Work Text:
There was rubble everywhere around them, and she couldn’t see through all the dust caused by the building’s collapse but she knew that she needed to get out. She tried to stand up, only for a stab of pain to shoot through her right leg and make her crumble.
The last minutes were a blur, she didn’t remember anything. She was— She had been— She hadn’t been alone! Her eyes widened with panic when her memories finally came back to her.
They were on their way out when the room had started to shake and fall around them. She had been on the way to one of the rubbles, and would have been crushed if Roy hadn’t pushed her at the last minute.
“Roy!” She screamed, the dust making her choke. “Roy?! Do you hear me?!”
“Here,” she heard faintly from the left, and started crawling toward it.
It took her more time than she would have wanted, and was painful every time she accidentally put weight on her leg, but she got to him.
“Roy,” she whispered with horror. The lower half of his body wasn’t visible, covered by the big piece of cement, and a piece of metal was stabbing him through his chest.
“Hey, babe,” he started slowly, only to start coughing violently, spitting blood.
“No, no,” she muttered angrily, closing the distance between them. “Don’t talk. It’s okay, help is probably already on it’s way.”
“Mari,” he sighed, but she ignored it. He was going to be fine. Help was going to come, and they will take them out.
She sat by him, putting his head on her good leg and caressing his cheek.
“Help is on it’s way, we just have to wait,” she told him softly, kissing his forehead.
“Mari,” he sighed again, his face too pale and blood still coming out of his mouth. “I’m not going to—”
“Shhh,” she whispered, tears flowing freely down her cheeks. “Keep your energy, chéri, please.”
“I love you, Marinette Harper,” he told her, a smile curling up his lips. “You and Lian— Take care of her pl—”
“Roy,” she sobbed when a cough interrupted him again. “Please, mon amour, don’t make your goodbyes.”
“It’s not— your fault,” he said, his voice scratchy and more and more tired. “I choose to—”
“I love you so much, I can’t live without you, Roy,” she whispered to him, hands on his cheeks. “Don’t make me, chéri, please don’t make me.”
“I love you,” he whispered again, a soft smile on his lips, his eyes blinking sluggishly, before closing completely.
“Non!” Marinette screamed, sitting up on her bed, her heart racing in her chest. He took her a couple of seconds for the adrenaline to lower enough for her to realise that she had a nightmare.
“Mari? You okay?” Roy asked from where he was, leaning on the doorway. “A nightmare?”
She only nodded, not trusting her voice to be steady enough to talk.
“Oh, babe,” he said softly, sitting beside her, one leg folded under him. He looked at her sadly before slowly wiping the tears from her cheeks. She hadn’t even realised she was crying. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“It was awful,” she whispered, leaning her head on his chest. “We were in a building that just collapsed and you— you—”
“Shhh, it’s okay,” he whispered softly, trying to calm her.
“You were dying, Roy,” she whimpered. They stayed silent for a moment, Roy’s hand caressing her back comfortingly.
“You need to stop that, Mari,” he told her softly, a sad resignation in his voice.
“What?” She asked with a frown, surprised by the statement.
“It wasn’t your fault, babe,” he said slowly, grabbing her by her shoulder and pushing her back gently. He looked down at her with sadness in his eyes. “You need to stop doing that to yourself.
“My fault?” She asked with a lost tone, not understanding.
“Let me go, Mari,” he told her tenderly, his hands cupping her face. “You need to let me go, if not for me, do it for them. They need you.”
“But,” she started slowly, tears falling again. “I can’t.”
“You can, you’re strong,” he said with a smile. “I love that in you, Marinette, how strong you are. But that doesn’t mean you have to do everything alone. Let them help you heal, don’t keep everything inside.”
“No, I’m not,” she whispered desperately, grabbing his hands around her face. “I’m not strong enough.”
“You have to be,” he told her sadly, kissing her forehead. “For them.”
She woke up with a gasp, opening her eyes in the dark of her room. Alone.
“Maman?” Lian asked softly, opening the door slowly. “I, uh, I think Simon is hungry?”
“Yeah?” she said softly, sitting up and wiping her tears. She prepared her breast to feed him, before outstretching her arms toward Lian. “Give him here.”
Lian carefully gave her the baby before sitting beside her. They stayed silent while little Simon ate for a while, the glaring absence of Roy weighting on both of them. Marinette looked at the girl from the corner of her eyes, realising how much she had grown up from the little girl she had met, all those years ago.
“Uncle Jay is coming today,” Lian started suddenly. “We are going to dad’s favorite place, for father’s day. I know you don’t want to go out much, but— Do you think that you and Simon could come with us?”
Marinette’s heart clenched at how desperate Lian sounded. She was young still, almost sixteen, and Marinette had put so much on her shoulders already. She looked down at her son, who would never know his father, and she closed her eyes briefly to stop her tears.
She needed to be strong. For them.
“Yeah,” she said softly, the surprise on Lian’s face another reminder of how much she had failed her so far. She bumped her shoulder lightly with Lian’s, not able to hug her because of the baby. “I think— Yeah, it would do us good to go there, as a family.”