Notes: Let's be honest: if I wasn't stretching this out for the (DRAMA) prompts, Marinette would've caught the akuma and been on her tenth date with Luka by this point. No wonder he's so mad at me. (Also the new alternate title of this fic is now Schrödinger's Lovers. Thank you, elevatorstucks, for that laugh. I needed it so bad. xD)
Marinette's 29 Valentine's Days
Day Fourteen, Loop Thirteen: Valentine's Day
The morning of Friday, 14 February – Valentine's Day – found Marinette Dupain-Cheng (or, more specifically, Ladybug) camped out on the roof of a flower shop located across the street from a towering apartment building on Rue de Bretagne. This was, of course, not where she wanted to be, but it was where she knew she needed to be.
When she had woken up that morning, she had had a quick – mostly one-sided – argument with Tikki over her responsibilities and duties and priorities. After looking out her window to find Luka waiting on the street below, leaning against the lamppost and tuning his acoustic guitar, she'd shot a glare Tikki's way before calling on her transformation – stopping the kwami mid-lecture. She had cast one last guilty look at the valentine on her desk before she had escaped through her balcony.
As she waited on the roof of the flower shop for the akuma to appear, she watched people come and go with a heavy heart. Every time another guy would enter the shop and leave with a bouquet of roses, she was reminded of her own guy. Of sleepy smiles and lazy kisses he wouldn't remember because of this stupid akuma. Of serenades and spilled tea and so many botched confessions and missed opportunities. Of leaving him on a street corner, waiting for an appearance she'd never make. She wondered if he had discovered she wasn't home yet. If he was still waiting for her, or if her mom had gone to wake her up and discovered her bed empty. She sighed as a man with dark hair exited the shop carrying a bouquet of deep pink daisies, wrapped in white paper with a deep red ribbon tied in a bow around them. He was fidgeting with a card shaped like a heart, artfully arranging it among the flowers. She sighed again.
She hadn't even left a note. If she hadn't been so mad at Tikki – or, really, mad at herself and taking it out on Tikki – she would have thought to leave a note. She would have grabbed Luka's valentine – she would have gotten dressed, she recalled with a wince – and left through the front door like a normal person. She would have thought out a better plan than make Tikki stop yelling at me and get to de Bretagne. There were a lot of things she would do over when it came to Valentine's Day, but she was finding every chance she got just made things worse.
…sometimes better. Sometimes both. She wasn't even sure any more.
She slumped forward, leaning her elbows on the ledge of the roof and placing her head in her hands. She was really starting to hate Valentine's Day. She…
…paused in her self-flagellating thoughts as the dark-haired guy looked up from his phone and around the street. When it was clear, he crossed to the flats. He looked back just long enough for Ladybug to realize the guy with the daisies was Geoff. She pushed herself up, already reaching for her yo-yo as he disappeared inside the building.
"Ok," Ladybug muttered, her eyes searching the street below. "Let's finish this. