Work Text:
“Chat!”
She could have rationalized her action a thousand different ways.
He was her partner. It was her duty to protect him and all the citizens of Paris.
He could have suffered head trauma or been flooded with guilt over an inability to protect. It would be absolutely terrible for her to allow that when she could have stopped it.
He needed help and she knew she could provide it.
Deep down, she knew she would suffer with each blow bestowed upon her kitty.
“Chat Noir!” she shouted, watching with horrified eyes as he was thrown away by the akuma. He was injured because she could not run quickly enough. If there was anything she could do, it was leave the scene and return as someone stronger, better than this.
Someone who was a superhero.
Marinette pushed herself to flee the scene, tears pouring out of her eyes when she heard her kitty battling alone.
He was a superhero. She was his partner.
He was her friend. She could protect him.
She could not run fast enough. He paid for it.
The sound of another blow rang across the battlefield and she knew from the tremble in the air that even Chat was having a hard time parrying the beast’s blow.
“MARINETTE DUPAIN-CHENG!”
But Marinette was no longer there. In her place stood Ladybug, a superhero ready to join into the fray. And while Ladybug herself had just come onto the scene, the heart of Marinette thundered rage through her veins at the injuries her kitty had received. It was Marinette who charged headfirst into an akuma who no longer recognized her as the cause of his troubles. It was Marinette’s tears that leaked through when she saw how ragged Chat Noir had been run.
It was Marinette in Ladybug’s body who had vowed to protected her chaton with everything she had.