Archive of Our Own

Marinette sighed as she considered herself in the mirror. The broad-brimmed hat shot out wider than her shoulders, flopped slightly at the edges but not as much as it should given its size. The feather that poked out from it was, of course, red with black spots. A domino mask like Ladybug's. A red-spotted black cape that felt latexy around her neck, which went down to just above her knees. A black poofy blouse under a red tunic with a stylised ladybug symbol emblazoned on the front. Black trousers. Red leather boots, gloves the same. And hanging from her waist, a fencing rapier with a ladybird-spotted bell.

The outfit still didn't feel right on her. Then again, she'd never felt right in the original suit, either. She never felt right being in the position the costume bestowed on her, so she detested the clothes for being the thing that separated her from being just… Marinette.

But she could see no other way to put things right this time. So she pulled the hat tighter around her head, climbed to the balcony window, and rose into the chilly night.

⚔

Rain.

She hated the rain, not because she hated being wet but because of all the other parts. The cold, the wind, the uninviting sky. The sound that felt like thousands of feet all around her. An umbrella couldn't fix the actual problem with the rain. It could only make the wind slightly less bad.

No — the umbrella wasn't the point. The thoughtfulness in handing it over, however… that was what got her into Adrien Agreste. He didn't know her, so he didn't know the true reason she was frowning under the awning, but he saw her and he tried to help. His eyes shone bright green out of the grey around him. He was beautiful, in the same way that the sun was, so she looked away and said, "Thank you."

His laugh infected her also. There was sun in that too, sun and waves and the feeling of someone being close. She hated herself for how easily she fell for him, but there was no way around it, not then. She would have committed crimes to get closer to him. She did commit crimes to get closer to him.

But her voice stuck in her throat every time his eyes were on her. Like a part of her knew it was a bad idea to tell him. Like the universe knew, even. She curled up into a little ball in his presence and rolled away, and sometimes he picked her up and marvelled at her before bouncing her off a wall, and he had no idea how he made her feel.

Love had never come easy to her. Attraction did, interest did, care did; she could flit between fifty different things to care about in a single day. She was interested in more things than she could ever remember when asked 'What do you like to do?' She was attracted to about twenty people every single day, many recurring, because of their smile or their laugh or their eyes or their helping hands. That was everyday; that was nice.

Love, though, felt like something different. It felt more monumental, like a mountain you needed to free climb alone and if you fell, you would be dashed against the sharp rocks below. So she fell before she even started the ascent, because anything else would be too painful.

With Adrien, it felt painful long before she approached the mountain.

"She's just a friend," he told people, or he would say instead, "She's a good friend." She was boxing her own shadow when she tried to find, no, set up the perfect moment to tell him how she felt. And when the moment never came, she folded deeper and deeper in on herself.

Until Kagami arrived.

⚔

It didn't rain tonight. Instead it drizzled, a fine pitterpatter that sounded less like feet and more like a constant splash of tinkling bells. She could enjoy a drizzle on a normal day, perhaps not to the same degree she enjoyed weather that had no closeness to rain, but there was at least something enjoyable to it.

Today, though, the plinks against her hat were a thousand small annoyances. Impediments on the road to the girl she needed to see.

Even so, she felt like she was moving faster than ever before. Fate was carrying her. There was a sense of portent to the air, a significance to her goal. Everything else in her life was falling apart; she needed this one thing to go right.

She needed Kagami to be all right.

And if Kagami didn’t want to talk to Marinette… then maybe talking to Mouronne would be fine.

⚔

It wasn't that she fell in love with Kagami over Adrien. One mountain of love was more than enough for her. She only realised that Kagami was far better at free climbing. Kagami would reach the summit first, or rather: she was the only one who was qualified to get there.

It wasn't that the realisation came easy to her, either. She fought against it every step of the way. Kagami was beautiful, and therefore dangerous. She was smart, and therefore devious. She was well-spoken, and therefore fork-tongued. More appropriately: she was too good to be good, too perfect to be real.

What do you do to something that isn't real? You poke at it until the illusion bursts.

That was how she ended up trash talking Kagami behind her back, or telling lies about her to friends. If Kagami was a fake, then it didn’t matter what the truth was.

The problem — the problem that wasn’t the glaringly obvious problem — was that Kagami really was that good.

Friendship Day. What an ironic day to try and make enemies for. It was the sort of day that would make Marinette toss and turn in bed for a week afterwards. She, the most awkward girl in the world, dared to assume that Kagami was insincere just for being awkward in a different way. She poked, and poked, and poked, but it was her own illusion that burst — along with the chances of an uncomplicated, genuine friendship.

