"Ok, class," Mrs. Bustier tried to smile bravely at the front of the class. "It's time to elect a class president!"
"Now?" Kim questioned. "School started forever ago-shouldn't we have found a president the first week of school?"
"Ordinarily, yes," Mrs. Bustier shuffled through the pile of papers on her desk. It didn't look like she had a specific paper she was looking for, and was just doing her best not to look at the class. "However, this year has been a little...odd, what with all the Makara and Akuma attacks. The school had decided to hold off on this for a while, and I suspect Principal Damocles eventually forgot about it all until Mrs. Mendeleiv brought it up at our last staff meeting. So, here we are," Mrs. Bustier looked up from her desk. She was stress personified. Her voice squeaked when she spoke. "We are to have the election today. I trust you kids can settle it yourselves, yes? Good-I'll be in the bathroom!" She ran out of the room, and no one moved for a second.
"It's obvious who should be class president," Chloe stood and sauntered to the front of the class, resting her hip on Mrs. Bustier's desk.
"Me?" Marinette asked sarcastically from her seat. Chloe crossed her arms.
"No!" Their tentative truce had ended as soon as Lila stopped bringing attention to herself with her lies, and now the two girls were back to acting as they usually did. "Me!"
"Why would anyone want you as class president?" Marinette questioned. "What could you possibly offer to the class?"
"Money," Chloe grinned. "Money wins elections, and I have plenty of it-I'll be sure to win."
"Your dad's broke," Kim pointed out. "He's the mayor of Paris during one of the biggest crises the city has ever seen. Where on earth could you get money?"
"My mom," Chloe rolled her eyes. "Aubrey Clarence. She's a huge fashion designer. Right now she lives in New York, working on her collaboration with Michael Kors. She sends me whatever I need."
"If it's money you want, I have money, too!" Lila piped up from the back. Marinette and Chloe exchanged glances. This would not do. "Plus, I actually have friends in class."
"Chloe has friends," Marinette defended at the same time Adrien said,
"I'm Chloe's friend."
He looked at her, surprised. She ignored him. Be nice, Marinette. He's Nino's friend.
"I have more friends," Lila corrected. "So I should be class president!" Lila basically skipped to the front of the class, where Chloe was waiting, glaring at her. Lila turned and faced the class. "What do you guys say? I have money, and I'm your friend, so I have your best interest at heart! I'd be a great class president!"
"Oh, come on," Marinette complained. "If your standards are low enough to consider electing her, you might as well make me class president. I might not have money, but I have friends in class, and I actually know what the job would entail."
"Come on, then," Alya said, grabbing Marinette's arm and pulling her to her feet. Marinette's legs protested as Alya pulled her to the front of the room. She collapsed in Mrs. Bustier's chair, and Alya stood in front of the three girls gleefully before turning to the class.
"These three seem to be our final candidates, unless someone else wants to run?"
Everyone was silent.
"Ok!" Alya clapped her hands. "Let's have each candidate give a speech. Lila, you're the newest student, so you go first: why should we vote for you?"
"Easy. I'm personable, I'm smart, and I'll do everything in my power to give us the best textbooks and field trips. Plus, my mom is a foreign diplomat. With me as president, we can have the power to change a bunch of class rules!"
The class seemed receptive to her speech. Alya chose Chloe to speak next.
"I've known you longer, so I could help more. I know we have problems with hearing the teacher, so I'd give our teachers microphones. Some of you can't afford good food and have to degrade yourselves by eating the disgusting food they serve in the cafeteria-I would replace the staff here with better cooks. I'm sure I have more money than Lila-anything she could buy, I would buy two of. And I have good rapport with the principal, so if we ever get in trouble, I'd be there to get us out of trouble."
Marinette face palmed. Did neither of them know what a class president actually did? She started speaking before Alya prompted her to.
