warm glow sparked in Marinette’s heart. “Nice to feel a breeze again!”

“Oh right. How longs it been for most of you again?”

“Seventy-five years? Give or take?” Stompp said, with far to much nonchalance about that because what. Plagg huffed with an indiscernible emotion.

“TVs are weird, right?”

“No kidding.” Roaar said. “Feels like they just invented radios.”

“Do you all recall telegrams?” Kalkki asked, a smile coming to her face.

“Ooo I loved those. The little clicky-clacky noises.” Fluff said, and the Kwamis nodded wistfully in agreement.

“How is chat, anyway?” Tikki asked, and Plagg scoffed fondly.

“Like I said, broody. Worried almost constantly about both his lady and pigtails here.” Marinette started. Chat was worried about her civilian form? Plagg groaned, long and loud. “I cannot wait for this stupid ‘secret identity’ thing to be over.”

“Me too,” Tikki said, and Plagg stared at her as if she’d grown a second head.

“Me too.” Marinette echoed quietly, and the Kwamis turned to her as one with that heartbreaking fear on their faces (and Marinette was almost definitely sure why that was now, and she hated it so much) that thankfully faded as she didn’t do anything.

“Really?” Plagg drawled, looking to both her and Tikki. “Little misses ‘our identities must remain secret?’” Marinette huffed good-naturedly.

“Hey, it’s not like I wanted to, but I literally didn’t have any other options at the time.”

“Well, now that you’re Mademoiselle Bigshot, don’t you have them?” Plagg asked, and Marinette’s brain ground to a halt. She was the guardian now. She didn’t have to worry about Tikki being taken away if she did. So why didn’t she?

She knew why.

White suit, blue eyes, her name, her real name slipping from lips that had never before spoke those syllables. The one difference in that timeline that she could see.

“I—I’m still worried about Hawk Moth.” She stammered out, an excuse that was at least partially true. “the last thing I’d ever want was for him to hurt Chat just to try and get to me.” Plagg sniffed, but he evidently agreed with her point. “Oh, sorry. I suppose I should be calling him Shadow Moth now.” she giggled a little at that last point. “As if Hawk Moth wasn’t already dramatic enough.” She laughed a little more, before stopping when she realized that all the Kwamis, save for Tikki and Plagg, were silent, staring at her with abject horror.

“Shadow Moth?” Fluff whispered.

“He unified?” Roaar growled next.

“But with who?”

“Duusu.” Wayzz said softly, and they all turned to stare at him.

“But—“ Daizzy stuttered. “But her miraculous… it was broken, right? that’s what Tikki said.” Mullo nodded beside her.

“Hawk Moth doesn’t strike me as the type to put himself in danger like that.” She said.

“He mussst have fixed it.” Sass hissed, and there were a few shocked gasps, along with a curse from Xuppu.

“The Grimoire.” Trixx spat. “He has the tablet.”

“You can do that?” Ziggy asked. Marinette had been getting the impression he was the youngest of the Kwamis. “Fix a miraculous?”

“Yesss, but it is not an easssy feat.” Sass said. “You require no sssmall amount of rare items, including meteor dussst.” Ziggy nodded in understanding.

“It happened to me once, about a thousand years ago.” Pollen said. “Your mind is… not right, until it is fixed. Then clarity returns.”

“So Duusu…”

“Will have woken up after her miraculous was fixed, confused, alone, and likely immediately used by Hawk Moth” Pollen finished.

“Wouldn’t Nooroo at least be there with her?” Kalkki asked, with a distinct lack of her usual haughtiness.

“We don’t know how Hawk Moth treats him.” Trixx said sadly. “For all we know, he could be constantly in his miraculous except when Hawk Moth puts it on to transform.”

The Kwamis all looked so crushed at that memory, and it brought into stunning clarity the fact that Nooroo and Duusu had been a part of their family for millennia until they were lost by Fu when the order was destroyed.

Marinette stood up and headed over to them, sitting cross-legged as she reached the carpet.

“I know that nothing i can say is going to make this better, bring Duusu and Nooroo back—“ Tikki floated up to land on her shoulder. “But I promise that I will. One day, they’ll come home, and I am going to do every day in my power to make that come as soon as possible.”

The Kwamis smiled, sadly, but full of hope, and Plagg zipped up to her eye level. He studied her for a moment, eyes narrowed, then grinned and turned to Tikki.

“I like this one, Sugarcube.”

Chapter Text

Plagg had left not long after, citing a need to return to his role as Chat’s ‘emotional support Kwami,’ leaving Marinette with a whole lot of questions and not a single answer.

First and foremost was Chat, and if he was ok. The amount of times Plagg had mentioned brooding was… concerning to say the least, and she made a promise to check in far more than she had previously in the future, and watch out for anything concerning.

The second, and just as concerning question was one that had been plaguing her for a while. Plagg had acted… off when it came to the topic of her guardianship, and she was still reeling from what he had said, so horribly nonchalantly, about the fact that Chat letting him leave whenever he wanted was a deviation from the norm, and the strange mention that he hadn’t seen the other kwamis regularly in a very, very long time.

And then there was the mention that some of them hadn’t left the box in seventy five years, which no. Plus Tikki’s hesitancy when faced with anything regarding the order. Add that to the frankly heartwrenching and terrifying behaviour they exhibited towards her that had begun only after she took the guardianship, and that left one option.

She’d been lied to, told the order of guardians were good, kind, but that must not have been the case.

The thing was, none of the Kwamis were going to confirm her suspicions. Even Tikki had been strangely tightlipped, so it looked like Marinette was going to have to do a little reconnaissance (Chat loved that word, said it made him feel like a super spy or something)

So, all throughout Saturday and Sunday, Marinette watched.

A few things quickly became clear to her.

The first was that the Kwamis seemed to have a deep aversion to the Miracle Box, and tended to stick far away from it. She had moved it to her closet afterwards (still very safe in a disguised, code-accessed box) and the Kwamis had noticeably relaxed.

The second was that they never mentioned Fu, or really, anything about the order, but if she was correct, then that wasn’t surprising. What was, was the casual mention by Mullo at one point, while she was talking to Fluff, mentioned how she had done a good job choosing Olympe de Gouges as her holder during the french revolution. Marinette had previously thought that the order had chosen the holders, not the Kwamis. (which would have made way more sense now that she thought about it)

The last, and most interesting, was that they didn’t tend to mention their past holders much, or at all really. That wasn’t a done deal, Mullo, as mentioned, talked of de Gouges, and Longg mentioned Hua Mulan from time to time, but it wasn’t common, and not a single Kwami mentioned a holder from more recently than 1821.

It was this last observation that led her to call an impromptu meeting on Sunday.

She sat on her bed, the Kwamis floating in front of her, and gave a relaxed smile.

“So, hi,” she began. “I wanted to do a little check-in. I've realized I never asked your opinions on your holders—if you have one—and I was just hoping to do that now?”

The disbelief and shock on their faces was solid proof that she had made the right decision. The Kwamis stood still until Wayzz spoke up.

“Are you asking if we are happy with your choices?” Marinette nodded, and Wayzz smiled. “I am quite fond of Nino, my dude is a wonderful Carapace.” Marinette grinned, and Sass spoke up next, the rest following soon after.

“Luka hasss been a very good choice on your part. I have nothing to complain about.”

“I have only good things to say about Max, despite his less than fabulous social class, which I find myself surprisingly minding less and less.”

“Mine, while incredibly annoying and a nitwit sometimes, has a better sense of humour than a lot of my others, so I tragically have nothing bad to say about him.”

“Kagami has a wonderful heart, and is a truly lovely girl. I can’t think of anyone I would rather have.”

“You chose my cub well, Alya’s awesome, one of the best Foxes I’ve had.” Trixx said last. “It makes sense why she pulls as much as she does.” Longg blinked as he finished talking.

“Yours does that too? I was under the impression it was only my own.”

“Same here.”

“Me too.”

“I find myself in a similar situation.”

“Me as well.”

“Huh, well would you look at that.” Trixx huffed, turning to Marinette. “I’m impressed. Been a long, long time since all of ours pulled.”

Marinette blinked, very confused. “Pulled?” Trixx furrowed his eyebrows.

“Yeah, you know, I’m sure. When your miraculous traits—strength, senses, animal traits—imprint on your normal form?” He turned to Tikki. “She’s got it too right? I’m not losing it?” Tikki nodded her head.

“More than I’ve seen since what seems like forever.”

Marinette’s eyes widened. Oh, yes, she did know about that. She’d noticed it the first time she’d absentmindedly eaten an aphid, when the smells of the flowers suddenly grew sharper, smelling so wonderful as to rival perfume, when she’d suddenly found herself spending a whole lot more time in her garden, and when she’d shattered a metal pen with her bare hand a month ago.

“Alya has that too?” She asked, and Trixx nodded.

“According to them, she’s not the only one.” He said, waving a paw towards the other Kwamis. “That doesn’t just happen. Has to be a really solid bond first. Means you chose well, really well.”

Marinette’s eyes widened. So that’s why Alya had been able to hear her whisper the other day. Now that she thought about it, it did explain a few things; how Nino and Luka were both suddenly spending a lot more time in the sun, that one time she’d spotted a confused and sheepish Max sneaking a dandelion on their lunch break, how Kagami was suddenly growling when she got mad, how Kim had been becoming somehow even more acrobatic, and scratching his armpit in a distinctly simian way.

Does Chat purr in his civilian form?

She shook her head, laughing sheepishly. “Well, thanks.” She smiled. “If any of you ever decide otherwise, though, just tell me.” More disbelief, but Marinette’s gaze had turned to Pollen, who had been watching, hands folded neatly behind her back, with sadness in her eyes.

“Pollen, I—“ the Kwami stopped her before she could apologize.

“It’s not necessary.”

“No, I should never have given Chloé that miraculous a second time, or a third, or any time after that.”
“I liked her.” Pollen said, and Marinette closed her mouth in shock. “I truly did. My Queen had a good heart, underneath all that muck. She was a good Queen Bee, she had so much promise. It wasn’t your fault she did what she did, and while I very much wish things had ended any other way, I by no means blame you. I never have.” She smiled sadly, and Marinette teared up.

“I’m sorry for how it ended too.”

***

School the next day was interesting to say the least.

Alya and Nino seemed normal, if still fiercely protective over her and Adrien, but Adrien himself seemed… distracted. He kept staring towards the rooftops of the city with a faraway, worried face, and Marinette kept a close eye on him the whole day.

Her class wasn’t any better than they had the last day, eyeing her with worry and talking to her in that ‘walking on eggshells’ tone that she was beginning to want to throw in a volcano.

At one point though, she overheard Juleka talking about how Jagged had come over to talk to the two of them, and he seemed like he really wanted to get to know them. Luka didn’t seem to be as furious anymore once he had said that. It was progress. She loved Jagged and the Couffaine twins both, and Marinette was incredibly happy for them.

The other thing was that Lila was glaring daggers into her skull the entire day, as Nino and Adrien fought over the single sunbeam on their desk, Alya kept an arm around her shoulder, Myléne and Ivan planned a date for tomorrow, Nathanël and Alix talked in hushed tones about some ‘Operation Anciel,’ Rose happily beamed at Juleka’s recount of Jagged’s visit, planting a kiss on her cheek halfway through, Sabrina did Chloé’s homework as she sat on her phone, and Max and Kim were arguing about bananas, for some reason that she could probably guess.

Marinette tried her best not to let Lila phase her; she had Alya, Nino and Adrien now. (he had graduated to glancing at her with concern in-between his squabbling with Nino and sighing at the window) And yet, she couldn’t get rid of the anticipatory and suspenseful tingling on the back of her neck.

She could see Lila walking up to her as they left the class, but Adrien, thankfully, got there first.

“Hi Mari,” he said hesitantly, a nervous smile on his face, Mari smiled too, confusion etching across her features.

“What’s up?” Adrien let out a long breath, looking like he was steeling himself.

“Well… Ok so I’ve been trying to figure out how to say this for nearly a month, but I’ve decided i’m just gonna say it.” He took another breath. “I’m so sorry I let Lila bully you and made you think you had to ignore it with my stupid advice.” He blurted out in a rush.

What?

“Adrien, there’s no need to apologize—“

“I’d beg to differ.” He said with a sad smile. “I’m still—even after a year—new to this whole… socializing thing. I thought bullying was stuff like physical violence, stuff like we see in the movies, I completely missed the fact that verbal and emotional abuse can be just as, if not more damaging. I only realised it after Lila got you to drop out of being representative.” he scratched the back of his neck, and a strange sense of deja-vu hit her for a second. “I guess I thought it was… normal, in a way, but that was obviously a stupid idea.”

Marinette’s eyes widened, because the very fact that he’d thought that was normal could very well mean some terrible things, but he kept talking, and it was clear he wasn’t going to answer any more questions about that.

“My father’s manifesto could practically be ‘don’t make a fuss, Adrien,’” he laughed, even though that was so beyond ok, and yet it was also something he’d said before. “That’s where the high road crap came from.” He smiled at her sheepishly. “I’m not trying to excuse myself, I just wanted you to know why I acted the way I did. I’m sorry.”

Marinette launched into a hug, wrapping her arms around Adrien with a whispered ‘thank you.’ He smiled, and the two of them headed towards a waiting nearby Alya and Nino to go to lunch.

***

Marinette headed towards the bathroom around ten minuets later, and Lila walked in just as she was finishing washing her hands, Marinette froze as soon as she spotted her in the mirror; leaning against a wall with one foot up and her arms crossed. Angry buzzing began to emanate from her purse.

“Hey Marinette,” she said in a singsong, eyes lit up with a wicked gleam. She laughed once, a strange, disjointed sound. “You certainly are a tough nut to crack, aren’t you?” She left her position on the wall, walking to stand closer to Marinette with the gait of a jackal stalking its prey. Marinette instinctively backed up a step, and a satisfied smile grew on Lila’s face.

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Marinette stammered, taking another step back towards the door, memories of the last times Lila had cornered her here flashing in her mind.

“Don’t you?” she hummed. “How’d you do it?”

“Do w-what?”

“You know what. How’d you get them to care about you like that, how’d you undo all my work?” She said, looking mildly unhinged. “How’d you take my Adrien away from me?”

Marinette hadn’t been this scared in a while. Akumas were one thing, they didn’t have a choice, Lila was like this of her own volition, and yet the ‘my Adrien’ gave her strength to speak.

“He’s not yours.”
“Oh but he is, even if he doesn’t know it yet.” She said softly and menacingly. “But we aren’t talking about Adrien right now. I want to know why, when you’re so worthless, you aren’t broken anymore.”

Another step forward, and another step back. They had left the bathroom by now, entering the empty locker room. Tikki was buzzing absolutely furiously in her bag.

“I-I don’t—“ Marinette stammered.

“How do you still have a spine? How do you still have friends? How have you never been akumatized even though you’re… you.” She sneered, and despite herself Marinette couldn’t think of the answers. “Hawk Moth should have gotten you nearly twenty-five times by now, so why hasn’t he.”

“I d-don’t, I don’t know.” Marinette said, eyes downcast, but with her last remaining threads of strength she looked Lila in the eye and asked the question that she’d been asking herself for six months. “Why do you hate me so much?”

“Why?” Lila snarled, and before Marinette could so much as move Lila’s hands were on her shoulders, shoving her into a nearby locker, causing a stabbing pain to shoot up the back of her head, and burst from her shoulder. “Because you’re optimistic, because you know your worth, because you’re kind, and because you threatened my control. I had this school wrapped around the palm of my hand until they all started to notice my little masterpiece, what I’d done to you—“ she smiled, and spoke as if she was actually proud of what she’d done. “—Finally gotten you to realize what you are. Worthless.”

Marinette was trembling now, pressed against the cold metal locker, one hand on her wriggling, buzzing purse to stop a livid Tikki from phasing out and doing something Lila could never come back from.

Lila was right. She was worthless. She hadn’t noticed what was really going on with the Kwamis for too long, she’d caused so many akumas, she’d let Chat sacrifice himself time after time after time.

She’d nearly lost, more than once, and would’ve doomed Paris if she had.

She’d caused her kitty to lose himself, and destroy the world as a result.

She was on the verge of finally giving in, agreeing with Lila, but Tikki’s furious, protective buzzing grounded her, reminded her that Tikki, at least, thought she was worth something.

And she remembered that Alya and Nino, who’d been so furious after they’d found out what had been going on, did too.

And she remembered that her parents, who loved her so much and were always so supportive of her dreams, did too.

And she remembered that the Kwamis, who were still wary, but had complimented her just yesterday, reassured her that she’d chosen holders well, did too.

And she remembered that Adrien, who had apologised (which she still thought was unnecessary, albeit appreciated) just that morning and constantly cheered her on with that beautiful heart and smile of his, did too.

And she remembered that Chat, who was constantly by her side, defending her with his actual life, standing with her always even when she didn’t deserve it, did too.

And with those thoughts ringing in her ears, and Tikki’s buzzing vibrating through her, she drew strength from others’ faith in her, and stood up straighter, the trembling calming, and said to Lila in a quiet voice, that was still full of resolute strength that had taken her far to long to find;

“You’re wrong.”

Lila blinked, her hands leaving Marinette’s shoulders and taking a step back as Marinette breathed in relief. Lila’s mouth opened a little, clearly searching for something to say, but nothing came until a sly, sinister smirk made its way onto her face.

“Well, would you look at that?” she said with fake awe. “Looks like I didn’t do as good of a job as I thought.” The smirk grew wider. “But don’t you worry, sooner rather than later you’ll realize just how helpless, how weak, how pathetic you truly are. Mark my words.”

She left the locker room after that, and Marinette slid down to the floor, Tikki zipping out of her bag with incredible speed as the hand that had previously been there moved to rest on Marinette’s heart. Tikki pressed herself to Marinette’s cheek, glaring pure venom at the door as she did do.

“I am so, so proud of you Marinette.” she said, Marinette smiling tiredly and amazed in response.

“I didn’t know I could do that.” She said a little breathlessly.

“I did.” Tikki settled on her shoulder, and Marinette’s heart slowly settled back to its usual speed.

Chapter Text

‘Worried’ would hardly begin to describe Adrien’s current mental state.

Even though he had finally worked up the courage to be able to apologise to Marinette, and my gosh she was amazing, she forgave him so quick, he was still far more than worried.

His lady is consistently more and more stressed and sad, cracking jokes with him less and less, and then she gets thrown off the Eiffel tower.

He doesn't care if Plagg says she’s fine, because she’s clearly not. (Although that does let him know she isn’t dead, which is a very welcome relief)

When did she stop talking to him? They used to talk—well, as much as two superheroes with secret identities could. She’d been acting odd ever since that day she’d lain on his shoulder on top of Montparnasse as they watched the sunset, but this had only begun after Miracle Queen.

It was infuriating. He could tell she needed to open up, but wasn’t letting him in.

He hated feeling helpless.

A flash of his father’s furious face lit into his mind, and he quickly shook his head, flopping onto his bed on his back and spreading out his arms. Plagg floated over, landing on his chest and starting to knead his shirt with tiny paws.

“You want me to cataclysm him? Just say the word.” He drawled, and Adrien fixed him with an amused stare as he fiddled with his ring.

