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How strange it was to die like this. One minute, she was on top of the world, the next, freefalling from the blue skies. Hitting the ground.
Marinette remembered tipping over the edge.
The cracking of the asphalt, the cracking of her bones.
Her mind slipping.
The void.
~ ❤ ~
Marinette awoke, Vesuvius in her veins, to a world of ash and dust. Everything around her was tinged with gray. She was in a bustling port, with people buzzing all around her, coming and going, pushing and pulling, tearing her apart as they all tried to get on the ship.
The ship. It towered above them, larger than any ship Marinette had ever seen before. It drew her in and boarding it seemed like the most important thing ever. An invisible thread tied them together, and someone, something on the ship was tugging her closer.
With her elbows pressed close to her body, she joined the crowd fighting with each other to reach the gangway.
On and on and on , her mind whispered. And on and on and on.
She rocked, like a ship caught in the stormy seas, carried forth by the waves of longing coming from deep within.
“Please, let me on!” someone cried.
“I can pay you!” yelled another.
“Please!” begged a small voice. It was swallowed up by the pleading chorus, reaching Marinette only because it came from right beside her.
Marinette’s gaze fell on the child whose hollow eyes made her take a sudden step back. The spot she vacated was instantly occupied by another ghastly human, just as desperate to get on the ship as everyone else.
Her lips parted in a desperate sigh.
Still, a moment later, her arms reached out again, fingers slipping into crevices as she tried to force her way through the throng. It resisted, pushing back.
The mass swayed back and forth, and every chance she found, she took. She was focused solely on moving forward, forward, forward . To the ship. To wherever it would take them.
“You! Girl with the earrings!” the Ferryman gruffed, pointing a heavily-bandaged left hand at Marinette. The sea of people around her parted. “You can board. Your fare has been paid.”
Marinette looked around in confusion, then, as if only now remembering, brought her right hand to the black studs she was wearing. She had an inkling that they were important, though she had yet to recollect why.
She took a step forward. An outcry followed, spreading through the horde.
“I was here first!”
“What right does she have to skip the line?!”
“I’ve been waiting for four decades!”
The old seaman shut them off with a single glare.
“Anyone, who wants to complain, is more than welcome to swim across the river,” he hissed, leaning on a rotting pole. His unkempt beard was overgrown with seaweed, clinging to the piece of wood on which he rested his jaw. He reminded her of someone.
Marinette hesitated but when the ferryman turned his blazing eyes towards her, she advanced quickly, not wanting to be a bother. After all, her fare had been paid.
“No cat?” snapped the man. Marinette stared at him blankly, with no idea what he was on about. Charon sighed, annoyed. “Oh bugger, this should be fun .”
It didn’t sound like he was looking forward to it so she shrugged, a polite smile on her face, as she climbed the gangway, trying to make sense of his words. Was she supposed to bring a cat? Where could she even get one in this world of… gray?
The color was awfully familiar.
“Remember, remember , remember!” Marinette chastised herself. Charon gave her a pitying look before thrusting the pole into the water. It shook the ground underneath, and the ship began drifting away from the shore, carried by the waves the tremors caused.
“You will remember, and then you’ll wish you didn’t,” he huffed, guiding the ferry. The river was wide, and it had expanded over the centuries, eroding the river banks on both sides. Marinette squinted, trying to make out the figures sitting on them.
The gray was darker in the distance, where Acheron converged with Styx and Cocytus.
“What is this place?” Marinette asked quietly. Charon snorted. It should have been obvious.
“The underworld.”
“The underworld,” she echoed, letting the word sink in. She racked her brain for its definition but came up short.
Despite that, it felt like a one-way trip. She had no baggage, no return ticket.
No energy.
She closed her eyes and sat down on the wooden floor. Her mind floated as her incorporeal body swayed along with the ship, both lulled to sleep by the soothing murmur of the river. Acheron always had that effect on people.
No sound pierced the whispers of the souls of water nymphs, who were courageous enough to inhabit the waters. Charon leered at them, eyes aflame with desire, as they splashed in the water, their giggles like small waterfalls.
But there was an unfamiliar buzz in the air. Loud and high-pitched, it grated on his ears. His upper lip curled and his eyes flickered nervously around. The further from the riverbank they got, the more it amplified.
It was not a good sign.
~ ❤ ~
The Ferryman was right, of course. When the manic creature came falling from the starry skies, no force could have stopped it.
It was hardly the first time. Orpheus had descended into the underworld to bring back Eurydice. Odysseus had created a bridge to consult Tiresias. Aeneas had searched for his father. And there were many others.
None as flashy as the Black Cat, though. Coming for his Bug.
The fabric of the universe was difficult to fix after a cataclysm. And the small gods inhabiting the jewelry never seemed to try very hard to stop their holders. It was like they lived to make Hades’ life hell.
