To Lyger 0: Dietrich is Shrek, confirmed! (I looked that up and the first result was the Shrek musical)
"If anyone has any reason why these two should not be wed, let them speak now!"
Cavalière Lavande stood near the back of the assembled crowd of heroes, refugees, Guardians, and even a handful of the Lynchpin-ions who had fought alongside them in Paris. Almost the entire assembly stood; they had only found a handful of chairs in the entire refugee camp, and Ladybug had insisted on giving those to anyone too sick or weak to stand for the ceremony. Almost half the children in the camp were sitting or lying on top of the large shipping containers with which the field was bordered, watching everything with rapt attention.
About a hundred tents around the large dining tent had all been taken down near the center of the camp and stored away in order to make room for the event, leaving behind a clearing of almost a square kilometer. With the combined efforts of Rapeto, Cyclone, and a pair of sorcerers, a large earthen platform had been raised on one end of this clearing, where seven people stood. A straight line of flowers bordered the edge of the platform, continued down the small ramp on the front, and demarcated an aisle through the crowd which ended at a large white tent festooned with ivy and flowers.
Cavalière Lavande let out a breath, some of the tension in her stomach easing as she took in the festive atmosphere around her, reveling in the presence of her friends around her.
The last two days had been… awkward, to say the least. After the fight – after Ladybug had returned the miraculous to her – the heroes had begun the unenviable task of sorting out the criminals they had captured. Tenedaw had returned with Dembo slung over her shoulder, his blood staining the back of her suit, around the same time that Rapeto and Amdeɣimal had dragged Ujinamizi out of the collapsed tent in which Hoda had left him. Ladybug had used her Miraculous Ladybug healing all of the injuries from the fight, and the heroes had escorted the prisoners back to the camp, shoving the survivors into the cave/jail to keep under armed guard.
While the others had been busy with that, Cavalière Lavande had slipped out of camp-turned-warzone, returned to the refugee camp, and taken refuge in the tent that she and Chloe had been sharing before this whole affair started. She had wanted a chance to talk to Nooroo and Kaalki in private, away from the prying eyes of the others. So Cavalière Lavande had sequestered herself away in the tent and de-transformed, collapsing onto her cot as her miraculous suit faded away. Bee-atrice had pounced on her the moment she entered the tent, licking her hands and yipping happily before jumping up onto her cot. Kaalki had eyed Sabrina quietly before moving toward the makeshift nightstand where Sabrina had previously kept Kwami snacks. Nooroo, however, had fluttered down to hover in front of Sabrina, looking up into her face with wide eyes. Sabrina had swallowed hard, unable to speak, and held out a finger which he had rubbed his cheek against. She had sighed, closing her eyes, her shoulders slumped in exhaustion as she leaned heavily forward on her knees.
"M–mistress, I–"
Before Nooroo had been able to finish the sentence, the tent flap had burst open and Aisha had rushed in, throwing her arms around Sabrina in a tight hug and burying her face in Sabrina's chest. Aisha had sniffled, squeezing Sabrina so tightly she almost couldn't breathe. Sabrina had jumped in shock at her sudden appearance before the girl's overwhelming concern and relief and affection overpowered all of her mental and emotional defenses, pouring into Sabrina's own emotions.
"I was so worried about you!" Aisha had finally whispered, tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry I didn't come and find you as soon as I arrived."
The next to arrive had been Bri and Anne, who hadn't said a word before joining the group hug, almost collapsing the cot with their combined weight. They had been followed almost immediately by Hoda, who had wrapped them into an enormous bear hug that spilled over onto the tent's dirt floor. The four of them had refused to leave Sabrina's side since then – even when Chloe had been busy working with her father to organize this surprise event. And even now they still stood on either side of her – all of them except Bri.
Cavalière Lavande looked down the line of seven people on the platform at the front of the assemblage. Mayor Bourgeois stood directly in the center, wearing his usual benign smile. Ladybug and Cat Noir stood on either side, staring deeply into each other's eyes. Chloe had found some red lace somewhere, and somehow Marinette had managed to turn it into a veil that matched her miraculous suit in the short time they had been in Angola. The next on either side of them were Rena Rouge and Carapace, with Iron Maiden and the Hound standing at the far end of the line on either side. When Bri had asked why, Chloe had explained that she thought they should include a couple of their "allies" in the "wedding party"; Sabrina had cracked a smile at that. Adrien needed someone from his family to be present for his wedding, after all.
Her stomach clenched. It still hurt that Emilie wasn't here for this. She had talked to Sabrina about Adrien's wedding often when they met for meditation and training, about how grateful she was to be awake again in time to experience the boy she had left becoming the man she had always known he would be, about how incredible it was that he had found such an incredible woman to marry. She should have been here for this. Marinette's parents should have been here, too. And… she looked down at her hands. She had picked out a dress for the wedding to coordinate with Max's suit – probably the only time she could ever get him to wear a suit – but instead she was in her miraculous suit. Suppressing a sniffle, she felt tears threatening to form in the corners of her eyes, and she swallowed. She should have been here with Max…
Max was still gone. On seeing Ladybug and Cat Noir standing together on the platform and reciting their vows, Cavalière Lavande's first emotion had been grief: she and Max would never have that. They had lost that opportunity, crushed beneath the Tarasque's paw. All those emotions she had felt a week ago, all the sadness and loss and anger, had roared back to the surface with a vengeance.
