Chapter Text
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“Soulmates. What a ridiculous concept. I can’t believe you dragged me in to see this, Chat.” Ladybug shook her head in dismay as she and Chat Noir ducked out of the movie theater and leapt up to a nearby rooftop.
“And I can’t believe you don’t believe in soulmates, my lady,” Chat said, lounging across the edge of the railing. “That movie truly didn’t convince you?”
Despite it All was a popular movie in the city, portraying the journey of a pair of soulmates separated by circumstance, who found a happy ending for themselves despite the many obstacles in their way.
Ladybug huffed, leaning against the railing beside him. “Not at all. That was fictional, Chat. No one has a single person as their other half.” She immediately started moving again in agitation, her concerns with the idea flowing out of her in a rant. “I mean, if you give the idea more than a passing thought, it all falls apart. Just think, Chat. Can't you imagine the tragedy of that? What if your person doesn’t live nearby? What if you never meet them? What if they are decades older or younger? Real life doesn't throw easy solutions at you like the movie did. What if—”
Chat tsked, interrupting her rant. “You’re thinking too much, Bug. It’s not about the missed connections. It’s about finding that person amongst those you do come across in your life, the one that you connect with the most. The one that understands you, inside and out.”
Ladybug turned to him, noting his pensive stare off into the distance. She wondered briefly if he still harbored feelings for her. He had long since stopped confessing his love to her after she told him she was in love with someone else. Despite the brief awkwardness for a time, they had remained close as partners ever since.
Hadn't he moved on? Or, perhaps she had it wrong, and he was merely thinking about someone else, another he had feelings for but hadn't confessed to yet.
After a moment, Chat turned his head, a wry grin appearing on his face. “Besides, thanks to our miraculous, aren’t we two halves of a whole, in a way? Or our Kwamis are, at least—destruction and creation, balancing each other out in the cosmic view. Is it so much a leap to think there might be a soulmate out there for you outside the mask too? Not saying it’s me—” he added hastily, looking away from her. “But someone, maybe.”
“Chat,” she said carefully, trying to be more cognizant of the tone of her dismissal, “Maybe you’re right about Tikki and Plagg. But our miraculous are magic. And real life is not.”
Chat let out a quiet laugh as he looked down at her, amusement shining through his eyes. “My lady, how can you admit that our Kwamis exist, use their power on the regular to set everything right again, and not see that there is magic in our world?”
Ladybug’s reply came out a little flustered. “I—you—it’s not the same! We call it magic simply because we can’t fully understand how they work. Soulmates are a different category altogether.”
Chat raised an eyebrow at her, but seemed to finally relent, letting out a wistful sigh. “I suppose you’re probably right. But hey—a cat can dream, yeah?”
She let out a soft laugh. “Always the romantic, you are.” Reaching over to flick one of his ears, she continued, “You don’t need a matching tattoo to tell you who you’re supposed to be with. Just gotta use that charm of yours and find someone the old-fashioned way.”
He made a noise of agreement. “Yeah,” he said lightly, but his smile faded as he looked away.
They remained where they were in contemplative silence for a short time before Chat Noir perked back up, dropping down from the railing back to the roof. “I better get going, LB.”
She nodded, giving him a short wave as he vaulted off the roof with his staff.
As he disappeared, Ladybug found herself lingering, her thoughts remaining on her partner.
He wasn’t… waiting for her, was he?
The idea pained her. She was hopeless when it came to love: her four year crush on Adrien she had never told him about once was proof of that.
She shook her head, finally swinging off the roof.
Soulmates.
Maybe love would be easier, if you knew for sure who you were supposed to be with.
Not knowing the outcome—not knowing if the one you love would love you back—made things so much harder.
And yet, if the concept of soulmates was true, would your decisions even have much meaning? If it was destiny all along?
No .
Better to struggle and not know, to give more meaning to your choices. No taking the easy way out.
Not that the couple in the movie had had an easy time of it, a fact that Ladybug conveniently paid no mind to.
Soulmates.
Absolutely not real.
It was better that way.
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A few days later, Ladybug arrived at the location of an akuma attack near the Eiffel Tower, alarms blaring from the public warning system and mixing in with the cries from the fleeing citizens.
Chat Noir turned back and met Ladybug’s gaze, having arrived a short time before her. “Apparently someone else has the same view as you, my lady.”
Ladybug looked down at the scene, confused by her partner’s statement until the akumatized villain’s screams met her ears, rising above the cacophony below.
“LET SOULWRECKER SHOW YOU HOW TERRIBLE HAVING A SOULMATE WOULD BE!”
The woman was wearing a white dress with silver accents flowing along her billowy sleeves. A solid red line traveled from a crimson heart over her chest down to the bottom hem, where it met up with an undefined spattering of the same color. Shimmering blasts of power flowed from her fingers as she danced across the square in rage, trapping all who came in contact with the sparkling light.
From her vantage point, Ladybug watched a strange mix of emotions spread across the faces of those who had been caught; happiness followed by fear or agony, all in various levels of intensity.