“It made sense that he reacted the way he did. I’m kinda the face of the brand. Besides, this isn’t out of the ordinary. You know that.” It was Plagg’s turn to fix him with a stare, his unimpressed.

“Oh suuurrre. ‘Cause unleashing the wrath of all Kwamis on your son who doesn’t wanna add another gig to his already overpacked schedule totally makes sense. Yeah.” He sniffed, settling into the crook of Adrien’s arm. “Keep telling yourself that, kitten.” Adrien smiled, he wasn’t sure if Plagg had quite realised he had started calling him that, but he quite liked it.

“And you’re sure she was ok?”

“Yes.”

Adrien sighed.

“How’d the visit go, anyway? I didn’t ask yet.”

“Eh, you know. Ok. A little awkward, but not for all that long. Your bug makes some dang good cheese bread.” Adrien huffed a little laugh.

“Don’t move out on me, will you?” Plagg shifted a little deeper.

“Nah, I’ve got it nice and cushy here. I can go get cheesy bread whenever I want.”

They sat in silence for a bit.

“Did I do something? To get her to not trust me as much anymore?” Adrien asked quietly, the worry having been present in his mind for a while, although this was the first time he’d voiced it. “I mean, I know I can be a little immature and impulsive and definitely a bit much sometimes, but—“ Plagg cut him off with a laugh.

“Heck no, LB trusts you with her life. This is her own stuff.” Adrien smiled, but he just couldn’t seem to shake that worry.

A sunbeam landed on the bed soon after, and before long Plagg and Adrien were both blissfully napping, contented purrs escaping both their chests.

Adrien was woken up by the phone ringing, although Plagg either didn’t hear or was resolutely ignoring the noise. Adrien tiredly fumbled for his phone, moving to his desk so as to not wake Plagg. Kwami knows he was a nightmare when he was woken up. Really lived up to his title as the Kwami of destruction.

“Hello?” he answered sleepily, not even checking the Caller ID.

“Oh hey dude.” Nino said cheerily from the other end of the line, and Adrien smiled at his voice.

“Hey Nino, what’s up?”

“Just checking in on my bro. You seemed a little off at school.” Yeah, Adrien supposed he wasn’t exactly subtle about watching the rooftops for his Bugaboo.

“Oh, yeah I was just tired. Just woke up from a nap, actually.”

“I swear, sometimes you’re so like a cat it’s freaky.” Adrien laughed. If Nino only knew the irony. He was still mentally kicking himself for not realizing Nino had been Carapace the entire time; He wasn’t exactly all that subtle. He was still so happy about it, knowing that he had unknowingly been fighting beside his best friend the whole time.

He certainly had noticed things ever since, about both Nino and Alya—or should he say Rena Rouge. Both of them were a little too strong, a little too agile, a little too perceptive, much like he himself, and Nino and he had been engaged in sunbeam wars for weeks now without him noticing.

It was funny, how all the Auxiliary holders had turned out to be people he knew, and all but two of them were in his class. Not that he was confused or anything as to why his lady had chosen them, they were all, despite their flaws, wonderful people.

He remembered how surprised he’d been, to get to the Trocadéro and see not one, but two of his best friends under their miraculouses, and he was so looking forward to the day when he could tell them about his moonlighting as Chat Noir, and they could all laugh about how oblivious they all had been, and how long it had taken them to get used to both the double life and the changes in their civilian forms.

Marinette could come too, of course, even if she hadn't been Multimouse that one time. She had looked so cute in that suit. With the double buns, and that adorable skipping-rope tail…. He felt a blush come to his cheeks, and quickly turned his attention back to Nino.

“I never apologised.” Nino blurted out suddenly, and Adrien’s brain stalled for a second.

“Huh?”

“About Lila.” Nino said, and Adrien got even more confused. “About not noticing that she was harassing you until now.”

“Wait…”. He was really lost now. He didn’t like Lila, not in the slightest, and yeah, he really didn’t like her hanging off him, touching him all the time, Not letting him leave her side, talking like they were dating, and he had replayed that time she kissed him out of the blue a lot of times in his head, never with a good emotion attached… but… that was all him, right? “Lila wasn’t harassing me.”

Nino was silent for a moment, then;

“Are you pulling my leg, dude?” Nino asked, trying to sound light but with a whole lot of emotion underneath.

Adrien shook his head, even though Nino couldn't see him. “No?”

“So you liked her touching you all the time?” Adrien was silent. He knew he should say yes… but it just wasn’t true, and he couldn’t bring himself to lie to Nino like that. Nino spoke again after a few seconds of silence. “Adrien, did she make you uncomfortable at any point?”

“Yeah, I— yeah, but that’s all me, right?” Nino disbelievingly laughed from the other side of the phone. “Like, what she was doing was normal, right? If I have a problem with it thats on me, right?”

“Dude, Adrien, no. It isn’t, and what she’s doing is not in the least bit normal, or ok, no matter if it’s physical, verbal, or emotional.” Nino said softly and sadly, and Adrien blinked, pursing his lips. It wasn’t?

“But—“

“Lemme ask you this. When I nudge you, or Alya links her arm with yours, or Mari hugs you, do you feel uncomfortable?” Adrien didn’t even need to think about the answer. No, when his friends touched him he felt warm, safe, loved—the exact opposite of what he felt when Lila did it.

“Not a bit.” he answered honestly.

“Then it isn’t on you, it's her. Heck, it wouldn’t be on you if you didn’t like us touching you either. It’s your body dude, you get to decide what’s cool and what’s not.”

Adrien had never thought about it like that before.

“So it’s not normal? For her to… be like that? Kiss me randomly?”

“No, no it’s not.” Nino said sadly, and a surge of relief passed through Adrien. He wasn’t crazy, or overly sensitive after all. “The only way that stuff’s ok is if you and the other person want it.” That... made sense, Adrien would never touch someone if they weren't ok with it, no matter if they explicitly said so or not.

“Oh.” Was all he could say, and a rush of memories of Plagg saying similar things swept through his mind.

“Where did that even come from? Thinking this was normal and you were in the wrong?”

Adrien shrugged, although Nino still couldn’t see him. “I’m a model, that stuff is… kinda part of the job.”

“Sorry?” Nino said, and his voice was definitely not sad anymore. That was anger.

“Yeah,” Adrien began, it all coming out in a rush now that he actually knew he wasn’t crazy for feeling how he did. “I mean, you’ve seen some of it I’m sure. the ‘date’ themed adds with my arm being touched, that one swimsuit shoot with that lady who kept clinging onto me, that one photo for Father’s new line with the girl kissing my cheek—although she seemed as weirded out and uncomfortable as I was, the shoots with the wet clothes, the makeup artists who play with my hair more than they need to…” he trailed off. “A lot of stuff.”

Nino sucked in a breath. “Dude… I knew you hated modelling but this… I am so, so, sorry that this has been happening, and that I never noticed. This and Lila. Alya and Mari would agree with me.” Adrien smiled, even though he was tearing up a little. He’d never had someone care about this before. “Ugh, I wanna hug you so bad right now. Prepare to be smushed next time I see you, bro.”

“Looking forward to it, and by the way I completely forgive you,” Adrien said, wiping a tear from his eye. “And yeah, I would’ve quit modelling a long time ago if my Father would let me.” Nino went quiet for a second, and when he spoke again, he was hesitant.

“Have you… told your dad?” Adrien nodded.

“Yeah, but he didn’t really care.” He said nonchalantly. “I’m like, the face of the brand right now. He ‘can’t afford to take my sensitivity into account,’” he did an exaggerated impression of his dad for the last sentence, something he would only do when talking to Nino.

There was a slight muttering of ‘I’m gonna beam him over the head with my (forking) shield’ from over the phone that Adrien could only hear thanks to his enhanced hearing. “Ok, I know you aren’t gonna listen to me if I say how much of a douche your father is, but I can tell you for sure that he’s wrong. That isn’t sensitivity, that’s healthy boundaries and basic human rights—not that there’s anything wrong with sensitivity mind you!”

Adrien smiled, and the two of them talked for a bit more about some lighter topics, before Nino had to go, apologized once more, and Adrien said he completely forgave him once more, before thanking him profusely for letting him know he wasn’t in the wrong here.

Plagg eyed him as he sat back down, clearly having woken up and heard the whole conversation.

“Oh, so the second Glasses one tells you, then you listen?” He drawled, and Adrien scratched him behind the ear.

“It’s nothing about you, but I thought Kwamis just had different stuff around personal space.” Plagg huffed, but he didn’t seem offended anymore.

“The things your society doesn’t take seriously,” he said, and Adrien flopped back onto his bed, feeling lighter than he had in a while. “Gimme the word and I’ll cataclysm her.” Adrien laughed.

“Yeah, no, but I appreciate the offer.”

***

Adrien eventually got Plagg to agree to a short run through the city before he went to sleep, just to burn off a little steam. Happy steam though, steam from relief that his feelings were valid. Ladybug wouldn’t be out tonight, not unless anything went wrong, but it didn’t make it any less wonderful to run with the city lights beneath him, the only thing above being the moon and the distant stars.

Of course, he was still technically on duty, so when he heard raised voices coming from a nearby street he had to check it out, bounding from rooftop to rooftop with feline grace and leaping to perch in a tree, tail swishing gently as he watched the spectacle that he now realised was unfolding in front of the Tsurugi residence.

Kagami had stormed out in her pyjamas, walking briskly and seemingly fine, but Adrien knew her well, and he could tell she was seething. Her mother followed calmly, dressed in a silken robe.

“Kagami, do not walk away from me like that.” Mrs. Tsurugi said calmly, and Kagami whipped around to face her, her restraint cracking.

“I had a nightmare, Mother.” She said, fury leeching into her voice. “Everyone has them. Everyone gets scared. It does not make me weak!”

“No, but you are a Tsurugi.” Mrs. Tsurugi said. “You do not let fear control you, you do not wake up crying. You ignore it, move past it, command—“

“Maybe I don’t want to anymore!” Kagami shrieked, the last fibres of her restraint disappearing as lights came on around the surrounding street, people woken up by their row.

“Kagami, come inside.” Her mother said sharply, and Kagami glared at her.

“No.”

“Kagami.”

“No.”

“Kagami Tsurugi, you come back inside, now.”

“I am done being your porcelain doll!” Kagami nearly shrieked, years of pent up rage escaping, and Adrien knew what was going to happen the second before it did.

Kagami Tsurugi, also known as Ryuuko, the holder of the dragon miraculous.

Identity exposed during Miracle Queen.

One of the three left who hadn’t been akumatized since.

The purple-black butterfly landed on her silver bracelet, and black energy encircled her as staff brought Tomoe Tsurugi inside and Adrien watched, horrified, from his place in the tree.

Chapter Text

Marinette woke from a wonderfully quiet sleep to the sound of screams.

It was kind of sad that that wasn’t surprising anymore.

The one thing that was different this time was that she knew it would be one of her friends, Shadow Moth hadn’t akumatized anyone but in over a month. she saw Trixx, Wayzz, and Longg looking each other out of the corner of her eye as she quickly transformed and lept out into the open night sky, with a quick glance down to see that, thankfully, her parents were unharmed.

She came across Mme. Mendelieve first, huddled in a corner muttering something about how Nobel-prize winning work had been stolen from her. Her eyes were distant and blank, and she didn’t react when Marinette waved in front of her eyes, called her name, or gently shook her shoulder.

Thoroughly creeped out, she looked around to see Alec Cateldi yelling about an interview being cancelled and his job being over, Nadja screeching Manon’s name, Andre Glacier murmuring something about a heat wave, and Nora Cesáire seemingly losing a fight against thin air with a panicked look on her face and grunting that she ‘has to protect them.’

This continued as she slowly and quietly walked down the streets of the city, spotting Marc and Nathanël sitting on either side of a wall, sobbing and whispering something about rejection, Juleka and Rose frantically screaming each other’s names as they ran not three meters from each other, Chloé simply staring, tears streaming down her face and her head tilted up, Luka on his knees and looking like he was crying over something, or someone, and Kim trying desperately to climb the wall in front of him.

All around her, people were running, screaming, sobbing.

It was horrible.

She found Nino in the first fifteen or so minuets, frantically running down the walks at the edge of the Seine and looking like he was holding an imaginary shield, every now and then thrusting his arm out to block against something that wasn’t there, desperately calling for Adrien, Alya, and her.

Alya she found ten minuets later, she found Alya running along the rooftops of the Champs-Élysées, a stick in her hand that she was frantically trying to play as a flute while she dodged thin air and screamed out for Nino, Adrien, and her.

She found the Akuma five minuets later, and what she had known to be true since she found Alya and Nino was officially proven to be correct.

Kagami, thankfully with no sentimonster in sight this time, was wearing an eerie silver bodysuit with no ornamentation to be found, her hair floating weightlessly around her shoulders. A thin, black chain was wrapped around her wrist, and her face was done in full Kumadori makeup. She was walking in midair; everywhere her feet touched the sky a shallow dome of silver force erupted underfoot, keeping her aloft. She walked softly and calmly up to Myléne, stepping onto the ground and began to speak quietly, a small thread of black wrapping around the other girl’s head and disappearing into her skull as Kagami walked away, silver force forming a staircase into the sky. Myléne started sobbing moments after.

Marinette started backing away, but in the process her foot hit a paint can behind her on the roof, sending a loud, clattering sound that seemed to ring for miles. Kagami started to turn around—

She was knocked off her feet by a black blur, and before she knew it she was behind the staircase exit, with Chat crouching over her as she lay on her back.

Oh sweet Kwami.

Her face flooded with red as Chat watched Kagami turn back around and continue walking, and he rolled off of her, offering her a hand which she gladly took.

“Thanks,” she breathed
“No problem M’lady,” He said with a grin, waggling his eyebrows. Oh here he goes… “Alway’s knew I would sweep you off your feet.” He grinned, and Marinette rolled her eyes good-naturedly. There it is.

“Ryuuko?” she asked, knowing full well that it was, but wanting to make sure this wasn’t another Chameleon or Copycat situation

“Yeah,” Chat nodded sadly. “I was there when it happened. Out for a little run.”

Marinette looked down, trying not to show how hard this hit her. These weren’t just her teammates that Shadow Moth was targeting, they were her friends, people she had in some cases known for years, and they were in this because of her. Kagami and her hadn’t started off on the best foot, but the girl was a very good friend by now, and it really hurt to see her like this for no better reason than because Marinette had messed up worse than she could put into words.

“The akuma’s in her bracelet.” Chat said, and Marinette nodded absently. She’d almost managed to forget what she’d done to her class, her people, her kitty, after she’d stood up (!!!) to Lila that day, but this brought it back into sharp focus.

“Ok, what’s our game-plan?” she asked, stepping back and trusting Chat to have a better grip on the situation. Last time she’d called the shots, Chat ended up having to do everything by himself.

“If we go for her in the open, she’d be out of there before we could say tuna, so I think luring her is the best play. Somewhere big, closed in, but with lots of spaces to hide.” Marinette nodded. Chat didn’t give himself enough credit as a tactician, even if his plans were usually a little simpler, and generally involved ‘run at the akuma without any strategy.’

“City hall?” she asked, before cutting herself off. “Right, they’re still doing renovations on wall stability.”
“What about that school all the akumas pop up at?” Chat asked. “François-Dupont?”

Marinette shook her head. “The courtyard is open, we’d never be able to keep her in.” she thought a little more, thumbing her chin, and Chat eventually snapped his fingers, a gleeful smile on his face.

“What about the Grand Paris? They would’ve shut down the elevators to the rooms ‘cause of the attack, but the main floor has the giant lobby, the stairs to the restaurant, and the ballroom. It could work.” Marinette thought for a second.

“Yeah, it’s big but not too open. Space to move around and space to hide.” She grinned. “It’s perfect. So what’s our first move then?” Chat smirked, and she suddenly knew exactly what he was going to say.

“We run at her with no strategy and lead her towards the Grand Paris.”

Marinette groaned.

***

Miraculously, they were able to make it to the Grand Paris in one piece, and they only were nearly hit five times as a whole.

The two of them darted into the Grand Paris’ large ballroom as soon as they could, knowing that Calamity (Kagami’s akumatized name this time) would be close behind. They shut the doors, checked all the windows, and Marinette zipped up a quick web on their side with her yoyo. She called her lucky charm, which happened to be a drawstring bag, and quickly went into the adjourning bathroom to recharge, heading back out to a waiting Chat.

Nobody came in, nobody opened the door and was caught in her web, nothing happened.

That’s when Marinette realized she, in her fuzzy, frantically guilty and concerned state, had forgotten to check a window.

The next thing she saw was a black ribbon snaking around her forehead.

And then she was in the one place, the one time that she would give anything never to see again, never to live through again.

***

Adrien was alerted to the moment his lady fell by a soft thud, and nothing more.

He whipped around, only to see Calamity standing there, over the limp form of Ladybug, with a smug, satisfied smile.

He saw red.

He darted towards Calamity, and as she readied to face him, he vaulted over her head and attacked from behind instead, elbowing her back towards the window and standing in front of his lady, teeth bared, ears flat against his head and tail lashing as he furiously hissed, hoping to convey to Shadow Moth just how irrevocably (forked) he was.

Nobody hurts M'lady.
Calamity seemed to smartly know when to not press the issue, because she simply smiled and stepped out the window, leaving Chat to, in a nostalgia-fuelled brainwave, rush towards the dumbwaiter in the restaurant, cataclysm-ing the cover off and squeezing himself and his lady in, pulling them up to the third floor with aching muscles. She was silent, only two whispers of ‘what’s my name’ coming from her lips.

Adrien stepped out first, gently removing his lady and breaking down the first door he could see. Thankfully, the room was empty, and he laid her down on the bed, still buzzing with adrenaline. He had no fricking idea what he was supposed to do next.

He figured it out once a soft beeping started to come from his ring, and he detransformed right after, Plagg flopping onto the bed and brightening instantly when he saw the offered camembert. He munched it in one bite, turning around to take in Ladybug on the bed.

“Well.” He started. “This can’t be good.”

That was when she started to scream, wet, wracked cries and pleas of ‘no, no not this, not again’ coming from her shaking form. Without even stopping to think, Adrien ran to her, comforting purrs instinctively kicking up as he clasped her hand.

“Bug, Bugaboo I’m right here. Right here, come on wake up.” She was writhing now, kicking weakly and flailing her other arm. Adrien had never seen that expression on her before. It was fear, the deepest fear possible.

“No, no what did I do, why did this happen, what did I do?” she cried, and Plagg moved to sit next to Adrien, trying frantically to calm her down.

“LB, Bug,” he called softly, before his eyes went wide as he settled in her neck. “Tikki, Tik, Sugarcube.” Adrien looked to Plagg, shocked, and the Kwami looked right back.

“Tikki’s in this too, just as distressed as LB.” He whispered. “I can’t remember the last time I’ve felt her this panicked.” He shook his head softly. “They got hit bad.”

Adrien returned his focus to his lady, who was by now gasping for breath, and his eyes widened. “Plagg—“

“She’s still getting air, this is just psychological from what I can see, but Sass, Wayzz, and Longg were always better at this stuff.” He shook his head, going back to softly calling Tikki.

Tears were streaming down his Lady’s face, and Adrien hesitantly reached out to rub her cheek, feeling the first tears begin to flow into his own eyes.