If it wasn't for that — maybe Kagami wouldn't be so upset with her right now.

But that was a different issue.

Maybe her change of mind came a little too fast. Maybe she should have thought twice before giving Kagami a Miraculous. It was pure impulse, it was spur of the moment and guilt over how she had treated Kagami, and in hindsight it was also more. Kagami was great as Ryuuko.

But if a butterfly's wings can cause a hurricane on the far side of the world, a ladybug's can at least stir the waters.

Kagami, who really was that good, and who was a lot of fun to hang out with, and who would still win Adrien in the end, deserved better than to only get to use a Miraculous once. Yet she would only be Ryuuko, One Hit Wonder. Only because Marinette didn't think through the consequences of putting the necklace into a room that only one person could get out of. It worked, of course it worked. It was just everything else that was wrong.

In the following weeks, Marinette thought about what other Miraculous she could give to Kagami. Perhaps that was also guilt. Even so, it was genuine, but Marinette never thought twice once she got an idea in her head. She imagined Kagami with all the Miraculous that were already taken, and all the ones that weren't, but none fit her. The ox was too passive, the pig too gentle, the tiger too loud. The bee was locked up in an unimaginable mire, the snake would be an insult, the turtle was the wrong colour.

The only other Miraculous that felt right for her were… the cat.

And moreso: the ladybug.

And Marinette continued to not think twice.

⚔

Kagami’s house was easy to find, because it was larger in square footage than Adrien's. The first time Marinette saw it, though, it seemed so wrong. Adrien’s house was tall and imposing, like a cliff rising up from the streets of Paris, a cliff with warning signs posted all across it. It was a place you lived in if you didn't want other people to feel welcome. It carried that awful austerity of wealth. It imposed.

Kagami’s was more futuristic. Only two floors, made of wood and windows and a flat roof that actually made it shorter than the buildings around it — though it sprawled far wider. There were peculiar decorations and there were so many balconies, with angles that seemed random or at least improvised. Where Adrien’s suggested a difficult climb to the top, Kagami’s was more like a puzzle, a peculiarity. Still not a place Marinette would have wanted to live, but it was less frightening to imagine herself standing at the foot of.

The house was probably built before Kagami moved here. Marinette imagined that Ms Tsurugi had bought whichever house was the most expensive without looking at it, because the house didn't look like her style. She was the type of person who felt like she belonged in the austere and imposing.

It didn’t feel like Kagami, either. Kagami suited the smaller and closer. And yet Kagami lived here, behind a balcony and a large window with larger curtains, and all the things that were bothering her.

Those things were what Marinette needed to apologise for.

As Kagami’s house appeared underneath the horizon, Marinette reflected that even two stories was a tall order for her to climb.

⚔

She had made many mistakes with Kagami. The biggest of all, however, was when Ms Mendeleiev was akumatised — only two weeks after they became friends.

She and Cat Noir showed up at the scene as usual. He was very unfocused that day, though. He talked about their identities and where they lived, and she knew he was far too close to her secret — and she to his. Busy with worries and frustrations and fears, she got caught in Kwamibuster's beam and was forced to run back to Master Fu's for help.

She had a plan. Oh, did she ever have a plan.

What's that saying about the best laid plans?

When she returned, Cat Noir had been depowered as well, and he had put on a banana costume. She was resolutely refusing to suspect him, but she knew he suspected her, and she had to make absolutely clear that he was wrong. She was less than a centimetre tall when she met him in the lobby and told him his part in the plan.

This was not one of the best laid plans. It was only enough for that particular moment in time.

Kwamibuster sucked her in along with Longg and Pollen. She merged the mouse with the cat and the fox and the ladybug, and she broke the akumatised object, and she caught the akuma, and she cast her Mirage —

"Thank you so much for your help," the illusory Ladybug said to the illusory Multimouse.

"No biggie," said illusory Multimouse, who looked anxious. "I — er, thank you so much for trusting me. It's… it’s a real honour."

But illusory Ladybug smiled. "You did more for us today than you could possibly imagine. Without you, the Miraculous would have been lost to Hawk Moth. You’re excellent, Multimouse."

"I…" started illusory Multimouse, but she ended with a sniffle and a visible blush. "I, I, I, thank you!" And she threw herself forward with her hands far too close to illusory Ladybug's head and tried to hug her, and in the process she knocked off an earring, and it forced illusory Ladybug out of her transformation.