"If I were a class president, I'd attend all the student council meetings and fill you guys in on what was discussed. I'd also make sure to be an advocate for anyone in class-I'd fight for anyone who felt unheard or discriminated against. And, since I'm not swimming in money, I'd get someone to organize a fundraiser for us, and I'd supervise."
Alya gave the girls a round of applause.
"Any questions from the class for Lila, Chloe, or Marinette?"
"Marinette, why wouldn't you organize the fundraiser yourself?" Rose asked.
"I don't have the time," Marinette rubbed her eyes. She hadn't finished her coffee, and she was so tired. How many hours of sleep had she gotten last night? Four?
"If you don't have the time for a fundraiser, how would you make the time to go to all the meetings?" Mylene questioned.
"I'd make the time somehow," Marinette shrugged. "Just like how I make time for my shift at the bakery, and for my mom's...family business."
"You said you'd stand up for anyone," Lila said from next to her, grinning like the Cheshire cat. "Are we certain you can keep that promise? I certainly know I've been on the other side of your wrath before. Would you protect me from yourself?"
"Yes," Marinette said. "If you came to me and said you felt like I'd attacked you or discriminated against you, I would publicly apologize and take corrective actions against myself."
"And how are we supposed to trust that you'll actually go through with that?" Lila asked innocently. "Are we just going to have to take your word for it, and then hope for the best?"
"I think we can trust her." Marinette gaped at the boy who'd just spoken. She had been trying to be nice to Adrien, of course, but she never would have imagined that he, of all people, would stand up for her character. "You might not have noticed, Lila, but Marinette always stands up against people she thinks are wrong, even if that means defending someone she doesn't like. I trust someone like that, and I'd vote for Marinette."
Marinette was touched. She knew she hadn't shown her best face to the blonde model, but somehow he had still noticed the part of her she was most proud of-her sense of justice, and the urge to fight for it. She pursed her lips, remembering what he'd done, and how he still hadn't owned up to it. It sounded like he appreciated her sense of honesty, and her compulsion to do the right thing no matter what. If only he had that same compulsion in him.
"Are you serious!" Chloe demanded, stomping her foot. Marinette found herself nodding in agreement. She couldn't help but question him:
"Why would you vote for me? You don't even like me."
"No, you don't like me," Adrien smiled at her. "But that doesn't matter. I've seen how honest you are, how hard-working and responsible you can be. And, you were the only one who seemed to actually know what's expected of a class president. I think you'd be the best person for the position."
Marinette smiled slightly. Maybe he was right. Maybe she didn't like him. She sure did like how he viewed her, though. It was flattering.
"You're seriously picking some pretty girl over your best friend?" Chloe fumed. Adrien looked at her like she was insane.
"Yes," he said deliberately. "Of course."
"There has to be some rule you're breaking!" She argued. "Some code in the best friend rule book, or something. This is unacceptable!"
"Is it ridiculous?" he asked.
"Yes! Utterly ridiculous!" Chloe stormed up to him and poked him in the chest as he laughed at her. "This is not funny!" She lowered her voice to imitate his: "'Yes, of course'-you dumbass! You could at least try to lie about it!"
"Lying is bad," Marinette piped up. Chloe spun around and glared at her.
"Don't you say anything!"
"Come on, Chloe," Sabrina called from the doorway. "Let's go to the cafeteria. I'm hungry, and I think they still have snacks."
Chloe stood still for a second, debating something in her mind, then nodded her head and followed Sabrina out the room.
"Time for an official vote!" Alya called. She had everyone close their eyes as she said each person's name, and tallied the votes.
"Ok, so a lot of you abstained from voting, but it looks like Marinette got four votes, Chloe got one, and Lila got five. So, I guess Lila wins."
Marinette volunteered to be the one who told Chloe. She and Chloe didn't normally get along, but when the topic was Lila, they might as well have been best friends. She figured Chloe would want a like-minded person near her when she heard the news of Lila's victory. Marinette walked through the halls. Sure, she was a little disappointed that she'd lost the election, but in the long-run, it was best. She was already so busy with her obligations, she'd run herself to an early grave if she'd also gotten the position. She'd mainly run for the position because of a sense of pride. She just wanted to show her classmates how incompetent Lila was when compared to someone like her. Obviously, that was not the outcome of the whole situation.