And yet, somehow, the pain was manageable. She could feel her own grief; she could feel the sadness and grief of the crowd. But so many other emotions were arising from the assembly around her to temper the grief and pain. There was an edge of joy, of relief, niggling on the edge of the grief and pushing it to the side. Despite everything that they had been through, the people of Paris had turned out to celebrate their heroes' wedding. Near the front of the assembly, Jean and Valérie held hands, watching in rapture as Mayor Bourgeois continued the ceremony. Further up, some of the heroes had shown up in their suits – Taureau Dechaine and Multiplice, Geber and Capricorn, the Knight and Valkyrie… out of his suit, Kim stood with an arm around Ondine, leaning heavily on her.
Cavalière Lavande felt more of the anxiety in her chest easing as Cat Noir whispered something into Ladybug's ear. According to Chloe, her father had voiced some protests at being asked to officiate a wedding in the refugee camp. "Does my authority extend outside of Paris?" he had wondered. "And would it even be legal when the paperwork just says 'Ladybug' and 'Cat Noir'?"
Chloe had merely narrowed her eyes, slammed her hands down on the old folding table between them, and told her father, "You're the Mayor of Paris, and this is basically Paris at the moment, so yes, it's official enough for our purposes, Daddy. And as for the legality of the wedding, hopefully it won't be tested. We're not asking for a miracle; we're asking for a few fancy words." She had smirked icily. "You want some good publicity for the campaign, right? I'm sure this will make a better headline than 'Mayor's Wife Insults Hero Cop's Memory, Instigates Next Hawk Moth,' don't you think?"
After that, he had taken very little convincing.
As Ladybug took Cat Noir's hands, Cavalière Lavande felt a shiver run down her spine. The love and affection that they felt for each other – always so clear to her – was on full display today, during this ceremony. The joy and excitement of the crowd had almost overwhelmed and replaced the days of sadness and depression when they had first arrived in Angola. She closed her eyes, immersing herself in the joy and happiness of the occasion and of the crowd. Bit by bit, her tension and anxiety was fading away.
"I now declare you to be husband and wife," Mayor Bourgeois intoned. "You may kiss the bride!"
As Ladybug and Cat Noir embraced in a passionate kiss, the crowd broke into jubilant applause. Smiling, Cavalière Lavande joined in with the rest. Finally, Ladybug and Cat Noir stepped apart, and Ladybug held up a hand for quiet. "Thank you all for being here to hear our promises to each other," she began, her voice trembling. "This isn't where I wanted to be, or how I wanted this to happen. But here we are. Almost two weeks ago, we lost so much. We lost friends – we lost family. But there is one thing we haven't lost: hope. We are going to return, and we are going to stop that Monster! And then we will rebuild. We will have a future! That is our promise to you. We have not given up. Our marriage may begin here, but it will not end here!"
As Viperion and Ayilon began playing a recessional song and Ladybug and Cat Noir led the way to the dining tent set up for the reception, the assembled crowd started to break up. A few rows in front of Cavalière Lavande, she could feel the now-familiar emotions of Julia's baby, Vida Esperanza – her name meaning both "life" and "hope" – as she stirred in her mother's arms. Lupa Gris held the baby close, cooing gently to her as she gurgled happily, sandwiched between Onça Feroz and Coyotemaria. That had been another surprise: the baby had been born, almost three months premature. But thanks to Mão Curadora's magic and the Kwami of Creation's intervention, the baby was completely healthy. After everything that had happened, Cavalière Lavande couldn't imagine if the baby had had complications.
As the crowd moved in the direction of the reception, a surge of anger shot through someone only a few meters away from Cavalière Lavande, and she turned to find a man staring daggers in her direction. Cavalière Lavande's shoulders slumped, looking away from him in shame. It was no more than she deserved. After everything she had done, she deserved the hatred and anger. She deserved to be looked down on and shunned by the people she had hurt. She did not deserve to carry the miraculous – not anymore.
A low growl emanated from a point right next to Cavalière Lavande's shoulder. "Keep walking," Hoda hissed, her eyes narrowed into thin slits. "She's my friend. Any problems you have with her, you can take them up with me."
As the man backed away from them, Cavalière Lavande leaned into Hoda, who put a hand on her shoulder, holding her protectively. "Thank you," Cavalière Lavande whispered. "Though his anger isn't exactly misplaced."
Bandruí frowned, fixing Cavalière Lavande with an intense look. "Don't you start that," she warned. "Don't define yourself by this single mistake and ignore everything that came before. Sure, you did something bad, but this doesn't take away everything good you've done. You made a mistake. You were sad and in pain, and now you're making up for it."
"And we're going to be here for you through the whole thing," Aisha promised patting Cavalière Lavande's arm.
Cavalière Lavande swallowed hard, sniffling. "Thank you," she whispered. For the first time since Max's death, she felt the empty spot in her chest start to be filled.