This chapter had two major inspirations:

- Inspired by My Hero Academia OST (I'll never let you go again.)

- Also inspired by the fanfiction "Crimson as a Rose" written by EthelPhantom.

Betrayal and Solitude.

It was the name of her two best friends for a few years now.

It all began when Marinette got a pair of magic earrings that gave her the power of creation. In order to protect Paris from the attacks of Hawk Moth, the young lady fought with all her might. The trouble was to reconcile his private life with his heroic life. She then had to start lying to her parents, to her friends, more than once so that her secret identity would not be discovered. Marinette sometimes struggled to make ends meet. Her parents often asked her why she was tired, and she reassured them as best she could.

Of course, one day, all of this ends up falling on her. But not the way she imagined it would. It was two people who ruined her life: Lila Rossi and Chloe Bourgeois.

The first by distributing lies over and over again, and the second by making sure to use her influences to ruin the brunette's life.

Lila swore war when the young lady made her understand that her tissue of lies did not take with her. The little Italian girl ruined her life more than once with her lies. But the brunette was more cunning than she seemed, and for a while she managed to escape the liar's traps.

What actually led Marinette to her downfall was her too much kindness-or naivety-. Influenced by Adrien's words, but also by the words of Miss Bustier, the brunette vainly hoped to be able to save Lila*. It wasn't until much later that the teenager understood that sometimes some people need a good lesson to learn from their mistakes. Passivity was not always the viable long-term solution.

One day her parents heard about Lila's lies and started questioning Marinette. Having been late several times in junior high and high school, Lila spread the idea that Marinette had a bad attendance record. The brunette's parents began to restrict her movements more and more. Then the Italian began to say that Marinette was helping Hawk Moth and that's why she was late. The French-Chinese girl had no way to defend herself, not being able to tell the truth about her double identity. This earned her many hours of interrogation by the police and the disappointment of her parents who believed the liar. She only owed her salvation to Adrien and Kagami who came to save her. Marinette was hurt that her parents didn't believe her and went to live with her grandfather.

She and Alya were friends for a long time. Unfortunately, because of her repeated lies to prevent her identity from being discovered, Alya began to have doubts about Marinette. Lila managed to convince her that Marinette was actually a bad person. It took time, Alya didn't turn her back overnight, but little by little the venom made its way and the young lady ended up turning her back on her. The brunette didn't blame her. Eventually, her other classmates went their separate ways. Life went on.

Time passed. Hawk Moth was defeated. Two important events would happen then. First, Marinette became the guardian of the miraculous. She and Adrien began a relationship. But soon the young woman fell apart. Marinette soon realized that she didn't know the boy, who was supposed to be the love of her life, as well as she thought she did. When Adrien regularly asked her to turn into Ladybug, Marinette realized that Adrien had the same problem she had, they both loved an idealized version of themselves.

Their relationship was intense but didn't last. Eventually, they simply became friends. Marinette attended Adrien and Kagami's wedding, being their best girl. The brunette was sincerely happy for them.

Then Chloe Bourgeois decided to take revenge on Marinette who was in a relationship with Adrien at the time. She managed to convince her mother Audrey Bourgeois to banish Marinette from the world of fashion. The poor brunette got blacklisted. To make matters worse, Lila managed to convince Alya that Marinette had been harassing her since college. Therefore, to avenge the honour of her new friend, the teenager campaigned to destroy Marinette's website.

The brunette decided not to fight back, despite the fact that Adrien, Kagami, Luka and a few others were ready to fight to protect her honor.

Time passed, and Lila decided she wasn't finished with Marinette yet. The Italian viper played one last terrible trick on her. She used photo montages and sent them to Kagami to make her believe that Marinette was trying to steal Adrien from her. The problem was that Adrien had also cheated on his wife - it was a mistake; he was drunk at the time - but nobody knew that. Seeing a way out of an unpleasant situation without losing face, the blond man betrayed his best friend by saying that Lila was telling the truth.

In the wake of this scandal, everyone turned their backs on her. Only Luka and Alix didn't believe the story for a second. Alas, to prevent them from being lynched, Marinette chose to leave.

Since then the young woman lived reclusive in a small apartment. She redid a site by taking the nickname "MDC". Marinette lived like a hermit, far from all and everything. Just like her grandfather before her.

Until she meets him: Jason.

At first, she was suspicious of him because of the strange aura that emanated from his body. Later, the Kwamis explained to her that it was the work of the Lazarus's pit. The waters in this pit had properties similar to Tikki's and could heal any wound. The problem was that these pits were created as a result of a vow using simultaneously the miraculous of creation and destruction. As a result, the pit could heal, but in exchange the one who bathed in it would lose his mind. Marinette was horrified.