She heard Chloe and Sabrina talking up ahead and grimaced as she imagined Chloe's reaction. This was not going to be fun. She took another step forward, then stopped. The air grew damp and heavy, and sirens started through the halls. Principal Damocles's voice rang in the air, telling students to leave in an orderly fashion. Marinette ran out of there as fast as her legs could carry her, doing her best to ignore the still aching muscles.
Tikki had explained that the pain came as the price for the extra strength. Nothing came from nothing. The creations Marinette was able to make with Lucky Charm came from Tikki and Marinette's combined magic. The more they practiced using the magic, the faster they could create. That's why it had taken so long the first few times-lack of practice. In the last Makara fight, Marinette had demanded extreme strength, very quickly. Tikki had told Marinette that she didn't want to be in pain for Marinette's decision, so Marinette had suffered the consequences (and still was). She would have been angry, but Tikki's face had been so cute and fuzzy as she explained, macaron crumbs lying around her, that Marinette just couldn't find it in herself to yell at the little thing.
"Spots on," Marinette whispered as she ran into an abandoned alley. A light flashed, and she was Ladybug. Her muscles still ached, but the magic of the suit seemed to dull it a little.
"Be careful, Marinette," Tikki warned. "I can feel it again."
"Feel what?" Marinette asked, swinging through the city, searching for the Makara. She would not be late to the fight again-not after leaving her partner alone last time.
"It's stronger. The user is figuring out how to unlock a new power, but it's unpredictable."
"What are you talking about?" Marinette growled. "If you're going to be this cryptic, you might as well shut up!"
"Well, excuse me for trying to help," Tikki huffed. "Besides, I'm not trying to be vague-it's just hard to explain. Oh well, you'll see for yourself, I guess."
The Makara was large, excessively so. Its head was almost at the same height as the buildings around it. Its back was dome-shaped, like a turtle shell, but it had what looked like eels for feet. Its head was completely covered in scales, and she couldn't see its eyes. It seemed like the only weak spot the Makara had was the inside of its mouth. She couldn't tell what color it was, because it seemed covered in a bright yellow haze.
A small sound filled Marinette's ears as she stared at it, like a whistle. It wouldn't be too tough, she thought, to beat this Makara. She could take it, easily. Marinette saw an Akuma start to fly towards the Makara, and she felt an irrational surge of anger. What did the Akuma think it was doing? She didn't need any help-she could take down the Makara all on her own, damnit. She swung after it, unable to catch up until she saw the police beneath her. Cat Noir wasn't present. Good. She didn't need him.
"What are you doing here?" One of the officers snapped. "I don't need you today-go home."
"Like hell," she retorted, then ignored the rest of the cops surrounding her. They thought she couldn't do it-that they could take care of the Makara without her? She would just prove them wrong. She didn't need an Akuma's help, either. Her eyes narrowed as the Akuma threw a blue orb at the Makara's open mouth. It grew in size as it flew through the air, and by the time it reached the Makara's mouth, it was so large it kept the creature's mouth open. Apparently, the orb was very tough, because the Makara couldn't break it. Marinette growled. What did that Akuma think it was doing? She didn't need its help.
"Marinette, this is what I was warning you about!"
"Quiet, Tikki!" Ladybug snapped. She didn't need help from anyone-not even from Tikki.
She threw the yo-yo through the air, and it caught on the Akuma's leg. It looked down at her, startled. She pulled it towards her, to the ground. A part of her wanted to tell the cops to get their tasers out, that the Akuma needed to be sedated until Cat Noir could destroy its weak point. A larger part of her told her that was stupid. She didn't need the police's help. She didn't need anyone's help; she could prove it-she would take down the Makara alone. No police, no kwami, no partner.
