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“Chaton, do you believe in reincarnation?”
Chat Noir likes patrolling with Ladybug. It’s one of the things he looks forward to the most, even more than going to school and hanging out with his friends, plural.
Tonight is a beautiful night, not too cold and with a majestic full moon hanging in the clear sky. He’s glad for it; last night was a cloudy one, and after Sandboy…the bright moon feels like a good omen, as if the heavens itself is blessing this patrol.
The two superheroes are sitting at the edge of a familiar rooftop—their rendezvous point whenever they go on patrols. When Ladybug told him she had something she needed to tell him, he—
Honestly, he isn’t sure what he was expecting. A break-up speech? They aren’t even dating. An annulment of their partnership?
Whatever the case, he definitely wasn’t expecting a question about reincarnation.
“Reincarnation?” Chat blinks. He feels like this question is important, somehow, as if his answer will determine his future relationship with Ladybug. But why? “Uh…I think…it’s a common trope in anime, I guess. But…honestly, I’ve always liked the idea. Even if I screw up majorly in this life, being reincarnated means I’ll get a second chance to start over. It’ll be like being given a blank slate. And…I can try something new. Maybe I’ll have different talents, or even different parents, and siblings…I’ve always wanted siblings. Maybe I’ll even get to be reunited with my—people who are missing or dead. Though neither of us will know we’ve already met.” He laughs a little, at that. “It’s just—I don’t really think reincarnation exists, but won’t it be nice if it does?”
He pauses. “Why are you asking?”
“I see.” Ladybug hums, ignoring his question. She tilts her head upwards, looking at the full moon. From this angle, he can’t quite make out her expression.
“What if…what if I told you I have memories of my past life?”
…what?
Chat Noir frowns. He stares at Ladybug, but she keeps her head tilted at the sky, refusing to look at him.
Is she joking…? But no, Ladybug’s sense of humor isn’t like this. He remembers reading on the internet about a strange date when people would make a tradition of pranking each other, but today isn’t anytime near April 1 either.
Besides, Ladybug looks so serious…and when has she ever misled him?
“Well…” He replies slowly. “You’ve never lied to me before, and your sense of humor isn’t anything like that. So…if you told me that, I’d believe you.”
“Really?” Ladybug finally lowers her head to look at him. Chat barely resists his urge to rub his eyes—are those tears in her eyes? “You’d…you’d believe me?”
“Of course, my Lady!” Chat grins at her, and tries to make his smile as reassuring as possible. “You wouldn’t lead this poor kitten astray, would you?”
“But…you don’t think I’m delusional?”
Chat blinks.
…that wasn’t even on the list of potential reasons his Lady would tell him something like this.
“Why? Did you—did someone say you’re delusional when you tried to tell them this? Who—did they try to lock you up in a mental asylum? Kwamis—who are they? You don’t have to worry about our image as superheroes—I’ll just beat them up as my non-transformed self—I know I don’t look like it but I do play sports in my daily life, I don’t know if I ever told you this—really, it won’t even be assault, it would be doing a public service—”
“Chat!” Ladybug huffs, and shoves a hand over his mouth.
Chat barely resists the instinctive urge to lick her hand.
“No—and I’m not lying—no one’s ever told me I’m delusional.” She pauses, then mutters, so softly that he wouldn’t have been able to hear her if not for his enhanced senses. “Not over this, at least.”
“Mm?” So someone did tell the most brilliant person in the universe she was delusional. Who?
Ladybug removes her hand from his face, and Chat Noir asks. “So someone did tell you you’re delusional—”
Ladybug blinks, surprised, then shoots him a flat look. “They aren’t in my life anymore—and don’t give me that look, Chaton, I’m not giving you their names just so that you’ll drive yourself crazy trying to track people who aren’t even in France.”
Chat opens his mouth to protest, but another scowl from Ladybug shuts him up. He huffs. “…fine. But why would you believe I’d think you’re delusional? It wounds me how little you think of me.”
Ladybug shrugs. “When someone goes around blabbering about past lives, that seems like a logical conclusion.”
“A logical—magic exists, people turn into rampaging monsters when they get upset, a cat god lives in my room and stinks up my bed with overpriced camembert, but for some reason reincarnation is unreasonable? Don’t have so little faith in my suspension of disbelief, my Lady. I wouldn’t say it’s insulting but…it is insulting.”