“Bug, M’lady please, please wake up.” He whispered. “I can’t bear to see you like this, please.” She murmured something he couldn’t catch. “Whatever you’re seeing, it’s not real. I love you, and I don’t just mean that romantically. You're one of my best friends. Fight it, I know you can, please Bugaboo, please.”

There was a gasp, and Plagg zipped back into the ring the moment before her eyes opened.

Chapter Text

Then she was in the one place, the one time that she would give anything never to see again, never to live through again.

Marinette took a deep, shuddering breath as she came too, eyes taking in the blue, cloudless sky above her, body noting the hard stucco beneath her, and ears listening to the quiet lap of water, nose helpfully noting that it was saltwater.

Then she noticed the moon.

The split open, shattered moon.

She bolted upright, hoping against all hope that she wasn’t here, she couldn’t be here, she’d saved him, she’d saved him she’d saved him she’d—

There was a figure in white on the far side of Montparnasse tower, silhouetted against the fallen Eiffel Tower in the background, as the water lapped onwards, quiet and peaceful in this broken, wrong place.

Of course we’re gonna fix everything!

She sucked in a breath, taking in the skintight leather, the white belt swishing as a tail would between his legs, the clawed gloves and the white, adorably unkempt hair.

Now that you’re back and now that you’re going to…

He turned around, blue eyes, unnaturally pale skin, that smile that was both so familiar and so, so wrong.

Give me your miraculous!

“M’lady!” He called, so brightly happy, so wrong.

Sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude M’lady.

No, no this couldn’t be happening, she’d saved him, she’d saved him she promised she would never let this happen to him, never let herself cause him this pain again, she’d promised she’d promised.

Could you please hand me your miraculous? Please?

He darted over to her, blue and white and wrong, so wrong, such a beautiful, broken soul.

Chat blanc has… gotten into some mischief.

“What’s my name,” She whispered. “What’s my name?” she had to know, had to know if this was really happening, if this was really her fault again again again.

Now you’re breaking more than my heart Marinette!

“What kind of question is that?” he asked, smiling that so familiar, so wrong smile, his voice dipping and rising in all the wrong places. “It’s you Marinette! It's always been you! Every time you kept me in the dark, let me sacrifice myself just for you, let me die, let me turn into this, it’s always been you! No wonder you fail so much.”

Give me a hug Marinette!

“And now look at you! You want to tell me again, even knowing this is what comes of it. You never change.” He clucked, shaking his head. “You never change.”

Once the cat is out of the bag, it’s only a matter of time ’til everyone knows.

Then he charged, darting with a blueish-white ball of power in his hand towards her, and Marinette screamed as she leapt out of the way, tears streaming down her cheeks. This couldn’t be happening, couldn’t be happening this couldn’t be happening she’d done it again.

“No, no not this, not again!” She screeched.

I'll find you, M’lady!

It was her worst fears come to life. The nightmares that haunted her sleep given form in the boy in front of her, who was darting towards her with murderous intent, her wonderful, sweet, incredible, compassionate kitty turned into this creature of nightmares.

The worst part was knowing he was still in there.

“No, no what did I do, why did this happen, what did I do?” she screamed, frantically hoping he would answer, he would answer so she could fix it.

“You loved me. You thought you could change, could be better, deserved to have me, to have people in your life just so you could let them down again and again and again.” Was his only answer, sadistically smiling with those cold, cold blue eyes.

I'd like to erase the past too, but there's only one way to do that.

Dodging his attacks, she didn’t even notice she was nearing the edge of Montparnasse until she was suddenly no longer on solid material.

My wish would be to fix everything, so we could be in love again.

She was falling, falling just as she had when Second Act struck, just as she had time after time when people needed her. That was what she did, she fell, she failed.

And have a hamster, too. You’ve always dreamed of having one!

Why had she ever thought she deserved to love him? As a partner, as one of her best friends, maybe even as something more. How could she ever deserve him or anyone in her life when she’d caused all the Auxiliary holders to be put in danger, when she’d caused akuma after akuma, when she had done this before, she’d done this before and she destroyed her Kitty in the process, destroyed her world and his very self.

It was our love that did this to the world M’Lady!

She pulled herself up onto the nearest building, finding all too late that it was her home, the cheerful sign announcing their business grown over with algae, the rooms where she’d made memory after memory —taken her first steps, transformed for the first time, beaten Adrien at Mecha Strike, laughed with Alya and Nino as music played in the background, Baked her first cake, designed for Jagged Stone, Clara Nightingale, and so many others, let the Kwamis roam free in, found her passions, found her purposes, found her family— were flooded.

Her plants on the rooftop that she had spent so much time on, so long convincing them that they could grow, were dead, dead and buried underneath the shifting sea.

She knew hers wasn’t the only building decimated; François-Dupont was gone, Alya’s apartment, Nino’s place, everywhere she’d been, loved, laughed.

It hit her with sudden clarity then, that everyone was dead.

You're not even listening, you don’t understand.
Where were Nino and Alya when the cataclysm struck? Where were they now, Under the endless sea?

Where had her parents been? Were they together when it happened, tight in each others arms, or had they died trying desperately to get to her, to each other?

Where was Adrien? Her wonderful friend, the incredible boy made of sunshine who deserved so, so much more than this? Had he been alone? Alone as he all too often was?

Was Plagg in there? Forced to power the akuma and see his kitten unwillingly turned to evil while he was powerless to do anything?

Why won't you try and help me fix it!

Chat Blanc leapt from the rooftop, landing gracefully on light feet in front of her.

“Why do you still try?” he asked patronisingly. “When everything you do fails?”

The simple truth is you don’t love me anymore! So I might as well destroy you, me, our memories… everything!

Marinette dropped to her knees, the past and the present colliding in a whirl of colour, and through it all came a voice.

“Bug, M’lady please, please wake up.” Her kitty said, but that made no sense, because he was there in front of her, so broken, so wrong.

“I can’t bear to see you like this, please.” The voice spoke again, and dear Kwami it sounded so much like him.

“Chat?” she whispered, squeaky, as she realised that Chat Blanc had stopped advancing.

“Whatever you’re seeing, it’s not real.” The voice said, and it triggered a tiny slice of memory, a black ribbon.

Black—

I’m not Chat Noir anymore, I’m Chat Blanc

No, no she wasn’t there. This was… This wasn’t…

“I love you, and I don’t just mean that romantically.”

It wasn’t…

“You're one of my best friends.”

It wasn’t real.

“Fight it, I know you can,”

Her kitty was ok, she’d saved him, she hadn’t failed him again.

Save me.

“Please Bugaboo, please.”

She rose to her feet, letting out a long, shaky breath, and turning to Chat Blanc, the manifestation of her greatest failure, she whispered in a trembling voice with her fists clenched.

“You’re not real, but I’m gonna save you anyway.”

She darted forward, ripping his bell from his collar and smashing it in a single squeeze.

Her eyes, her real eyes this time, opened.

***

The first thing she registered was Chat’s arms around her, deep, pure black instead of that sterile white, and Tikki’s familiar, comforting presence in her transformation that had been absent in that nightmare world.

“Oh thank Kwami…” Chat Noir breathed, squeezing her with every inch of his enhanced strength, her reciprocating while tears still streamed down her face. “Please never do that again Bug.” His ears flicked up at the sounds of her quiet sobs, brushing against her cheek as they did do, and he leaned back, keeping his hands on her arms and allowing Marinette to see that they were on a bed in a hotel room she could only presume was in the Grand Paris. The drawstring bag, red with black polka-dots like all the Lucky Charm’s creations, was next to them.

Her hair had fallen out of her pigtails, cascading down to a little below her shoulders, and Chat held out a hand. She nodded, and he gently brushed it out of her eyes.

“What happened?” he asked softly

“I—“ Marinette swallowed. “I don’t wanna talk about it.” Chat’s eyes narrowed.

“Bug, no offence but that’s crap. I can see you do.” And she did, but she knew she couldn’t tell him, tell anyone.

“I can’t.” She said, voice trembling, and Chat drooped. “We have to, we should go—Calamity—“ Chat stopped her from trying to get up, gentle as always but with a fire in his eyes.

“What did I do?” He asked in a quiet voice, and Marinette blinked.

“What?”

“Come on LB, I’m not dumb. You don’t talk to me anymore, you're always guarded, and I can’t think of a reason for that other than that I did something wrong.” He took a shuddering breath, not meeting her eyes. “So what was it?” Marinette’s breath caught in her throat.

“Chat—“ She’d never meant for this. This was supposed to protect him, to prevent that nightmare from coming to reality, not to hurt him. Never to hurt him. “That—that’s not it at all.”

“Then what is it?” he asked softly.

‘You—you wouldn’t want to know. It's not something I want you to have to worry about.” She couldn’t tell him, couldn’t burden him with that, couldn’t be the reason he knew what he had been made to do that in that dark, dark timeline. He would never forgive himself.

“M’lady, isn’t that kinda our thing? We worry about and for each other, we share the load.” He met her eyes again, smiling that same smile Chat Blanc smiled, but where Blanc’s was oh so wrong, Chat’s was sunlight incarnate. “Me and you, against the world, right Bug?”

It was that last line that did it.

She made up her mind.

She’d tell him a… modified version of events.

“Someone was akumatized… someone I really care about”. She started slowly. “I think it’s because they knew my identity. They… They destroyed Paris, and the moon, and the whole world and everyone was dead because I made a stupid mistake and the world payed for it.” Chat stared at her with wide eyes, before pulling her into a tight hug with a quiet ‘oh Bugaboo…’

“It happened.” She sniffed, before realizing how that sounded, and adding “almost. I almost got revealed, and they almost got akumatized.” Chat stilled.

“You blame yourself.” He said. It wasn’t a question, and Marinette nodded. Chat sighed, cupping her face with gentle hands as she stifled quiet sobs. “Hey, Bug, look at me.” She did, and he smiled gently. “Even if it did happen, it wouldn’t be your fault. I find it hard to believe anyone would be dissapointed at knowing both your sides. Something else obviously happened.”

She’d… She’d never thought of that before…

“But it didn’t, ok? That didn’t happen.” But it had. “Whoever they are, they’re ok.” She sure hoped so. “It wasn’t your fault.” …She didn’t know that for sure.

“Maybe, maybe I need to resign.” She said shakily, trembling, and Chat furrowed his eyes into an exaggerated expression of disbelief.

“Ok, um, no. Nope. Not happening so don’t even think about it. You’re the best Ladybug this city could ask for, you’d never leave me like that, and you’re still the guardian.” He was obviously rattled, but his intentionally light demeanour did help. “This really shook you up, didn’t it?” she nodded, and he wrapped her in another tight embrace, with a quiet, rumbling purr that kept her grounded. “I’m here Bug, I’m right here.”

She hugged him fiercely right back, committing to memory him as he was, gentle and kind and wonderful, black leather not white, blond not bleached, sparkling green eyes instead of cold, dead blue ones.

She had saved him, she had saved him she had saved him she had saved him.

She laughed a little, a wet, choked sound, but it was genuine.

“Thanks, Kitty.”

“Anytime, Bugaboo,” He said, pulling back as she did with a wink, to which she rolled her eyes. “There’s M’lady.” As one, the two turned to the window and the sounds of distant screams, and a small smirk made its way onto Chat’s face. “You know, they are always saying to face your fears.”

“Yeah?” Marinette asked, confused as to where this was going.

“Well, why don’t we go and punch fear right in the face?” he said with a cheeky grin, and Marinette smiled along with him, pulling her yo-yo taut in her hands and smiling with narrowed eyes and a determined glint.

“Gladly.”

Chapter Text

Marinette was still definitely shaken up, and she knew she was going to be having nightmares about that for a long, long while, but Chat had kept her grounded, kept her safe and reminded her that she was ok now, that he was ok.

He had always been the strong one, even with what she just knew was an awful home life. He had always been her rock, the one who gave her the confidence to be Ladybug in the first place, and the one who had talked her back to reality in the dank sewers of Paris and underneath the chilly waters of the Seine.

And so, they were able to take down Calamity, after a little time, Chat wrapping and cinching the drawstring bag around her wrist to keep her from laughing them into another nightmare (Marinette couldn’t do that again, and she never wanted Chat to have to at all) while Marinette restrained her with her yo-yo, removing the bag while Chat smashed the bracelet with a well placed cataclysm.

Kagami didn’t go home that night, and Marinette would be lying if she said that wasn’t a massive relief. She had looked to her and Chat, and with tears in her eyes had asked them what she should do.

Chat had suggested she ask for shelter at the Liberty, Juleka and Luka’s houseboat, seeing as Anarka had already taken in Rose a while back after her parents had died in that car accident, and Kagami had agreed, Chat walking with her to give an escort after Marinette had assured him countless times that yes, she was ok now thanks to him, she can get home, yes she’ll see him for patrol tomorrow.

He had still glanced at her as she swung towards home, a worried, caring glance.

She hadn't been lying. She was still badly shaken, but she was ok, miraculously.

Of course, that didn’t last long. She hastily detransformed as she landed through the roof and onto her bed, bolstered by what Chat had said about Tikki being hit too, and Tikki said nothing as she zipped out of the earrings. She simply floated slowly down to the edge of the loft, sitting with a shellshocked, stricken expression on her face.

“Tikki?” She asked slowly, and the Kwami said nothing, not even as the others floated to hover beside Marinette.

“What happened?” Mullo asked, and it was clear from the kwamis' expressions that they were terrified. Tikki… wasn’t like this. Ever.

“We got hit by the akuma, Calamity.” Marinette said quietly, not taking her eyes off Tikki for a second. “She creates manifestations of your deepest fears.” There was a sharp intake of breath from Fluff, and Wayzz slowly moved to sit beside her as Barkk growled a curse.

“Tikki?” Wayzz asked, and she still didn’t say anything, her eyes glazed over and damp. He put a hand on her leg, and she tensed but made no move to leave. “Tikki, what happened?”

“I was there.” She whispered, voice oh so broken and it was oh so wrong for the Kwami to sound like that.

Wayzz hummed gently, a question, inviting her to speak up a little.

“I was there.” She said, still quiet, still disbelieving, still broken, and Wayzz tensed, horror flashing across his face as she continued. “I was there in that (forking) box, in that (forking) dimensional pocket, listening to him scream, Wayzz.” she took a deep, shuddering breath. “Listening to you all scream, and I was trapped and I couldn’t get out and I couldn’t help anyone and I was trapped again for years and years alone. And it happened again and I couldn’t save you, or any of them, or him.” She spoke, breathlessly and in a rush, and the Kwamis were looking on with horror-filled expressions that matched the one on Marinette’s face. This was obviously new information for them all, even Wayzz.

“I didn’t know you—“

“Oh, I heard everything.” Tikki said with a dry laugh. “Everything they did, and I couldn’t do a damn thing.” She closed her eyes, a single tear trickling out. “There’s a reason they associate me with light. It’s hard to keep me in the dark.”

Marinette, horrorstruck, moved to sit beside her, running her finger over Tikki’s head in a soothing motion.

“And I knew what they were doing to him, and even when they were doing it to me the thought of it happening to him was so much worse than anything they could do. So much worse.” Wayzz stared at her, crying himself by now.

“I had no idea… you two never, you never talked about what happened. you just…”

“Disappeared.” Tikki finished for him, and the sorrow and despair in her voice drove Marinette to ask the question that had been plaguing her and that she really did not want to know the answer to.

“Tikki…” she began slowly, and she looked up at her with wet eyes. “everything you just said, that was the order, wasn’t it?” Tikki let out a shaky breath, and nodded slowly as Marinette immediately began cursing herself and her obliviousness in her thoughts. “I am so sorry, I—“

“Marinette, you didn’t know.” Tikki said, demonstrating once again her ability to read Marinette’s mind. “It’s ok.”

“No it’s not.” Marinette hissed. “Nothing about what you said is in the least bit ok!” She said, seething. “Why didn’t you tell me?” The Kwamis looked at each other, and Fluff cautiously spoke to Tikki.

“Can we tell her? I think… I think she needs to know.”

Tikki sighed. “I’ve told you, you don’t need to ask for permission. I didn’t want her to have to hear this, but... I agree.”

The Kwamis turned to Marinette as she kept one hand on Tikki, and they slowly moved to sit on the ground. Sass spoke first, in a raspy, quiet hiss.

“We did not wish to burden you with thisss, but you are correct. The order wasss not what they presssented themssselvesss to be.”

“Kwamis do not require to be bound to a miraculous in order to transform an individual.” Kalkki said softly. “The miraculous simply allows anyone to transform regardless of the Kwami’s wishes, and prevents us from transforming anyone not in possession of it. That is why Shadow Moth even exists; Nooroo and Duusu would never transform him of their own volition.”

“In the olden days, the relationship between Kwami and chosen was far closer to what you and Tikki--and the rest of us with current chosen--enjoy; a partnership. That is why we call them chosen, because we were always able to choose our own wielders.” Longg said, and Marinette inhaled a sharp breath. That made so much sense, and yet she had never thought that had ever been the case.

“Fu said that the Miraculouses were created so a Kwami could be seen, could interact with the world.” She said slowly, and Xuppu snorted.

“That’s crap. We’ve been around and creating heroes far longer than those fancy jewels.”

“Fu was kind,” Wayzz said quietly. “But he was first and foremost a scion of the Order. He followed their teachings above all else. That is why we were kept in the box. The Miraculouses began to be created around five hundred years ago, by the order themselves. Their disciples slowly began capturing Kwamis and binding them, keeping their miraculouses, and thus them, in miracle boxes. They would occasionally loan us out to figures in return for political power, money, all sorts of things.”

“We were some of the last caught, seeing as we are some of the oldest and most powerful.” Orikko said quietly. “They brought Plagg and Tikki in last, about three hundred and fifty years after they first started binding us.”

“They were in with us for maybe five minuets before they were taken out, and we didn’t see them again until Fu destroyed the temple at the outset of World War Two.” Daizzy murmured. “All we got were rumours, the occasional mention of a Ladybug or Black Cat being out in the world that a Kwami overheard while they were on the outside, other than that—” She looked at Tikki, who hadn’t moved. “—We had no idea what had happened to them.”

“Some of the holders we were loaned to were kind, some were not.” Stompp said.

“When we weren’t loaned out we were… tested on.” Trixx said quietly. “They were trying to figure out the ‘source of our power’ or something.”

“Of course, they didn’t get much.” Roaar said smugly. “Turns out there’s a huge difference in the power level between a holder the Kwami wants and a holder they were forced to have. These akumas are nothing compared to what Nooroo could actually do.”

“None of them ever pulled, which we think was what they were really trying to do.” Mullo interjected. “Trying to draw power from us permanently. Super soldiers to order.”

“Even though Fu was better than the order, and he certainly was never as abusive as them, he still followed their example more often than not.” Pollen said. “That is why we didn’t tell him about trying to contact Nooroo, we knew he would not let us.”

“And I am so, so sorry about taking Tikki’s earrings and Plagg’s ring away.” Wayzz said, voice quaking a little. “A Kwami has to follow any direct order their holder gives. It’s one of the rules.”

Marinette was livid, having grown more and more furious (at the order and herself) as the Kwamis spoke, and was finding it very hard to resist going to Tibet and blowing that temple up, but she gave Wayzz a smile. “No apology needed.”

