Chapter Text
Ladybug’s entire body ached.
The harsh, cold wind bit at the exposed skin on her face. Her fingers were numb, and all of her muscles were screaming for respite. Looking to her right, she could see Chat Noir wasn’t doing much better. Just moments ago he had been sent flying through the air by a powerful strike, and now he stood weakly, hunched over and supporting himself with his baton. His teeth were clenched in a grimace.
The François Dupont high school was in ruins. Why Chrysalis had led them here had been unclear, but the intense fighting had resulted in immense destruction to its buildings and gardens.
“It’s over Ladybug.” Chrysalis towered over them, a swarm of purple butterflies swirling above and around her. They had been fighting her for what seemed like hours, but no matter how many lucky charms were summoned, or cataclysms were cast, it seemed to have no effect in stopping her. Amplified by an akuma they had yet to locate, there was seemingly no end to her power.
Swinging her yoyo, Ladybug began to back up.
“Lucky charm!” Her voice was hoarse now. She’d lost count of how many times those words had been said today. A pair of earmuffs dropped into her arms. She stared at them, wide eyed.
“What are you going to do with those, M’lady? Is it to ignore my clawful puns?” Chat Noir joked through gritted teeth.
“I don’t know....I don’t know!” Ladybug frantically turned over the spotted headgear in her hands, a sinking feeling in her stomach that only seemed to grow greater by the moment. Chrysalis stepped closer.
“You have a secret Ladybug,” the villain’s voice was sickly sweet. Purple lightning crackled around her slender form as she strode closer and closer, her swarm of purple butterflies slicing away rubble and debris around her feet as she moved. “Surely it can’t feel good, to hide such a thing from your dear partner every single day...”
“Ladybug would never hide anything from me. We’re not keeping secrets anymore. I trust her!” Chat Noir almost screamed, falling back into a fighting stance, readying his cataclysm. It seemed to come with greater effort this time.
“Are you absolutely sure? Why don’t you ask her?” Chrysalis came to a stop, pointing her cane and smiling confidently. “I’ll give you one chance to come clean”
Ladybug knew she should be saying something, urging her partner not to listen. Throwing him the earmuffs and telling him to put them on. But her throat had closed up. Surely she shouldn’t, couldn’t know. No one else was there, the night when the wish was made.
“I don’t.....I don’t....” She could barely force the words out. Her hands trembled. Everything was going to come crashing down, and it was all her fault.
“Ladybug?” Chat Noir looked shot her a worried glance.
Oh no no nononono
“Alright, time’s up,” Chrysalis made a big show of miming looking at a watch. “The secret your dearest ladybug was keeping from you....”
“Gabriel Agreste was Monarch.”
The words hung in the air. Ladybug felt like she had been slapped. She couldn’t move, couldn’t think.
“LIAR!” Chat Noir screamed and made to charge forward, but he stopped after looking across at Ladybug.
“Isn’t that right, Marinette?” Chrysalis smiled expectantly.
Another hit, but this one was like being kicked in the chest. It was like a growing pressure, squeezing her from all sides. How could she know?
“Is that true? Is she telling the truth?” Chat Noir was quiet now, pleading. His eyes were wide, face pale.
“I.....I...” Ladybug stuttered, but she couldn’t get any words out. Falling to her knees, she clutched her lucky charm tighter and tighter.
Neither of them noticed the flapping of butterfly wings until it was too late. The akuma flew closer and closer until it was inches away from Ladybug’s ears. Chat Noir launched himself in her direction in an attempt to intercept, but he was too late.
Everything happened in an instant. A glowing butterfly mask appeared around Ladybug’s face. Purple energy began to overtake her. Chrysalis almost jumped with glee. Midnight dark power pooled in Chat Noir’s palms. His shock, rage, betrayal, and protectiveness of his Lady fed into it, growing it exponentially.
“Miraculous Chat Noir!”
Everything went black.
***
Marinette was drifting. She felt heavy. And sore. Wasn’t there something she needed to be doing? And why was her bed so hard and uncomfortable? She cracked her eyelids open. The world was bright and blurry, and a ringing in her ears made it impossible to hear anything else. As the world came into focus, everything came rushing back. She saw piles of ash and blackened rock through a haze of dust which hung in eerily still air. The ground was scorched midnight black, and distant but muffled blares of sirens echoed through the wreckage.
“Tikki?” she croaked, her voice weak, panic setting in. The explosion had dissolved her transformation, and she felt exposed. Touching a hand to her ear, as she had done many times before, she confirmed her miraculous was still..... It was still.... It wasn’t there. Her earrings were gone.
In a daze, Marinette forced herself to her feet. She swayed, her vision tunnelling to black for a moment. Fatigue was almost overpowering now, especially so without the miraculous’ magic protecting her. She had to get away. Where was Chat Noir?
She stumbled and fell, too weak to move. Her limbs felt like jelly. A glint caught her eye, atop a pile of ash. Her strength failing, she forced herself to crawl and scoop it up. It was a purple brooch shaped like a butterfly. The miraculous responsible for so many months of attacks. She felt heavy again. The sirens got louder and louder.
Someone shook Marinette’s shoulder.
