Ladybug sat on the rooftop and stared across the street at the little bakery. She could almost hear Tom and Sabine crying.
Or at least she imagined them crying.
The upstairs lights weren't on.
The bakery was closed. Had been closed for three days.
She felt a twist in her gut a nearly overwhelming sense of longing that almost manifested into a physical pain but she refused to cry.
Refused to go into that place and comfort her parents.
They weren't her parents anymore
They were Marinette's parents and Marinette was dead.
She stayed where she was; perched on the roof, keeping her silent vigil
"Where were you?" She turned, startled by the voice to see Chat Noir crouching beside her, his glowing green eyes fixed on the bakery across the street. He'd been so quiet that she honestly forgot he was there.
Ladybug said nothing as she turned to fix her eyes on the bakery again.
"Another one of your top secret solo missions?" Chat pressed.
She said nothing.
"You should have been there, you could have saved Marinette."
She almost flinched at the bitterness in his tone but she bit her tongue against the response that wanted to spill out of her mouth.
I couldn't have saved Marinette because I am Marinette and there wasn't time to transform. I couldn't save myself Chat!
No she couldn't say that to him not now; he would accuse her of lying, of making some sort of joke at the expense of a girl who was supposed to be dead.
So instead she replied, voice flat nearly monotone.
"I can't save everyone Chat. I see that now."
"You could have tried!"
This time she did flinch. "I'm sorry." She said, voice dropping to a whisper at the inadequate apology.
"Me too."
She lowered her gaze to the roof tiles pressing her palms into them so hard she could feel the scrape of the rough surface against her skin even through the material of her superhero suit. She expected him to leave.
His next words sent another twist to her chest.
"If I had a one more chance I would have saved her. What would you do if you were given a second chance?"
She resisted the urge to brush her fingers against her earrings or touch the patch of skin where the scar rested over her heart.
A heart that had stopped beating.
She was supposed to be dead.
I have been given one more chance. She thought. She let Chat Noir's question go unanswered because it wasn't as simple a question as he thought it was. The answer would require an explanation, one that was safer not said. She instead asked one of her own questions, eyes still locked on the bakery; her home. A home she couldn't go back to.
"Why do you insist we come back here every night?" Why must you insist on reminding me of the life I've lost?
She saw him turn to her, looking angry and betrayed. "Because- because this is the first place she'll come back to if she's alive."
Ladybug turned to her partner and she hated to see the hope that was in his eyes. Hated to see that he had faith that a miracle would bring someone back from the dead. She hated having to crush that hope even as the words came out of her mouth, Newspaper headlines flashing before her eyes.
Breaking News: Teenage girl; Marinette Dupain-Cheng murdered this afternoon. Eyewitnesses report that the girl was attacked by a man armed with a gun The body is currently in the pocession of the authorities and the murder is has yet to be found.
….
"Breaking News: Ladybug MIA at most recent Akuma fight? Chat Noir claims to not know the whereabouts of his crime fighting partner.
...
Breaking News: Marinette Dupain-Cheng's body reported missing from morgue; assumed stolen.
Breaking News: Ladybug reappears after mysterious absence. Refused to comment on where she had disappeared to.
"Marinette Dupain-Cheng is dead Chat. That girl is dead and you know it!" Her voice cracked; it was so bizarre to refer to herself in the past tense. It had an odd detaching effect; as if she honestly was talking about someone else.
Chat sighed. "I know-" he paused regarding her with a look in his eyes that didn't fit him. Grief and pain and sorrow. He turned his eyes back towards the bakery so that she wouldn't see.
"You know, I had started to entertain this idea in my head that you and Marinette were the same person…."
Her heart nearly gave out.
"I guess I was wrong though because... she's gone like you said and you're here," he gestured to her "and you couldn't have been the same person because people don't come back from the dead."
But…. I did, I have.
"No, they don't." She agreed. Turning away from him and staring at the distant horizon.
Chat made no reply and when she turned her eyes back to look at him, to explain that she was Marinette and she had cheated death... she realized that he'd left without saying goodbye.
Which was probably for the best.
She let out a nearly inaudible sigh and turned her back on her home.
She hadn't lied to Chat.
Marinette Dupain-Cheng was dead.
And it was best she remained that way.
Ladybug was back.
She had been given a second chance.
And she knew exactly what she was going to do with it.
She was going to kill the man responsible for her death.
Hawkmoth.
Prompt from: mlstoryprompts on Tumblr: Marinette is killed in front of witnesses, unknowing to her friends and family her Miraculous brings her back.
(So what do you think? Should I write more of this?)