“Plagg had it worst.” Tikki said suddenly, quietly. “I usually went to royalty, people who wanted a party trick or something to keep power in their hands. They were awful, and they weren’t the only type I had, but Plagg had it so much worse. Plagg is destruction, he attracted a different clientele.” She shuddered. “They’d almost set a deal to loan him to the Axis powers when Fu destroyed the temple.”

There was silence, because what. If Plagg had almost been forced to help them, she didn't even want to think about who he had been forced to help before that.

“He never got over some of it. What people used him to do. Still just as guilty as the day after. We…” she halted, swallowing, as obviously traumatic memories came to the surface. “We had to fight each other. More than once.”

More silence, horrified, tense silence because the thought of Tikki and Plagg being forced to face off against their other half was so wrong, and disgusting, and horrifying.

“We got tested a lot.” Tikki continued, the flood gates obviously having been opened, horrors flowing from her mouth now that they were finally released. “They were trying to see if someone could be… could b-be imbued with creation or destruction.” Her voice trembled as she said that, and Marinette suddenly had a horrible feeling that she knew what that entailed for the two. “They were obsessed with figuring out the Ultimate Power, but they never figured out that we had to be fused.” She laughed humourlessly. “Funny thing is, we actually looked forward to it.” Her voice went quiet. “It was the only time we could really see each other.”

It was clear from the expressions on the Kwamis’ faces that Marinette wasn’t the only one horrified, disturbed, and hearing this for the first time.

“You weren’t together?” Ziggy asked quietly, disbelievingly, and Tikki nodded briskly, the tiniest incline of her head. Ziggy put his hooves to his mouth, eyes glistening.

“Separate pocket dimensions, but they… brushed in places. We helped them along, or should I say Plagg did. Thinned the borders. We could talk, even if we couldn’t physically interact.” She was trembling now, Marinette still stroking her head as her brain was consumed by fiery rage. “It made it bearable, at least. I don’t know how I would’ve survived if he wasn’t there. We talked each other down from panic attacks a lot, reassured each other after the loans. It was the worst thing when he was out but I wasn’t, especially if we had to fight last time." She shook her head. “I’d have no idea if he was ok. We’d both take it hard.”

She took a shaky breath. “I don’t know if he could, but I could hear all of you as well. I don’t know why, and I don’t care to, but I heard everything that went on in that temple. Everything.” She exhaled long and slow, her shivers beginning to cease. “I still hear it sometimes. When it’s too quiet.”

She didn’t say anything after that, just blinking up at Marinette with tears in her eyes and rolling down her cheeks, and Marinette picked her up and snuggled her to her cheek. She was crying too.

“You never told us…”. Kalkki murmured softly.

“I never wanted you to know.” Tikki whispered, and Marinette was struck with a sudden sense of deja-vu as Wayzz floated up to wrap Tikki in an embrace. “It’s ok. It was a long time ago.”

“That doesn’t make it ok.” Marinette said, sharply and hard as steel. “Not in the slightest.”

“I know, but what I’m saying is… It dulls, after a while, even if it never really fades. Besides, I’ve got you now, instead of them. The best Ladybug I’ve ever had.” She snuggled deeper into Marinette’s cheek. “Please don’t blame yourself for not knowing—“ Damn, she really knew how Marinette’s mind operated. “—I tried to make sure you never would.”

Marinette was fully sobbing by now, clutching Tikki, her wonderful Kwami who had been through so much and never ever let it show, close. (That explained some things, now that she thought about it. Tikki’s ever present optimism that seemed staged at times, her issues with expressions of emotion)

“How does Plagg deal with it?” Fluff asked after giving them a minute.

“He doesn’t.” Tikki answered, and she seemed lighter, just a little bit, now that she had finally let those memories out into the open. “He hasn’t talked about it, aside from little references, since we got out, back into the main box with you guys. I think he tries not to think about it, pretends it never happened.” She looked to Marinette. “Chat helps though, I know that much. Plagg adores him, and I think he’s a reminder that he’s safe now.”

It was at that moment that Marinette finally knew what to say, fuelled by anger and righteous fury and worry and most of all, sheer, unadulterated love.

“Tikki,” she began, and the Kwami looked up at her. “Your nightmare forgot something.” Tikki’s lips pursed and her eyebrows furrowed.

“What?” Marinette smiled gently.

“Me.” She said, as sure as she had ever sounded before. “Because if you think, for a second, that I’d let anyone take any of you away, then you are literally the Kwami of lying to yourself. I’d sooner die than let that happen.” She meant it as much as she did when she made that promise to herself last time, that she’d die to protect her parents, her friends, her family, her Chaton. “That is not the kind of guardian I’m going to be, and you know what? I think we need a new name for that. Keeper? No. Protector? Watcher? Minder? Oh, ew no.” Tikki blinked, and a relieved smile slowly creeped its way onto her face.

“I always knew that.” She grinned, before her expression turned serious. “But seriously, don’t die please.” Marinette laughed, relieved.

“I don’t plan to.”

“For the record, I am rather fond of Steward, myself.” Kalkki said, tossing her mane.

“Yeah, no. She isn’t from the seventeen hundreds.” Trixx said, wiping a tear from his eye.

And there, in a little attic bedroom full of love and safety, with cheese and grapes and bread and fresh macarons, with memories finally let out from mental prisons, with the promises of a better tomorrow and a girl who would never let anything like that ever happen again;

They took a small step, the first step, towards healing.

Chapter Text

Marinette wouldn’t lie; the next few weeks were hard. She was sill shaken up by Calamity, and even more so by what had happened with the Kwamis afterwards.

On that, at least, there was progress.

They had finally begun opening up a little more, smiling more, the demureness slowly fading, and the “masters” became more and more rare. It was slow, but it was steps forward.

She had removed all the miraculouses from the Miracle Box, and she’d ordered a replacement, just to house the jewels, never the Kwamis. She’d based her concept off a puzzle box, adding not only a code to open the panel to a fingerprint/iris sensor (she’d spent so much of her money on this, and it was very worth it) in order to open the actual box, but a layer of physical protection as well.

Two rolling ball tracks were embedded underneath a hinged layer of fabric on the sides of what appeared to be a sewing box, and at first glance they would appear to be the key to opening the panel in front of the code, but the real key to that was found in the ring of carved wood around the bottom, and the two balls on sliding tracks. Aligning them with the two carved stars inscribed with the right carved sigils (the ones that translated roughly to ‘the reward of doing one’s duty is not tangible, it is felt in one’s bones’) and pressing down would unlock the keypad.

She’d asked for the box to be lined with Damascus steel, and once opened, extendable wings that you could pull from the bottom, then fold outwards to expand them, held compartments for twenty miraculouses.

The artisan she’d contacted looked at her like she was crazy, but she’d payed him enough (Jagged and Clara payed very well, despite her protestations) for him to not look too much into it, and he and his team had it done in a week.

Ok, so she may have been a little paranoid, but that way, even if someone did look twice at a perfectly inconspicuous sewing box she had buried in her closet with the rest of her collection, they still weren’t getting in.

She'd, with Tikki’s help, synced it with her yo-yo, so she was still able to summon Miraculouses from a distance, and had also done a little magic to ensure that if anything was to happen to her, the box (and biometrics) would pass to Chat, and Alya and Nino if, Kwami forbid, something happened to him as well.

As for Tikki, she seemed a little better, and the two of them had talked long and hard about how to deal with trauma and how Marinette could do better (Tikki kept saying she was already wonderful, but Marinette was determined to do literally everything she could to ensure nothing like what they had gone through would ever happen again)

And in regard to the old box, once she had stripped it of all it’s magic, Marinette may or may not have left it on a rooftop where she knew Shadow Moth would eventually find it, out of a little spite and the glorious thought of how pissed he was going to be when he found out it was empty.

Chat, she had noticed, seemed a little better, but she was still keeping a very, very close eye on him. She knew better than just about everyone that he wasn’t always as happy as he appeared.

And school? Well, school had been… peaceful. Lila hadn’t belittled her in such a disproportionately long amount of time that it was honestly kind of unnerving, and her class was still annoyingly worried about her when they shouldn’t be, but it was better.

Adrien hadn’t been in for a couple days, but he was back sooner than later, as bright a presence as ever, even if there was something just below the surface that gave her reason to watch him just as much as she did Chat.

The point was, things were, if certainly not perfect, ok. Chat had been bringing her hot chocolate every time they met up for patrol, and she had been bringing pastries. Her and the Kwamis had started weekly Sunday brunches, and Her, Adrien, Alya, and Nino had been partnered together for a group project, and they were well ahead, so Adrien not being able to come in that day was not a worry at all, albeit a really sad development.

And then, that friday two weeks after Calamity, it got worse all over again, worse than it had ever been before.

***

Marinette would never agree, but Alya knew it was a damn good thing she’d finally figured out what Lila had been doing to her girl.

Of course, that was mildly tainted by the fact that she still had to talk to that djakout as if nothing had changed, but she’d make that trade any day, and Marinette had thankfully conceded to let Nino know. She couldn’t stand to see her sweet, amazing boyfriend taken in by Lila’s lies.

And Marinette seemed better. That was the most important thing. She was still a little off, a little distant and jumpy, but that was understandable. All that Alya could do was promise that she, and Adrien (and oh, Lila was gonna get twice the pain for what she had done to him as soon as Mari gave her permission to go nuclear) would be safe whenever she and Nino were around.

But Lila hadn’t tried anything. She glared at Mari from time to time, and was still spinning some ridiculous lies about celebrities and that stuff, but she hadn’t done anything in a while. It was unsettling, especially considering what she knew about Lila’s persistence from Mari, but she wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth, and if her girl didn’t want her to expose the liar then she didn’t really have anything else she could do aside from enjoy the respite.

That was, until Lila had said something that literally dissolved any chance Alya had ever had of keeping her cool.

She had been claiming something about Ladybug, (oh, and Alya was going to give her an extra bit of pain for the lies she had fed the Ladyblog) but the topic had eventually shifted to Mari for the first time in weeks.

“I’m worried about her too, but have you considered… maybe…” Lila began, hesitant and unsure but with a hard gleam in her eyes. “She might be… faking it?” the group she had been talking to, consisting of Kim, Max, Myléne, Juleka, and Rose, exchanged confused looks. She spoke quietly, but it was clear as day to the ears of Rena Rouge. (And hadn’t that taken a while to get used to)

Surprisingly, Marinette tensed beside her as well.

Alya started to feel her pulse rising.

“What do you mean?” Said Max, and Alya wanted to cheer his name. Yes! Yes she’s lying! Come on, you’re literally a genius and a superhero, figure it out please.

She was still more than a little shocked that so many people she knew were also her teammates, having woken up with nothing but a vague memory of all the Miraculous Wielders being summoned to Chloé, and then connecting the dots when she saw who else was there.

At the same time, she, as a journalist, probably should have seen the weird behaviour from them all sooner. Max ate a dandelion for Kwami’s sake.

“I just… don’t you think it’s strange?” Lila continued, with an admirable display of meekness. “She doesn’t seem to be happy that you all are so lovely and concerned, and this only started right when I suggested it might be nice for her to take a break—I was only trying to help her get some rest.” She sniffled, and Rose automatically moved to reassure her that none of them thought different, and Mari knew so too, and barf.

Besides, that was total BS. Mari had been distant, sad, dull for weeks before that. They had all just noticed it that day. Alya would probably never stop beating herself up for that.

“I— I was just… she doesn’t like me, and she keeps claiming I’m a liar…” She simpered, the group around her rushing to comfort her. “What if… I hate to say such things—“ Bullcrap. “--But… perhaps she did this as a way of making it seem I did something wrong?”

“I don’t know…”. Juleka mumbled, and even Alya had to strain her ears to hear. She could’ve kissed Juleka right then. Thank goodness some of them still had sense.

“It’s just… " Lila began, biting her lip. "Marinette hasn’t always been the most dependable, has she? Or the most trustworthy?”

Alya saw red.

That.

Was.

IT.

She slammed her hands into her desk, causing a distant looking Mari to jump in shock as she pushed herself to her feet.

“Lila,” she said in icy calm. “Could we speak outside?” Mari was frantically shaking her head, eyes screaming I’m fine, but frankly, Alya didn’t care if that djakout ended up targeting her anymore. She just wanted to get her to leave her girl alone.

“I’m sorry, I can’t let this slide anymore.” She whispered to Mari as Lila passed with a worried smile and a sinister wink. She got up to follow, and Nino stood up too.

Alya shook her head, and Nino raised an eyebrow, nodding.

No, I can handle this. She said without words.

I know, but you don’t have to. He said right back, the two of them communicating just through their eyes, their body language, as the class watched and Mari looked like she was going to explode from worry.

The girl needed counselling.

This might go wrong, you’d get targeted too.

Still going.

After a brief stare-off, Alya sighed and dropped her head in defeat. Nino was an incredibly chill person, overall, but he could be as stubborn as a turtle when he put his mind to it.

The two of them left the classroom together, and met up with Lila in a storage closet besides the classroom. Her facade had dropped, leaving her with a cruel smirk and hard eyes, and looking mildly maniacal.

It was freaky.

Alya had never seen this side of her in person before; only heard about it from Mari.

“Looks like I was right,” Lila said in a sing-song. “You two know.”

“Ok, here’s what’s going to happen.” Alya said in a no-nonsense tone. “You are going to walk out of this room, back into the class, and act like this never happened. You will never come near Adrien or Marinette again. You will stop telling lies about Ladybug, and the other celebrities who’s names you’ve taken advantage of, and you are going to explain to the class that you… exaggerated things.”

“And we are going to be following up with Damocles about the sexual harassment you did to Adrien.” Nino said, a little trembly with rage but resolute and terrifyingly sharp, and Alya high-fived him. She had figured Nino would want to deliver that part.

“I’m offering you a way to save most of your face Lila,” Alya said, clipped and furious. “They’ll, sadly, deal with the harassment as quietly as possible, and our school is literally the worst when it comes to cases of bullying. You can move on to somewhere else, maybe actually make something of yourself, but if I tell the class everything you really did? Post it on my blog? Not a single person will ever forget it, and neither will the rest of the world.” She exhaled, regaining her composure.

“You’re lucky I don’t do that right off the bat, but Mari and Adrien are unfortunately better people than I, and neither of them wants to make a fuss.”

Nino nodded, no doubt thinking of the conversation he had told Alya about, where Adrien had begged him not to say anything, worried that it would impact Lila for the rest of her life, and wouldn’t change his mind no matter how much Nino said that if it did, she deserved it. He reached out and clasped her hand, a silent message that she was doing a good job, and that he was here.

“But mark my words…” she hissed. “You so much as touch a hair on either of their heads, and I will come after you with the fury of a thousand storms and every bit of journalistic might I can muster, is that clear, you djakout?” She stood, heaving, as Nino squeezed her hand.

For a minuet, nobody said anything.

Then, Lila, who hadn’t moved a muscle, began to laugh, her wicked grin stretching wider. She clapped slowly, giggling all the while, and Nino and Alya instinctively moved closer together

“Well, that was certainly an impressive performance, but let me tell you what’s really going to happen.” She smirked. “First off, I’m going to do whatever I’d like, and I’m certainly not going to confess to anything. Second, Adrien is mine—“

Nino growled lowly, and Alya fought back the urge to snarl.

“—And nothing is going to change that. Besides, it’s not like anyone would believe you. Boys can’t get sexually harassed.” She grinned, and oh, Alya was having a real hard time not punching her right now. “If he does anything, I’ll just flip the tables and accuse him.”

Why was she not punching her again?

Nino, based on the furious shaking, was thinking the exact same thing, if not a little more violent.

“And lastly, I am going to keep tearing Marinette down, piece by broken piece, until she knows just how hopeless, helpless, worthless, and useless she is.”

Alya (and she could tell Nino as well) lost the battle against punching her in the face with all of her enhanced strength, but before they could, Lila smiled, and it was unsettlingly friendly.

“And you two just gave me exactly what I needed to do it.” She said.

And she snapped her fingers.

A lot of things ran through Alya’s head at that moment, building blocks stacking neatly in her head, puzzle pieces finally clicking together now that she had the whole set. Mysteries, some of which she had been pondering for over half a year finally, finally showing how they were connected, how they were all connected from the very start.

The sudden realisation that the Ladybug and Chat Noir that had battled on Hero’s Day had been an illusion created by Hawk Moth, or more accurately, one of his akumas.

The fact that only one akuma thus far had exhibited that ability.

The fact that that akuma was supposed to be out of the city.

The fact that she never should have believed it.

The fact that they had never de-akumatized that akuma.

The fact that, according to Mari, the morning of Chameleon she should have been positively joyful, with not a single reason to become akumatized.

The fact that she had set everything up to frame Mari and get her expelled right at the same time Hawk Moth turned scarlet, neatly providing a practical buffet for akumas.

The akumas in the last couple months.

Olympio, Gamer 3.0, Second Act, Calamity.

Roi Singh, Pegasus, Viperion, Ryuuko.

Kim, Max, Luka, Kagami.

All the auxiliary holders.

All of them except…

Except for…

Nino and her.

Everything clicked.

The sound of the two sets of butterfly wings was deafening in her head, only eclipsed by the ringing, menacing sound of Hawk Moth, no, wait, Shadow Moth, as he whispered dreams of revenge in her ears, and the cold chill of black and purple energy engulfing her as the racing thoughts in her head finally slowed.

Chapter Text

You would think, that after everything Marinette went through in the past few months, she wouldn’t have gotten comfortable.

You’d think she’d have realized just how horribly everything she does turns out.

You’d think she’d have grown used to the sound of screams echoing through the halls of François-Dupont, and yet it never, ever failed to surprise her.

It was kinda funny, how practiced everyone’s reactions were, rising orderly from their seats and filing out the doors with only mildly nervous expressions and heading towards the school’s designated akuma safe-room as the alarm began to blare.

It hit her that it was her fault they had grown so used to this, so used to their lives being put in danger, all because she couldn’t defeat Shadow Moth.

At least Adrien wasn’t there today.

As her class headed towards the safe-room, she headed in the opposite direction, until a sudden call from Rose stopped her in her tracks.

“Wait, wait Lila isn’t here!”

“Neither are Alya and Nino!” Alix said right after. “They left together like ten minuets ago.” Marinette froze.

No.

That thought was the only one in her head, even as she ducked into a corner and transformed, the pink light not bringing her the warmth and courage it usually did.

A memory resurfaced in her mind, Lila’s final words that day in the bathroom;

“But don’t you worry, sooner rather than later you’ll realize just how helpless, how weak, how pathetic you truly are. Mark my words.”

No.

Marinette knew exactly what she was going to find at the cafeteria, the source of the screams, but the shock still hit her just the same.

Lila had gone after them, just to hurt her.

And it was so, so much worse than anything else she could have done, and Lila doubtlessly knew that, that to know it was her fault Alya and Nino were like this right now, trapped in their own minds and bodies, would destroy her more surely than any barb, taunt, or insult.

And it was both of them.