The pride was moving through her body like blood, sometimes changing, evolving into a sense of jealousy. Stupid Cat Noir with his unflappable kindness and pretty smile and beautiful hair and gorgeous teeth. She wanted to be like him-to be able to single-handedly defeat Akuma and Makara alike. She wanted to be able to inspire the sort of admiration she felt towards him. She wanted to not need him-to be completely independent.
Inside, a voice spoke up: wasn't she already like that? What was there to be jealous of?
Marinette shook her head. Everything. She had everything to be jealous of. Until she could prove herself to the world, there would always be something, or someone, to be jealous of.
She stopped reeling in the Akuma. She had a better idea. She needed it unconscious so she could destroy its weak point. What easier way to do that than to slam it against a wall? Marinette spun in a circle, the Akuma at the end of her yo-yo. It went through the air, faster and faster, until she aimed the Akuma at a building. With a boom, it smashed into the wall, and she saw the Akuma fall, limp. That wasn't much of a challenge. Or, maybe, she was just stronger than she'd thought she was.
"I'll handcuff the Akuma!" an officer ran forward. Another officer pushed her to the ground, getting out his own pair.
"No, I will!"
"I'll get the hand covers!" a third yelled, running to get something to cover the Akuma's hands and nullify its magic with. Two other officers chased him, arguing that they could do it better. Ladybug didn't care; she had defeated the Akuma, and now it was up to them to keep it contained. Marinette's focus turned elsewhere, to the Makara. The Makara moved forward, the smell burning her nose. For a moment she shut her eyes, fighting the nausea. She stepped towards it on steady legs, forcing her eyes open. Then, she froze. She hadn't seen him before, but there he was, underneath the stomach of the Makara: Cat Noir.
He was holding his staff like a pole and extending it. It looked like he was trying to use it to lift the Makara up. The Makara weighed too much, though, and the staff was just being jammed into the street.
"I have a better plan!" She did not have a better plan. She ran towards the Makara, getting her yo-yo ready. "Go back to the police!"
"No way in hell!" He snarled back at her. She stumbled in her surprise. Cat Noir retracted his staff and ran out from under the Makara. Marinette shook her head. She didn't have time for her inconvenient emotions-she had to prove that she could defeat the Makara by herself. She threw her yo-yo and it wrapped around the Makara's neck. As she pulled herself up the Makara's body, the yellow haze around it grew stronger, and so did her confidence. Of course she could take on the monster by herself-how could she not?
She continued to pull herself up. Cat Noir appeared by her side, his staff growing to raise him up to her height. In front of them, the Makara screeched. Its skin looked like that of an elephant-tough and thick. One of its feet must have slipped, because it leaned to the right, straight into a building. Marinette was pulled along as the Makara fell. The building crumbled, and Cat Noir landed on top of the Makara's legs. They were so fish-like it reminded Marinette of sushi.
"Lucky Charm!" she called out. Cat Noir turned and glowered at her.
"I don't need your help!" He yelled, moving towards her. It was so hard to concentrate when she knew he was approaching. The image in her mind kept slipping away. Tikki tried to speak, to give her advice, but Marinette didn't need it-why would she?
"Well I don't need your help!" Ladybug snapped back. "Get out of my face, I'm trying to concentrate!"
"No, I can do this on my own!"
"You stupid kids, get down from there and let the real professionals take care of things!" A few police officers were slowly climbing up the Makara's body.
"Stay out of this!" Ladybug and Cat Noir yelled at them. They ignored the superhero team and continued to make their way across the Makara's body. This was an unwise decision. The Makara started to right itself. Cat Noir extended his staff and swept the officers off their feet, effectively pushing them down to the street. Their pained moans were distracting, and Marinette wished, if they weren't going to leave, they would at least be quiet. Ladybug closed her eyes, imagining a giant sushi knife. Her hands warmed, and soon enough, the larger-than life knife was in her hands. Cat Noir slapped it out of her hands and onto the street.