Ladybug’s face cracks into a small smile. He counts that as a success.
“Yeah…I…you’re right, Chaton. Maybe I shouldn’t have assumed you’d dismiss me so quickly.” She presses a hand to her face and grimaces. “…I should’ve written a script for this.”
“You can say whatever is on your mind, you know. I won’t judge.” He pauses, then hesitantly asks, because though he can be patient for his Lady, he is curious. “So…reincarnation is real after all, huh?”
“…yeah.” Ladybug rubs her face and swallows visibly. He has never seen her so…not put together. If there was any lingering doubt that Ladybug was joking, it vanishes at that.
This is clearly important to her.
“I…in my past life, I lived in a society where everyone had superpowers. We called them quirks, unique genetic abilities that manifest in most children when they are four. In that world, being a superhero—like us, Ladybug and Chat Noir—is a popular career. We—they’re called pro heroes, people who use their quirks to save people and get paid for it.”
That sounds like something straight out of a comic book or an anime, Chat Noir thinks. He doesn’t voice that out loud. The last thing Ladybug needs is to think he’s mocking her.
“That sounds like a really cool world to live in.” He tells her instead. It is cool. He used to wish he could shapeshift into a cat or dragon. Does being able to transform into Chat Noir count as shapeshifting? Probably not. “Way better than this boring old world. Must be a shock, huh? Being reborn in a world without superpowers.”
“…I guess.” Ladybug mutters hesitantly.
She pauses, then adds. “I—I was one of those pro heroes. There are many academies that trained pro heroes in that world, and the one I went to is called UA Academy. That’s where I learnt how to fight so well, and how to recognize load-bearing walls and those other skills you asked me to teach you.” She frowns, then looks up suddenly, straight into Chat’s eyes.
She leans forward and grabs Chat Noir’s hands, her bluebell eyes burning with the intensity of her gaze. “It isn’t because I’m Master Fu’s protégé, Chaton. He picked you the same time he picked me. That’s why—I just won the reincarnation lottery. It has nothing to do my ability, or yours. I went to a school for heroes-in-training, and UA is one of the most prestigious hero schools in the world. And there were…extenuating circumstances. Even in my old world, few heroes were able to receive an…erm…education like mine. You are not inferior, Chaton. Do you understand?”
“O—oh.”
Chat thinks his face is burning, though he isn’t sure if it’s from embarrassment or his Lady’s hands on his or that…that look in Ladybug’s eyes, bright and passionate and burning like the sun.
(When he thinks about this moment again, back in the silence of his room, he’ll realize how much sense this makes. All those inconsistencies—Ladybug’s inexplicable experience, her unsurpassable skillset, the faraway look she sometimes gets—all of them were tied neatly back to Ladybug’s past life.)
(Once, when he asked Ladybug about her what month her birthday is in, she began to say it was in August, before pausing, shaking her head and quickly correcting herself. He brushed off the incident at that time, but now…he supposes he knows why, now.)
…does this mean all his assumptions—about Master Fu and Ladybug and his own place in the grand scheme of things—were wrong?
“Wait. Does—does this mean—does Master Fu know? Or Tikki?”
“Tikki knows,” Ladybug replies. “Master Fu…doesn’t. Apparently, he thinks I’m a sorceress, and that explains my additional powers.”
“…oh.” Chat Noir blinks.
That isn’t the answer he expected.
A part of him is vindicated at that. He knows something that Master Fu doesn’t. Ladybug trusts him more than she trusts Master Fu—the Guardian of the miraculous and their teacher. Even though Master Fu likes Ladybug more than Chat Noir, even though he’s clearly planning on Ladybug succeeding him, even though he wouldn’t have revealed his existence to Chat if not for Ladybug’s insistence…
“A sorceress?” He grins cheekily. “Really?”
“Don’t change the topic, Chat. You are just as important and talented as I am. I never knew how to emphasize this without revealing my secrets, but I can do that now. Repeat after me. I am important. I am Ladybug’s equal. I am not expendable. I will not jump in front of an akuma attack like a self-destructive hero again.”
This time, when Chat’s cheeks burn, he knows it is definitely from mortification.