Alya and Nino, not moving far from each other’s side, were some of the most terrifying akumas she had ever seen, for the sole reason that they were them, two of her best friends. Alya wore deep black, the ears and tailcoat all too recognizable as Rena Rouge, but the symbol on her shirt was all Lady Wi-fi, and the colour was ripped straight from Oblivio. Nino wore the same colour, but the hood, goggles, and shield were solely Carapace, and the rounded costume, bulging in parts, was the exact same silhouette as the Bubbler had worn.

They looked unhinged, wrong, as if someone had clumsily smashed every one of their previous akumas—Rena Rage, Shell Shock, Bubbler, Lady Wi-fi, Oblivio—together.

They were eerily synchronised, the kind you become after years together, and shadowy bubbles floated around the cafeteria as deep black emblems, filled with locks and pause signs both, shut doors and froze students where they stood.

They were a vivid reminder of every time she had failed, caused akumas to seek them out or put them right on the front lines as their superhero personas.

Twin twisted smiles appeared on both of their faces as soon as they saw her, and Alya stepped forward, twirling the flute in her hands.

“Well, well, looks like Bug’s come out to play!” she said brightly. “Lady Rouge and Lord Tortue are gonna have a fun time with you.”

They pounced.

Marinette dodged, leaping over them with practiced grace and landing with one hand pressed to the ground as Lady Rouge tossed a pause at her, darting forwards with all the speed and agility that Rena had. Lord Tortue came at her from behind, detaching his shield from his back and lunging, trying to knock her off her feet, but she was at Lady Rouge before he could, swinging her yo-yo out to knock her phone from her hands. she dodged, leaping onto a table and swiping more pauses in her direction, but Marinette darted to the side, opening the way for one of the emblems to hit Lord Tortue straight in the chest.

She was at him in a second as Lady Rouge frantically tried to dissolve the pause, notably not using her phone, as Marinette searched frantically for the akumatized object. Nothing stood out, he was creating the bubbles with his bare hands and the shield certainly hadn’t been there in his civilian form.

The pause vanished in just a couple seconds and she was leaping over his shield just a second later, swinging at his hands in an attempt to dislodge his weapon, to no avail. The two of them advanced as one, Lord Tortue twirling his shield around on the tip of his finger as Lady Rouge twirled her flute once more.

Then suddenly they stopped, indigo masks appearing in tandem over their faces and vanishing a second later, leaving their hosts with twisted grins.

They darted away, leaping out the window and running along the rooftops adjacent to the school, and Marinette followed, alighting on a lamp post and using the momentum to propel herself onto her own roof.

She spotted Trixx and Wayzz peeking out of her skylight, terrified expressions on both of their faces upon seeing their chosen, and her heart broke even more than it already had.

“It’s going to be ok,” she whispered to them, because what else was she supposed to say? she had done this. If she’d only agreed with Lila, if she hadn’t told Alya, agreed to tell Nino, none of this would be happening. If she’d only stopped and thought before running to grab the dragon miraculous, if she’d only taken Pollen from Chloé after the first time, hadn’t given it back. If she’d only done better, been better, than Paris would be safe right now, Alya and Nino would be safe, and their Kwamis wouldn’t be forced to watch their chosen turned to evil.

The sheer trust and belief she saw in their eyes felt like daggers ripping at her, and she had to tear herself away to chase after two of her best friends.

Lady Rouge and Lord Tortue stopped at the Eiffel Tower, Rouge softly landing on one of the beams with a single pounce while Tortue made his way up with short, precise leaps. She followed after, jumping from the roof of a nearby building and lashing her yo-yo out to latch onto a smaller support, pulling herself through the sky and swinging gracefully onto the same beam.

The three of them regarded each other for a moment, them watching her with narrowed eyes and wicked smiles while she met their gazes with thin lips and focused determination, no spark in her eyes.

Marinette, Alya, and Nino

Ladybug, Rena Rouge, and Carapace.

Chat was nowhere to be found.

There was no slash of black bounding over the rooftops, no cheeky grin and twitching tail, only two akumas and a single failure of a hero.

Please let him be ok, were her last thoughts before she was suddenly fighting again, yo-yo shielding against a shadowy bubble before lashing out to strike a pause from the air. she latched to another beam, swinging up and across to land neatly, the two akumas following her easily. They danced across the tower, alighting on beams and clutching to supports as they fought, like a spider building it’s web. As soon as she had a hold on one of them, the other would appear out of nowhere, sending her flying and frantically clutching to the structure of the tower to prevent another fall like the one from Second Act.

Higher and higher they climbed, emblems and bubbles and flutes and shields and yo-yos flying through the air by way of practiced hands, until they were halfway up the structure, where they paused, breathing heavily for a second.

And then they pounced again, and she looked, frantically trying to find somewhere to land, but she was running out of time, unable to find a solid spot thanks to the damage the tower had sustained during their fight, and she closed her eyes in defeat, ready to feel the sting on her ears as they ripped Tikki out.

And then there was a whoosh, like a gust of wind, and the click of mechanics and the clang of metal against metal, and something alighted beside her with a gentle thump and the swishing of a tail.

She chanced opening her eyes, and Chat was beside her, staring with abject and heavy concern at the two akumas and a growl rising from the depths of his throat. He turned to her, flashing a worried grin.

“Hey M’lady, you looked like you could mew-se a little help.” She exhaled, a breathy laugh emanating from her throat.

“That’s one way to put it.” Lady Rouge and Lord Tortue had stopped advancing, frusturation in their gazes at the sight of her Kitty.

“Do I need to make a guess?” he asked, the words teasing but his tone filled with distress and unease.

“It's them.” She responded quietly, and he nodded with a sad sigh.

“Sorry I’m late,” he began as the akumas began to creep forward. “I couldn’t get out of my place.” Marinette chanced a giggle, trying desperately to get the smile back on her kitty’s face because the absence of that, more than anything, was the cherry on top of how horrible this was.

“What, locked in your room?” she said, the words intended to come out as sarcastic, but Chat nodded, eyes not leaving Rouge and Tortue.

“Something like that.”

Oh and how much Marinette wanted to question him about that literally could not be put into words, but there were, awfully, more pressing things to worry about.

Lady Rouge leaped, soaring easily across the distance between beams and lunging at Marinette while Lord Tortue ran at Chat, attacking with flute and shield respectively. Chat’s baton extended with a click and was instantly spinning into a shield, her yo-yo doing the same, the four of them fought in a blur for a minute, and by then Chat was facing off against Rouge while she dodged attacks from Tortue. With a well placed swing of her yo-yo, he jumped with a backflip back to the opposite beam, and Lady Rouge joined him soon after.

Chat came up beside her, and nudged her with his arm. She said nothing, the adrenaline and instincts that came out during battle fading and leaving her just as much of a wreck as she had been before.

“Hey, bug. you ok?” he asked, and to be frank she should have been asking him. He looked a mess, staring at the two akumas and at her with undisguised sadness.

She was going to shake her head, tell him just how much she wasn’t, just how much she’d screwed up, but white leather and blue eyes flashed into her mind and she stopped. Doing that would reveal her identity, she knew that. She nodded instead, short and brisk.

Chat furrowed his brows and pursed his lips, but before he could say anything his ears turned up, flicking from side to side as his eyes narrowed.

“Bugaboo, we might want to get down.” He said quietly, and she looked at him.

“What? Why?” He turned to look into the distance, towards a small flock of birds that had erupted from the trees down a faraway street. The courtyard of the tower was clear of anyone by now, and the city stood still, as if it was waiting with bated breath.

“Because the tower would fall down at a strong gust of wind right now, and that isn’t a gust of wind.” He said, tilting his head towards the flock.

Knowing better than to doubt her kitty, and at the victorious smirks on Lady Rouge and Lord Tortue’s faces, she instantly leapt off the tower, soaring through the sky with a back-flip and landing in a roll, skidding to a stop crouched on one knee and a hand pressed to the cobbles beneath her. Chat met her, diving gracefully from their beam and landing with the grace of a cat on all fours with his tail extended for balance.

Chat’s senses were undoubtedly more enhanced than her already impressive own, but she could hear what he had now, a soft fluttering, a whispering difference in the wind.

The flapping of wings, thousands of wings that formed a massive white cloud over the Eiffel tower only another minuet later, swirling around it’s peak before dispersing in an explosion of fluttering paper-white, leaving a lone, dark figure standing at the peak.

She knew exactly who it was, and yet she still refused to believe it.

But it made sense, now that she thought about it.

Rena Rouge and Carapace, their two oldest and best allies and friends.

The last two Auxiliary Holders—Chosen, targeted.

The worst she’d seen since.

Lila’s undoubted role in their akumatization.

Lila’s suspicious behaviour around akumas, and the suspicious circumstances around her akumatizations.

And the dark figure leaped down, landing on the beam closest to them with a loud crash as Lady Rouge and Lord Tortue leapt down to the ground, and smiled a sinister, evil smile as the butterflies swirled around the top of the tower.

Shadow Moth had entered the field.

Chapter Text

It was almost comical how quiet Marinette’s mind grew at the sight of their greatest, and very often unseen, enemy.

In fact, the only thought running through her head at that moment was that Shadow Moth, previously known as Hawk Moth, the rarely seen and even more rarely viewed in person mastermind behind all the akumas that had terrorised Paris for the past year, was actually here. In the flesh. Staring at her and Chat with undisguised hatred as he regarded them from the lowermost beam of the Eiffel tower, whilst Lady Rouge and Lord Tortue sneered from the ground.

Chat was right beside her, a low growl from the back of his throat reverberating through the air around them as his tail flicked like dark lightning against the cobbles.

And she just… stood there, brain detachedly taking in the most minute details about the scene they were faced with as her hands instinctively fiddled with her yo-yo.

Shadow Moth grinned, eyes narrowed behind the new veil that had once rested on Mayura, and rested his hands on the top of his cane like an old-school millionaire.

“Ladybug and Chat Noir.” He said, the words flowing out like sickly sweet honey. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

Were her hands shaking, or was that just the air from the storm of butterflies circling overhead?

Chat moved a little closer, pressing against her side in a silent show of support as he eyed the man above them.

“I must say, I have found myself with a begrudging respect for the two of you superheroes.” He said quietly and disdainfully. “Why, if I do recall correctly, dear Ladybug has even become the guardian of the miraculous. Impressive feat.”

His smile twitched.

“And yet, I don’t seem to have that same respect anymore. Now I see you are nothing more than two kids, impulsive, reckless, and pathetic.”

“Well then, what does that say about you?” Chat yelled up. “You’ve been trying for what, a year to beat us? Well, from where I’m standing, these ‘pathetic kids’ haven’t lost yet, and you—“ he leaned forward and flapped his hand in Shadow Moth’s direction. “—Have seriously the worst fashion sense I’ve ever seen.” He flashed a wink to Marinette. “And I thought the old costume was bad, but this is a whole other level.”

Despite herself, Marinette laughed, for the first time taking a closer look at the new design and seeing in breathtaking clarity what he was talking about. And even though this was probably not the situation, she really couldn’t resist.

“Oh, wow, wow how did I not see this sooner? Good Kwami what is your day job? Please tell me you aren’t anywhere near a sewing machine because eesh.” She paused for a second. “Or, are you like a full time supervillain? Because you kind of give off I’m rich and don’t work’ vibes.”

“Like, Mayura? That dress was stylish.”

“What even is that silhouette? It looks like you just slammed the peacock right on top of your old outfit.”

“There is no subtlety there, no… je-ne-sais-quoi.”

“And I’ve never been able to ask what the deal is with that weird headpiece choice because what is the deal there.”

“I have it on good faith that Aspik heavily regrets using that.”

“Have you never even met the concept of balancing elements?”

“I mean, ours are plain, sure, but they have class, sophistication, a certain iconic-ness if you will, in their simplicity.”

“Chat, are you... a designer?”

“Nope, but I do happen to know a lot about that world.”

“Oh, and by the way I bet Nooroo and Duusu share our thoughts!”

“I can only think of one other designer with that level of taste.”

Shadow Moth’s face was set in a perfect mask of blankness, but Chat evidently saw some shift in his demeanour as he finished his scentence that she could not because he let out a little snicker.

“Very funny.” He said tightly, and probably while gritting his teeth.

“It’s the truth.” Chat shrugged, and Marinette could hear the faint sounds of Shadow Moth muttering before he took a running leap off the tower, landing on the cobbles below with enough force to crack the stones. Lady Rouge and Lord Tortue smirked wider.

“You may think you are more powerful than I—“ he began, smiling. “—But I’ve finally figured out why you are able to best all my akumas, even the most powerful of them.”

“And why’s that?” Marinette asked, not liking the satisfied tone in his voice one bit.”

“Simple. I haven't figured out how, but you know my akumas. You use them against themselves.” He moved his cane to one side, keeping it upright with a single hand. “And as such, in order to best you, I needed to take the same approach.”

Marinette sucked in a breath, things starting to come together in her mind as Chat pressed the smallest bit tighter against her side.

“And I asked myself, what do I know, from watching through my akumas, about them?” His smile grew wider. “I know that Chat Noir is reckless and impulsive, I know that Ladybug is obsessed with her sacred duty and tends to blame herself, I know that the two of you chose those other wielders for a reason, and you have gone to great lengths to keep all of their secret identities just that, secret.”

That trembling wasn’t the butterflies anymore.

“And I know that Ladybug is the reason their identities were revealed, thanks to her mistreatment of Mademoiselle Bourgeois and reckless behaviour regarding the dragon miraculous.”

She could feel Chat’s gaze on her, but her eyes were fixed on Shadow Moth as he outlined everything that had been running in her head since that day months ago.

“I know that the reason Paris nearly fell then and all the times before and since, the reason those poor children have been akumatized and put in danger, is all because she was too weak and pathetic, too worthless to be worthy of the Ladybug mantle.”

The plaza was foggy in her vision, the Eiffel tower appearing to stretch miles into the sky as its shadow fell on the Trocadéro, which she could see in the corner of her eye. Shadow Moth’s sadistic grin loomed large in her sight as Lady Rouge and Lord Tortue stalked to stand by his side.

And Chat was whispering in her ear, brows furrowed and tail fallen still.

“You don’t… you don’t really think that, do you?” His voice was soaked in compassion, and worry, and confusion and love.

Her silence was apparently answer enough, because before she could do so much as take a breath Chat had, with a final, sad look at her, launched himself at Shadow Moth with a furious snarl, the click of an extending baton echoing through the air as he dashed across the stones.

Marinette reached out a hand in a feeble attempt to stop him, but Chat and Shadow Moth had already engaged, baton meeting cane with a clang as Shadow Moth’s eyes narrowed and his smile grew even more.

Her body finally caught up to her brain and she was running towards them, only to find herself faced with Rouge and Tortue, Shield and Flute drawn as Chat flipped over Shadow Moth’s head to dodge a stab. His ears were flat against his head.

“And here’s Chat Noir.” Shadow Moth said sarcastically as Marinette swung around Rouge’s shoulders to smash into Carapace and Chat swung his baton in a sweeping arc at Shadow Moth’s legs. “Ladybug’s second fiddle, never in the limelight, never trusted with any of her secrets, forced to do all the hard work, clean up her messes.” Chat growled and leapt forward, swinging at Shadow Moth’s arms only to be met with a cane to the ribs.

“What can I say? I've tried it, and the spotlight just isn’t my thing.” He joked with utmost seriousness, shaking off the injury and darting forward again, cane meeting baton once more in a stand off while Marinette listened, circling Rouge and Tortue as she did so. “And I would do anything for her, especially when those things are—“ He dodged another blow as they unlocked their weapons. “—Things she can’t do on her own! Thats how our partnership works, we have our roles and we support each other, always. If she doesn’t tell me something then—” He dodged another swing. “—She must have good reason!”

Shadow Moth laughed, a little disbelief in his voice. “You don’t blame her? She’s the reason you almost lost! Her decisions have caused you to fall over and over again!” Chat grinned, finally gaining some leeway and landing a sharp rap to Shadow Moth’s leg.

“You’re wrong. None of that was her fault, that was yours. She beat you, she has been doing so much to keep beating you even while she learns everything about her new role, you have no right to talk about her like that!” His voice was full of absolute certainty as he lunged at a sneering Shadow Moth, the two of them fighting in a ferocious dance.

He… doesn’t blame me?

Marinette was jolted from her thoughts and shock as Tortue broke the circle and attacked once more, Rouge launching pauses left and right as Marinette dodged them, yo-yo moving from striking them out of the air to spinning into a shield to deflect Tortue with breathtaking speed.

“Alya, Nino, please,” She begged, sidestepping an overhead blow from Rouge as she leapt off Tortue’s shield. “Fight it!” If they heard her they showed no signs, fighting onward with the same tenacity as before.

Marinette grit her teeth, edging backwards a couple steps in the face of the furious onslaught from the two of them, working in perfect tandem just as they did in real life. It was so unsettling, how quiet they were. Alya took orders from literally no-one, and although Nino was an introvert, he was really rather chatty.

This was so wrong, it was so, so wrong for her best friends to be used like this! The only reason Adrien wasn’t here too was because he had relenquished that role!

Then the lightbulb went off in her head.

Her eyes narrowed, and her heavy breathing slowed just a little. Oh, this was a terrible, really terrible plan, but since when had any of her plans made sense?

She stared at her friends, twisted and used, as Chat and Shadow Moth dueled in the background, having recently launched onto the beams of the Tower once more and continuing their intricate dance.

This wasn’t them. This wasn’t them and they just needed to be reminded of that fact.

This would work.

Time to make a stand.

Time to show Shadow Moth that he wasn’t as powerful as he thought.

Time to trust in Alya and Nino.

Time to trust in herself.

She dropped her yo-yo.

Lady Rouge and Lord Tortue blinked, stalling in their advance as Marinette raised her hands and took a slow, cautious step towards them.

“This isn’t you.” She said slowly, taking another step. “You aren’t his puppets, you’re you.” She took another step forwards. “You’re Rena Rouge and Carapace, you’re heroes, you’re so, so amazing.” She took a shuddering breath, her eyes stinging as the tears came into contact with the air whipping around her. “You’re two of my best friends, you’re so strong, and you can beat him.” Tears were streaming down Tortue’s face, and Rouge’s stony gaze was cracking beneath the surface. Marinette took one more step, Tortue—Nino closing his eyes as she placed a hand on each of their shoulders. “You’re Alya and Nino.”

Nino gritted his teeth, and Alya grabbed her hair in her hands. Both of them were trembling.

And the butterfly masks appeared and dissolved, splitting into shards and sending shockwaves of indigo energy flying across the plaza as Shadow Moth halted in shock, shuddering and unable to stop Chat from leaping over him and landing a blow to his shoulder.

And the purple black energy dissolved over them once again, leaving an unconscious Alya and Nino in its place.

Marinette immediately dropped to the ground as they did, checking each of their pulses and letting out a breath of relief at finding them stable before wrapping them both in a tight hug. It worked. She met Chat’s eyes as he and a now newly livid Shadow Moth circled each other, and he nodded with glowing eyes before lunging into another defence.

She steeled herself, summoning every ounce of her strength to carry both Alya and Nino to a nearby sewer grate, and, with one last worried look at her partner, she carried them both into the depths of the dark, laying them both in a small alcove and de-transforming, flicking her yo-yo open to summon Trixx and Wayzz’s miraculouses as Tikki appeared and settled on her shoulder (cookie in hand) with a whispered ‘I’m so proud of you.’ Trixx and Wayzz themselves followed as soon as she had finished fastening the bracelet on Nino’s wrist and draping the necklace on Alya, and immediately flew to their chosen with worried faces.