Not that the Ferryman minded. They would all eventually return, usually with more silver to fill Charon’s pockets.
No one lives forever.
The leather-clad cat boy tumbled down, hand stretched out in a half-dead cataclysm. He was more shocked at his success than Charon, who scowled, thoroughly unimpressed.
Félix’s wide eyes had only a second to take in the netherworld. Only a second to redirect his arm so it didn't hit Marinette, whose eyes snapped open.
Grayish blue met vibrant green.
And memories flooded her brain. Running across the rooftops. Soaring towards the top of the Eiffel tower. Chasing each other until there was no air left in their lungs.
The laughter. The tears.
The criminals.
“Marinette!” he called her name. She tried to remember his.
“Félix,” she murmured, her voice reminiscent of an echo, fading away.
“Marinette!” he cried, wrapping his arms around her as the superhero suit disintegrated from his body. He was frantic, almost as if not believing she was really there. Tears fell freely, he made no attempt to conceal them.
Marinette just stared blankly. He was not supposed to be there. He was important, so important, but he wasn’t supposed to be there. Not now, not so full of color, not when her heart could contain only a fraction of the love she had felt for him.
He nuzzled her hair, held her close.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“You shouldn’t be here. You shouldn’t be here. You shouldn’t be here,” echoed the water nymphs after her.
“I should be wherever you are,” he choked, cupping her face gently. She was smoke and ashes where he was flesh and bone.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” grumped Plagg, glancing around. “Now, let’s get out of here before the… ”
Charon caught the small god by its tail. “You’re not going anywhere, little rat.”
“Félix! Help! He’s got me!” Plagg wailed, struggling to get free. “He’s got me! Félix! ”
Félix held Marinette’s gaze. “If you go, I go.”
“I thought the plan was to get Bug out of here!” complained the kwami. He bit ferociously down on Charon’s dirty hand, earning a yelp but not freedom.
“You haven’t paid the fare,” sneered the Ferryman. “Yet you dare come on board my ship.”
“Your sinking ship,” Plagg bared his teeth again. “So you better let us go before we all go down.”
Charon snorted. “Down where, little rat? Into the pits of Tartarus? I’m sure the titans would be happy to see you.”
“Titans, happy?” Plagg cackled. “It’s not the titans I’m worried about.”
“Then what are you worried about?”
“King Salmoneus, I suppose,” a new voice joined them. Plagg cowered, the weary sighs that accompanied the words all too familiar. “Though I assure you, Plagg, your fear is misplaced. It’s Charon you should be afraid of. This is the third watercraft of his that you’ve wrecked.”
“You got any camembert, old man?” Plagg sniffed the air.
Hades shook his head, disappointed. “You know the laws better than that.”
“Well, my boy is insistent on staying, so might as well join him, no?” Plagg wiggled, eager to talk the old god into giving him some ancient cheese he knew existed in the netherworld.
“And what about Tikki?” Hades raised an eyebrow. “You two are meant to balance each other out there in the human realm. She will not take kindly to your meddling.”
Plagg shrugged. He threw a glare in the direction of the reunited lovebirds who were still lost in their own world. “Hey, you! Get going! I can’t stall the old man for too long!”
Hades chuckled. With a wave of his hand, he dismissed the Ferryman, who bowed deeply before handing the writhing god over to the King of the Underworld.
“No one can escape my domain without permission,” Hades’ suave voice would have distracted many an adventurer. But Plagg only snickered. “And I don’t believe I’ve given that poor soul permission to depart.”
“Hurry up then! Permit them and we’ll be off on our way!” Plagg huffed. Hades let go of him and the kwami of destruction flew over to his holder, glaring daggers at his old frenemy.
“The boy can go,” shrugged the god indifferently. “But the girl must stay. That is the order of things.”
“Some would say that the black cat and ladybug being separated disrupts the order of things,” Félix spoke up, putting on his best performance of bravery. He straightened himself and turned to face the god, not letting go of Marinette’s fragile hand even for a moment.
“There will be new cats, and new bugs,” Hades disagreed calmly. “Just like there have been before.”
Félix’s mouth went dry as the fear of losing her again surfaced like a tsunami, powerful enough to sweep away whole cities. His heartbeat quickened, and his grip on Marinette tightened. The mask on his face rippled.
“But they will not be her.”
“No, they will not.” Hades placed a hand on Félix’s shoulder. It carried the weight of his understanding and anger. The boy felt his knees wobble, though he remained standing. "But this is the order of things."
"I won't leave without her." It was a hill he was willing to die on.
“No one asked you!” Hades boomed. His voice made a flock of birds take flight with aggressive flapping, sounds of which disrupted the otherwise silent world. The god and the boy stared each other down. Neither was willing to look away.