“I…I am important…? I am…Ladybug’s equal. I am not…expendable...and…I will not jump in front of an akuma attack like…a self-destructive hero again…?”
“Good!” Ladybug exclaims. “Was that so hard? Aizawa-sensei worked really hard to curb my self-destructive tendencies too, you know. I owe it to him to pass on his teachings.”
“Aizawa-sensei?” Chat Noir the anime fan latches onto those words like a shark tasting blood. Chat Noir the self-destructive hero is just desperate for any change in topic. “Is that—were you Japanese? Or did your world even have a geography like ours; if so, are there similar languages? Oh—that does mean what I think it means right? Your teacher or mentor?”
Ladybug’s lips twitch. “Yeah. I was Japanese. Aizawa-sensei was my homeroom teacher at UA. We stayed in contact even after I graduated, up until I—” She froze, before shaking her head. “Never mind. But—I got called anime girl once, in this life. It’s supposed to be offensive—I’m not even Japanese—but it was also really funny, you know? Reincarnation’s such a cliché trope, and superheroes…” She laughs.
For some reason, Chat’s mind flashes to that time Chloe called Marinette an anime girl.
“Oh, and our geography—the landmasses are basically the same, but some of the countries are different. France’s still there, though. I—I didn’t tell you my old world is chronologically two hundred years in the future, right? When I d—when I was reincarnated, it was in the 23rd century. It makes sense that there were some changes in governments over two centuries.”
Two hundred years? Chat’s eyes widen, but before he can open his mouth, Ladybug beats him to it.
“Before you ask—I know that look in your eyes—we don’t have space travel or neural implants, and we haven’t colonized Mars. Really, this world might even be more advanced than my old one, considering Markov’s existence. There was…ah…quirks began to appear around the 2000s in my old world, and after that the world was thrown into chaos. We had two world wars, and governments were overthrown left and right. Quirked people were hunted down, and—well, let’s just say there wasn’t much scientific progress except for the...experimentation on people with quirks and development of weapons.”
…oh. That’s…well.
That’s morbid.
Chat is suddenly very glad there aren’t any unethical scientists around who want to see what makes magic tick.
“Things finally started to calm down in the 2160s, about 80 years before I was born, and that’s partially thanks to the global adoption of the pro hero system. Japan adopted the pro hero system in 2103, though. As far as I know, the only countries that still don’t use the pro hero system are the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland. They have the highest quirkless population in the world, so there isn’t much need for pro heroes. Besides Antarctica, of course.”
“Right. And you can just…recall all of that off the top of your head?” Of course she can; she’s Ladybug.
Ladybug rubs the back of her neck and grins sheepishly. “I went through a really intense history phase when I was ten. The first time I was ten, I mean.”
Chat Noir nods. That should be something like a fixation on a particular manga series, right?
“There’s something I still don’t cat-ch, though.” He tells her. Ladybug sighs at the purr-fectly fine pun. “How does your Master-Fu-dubbed-sorceress powers fit into this? You said quirks are genetic, so that can’t be your quirk. Unless…you are also a wise old sorcerer—wait, no, that’s a wizard—”
Ladybug makes a face. “…yeah, about that…”
Chat stares. That can’t be…right?
“Don’t tell me that is your super special genetic ability which is not actually a genetic ability?”
“…it is.”
“What? But that’s—that’s so…so anime-like…”
Ladybug grimaces. “One For All is different. According to Tikki, it latches onto the souls of each holder, and when they die, their soul is absorbed into One For All. I was just the one lucky enough to be holding it when I died, so the quirk followed me into this life. It’s…uh…also why I have memories of my past life. One For All carried my memories over to this life for me.”
“…that doesn’t sound like a genetic ability someone is born with. At all.” It also sounds slightly terrifying, Chat does not add. He tries not to think of a mythical Cthulhu-like creature made of red-and-black lightning and black tendrils, looming over Ladybug’s body like the specter of the Grim Reaper.
(He watches too much anime.)
“It isn’t. Like I said, One For All is different. I wasn’t born with it. It is, and I quote, ‘a torch passed down from hero to hero’. I was the only one who didn’t pass the torch before I died, though.”