“Are they going to be ok?” Trixx asked, atypically soft-spoken as Wayzz nestled in the crook of Nino’s neck. Marinette smiled.

“They’ll be fine, they’re just recovering. they fought off the akumas themselves.” Trixx’s eyes widened as Wayzz beamed.

“I am not surprised he could.”

“Can you guys stay here and keep an eye on them?” Marinette asked, wanting to stay but desperate to get back to Chat because what if he was hurt. Trixx nodded.

“Um, duh. Obviously yes.” Wayzz shifted a little closer to Nino in agreement. Marinette sighed.

“Thank you.” A clang came from above, her foot was twitching, she needed to go. Tikki finished the cookie and Marinette transformed again, running to the exit.

“Come and find me if you need anything!” she called to the two Kwamis as she leapt back into the sunlight.

Chat and Shadow Moth were still locked in combat, Chat’s instincts, acrobatic flips and twists, and the graceful, intuitive way he wielded his baton against Shadow Moth’s brute force, impulsive strikes, and erratic movements. It was clear that he didn’t exactly have much experience when it came to doing his own dirty work, but his sheer strength unfortunately leveled the playing feild.

It was actually kind of beautiful, in a terrible way, how the flashes of indigo and black swirled around each other, parries and blows lashing out and retreating as neither party could truly gain the upper hand.

Marinette dashed towards the fight on the beams of the tower, yo-yo rocketing up to snag on a support and sending her swinging under and up the beam to land on top, right beside Chat. Her weapon flew up to join her, forming a shield at her side that didn’t do nearly as much as Chat’s beaming smile did when it came to making her feel safe.

Shadow Moth stood across from them, eyes grey fire and breathing heavily through his clenched teeth.

“You.” He growled. “How did you do that. What did you do to my akumas?!”

“That’s just it.” Marinette said, her old, confident smirk reappearing on her face for the first time in months. “They aren’t yours, I just reminded them of that. I reminded them of who they are.”

“Oh snap,” Chat said beside her, snapping his fingers for emphasis.

With a snarl, Shadow moth launched towards them once more, her and Chat working in perfect tandem to repel his furious attacks. The fight slowly moved up the tower, from beam to beam, platform to platform, fighting through the café in which they had defeated Chameleon, the landing where they fought Befana, the edge from which they had leaped and fought Reverser in midair.

The platform where they fought Shadow Moth, Hawk Moth then, for the first time, and Mayura had made her first appearance.

Until they were eventually at the very top, the small viewing deck and apartment where they had fought so many others. Too many others. They were all breathing heavily by then, even the enhanced endurance their Kwamis granted not able to hold off fatigue forever.

Shadow Moth looked around, and laughed. It was a hoarse, ugly sound, and she and Chat exchanged a confused look. He noticed them staring, and laughed even more.

“You still haven’t figured it out, have you?” He asked, a malicious glint in his eyes. “The akumas, everything that’s happened over the past few months, it was never about the miraculouses!”

And then it all clicked.

None of the akumas had asked for their miraculouses.

Not a single one.

“They were all to remind you how much you failed.” He bit out, smiling sadistically. “They were all meant to get you here, right in front of me, broken, and it would be child’s play to take them from you then.”

Chat growled, low and long.

“Look around Ladybug!” Shadow Moth yelled through the wind, gusts whipping through Chat’s tail and blowing her hair around, even in it’s up-do. “Look around! This tower, this entire city is a monument to your failures!”

Marinette froze.

He… He was right.

There was the Trocadéro, where she lost Chat for the first time and nearly lost the city and her friends’ safety forever.

There was the Louvre, where she had nearly allowed Alya to be sacrificed and where she had almost destroyed her entire future when Timetagger showed up.

There was her school, where, save for one, her entire class had been akumatized because she hadn’t defeated the man in front of her. Where she had caused akuma after akuma because she just couldn’t do the right thing.

There was her home, where she had nearly lost to Troublemaker, where she had let her own dad fall to an akuma, and where the Kwamis were waiting, trusting her to protect them when she hadn’t been able to protect anyone. All she did was clean up afterwards.

Heck, they were on the Eiffel tower right now! The Eiffel tower which had been destroyed more times than she could count, the Eiffel tower where she had once had Hawk Moth in her sights and still failed.
He was right.

This entire city was a reminder of the times she hadn’t been up to the task.

She was right, all that time ago when she had said she wasn’t fit to be Ladybug, that Tikki should choose someone else.

And then a hand closed around her own. A hand clad in leather and with sharp claws, but it was soft, and warm, and something about the way it gripped her own was oh-so-familliar and—

“M’lady, he’s wrong.” Chat said, turning to face her with a kind smile on his battle-weary face. “This city isn’t a monument to your failures, it’s a monument to your victories. To the times when the odds were stacked against you but you still won, because you’re you. Not because you're perfect, but because you don’t give up.”

And, oddly enough, even after all that time she had spent convincing herself of what Shadow Moth had said, she… she believed him. she truly did, and even if she still blamed herself for a whole lot, even if she would never stop thinking that she could have done better, Chat was... right.

He was often right.

She met his eyes, and his bright emeralds stared back with all that faith that was still heartbreaking, but also a little fortifying too.

Two superheroes, standing on the Eiffel tower.

Right where they’d met, right where they often ended their patrols, and right where he had given her the confidence to believe in herself time and time again.

This entire city was where he had done that.

“You’re wrong, kitty.” She said, and he pursed his lips, clearly ready to argue, but she cut him off. “It’s a monument to our victories.”

He smiled, and there was something so wonderful about that smile and the way it lit up the sky.

As one, hands still clasped, they turned to Shadow Moth.

“You know, this may not have been your brightest idea ever.” Chat said brightly. “Cornering yourself on a rooftop with the bug-and-cat team? Not smart.” He clucked.

“Who said I was cornered?” Shadow Moth sneered, and he leapt off the tower.

Neither of them said anything for a moment.

And then the butterflies, that had been circling since his arrival, flew up in a great, fluttering cloud with Shadow Moth perched on top, soaring off across the city.

Marinette looked at Chat.

“You thinking what I’m thinking?” She asked, and Chat turned back to her with a twinkle in his eye.

“Of course.” He smirked, and the two of them took a running jump off the tower.

There was something both exhilarating and freeing about falling through the air, but it was nothing compared to the sheer elation of flying on your own wings.

The space power-up (home-made by her herself) kicked in almost instantly, and in a second her jetpack was activated, and she was zipping up into the air, light as a feather, and listening to Chat’s whoops as he looped in the air on neon-green wings.

“How did you know?” Chat called as they reached each other in the open sky.

“What?” She called back over the wind.

“How did you know that would work? With Alya and Nino?”

Marinette grinned.

“I didn’t!” She said. “I just took a leap of faith!”

The two of them rocketed after Shadow Moth, and caught up to him not two minuets later, still floating on his cloud of butterflies. Chat dived, baton extended, and she followed.

They swooped around the cloud, diving in with lightning fast attacks and soaring out to provide cover for each other as Shadow Moth faltered.

And then he sent the butterflies, and his cane smashed her jetpack while she was distracted and then she was falling through the sky.

She’d fallen a lot in her time as Ladybug, but this time Chat was there too, diving towards her and wrapping her in his wings as they smacked into the hard roof of a building.

Marinette looked up, her head throbbing but otherwise unharmed, and—

No.

No not here.

She hadn’t been here since…

A ring of ledges and blue glass.

A tall, tall platform that looked out over the city.

Of course we’re gonna fix everything!

Montparnasse.

Her breath hitched, and suddenly she was back there.

She didn’t notice Shadow Moth standing.

White leather, white hair, blue eyes.

She didn’t notice the sword that clicked out of his cane.

A dead, flooded world.

She didn’t notice his self-satisfied smirk.

Her kitty, all alone on a roof in a desolate, ruined city.

She didn’t notice Chat stirring behind her.

Him begging her to help him fix it.

She didn’t notice the rush of motion coming towards her.

Giant, horrible orbs of pure destruction.

She didn’t notice her name being called by a terrified voice.

Tears streaking down her kitty’s cheeks.

She didn’t notice the scrabbling noise behind her.

Having to fight him, to save the world when it was all her fault that this had happened, all her fault that her kitty was like this against his will.

All.

Her.

Fault.

She did notice the revolting sound, squelching and tearing, in front of her.

She noticed the soft, quiet gasp of pain.

She looked up.

Her world faded away.

All her focus was on the boy in front of her, the boy who had taken mind control, angry mobs, petrifications, beatings, even cataclysms for her.

The boy who’s entire face lit up whenever he saw her.

The boy who changed her ringtone to a rickroll.

The boy, the wonderful boy, who was always there for her no matter what.

The boy who’s leather catsuit was now stained, slick with red.

The boy who had, when she was distracted and unaware, sacrificed himself yet again.

The boy who turned around and smiled at her.

The boy who smiled when he saw she was ok.

The boy who had a sword sticking out of his gut.

Because of her.

Because she didn’t get out of the way.

Because she good as made him do it.

All.

Her.

Fault.

“Why…”. She whispered, not even comprehending the scene in front of her, but the words came out unbidden. “Why would you…”

Chat smiled, that incredible smile that could end wars, that lit up the sky, that charmed and cheered and laughed and loved.

“Why? Because…” He coughed a little, gazing at her with so much love that the tiny broken remnants of her heart shattered once more. “Because it’s you… and me… against the world.”

Chat Noir fell to the roof of Montparnasse tower, the same roof where he and her had fought in that horrible timeline, the same roof where they had kissed after Oblivio, and he didn’t move from the pool of blood seeping through the surface beneath him.

Chapter Text

Marinette’s entire world melted away, narrowing down to the single point of the boy in front of her.

He wasn’t moving.

Wasn’t laughing wasn’t smiling wasn’t moving.

It just… didn’t make sense. It just didn’t. Chat was… he should be right beside her, he should have his hand on her shoulder and his smile on his face.

She felt… completely numb.

This didn’t… this couldn’t be real.

Her trembling hand reached out and shook his shoulder.

“C-Chat?” She asked, in little more than a raspy breath.

He didn’t respond.

There was no ‘I’m ok, Bug.” No reassuring words, no movement or anything.

Her brain was stock still, no thoughts no emotions just the overwhelming certainty that this wasn’t real, Chat was fine, he had to be fine because this just couldn’t be real.

There was no way this was real, Chat couldn’t be lying on the roof in front of her with blood seeping from his chest and his unruly, wild blond hair stained red. This literally couldn’t be happening. it couldn’t it couldn’t it couldn’t.

The world was spinning.

She felt like she was going to be sick.

And yet that made no sense because this wasn’t real it couldn’t be real.

She tried again, tried to wake him up because he was fine he had to be, but he still didn’t move.

And the realization slowly set in as she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him in close, the realization that yes, this was real. Yes, her Chaton was bleeding out on Montparnasse tower because she had been to stupid, to slow, too wrapped up in her own stupid trauma to listen to him, and he had jumped in front of the blow meant for her as a result.

She did this.

She did this.

She did this.

The world was a single point, a single point in a leather catsuit that was both in possession of one of the biggest hearts she had ever known and one of the biggest self-sacrificing idiots she had ever known.

This should have been her.

It should have been her it should have been her it should have been her.

And then there was a laugh in front of her, and her vision turned to red as she looked up at the man in front of her with tears in her eyes, the man holding a cane/sword stained with Chat’s blood.

“You.” She hissed, quiet and menacing, and there must have been something in her eyes because Shadow Moth took a step back. She lowered Chat to the ground with incredible gentleness, brushing a lock of his hair away from his closed eyes, and stood up, shaking but livid and furious and wrathful because that man, that man was holding a sword coated in Chat’s blood.

And with an inhuman shriek, she launched herself across the roof at Shadow Moth, her yo-yo snapping out from her hands to lash him across his eyes while she aimed a deliberate and powerful kick at his legs. She leapt over, moving with superhuman speed and grace and strength that was beyond even what she normally had while transformed, landing blows with foot and hand and yo-yo alike.

Shadow Moth was evidently unprepared for the furious assault because he staggered back, his only course of action blocking her attacks as she just kept coming from all sides, a whirl of red and black and motion as tears flew from her eyes, caught in the wind and splashing across the roof. Her hair had come out of its styling and whipped around in the gale, waving in front of her furious gaze.

She had to do this, she had to beat him because maybe if she did Chat would wake up, maybe if she proved she was a good Ladybug, proved she could do more than screw up then he would move.

There had to be some way to fix this, some way to wake him up.

She landed another hit, and another and another and he had broken two of her ribs at some point and her ankle was (forked) and there was a good chance her wrist had snapped but she kept going, kept going kept going until she had him backed up against the edge of the tower.

She regarded him for a minuet, battered and bleeding as badly as she was, and pulled her yo-yo taut in her gloved hands, staring at the man with a cold, detached rage.

“Leave.” She spit out, only her morals and good heart preventing her from continuing her assault. She’d beaten him, they both knew it, the only question was whether he’d accept it.

He regarded her with abject hatred, but with gritted teeth he leapt off the tower and his butterflies carried him away.

She breathed heavily for a minute, and then her yo-yo clattered to the ground and she was dashing back to Chat, sliding on her knees the last foot and not even caring about the rubbing on her skin. She grabbed his hand, squeezing tightly and spoke in a soft voice.

“Kitty?”

He didn’t move.

“Chat? Come on, Chat what do I do, how do I fix this come on there has to be a way for me to fix this come on.”

He didn’t say anything.

And then it hit her, and she dashed for her yo-yo and then back to him.

Through barely restrained sobs, she called for her lucky charm.

It was a rose.

And the dams, the cotton covering and all her compartments broke, all she’d done to keep it together, keep moving on keep the thoughts at bay, all those constructs shattered and cracked and dissolved.

And with her last moments of coherent thought before she truly, really, let it all loose, she tossed the rose into the air and called for the magic ladybugs with a breathy, choked whisper.

And the blood cleared from her hands and suit and Chat’s hair and the roof beneath them, and the Eiffel tower in the distance repaired itself and the damage to François-Dupont was undone and the world returned to the way it had been.

But Chat didn’t move, didn’t wheeze or whisper or do anything.

And she broke.

The sobs flowed out, the tears unbidden, and she collapsed over Chat, hands clutching the suit at his back as she cried into his shoulder.

Her kitty, her wonderful kitty who had finally paid the ultimate price for her stupid mistakes.

Shadow Moth may have held the sword, but she killed him.

She killed him.

And unlike Chat Blanc, this she couldn’t undo.

She didn’t check for a pulse, for breathing, she couldn’t.

She just held him and cried.

Those tears had been built up over a lot of things; Miracle Queen, Olympio, Gamer 3.0, Second Act, Calamity, Rouge and Tortue, and yes, Chat Blanc too.

But she only cried for Chat in that moment, only cried for her stupid, brave, idiotically self-sacrificing kitty who deserved so much better than her.

She barely noticed the green light flashing over him, the choked sobs joining her own as a soft, trembling, desperate purr echoed through the air.

She released her own transformation, wanting to hold Chat in their civilian forms, no masks, no gloves, no secrets between them, even at the last moments.

She wished she’d been brave enough to do it sooner.

Oh how much she wished.

And she cried, and sobbed and let out muffled wails, and she wished with all her heart, every piece of herself, that Chat would wake up, hug her back and say some stupid pun and call her Bugaboo, or M’lady, or anything at all.

She didn’t notice the soft pink light emanating from her heart.

She wished she’d been better, done better.

She didn’t notice it spread outward, illuminating her whole body in a rose-coloured glow.

She wished she’d just looked up, noticed Shadow Moth coming and moved.

She didn’t notice Tikki’s eyes widen.

She wished she’d been the one to take the blow for him.

She didn’t notice Plagg’s soft gasp.

She wished she’d never been Ladybug to begin with, that Chat had had some other partner, one who was worthy of him, one who could protect him.

She didn’t notice the light envelop Chat as well, wrapping him in it’s pink luminescence that was joined by faint green wisps.

She rose, sniffing and sobbing and just as much of a broken mess, and she turned away, taking a few stumbling, shaky steps. She didn’t deserve to be there at his side, she never had.

There was a soft noise behind her, a quiet whimper, a tiny moan.

She couldn’t be Ladybug without him, she never could have.

There was a choked, happy sob and a purr grew louder.

She just, she couldn’t—

“Bug?”

Chapter Text

“Bug?”

She froze.

That voice.

That voice that voice that voice, that voice that comforted akuma victims, that gave her confidence, that made stupid cat puns.

That voice she thought she would never hear again.

She whirled around and launched herself at him in a squeezing embrace, not even able to comprehend that he was talking and sitting up, and then he hugged her back and she was crying again, sadness and confusion and sheer joy and relief mingling in her tears.

“Bugaboo?” He asked again and she sobbed even more, because not ten seconds ago she had been sure he would never call her that, or anything, ever again. “What’s wrong? Why are you—“

“You’re alive.” She choked out, soft and broken but cobbled together. “You’re alive you’re alive you’re alive oh my Kwami you stupid cat you’re alive.” She squeezed him tighter, face buried in his shoulder than was covered with soft fabric instead of magical leather, and decided that she really didn’t care about that fact.

“Was I… Was I not?” He asked, trying hard to inject a little humour but obviously too worried and tired to do it properly as Plagg nestled deep into his shoulder and purred loud enough to shake the sky.

“No, no you were dead, you were dead because you took that sword for me and why would you do that?” She asked, a fresh wave of tears coming at the question.

“Why?” he asked, disbelief in his voice. “Because… Because you were going to die. I had to.”

“No you didn’t!” She cried, lightly punching his back with her eyes still tightly shut. “No I almost killed you, you nearly died and I couldn’t save you and—”

“Hey, hey, bug.” He said, squeezing a little tighter and it made her cry again because he was moving. “I’d do that a thousand times if I had to, you know that, and I know you’d do the same for me, no matter how much I’d try to stop you.” He giggled, a little wetly, and it was clear that he was in just as much shock as she was.

“Well you shouldn’t.” She sniffed, burying her face deeper into his shoulder. He sort of smelled like cologne, and there was something both so familiar about that scent, and his voice, and any other day she would have connected the dots but she was too busy planning to never let him go again. “You took that sword because I didn’t get out of the way.” She stifled another sob. “I nearly killed you.”

“Ok, sorry, but no. No you didn’t.” Chat said kindly but firmly, with a little sniff. “Were you holding the sword?”

“No, but—“

“Were you holding the sword?”

She shifted.

“No,” she mumbled.

“Than it wasn’t your fault. Ok?”

She didn’t completely believe him, but something about all the relief flooding through her system kinda tampered down her argumentative side, so she nodded.

He rubbed her back soothingly, then suddenly paused.

“Are you unmasked?”

She nodded.

He was silent for a second.

“And you’re… you’re ok with that?”

Another nod.

“Oh.”

Chat shifted a little.

“We should probably retransform, right? Secret identities and—“

She cut him off by shaking her head vigorously, and he froze just a little.

“Sorry?” He asked.