The akumatized woman shrieked as she soared through the air, “Let your love be doomed, just the way mine was! ”
Tears seemed to be permanently streaming down the woman's face.
A burst of anger flowed through Ladybug. She didn't know what the woman had gone through to end up in this spot, but the knowledge that Hawk Moth had taken advantage of this poor woman's suffering made her seethe.
Directing her anger into a more controlled determination, she nodded at Chat Noir, and they entered the fight, focusing first on getting the slowly reawakening civilians out of range of additional fire. Though they weren't in physical danger, it was clear that the power was leaving Paris’ citizens in emotional distress.
They had only rescued a handful of people before the villain found them. “Ladybug and Chat Noir! Come forward, don't you want to see who your soulmate is?”
They dodged her attacks, trying to get closer without falling into the freezing effect of her power. The woman became increasingly agitated as she ran out of civilians around her to inflict her power on. Finally, she screamed loudly, a huge blast radiating out around her, bathing the square in a blanket of rapidly-expanding light.
Chat managed to dodge out of reach of the power, but Ladybug had been mid-swing, unable to redirect herself quick enough. She felt herself freeze as the edge of the blast caught her. She heard Chat yell her name and felt him crash into her, throwing them both upward onto a roof, before they both stopped moving, the vision overtaking them as one.
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What would it be like?
To have a soulmate?
Someone who loves you, and you love in return.
The love of a lifetime.
As though a veil was lifted from her heart, Marinette could feel that love filling her, fitting into all the spaces she’d never known were even there. It fell into place so easily, without any effort at all.
Though concrete images seemed to elude her, she found she could grasp the edges of emotions connected to a future not nearly as far away as she thought.
It was a time of laughter, of jokes shared in stolen moments, and smiles so wide she could feel the ache in her cheeks.
It was a time of peace, of evenings spent wrapped in a warm embrace, lips pressed against her hair.
The love surrounded her like a cozy blanket on a winter’s night. Marinette wanted nothing more than to dive down deep into it, to share in the moments that she knew were suddenly within reach.
And at the center of it all was a man that she knew—in that fleeting, desperate moment, she knew —would fill her life with joy.
Her soulmate.
Her partner.
Even through the vision, his identity remained hidden, but somehow there was no doubt that it was him.
Chat Noir was her soulmate.
In that moment, Marinette longed to make it come true.
Clearly, she’d been blinded by Adrien, her heart kept shielded from this possibility. This wonderful, breathtaking potential future.
This love she felt etched into her bones, the contentedness she could taste in the air: she would choose this over anything else in the world.
Beautiful, isn’t it?
Let me show you the most terrible thing that comes from your love.
See if it's worth it.
The vision shifted, sharpening. As though she were a mere bystander, she could see a scene playing out before her, the city covered by a forest of vines and greenery.
She recognized Chat Noir, fighting an akuma as Ladybug hovered off to the side.
Suddenly, a set of vines shot out at Chat from behind him.
“Chat, watch out!” Her partner twisted around, but Ladybug leapt out in front of them, blocking him from their razor-sharp ends.
“Ladybug, NO!” Chat Noir’s voice held a terror that seemed almost out of place.
The vines wrapped around her quickly and dragged her away from him, the ends shooting up to her ears and tearing out her earrings. Ladybug cried out in pain as her transformation fell away, leaving behind a struggling Marinette.
Somehow, Ladybug knew her own identity was also being obfuscated in the same way Chat’s had been in the first part of the vision.
And then the vines pierced the Marinette before her, straight through her chest.
Suspended in the air for just a moment, Marinette's eyes widened, meeting Chat’s gaze as he ran, closing the space between them.
She collapsed to the ground before he could make it, more vines darting out to twist around his legs and take him down. His voice let out a mangled grief-filled yell at the sight of her unmoving figure.
It was clear.
Marinette was gone.
Her earrings were quickly swept away from Chat’s reach by the vines.
The sound of Hawk Moth’s laughter echoed as the vision came to an end.
What do you think?
Is true love really worth it?
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When Ladybug became aware again after the vision faded, tears were running down her face.
She looked up from where she lay on the roof to meet Chat’s gaze, her pain echoing from within his own haunted eyes.
“I’ve got you! Your miraculous are mine!” Soulwrecker appeared over the edge of the building, apparently having been delayed by Chat Noir’s last minute save.
Chat tensed, but Ladybug held up a single finger, remaining in place as she tried to bat away the remains of the vision that threatened to keep her distracted.
Feeling her anger roar back into place, Ladybug nearly vibrated in anticipation as the woman drew closer, until it all exploded out from her. She didn't even use her yo-yo as she shot to her feet and kicked the startled villain.
Chat joined her quickly, and together they destroyed the locket around Soulwrecker’s neck.
It was all finished in a blink of an eye: a lucky charm called for, miraculous cure sent out, and the victim released to ground level.
But the memory of the vision remained.
Ladybug tried to push it away, to relegate it behind the wall in her mind where she often had to store her fears and anxieties in order to do her job well, without allowing hesitation to cripple her.
But the villain was defeated, and the wall she usually kept maintained came crashing down as she met with Chat Noir out of sight in a nearby alley.