Okay. So Ladybug, the love of his life, is the reincarnation of a superhero with an eldritch quirk that someone gave her, a quirk that allows her to generate supernatural lightning and shadow tentacles. That is extremely cool and only slightly terrifying, and surprisingly to everyone who is not Chat Noir, not a turnoff at all.
“That’s so cool.” Chat breathes. He’s fairly certain there are stars in his eyes. “Your quirk has history. ‘A torch passed down from hero to hero’—I have shivers just hearing that line!”
Ladybug blinks in surprise. “You think so? Tikki seems to find One For All…repulsive. She called it a soul parasite.” She pauses. “It isn’t, by the way. Parasite implies there’s no consent.”
Chat shrugs. “I’m not Tikki. And even if your quirk was a soul parasite, it would still be very cool.”
“…yeah, that’s fair.”
“So what exactly is One For All’s power? Beyond eldritch soul magic, I mean.”
“‘Eldritch soul magic’?”
Chat grins, “I’m not wrong, though.”
“I know, and I hate that.” Ladybug pauses. “One For All…it’s a stockpiling quirk. It stockpiles power, quirks, memories—and souls, evidently. It’s a buy-one-get-several-free kind of quirk, in a way. Black Whip was one of the past holder’s quirks, but it got passed down to me when I received One For All.”
Chat Noir remembers Ladybug telling him her tentacles are called Black Whip. He still prefers calling them shadow tentacles.
Ladybug adds. “Honestly, I thought you were gonna ask about my original quirk.”
Oh. If Ladybug’s—if One For All is not Ladybug’s natural quirk, then shouldn’t she have another natural quirk?
That’s even cooler. Why didn’t he think of that?
“Not that I want you to ask!” Ladybug adds hurriedly. Chat raises his eyebrows. “I…uh…before One For All, I was…quirkless.” She grimaces, then, as if she just swallowed a lemon.
“Oh.” Huh. He didn’t expect that. Before he can stop himself, Chat blurts out. “Huh. That’s such a plot twist.”
Ladybug abandons her sour expression in favor of staring at him incredulously. Chat cringes under her gaze. “A plot twist? Seriously, Chat? You could’ve—I dunno—you—”
She shakes her head and looks down, her shoulders shaking. Is she crying?
Nervously, Chat leans forward. Is Ladybug that mad at his inappropriate joke? He doesn’t—he—
Then, Ladybug bursts out in laughter.
…what.
“That—Chat, Chaton, that’s the best response I have ever heard about me being quirkless. You—you delightful kitten—kami, that was amazing—”
“Um.” Chat stares. “Thanks? And sorry. I was comparing your quirk to a story, and—kwamis, why did I say that?”
“Don’t apologize, Chaton.” His Lady grins, “I kind of needed that. It wasn’t easy, being quirkless in the country with one of the highest quirked populations.”
She doesn’t elaborate further.
“Oh. Um…” Chat doesn’t like the implications of that. He knows about discrimination, of course, but he has been lucky enough to never have to face something like that. Ladybug doesn’t seem like she wants comfort, but…does it seem insensitive of him to change the topic now?
Thankfully, Ladybug makes the decision for him. “So, do you have any more questions? You look like you do.”
Yeah, mostly about his uncalibrated sensitivity radar, but he’ll take the road out when he sees it.
Besides, he does have more questions of the reincarnation variety.
“Does this mean everyone is reincarnated when they die? Obviously, we’ve already established people have souls, but do we all reincarnate when we die or are you just a special case?”
“I…think so?” Ladybug shrugs. “Tikki implied that, but she gets all cagey and uncomfortable when we talk about my particular brand of soul magic, so I try not to bring it up.”
Huh. That’s one question for the theologists answered.
“How about your other past lives? You don’t remember those, right?”
Ladybug shook her head. “I only remember being Izuku because of One For All, so…no. I don’t know if I’ll remember being Ladybug in my next life, though. Kind of hoping I won’t…” She muttered. “Dying once was unpleasant enough, and remembering people I’ll never be able to see again…”
Izuku. Chat files that name away for future reference.
Oh. Right. One has to die to be reincarnated. Ladybug has died before, and not just temporarily dead like Chat’s multiple encounters with akumas, but permanently dead. Granted, she got better, but still…
No. Thinking about the fact that Ladybug died once and couldn’t be brought back with the Miraculous Cure—because the Miraculous Cure didn’t exist in her old universe—won’t help anyone. Chat has enough tact to know that mentioning probably-traumatic events is a bad idea, too.