“Ahem.” Plagg tried for their attention. “It’d seem we’re at an impasse. And you know, how they say when in Rome, do as the Romans do, so… I’m with my kid, Hattie. It’s two against one. So, I think we shall be taking our leave now… ”
He circled over to Marinette and pecked her cheek, muttering something about giving her Tikki’s regards, before returning to Félix. Marinette giggled, smiling fondly before sighing, drained of all life.
“Please let her go,” pleaded the boy. “I’ll do anything. Please .”
“Please,” whispered the river before swallowing it up. Acheron rose and fell, cold and unforgiving, like midwinter’s starry skies casting judgment on gods and mortals alike.
“Pity the boy,” another voice entered the conversation. Plagg sighed in relief. “And contain your rage. Honestly, we don’t need a repeat of what happened last time .”
“Persephone,” Hades acknowledged his wife, softening just enough for her to notice. She smiled.
It was the kind of smile that would have made flowers bloom were they in the realm of the living. As it was, though, it revived nothing and grew only the love in her husband’s heart.
“Why not give them a chance?” She proposed, glancing at Marinette. “Let him prove his love.”
Hades scoffed, puffing smoke out of his nose like a tiny dragon, with more fire and flames burning in his heart than in all the bigger monsters combined.
“What could this puny mortal know about love? Nothing .”
Persephone covered her mouth to hide a smirk. “So what’s the harm, love ?”
“Yeah, what’s the harm, Hattie?” Plagg snarked. “Are you afraid that my boy has more heart than the rest of you lot all put together?”
“And how do you propose we do that?” Hades shook his head to clear it of any unnecessary thoughts. “Everybody in their world knows what happened to Orpheus.”
Persephone placed a hand on his shoulder, offering quiet comfort, knowing it would help more than agitating him further. As long as Hades could be reasoned with, she could talk him into letting the girl go.
“I have a pier on the coast of one of the Elysium islands.” Persephone hesitated, fearing the moment was wrong. “That isn’t tended to. She could pass out her days over there.”
“Her soul hasn’t been weighed!” Hades protested immediately.
“But we both know that hers is light as a feather,” the goddess laughed. “She’s one of Tikki’s after all.”
“You have a point there.” When he looked from the troublemakers to his wife, his expression mellowed. The adoration in his eyes was unrivalled by anything the earth had seen, but neither Félix nor Marinette noticed it, too lost in their own world. Plagg rolled his eyes at their cheesiness. “And the boy?”
“The boy will return to the living,” Persephone held up her hand, requesting Félix let her finish speaking. “Where he is free to seek out any and all piers of the world. You’ll be able to find her on one of them when the sun sets. And once you kiss, she can enter the realm of the living again..”
Félix thought about it. “How do I know you won’t cheat me? For all I know, you could just lock her up as soon as I’m gone and I would never see her again.”
“You have to trust us, Kitty.” Persephone’s laughter sounded a lot like Marinette’s when they sat on a rooftop and he told her stupid jokes so she’d laugh and smack him, her touch filling up the void within.
“It’s either that or getting out of here without even a chance of seeing her until your time has come,” Hades shrugged, with a satisfied smirk playing on his lips. “Honestly, it’s more than you deserve, you mangy cat.”
“Plagg?” Félix turned to the kwami, who was warily eyeing the other immortals.
“Take it,” he encouraged the boy. “I told you Hattie is a piece of bland cheese.“
Félix brought Marinette’s hand to his lips.
“Will you wait for me?” he murmured, pressing her palm against his mouth.
She nodded.
Of course she would. In this life and in another.
In a swift motion, Félix let her hand drop, as he pulled her closer and planted a kiss on her forehead.
“I will find you. I swear.”
Something akin to longing burned in Persephone’s eyes, as she watched them part. Félix lingered for as long as he could, holding onto the last fragments of the young woman he loved, knowing it might be a while until they were reunited again.
Marinette watched him go, a lump manifesting in her throat. Hades placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Don’t worry, darling. Lethe will wash away all your sorrows.”
Marinette proudly pushed it away.
“I will never forget.”
“And neither will Charon,” Persephone teased her husband, drawing his attention away from the little lady. “He will put in a request for a bigger, fancier, more expensive ship by next Friday. Mark my words.”
She winked at Marinette, pulling the old man away.
Marinette stayed behind for a little longer. When she finally turned, the gods were already gone.
~ ❤ ~
Waves crashed against the pillars in steady waves. They glimmered in the setting sun, rising and falling like mercury, with silver fish coming to the surface in search of breadcrumbs. Every now and then, a lonesome seagull dove down trying to catch one to make it his dinner.
Félix watched their battle of life and death mindlessly. He watched the sun set.
“If it’s not this one, it’ll be the next,” Plagg promised, phasing out of his pocket.
“You keep saying that.”
“And one of these times, kit, I’m bound to be right.”