This was, in fact, one of the worst laid plans of all time. A better laid plan would have saved everything. Marinette did it because she wanted to stop Cat Noir’s suspicions, but also to give Kagami her flowers. To let Kagami have a second chance at wearing a Miraculous. She had good intentions, exactly like a road to Hell.

Because illusory Ladybug detransformed into Kagami. As she descended into horror, illusory Multimouse apologised profusely and picked up the lost earring, and then illusory Kagami begged to be carried away and illusory Multimouse complied without a single moment of hesitation.

Maybe it shouldn't have worked in the moment. After all, akumatised Kagami had fought Ladybug before, in full view of Cat Noir. She had been there as Ryuuko. Even so, on the empty roof that ensued, Cat Noir’s quiet mumblings suggested he had forgotten those details.

"M'lady… I can't believe it's really you," he said to the spot that the illusions had just left. "To think I know you in real life… now I love you even more…"

He picked up a confused Ms Mendeleiev and carried her off the roof. Marinette was left alone, with all the Miraculous bar four and a new, terrible secret. She left the building as Ladybug and Multimouse at once.

The next time she appeared, she would be someone else entirely.

⚔

The rain hardened by the time she reached the nearest rooftop to Kagami. In a way she relished it now, because it was less tumultuous than her insides, her rattling heart. It was a cold she deserved and a torment she'd earned.

She waited there a while, just watching the room she knew to be Kagami’s, despite only visiting once before. The lights were off across the house, except in Kagami's room. The windows showed backlit yellow linen curtains, which shone a chilly orange out into the rain.

If Marinette were to rank every regret in her life, there would be stiff competition. Three of them were about Kagami. The first was, of course, when she pretended Kagami was Ladybug and had been this whole time. The second was that she hadn't befriended her sooner.

The third was that she hadn't befriended Kagami deeply enough. Kagami had almost no friends, and Marinette had hurt her, and so Kagami didn’t want to talk to her about it.

But Marinette had a different face now, and a different name. Maybe that difference would be what Kagami needed.

She launched herself off the parapet and landed gently, only a few seconds later, on Kagami's balcony. She knocked on the glass door, and waited some more as feet tapped cautiously inside.

"Who —" said Kagami as she opened, but her mouth fell into a quiet little 'o' as soon as she saw her visitor.

"Hey, Kagami," said Marinette. "Could I come in? I want to talk…"

"Mouronne," said Kagami.

And then she stepped aside.

⚔

Getting a new identity was easy, once she knew how. She just needed to be someone else more than she needed to be anxious, and then it happened. A new costume and a new name, rising out of her confused thoughts, becoming a musketeer of some sort — because Kagami was on her mind. Even the weapon changed into a fencing sabre. Nothing remained of Ladybug except the reluctant girl inside.

After the next akuma was defeated, she stopped for an interview with Alya. "Ladybug has retired," she said. "Her identity was compromised by accident. I was chosen to succeed her."

"How was she compromised?" said Alya. "Can I speak to her?"

"No."

"Aww… can you tell the Ladyblog's readers a little about yourself, then?"

Marinette bowed. "I am Mouronne. The Scarlet Avenger. I will ensure Hawk Moth's defeat." And then she flew off.

It was a practised speech, because it had to be. She could never sound so confident otherwise. And she needed to appear confident, brave, not like herself, so that nobody would know she was either Marinette or Ladybug.

Cat Noir didn’t recognise her, at least. He was upset that Ladybug didn't return, but not as upset as she'd worried he might be: he asked questions and seemed vaguely disappointed by the answers. To one of the answers he said, "I wanted to share my identity with her too…"

She chided him. "Your secret is important. For every person who knows it, the chance of it getting spilled to Hawk Moth is multiplied. Keep your secret until he is gone, and keep quiet about knowing hers."

In response, he looked sorrowful at first — then determined. "You're right. Thank you, Mouronne."

After that day, though… things started happening fast. Adrien and Kagami were dating by the next morning, and he gushed in class about how amazing she was. Akumas seemed to come even more often, sometimes twice a day, like Hawk Moth wanted to test her new self. The media and the people at school quickly accepted Mouronne as the new hero, though Adrien and Alya both said they missed Ladybug. In the midst of all that, Marinette found herself courted even more by Luka.

The world didn’t get destroyed. Not as such. Even Adrien and Kagami getting together was barely a concern, because Marinette knew she'd lost her chance long ago. There was nothing awry whatsoever.