“Tell me more about your superhero school.” He says instead. “Did you learn to use weapons at UA? Like—I dunno, knives, swords, guns…oh, how about ninja weapons? Do you think I would’ve made it to your school if I was born in your old world? Huh—maybe I was born in your old world, once. Won’t that be cool? Maybe I used to be a pro hero too.”
Ladybug snorted, “I don’t know how to use ninja weapons, Chaton. We could learn other choices of weapons as electives, but my schedule was too packed.”
“Wait, really? I was kidding!”
“I’m not.” Ladybug grins. “And I think you would’ve been perfectly at home at UA. You remind me of one of my old classmates, actually. Denki—he has blond hair with a massive black lightning bolt.” She traces the shape of a lightning bolt over the top of her head and her bangs. “It’s entirely natural; every time he cuts his hair, the lightning bolt would reappear overnight in the exact shape of a cartoon bolt of lightning. He can be really goofy, but when people need him, he’s very reliable and always a willing listening ear.” She pauses, then adds, “Plus, he’s a massive flirt.”
“Sounds like a purr-ty nice guy.” Chat Noir replies, and tries to pretend there isn’t a lump in his throat. He clears his throat, and adds. “A lightning bolt, though? Is his quirk generating lightning? How do genes even know what a cartoon lightning bolt looks like?”
“You joke, but that’s actually his quirk.”
“What? He’s themed!?”
This Denki guy is themed! Chat can’t even count the number of times he wished he was born with black hair, so he can complete his image to become the dark, mysterious knight of the night.
Ladybug nods, amused. “Most people in my old world have colorations or mutations that would be considered…abnormal, in this world. Hitoshi’s hair and eyes are purple. Tenya has car engines in his calves. My boyfriend Shoto has white hair on the right side of his body and red hair on his left side.” Her mouth twitches. “I used to have curly green hair and green eyes, and I was considered plain-looking.”
Anime character designs, a part of Chat Noir that cannot be silenced exclaims. The majority of Chat, however, has far more important things to attend to.
“You have a boyfriend!?”
“…had.” Ladybug corrects quietly. “Shoto’s one of the most amazing people I’ve ever met. Ochako liked to call us the sweetest couple she’s ever met. I…I was going to propose to him, before…but I never got around to doing that.”
Great. Here Ladybug is, mourning a lost love, and all he’s worried about is his crush on her? What an amazing job, Chat Noir! No wonder she doesn’t return his feelings!
Against his better judgement, though, his mouth opens on its own, “How…how old were you?”
Ladybug looks down, at her hands. “Twenty-three.” She murmurs, her voice almost carried away by the wind before it can reach Chat’s enhanced ears.
“…that’s. That’s young.” Chat Noir says, hoping desperately that he will suddenly develop time rewind powers. Kwamis, why did he bring this up—
Ladybug nods. She laces her fingers together, and refuses to look up at Chat Noir. “There was a villain, and...well. I’ve always known the risks that came with this job. I know I saved a lot of people that day, so it isn’t like I can regret how things turned out, but…Chaton, you know that, right? If you keep throwing yourself in the line of fire, there will be one day I won’t be able to bring you back, and on that day, no matter how much anyone tries, you won’t be getting back up again. That’s—that’s what happened to me, and I can’t—”
…oh.
Before he can fling himself off the side of the building in his mortification, Ladybug looks up. There’s a smile on her face—a fake, plastic, model smile. “It doesn’t matter, though.” She tells him, though it’s obvious to anyone with eyes that it does matter. “What’s done is done. You were saying?”
“Erm.” Chat swallows, frantically searching for something to distract both of them with. “I can’t imagine you with curly green hair, though. Did you put it up in pigtails too?”
“No, I used to have an undercut.”
“That I can imagine.” Chat smiles teasingly. “Who doesn’t like a lady in an undercut, huh?”
“Oh, um…actually,” Ladybug corrects hesitantly, “I was a man, in my past life.”
