And there I was, hoping I would have 'Chichi no Tsumi' finished by now. Welp, that clearly didn't go as planned, so here's another Whumptober collection!

My history with this event has been spotty, to say the least. In 2018, I was, at most, a day late with each prompt, except for the very last one (23 days). In 2019, I started a new job early in the month, one that demanded a lot more of my time, so I ended up putting most of the prompts off until 2020, finishing it only 2 days before the start of Whumptober 2020, which, naturally, I decided to skip over.

This year, I am hoping to start a new job, as well, and it will also be demanding, so I'm limiting myself to much smaller ficlets. Tiny snippets with little to no context at times, with a MAXIMUM word count of only 500.

In keeping with tradition, however, I am also writing my first work in a new fandom with Prompt #1. In 2018, it was the MCU, and in 2019, I kicked off with my first (and so far only) 'Game of Thrones' fic. So, welcome to my first 'Miraculous Ladybug' ficlet! Warning: it's pretty damn dark.

Last note: In 2018, I focused primarily on one fandom and one pair of characters. In Whumptober 2019, I drew from nearly a dozen fandoms. This year, I'm focusing on two: 'Miraculous Ladybug' and 'W.I.T.C.H.'. You'll get 15 of each, plus one crossover for No. 31.

Chapter Summary: The Ladybug Miraculous is the one that can fix everything. The Black Cat Miraculous is not. That fact may be undeniable, but it doesn't make it any less painful.

Today's prompts: "You have to let go" | barbed wire | bound

DISCLAIMER: I don't own 'Miraculous Ladybug' or any of its characters.

TRIGGER WARNINGS: Self-sacrifice, temporary major character death by drowning.

WORD COUNT: 215

"You have to let go, Milady! The Akuma's getting away!"

Ladybug looks over her shoulder, even though she doesn't need to do so to know that her partner is absolutely correct about the Akuma. However, she can't just let go. She's the only thing keeping the large chunk of concrete bridge her yo-yo's wrapped around from falling into the Seine. More specifically, the large chunk of concrete bridge that Cat Noir is currently bound to by a length of animated barbed wire.

Cat smiles bitterly at her, ignoring the fact that the barbs are cutting into the exposed skin of his face and the fact that he has already used up his Cataclysm. There's no way he can escape this. "I'll be okay, Bugaboo. I know you'll fix this."

Tears blur her vision; she knows her Miraculous Ladybug powers will bring him back once the battle is over, but that doesn't make it hurt any less every time her partner sacrifices himself to protect her or give her a shot at defeating the Akuma.

She doesn't want to do it, but new screams in the distance force her to make a decision; she withdraws her yo-yo, running after the Akuma and trying not to break down at the sound of the deadly splash behind her.

THE END

Well, we're off to a cheery start, aren't we?

If you've watched enough of 'Miraculous', you've probably noticed Cat Noir/Chat Noir's somewhat concerning tendency to play human shield for Ladybug, and there are a couple instances that could arguably be considered a temporary death. While I can't recall if it was explicitly stated whether or not the magic ladybugs could reverse any deaths caused by Akuma battles, I refuse to believe that the numerous damages to the Eiffel Tower resulted in zero casualties, so I'm going to go with yes, they can.