Work Text:
“Longg, be good now, okay? You’re protecting my favourite person!” Marinette teased, placing the dragon miraculous within the black and red box. It was the last miraculous to be packed away, before being delivered to the soon-to-be permanent heroes.
She also placed an orange and almond macaron in there. Just for luck.
“I’m always on my best behaviour, guardian! And I’ll be sure to keep Kagami at her fighting best, too!”
Marinette pauses, lowering the box onto her table.
“I…be careful, okay? With her mother, monarch, and everything, I’m worried. I love her, but perfection can be her weakness. Just, don’t let her burn herself out, okay, little dragon? She’s got a lot on her plate. London was…rough, on her, and I wasn’t in the best position to help at the time. We both needed more support than we could give each other. And we haven’t talked since…”
Longg nodded. “Of course, guardian. Dragons are also known for relaxation, too! Why there are some stories I could tell you about the days of old! But alas, another time. For now, some tea, meditation, harmonising sounds, and she’ll be centred and in control again. Perhaps we could all visit a steam bath together.”
Marinette went bright red. “Ha ha, Longg. Good j—joke! See you around! Bye!”
She looked down from her window to see the school. She’d drop Kagami’s miraculous off first, in her locker.
---
Ladybug landed a block away from Ryuko. The girl is already sitting down on the rooftops, watching the sunset. It was mere minutes after Kagami had received her miraculous back, permanently. And then, Ladybug had gotten a message on her bugphone.
‘Meet me near The Trocadero. Come alone. We need to talk.’
Ladybug peered closer, trying to gauge the situation. It was just Ryuko. The Wind Dragon power was active, and she was using it to play with a leaf. The golden brown detritus caught up in a flurry of wind, being tossed from left to right, up and down. It wasn’t playful though, it was angry, jerky movements. It wasn’t reminiscent of a breeze, or even a storm, but human control.
Ryuko half-smiled. “If you wanted me to not notice you were coming, you’ve failed.”
“Ah!” Ladybug took a quick leap, startled, and landed next to Ryuko. Her face was red, and she scratched the back of her head. Ryuko was like that. Always one step ahead, even with Ladybug. She was worried such a gift came at a greater cost.
“Hey, Ryuko? You said you wanted to talk? I hope…everything’s going well? I mean, after everything that happened to me, I mean, you, or well, us?” Ladybug said, staring at her girlfriend bathed in the warm-toned afternoon sun.
“Sit down, please, Marinette,” Ryuko urged.
Ladybug slowly lowered herself down too, eyes looking off to the side, biting her lip. She’d been dreading this conversation. She had lied to Adrien about his father, but she couldn’t lie to Kagami. Kagami could always see through Marinette, even as Ladybug. She wondered, if given the choice, would she have lied to Kagami? Tried to help convince her that her mother was perfect, and that she wasn’t involved with Monarch.
But there wasn’t a universe where Kagami believed that. She knew too much too soon, even before Marinette or Ladybug did. Aided by Felix, pushed by her own drive to discover the truth, Kagami was relentless, like a raging stream carving out the earth, clearing blockages of leaves and mud. Lying to a girl like Kagami was like trying to deny the colour of the sky or the state of the world. Kagami wanted the truth, even if it came at great personal cost to her.
“It’s…a shame, what all of this ended up being. Complications built off complications built off complications,” Ryuko said, continuing to stare at the sunset. “All to an ending that feels pointless. No closure, little reasoning, lots of questions.”
“With…us?” Ladybug asked.
Ryuko turned to look at Ladybug.
“Not you, anata, not quite. Monarch, and,” Ryuko looks away, “my mother. The only reason we moved to France, the only reason I met you, the only reason I’ve experienced all that I did was because it supported a plot to erase the universe. Even my birth killed my father, I suppose. There were plans in place since before I was born, and yet, now here I am, outliving parts of the machine designed to keep me captive. I’m under my own control, but, potentially for the first time.”
Ladybug stays quiet, fiddling with her yo-yo string.
“Since the peafowl was traded, it’s become clear just how much my actions were beyond my control, even when I thought they weren’t. I saw myself as weathering a storm all on my own, forging a path through the chaos of nature and reality. How foolish an assumption. I’ve merely been playing with dolls while the adults talked business in the next room over. I knew I didn’t have control before, but now, that feeling has permeated my entire life. You can’t possibly understand what that feels like.”
Ryuko holds the gem of her miraculous in her fingers. The miraculous of perfection and storms. It glints, and Ladybug can’t help but think it looks perfect against her skin. But everything about Kagami is meant to be perfect. Perfect grades, perfect skills, the perfect miraculous. As hard as Ladybug tried, how do you support a fall from assumed grace when they’ve reached terminal velocity?
“And then, there is the wonderful honor of all your support. Everyone’s support. And yet, all of it given, not earned. I was given a second chance by you and Adrien. I was given this miraculous by you. I was given a relationship with Adrien, and then, I was given your support when we parted ways. And then, I was given your lips. Yet again, not a path walked on my own, but a path cleared of the chaotic brush and laid with cobbles of good intentions by friends, partners, and colleagues. My own personal hell.”
Ladybug reaches out to hug her, but Ryuko brushes her off. She cringes again, and Ryuko sighs.
“What, in my life, Marinette, have I earned? I’ve paid prices in blood, but now I’ve learned they were discounted and diverted. A blade that never cut too deep by the design of others. Adrien will struggle with reconciling image with reality, but I must fight my own dogma, and this time, there cannot be another to dull its teeth.”
Ladybug blanched, hands curling inwards as she grasped at straws.
“Well, y—you fight bad guys all the time! You’ve earned your place on this team!”
“Villains created by Adrien’s father, aided by my mother, with a jewel I was given because I was in the right place at the right time?”
Ladybug cringed, “Ah, well, your skills! Fencing and academics!”
“Paid for, and insisted upon by my mother.”
“Your, uhh—”
Ladybug paused, running out of options. Kagami wasn’t right, but she was one hell of a persuasive speaker.
“Love?” Ladybug offered.
Kagami paused, “I earned your love?” she said, emphasising the word earned.
“No, but, that’s just it, isn’t it? You didn’t have to earn my love. Sure I gave it, both platonically and romantically, but I gave it to you not out of pity or demands, but because of love. It didn’t need to be earned. You were the one who reciprocated. And the love of Adrien, Alya, Luka, and the others? You were the one who took time to find them. Who arranged meetings in your schedule that could only last seconds. You did not earn love, but you are worthy of it, wholly and truly.”
Ryuko frowned, looking away from Ladybug. “I don’t think that’s how it works, Marinette. You’ve grown up in a house where love was given freely. I’ve seen your mother and father. They’re good people, loving people. My mother’s only hope is to change. She has to achieve perfection, like me. We have to earn your love.”
“You did not earn love, because you can’t earn love. And maybe up until this point, you haven’t been as in control as you’d like, but believe me, anata, the world is willing and waiting for girls like you to find their path. It waited 15 years for me to emerge from my chrysalis, and you’re a hell of a thing to wait for, ma cheri. I’ll be beside you, no matter what happens, and wait for the person you’re becoming. You deserve my compassion.”
Ryuko stared at Ladybug, tears in her eyes. She finally hugs Ladybug, the two girls reconciling as the sun is finally setting, the light disappearing behind the city. Ryuko detaches from Ladybug’s arms slightly, kissing her on the lips before looking into her eyes.
“I—can we wait together, Marinette? I fear we’ll be waiting a rather long time, and I don’t want to get lonely.” Kagami says, bashful.
“Of course, my love. We can all wait however long you need.”