"I'm telling you, I don't need your help!"
The Makara stood up completely, and both heroes wobbled as they attempted to keep their balance.
"Now look what you've done!" Marinette scolded Cat Noir, ignoring her rapidly beating heart. He was just so pretty, and his voice was so nice to listen to-no, bad Marinette. He was in the wrong, and she couldn't forget that just because she dreaded the idea of him being mad at her. "I could have incapacitated the Makara already if you hadn't butted in!"
"You're the one butting in where you're not wanted!" he argued. "You're always like this-it's either your way or the highway. Guess what, Ladybug? This time, you're wrong. Just listen to me and leave, I can do this on my own!"
She wrapped him in her yo-yo before he had a chance to run towards the Makara's head. "I don't think so." With one fluid motion, she tossed him over the Makara's side, and he fell on top of the police on the street. They cried out in pain again. Finally, he was gone. Now, she had the space to work alone. There was just one problem. She had no yo-yo. Ok, maybe there were two problems. The knife she had created with her Lucky Charm was somewhere on the street, and without her yo-yo, she had no way to get down there safely. Wait, there was another problem. Her earrings beeped nine times in her ear.
"Marinette!" Tikki cried, but Marinette shook her head.
"It's fine, Tikki. I can handle this!"
Marinette couldn't waste time going down to the ground, finding the knife, and then figuring out a way back up to the Makara. She would just have to improvise, and do something else to defeat it. She crawled up its back, towards its head. Her stomach tried to eject her lunch, but Marinette swallowed it down. She prayed she wouldn't have to use herself as a weapon again. She'd showered for two hours the last time she'd done that, and she wasn't sure if, mentally, she could take doing something like that again.
Bullets struck the Makara, and Marinette ducked her head. Her nose hit the Makara's skin, and she couldn't fight the urge anymore-she turned her head to the side and heaved. She wasn't sure why her body insisted she vomit; she certainly didn't feel any better.
Cat Noir landed on the Makara's head a second before she started her climb. He looked down at her triumphantly, and extended his staff right into the Makara's eye. It threw its head back in pain, and Marinette found herself flying through the sky. The last thing she saw was Cat Noir's eyes. Beautiful eyes. The deepest green she'd ever seen. They looked horrified.
Her stomach tumbled around in her abdomen. Marinette instinctively reached for her yo-yo, but it wasn't there. Oh yeah, she'd thrown it over the Makara when she'd tossed Cat Noir earlier. Now she was doomed, and it was all Cat Noir's fault. She sailed through the air, towards the back of the Makara. Apparently, she had very bad luck today, because the Makara had a tail which she hadn't seen before. It was long and snake-like, and it snapped towards her.
"Oomf!" She grunted as the tail hit her directly in the stomach. Her neck snapped to the left as she rapidly changed direction in midair. Her vision swam, and she couldn't tell up from down. Her head throbbed, and the air was ripped out of her lungs as she was hurled through the air. It was hard to think of anything-she just felt like she was going to die.
"Ladybug!" He called out, sounding closer than she would have expected him. She tried to turn to him, to see where he was, but she didn't have enough control over her body to do so. Marinette tried to call out to him, but all that came out of her throat was a scream. She felt him grab her arm, but he couldn't hold on. She slipped from his grasp, and she hurtled towards the street. Cat Noir yelled after her. She couldn't figure out why-it's not like that would help her at all. A cop threw her yo-yo at her, but she couldn't catch it. She fell to the ground, and smashed the road.
For a moment, everything was silent. Her head rang, and her mouth tasted like blood. She couldn't see anything. She couldn't feel anything. Then, slowly, her senses came back, one at a time. The first thing she was aware of was the pain. She had already been in pretty bad shape at the start of the battle, but now it hurt to even breathe. Her head throbbed, and her teeth ached. One of her arms felt like it was broken, and her feet were sore. She groaned. Then the sounds came into focus. There were a bunch of people rushing around her, yelling orders at each other and apologizing. She couldn't hear Cat Noir.