Chat Noir blinks. Frantically, he rearranges his mental picture of Izuku—a boy, probably short, with green hair in an undercut and equally green eyes. His muscles are outlined clearly through his shirt. Ladybug’s smile is prominent on his face, and there is a determined glint in his eyes.
He likes this image.
“…that makes a lot of sense. I thought Izuku sounded like a boy’s name.”
“Yeah, that’s because it is. By the way, a fun fact—my old name, Midoriya Izuku—‘Midoriya’ means ‘green valley’, so I was themed as well.”
Chat Noir gasps theatrically. Ladybug grins.
“Not only that, you know the lightning One For All generates? It is red and black now—maybe to match the Ladybug miraculous, who knows—but guess what? It used to be green.”
“You’re kidding.”
“No I’m not!” Ladybug sings. “My hero suit was green as well. That’s cool, right?”
“Of course it is!” Chat exclaims. “You did it on purpose, didn’t you—ha, I knew you were as much of a nerd as I am, I saw that Majesta hoodie—is your superhero name something green too? Hm…arsenic? No, too poisonous. Emerald? Agate? Turquoise? Jade? No—none of those suit you. Viridian?”
“That’s a good name.” Ladybug leans back and groans. “Should’ve thought of that. No, my hero name was Deku.”
“Deku?” Chat frowns. “What does that mean?”
“It—ah—was an insult, but when I became a hero, I wanted to reclaim it, so I decided to reforge this name that was used to hurt me into something people can look up to.”
“Wow.” Chat breathes. “That’s so badass.”
Ladybug raises her eyebrows. “And here I thought for sure you’d say that’s so cool.”
Chat rubs the back of his head and laughs, “Yeah…I might’ve overused that word a bit tonight…”
“Might?”
“Okay, fine. I definitely overused that word tonight.” Chat sticks his tongue out at her. “But it is cool, so.”
Ladybug rolls her eyes. “You only think that because my life sounds like the plot of some obscure anime.”
“You agreed with me!” Chat protests, betrayed.
“…fine. I hate to admit it, but fair is fair.” Ladybug hesitates, then adds. “To be honest, Majesta reminds me of my mentor, All Might. Their costumes have the same color scheme, their power sets are very alike, they’re both blond, and their moral values are really similar. Their biggest difference is that All Might’s a man and he’s like two heads taller. It’s the entire reason I got into Majesta in the first place—there aren’t any All Might merch in this world, so Majesta merch has to do.”
“Ha! See?” Chat pauses. “All Might sounds super—wait, not cool—interesting? Nice? Awesome?”
Ladybug sighs. “Just stick to cool, Chaton.”
Chat grins impishly.
“By the way,” he asks after a while, “not that I’m not glad you decided to share this with me, my Lady, but why—”
“Why now?”
“Yeah.” He would’ve put it more tactfully, but…yeah.
“Yesterday, when Sandboy knocked me out…” Ladybug hesitated. “I saw a…a vision. It showed…” She shook her head. “After seeing that vision, I realized you deserve the truth, Chat, or at least as much truth as I can give you without compromising our identities. If I didn’t…I don’t think I can call myself a hero in spirit instead of one just in name. And—thank you, Chaton, for believing me.”
Chat Noir blinks. That…isn’t what he was expecting. “Hey,” he grins, “that’s what partners are for, right?”
Ladybug smiles back, “You’re the best partner I can ask for, Chat.”
For some reason, this time, Chat finds himself believing those words more than before.
(Maybe one day, in the not-so-distant future, he will be able to hear those words and believe them whole-heartedly.)
“For the record, I don’t think your decision to keep secrets affects your integrity as a hero.” He adds. “You don’t have to tell me everything, and I’d never demand that from you.”
“See?” Ladybug smiles teasingly, “That’s why you’re the best partner I can ask for.”
Chat ignores those words, praying desperately his cheeks don’t betray a blush as his face grows heated. “Besides,” he continues as if nothing is wrong, “Isn’t being a hero your entire motif?”
“Motif?”
Chat Noir nods. “You used to be Deku the pro hero, but now you are Ladybug the superhero. No matter what happens, you are always a hero, and always will be. Doesn’t that sound cool?”
“…yeah.” Ladybug sighs. Her smile is bittersweet. “That’s me. The girl who will always be a hero, no matter in this life or the next…”