A/N: Well hi there! I'm very glad my summary caught your attention, and made you decide to click on this wonderful little piece of mine. I didn't really like how it came out last time, so I decided to go back and edit it. I'm much happier with it. Hopefully you are too!
Disclaimer: Ha! I don't even want that kind of power.
No one ever understands the value of life until they reach the threshold of death.
For her, that day was when she saw the fear in his eyes as he clung to her arm, claws desperately digging into her suit to protect her from the deadly fall below.
For him, it was the very concept of another loss in his life that drowned him in a wave of emotions long ago buried. The expression she wore said so much, but at the centre of the storm of emotions were the words: it's okay.
Time froze within a single moment for them, and despite the brave front they tried to maintain, they were afraid.
Now, for a full understanding of the story, one must go back to the decision that brought both of them to this spot of sheer terror. Not for themselves, but for the other.
This moment was, of course, the product of one of the fiercest fights they'd faced. A firefighter who had failed to save a little boy trapped in a burning building. The loss weighed on his heart because he had put so much trust in him to get him out. This was his little boy.
Of course, not wasting a second, Papillon saw an opportunity to make his most dangerous akuma yet. He wanted to test if Ladybug and Chat Noir could fight fire with fire. He was growing more and more desperate to the point of not caring if the heroes were dead or alive when the Miraculouses were retrieved.
Yes, emotions are a complicated thing, but that's a story for another day.
Ladybug and Chat Noir instinctively stepped in to fight this akuma who burned everything in his sight. Their decision to step within the first burning building, into the smoke was what brought them to this moment. Their decision to save was what brought them closest to their downfall they had ever been.
They dashed into the building, which seemed so close to crumbling, because they had seen the akuma jump in there already. Using their respective weapons, they launched themselves towards the roof, frantically scanning for anyone who might be trapped along the way.
The akuma was dangerously near the edge of the roof, looking down at the scorched city, feeling this power and anxious to use it on a living, breathing being, because no one knows what they go through everyday, the terror covered up by a fearless front. The burden of those you cannot save. It burns one's sanity.
As Ladybug and Chat Noir broke through the metal door to the roof, he immediately thought with a malicious smirk, channeling his burning anger, make that two.
The very second he thought the murderous three words, a wave of fire shot from the whip-like hose in the akuma's hands towards the two unsuspecting heroes. They had never faced an akuma with actual training on speed and strength, and if it weren't for their own training, they would have been scorched.
Without a word, Ladybug and Chat Noir worked in synchronization. A familiar pattern coming to their muscle memory no matter how dire their situation. Ladybug swung herself up from a metal pipe above the fire and attacked from the front. Chat Noir jumped out of the way and stealthily made his way to the back of the akuma.
"Hey, Fireboy! What happened? did Watergirl run off on you?" He shouted to anger the akuma some more. The rogue Firefighter turned around and without a word, sent an inescapable ocean of fire towards Chat Noir, who was already launching himself out of the way with his baton.
Ladybug took this opportunity to swing herself from the same metal pipe holding the Wi-fi router to slingshot herself straight towards the akuma.
The hose, she thought.
Ladybug swooped in from behind, planning to slide under the hose and trip the akuma with it, but the akuma's reflexes effortlessly sent a deadly ray of flames toward her, his focus never wavering from Chat Noir, shifting the source of the flames from one hero to another.
What kind of training do these guys get? Ladybug thought as she barely escaped the ray.
After multiple tries, it seemed like the firefighter had eyes all over, so she said the literally magic words:
"Lucky Charm!"
A large plastic water gun fell on her into her hands and she didn't have to think twice on what to do with it.
Well, I suppose I'm Watergirl.
She immediately started to spray the akuma, at which the akuma screamed and pulled back his hand. The water was burning him.
The akuma decided that the water was more important to fight than some stupid cat. What he didn't know, however, was that this stupid cat was not as stupid as he thought. Chat Noir launched himself off of his baton, and yanked the hose from behind, tearing at the thick material with his claws.
The akuma fluttered out of the torn hose, and Ladybug swung her yo-yo as soon as it came out, trapping it in its cleansing light. The yo-yo released the pristine white butterfly and Ladybug ran over to Chat to check out his burns. Her cleanse could wait, her partner could not. To her horror, half of her partner's face was a deep, dark red. A terrible burn covering half of his face as he looked at her with an expression mirroring her own. She supposed she must have looked similar as his hand twitched, but he looked afraid to touch her. She definitely felt the pain. However, he was able to crack a smirk.
"Well, I suppose today you were -"
"Don't you dare -"
"His -"
"No, no, no-"
"Watergirl… Weren't you?" He finished and Ladybug felt ashamed of of making that very same pun to herself. Despite everything, she laughed. Mustering up a reply, a loud crack was heard in the structure of the building. She had completely forgotten that there was a fire still burning below them. As soon as the crack was heard, her head snapped to her partner and the roof crumbled beneath her, the Lucky Charm falling into the depths of the fire.
Chat Noir's claws dug into what was left of the roof with one arm and to her arm with the other. Her fingers clasped tightly around his forearm. Both hearts stop for a moment.
This, my friends, is the moment they learn the value of life, so often taken for granted. The moment they truly absorb how much the other's life meant to them,
"Chat, I need to go after it!" She shouts above the roar of the threat below, seeing the Lucky Charm start to deform under the heat. Now, Chat Noir knows that she needs to, but he questions if a cleanse is worth the risk of losing her. He has no time to decide as her grip starts to loosen and before he knows it, he's screaming at the top of his lungs as she falls into the glowing inferno, her form shrinking as her final expression was engraved into his mind. It's okay.
Ladybug lands with a crunch on the top floor of the crumbling building, frantically searching for the Lucky Charm. She looks up quickly, simply to check that her cat didn't follow her down.
The place is almost black with smoke, but she gets down on her knees anyway to look for a red and black spotted water gun. The irony.
She's coughing madly by the time she finds it. Deformed, mostly black, and all the water's gone, but it's definitely it. She latches her yo-yo onto an unseen object out of the flames, and begins to pull herself up. She doesn't see the floor beneath her completely collapse all the way down to the main floor of the apartment building as she soars through the air. She also doesn't see the wooden pole that was holding up most of the room swing towards her blind spot, taking her down with it and the rest of the building.
Chat Noir, looking up from above, sees it all. He witnesses her falling and the look of utter fear in her eyes. And with a look of determination, he makes his decision: no. It's not okay.
He's diving down towards Ladybug before anyone can look twice. This was, however, not for much, as the moment they crash into the floor, with no time to even ask what they were thinking, the last support beam collapsed, releasing the crushing weight of the building on top of them.