Except… when she saw the two of them happy together, smiling and kissing on the Liberty, there was a needle in her chest. They held hands and it was a fist against her windpipe. They smiled at her and now they were two to pick her up like a curiosity then bounce her off the wall. They didn’t know what they were doing to her, but how could that possibly matter?

Yet despite all that, she couldn't stay away from them. She tried to talk to them at school and didn't stop visiting friends just because those two would also be there. She told herself she just didn’t want to cause a stir; she knew, though, that it was seeing them — or at least one of them — that was the winning argument. She was so lost that she bounced herself off the wall just to please them, just to maybe land back in their hands so they would marvel at her for a bit before throwing her again.

The day they asked her to run away from a party with them was not the worst day of her life. Only almost. It was intense, and exhilarating, and hopeful. It was a day that should have felt amazing.

It felt like crap.

It wasn't about the way they treated her. They were kind and they were nice. They had no idea what they were doing to her, after all. But it didn’t matter, and she felt horrible, following them like a dog on a leash. They begged her to come along, for reasons she couldn't fathom. Kagami complimented her hair. Adrien too. They took her to the riverside. And she went in waves of loving that they wanted her there, and hating them for not letting her go.

A revelation struck her that day. André Glacier offered them three combinations of ice cream: one that symbolised her with Adrien, one that symbolised Adrien with Kagami, and one that symbolised Kagami with her. And the two of them smiled at her, and told her to pick which one the three of them should eat together, and she knew the right answer. Adrien’s and Kagami's flavours together, for the couple that was real. She also knew which answer she should, technically, have wanted: hers and Adrien’s together, to reciprocate for the gift of the umbrella, to fulfil what her heart had started on months ago. It would be a farewell to him, or a last desperate attempt to start her climb.

But she realised — when she saw Kagami's unapologetic smile, when she remembered every moment from earlier in the day, when she thought about where her own eyes kept wandering when she didn’t direct them — that the ice cream she wanted most was her and Kagami's.

⚔

"I'm sorry for barging in," said Marinette.

"You are not barging in," said Kagami. "You knocked."

"I heard from a friend you weren't doing well," said Marinette, because it was easier than following the rules of a normal conversation and responding to Kagami's words. She needed to go straight in, be to the point, fix the problem. Make Kagami happy, somehow, some way.

Kagami frowned. "What friend?"

The question was so obvious that it was an answer Marinette had thought about more than once. "It's not important," she said. "It would reveal my secret. The important part is that you are struggling with something, and I would like to help."

"I'm not struggling with anything," was Kagami’s retort.

"You were akumatised," said Marinette.

"Oh," said Kagami. It sounded like she hadn’t expected that detail to come up. Like she’d forgotten, or like she had been pretending it didn't happen. "Yes."

"You haven’t looked any happier since then, either. And you haven't wanted to talk to people about it."

Kagami frowned even deeper. "You've been talking to Marinette."

⚔

Things fell apart after the ice cream. Not with a bang, but slowly, like a swaying jenga tower nobody wanted to pull another piece from. Chloé put a lot of energy into puffing up Mouronne, which seemed to be partly a genuine appreciation of the costume, and partly an effort to get another shot as Queen Bee. Luka kept asking Marinette out on dates, and she kept failing to tell him a proper 'no', because she was scared of hurting him.

Adrien and Kagami stayed together, but it felt like they started fighting more often — not hugely, but with small expressions of annoyance. Small 'Stop doing that's. Small pokes. And once you poked enough, even something real could burst.

It was Luka who got akumatised first. He was tired of her waffling, of her evasive answers; he confessed to her yet another time and when she told him she needed to consider things more, he exploded on her. He said he would have been fine if she just said no, but she'd pushed it back for so long it felt like she was doing it on purpose. He became a being of snubbed rage, lashing out at people who were happy, jealously punishing them for having it better than him.

Fighting akumas she caused somehow was nothing new to her. That didn’t meant it got easier. She struck him with her yo-yo for being hurt that she snubbed him; she tied him up and tripped him, she broke his guitar, because of her own faults and mistakes. And when she had purified the akuma, she couldn't even apologise, because it was Marinette who needed to do that.

Even so, he was easier to handle than the akuma that followed. Kagami and Adrien broke up, not suddenly but acrimoniously. Marinette still didn't know why, because Adrien was mum about details, and Kagami had completely isolated herself since. Even the akuma — Lies — wouldn't say a word, keeping as silent as the statues she froze everyone else into.