The noise of the city grew in the silence between them, the sound digging up a fresh anger from deep within her. She needed the entire world to be silent, an echo of what she felt was coming.
Instead, honks sounded, people shouted, and birds tweeted, all as Ladybug knew she was about to say goodbye to something she’d never known she would need to grieve.
The tears clung to her eyelashes as she blinked at him, the noises finally fading into the background as she took in his own heartbroken expression, his body still as he waited a few steps from her. Waited on her to make the first move.
But she was frozen in place, her mind fighting through the pain and the love and the confusion.
Soulmates.
They were soulmates.
Did she really believe that?
It doesn’t matter , she quickly realized. Because the love that the vision had shown her had been real. It had connected everything she knew about him with everything she didn’t, in a way only her heart seemed to understand.
All beliefs about soulmates were shoved to the side as she focused on the love she had felt.
The love that she was about to lose.
The thought broke through her, uncaring about the damage it caused as it raced through her bones. The pain was unbearable for a moment, and Ladybug felt herself finally jerk forward a step, closer to the one that she knew could ease her misery.
The movement broke the tension between them. Chat mirrored her step, something like relief spilling across his face. A piece of her wondered if he thought she might have left him without a care for what they had seen.
She felt terrible for ever making him feel that way.
As one, they fell into one another, his arms coming around her as she dug her fingers into the back of his suit. They clung to each other, desperate and unwilling to let go.
“I… felt it, Chaton. Did you?”
"Yes,” he said, his voice rough with emotion and his arms like steel around her.
“You and I…we could be…so happy together.”
“I know, Bug.”
She thought she could hear so much more within those simple words.
She could see it then, how much more pain he must be feeling compared to her. She’d discovered she loved him, truly loved him, not ten minutes ago, while he…
He’s loved you from the beginning, she realized, a lump rising in her throat. He’d known for years what could have been, had seen it well before she had.
He’d hoped she might one day see it, if their conversation after the movie had been any indication.
And now, here she was, finally, finally understanding, only to…
Only to have to…
Stubbornness welled within her suddenly.
No.
This couldn’t be the end of it.
Her words came out in a rush. “We don’t even know if that was real, Minou. Maybe nothing will happen.” She released him, moving her head away from his shoulder. She couldn’t bring herself to go far, staying mere inches away as his hands slid up to cup her cheeks.
The pain in his gaze was fully apparent as his eyes roved over her face and his thumb wiped away her tears. “My lady—”
She quickly interrupted, her voice pleading. “We can still be together, Chat. I understand now; I finally see what we could be, together, and I want it. I want this—so much.”
The pain shattered into agony across his expression. “We can’t—”
Ladybug continued fervently, determined to make him see that all wasn’t lost. She believed in their love, but that didn’t mean she believed in the akuma’s vision, or in soulmates. “We can’t throw this away based on nothing! We can try something, anything . Please, I love—”
“Stop,” he said, his voice strangled as he jerked away from her arms. He stumbled back a step, his breathing ragged as he turned away from her, his fists coming up to press tightly against his eyes.
Ladybug held her breath, regret filling her as she recognized her thoughtless words too late.
After a moment, Chat straightened, his eyes red.
His next sentence broke her heart. “I can’t watch you die, my lady. I won’t…I can’t risk that.” He came to her and pulled her back to his chest, holding her tightly as a shudder ran through him.
Ladybug realized how much worse she was making this, her attempt to stave off the inevitable crashing to the ground along with her last hope. “I know,” she said, her voice breaking.
She didn’t understand how this could hurt so much. An hour ago, she hadn’t felt this way. But she couldn’t deny the love she realized had always been there for him, hidden beneath her feelings for another. As much as she had been willing to deny the certainty of the end of the vision, there was no denying the truth of the initial revelation.
It wasn’t fair.
He should have been hers. And she, his.
But with her own death and Hawk Moth’s victory in the way, they couldn’t be together. Not now.
Maybe not ever.
They were finished before they had ever started.
She let go of him, but their lips quickly found each other, crashing together in a whirlwind of tears and emotion. Unwilling for it to end just yet, she deepened the kiss, knowing this was the only one they would ever have. He met her in kind, any desire he might have had to hold back gone in that moment together.
And then the reality of the situation set in again, reminding her that this man would forever remain only her partner. She had to let go of every morsel of happiness she’d sampled in the vision.
Instead, Ladybug tasted despair on his tongue, and felt the grim acceptance in the loosening of his grip on her neck.
Finally, they parted.
Before he could leave, Ladybug grabbed Chat’s hand. Her own emotions swirled within her, pain rising to the top above everything else.
Pain at having a glance at what might have been.
She thought it must be worse for him; he’d loved her for far longer than she had. She needed him to come out of this alright. He had to let her go.
Wiping away her tears, Ladybug felt her stubbornness reappear. “I don’t care what we saw, Chat. Soulmates aren’t real. I’m not the only one for you. Please, try and find someone else.”
He looked away from her, though that didn’t hide the misery that radiated from every piece of him. “For you, I’ll try.”
Chat let her go.