Two days. It had been two days since Marinette had sent a message asking for help setting up her website. Honestly, she didn't know what was going on in Amber's life, but it was sort of distressing that she hadn't gotten an email back yet. It was silly but on some level, she was concerned that she had offended Amber somehow. The rational part of her brain told her that Amber had contacted her in the first place, there was no way that Marinette had insulted her by simply sending an email. Not that that stopped her from staring at the screen like she could will the email into existence.
"Marinette. You're obsessing", Alya shoved Marinette's chair with her foot, causing the chair to roll across the floor almost into the wall, "If she's a computer programmer or something, then she probably has like a shit ton of stuff going on. Stop. Freaking. Out"
"Fine", Marinette leant her head back against the wall, her chair almost tipping over before she caught herself, "…are you going to Max and Kim's pre-wedding party?"
"Which one?"
Kim and Max had decided to have two parties, where both of them would be attending. Instead of calling them bachelor parties since Max had gone on a slight rant about how neither of them was technically bachelors because they had been together for years. Kim had wisely chosen not to argue with his fiancée, and so they were pre-wedding parties instead.
"Neither. I mean I don't know if I'm going to the ice skating party because you know", Marinette made a gesture with her hand.
"The fact that you can barely stand up when you're not on the ice?" Alya asked with a slight smirk, "I mean you have gotten better in the last couple years with not falling over when you get nervous. I mean you dated Adrien, and you could actually talk to him. Among other things", Alya wiggled her eyebrows at Marinette.
"Oh shut up", Marinette got out of her chair, grasping it by the back and shoving it towards Alya, "We never got that far. I'm not…", she wiggled her hands a little bit, "It's weird. He knows but at the same time I just… ugh"
"You're gorgeous Marinette, I've seen you without clothes on and you look fantastic", Alya grabbed the chair, shoving it away from herself, "Adrien loved, he loves you. He wouldn't care what's going on"
She shrugged, "He might have thought that while we were dating but once he saw everything, he might want a real—"
Alya grasped a pillow from beside her on the couch, throwing it at Marinette's face to make her stop talking, "Shut up. Do not even use that phrase, you are most definitely a real girl. Or do I need to come over there and hit you with the pillow hard enough to knock some sense into you"
Marinette grasped the pillow, squeezing it against her stomach, "Okay", she smiled slightly her hands curled into fists, "So are you going to the parties?" She was eager to turn the conversation away from her self-esteem and gender issues.
"To the club at least. It would be better if I could drag Nino with me so that I could keep any gross jackasses off of me, but he's in", Alya stopped, having to think for a moment about just where Nino was currently, "Not Europe. I know that much, but he's been moving around so
much lately for his tour that trying to find him is hard"
"If you need a date I can talk to Adrien, he'd love to go with you. He thinks you're cuteeee", Marinette snickered, twirling in a circle, "Come on He has to go anyways"
Alya rolled her eyes, "Marinette I am not going to date your ex-boyfriend. Besides I'm sure he has more than enough to worry about without me trying to get all up on him like some sort of groupie. I prefer to go after guys who might actually want to date me"
"I'm telling you, he likes you Alya", Marinette grasped the arm of the couch, leaning over until she was almost face to face with Alya, "Come on! When have I ever lied to you?"
Alya raised her eyebrow, grasping Marinette by her shoulders, "Marinette. You are my best friend and I love you like the sisters I already have too many of, but you are completely ridiculous
if you think that I could ever date Adrien"
She stuck out her bottom lip, her eyes widening, "Please Alya, I'll be your best friend. Just one night, I just want you to try it. He's … I think he needs someone like you, to put everything in perspective for him. He thinks the world is falling down around his ears and I can't reach him…
I think you could make him happy… if you would try"
"…Seriously the puppy dog eyes? Is that what we're doing right now? In addition to trying to set me up with your ex-boyfriend and my ex-boyfriend's best friend. You are being completely silly right now", Alya pursed her lips for a moment, "I'll go with him to the party. That's all I'm not promising that I'm going to marry him or that I'm even going to date him, but I will try to be his friend"
Marinette let out an excited squeal throwing her arms around Alya's neck, tackling the other girl into the couch. Alya allowed herself to go limp as she fell backwards, knowing by now it was easiest just to go along with Marinette's antics, "Thank you Thank you!" she cried, pressing a kiss to Alya's cheek, "You are the best friend that anyone could ever have, the best best best friend in the whole goddamn world"
"Yeah yeah well remember that next time I need a favour from you. Like a new dress for Max and Kim's wedding maybe…"
"Like I wasn't already making you one, come on! I know you", Marinette giggled, rolling off of Alya and onto the floor with a slight thump. She stared up at the ceiling for a moment, "You'd probably get a deadline or something and forget that you wanted a new dress. Then you'd wear something you've had forever and still look fantastic but I would feel bad so yes. You're getting a dress. An amazing dress"
Alya turned her head so that her hair was flowing over the side of the couch as she looked down at Marinette, "Are you sure that you and Adrien aren't getting back together? You were happy…. Once upon a time"
Marinette turned on her side, pulling her legs against her stomach, "Once. We were happy once, and I don't think it's worth it to try again. We'll just make each other completely miserable again", she sighed, rolling over onto her stomach, "Can we just…not about Adrien anymore"
"Of course sweetie. Whatever you want"
*Five Years Ago*
"Chat?" Ladybug dropped onto the rooftop, watching the back of her partner. His ear barely twitched in acknowledgement of her, "Kitty what's wrong? I haven't heard from you all day", she hadn't been able to get him on his cell phone and there had been no response on his communicator. The only reason she had found him was because her yo-yo allowed her to track him down. If she hadn't been so concerned about him, she might have left him alone. But for Adrien not to respond at all was unusual and scary.
