Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug.
Winter Sonata
By: Princess Kitty1
A New Beginning
In the month following the disastrous engagement party, Marinette's life returned to its normal rhythm. She made her travel preparations, corresponded with Lila to find the best temporary apartment New York City had to offer someone with her budget, visited the police as Ladybug to tell them she'd be out of town for a while, and most importantly, tried to make nice with Nathanael's mother. Though some would say there had been no improvement on that front, Tikki insisted that monosyllables and grunts were much better than complete silence. Marinette wasn't sure if she believed that.
With all the excitement leading up to her departure, she didn't get a chance to tell Nathanael she was Ladybug. Or perhaps she used the excitement as an excuse to avoid the difficult task altogether. The wedding wouldn't take place for another couple of months, so did Nathanael really have to know right away?
Her conscience said yes. She ignored it.
The morning of Marinette's flight found her standing by the airport security line with Alya, Nino, and a severely dejected Nathanael, who'd spent the better part of ten minutes glaring towards the terminals as if they were personally responsible for his misery. Marinette knew the separation would be harder on Nathanael than on her, who had the good fortune of being the one traveling. Her New York to-do list was so long that she wondered when she would even have time to miss her fiancé.
"…and you have to Skype me at least every two days, girl. I want to know everything: where you went, what you ate, how your coworkers are treating you and whether they've declared you a fashion genius already…" Alya had been talking for five minutes straight; either she planned to live vicariously through Marinette, or she was trying to distract herself from how much she would miss her best friend. Marinette guessed it was a little bit of both.
Nino put a hand over Alya's mouth. "What she's trying to say is that she hopes you have fun," he said, then pulled back his hand with a disgusted groan. "Did you just lick me?"
Alya rolled her eyes and threw her arms around Marinette. "He acts like he hasn't had my tongue in his mouth," she whispered.
"Be nice to your husband," Marinette whispered back. She squeezed Alya extra hard. "I promise I will not only Skype every couple of days, but I will take a million pictures of New York's superheroes when I see them."
As part of her Ladybug job, Marinette had also gotten in contact with the pair of Miraculous holders who protected New York City from Hawkmoth. Huntsman and Loba were young—just a few years older than Marinette had been when she'd become Ladybug. She looked forward to the opportunity to mentor them.
Nathanael stepped in and draped an arm over Marinette's shoulders. "Now Alya, I hope you aren't expecting my fiancé to run straight into danger the way you used to when we were kids."
Alya raised an eyebrow at Marinette, who in turn shifted her gaze to the floor. She felt bad enough about not telling Nathanael her secret. She didn't need the guilt trip from her best friend, too. "I promise I'll only take pictures if I happen to be in the neighborhood of an akuma attack and in a safe hiding spot," she said. She remembered how nervous Nathanael had been in Paris's Hawkmoth days. Yet another reason she should have revealed her secret identity to him: to ease his troubled mind.
"Good," Nathanael said. "Because if you get hurt or akumatized, I'll be on the first flight to the city."
Marinette grinned at him. "Maybe I'll get akumatized just so you can visit me."
"Don't you dare." He kissed her forehead. "It's not fun, I promise."
"It really isn't," Nino said, and Alya walked over and put an arm around him. Marinette couldn't help but admire them. She had always aspired to a marriage like her parents', but she hadn't been around to see the complex beginnings of it. Alya and Nino's marriage, on the other hand, had weathered its fair share of storms right before her eyes, and everything that Alya learned became invaluable advice for Marinette.
She wondered what her own married life would be like. Hopefully not weighed down by secrets.
Marinette checked the time and sighed. "I guess I should get going," she said. Nathanael's arm tightened around her. She felt his reluctance in every part of his body that touched hers, and she loved him a little more for it. She gave him a peck on the lips. "Don't worry. I'll be fine."
Nathanael nodded and returned her peck with a firmer kiss. "Get in touch as soon as you can. Try not to wander around without Lila for a while so you don't get lost, and for the love of all that is good in this world, don't let her convince you to spend a fortune on our wedding."
