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Rain pounded down on the rooftop, a deafening rumble of thunder shaking the air. Ladybug stood alone, staring out over the city not even blinking as lightning flashed.
"I know you're here, Chrysalis." She spoke flatly, only a mote of exhaustion coloring her voice.
A smile formed from the shadows.
"My, my! It seems the little bug is more observant than I gave her credit for!" With a grin matching the Cheshire Cat, the Butterfly stepped into the open. "But that does beg the question; what is she doing out, all alone, on such a dreary day?"
Marinette shot her a glare with all the heat she could muster, which really wasn't much. She was just... exhausted. Too exhausted to feel properly. But she couldn't back out now. Chrysalis may have been pretending that she hadn't meant to be caught, but she'd arrived not long after Ladybug herself had, and had waited patiently to be acknowledged. They were both here to talk.
"I..." Ladybug bit her tongue, glancing away from the villain and toward where she'd been looking before. Rain poured down the statue of Gabriel, overflowing from where it gathered in the hollows around his eyes. "You... you know, don't you? I don't know how, but you do."
Chrysalis's grin didn't waiver, but the cunningly playful edge to her demeanor turned more professional as she clasped her hands behind her back. "I do."
Ladybug shuddered- whether from the cold or the confirmation, she couldn't tell- wrapping her arms around herself. When she spoke, her voice was fragile. "Do you think I did the right thing?"
Chrysalis examined Ladybug, standing out in the icy rain, trembling, attempting feebly to gain warmth from her own embrace. She pursed her lips, the smile dropped from her face.
"I think you're a hypocrite," She said eventually, and Ladybug's expression shattered, "But I also think there are worse things to be."
Ladybug hung her head, watching water pool on the concrete around her feet with stinging eyes.
Chrysalis silently stepped up to the heroine's side, taking over the duty of watching the statue.
"I get why you did it... though I can't say I would've done the same." Her lips twisted into a sardonic smirk. "You did it to protect them, right?" She gestured broadly, an arm sweeping out over the city. "Aaall those people out there, who believed in you. You know they'd never accept it, that they're living in Monarch's world. That everything was for nothing, and at the end of the day, the bad guy still won. You lied to protect them, and maybe..." She glanced at Ladybug, hunched over with a face screwed up with tears, but still intently listening. "You lied to protect yourself. Because you didn't want to let them down."
Ladybug sniffled and finally choked out a sob, the truth of the matter brought to light. Thunder boomed in the sky lightning arcing overhead.
Chrysalis sighed and halfheartedly rolled her eyes, before reaching over to put her arm around the other girl, pulling her closer into her warmth.
"You're not a bad person, Ladybug," she admitted, her voice softer now, "You just try too hard to be a good one. And good people don't exist."