"Sorry", he mumbled, his shoulders hunching forward, "Sorry"
She could hear something in his voice, hoarse and close to tears. Adrien barely cried, and Chat never did. The last time she had seen tears had been after Chloe's accident so she knew that something wasn't right. She could read her partner, practically feel his emotions rolling off of him even when they were out of costume.
Ladybug knelt behind Chat, her hands just resting lightly on his back. His whole body was shaking, his breath coming out in shallow breaths, "Please tell me, what's wrong? I just want to help you, you know that"
"He's going to die", Chat Noir wheezed out, his head curling into his chest, his fists tight against his sides, "What… what good is this goddamn ring if he's just going to die?" he flung his hand
out, the silver ring glinting in the moonlight.
"Who? Adrien who?" She would never use his real name in public while they were in costume but at this point, it didn't seem that he was responding well to his other name, "Who's going to die?"
Chat spun around, nearly knocking her onto her back, "My father!" Ladybug scooted back slightly, watching the aggressive spark in Chat's bright green eyes. His pupils were near slits his hands in front of him almost like he was choking an invisible person in front of him, "My father is going to die and even with all of this magic…", he stared at his ring again, "I can't do anything", his hands dropped, his shoulders going slack.
The tears started coming, slipping over his mask, tear tracks down his face. Ladybug wrapped her arms around Chat's neck, pulling him close against her, her hand tangled in his hair, "I'm…
I'm so very sorry Adrien", she couldn't think of anything else to say, no matter how cliché the whole
thing was. His sobs swirled around in her ears, the only noise that she could hear now.
"It… it hurts so bad", he whimpered, "What am I going to do Mari? What…", he sniffled, his face buried into her shoulder. Normally the scent of his girlfriend soothed him, flora mixed with flour and sugar, the sweetest scent that he had ever smelt. Now it didn't, it just made his stomach roll. All that he could think was that his father was dying, and Marinette wasn't but she could be. There was nothing to say that in their line of work she wouldn't be dead tomorrow. His mama was already gone, he had almost lost Chloe, and he was going to lose his papa too.
If Marinette left. If Marinette died. Then he didn't know what he would do with himself.
So he squeezed her tight, pressing her against himself as if he could keep her there with just his arms. It was enough for the moment, but he was fighting not to break down right there on the roof. He just wanted to go back to yesterday when everything was normal and he didn't feel like the world was falling out from underneath him.
So he clung to the only solid thing that he had right now, the only thing that he could see in front of him.
"Don't… don't leave me", he whispered, "Just… hold me for a little while please Marinette. Just don't leave me"
Ladybug's hand stroked down Chat's back in a vain attempt to calm him down. She had a feeling that nothing she was doing was going to help very much, but it was all that she had right now. She didn't have the words, or some sort of magic power to make all of the pain just disappear in an instance. She was suddenly so aware of how young and powerless she really was. She could save the city, fight monsters, but she couldn't even find the right words to give her boyfriend any sort of peace.
Maybe Tikki would have had the right words, but Marinette wasn't a goddess. She was a teenager holding a boy with a broken heart. Miraculous Ladybug could fix a lot of things, it could almost bring back the dead. But this wasn't caused by an akuma, this was nature. Terrible powerful nature bringing down her wrath too soon on one man.
On so many men. Gabriel wasn't the first, and he wouldn't be the last. But at the moment this case was the one that was affecting them.
Marinette knew one thing for sure, that life was completely shit.