Marinette laughed and hugged him as hard as she could, hoping to take the memory of his scent and his warmth and his security with her. She'd keep it front and center in her heart as a ward against the nightmares that masqueraded themselves as pleasant dreams. "I'll be back before you know it," she said.
With one last hug for Alya and Nino, Marinette picked up her carryon luggage and headed for the security line. She felt Tikki tap on her hip twice: her signal that the coast was clear for her to sneak past the metal detectors. "Good luck," Marinette said. Her jacket pocket lightened. Tikki was on her own.
Before she handed over her boarding pass, she looked back the way she'd come. Nathanael, Alya, and Nino stood at a distance and waved at her with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Alya pointed to the camera on her cell phone. Nathanael gave her a sad smile. Marinette waved at them, then moved along.
Towards the terminals. Towards New York City and the promise of a new and exciting adventure.
When I come back, she thought, I'll be ready to marry you, Nath. I promise.
x.x.x
Marinette spent most of the flight sleeping, more out of self-defense than actual exhaustion. Her secret identity wasn't the only thing she hadn't told Nathanael before she left. To that day, he still didn't know the real reason she'd run out on their engagement party.
She hadn't told him about seeing "Adrien."
And why should she? Even if she hadn't imagined the whole thing, it still meant she'd stalked a perfect stranger onto the metro and followed him halfway across town. Sane people didn't do things like that. All she would accomplish by telling Nathanael was to convince him that she needed psychological help. And she didn't need psychological help.
Did she?
When Marinette wasn't napping, she took pictures of the ocean below, the horizon ahead, and the deep blue sky above. Part of her still couldn't believe that the next morning would find her in an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar apartment in an unfamiliar city in a foreign country. No matter how much she'd tried to get used to the idea, she still couldn't wrap her head around it.
She'd left Paris. The city of her birth. The place she loved most in the world. The place that had caused her so much pain.
Who would she become in New York, away from the constant reminders of her past? Would she finally find the strength to move on and leave the memory of Adrien behind? No more dreams, no more falling apart over strangers who looked like him?
The rest of the flight she spent doing crossword puzzles with Tikki, who hid in her scarf and whispered which word went in which row of boxes. When the plane began its descent, Marinette glued herself to the window and watched the United States come into view. Judging by the bright sun and the clouds too sparse to interrupt it, New York was in for a beautiful day.
The plane landed smoothly. It took a short eternity to taxi, and Marinette's heart beat faster as the moment to disembark grew nearer. Lila had promised to pick her up at the airport and deliver her straight to her apartment building, then take her out for a proper New York culinary welcome tour. Marinette wasn't sure what that entailed, but she was hungry enough not to care.
Unfortunately for her empty stomach, getting through security held her up a substantial amount. She stood in line with people who spoke more languages than she'd ever heard gathered in one place and tried not to gawk at everything. The last thing she wanted to do was give off a tourist vibe—though she hardly thought she would be in New York long enough to feel like anything but a tourist.
Once she'd assured the airport staff that she was not in the country illegally, she picked up her bags and headed for the exit. She felt a reassuring weight sink into her pocket: Tikki had joined her again. "Okay," she said as she stepped out of the building and into the cold afternoon, "where do we find Lila?"
Before Tikki could answer, the sound of breaking glass and crunching metal made several people stop and look around. Panicked screams filled the air. Pedestrians began to run, and drivers abandoned their cars in the middle of the road. Marinette put a protective hand over her pocket and ran in the opposite direction of the fleeing crowd.
A moving mountain of luggage with glowing red eyes blocked outbound traffic. "You've lost my luggage for the last time!" it howled before stretching out an arm-like appendage and punching a hole through the airport wall.
Marinette huffed. "Really? I just got here!"
"Looks like a job for Ladybug!" Tikki said with far more enthusiasm than Marinette felt. But before Marinette could say the magic words, a voice called her name.