The smell was what hit her last. Thankfully, the rotting fish scent was wiped from the air, and all that was left was the crisp scent of a sea breeze. The whistling which had been present in her ears since she set her sight on the Makara had disappeared, along with a pressure she hadn't known she was feeling. It was suddenly like the world was no longer looking at her, judging her. Marinette couldn't think of anything but the Makara which could have manipulated her into feeling so strangely. It was like the headless Makara with the endless liquid, only slightly different. How, though? What was going on?
"Don't stand up," an officer said gently. "You're bleeding."
She heard his words, but they didn't make sense. She pushed her weight onto her arms and forced herself to her knees. Her vision blurred.
"The Makara?" She had a feeling it had been destroyed, but she wanted to be sure. "And the Akuma?"
"Sit down," an officer said firmly. Her earrings beeped. Five minutes. She didn't have time to sit down-she needed to leave. She struggled harder to stand. A hand landed on her upper back. It felt familiar, with five sharp claws at the tips of the fingers.
"Cat Noir." she said, not wanting to look up at him. She was already so injured, and she got so nervous and flustered when she looked at him; she couldn't afford to be clumsy right now.
He said something, but she didn't pay attention. Her earrings beeped again. Marinette needed to leave. She looked around at the cops staring down at her.
"Can you meet me tonight, at the Eiffel Tower? Could you be there at ten?" She pushed herself to her feet, and Cat Noir stood with her, his arms tensed and ready to catch her if she fell. A warm feeling filled her chest. For a second, she wanted to fall, to allow him to catch her, just so he would hold her close and she would be able to say he'd hugged her. Then that moment passed and she realized how desperate that sounded.
"I'll be there," he nodded solemnly. "Do you have enough time to purify the Akuma?"
She still had four minutes. Another thirty seconds here wouldn't kill her. She gestured for him to go ahead, and an officer handed her her yo-yo. By now, the purification should have been routine. Cat Noir performed Cataclysm on the Akuma's weak point. It was destroyed, and a butterfly emerged from the object. When she went to swing her yo-yo, her head spun, and her legs fell out from under her. Officer Claude caught her under the arms just before she fell in a heap on the ground. She grit her teeth through the pain. She couldn't fail everyone and let the Akuma loose. She swung her arm again, this time with Officer Claude holding her up, and purified the Akuma. Her earrings beeped. Three minutes, and no quick way of getting out of here without passing out.
"I need to leave." She turned to Cat Noir. "I'll, uh, I'll see you tonight." She started walking away, fighting through the pain. She turned through the maze of buildings, hoping that none of the officers would try to follow her. Her earrings beeped again.
"We're really far from home," Tikki noted. "The pain's only going to get worse once the transformation wears off."
"Thank you, Little Miss Sunshine," Marinette groaned, leaning on a pile of rubble to steady herself. Something caught her eye. A pedicab. It wouldn't be comfortable, but it would be faster than stumbling around half the city on her way home. She heaved herself onto the bike portion of the pedicab and started pedaling home. She hoped to all things holy that there were no Ladyblog cameras on the route she chose.
(That night, the Ladyblog updated pictures of the fight. It didn't escape anyone's attention how oddly everyone on the scene was acting. Some people attributed it to stress. Others said it had something to do with the Makara itself-they pointed out the extreme size, strange yellow glow around it, and how slowly it moved. It seemed remarkably similar to the headless Makara from a month or so ago.
At the end of the day, no one could do anything but speculate. More than a dozen people sent their well-wishes to Ladybug, who'd seemed to leave the fight in horrible condition. Alya Cesaire did not post pictures of Ladybug struggling to ride a bicycle. Out of consideration for the superhero, she deleted those photographs, as well as any which might have given away her secret identity, without looking at them.)
