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"Don't you think it's time to stop?"
Wind whistled around them in a deadly spiral. The eye of the storm held only two people- one hero and one ‘villain’. The rest of the world was shut out beyond the ever-expanding funnel of cutting wind and freezing ice born of heartbreak and despair.
The Akuma clutched a sheet of paper in her hands while frozen tears coursed down her cheeks and shattered where they fell. The ground around her was a harshly sparkling puddle of ice.
"I was supposed to save the world," she lamented. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”
"It's not too late! Let me stop Hawkmoth - and save you. Then you can still save the world, m'lady."
"I'm not your lady!” Anger lanced her mournful tone, but a sob overtook her. “And now I'll never be his. Why save a world without him in it? What does it matter?"
Chat Noir sucked in a breath and froze for a moment, recalculating his argument. Only the agitated movement of his tail showed his concern, "Is this what he would have wanted for you?"
The wind wailed ever louder and sobs shook the icy form of the Akumatized girl who had once been Ladybug. Chat Noir had never realized just how much emotion and pain was behind the stalwart mask of his clever partner. He knew his only hope was to talk her down- he couldn’t defeat her.
Storm Heart, aka Ladybug, aka the girl who could never have a normal life; pondered the question. What would he have wanted? He had only asked to be remembered. She owed him that much. She would have given him her heart had he voiced his pain. If she had known he loved her still after all this time. If she had known the meager blue flowers he gave her stemmed from his very being.
The wind died down and she released her death grip on the paper clutched to her chest. Chat took it from her nervously, wincing when the tearing of it forced another broken wail from her chest. It was all she had left.
"I'm sorry, LB." With a touch of dark energy, the roiling violet butterfly turned to dust and Storm Heart shrunk into a sobbing Ladybug. She had failed. As a girl, and as a hero.
She didn’t even think about it, there was only one course of action. Silently, she removed her earrings and dropped them into the hands of her shocked partner.
"...Marinette?"
"It's up to you now, Kitty." She gathered the two halves of the paper into her trembling hands, "I am no hero."
She watched silently as Chat Noir dropped his transformation leaving Adrien visible for a quick moment before he changed yet again into Mister Bug. Some distant part of Marinette knew that the reveal should make her feel something- and yet she was numb to it. Mister Bug quickly called on the healing ladybugs to cleanse and restore the city, but there was nothing that could be done for her heart. With the city restored in every way but the one that mattered, she turned and shuffled towards home.
Carefully, Marinette fingered the crown of small blue flowers that sat upon her head and watched her tears soak the restored letter gripped in her hands.
"I didn't see it, and now it's too late."
Forget me not when away I go,
When flower petals finally slow.
Should pale blue blossoms find an end,
And pain has ceased to tear and rend.
When my bed of blooms I've made,
Please don't let my memory fade.
Forget me not when I go away,
Keep me in mind, let my memory stay.
The buds in my lungs as roots took hold,
The petals that fell -my love never told.
I fade from the world but not from you,
If dwell in your heart- my fate I'll not rue.
With petals and stems I make a crown,
May its beauty wipe away your frown.
My love faded not- though you didn't see,
I made an excuse and you let me be.
My flowers are for you- rather a lot,
When I'm gone, Marinette, forget me not.
Even as the words faded from the page due to constant handling and the plip-plop of salty tears, they burned themselves into her heart.
It was easy to honor Luka's last request. The frangipani blossoms that tickled her throat and dusted her pillow made sure of that. The pale pink flowers held a dark promise of a sweet reunion, and Marinette welcomed them with a watery smile.
How could she forget the boy who died for the love of her? The boy who would still live to play his music if only Ladybug hadn't gotten in the way?
In Marinette's lowest hours she blamed Ladybug. Ladybug with her responsibilities and secrets. The fear of discovery. There was no other reason she had kept Luka at arms length. She didn't know who Chat gave the Earrings to, and she didn't care. The use of the Miraculous had kept her own tell-tale blossoms at bay, and she no longer had a reason to keep going. Why prolong the pain?
On a little island in the middle of the Seine, there was a patch of forget-me-nots on the bank of the river where Luka had liked to take her on picnics. They had spent several afternoons quietly working side-by-side on their own pursuits away from the bustle of the city. Their little spot had been there for a long time, but the flowers were new. Beautiful and accusatory. A memory of her joy and failure. Despite the pain it was peaceful there, and sometimes Marinette swore she could hear the sound of a guitar when the wind ruffled the bright little blossoms.
"Soon, Luka, I'll join you. I promise you won't be alone for long."
When the persistent pink petals made it hard to breathe, she journeyed once more to the little copse of blue flowers overlooking the river. She wore the still unfaded crown of forget-me-nots on her head and curled around the blossoms that sang to her. "I love you, Luka Couffaine."
With a shuddering breath, Marinette let go. Hot tears watered the earth where her new roots mingled with his. There was nowhere else she wanted to be. It was with Luka that she chose to spend her eternity.
Sitting on the bank of the Seine, there is a frangipani tree that blooms year-round. It guards a blanket of blue blossoms that make music of the wind rustling through their stems. The spot is a quiet one. The few visitors who do find this sacred place tend to be lovers. These gentle souls like to return to visit the tiny garden on special occasions. It is now said that only soulmates can hear the song the flowers sing.
Forget me not under the frangipani tree,
Leave me here and let me be.
Though in life it could not be,
Here now my love blooms with me.
