"Ready," Marinette said. She still wasn't quite sure about what exactly was going to happen, but she was ready to do her best despite being nervous.
"I was born ready, m'lady," Chat Noir grinned as he walked towards Ladybug. Remembering how Chat had told about his unrequited feelings and the confusion in their relationship, Marinette wasn't sure if their goofy interactions were to fool Marinette or themselves. "Where's the elevator?"
"Right here," Ladybug pointed to her left. The fancy elevator was behind a wall, but it was only a few steps away from the group. "But I'm afraid you're gonna have to use the stairs, chaton. Me and Marinette are taking the elevator," Ladybug carefully pulled Marinette inside the elevator with her and pressed a button.
"What?" Chat looked as confused as Marinette felt. But he didn't try to kick his way in, he just watched the doors close with his mouth open.
Marinette was left in the elevator alone with Ladybug. There was actually more space than she had imagined, easily room for more than ten people. Marinette watched as Ladybug pressed buttons to different floors, only one of which was below ground.
"Uh... What's this about?" Marinette asked. She wanted to trust that the superhero knew what she was doing, but it was hard.
"This must seem weird, I'm very sorry for confusing you," Ladybug said and leaned against the mirror opposite to Marinette. "I needed to talk to you about something. Without Chat."
"Okay," Marinette waited for her to continue. She quickly glanced at her reflection in the mirror to check if her pigtails were messy.
"It's actually about Chat. I'm not sure if he's mentioned anything about our relationship to you, but in any case, I was hoping you could help me. And him," Ladybug said. Marinette just now noticed how caring the superhero's eyes were. They weren't full of fire and lighting, they were warm in a different way.
The elevator doors opened as they had reached the second floor. Ladybug and Marinette let them close and continued their way to higher floors.
"Mmm," Marinette acknowledged what Ladybug had said but needed more information.
Ladybug let out a breath. "I think Chat really needs a friend right now. I know there's something going on behind the scenes. I'm worried about him, he needs someone to support him."
"Why can't that be you?" Marinette let out.
Ladybug smiled, but the smile didn't have a hint of joy. She looked sad. "It's complicated. But my point is, I'd like you to be his unconditional support."
They were on the third floor.
"Is this why you asked for my number?"
"You're a sweet girl, Marinette. And I know Chat knows that, too. So yes, this is the help I was thinking about earlier."
Marinette gulped. "I don't know what to say." She didn't know how to feel, either. She had finally let herself think that she was wanted on the mission. That she would help to save the missing people.
"Please don't misunderstand. Of course you can help on this mission aswell, but this is just what I originally had to say. Marinette, I can see how good you are," Ladybug said. Marinette wasn't listening. She felt bad in the stomach and stupid in the head.
"I think I'm gonna take the stairs after all," she said as the doors opened once again. "And about that Chat thing, you don't need to tell me to be his friend. I already am."
o - o - o - o - o
The sound of Marinette stumbling down the stairs was loud. She didn't care, though. Well, she did care about the possibility of Chat hearing her, so she tried to be just a bit more quiet.
She really needed some fresh air. Ladybug talking about Chat Noir... It was great that she cared for her partner, but Marinette did not need to be told to support Chat, nor did Chat need Ladybug telling people to be his friend. And why couldn't Ladybug support Chat herself?
Why am I even here? If her only job had been to bring the cheese and listen to Ladybug talk about Chat Noir, she should just go home.
But something was stopping her from leaving. No, it wasn't that she couldn't leave. She didn't want to.
Marinette stopped her stumbling and took a moment to breath. She would definitely go to that basement and save the missing people, if they really were there. And she wouldn't do it like Ladybug. She would do it as herself and prove her worth.
Marinette closed her eyes, counted to ten and ran down the stairs. She was not missing this.
o - o - o - o - o
"Princess!"
Marinette panted and leaned on her knees. "Hi, kitty. Ladybug is still on her way."
Chat Noir was sitting on the floor of a big, gray room. Almost everything in this building was gray and it was starting to suck the life out of Marinette. But the boring color reminded her of pigeons, and they reminded her of Adrien. So maybe it wasn't that bad after all.
"Are you ok?" Chat asked. Marinette concluded she didn't look her best after the running and stressing out. Even though she had looked okay just a minute ago! She threw a distracted nod at Chat.
The doors opened and Ladybug came out. "Marinette," she said.
"It's fine. Really," Marinette said. They didn't have time for this.
"Gonna explain to me what happened?" Chat Noir raised his other eyebrow and stood up.
"Girl stuff," Marinette said vaguely.
"Okayyy. Well, I took a look at some of the rooms but there was nothing special. Offices, play rooms. I actually remembed one of the kitchens," Chat said. "Anyway. This one is locked," he pointed at a heavy-looking metal door. It certainly was thick enough to keep voices in.
"Could the key be in one of the offices?" Marinette asked.
"It's possible," Ladybug said. "But there's too many," she spun around to put weight on the amount of the wooden doors.
"I'll use my Cataclysm," Chat said and raised his fist.
"But we're not even sure if this is the place," Ladybug sighed. "Still, we do need to give it a try."
"We'll just have to be really quick," Marinette said. She knew Chat wouldn't take much time to transform back into his civilian form after using his power.
Chat nodded with a serious face. "Cataclysm!"
Marinette witnessed dark energy dance around Chat's fingers before he smashed his fist into the metal door. She stood in silence when the door lost its original color and turned to black. A light touch from Chat was enough to make the newly black door fall.