“I don’t wanna retransform.” She mumbled into his shoulder.

“What?”

“Chat, you were good as dead, and I regretted a lot—“ she laughed a little. “—but hiding our identities was pretty high up that list. I don’t want to keep this up. I’m the guardian now, and… I guess I realized that my other reason just… isn’t good enough anymore.”

Chat was still rubbing her back, but the rest of him was stock still.

Except for the little purr.

Marinette laughed a little.

“So you can purr. As yourself.”

“W-well.” He stammered, and he was very likely blushing right now if she knew him at all. “I mean—“

“Its adorable.” She said and his protests faded away.

They sat for a minuet, in each other’s arms, as Tikki settled on her shoulder and Plagg kept on purring, growing louder as Chat reached over a finger to scratch his head.

“So,” He said after a minuet. “Do you want to, then? Look, I mean?”

Marinette hesitated.

She did. Oh she very much did, and yet whenever she thought about it she saw white leather, flooded buildings, and cold, dead blue eyes.

But, no. No, Chat was here, wearing black, not white, and he was hugging her and he wasn’t dead.

He was older, now, then he had been in that desolate world.

They both were.

And maybe… Maybe the identity reveal was just an aspect of that timeline.

Maybe it wasn’t the sole reason.

All she knew was that she couldn’t go on like this anymore, couldn’t live with the possibility that this could happen again without him knowing who she was, what he meant to her.

What had she said to Chat? About how she knew she could get through to Alya and Nino?

That it was a leap of faith.

Maybe she should try that again.

She chanced cracking her eyes open, and met Tikki’s sparkling sapphire gaze.

Tikki nodded with a smile.

And Marinette did too.

Chat sucked in a breath, his purr a little louder as Plagg grumbled a quiet ‘finally’ and Tikki giggled.

“So… Um.” Marinette shifted, closing her eyes again. She leaned back, (although she much disliked not hugging him) and felt Chat do the same opposite her. Their hands were still clasped tight, skin on skin for the first time in their partnership. “On three?”

“Are you sure?” Chat whispered, hope and longing and excitement mingling in his breathy voice. Marinette took a deep breath in. She, surprisingly, was. Chat Blanc wouldn’t happen again, she would make sure of it, and if Tikki gave her blessing than there must not be anything else to worry about, right?

But what if there was? what if there was something else that would happen and then Shadow Moth would win and Paris would fall and the world would die and—

No, no she wasn’t going to go there.

She had to do this.

She wanted to do this.

She was sure.

She let out the breath.

“Yeah.” She whispered faintly. “I—I’m sure.”

Chat exhaled too.

“One.” They said together.

This was it, they were finally going to know.

“Two.”

She was nervous, and her heart was racing and she surprisingly found herself so, so excited, and she realized that she had been looking forward to this too. Chat was one of her best friends, and she was finally going to be able to talk to him, really talk to him without masks or secrets in the way.

“Three.”

Marinette opened her eyes the tiniest bit, peeking through her lids at the boy in front of her, and then they flew wide open.

Because of course it was him, the one other boy who could make her laugh like that, the one other boy with that large of a heart, the one other boy who made her feel as safe.

The one other boy who she loved.

Destiny’s a funny thing sometimes.

Adrien Agreste sat across from her, eyes wide with wonder and surprise and looking at her like she’d just given him the moon and stars even while tears streamed down his cheeks. Plagg was still buried deep in his shoulder, but he was snickering even as he kneaded his shirt.

She was well aware that she herself probably looked like a beached fish right now, but she really couldn’t bring herself to care.

Adrien Agreste was Chat Noir, and it made all the sense in the world.

And she knew, with all the certainty in the world, that she loved him. it wasn’t a crush, or an infatuation, it was love, pure and simple, platonic and romantic and all things in between.

And she’d nearly lost him.

And she would have never even known.

Both boys, who she loved so dearly, were one person, and he’d almost died.

But he was here, alive, in front of her with tears streaming down his face and smiling that same smile that she’d fallen for twice.

“Oh.” They said at the same time, wonder and joy and love seeped into that single word.

And she launched forward into another hug with a breathy, joyful, wet laugh, and Adrien laughed too as he hugged her back just as tight.

“I’m an idiot!” She giggled. “How did I not see this sooner!”

“How did you?” He said, a little teary but so happy. “Mari, I literally called you our everyday Ladybug!” She laughed at that, long and loud.

“Oh my Kwami you did!” she said. “And, and Alya literally said you looked like Chat Noir! Right after Lady Wifi!” They were both laughing and crying and it was wonderful and bright and she wouldn’t want to be anywhere else as long buried observations slipped from their lips.

“You literally used a ladybug mech in ultimate mecha strike!” Adrien said, chuckling. “And you were always disappearing during akuma attacks, which I didn’t notice because—“

“Because you were disappearing too! Oh my gosh I should have seen that! Oh, oh! And Oblivio! We must have figured it out, and that’s why we kissed!”

He nodded vigorously, before he suddenly stopped, eyes widening again. “That’s why all the others are from or connected to our class!”

“You noticed that?”

“Uh, yeah, but, but wait, Multimouse! How—“

“You were getting way to close, so I… had to get you off the scent.” She said sheepishly, and he laughed breathlessly, tears still streaming down both of their cheeks.

“You could have just pretended you didn’t know the school, like I did?” he asked with a raised eyebrow, and Marinette frowned.

“Hey, don’t you judge me Mr. Judgey-pants,” She pouted, and Adrien giggled at her expression. “You know I do complicated plans. It’s my whole thing.” He snorted. “And it’s not like you have any right to talk, Aspik.”

“W-well…”. He stammered, rubbing the back of his neck and how did she not see this sooner. “I mean, I guess I was just… kinda flattered you chose me?” Marinette raised an eyebrow. “Ok fine. I was hoping to woo you as myself. Happy?”

“Very.” Marinette said with a mischievous grin. “Because now I can tease you about that outfit.”

Adrien gasped, hand flying to his chest in betrayal.

“You wouldn’t do that!”

“Oh I definitely would, because what was with that headwear?”

“I regret that!” He yelped, and she laughed even more.

She looked at him, this wonderful boy who had been dead just a moment before, and he grinned as she brushed a lock of hair from his forehead.

“How are you here? She asked softly, quietly, her lip trembling. “Adrien, I—I’m so—“

“Bugaboo—“ he cut her off, and it was so weird and so right to hear that name from his lips. “I’ll say it again; I’d do it a thousand times, and am I wrong in saying you’d do the same for me?”

“No…”

“See? Then even though I hate that fact it does mean that you can’t be mad at yourself.”

“But—“

“Nope. No ‘but’s. No more blaming yourself. Chat’s orders.”

She was about to argue more, but Tikki piped up, and she fell silent.

“I think I can explain how he isn’t dead.” She said happily, and Plagg huffed.

“Then please, Sugarcube. Enlighten us.” She fixed him with a sharp glare (while Adrien and Marinette exchanged knowing looks) but continued on.

“Now, don’t ask how because I don’t know, but I think this is the pull.” She said, and Plagg shifted up, a little more alert. “I think you were able to call a Miraculous Cleanse.”

“What?” Marinette asked, shocked because never in a million years had she ever thought that would be the answer.

“Yes, i think so. None of my holders have ever been able to do that. It’s a miracle you could.” She smiled at Marinette. “But I can’t say I’m that surprised.”

Plagg snorted, impressed, and Adrien looked at her with all the lights of Paris in his eyes.

“See? Mari, you saved me, you didn’t do anything less.” He said with a smile, and oh my Kwami was it any wonder why she loved him?

“But if I hadn’t gotten distracted, if I had just—“

“That doesn’t make it your fault.” He said, kindly but firmly, and a fresh sob erupted from Marinette’s lips as she buried herself back in his shoulder. “But, I have to ask…” He said slowly, and Marinette scarcely had time to run through all the horrible things that could mean before he continued. “I’ve noticed. You smile less, Bug. You’re always looking over your shoulder. You don’t have to tell me, but I can’t just pretend that nothing's wrong.”

And for the first time Marinette considered telling him.

It might have been because she almost lost him, it might have been because she realized just how much she loved him, it might have been because she finally had someone who she could talk to about both sides of her life, it might have been because she had been holding back for more than a year now, ever since she’d opened that box and found two red earrings with black polka-dots.

Tikki nudged her cheek, nodding over to Adrien and smiling as she mouthed ‘tell him.’

And for the first time in over a year, Marinette allowed herself to open up.

“I—“ She began, and briefly doubted her decision before she looked at Adrien’s kind and supportive smile and forged on. “I, I messed up, Adrien!” She cried, and the tears poured once more and Adrien gripped her hands tighter. “I didn’t think when I gave Kagami Longg and I led Hawk Moth and Mayura to Fu and if I had just done better with Chloe then none of that would have happened and nobody’s identity would have been revealed but I was a massive failure and they were akumatized because of me and then the Kwamis were tortured by the order, Adrien, they were tortured and I didn’t know and I thought the order was good and—Plagg I am so sorry I swear that is never going to happen again—“

“Woah, woah, Mari, Bug slow down.” Adrien, worried and compassionate, before he turned to the Kwami sitting on his shoulder. “Plagg?” He whispered, but Plagg only shook his head.

“Later, kid.” he said with a faraway look in his eyes, and Adrien’s brows furrowed, but there was obviously some unseen communication between the two of them because he turned back to Marinette, tears still pooling in her eyes.

“How can I possibly be Ladybug if I’m such a screw up?” She whispered, and Adrien’s expression hardened as he placed his hands gently on her shoulders

“Ok, Mari no. You are literally the best person possible to be Ladybug. You’re kind, and courageous and so, so amazing, and I get why you blame yourself but listen to me when I tell you that it isn’t your fault. And as for the Kwamis, we are going to talk about that later—“ A dramatic look at Plagg, who huffed in response, but with a notable undertone. “—but trust me when I say that I am sure you didn’t know, and none of them blame you, I’m positive.” Tikki and Plagg nodded in agreement

“But—“

“No. You did make mistakes, but that’s because you’re human. Mari, you go out there every day, putting your life in danger to help people. You didn’t think clearly when it came to Miracle Queen, but the very fact that you can admit it means you are the exact right person for the job.”

She opened her mouth to argue again, but he held up a hand and continued on.

“Mari, I know you don’t believe me, but can you at least trust that I believe it?” He asked, and it was such a reasonable request that she had to nod her head.

He beamed, but his expression turned serious once more, gritting his teeth in what looked like discomfort and reluctance.

“Can I… ask one more thing?”

Marinette nodded.

“You…”. He paused, clearly not liking the question but his very insistence on continuing being proof that he thought it had to be asked. “You didn’t tell me everything, did you? With Calamity. It was… It was related to that, wasn’t it? You freezing? I know what a flashback looks like Bugaboo.”

She froze.

White, blue, flooded streets.

“M’lady?” He asked hesitantly, a single hand reaching up to gently cup her cheek. “Mari? Are you ok, you know you don’t have to answer, of course you don’t you know it was probably a bit of a stupid question I just—“

“Minou,” She said, stopping his stream of words (and she really should have noticed that too, both Chat and Adrien sometimes babbled close to the amount she did) in its tracks. “It’s not that.”

He frowned in confusion. “Then what—“

“I just…”. Give me a hug, Marinette! “…Can’t tell you.”

Adrien’s eyes narrowed. Green, not blue. “Bug, you know you can tell me anything you want to, right?”

Marinette shook her head. “Not… not this.”

“Marinette, I think you should tell him.” Tikki said, looking at her with abject sympathy. She had been there too, Marinette often forgot that.

Of course we’re gonna fix everything!

“Tell me what?” Adrien said in a low voice.

“He deserves to know.” Tikki said, and Adrien’s eyes narrowed even more.

The simple truth is you don’t love me anymore! So I might as well destroy you, me, our memories… everything!

“Know what?”

“I c-can’t say it…” Marinette said shakily, still clutching Adrien’s arms and committing to memory him as he was now, pure and good and made of sunshine.

“Can’t say what?” Adrien said, worried and sad and terrified.

It was our love that did this to the world M’Lady!

“That it was you!” She shrieked, clapping her hands to her mouth
immediately afterwards

“What?” Adrien whispered.

Shit.

She really wished she hadn’t done that, but the words were flowing now, and even if she’d tried to stop there was no way she could.

“You were the Akuma. On Montparnasse. That’s why I froze. Bunnyx came and took me to the future after I stupidly signed your card—though I didn’t know you were you at the time—for your fifth name’s day and somehow I guess you figured out I was me and then next thing I know I’m in a flooded Paris, and you’d been akumatized and the moon was destroyed and everyone was dead.” She finally ran out of breath, petering out with tears pouring from her eyes and choked sobs emanating from her mouth.

Adrien sat in front of her, hands not having left her own, but he was simply staring, quivering the slightest bit as Plagg watched with horror-struck eyes and Tikki flew over to whisper in his ear.

Marinette swallowed. “I had to fight you, you with your white suit and white hair and cold, dead blue eyes.” She whispered, soft as a gentle summer breeze. “I won, but it was close. And you knew my name, and you said… you said our love destroyed the world. I didn’t know what it meant at the time, although it makes sense now… but I thought… I thought I must have caused it…”

Adrien was trembling, tears streaming from his eyes once again as he stammered out in a soft, disbelieving and horrorstruck voice.

“I did that?”

Marinette blinked, and then in the space of a second she was wrapping him in the tightest embrace yet, clutching at his hair and burying her face deep in his shoulder.

“No, Adrien, No. Shadow Moth did, not you.”

“But—“

“I’m gonna tell you the same thing you told me; it was not your fault. Adrien, you are a literal ball of sunshine with a frankly worrying tolerance for disappointment and pain.” Adrien, despite himself, huffed out a breathy, choked giggle. “I know, that whatever caused your akumatization must have been something that would have broken anyone. You are not at fault here, ok? That’s what you say to all the Akuma victims, so take your own advice.”

Adrien sniffed, still crying but a little quieter, and gripped the back of her shirt tightly.

“Thanks, Bugaboo.”

She smiled through her tears.

“Just returning the favour.”

She knew that he was going to take a while to get over this, but she was now thinking that Tikki had been right. He had needed to hear this, had needed to know that she was being completely open with him, and even though it hurt so much and she would rather have done anything else than that, she knew she had to.

It was going to take them a while to piece themselves back together, a whole lot of work and tears and panics and love and care, but she knew with complete certainty in that moment that he would be ok. They both would be ok.

She drew back, wiping her eyes as Adrien did the same across from her, and then he fixed her with an intense, nervous, hopeful gaze

“Um… Mari?” He asked after a second. “What did you mean?” Marinette stared, brows furrowed, and he quickly clarified. “you… you said that it made sense now? The part about… about our love—“

“Oh…” Marinette cut him off as a small blush crept to her cheeks. “I mean… I guess I just… kinda love you?” She said, before her eyes widened and she immediately started backtracking. “I mean— sort of? Not at all? Just platonically of course, no way I love you unless you love me back but like no pressure and I’m not saying I love you but you are the most amazing person in the universe and I guess I might have fallen in love with Chat too? But like I totally get it if you don’t feel the same and not that there is anything to feel the same about because—-“

“Bugaboo, slow down,” Adrien said with a tiny laugh, before looking at her with eyes full of wonder and disbelief and the whole universe and how could she have ever not fallen in love with him? “You… You love me?”

“Maybe?” Marinette squeaked, and Adrien’s smile could have lit up the whole sky.

“But—“ He said all of a sudden, eyebrows furrowed. “But what about the other guy?”

Marinette’s brain stalled. “You… you can’t be serious.” His brows furrowed even more. “Oh my Kwami you are.” She said, laughing in disbelief and how was he this oblivious? “Um, Adrien? You’re the other guy.”

Adrien looked like his internal servers had overloaded and shut down.

“Oh.”

“Yeah.” She winced, grinning sheepishly.

“Me? All along?”

And with some storage of courage that came from literally nowhere, she answered with full certainty. “Adrien, I’ve been in love with your civilian identity since you gave me that umbrella on the steps, and I’ve been falling for Chat for nearly as long, but I realized it a few months ago.” She finished talking, and two seconds later her eyes suddenly widened. “Ok now that I say it out loud that sounds kinda pressure-y and I just want you to know that I love being your friend just as much so don’t worry if you don’t feel the same way and seriously you are one of my best friends and I really don’t want to mess that up—“

“Mari, I love you too.”

Marinette.exe has stopped working.

“You… um… What?”

Adrien smiled, eyes crinkled in the corners and even though the tears were still drying on his cheeks, he looked the happiest she had ever seen him.

“I love you too. I fell in love with Ladybug the moment she yeeted me across Paris for the first of many times, and I’ve been in love with Marinette for a long time, even if I also only admitted it to myself a few weeks ago. I just…”

“Didn’t think I felt the same way…” Marinette finished for him, staring with awe at the boy who she had loved in what she thought was an unrequited fashion for so long, who had just said that he loved her.

Her.

“Um, Mari?” Adrien asked, anxiety threading through his words. “Um, this may be a bit forward, but could I… could I kiss you?”

She had flung herself at him the second he finished talking, their lips crashing together as the world melted away, all that remained being the feel of his lips, the warmth of his skin as his hands cupped her face and played with her undone hair, the smell of his cologne, and Plagg’s dramatically annoyed muttering at being flung from his spot.

As far as kisses go, it wasn’t the best.

It was a little awkward, and clumsy, and neither one of them knew what they were doing.

And it was perfect.

They drew back after a minuet, breathless giggles resonating in the air around them as they looked at each other. There was pure, unsullied love in Adrien’s emerald eyes, and Marinette would be quite happy if she never had to look at anything else ever again.

“Finally!” Tikki chirped, beaming as she settled on Marinette’s shoulder, and Plagg grumbled as he nestled back into Adrien’s shirt collar.

“Took you both long enough.” He looked up at Adrien, an exaggeratedly long-suffering smile on his face. “Does this mean you’re gonna stop the brooding?”

“Plagg,” Adrien hissed, the same shade of pink as Marinette was sure she was. He turned to look at her again, and a mischievous smirk spread across his lips. “Well, I’m glad you finally realized how much of a cat-ch I am.”

Marinette groaned as she snickered. “I’m gonna have to deal with so much of this from now on.”

“Oh you have no idea. I have so many new ones now, so you butter get yeast to it!”

“Oh sweet Kwami, bakery puns.” She hissed under her breath, and the two of them launched into another round of giggles, and the air was full of relief and love and joy and—

There was a clatter behind them.

Their heads snapped towards the sound, only to see none other than Rena Rouge and Carapace staring at them with open jaws and wide eyes as a shield and flute rattled on the ground at their feet. Staring at the two of them, as they sat together with tears drying on their skin, fresh from a kiss, with two Kwamis sitting on their shoulders.

Nino couldn’t find any words, his mouth trying and failing to make sound, and Alya’s eyes slowly narrowed as she finally regained control of her speech, words low and gleeful and disbelieving and breathlessly delighted but so, so shocked.

“What. The. F—“

Chapter Text

An Epilogue
Three Days Later

Marinette couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this light.

Adrien was ok, she was ok, and they were dating.

She, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, was dating Adrien Agreste.

And she, Ladybug, was dating Chat Noir.