*
Ladybug jumped, her legs folding beneath her as she landed. Normally there would have been pain, but thanks to Tikki's magic, she barely felt a jolt as her feet connected with the roof. It felt like there was a storm in her head, too much going on at once. The possibility that Adrien would be angry at her for trying to set him up, the possibility that he would be angry at Alya and that she had just fucked everything up by trying to make it better.
But with the cool air in her lungs she maybe felt a little bit better…
Then, "ARRRGGGHHH", she turned around in a circle her hands shoved into her hair as she pulled. It was not better, it wouldn't be better until she knew for sure Adrien didn't hate her. She popped open her yo-yo, hoping that maybe the little green cat paw would be flashing to show her where Chat Noir was. If he was around.
Instead there was a Bee, yellow and blinking, like an eye taunting her. It wasn't that she didn't like Queen Bee, she did, the blond girl was a wonderful addition to the team. It's just that she didn't want to talk to Bee right now. She wanted Chat. Her original partner, for once. Still her finger hovered over the icon for Bee, debating if she wanted someone bad enough to spill her guts to Queen Bee.
In the end the desire for someone, someone that understood the huge chunk of her life that was the Miraculous, won out and her finger tapped the icon. With a bloop bright blue eyes and gold hair filled her screen. Queen Bee pulled back so that her full face was visible and Ladybug felt her heart jump. Despite her insistence to herself that she was working on Marinette right now, and her business, Queen Bee did make …butterflies? Or rather bees float in her stomach. With her short blond hair, eyes as blue as the sky and plump pink lips, Ladybug couldn't help but feel attracted. Add in the fact that Queen Bee was smart, capable and strong as hell to the point of being able to lift Ladybug in her arms, and honestly she was just smitten. But not enough to try and start something. She had tried that with Chat and it had just gone…fabulously.
As evidenced by the fact she was calling Bee rather than her ex-boyfriend and currently longest running partner.
"Are you okay Bug?" Queen Bee's brows wrinkled, her lips pursing with concern, "You look upset and you have those dark circles under your eyes. And yes your mask doesn't cover those
Sweetheart, now talk"
"Can we meet somewhere? Like somewhere close", she could feel the stress climbing up her throat, like a ball of fear and terror.
"I'll come to you", Bee nodded, her miraculous clip bouncing gently as she did so, "Stay alright?"
"Yeah"
*
It only took Bee a few minutes to reach her, thanks to a combination of the tracking magic in her top and the wings that pushed through the material of her suit. At first Ladybug had thought that they were part of her suit, but closer inspection revealed that in fact they were coming through tiny little slits in the suit. The wings were actually fused to Bee's skin, part of her body. Ladybug was tempted to ask if they were still there when she was human, but that felt a little personal.
Bee landed on the roof, her wings tucking into her suit so that they were protected, "I brought coffee", She held up the tray, two steaming cups of coffee in the cups, "Did you know that that you are literally above a coffee shop?"
"Do I want to know how you could coffee dressed like that?" Ladybug sighed, reaching out for her coffee. She probably didn't need to be anymore wired, but the coffee smelled so good and she needed to feel good for a few minutes.
"I have a tab, no pockets on this thing you know", she shrugged basically falling to the ground her coffee clutched in her hand, "People do like us you know", she leaned a shoulder against Ladybug, her wings fluttering for a moment as she did so, "Now speak and be heard"
"I tried to set my ex up with my friend but I didn't ask my ex first and he's been through a really horrible couple of years so now he's probably gonna hate me and I don't know what to do anymore",
Ladybug let all of it pour out of her, everything that she had stuffed in her head since that stupid comment to Alya, "And on top of that I just really want to get clothes online and sold but I don't have any time because I'm too busy worrying about everyone else"
Bee nodded, "You need to calm down for a second. Just like one second and breath. I'm sure it's not as bad as you think it is", she set her hand on Ladybug's head, her fingers drawing gentle circles in the other girl's hair, "Your friends love you Ladybug", she whispered, denying herself the desire to add that she loved Ladybug as well.
"Thank you Honey Bee", Ladybug pressed a kiss against Bee's cheek, a quick brush of the lips,
"You helped a lot. Even if I did sound a little bit looney there"
"You never sound looney to me Ladybug", Bee said, her face drifting just a tiny bit closer to Ladybug's, "You always…", just as she was sure they were going to kiss, two loud beeping noises filled the air.
With a groan, Bee popped open her top revealing the little screen inside. Ladybug did the same thing with her yo-yo and on both screens was a news report. A man in a blue and white suit with hair that appeared to be made of ice was standing in the middle of a hurricane of snow and ice. The whole street around him was covered in ice turning it into a skating rink.