Marinette hadn't thought about it lately, because he had stopped bringing it up to her, but Cat Noir had been in love with Ladybug. Whom he thought was Kagami.

"Can Hawk Moth make illusions?" he asked, as they watched the expanding bubble of white fog around Kagami.

"Only if he akumatises someone to do it," she replied.

"Could Kwamibuster make illusions?"

"… I don’t think so."

"My Lady lied to me, then," he told her. She gulped behind the brim of her hat, but he didn't push her any further. Instead he put on a steely frown and said he would sacrifice himself to distract Kagami, and before she could tell him not to he was already falling into the fog.

It worked. But it didn’t work for the aftermath, when she needed to talk to Kagami all on her own — because Kagami deserved to be talked to. And she looked so angry, even after the akuma left her.

Marinette didn't want to have the conversation as Mouronne that day. She wanted — for some reason — to be herself. Afterwards, she thought maybe it was to not scare Kagami, in case the costume and the hat were too much. Or maybe it was because she wanted to speak with her on even footing, to not be the Hero who was separate from the Person.

If she were to be truthful with herself, however, she knew it was because of the crush. She wanted to try and help Kagami and, hopefully, to have Kagami be grateful towards Marinette and not Mouronne. She wanted to see Kagami without a flopping brim in the way.

"What happened?" she asked, reached her hand out towards Kagami, but not all the way.

"Nothing," snapped Kagami. "Nothing happened."

"Can I — can I help? I don’t like to see you hurting —"

"No. No, you can't." Kagami folded her arms and turned away. "Please leave."

Marinette stood helpless, her arm suspended in the air like a branch over a precipice. "I just want to help," she repeated, stupid as she was.

She shouldn't have tried. Even in her own mind, the one that hated rain and feared love, it was idiotic to try and throw herself at the wall again. There was nothing she should do except walk away, for her own sake, but… she stayed, for what she thought would be Kagami’s.

But Kagami shot her with a glare that could have lit a tree on fire, and she stomped her heel on the ground, and she growled and she… softened for a moment, her anger fading into a brief sorrow before she ran away.

Marinette didn't dare to call out to her. She didn’t run to follow, either. She remained, with nothing left except the surety that she had messed up worse than she even knew.

⚔

"Why do you think I've talked to Marinette?" said Marinette. She kept her voice low and gentle, so as not to stir the waters.

"Because she is the only one who could be your friend but also pretend to care about me."

Marinette's heart did a little leap. "You —"

"I'm very upset, Mouronne," said Kagami, speaking fast and also a little loud, like these were words she needed off her chest. Marinette gulped, even as her heart thumped a little faster, anxious and excited. Kagami was willing to speak to Mouronne. "I'm… very upset. But why would you come to see me? You don’t visit other people who are sad. You haven't visited Adrien."

"Because… it’s a favour for Marinette," said Marinette, because she hadn't thought of a better answer.

Kagami’s face hardened. A light that had been there before, without Marinette noticing, suddenly flickered out. "So you don't care about me. You only care about her."

"No! No! That's not true. I care about you. I do. I just," Marinette hoped the mask and the hat's shadow would mask the blush that followed the admission, "heard about it from her. She… she also cares about you, you know."

"That isn't true," said Kagami. "If she cared about me, she wouldn't have been so cruel to me."

The insults behind her back. The jealousy. The conspiring to ruin things for her during Friendship Day. The fact she gave her a Miraculous she could never wear again, even though Kagami couldn't possibly know about that. All of those things swirled through Marinette’s mind like a maelstrom, made it hard to open her mouth in case it would all pour out.

"I… don't think she meant to hurt you," she said, even though it was a lie. Because she didn't want to hurt Kagami now, and wouldn't ever again. "I think —"

"She did," said Kagami. "Because she was Ladybug. And she lied to my ex and told him I was Ladybug."

Marinette's mouth fell open. But the maelstrom didn't pour out. Instead it died out and dried away, leaving nothing.

⚔

There was another akuma. It was worse, somehow, than Kagami’s. Because it was Cat Noir.

It wasn't clear what had happened, at first. Marinette only saw the white costume, the blue eyes, as they rose above the skyline borne on a crackling staff. He was calling for Ladybug, for his Lady. Not Mouronne.

She transformed and went out to meet him, but he wouldn’t listen to her, or even give her a chance to speak. "Give her back to me!" he yelled, shooting balls of Cataclysm at her; one brushed her hat, burning it off her head, and she ducked for cover in the sewers. Above, his voice kept calling for the wrong her: "You can’t hide from me forever, m'lady!"