Most disturbing was when Fluff explained that this Jason had "his time stopped".

"What do you mean by that Fluff?

— That boy should be dead.

— WHAT?!

— It's like he's out of whack... someone or something has disrupted the course of time. That's what's keeping this boy alive. I think the Lazarus pit helped him get "fixed", but there are still cracks."

Marinette decided to keep an eye on this new neighbor.

The more time passed, the more Marinette realized that Jason was a good person.

The brunette started going out much more often. She laughed more, smiled more. It was as if the time that had frozen for her after taking on the burden of being a guardian was returning to normal.

Marinette felt alive.

Then Jason started acting strange, avoiding her. The French-Chinese woman was upset, but most of all, extremely worried. That strange aura around Jason, who had practically disappeared since they met, was back. And to make matters worse, the aura was getting stronger every day.

One day, she had a bad feeling. When she realized that Jason wasn't coming back when it was almost 3am - she couldn't sleep if she wasn't sure he was home safely... YES, she was listening to the sounds of the hallway, don't judge her!-.

The brunette made the decision to find him.

She found him half-freezing in an alley.

"Jason? Is it you?"

He barely reacts to her voice.

Plagg by her side looked at the young man.

"It's bad Marinette, the magic of the pit is consuming him...

— Plagg is right Marinette, it is the side effect of the Lazarus pit, Jason is in a very serious state!"

Marinette looked at Tikki for a moment. Then approached Jason gently, fearing to frighten him.

"Let's start by slowly warming him up. Then we bring him home, he needs our help. The rest we'll see later."

Jason had a high fever for several days. He was delirious and sometimes cried in his sleep. The brunette took care of him while he was in bed, constantly wondering what hell his poor friend must have gone through to be in such agony...

Her heart broke when she saw him in this state.

When the young man woke up, he was disoriented. Yet, to Marinette's great surprise, Jay told her, on his own, what had happened.

Jason told her about his past.

Marinette was sincerely horrified to learn of all that the man she considered a friend had gone through.

After these events, Jason and Marinette got closer.

And soon... new feelings were born in her heart. She tried to bury them. It was the first time she had a friend for a long time... It was clearly not the time to ruin everything because her heart couldn't see a nice boy, that it had been getting excited about all by itself!

Then one day, when she had just dropped her ice on her brand-new dress, the Franco-Chinese understood that it was too late.

Jason laughed out loud at her clumsiness.

At that very moment time stood still. The laughter seemed to come straight from the heavens, so sweet was the melody to the young woman's ears. The young man seemed to shine with a thousand sparkles. When he looked at her after wiping away a tear, Marinette thought she saw jewels, his eyes were so splendid. Jason was incredibly handsome.

Her heart missed a beat.

The brunette couldn't deny it anymore.

I fell in love with Jason.

Maybe it wasn't a surprise. After all, Jason was a charming, intelligent, funny, strong, admirable, courageous young man... Loyal... Incredible kindness to her, always there when she needed help...

Do you listen to Yourself Marinette...?

The day ended far too quickly to the taste of the young lady. They went back together.

"Mmmmh, Mari?

— Yes?"

When she looked at him, Marinette thought she was going to die of a heart attack. The dark-haired man looked her straight in the eyes, with a sweet smile. Then he gently moved closer to her face to give her a gentle kiss on the cheek. Her cheeks flamed.

"Thank you for everything.

— W-Welcome You! I-I mean y-you're w-w-welcome! "

When Marinette returned to her apartment, she let herself slide along the door holding her cheek. Her heart was beating so fast, she was sure the whole building must be shaking. Then a blissful smile formed on her face.

This day marked a turning point in their relationship.

They spent even more time together. Jason often took her out to dinner at the restaurant. Or even just out for a walk.

Marinette was happy.

The more time she spent with him, the more her heart screamed that this boy was the man of her life. The tranquility she felt when he was there was unparalleled. Never before had the young woman felt such a feeling.

Even Adrien never made me feel that way...

The young woman then made a decision. She would tell Jason the whole truth. After talking to the Kwamis, they all agreed. Tikki was so excited by the idea, that she began to create certain objects by accident.

So, all week long she secretly trained to make a surprise dinner for Jason. When the famous evening arrived, the brunette was extremely nervous. So much so that she almost burned the kitchen several times, almost spilled juice on Jason... Not to mention her tongue, which refused to let her say a single sentence without sputtering.