They had laughed about that for a long while yesterday—right after they had asked each other if they wanted to go out sometime—the fact that somehow the two of them had created a love square with two people, because how utterly ridiculous was that?

It was painfully obvious, now that she knew. Adrien had begun to forgo the hair gel in favour of the look he sported as Chat, and he had been spouting those dreadful (and secretly loved) puns left and right for the past three days, days which they had spent almost constantly together (because no way was she letting him go home after that without keeping him on the phone the entire night. He didn’t seem to mind one bit)

And things were better.

She’d opened up, and he had in turn the next day, opened up about how worried he was about her and how strict his father had been becoming, opened up about how Chat Noir was his only escape from his life, and she’d hugged him tight and they’d talked. And there were a whole lot of apologies, and no small amount of crying, but when all was said and done things felt… different. Better.

And there was no visit from Bunnyx, no visit to a desolate future, and she felt safer than she had in so long, because she had her kitty, and he had her, and they were going to be there for each other through all the battles, and breakdowns, and the laughs and tears and joy and love.

And so, they returned to school on Monday together, hand in hand.

Alya and Nino met them at the stairs, as they always did, with identical grins. Alya held out her phone and snapped another picture for her “Adrienette/Ladynoir” album, and Marinette groaned good-naturedly.

And hadn't that been an interesting conversation that they had on the roof of Montparnasse, right after Alya and Nino had arrived. There was a lot of shock, and easily over a hundred ‘dude’s from Nino, and a pretty large tirade from Alya about ‘how did I not see this?’ and ‘OMG I’ve literally been writing a news site and crappy fanfic about my best friends!’ but eventually, they calmed down, and the four of them talked, and laughed, and there was a certain tension in the air that had been lifted. (Adrien was able to have his own mini-freakout about Rena and Carapace’s identities somewhere in there as well, which was hilarious)

Speaking of overdue conversations, Marinette knew Adrien and Plagg —who was currently napping in Adrien’s coat pocket— had one of their own after he had to go home that night, and the next day Adrien did seem to hold the Kwami a little closer. But neither of them seemed keen to talk about what had gone down, and Marinette was more than happy to give them their privacy.

And as for the other Kwamis, well, they were better. There was a lot to work through, for all of them, and healing isn’t a quick process, but there were steps. There was more laughter, more openness, and no more ‘master’s. It was progress.

There was so much healing, so much work to be done for her and Adrien and the Kwamis, and it might take years--or even a whole lifetime--but for the first time in a long, long while there was hope in the air, and the promise of a better tomorrow, and that was enough to get started. She and Adrien had both finally opened up, there were no more secrets, no more isolation, and the future looked brighter as a result.

And so the four of them walked into François-Dupont. Marinette and Adrien were holding hands, and didn’t that cause a whole lot of collisions, dropped books, and gasps. (Adrien had laughed his tail off over all her little schemes in service of Adrienette, and she had the feeling she’d be dealing with teasing about that for a long, long time)

Both of them had debated doing a dramatic reveal, and under any other circumstances they definitely would have, but neither of them were quite up to that yet, still a bit exhausted and fragile from the events on Montparnasse, so they decided to go the simple route, a little cheek kiss, holding hands, just enough to imply it.

Of course, Marinette knew that wasn’t going to last. Adrien was Chat Noir after all.

And as such, she was hardly surprised when he pulled her aside right before they reached the classroom door, Alya and Nino exchanging knowing glances and grins before heading in themselves, and a smile crept across Marinette’s face as Adrien whispered in her ear. It was still the simple route, but just enough to make it a little more interesting.

And so, as they entered the classroom—all their classmates in attendance—hand in hand, and Marinette made to let go of his hand and head to her desk, he pulled her back into a quick but loving kiss, the two of them smiling delicately as they drew back, hands still wrapped around each other.

“See you later, M’lady.” He grinned, and she smirked, gently flicking his chin.

“I’ll just be right behind you,” She said, before her expression melted into a gentle smile. “But I’ll miss you too.” She pecked his cheek and headed to her seat, discreetly fist bumping Alya as Nino nudged Adrien with a grin and a thumbs up.

You could hear a pin drop in that room, and Marinette quietly snickered, before turning around, innocence oozing from her, and regarded her class.

“What?”

Myléne was quickly squeezing a grinning Ivan’s arm with glee, Juleka and Rose were beaming in each other’s arms, (and oh wasn’t that amazing, to have another one of her ships made canon!) Nathanël was frantically texting who she could only assume to be Marc, (they were a little slower, but she could just tell they were finally going to admit it soon)

Chloé—who was, although an awful person, thankfully not working for Shadow Moth, an assumption based on her being in the direct line of danger in so many of the past attacks—was open mouthed, eyes bugging like a fish as Sabrina frantically fanned her with a piece of paper, Max and Kim were grinning while exchanging money, and Alix was grinning as she mouthed “(forking) finally.”

Rose eventually broke the silence.

“What—How—When did this happen?” She squealed with glee, and Adrien and Marinette looked at each other with smiles.

“Last Friday, during the Akuma attack.” Adrien said with a smile, and all of a sudden there was a rush of happy congratulations and hugs and pats on the back, and only when it all had calmed down did the voice pipe up from the back.

“Oh, this is wonderful! I’m so, so happy for you!” Lila said, that simpering smile still on her face, but her eyes were steel.

Marinette shivered on impulse as Adrien reached back to grab her hand, eyes cold enough to rival Lila’s, but his chill was as protective as her's was vindictive.

That was another thing they had talked long and hard about, first with Nino and Alya, who had confirmed what she had already known deep down (although she and Adrien were still pissed because how dare she do that to them?) and then with Adrien alone later on, in a conversation filled with horror about what Lila had done to him, a lot of tears, and a lot of unnecessary apologies from him and necessary ones from her, for not noticing, for not being there while he was going through this.

He'd forgiven her.

Adrien was not happy, and neither were Alya and Nino, (who were staring at Lila with the same cold, hard gaze as Adrien) But she had told them not to do anything, that she needed to handle this on her own.

And she was going to.

But…. She just couldn’t.

Not today, at least, and maybe not ever. She knew she needed to, she knew it in her bones, for Adrien, but she just… couldn’t yet, for some reason she couldn't place.

No matter how guilty it made her feel.

And that’s why it was so surprising when Adrien stood up, and faced Lila with that iron gaze, trembling with restrained rage, and Alya and Nino exchanged satisfied, knowing grins.

“No, you’re not.” He said, short and clipped but full of emotion, and Lila stared at him with abject hatred as the class stared at him, confusion in their gazes as Alya and Nino smirked. “I know, Lila. I know what you did to Mari, to Alya and Nino, and I’ve finally realized that what you’ve been doing to me is wrong.”

“Adrien,” Lila hissed, a warning as her smile fell from her face, but Adrien soldiered on.

“No, no because I know if I don’t say this then you’re going to go right after Mari again, and I don’t even care about what you’d do to me—“ Even in the midst of her shock, Marinette made a mental note to talk to him about that low self esteem because she was not letting that stand. “—But you will not touch her, or my friends, ever again.”

“Adrien, Bro,” Kim began, looking as shocked and confused as everyone else in the class. “What are you talking about? Lila would never do anything to Mari, or you.”

“I have proof, Kim.” Adrien’s gaze didn’t leave Lila’s until he headed to the front of the class, a USB drive in his hands. “And this has gone on for long enough.”

And he loaded the drive into the projector, walking back to sit beside Marinette. Alya had already moved to the front with Nino, all to aware of where he’d want to be sitting.

And it began to play just as Mme. Bustier walked in, obviously confused, but she made no move to stop it.

It was two videos, the first one taken from what appeared to be the inside of a purse, dark, but the audio rang clear, audio of Lila threatening Marinette, calling her pathetic, calling Adrien hers. (Marinette gripped his hand a little tighter where they sat, pressed against each other.)

The second was security footage from the inside of a storage closet, showing in great detail just how Alya and Nino had been akumatized, and the waiting butterflies behind Lila.

The class was stock silent as they finished, eyes turning to a fuming, shrinking Lila in horror and fury (Kim really did look like he wanted to punch her, while Alix's hand was already balled into a fist) And Mme. Bustier had a hand to her heart, staring at Lila with disappointment and shock.

“What—How—“ Marinette stammered, and Adrien, Alya, and Nino turned to look at her with soft smiles on their faces.

“Look,” Alya began. “We know you felt like you needed to do this yourself,”

“But we decided that was kinda stupid. You’ve done enough for this sitch, we were more than happy to deal with the finale.” Nino finished, beaming, and Adrien cuddled her closer.

“It’s ok Bug, it’s over.” He said, smiling down gently at her. "We took care of you this time."

And the waterworks broke, quiet tears streaming down her face as Mme. Bustier took Lila to Damocles’ office and the class began to rush forward, apologies streaming from their faces as everything, all her odd behaviour over the past months, finally, truly, clicked.

And things became even lighter.

***

“There’s one thing I don’t understand…” Marinette said later, while the four of them ate lunch in a secluded, empty park. Four Kwamis flew around nearby as the sunlight glinted off the new bracelet on Nino’s wrist and the necklace hanging at Alya’s collarbone, articles of jewellery they were probably never planning to take off again.

“Yeah?” Alya said through a mouthful of Dupain-Cheng croissant.

“Yeah…” Marinette continued, lips pursed as she stared down at her latte. “How did you get that video? From the bathroom?”

Alya and Nino exchanged an amused look as Adrien grinned at her.

“Why don’t you ask her?” He said, nodding his head at Tikki, who halted midair, turning to Marinette with a sheepish smile.

“Tikki?” Marinette gaped.

“Ok, so…”. Tikki began as Plagg snickered in the background. “I may have filmed that whole thing from inside the purse.” Marinette’s eyes widened as Plagg began full on chortling. “But in my defence, I was getting really tired of that girl! And since you said no smiting…”. She trailed off with a shrug. “That was the best alternative.”

Marinette was laughing herself by then, tipping her head back to the sky and hugging an approaching Tikki against her cheek.

“Thanks, Tikki…” She said, and Tikki snuggled in closer.

“Anytime, Marinette.”

An Epilogue to that Epilogue
One Week Later

They met in the warehouse a week later.

Her and Adrien got there first, half an hour before the meeting time, and that was more than enough time for her to freak out, pacing in her suit and grabbing at her hair until he was able to calm her down, clawed hands gently cupping her face and protecting her from the demons lurking at the edges of her mind.

He really was a miracle worker; by the time Kagami arrived, right on schedule, she was back to being the picture of poise, and she hugged a slightly pink Kagami in greeting. Max was only a few seconds later, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he walked into the slightly dirty, slightly dusty room and waved hello.

Alya arrived next, then Nino a few minuets later, then Luka, and finally, Kim about a minute after Luka, panting and obviously having run there. He looked up, breaking into a smile.

“Hey, look! The gang’s all here!” He said brightly, and it was true. This was the first time all the chosen had been in the same space together since Miracle Queen.

Marinette took a deep breath, Adrien squeezing her hand in reassurance, and together they stepped forward. This was it.

“I bet you’re all wondering why i’ve called you here.” She began, voice a little trembly, but she was able to regain control. Even if they hated her, she couldn’t sleep if she didn’t do this. “I wanted to apologize.”

Kagami blinked, mouth opening just the slightest bit, and Alya and Nino, neither of whom knew what this was about, looked at each other in confusion.

“I really messed up during Miracle Queen. I didn’t deal with Chloé the way I should have, I didn’t think things through, and all your identities were revealed as a result. You all were akumatized in the past few months; that’s my fault, and I can never apologize enough for that. I’m sorry.” She finished with tears in her eyes, and Adrien pressed a little closer in a show of his pride in her.

There was silence for a moment, and then Alya spoke softly.

“M—Ladybug, it’s ok. You made mistakes, yes, but you’re human, not perfect. I don’t blame you, and you apologized. That’s all you needed to do."

Nino nodded in agreement. "Yeah LadyDude, I totally don’t blame you either. You and Chat take on so much responsibility, you’re bound to slip up here and there. I appreciate the apology though." He smiled.

“As for the akumatizations, you did not cause those. Shadow Moth did.” Kagami said, a rare smile on her face. “He used us to get to you two, that is certain, but you saved us. It is not on you.” All the chosen in the room nodded, and a tear escaped her eye.

“I… I really appreciate that. So much…”. She sniffed, trying to regain her composure. “But—but I still dragged all of you into a war you had no business fighting. I have to apologize-"

“But we did have reasons to fight?” Max said in confusion, and Luka nodded.

“Yeah, it was our family, our friends, our city being akumatized and put in danger.” He said, and Alya smiled gently.

“You gave us the chance to do something, to fight back, to save them. I think I speak for everyone here when I say none of us have regretted it for a single second.” She said, and agreements echoed against the walls.

Marinette was full on crying now, but she managed to halt the tears as a wet giggle escaped from her lips.

“Well… If that’s the case… does that mean you all would be open to being called upon for a mission here and there?” She asked hesitantly. “Or not, because if you all are done than I totally understand and—“

“Heck yeah!” Kim said happily, as the others nodded eagerly and Nino beamed.

“Yeah, duh!”

Marinette smiled, looking around at these people, her friends, who were so amazing and courageous and generous and forgiving, and she knew, more than she ever had before, that she’d made the right choice.

An Epilogue to the Epilogue of the First Epilogue
Three Months Later

They met on the roof while the clock struck twelve, the glittering lights of the city providing a deep contrast with the dark manor in front of them.

Adrien was tense beside her, tail lashing and ears flat as he looked at his former home for the first time since he’d landed on her balcony a week ago, shaking and crying, and told her what he had found out. She remembered how livid she’d been, how she’d nearly marched to Agreste Manor and burnt it to the ground until she realized Adrien needed her more, and burning that prison to cinders wouldn’t help anything. It just wasn’t fair, it wasn’t fair that Adrien, the sweetest boy with the biggest heart, had to go through all of this.

It was then that they realized what had really caused Chat Blanc, and they had cried over that for a while, and cried over many other things, until they finally fell asleep on the couch in each other’s arms.

He'd been staying with her ever since, her refusing to allow him to go back and her parents more than happy to let him— and subsequently good as adopt him. They had told them about Ladybug and Chat Noir the next moment, and although they were understandably worried and concerned, they were also so, so proud (and they had laughed so, so much about the love square and Weredad)

And Adrien had understandably cried a lot, cried about the fact that his own father was the one to stab him on that rooftop, that his mother was in a magically induced coma, beneath his feet the entire time, that his own father could be that evil, could be the one terrorizing Paris, and about the fact that he wasn’t even that surprised, that it almost made a kind of twisted sense.

But he was with her, now, officially her co-caretaker (they had changed the name from guardian) and Plagg hardly left his side—muttering constantly about how glad he was that Adrien finally got out—and she hugged him all the time and promised she’d be there for him and they all--Alya and Nino (the latter of whom had expressed a great many times his desire to ‘slap that piece of human garbage in the face’) and Plagg and Tikki and her--promised they’d be there for him, that he’d always have a home with them, and although Marinette knew she could have no idea how much it hurt, that it would take him years to recover from this betrayal and shock, he seemed like he believed them, and her.

And that was a start, the first tiny step.

The other chosen arrived soon after, leaping and bounding and dashing over the roofs with superhuman grace and speed. The team had grown in the last three months; Tigress Pourpre, Minotaurox, Coq Courage, Caprikid, Traquemoiselle, Vesperia, Pigella, and Polymouse having joined them.

Myléne and Mullo had first met while fighting a re-akumatized Andre Bourgeois trying to cut down Paris’ trees, and Ivan had worked with Stompp for the first time a few days later, while her and Adrien had to take down a Stoneheart copycat. (Adrien had so many puns there)

Juleka (Adrien was right, she was perfect for Roaar) had earned hers while they were fighting a doubly-akumatized Anarka and Jagged, and Rose had become Pigella a few days before, when Juleka was the one akumatized into Guiltrip.

Zoé, with Pollen’s blessing, transformed to fight a once-again akumatized Chloé, and Marinette was quite happy to see that her suspicions she’d be a good chosen were true. Barkk had chosen Sabrina rather recently, after an incident involving an re-akumatized officer Roger, and she was surprisingly good. (Marinette had been nervous, but Chloé seemed to be unaware so far, so she was letting herself believe the best)

And Marc and Nathanël had earned theirs at the same time, while fighting a since-fired homophobic teacher from François-Dupont. They really were wonderful superheroes, and Ziggy and Orikko had become quite invested in Marcanël while Plagg and Tikki sniffed from the sidelines—as if they hadn't been just as invested in Ladynoir/Adrienette a few months ago.

They gathered around her, side by side in their suits, Nino right beside Adrien, who was beside her, who was beside Alya, and with a deep breath, Marinette spoke.

“Ok. This is it. You all know the reason, you all know the mission; incapacitate Agreste, find both miraculouses, and secure Emelie, then I can wake her up.“ Adrien took a shuddering breath at the mention of his mother, and Marinette scooted a little closer. If everything went right, perhaps Adrien would leave this fight with a real parent, one who actually loved him as more than a money-maker, more than a business asset. “You all know your roles. Gabriel is dangerous, but we’re stronger, because we are fighting for something. We’re fighting for our friends, for our family, for our city, for all those people who have been akumatized, including almost all of us. he isn’t going to expect this, we have the upper hand.”

She took a deep breath, smiling the best she could with the nerves flowing through her.

“Let’s finish this.” She made to spring from the rooftop, Adrien trembling the smallest amount beside her, but a raised hand from Nino stopped her in her tracks. “Carapace?”

“Um, yeah. Just checking that I’m gonna have an opportunity to chuck my shield at his face? properly this time?”

Adrien snorted, Alya smacked a hand to her forehead, and giggles spread through the air around the rooftop. Marinette sighed, trying her best to hold back a laugh.

“I’m sure the opportunity will present itself.” She grinned, and, with a final kiss to Adrien’s cheek she leapt off the roof, landing silently on the dirt in front of them with Adrien landing beside her not a second later. Their team streamed behind them, vaulting over the walls after them and splitting up, running over the grass and spreading around the mansion with small nods to her and Adrien, who approached the front doors with Alya and Nino flanking them, shield and Flute drawn.

Adrien halted as he reached the imposing slabs, and a soft, wet, tiny sob floated through the air around him. Marinette was hugging him before she could even think to, squeezing tight as he did the same. She looked up at him, holding his face in her hands, and she loved him so much.

“Hey,” She said, barely a whisper, and Adrien looked up to meet her eyes, sapphires and emeralds gazing at each other. “It’s gonna be ok.”

“How do you know?” He said in a tiny voice, and she smiled, softly and gently and full of love.

“Because it’s you and me against the world, right?”

Adrien closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, and when he opened them the sparkle, though dim, was back once more.

“Yeah, you and me.” He said with a fragile smile. “You and me.”

This job was hard, really, truly hard, but Marinette knew right then, as the doors opened and they stepped into the mansion, that she wouldn’t trade it for anything.

It had brought her Tikki, and the Kwamis, and her team, and her kitty.

Her kitty most of all.

They were both broken, in some ways that could never be fully healed, but her and Adrien were always going to be there for each other, picking up the broken pieces, supporting the other through the good times and the bad, and putting each other, and themselves, back together.

fin.