It was in the sewers that she finally realised. Adrien was heartbroken from his breakup — Cat Noir was akumatised. Cat Noir had talked about knowing Kagami outside the costume — Adrien had started dating Kagami practically the next day. Adrien was Cat Noir. So the big lie had come out.

She could barely breathe. This was her fault. If she hadn't pretended Kagami was Ladybug, then none of this would have happened. Maybe Luka would have been akumatised, but not Kagami, and not — him.

But she didn't have time to tear her hair out. She needed to fix this. And to do that, she needed… something.

Something. Anything.

She ran through the sewers until she couldn't hear even a trace of destruction overhead, and then she climbed out of a manhole and immediately, someone stumbled over her. When she rushed the rest of the way up to help them, she saw Kagami, lying on the pavement with wide eyes.

"Mouronne," said Kagami.

And Marinette stepped forward, bent down and reached out her hand. "I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to trip you."

Kagami looked like she was still in shock. "You… you're fine," she said, without taking the hand. "Don't worry about me."

How could Marinette not worry, though? Only a day before, Kagami had been driven by rage, had refused to talk about anything. Today, her ex was destroying the city, even though she might not be aware it was him. She was in danger, even if she didn’t know it.

Unless…

"Come with me," said Marinette, keeping her hand out. "I need your help." She was going to make good on her promise to herself: to let Kagami wear a Miraculous again.

"Ladybug said I could never wear a Miraculous again."

"I will give you a different Miraculous. Come with me."

Kagami’s hand finally took hers. It was a grip that could have stuck her to a mountain.

"We will defeat Cat Blanc, together," she continued. And Kagami flushed into a smile.

⚔

Now, Kagami frowned. "I lived a lie because of her for weeks."

"You mean… you were akumatised because of her?" said Marinette, terrified of the answer she knew was coming.

"Yes," said Kagami. "I thought Adrien loved me. But it turns out he only loved Marinette. My relationship was never real. That is her fault."

"… I see," croaked Marinette. "I understand."

She already regretted what she did. It was just even more regretful to hear the reprimand from her. Now that she knew her own feelings, it was so much worse to have hurt Kagami once again. Every second hit her with another mental raindrop, another mental gust of wind.

"I don't blame her for lying," said Kagami. It was too ragged to sound like hope, so Marinette stayed under the cloud. "I know she had to keep her identity a secret. I learnt that when I was Ryuuko."

"She made a mistake," said Marinette, only too happy to agree.

"No. It wasn't a mistake. You may be her friend, but she did this on purpose."

Marinette hesitated. "Why do you think that?"

"Because she chose to lie about me," said Kagami. Her words were a blade. "She must have wanted to hurt me. It makes no sense otherwise."

"She… didn't want to hurt you," said Marinette. She spoke barely above a whisper, a distant whirling wind. "She wouldn't want to do that."

"How can you say that?" Kagami sounded almost pleading. "She put me into a sham relationship with the boy she has a crush on. She must have decided to sabotage me again."

"That's not true," said Marinette, more forcefully this time. "I know she didn’t want that to happen. She made a mistake."

"Then tell me why! Tell me why she picked me! Tell me something that makes it all make sense!"

It was such an easy answer to give. Because she had had weeks to think about it, because she knew it for certain the way she knew she didn’t care for umbrellas. And even though she would have struggled to say it without the mask, now that she was Mouronne, she could say it without a second thought: "Because she's in love with you, Kagami."

Kagami closed her mouth. And her eyes stared like they were telescopes.

⚔

Getting the Miraculous from Fu was easy. He was hiding from Cat Blanc, but he was searching for her; they both knew what had to be done, at least in the generalities. She took the snake, the rooster, and the bee, because without them they wouldn’t stand a chance. And she took Kagami aside into an alleyway and gave her the rooster and the bee.

"These are not your Miraculous," said Marinette, "but they're what we need to defeat him."

Of course, Kagami was perceptive — "What is my Miraculous, then?"

"One that is right for you." The dragon, maybe. If she could change her appearance, just like Marinette did to become Mouronne. Or — the ladybug.

The answer seemed sufficient for Kagami. "Then tell me what I need to do."

They merged Miraculous at the same time, and Kagami was gorgeously orange and red and gold, with a ridge of hair over her head that extended like a fan down her back until it finished in a puffy fox tail. She wore a coat like Alya’s but it was decorated like Marc's, and she too had a rapier on her belt, with a flute strapped to her back.

