Disclaimer: I don't own Miraculous Ladybug. If I did, Marinette and Adrien would already know their identities.
There's Always a Goodbye
: Plagg :
Plagg always despised the time when the Guardian was able to find a suitable holder for him.
Because somehow, someway, that kitten would worm its way into his heart and no matter how many walls he put up, they crashed and burned them without even realising.
Back when Plagg had only begun to aid the Chat Noirs, he was more open and supportive. Not as sickly sweet as his Sugar-cube, but definitely more open than he was currently. Now Plagg put on the mask of a little god that didn't care, that was only there because he had to be.
And when he first met his new holders, he didn't care, because he didn't know them. But inevitably, they managed to find their ways into his heart without saying sorry.
But that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was when Plagg had to say goodbye.
He had said goodbye in a hundred different ways, in a hundred different times, to a hundred different holders.
But there were times, though rare, that Plagg wasn't granted the courtesy to say goodbye, because the kitten was already soaked in their own blood, their heart still, their faces pale, their body cooling under his touch.
Those were the goodbyes that Plagg let the tears fall.
Sometimes, rarely, Plagg absolutely abhorred Tikki. Her bugs were always safe, always protected. Always protected by his kittens. They always died first.
Every single time.
It didn't matter how much effort Plagg put into sustaining the transformation, to healing their injuries, it was never enough.
Never enough.
It always began the same way, he realised at one point when he was with a hundred-and-something holder, but they always ended differently. Each of his kittens held a piece of his heart, but they all gained it in different ways.
But Adrien, the sweet, mischievous, golden-haired boy that became his 200th holder, gained it the fastest. He deserved it. He needed it.
It didn't take long for Plagg to deduce that Adrien craved human contact and the apparent fact he was isolated. After one sweep of the boy's room, noticing no personal decorations that normally adorned his holders rooms, he knew Adrien was isolated. The second was of the unbridled joy that Plagg felt deep in his bones as Adrien called on his transformation for the first time. And Plagg revelled in it.
It had been so long since he had felt such joy, so pure and innocent in all its glory. His kittens were usually dark and broken and their joy always held a bitter edge. But Adrien was the first. Adrien was the first possibility that the holders of the Black Cat Miraculous, his Miraculous, didn't have to suffer. They could thrive.
But Plagg still hid behind the mask he had spent such a long time carefully constructing. His fear was still to great, the possibility of pain still too high.
Yet, Plagg couldn't help but feel a flicker of pride as he watched his kitten grow from a lovesick, reckless teenager into a loving, mature man.
And it hurt so much more than Plagg could ever remember when he had to say goodbye to the kitten that had warmed his cold, scarred heart.
He felt tears gather in his own eyes, identical to the hot, huge tears that fell from Adrien's eyes that normally glowed with life and a vividness that couldn't be replicated, instead burning with a deep sadness. Plagg listened, silent and clutching tightly to one of Adrien's fingers as his kitten choked through his long goodbye.
Plagg listened as his kitten promised that he would see him again, promised that this wasn't their last goodbye. Plagg knew that promise would be broken. Once you gave up your Miraculous, you would never see it or the Kwami that came with it again. But, he still listened, a small, single tear slipping from his eye and dripping onto Adrien's warm hand.
But their time ended too quickly and Master Fu came knocking to say that he had to take Plagg away. So, Plagg floated up to Adrien's cheek, nuzzling into it. "Goodbye, kid." He sobbed quietly, Adrien's warm hands cupping him.
And then he uttered three words he only said to the kittens who died, who never heard him say it.
"I love you."
Adrien's tears poured quicker and faster, his answer choked. "I love you too, Plagg."
Plagg pulled away then, Adrien slipping off the ring that had found a home on his finger for years and placing it in the box. Plagg wasn't sucked in, not yet.
"Goodbye." Plagg breathed.
"Goodbye, old friend."
With that, before Plagg knew Adrien would reconsider and slip the ring back on his finger and run, Adrien shut the box and Plagg was pulled into the ring, but unlike so many times before, Plagg didn't fight the magnetic force that sucked him into his Miraculous. The last thing Plagg heard before the darkness clouded his senses was Adrien's choked sob.
So, once again, Plagg floated in the darkness, waiting until he could be returned to the Miracle Box and join his brothers and sisters, memories of a golden-haired boy with a sunny smile clouding his mind.
"No way. Like the genie in the lamp."
"Can you believe all those mean things you said to Ladybug?"
"Plagg, Claws out!"
"Wait-I haven't finished explain-!"
"My rock-hard abs? Why thank you for noticing!"
"I love you too, Plagg."
"Goodbye."
"Goodbye, old friend."
If there was one lesson Plagg had learned over the centuries, there was always a goodbye. One he could never escape.
AN: So what do you think?
This one-shot suddenly hit me. Sorry about the angst in this, I couldn't help myself.
Bye!