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The handsome cat superhero pops through her window the next morning, strong and kind, and Marinette hears him explain a story of a nighttime monster, some lucky hits. Ladybug was permanently injured and was forced to retire. That’s not what he told her.
He tells her parents that Marinette was strong, she’d recover. Marinette has never been strong in her life. Her parents come upstairs and seem to expect that someone. It’s been a year. How much changed?
An hour later, her new best friend comes over. Alya, her name is.
“Hey, girl,” she says. “Remember me?”
“We just met,” Marinette says. She’s curled in on herself. Her room is full of photographs of people she barely knew.
“That must be freaky.”
Marinette scoffs.
“You could say that.”
Tired. She’s tired. She feels like she hasn’t slept in months.
Alya wraps an arm around her.
“You must feel guilty.”
“I do,” Marinette replies. “Thanks for the reminder.”
“You’re welcome.”
“That was sarcasm.”
“I know,” Alya says. “I know you, Marinette. And I…”
Marinette looks at her. Aching tinges of old emotions.
“You lost someone,” Marinette says.
“I lost you,” Alya says. “But you’re here, so—”
“How do I help?” Marinette asks. Alya’s expression melts.
“I was trying to ask you that.”
“I probably already asked too much,” Marinette says. “You need me now too, right?”
Chat Noir comes again the next night. He looks… crushed.
“How are you, M’lady?” He asks.
“Miserable,” Marinette says. “What happened to you?”
“Ladybug finally talked to me,” he says. “But she’s dead. It’s just… just words on a page.”
“Aren’t you her partner?” Marinette asks. Chat Noir laughs.
“I think I am, yeah,” he says. “But she couldn’t… she had all these secrets she couldn’t tell me about. And it hurt. It still hurts. It hurts that she pretty much only left the truth in her… Will.”
“I hate liars,” Marinette says. “Why would secrets help anyone?”
“Some of her secrets kept us safe,” Chat Noir says.
“You don’t have to defend someone who hurt you,” Marinette says. “That’s awful!”
Chat Noir flinches.
“…I’m not,” he says. “I just… you must hate her.”
Marinette squeaks, pulling her blanket around her.
“…she died for me,” she says. “I couldn’t…”
“She would be okay with it,” Chat Noir says. “The last thing she told me was… some people shouldn’t be forgiven. I think she meant herself. So you can hate her, and I’ll forgive her like I always do.”
“I can hate her for you,” Marinette says.
“See, now you sound like the Marinette I knew, princess.”
She gets a text from a boy named Adrien, with hearts next to his name.
Adrien💚✨: Hey, I heard what happened. Do you remember me? If not, well. I’m here for you, if you need a friend.
You were the second real friend I ever made, actually.
I uh. I don’t know if this is a good or bad start. Re-start?
I’m sorry I didn’t stop Chloe. I didn’t know.
She doesn’t know how to respond to that. She doesn’t know him at all.
Adrien: …that was the wrong thing to say.
I love you, princess.
She doesn’t know him, so she can’t love him. Or Chat Noir.
(Why does her heart still ache?)
Scarabella,
You know where my supplies are. I trust you to handle it.
I can tell you my secret, now. I’m telling Adrien too. The rest is up to you, and him, and Kitty.
Gabriel Agreste was Monarch. For reasons only Adrien, Kagami, and Felix can disclose to you, he needed the Miraculous of the Ladybug and Black Cat to revive Adrien’s mother. Instead he beat me when I thought I had gotten through to him. He sacrificed his own life for other reasons.
Tomoe Tsurugi was his accomplice. Keep and eye on her, her compliance is the only reason she wasn’t revealed. For Kagami. Please look after her.
I know this is selfish and cruel. I know this is sudden.
You won’t have to keep any new secrets from the people you love, though. If Adrien knows, Nino will probably knows, so you can know. And Adrien knows.
I don’t want you to hate me. I hate myself.
To my most trusted confident,
Ladybug.
“It was sudden,” Ladybug says, sitting on the desk in Alya’s room.
“Don’t lie to me,” Alya says.
“I’m not,” Ladybug says. Tears in her eyes. Marinette’s scared and loving eyes. “I just— I can think clearly now because I’m not real. And I want to apologize for being selfish one last time.”
Alya stares at her… and sighs.
The worst part is she knows it’s true. If Marinette thought about it, she would have over complicated it. She probably would have given herself away, or there wouldn’t be a thousand cracks in her plan.
And she didn’t tell Alya. And Alya didn’t figure it out on her own.
“I just wish I could have helped,” she says. “I wish you told me this properly. I was grasping at straws, Marinette. I just wanted to—”
“I know,” Ladybug says. “I’m sorry.”