The sight that followed made Marinette hold her breath.
Ladybug was the first to step into the dark room, with Chat Noir and Marinette walking behind her. The room they entered seemed like it was very big, but boxes were covering up so much space that Marinette wasn't sure where exactly the walls were. Some of the boxes were opened and some had people sitting on them.
People. About fifteen people were sitting or lying down, one woman was walking in circles. Marinette gulped. There were a couple of children, elderly people, adults... Everybody looked tired and spiritless, but now they all turned their heads to the group.
"Attention, everybody! We have come here to save you, do not worry anymore!" Ladybug declared with a determined look on her face. Marinette saw hope making its way to the eyes of the people. One boy hugged a woman who Marinette assumed to be his mother.
"We'll call the cops and help the people who don't have the energy to get home themselves," Chat said. He swiftly avoided stepping on a toy near him. There were other toys on the floor aswell. Marinette thought they were probably from the boxes.
Ladybug gave Chat Noir and Marinette a look that said they should do something. Marinette's legs moved to an elderly woman to ask if she was okay and Chat Noir checked on a crying little girl. Ladybug herself took out her phone in order to call the cops.
Marinette had a million questions. How were they trapped? Why here? Did they get food? How did the employees miss this? How did the akumas make their way here? But she put everything aside. It wasn't appropriate to bother the trapped people with questions, and right now they should just be allowed to make their way home.
Marinette helped the elderly woman with white hair stand up when someone yelled out.
"It's here! It's here again!" a frightened middle-aged man panicked. Marinette made sure the woman was standing firmly before turning around to see what was the reason for the yell.
A black butterfly with purple highlights was flying near the ceiling. Marinette stiffened. An akuma.
"Is this because Hawkmoth knows we're here or because something's happening on the outside?" Chat Noir asked and looked ready to fight. It would be bad if there was an accident going on outside, an akuma attack could really do some damage. Yes, Ladybug could fix things with her powers, but human lives and a scared atmosphere would be different.
"Everybody, stay calm!" Ladybug said while trying to give directions to the phone.
The butterfly was actually kind of pretty, in a twisted sense. At least it had potential to be beautiful after Ladybug would catch it. Marinette stared as the akuma made it's way across the room and landed on a gingerheaded girl's glasses.
"No!" The girl screamed. Ladybug and Chat Noir took position with grave faces. Marinette hastily ran to the girl, she needed to do something. She needed to say something.
"You need to fight it!" Marinette yelled with a shaky, yet loud voice.
Wait. I know this girl.
"Sabrina! You need to fight it!" she yelled again, louder. Even though Sabrina was now only a few steps away from her, Marinette couldn't keep her volume down.
"I can't! I can't!" Sabrina was holding her head with both hands. Marinette bit her lip. There was no way she'd let this happen.
"You can do it! I know you can!" Marinette insisted. Ladybug and Chat weren't trying to convince Sabrina with her, they were used to fighting. But that's not the only option.
"No! I'm nothing without Chloe, and she's not here! She's the only reason I ever do anything!" the girl screamed. Marinette didn't know how much more time they had.
"That's wrong!" Marinette yelled. "You're so many things. You just don't see it! You're hardworking, loyal, smart - "
"But!" Sabrina cried. She was trying her hardest not to let the akuma take control. Her teeth were tightly pressed against each other.
"With our without Chloe! You're you, and that's enough!" Marinette yelled. She meant it. Marinette knew Sabrina had done some awful things, but she also knew that Sabrina could grow from all that. She just needed to be given a shot.
"I'm... enough?" Sabrina whispered. Her hands let go of her head and she blinked slowly.
Marinette witnessed as Sabrina's glasses broke down within a second. A white butterfly flew out of the pieces. Purified?
Everybody was staring at the butterfly that flew away. It didn't seem harmful anymore. It was glowing light.
"I fought it?" Sabrina fell down on her knees.
"We've never seen anyone purify an akuma like that," Ladybug said and let her right arm holding her yo-yo fall down. She had put her phone away so the police were probably on their way.
"Are you okay?" Chat Noir asked and offered the gingerhead a hand.
"Yes," Sabrina stood up with the help of Chat. "I've been feeling so anxious for the the hours I've spent here. No, before today, too..." She wiped her tears. "Thanks, Marinette."
"You're the one who fought the akuma," Marinette smiled weakly. "I only pointed out facts."
"Sure, but sometimes facts are hard to see," Sabrina pulled Marinette into a hug. A wave of comfort hit Marinette.
"We need to get these people out before Hawkmoth sends more akumas," Ladybug said and took the hands of two children.
Before heading out the door, the spotted superhero briefly glanced at Marinette. And smiled.
Author's Note:
Hi everyone! There's been a longer break than usual for this chapter, whoops. I was in France and then wrote a small one-shot :D This chapter was also harder to write than usual, because I wasn't quite sure how I'd execute the final scene. But it's here now ;) And it has 2k words, woooo.
Right, so let's hope we're now really past Marinette's gloomy stage and can have her do stuff besides moping around xd The next chapter will have some interesting things that I won't spoil! ;)
To princess: It's a very hard decision on what my favorite ship is, don't make me choose ;-; I love Marichat but I think I might just have to go with Adrienette... Stuttering Mari is just too lovely.
Once again, thank you for all your support! :)