Marinette couldn’t speak. So it was Kagami who spurred them into action. She turned invisible and prepared to strike Adrien from behind, while Marinette distracted him with a faux surrender. She needed to use Second Chance twice: first when her own arm was Cataclysmed, and second —

— he noticed Kagami sneaking up on him, because she stumbled on rubble. He grabbed her invisible form and tore the Miraculous off her, and then he roared with anger and Cataclysmed her in the chest.

It was nothing like the fake Cataclysm from Heroes' Day, but instead a black mark that spread across her entire torso, making cracks across her skin that glowed an intense and sickly green. She screamed in pain, and smoke rose from her body and Marinette froze still, unable to do anything, because she was watching her first crush kill her second one, and she couldn't do anything to help.

"You lied to me!" he shouted at Kagami's limp form.

Marinette could use Second Chance, of course. Her logical brain was telling her to, because she knew it was the only way to put things right. But every screaming impulse in her body was telling her to go help Kagami, this Kagami, because if she didn’t then this Kagami would end her life in suffering, and every single version of Kagami was more precious than anything. It didn't feel like it mattered that the next Kagami wouldn't be Cataclysmed, because the blackened body in Adrien’s arms was the only one she could see and hear.

It was only when Adrien flung Kagami aside that Marinette came to her senses. His eyes met hers and she called out, "Second Chance!" and everything disappeared — and she stood in front of a Kagami who would never know the pain she had gone through just seconds ago or minutes ahead.

She stepped forward then and wrapped Kagami into a hug.

"Mou-Mouronne?" said Kagami.

"You were —" started Marinette, but the words died in her throat. "Don't — don’t get Cataclysmed."

The 'again' hung unstated in the air between them. But Kagami was smart enough to sense it anyhow. She whispered, "… Okay."

When Marinette pulled back, Kagami had a dark tint to her cheeks, and she looked down to the side.

"I believe in you," said Marinette.

Kagami smiled faintly at the ground. "Thank you, Mouronne."

They went back to it. Adrien got Venomed. They tore the ring off his finger, and only Kagami gasped as she saw him emerge from the white leather suit. Marinette snapped the ring and caught the akuma and called for the cure, and she hated the look in his eyes as he realised what had happened.

He didn’t remember how it started. He only knew he was at home, and then he wasn't anymore, and the rest he heard from them. And when he handed her the ring unprompted, she knew she had to take it from him, because she did the same for Kagami.

She knew he couldn't hear the part of her that was Ladybug when she told him, "You've been an incredible partner." — but she had to tell him nonetheless. His smile was broken, but it was there, and then she flew away with pockets that were far too heavy.

When Fu told her he would find another black cat for her, it was at once a relief and a curse. All she could do was promise herself she would find another Miraculous for Adrien. The ox for his resilience, or the pig for his friendliness.

Or the cat again… in the future.

⚔

"You're lying," said Kagami, tentatively. "Marinette hates me. She loves Adrien."

"She only used to love Adrien," said Marinette. She was quiet again. He wasn’t unloveable, her heart had just switched targets.

And she was quiet because she knew she couldn’t climb the mountain. She was too clumsy, too careless, hadn't given Kagami any reason to trust her. She was going to move on and let Kagami choose whom she wanted.

"She hates me," repeated Kagami. She didn't sound convinced; or rather, she sounded like she wanted to be convinced otherwise. "There’s no way she's in love with me."

"I know it sounds strange. But she wouldn't lie about something like this."

"She lied about me being Ladybug!"

"She's… very stupid," said Mouronne. "She's a moron. She's very sorry for everything. And she doesn't need you to like her back. She just wanted me to tell you that she never meant for this to happen, and that she only wants you to be happy. You don’t have to forgive her, either, you just… don’t need to…" Marinette swallowed. It was a lot easier to talk about her feelings when she was behind a mask, but it wasn't smooth sailing, either. Especially not when she was letting go of the girl she loved. "You just don't need to think she hates you, because she thinks you're amazing. Nobody could hate you, Kagami. You're a won-wonderful person."

Kagami responded with wide eyes and a blush. "You really think so?"

"Yes," said Marinette, almost before Kagami was done asking. "Yes. Yes. I really, really think so."

"Then… I have something to tell you too," said Kagami. "Because I'm as stupid as Marinette."

"What? No, you're not stup—"

"I'm in love with you."

Marinette stared blankly. Kagami swam out of focus. "… No you're not."