Lila, wearing a fashionable overcoat and Burberry scarf, hid behind a taxi cab a few cars back, waving her over. Marinette looked at her, then back at the akuma victim, then back at Lila. It had been so long since she'd fought a magical being that she couldn't think of a proper excuse to run away and transform. She had no choice but to run to Lila, who grabbed her by the arms and hauled her off in the same direction everyone else had gone.
"Well!" Lila cried after they'd put suitable distance between themselves and the akuma victim. "Welcome to New York!"
Marinette couldn't help but laugh at that. "Is the airport going to be okay?" she asked. Everything within her screamed to find a place to ditch Lila, then go back and put a stop to the attack.
"Oh sure! It isn't the first time and it won't be the last!" Lila stopped and pointed into the distance. "See? Help has arrived already."
Marinette spotted a small gray figure bounding over seemingly impossible distances: Loba, one of New York City's Miraculous holders. While Lila kept dragging her away, Marinette watched as the young superhero landed on a cab with such force that it put a crater in the roof and blew out the windows. Loba's power, Master Fu had told her, was super strength. A pair of gray ears twitched on top of her head. Her suit was made mostly of black armor, but the arms and legs were thick patches of gray fur that ended in lethal claws.
"What seems to be the trouble, good citizen?" Loba yelled at the luggage monster, who turned to face her with a roar. But that was all Marinette got to see before she stumbled over someone's abandoned suitcase and reminded herself she was supposed to be running away.
A group of people had gathered a safe distance from the action. Now that their panic had subsided, they grumbled about their own lost luggage, missed meetings, and other delays caused by the akuma attack. As Marinette and Lila stopped to catch their breath, Marinette listened to the talk around her and translated the English as best as she could.
"What rotten luck. Eight months without an attack on JFK and now this!"
"They weren't even finished making the repairs from last time!"
"How in the world is Paris still standing after all their akuma attacks?"
Lila didn't seem to be paying half as much attention to the surrounding chatter. She pulled a mirror out of her designer handbag and fixed her bangs. "We should be fine here while Spider Kid and Wolf Girl do their thing." She snapped the mirror shut, then gave Marinette a tight hug. "I'm so happy you're here! I hope you don't have any serious plans for today, because I have got a jam-packed itinerary for the afternoon. Sightseeing, restaurants—did the airline feed you at all? Poor thing, you must be starving!"
Marinette's stomach growled, but she could hardly think about that. Back in the tunnel, Loba seemed to be toying with the luggage monster. She jumped around various pieces of it while it swung at her in frustration, and then, to Marinette's amazement, she kicked a taxi cab straight into the monster's face.
"There's Huntsman!" a voice cried just as a white sticky thread bound one of the monster's arms to the top of the traffic tunnel.
Loba seized the opportunity to jump in and slice open a carryon bag close to the monster's mouth. A familiar purple butterfly darted out of the bag, only to end up caught in a web. Marinette watched as a tall figure in a light brown superhero suit dropped down from the ceiling of the tunnel and collected the trapped butterfly, then inspected the surrounding damage, then turned to Loba, who scuffed the asphalt with her foot in what was clearly a sheepish gesture. Huntsman reached out and ruffled her hair.
Marinette's heart ached.
A hand landed on her shoulder. "Hey," Lila said, "show's over. Let's get your stuff and leave before the police show up and make the traffic even worse."
"Sure," Marinette said. She watched the two superheroes help the formerly akumatized man walk off to the side of the road, and her traitorous mind took her back to the times she and Chat Noir had done the same thing.
Perhaps it wouldn't be so easy to leave the past behind after all.
x.x.x
On their way through Queens, Lila pointed out half a dozen landmarks that Marinette wasn't sure she could have kept straight even if her English had been perfect. "And Brooklyn is full of great restaurants," she continued as the taxi labored its way through traffic. "My darling was a bit skeptical at first, but he knows that I have an eye and an ear for new trends so in the end, he trusted my judgment. He trusts me on a lot of things, you know. Good relationships have to be built on trust. But I'm sure you know all about that, being engaged to Nathanael and all."
Marinette smiled at Lila and hoped none of her guilt showed through. "Right," she said.
"How is Nathanael doing anyway? Sabrina told me the two of you were going to get married before you came to New York, but I don't see a wedding ring."