"Ugh", Bee tilted her head back, shutting her eyes as if she could wish away the new report, "I guess we should be dealing with that…."
"Yep", Ladybug grinned, feeling much better after their conversation. She hopped to her feet, bouncing on her toes with excitement.
*
Ladybug slide across the slick plane of ice that covered the street, just barely grabbing the street light before she went by. Bee hovered a few inches above the ice, her mouth set in a thin line as they watched the current source of mayhem in the city. A man dressed in white and blue, the very tips of his hair frozen as ice and snow blasted from his hands.
"…this isn't good", Bee muttered, her wings fluttering faster against her back, "Are you okay?"
Ladybug clutched her arms around herself, shivering against the cold that even through her suit was creeping in. Ladybugs didn't do well in the cold, and she was starting to feel the affects,
"We need to finish this soon, please"
Bee nodded, her fingers tapping against her leg with more energy than Ladybug had ever seen her with, she was practically buzzing, "Do you think we need lucky charm? Or should we just run into it"
"I think I've got an idea", she directed Queen Bee in a few simple steps, of just what they were going to do. After a few years of doing this, she had gotten pretty good at coming up with spur of the moment plans, taking into account the different skills of her team.
*
"Hey ice dick!" Bee fluttered in front of the snowman, twitching left and right to avoid the hail that was spewing out of the dome, "Your aim sucks! And so does your ice, it's not even that cold out here!"
The man growled and his hands went up as if he was a boxer, a clump of ice flying straight towards Queen Bee.
For a moment, Ladybug saw another blond girl in Bee's place, a long blond ponytail flying out behind her as she jumped in the way of a projectile.
*
"CHLOE!" she screamed, watching the blonde's body hit the floor most of her top burned away in the explosion.
Everyone stared at the body in front of them, injuries were common especially when akuma had one target in mind, but this… this was horror. Ladybug felt the smell of burning flesh assault her nose, the sound of sizzling as Chloe's flesh popped and blistered. She was supposed to protect everyone, not Chloe, not any civilian. No one was supposed to get hurt like this, what kind of hero was she if she let Chloe die to save her?
The Editor's pencil dropped to the ground with an audible thump, seemingly unable to believe what he had done. Hawkmoths control didn't seem to exist in that moment, there was just silence at the horror of what had occurred.
What kind of hero would she be if she let Chloe's sacrifice be in vain? She tossed her yo-yo into the air and yelled, "Miraculous Ladybug!" a red and black spotted towel appeared in her hands, cold even through the suit, "Chat get the hat!"
Chat nodded, his lips pressed together in a thin white line. He darted forward, taking advantage of the fact the Editor was now scrambling to pick up his pencil. Chat Noir's cataclysm flared to life, just barely scraping the hat with his claw. The black butterfly fluttered out of the hat, the Editor falling to the ground.
Ladybug pressed the towel against Chloe's burn, hoping to help a little bit until she could fix everything. She winced at the noise that came out of Chloe's mouth, a gentle moan like there was barely any breath in her lungs.
Watching the butterfly she didn't want to remove her hand from Chloe's chest, but she knew that she had to. With tears in her eyes, she caught the butterfly, half heartedly whispering, "Bye bye little butterfly".
She grabbed the towel off of Chloe's chest, wincing at the red and blistered skin. Ladybug tossed the towel into the air, and yelled with possibly more force than she ever had, "Miraculous Ladybug!" as if throwing all of her will behind the phrase would heal Chloe better.
The ladybugs swirled around them, ghosting across her cheeks brushing the tears away. They wrapped Chloe in a cocoon lifting her off of the ground as they moved around her faster and faster. For a moment Ladybug was afraid that they wouldn't stop, that even her magic wasn't strong enough to heal Chloe.
Finally the ladybugs disappeared, leaving Chloe on the floor, still pale with bright red burns on her chest, but not near death as she had seemed before. Ladybug fell to her knees, touching Chloe's hair and recoiling when she felt wet. There was blood on the floor. Blood from Chloe.
She wasn't a god, and she couldn't fix everything, but hopefully she had done enough.
Please gods, kwami and other wise, please let her have done enough.
*
Bee darted upwards, the clump of ice flying past her. Ladybug let out a sigh of relief, she should have known that Bee could take care of herself, this was nothing like the other time. There would never be another time like that, she wouldn't let it happen again.
Not to her partners, and not to her friends.
She tossed her yo-yo in the air, yelling "Lucky Charm", when her item landed in her hands, she did have to ask, "What the hell am I supposed to do with this?"