"I am. And I know you can't love me back, because you have to keep your identity a secret, but I haven't been able to stop thinking about you since you first appeared. Your style, your behaviour, your fencing… I am head over heels for you."

"No you're not," said Marinette.

"I am."

"You just broke up with Adrien. You’re not thinking straight."

"I am!"

"You're not. You're not in love with me."

Kagami had thunder in her eyes now, and her voice was hoarse. "Stop saying that! You don’t know me! I know I'm in love with you, even if you don't like it!"

And Marinette kept on not thinking twice. Because she needed Kagami to know that it was a bad idea, and Kagami was stubborn. So Marinette clutched at her chest and whispered "Tikki, spots off," and she stood there as Kagami’s eyes expanded and mouth fell open.

And she was about to regret what she had just done, but then Kagami put the backs of her hands to her forehead and groaned.

"Of course it's you," she said. "Of course you just changed your look."

"Yes," said Marinette.

"Are you just trying to make fun of me? Are you —" Kagami didn’t even look at her — "are you just playing around with me? Making Adrien think I'm his crush, making me fall in love with you? Am I just a game to you?"

"N-no!" said Marinette. "I meant e-everything! All of it! I didn't realise Adrien would do that! I didn't realise — I was confused! I'm still confused! But I love y— I, er, I'm serious about everything I said earlier!"

Kagami hesitated for a moment. "… Are you an illusion?"

"I'm not. I'm real. I'm just very stupid." Kagami nodded along, face mushed together. "I'm an idiot. An absolute moron."

"Yes," said Kagami and groaned again. "Moron. Mouronne. Was that on purpose, at least?"

Marinette swallowed quietly. Her ears clicked. "No… I didn't even… I was thinking about Le mouron rouge… I didn't even realise until n-now…"

"Of course not," said Kagami. "Because you are a moron." She sniffled. Her hands dropped away, and Marinette could see her eyes were damp. "You're horrible. You're so stupid."

"I am," said Marinette, and the only reason she didn't say it louder was that Kagami was crying. "But I — I didn't mean to hurt you. I made a mistake because I didn't know my own feelings."

"You made so many mistakes," said Kagami.

"Yes. I know. And I want to try and make things right again, even if… even if I don't know how." Taking a deep breath, Marinette stepped forward, hand reached out. "I want to make you feel better. I don’t know how, or if you even want me to, but… I know I hurt you and I want to make it up to you, however you want me to. Even, even if you want me to l-leave. Okay?"

She was barely a couple feet away from Kagami then, still with her hands reached out, but she didn't dare touch. She just waited for words to emerge. Yet the first thing to emerge wasn't a word, but a flat-palmed slap to the cheek. Somehow, it didn’t come as a shock.

"… How?" said Kagami, pulling her hand back again, taking a step away. "How can you just be like this? The world's biggest moron and the world's kindest person at the same time?"

"I…"

"And how… how am I still in love with you?" Kagami continued. She sounded strangled now. "It makes no sense. You lied to me. You lied about me. You are utterly incompetent at social relations. But I still…"

Marinette stared. Nothing about today had happened the way she thought it would. Nothing from the past few weeks had. In truth she was just as confused as Kagami, just as baffled that Kagami could possibly have feelings for her, but… for whatever reason, she didn't hate it.

But Kagami was upset. And that meant the important part was to cheer her up. To stop hurting her. To… to be honest. Even with herself.

She thought twice. For once.

Because she did want to try with Kagami. She wanted to be straightforward, to not do the thing she usually did. She wanted to climb the mountain of love, even though it would hurt, even though it would be arduous, hard, even though she would probably fall off.

This time, though, it was a mountain they needed to climb together. All the way from the base. Which meant they could help each other find the right holds to grip.

"Spots on," she said, and returned to Mouronne. She reached her hand out again to Kagami, who watched her in awed surprise. "Kagami… do you like the rain?"

"… What?"

"I hate the rain. But today, I feel like I need it. Come outside with me."

Kagami gingerly took the hand, but the rest of her stayed distant. "I don't understand…"

"I changed my mind. I do want to be your girlfriend. If you'll let me, I'll do everything to put things right. So do you like the rain?"

"I… I don’t like rain," she replied. "I don't like being wet."

Marinette pulled her hat off and put it on Kagami's head. "Would you like the rain with this?"

Kagami stared with even wider eyes than before. "I don't know," she said. "I… I don’t know."

"Then let's find out together."

And they went out on the balcony and danced in the downpour, until they both knew.