Marinette looked down at her hands. Lila was as shrewd as always. "We decided to postpone it until after my trip. It's nothing serious, I just wasn't as ready as I thought I was, and the timing wasn't great…"
"Right," Lila said in a strange tone, then turned her attention back to the front of the cab. "No, you're absolutely right. Bad timing will set the tone for the rest of the marriage and you don't want that. It's why Felix and I haven't been able to decide on a date for our wedding. Things just keep getting in the way!" She laughed it off, but Marinette knew Lila well enough to know when she was annoyed. She felt a little sorry for her. If she herself had been half as desperate to get married—
But that was dangerous thinking.
"Here comes the main event!" Lila cried, her cheer restored.
Marinette leaned forward to look out the front window and gasped. They were headed towards a bridge, and beyond that stood Manhattan with its cluster of skyscrapers against a backdrop of perfect blue sky. She had never seen anything like it before.
"It's even better up close," Lila said. "Paris has its own charms, but there's nowhere in the world quite like New York City." She grasped both of Marinette's hands. "I hope you love it here. I intend to make you love it here. You'll never be content to stay in Paris again by the time our tour is finished."
With New York being one of the biggest fashion centers of the world, Marinette knew there was a good chance that she would end up coming back someday. For the time being, she intended to spend as much free time as she had swinging from building to building, seeing the sights from a vantage point that she could only get as Ladybug. She wanted to soak in as much of that miraculous city as possible.
Lila's phone rang and she brought it to her ear with the speed of a businesswoman. "Yes? Oh, hi honey! We're crossing the Brooklyn Bridge right now."
Marinette tuned out Lila's conversation and nudged Tikki with her thumb. In return, Tikki tapped on her hand a number of times, spelling out hungry in Morse code, and Marinette smiled. They'd learned to communicate that way out of necessity; it had proven quite useful over the years.
"But you promised!" Lila's disappointed tone broke Marinette's concentration. She stuck out her bottom lip as if her fiancé could see her from wherever he was. "I know it's important, but so is eating. Did you even have breakfast this morning?"
Over the cab radio's music Marinette could just make out a deep male voice speaking in what sounded like French on the other end.
Lila huffed. "Fine. But we're only rescheduling. You won't get out of this dinner a second time, got it?" She hung up before her fiancé could answer. "That was Felix, bailing on us. I'd so wanted you to meet him today, but I guess it's just going to have to be us girls."
Marinette couldn't help but be a little disappointed herself. She was dying to see what kind of man Lila had consented to marry, if only so she could tell everyone back home about it.
Manhattan was just as crowded with pedestrian traffic as it was vehicular traffic. Men and women in suits, tourists in I Love NY t-shirts, fashionably dressed women, and kids in school uniforms all crisscrossed from one street to another, disappearing into stores and restaurants and other businesses. "Are there usually this many people, or is there something special going on today?" Marinette asked.
"Nope, this is the daily standard," Lila said. "Well, it's the new daily standard. There used to be a lot more people, but tourism is down thanks to Hawkmoth." She winked at Marinette. "No one wants to be akumatized on vacation, right?"
"Right," Marinette said. She could imagine the chaos of all these people stampeding away from an akuma attack. She'd hardly been able to get her mind off the one at the airport. Hunstman and Loba were the sole superheroes of this massive city, and neither of them had a Miraculous Cure to set everything right again. The damage caused by each akuma attack had to be repaired the old-fashioned way.
Marinette turned away from Lila to hide the grin on her face. For years, she'd had almost nothing to do as Ladybug. Nonmagical criminals never sliced the Eiffel Tower in half or tossed cars around like they were toys. Even though she'd continued to use the Miraculous Cure, she'd never really needed it.
But New York City needed it. They needed Ladybug. And for the next couple of weeks, they would have her.
To Be Continued
A/N: I've had writer's block. It's my fault for bragging about how I haven't had writer's block in years. So I won't make any promises about a regular update schedule for this fic, but I do hope I'm getting back into the swing of things now.
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