Cat Noir waited impatiently at the base of the Eiffel Tower. It was one of Paris's last standing monuments. Under normal circumstances, it was under heavy supervision. However, it was a common practice for police officers and security personnel of any kind to take the night off after a Makara attack. Everyone knew this, but there was nothing anyone could do about it. Usually there were still lingering effects from the Akuma in the streets, and teenagers were kept at home under the careful supervision of cautious parents. In other words, no one dared to be out the nights after a Makara attacked. He and Ladybug would be free to talk, without anyone to disturb them.
He checked the time again. 10:20 pm. Was she stuck at home? Did her parents not allow her out? Come to think of it, how old was Ladybug? For all he knew, he could be fighting crime with a twelve-year old. A layer of guilt built around his stomach. Not for the first time that day, he remembered the instant he stabbed the Makara in its eye. He felt victorious, like he could do anything, and he had finally proved it. It was the best feeling in the world, and he had wanted to gloat to Ladybug, to prove to her that he had done it all on his own.
Then, he had seen her flying through the air, and any sense of pride rushed out of him, replaced by terror. That was his partner-the one he's promised a month ago that he would protect-and his actions had directly led to her being flung through the air like a ragdoll. He'd felt his heart stop when he'd heard the crack of the Makara's tail hitting Ladybug's body. When she landed facedown on the street, he thought she'd died. She probably hated him now. She hadn't looked at him once after the Makara had been destroyed. She hadn't even responded when he'd apologized. Now she wasn't here, when she'd asked him to come.
Adrien paced, running his hands through his obnoxiously long black hair. He kept trying to think of something else-to remember anything but Ladybug's shriek of fear as she'd sailed towards the ground, the near-panic he'd felt as she slipped right through his hands. His throat tightened, and his stomach twisted in knots. She had almost died today, and it was his fault.
"Sorry I'm late," Ladybug puffed. His head snapped towards the sound of her voice, and his eyes scanned her up and down. She stood differently than she normally did. She wasn't the straight-backed, proud girl he'd come to admire. Her hands were behind her back, and her eyes were nervous, looking anywhere but at him. Dread pooled in his stomach. He knew it; she hated him. "I got, uh, at home-I got held up at home. Then I started walking, but the cedipad-the pedicab! And it was a little hard to-I just started walking again, and uh, it took longer than I was expecting to, uh, get here."
"Don't apologize!" Adrien said, deciphering to Ladybug's stumbling words. He bit his lip. "I should be apologizing. I said it earlier, but you didn't hear me, I think. I'm sorry."
"F-for the Makara thing?" Ladybug asked, then waved her hand, as if it were some trivial matter. "That wasn't-no problem. Not your fault. Don't worry about it."
"It was my fault!" Adrien growled. How could she not see that? "I had this urge, this crazy need-I had to prove to the world that I was capable of defeating the Makara by myself. I convinced myself that I didn't need the police, or you. I sabotaged you! If I hadn't thrown away your Lucky Charm, if I had just paused to think for a second before I put my staff through the Makara's eye, you wouldn't have-"
"Hold it!" Ladybug held up a hand, cutting him off. The look in her eyes wasn't like before. She didn't seem nervous at all. She looked determined, like needed to be sure he heard what she was about to say. "This isn't all on you. I felt exactly what you're describing. It was this sense of incredible pride, right? Any time someone else stepped in, you felt personally offended, and you wanted to do anything you could to get them out of the way-to prove you could do it yourself?" Adrien nodded. That was it, exactly. "Well, newsflash-we all felt that. I was the one who threw you over the Makara, wrapped in my yo-yo. You could say it was my fault I was stuck flying in the air with nothing to help me. But you won't. It wasn't my fault, and it wasn't yours." Ladybug took a deep breath, like she was gathering herself. She looked in his eyes. He'd always known she was short, but he'd never noticed just how short.
"How tall are you?" He blurted. She blinked in surprise.
"U-um, five foot. Even. Why?" She shifted her weight, and he realized she was probably still in pain from earlier. Duh. He mentally scolded himself. He led the two of them to an outdoor seating arrangement.
"How old are you?" he asked, holding his breath for the answer.
"Seventeen," she said slowly. "Why? How old are you?"
"I'm also seventeen," he leaned forward, suddenly not as afraid as before. Something about realizing he hadn't almost killed a ten-year-old lifted his spirits. "I was just...back to earlier-I just thought that I'd almost killed you, and then I failed to save you. I wanted to know if my partner was a child or not."
"Oh, because of my-how tall my height?" She squeezed her eyes shut. He studied her face, worried.
"You've been stuttering a lot," he noticed.
"Please, don't mention it," she almost begged. He couldn't leave it alone, though.
"Did you get a concussion?"
She looked at him, a hopeful look in her eyes. "I don't know. Maybe?" Adrien had never heard anyone sound so happy at the thought of having a concussion.
"You left pretty quickly earlier," he rested his head on an open palm, his elbow resting on the table. "Maybe you should get checked out at a clinic or something?"
"Have you heard of the Ladyblog?" Ladybug asked. Adrien didn't mind the sudden change of topic. Maybe she had something against doctors. He wasn't going to force her to see someone-not yet, anyway.
"Yeah. I look at the pictures sometimes. It's nice to know I look as good in the suit as I do out of it."
"I'd love to see you out of it," Ladybug mumbled, staring at the table in front of her. As soon as the words left her mouth, her face burned red. Before Adrien could comment, she rushed forward. "Did you see the posts from today, from right after the fight?"
"Uh, no. I was busy." Busy pacing himself into a ditch, and worrying himself to an early grave. She didn't need to know that. "Why?"
"Look at these pictures." She opened her phone and showed him the screen. "That one, in the middle, is a regular Makara. The one on the right is the headless Makara from a while back. On the left is the Makara from today. Notice anything?"
"The one in the center is a lot smaller."
"Right, and the ones on the sides influenced the people who battled it. Do you remember the feeling you got from the headless Makara?"
Adrien couldn't help but to shiver. "I try not to." Ladybug looked like she sympathized with him. How could she not? She'd killed the thing with her own body, and had gotten stuck waist-deep in its eye.
"Yeah, same here. That was disgusting. And the Makara today was disturbing. There's something about them-the larger Makara. They're harder to fight. Tikki, my kwami, was saying they're more powerful, or something, but the wielder is still unstable."
"She's right. If you listened to me once in a while, you would've had the same information as your partner!"
"Yeah, my kwami agrees," Adrien said. He was careful not to scratch Ladybug's screen with his claws as he scrolled through the comments.
"So far, the only difference I can see is that the 'advanced' ones are physically larger. I reached out to Alya Cesaire, the girl who runs the Ladyblog, and asked her to try and focus on the Makara. I also requested she post pictures of the Makara before anyone enters the scene. Try to check the Ladyblog before you transform. It'll be safer for everyone if we know what we're fighting before it can try and deceive us."
They sat in silence for a moment. He kept looking through the Ladyblog. He was proud of Alya-these pictures and the comment threads were great. He looked up at Ladybug. She was fidgeting in her seat, softly massaging her head. She'd gone through so much in the last week, and here she was, showing none of that pain. After being emotionally violated by a Makara, smashed into the street, and betrayed by her partner, she was still here. Not only that, but she hadn't stopped working, it seemed, since the battle had ended. He set the phone down, suddenly feeling useless. He'd been there. He'd seen the exact same things she'd seen, and experienced it, too. He hadn't been thrown through the air and rendered unconscious for almost a minute. He had been perfectly healthy. Yet, he hadn't done half of what his partner could do.
"Don't-why are you-stop feeling guilty." Ladybug stuttered harshly. "I don't blame you for anything. If I see that look on your face one more time, I'll throw your ass into the Seine."
He managed a smile. That was his partner-feisty and rude as ever. "Thanks, Ladybug."