“Miss, Miss can you hear me?” But her vision was fading and she couldn’t speak. She clutched the miraculous close as darkness claimed her once again.
***
She was in her bed, now, bleary eyes fixated on a news report on her phone. Nadia Chamack was speaking, an image of a large, black crater behind her, taken from a helicopter.
“Don’t be bemused, it’s just the news. Authorities are warning Parisians to stay away from the site of the explosion event which consumed François Dupont High school just a few days ago. It was created by what seemed to be a confrontation between Paris’ heroes and new villain Chrysalis, the successor to Monarch. No akumas have been sighted since the explosion, and Ladybug and Chat Noir are also yet to appear. Rescuers say the students are mostly unharmed and accounted for thanks to evacuation efforts prior to the event by heroes Rena Rouge, Vesperia, and Carapace.”
Marinette held back a sob. She switched tabs to the Ladyblog, scrolling through endless viewer submitted clips of the explosion.
She had failed. The ladybug miraculous was lost. Chat Noir was nowhere to be seen. The other miraculers were confused, and seemed to be in hiding, but of course there was no way to contact them. Alya wasn’t picking up her phone.
And all she had to show was this stupid brooch.
She shifted slightly, sitting up to stare at the still inactive miraculous on her bedside shelf. It seemed to stare back, radiating malevolance. Or was that just her imagination?
And Adrien! Marinette’s heart ached. She hadn’t seen him since right before the fight. They had been walking along the Seine, enjoying one of André’s famous ice creams together. This time they were sharing: A scoop of passionfruit and a scoop of blueberry, topped with mint chocolate and red and black 100s&1000s. An unusual combination, but there was no arguing with Andre when he was picking flavours for you. The moment was somewhat tainted by the layer of guilt that seemed to encase Marinette’s entire being when she looked at Adrien nowadays. The weight of her secret. And she meant to tell him, she did! But this moment was too perfect to ruin, golden sun filtering through scattered cloud, the figure of the Eiffel tower towering over the Parisian sky.
Adrien was about to say something. His eyes were so green, wide and deep enough to drown in, and he looked so relaxed. It only confirmed her decision not to tell him--he was so happy these days after coming to terms with his father's sacrifice. Who was she to ruin that?
“Marinette, I-”
And then the screaming started.
There was a knock on the trapdoor to her room.
I wonder if that’s maman about to tell me I’m late for school?
Well, it’s not like there was even a school to go to anymore. Without her miraculous, there was no way to cast Miraculous Ladybug and fix the damage. Students had been given temporary leave while the school administration figured out what to do after having their building disintegrated.
“Marinette, honey, do you want to come down for lunch?” Her mother’s voice was muffled through the door. Her parents had been shocked to find out Marinette was in the hospital, and insisted on taking her home to rest. Luckily, aside from being incredibly tired, the doctors couldn’t find any injuries from the blast that warranted her being kept overnight. Marinette hadn't left her room since then.
“No thank you, maman.” She managed to choke out
“Alright then,” Came the response. “I’ll make some of your favourite soup and bring it up for you later”
There’s no soup good enough to fix this mess
Marinette’s gaze once again fell upon the butterfly miraculous. It hadn’t been touched since she brought it home, even the prospect of activating it frightening. It would mean she would have to face her mistakes, own up to the miraculers, tell them she had failed. Wearing the mask of those who had tormented the city day after day with endless attacks, no less.
And what would Chat Noir think? Did he remember everything? Chrysalis unmasking her, and her secret? How would he react to knowing she had lied to him for so long about Gabriel Agreste?
No, it was better to just lie here like the failure she was.
But Adrien. He still hadn’t been found. What if he was caught up in the explosion too? And his amok, was it damaged? It was this that snapped Marinette out of the recursive thoughts of failure that had consumed her.
For the first time in days, her sense of confidence and resolve so often felt while she was Ladybug returned. Hand shooting out and grabbing the brooch, she attached it to her chest before she could think twice.
All at once she was overwhelmed with a new sensation. It was prickly and stabbing, churning at the corners of her consciousness, soon coalescing into a broad awareness of silken threads flowing around and through her. She had felt something like this before as Ladyfly, but now it was stronger, more focused. A million voices spoke all at once inside her mind:
“Waahhhhh I want an ice cream!”
“But it’s not fair! You can’t just fire me!”
“I don’t care if you break up with me! I’m perfectly fine on my own!”
It took great effort to tune them out. She almost didn’t notice the small purple kwami now hovering in front of her.
“Master Guardian? What’s going on? Did you triumph over Chrysalis?” His voice was unsure. Something broke inside Marinette that even the explosion somehow hadn’t touched. This wasn’t Tikki, beautiful sweet kind little Tikki. This was wrong.
“I’ve made a huge mistake Nooroo,” Marinette felt the tears coming again. It wasn’t his fault, it just wasn’t the same. “And we’re going to fix it.”
Marinette steeled her resolve, carefully getting up and climbing down to stand in the middle of her room. It was late afternoon now, and the sun had moved, the angle at which it came down through the skylight casting a dark shadow over the portrait of Adrien on her wall.
“We’re going to fix everything.”
“Dark wings, rise”