"Jay... I... Humm... S-Something to tell you"

He did not answer but plunged his gaze into her own.

She took a deep breath. From the corner of her eye she could see that the Kwamis were watching the scene in a corner.

Marinette went ahead and told Jason absolutely everything. About her life as a superhero, about the miraculous, about Master Fu, about her role as a guardian. He listened attentively without ever interrupting her. Her fists were clenched and her whole body trembled. It was the fear of rejection.

When she had finished her story, he laid his hand on hers.

"Marinette, look at me."

She looked up and widened them immediately.

Sweet lip had just landed on hers. Her brain had a short circuit. She then closed her eyes, taking advantage of this gentle warmth and responded to this unexpected kiss.

Marinette knew at that moment that heaven was called Jason.

Six years later.

From then on, Marinette and Jason ran a biblio-café* together which was called "Renaissance" - the idea came from Jason-. The establishment was located near a faculty and was very popular with the students. In fact, in this café, it was possible to enjoy a drink while consulting the books made available by the establishment. The biblio-cafe also offered homemade cakes! These were excellent and quickly became the reputation of the place. Over time, Jason also came up with the idea of offering soundproof workrooms. This way, it was possible to rent these rooms for both work and tranquility. Reservations were made on the online booking system and were done on a half-day basis. The success was immediate. Soon both had to hire staff to help them in their work.

Marinette regularly changed the decoration of the place so that it was always trendy. Thanks to her connections with certain celebrities such as Jagged Stone or Clara Nightingale, the publicity of the place was assured.

Both worked hard to grow their businesses. Their efforts were so successful that they were able to open four more establishments in the space of three years.

Marinette continued to make commissions, but with some notable small changes: MDC gave way to MJT for Marinette Johnson-Todd, happy wife of Jason Peter Johnson-Todd. Indeed, Jason decided to take the surname of the woman who had raised him, namely Catherine Johnson. It was his way of rejecting the man he once considered a father.

The young woman will never forget the day when her favorite man decided to make her the happiest woman on earth.

It was Valentine's Day. They were celebrating their two years together. They had both agreed that Marinette would prepare something for the day and Jason would prepare something for the evening.

During the day, Marinette decided to abuse her guardian power -with the agreement of the Kwamis-, and had fun taking Jason on a free trip around the world, thanks to Kaalki. They visited Florence in Italy; a beautiful city known for its art. Then, they went to London where there was an exhibition about Jane Austen, Jason's favorite author. They ate in a nice little family restaurant on the British mainland. Then they spent the afternoon in London walking around together, going from coffee shop to coffee shop, testing certain teas in tea shops... They wanted to open a business together, so they looked for ideas... When the sun was about to set, they took a walk around the London Eye.

It was a romantic scene... They were just both in the cabin and could watch the sun set next to each other.

In the evening, Jason surpassed himself -as usual-. Their apartment had been plunged into a slight darkness. They were lit only by the light of candles that had been arranged throughout the apartment. The table had been beautifully set -when had he had time to do all this?-. Marinette thought she was in a five-star restaurant. Her boyfriend had prepared all her favorite dishes. A soft music had been put in the background.

Then, at the end of the meal, Marinette heard her favorite music reasoning in their small apartment. Jason reached out to her, inviting her to dance. The brunette was not prayed.

When the last notes rang out. Jason pulled a small black box out of his pocket, which he put in her hands. Marinette looked at the object with round eyes. She gently took the box in her hands and opened it. Inside, there was a piece of paper that she was quick to read:

My past is filled with grief and sadness.

My present is filled with warmth and tenderness.

Your mere presence is enough to erase all my pain.

I have learned that love is more than a word.

Meeting you was a gift I never hoped for.

I would like to keep it forever.

To be with you for eternity.

She raised her eyes to him in tears. He asked her the question, which she thought she would never have the right to hear.

"Will you marry me?"

Marinette jumped on his neck.

"Yes! Yes, I do! "

That was four years ago... and yet she remembered everything as if it were yesterday. Marinette laughed softly.

"What's so funny?"

The brunette shifted her attention to her husband. He looked at her with a slight smile, and that tender look he reserved only for her.

"Nothing. I was just thinking that I was happy to have met you Jay.

— Mmmh"

*From the Webisode on "Lila Rossi as seen by Marinette": In this video Marinette admits that she hopes to save Lila.

*Biblio-café: Exists in some cities in France, the principle is that you can order coffee, pastries, while enjoying the books in the establishment. A true fusion between a library and a coffee lounge!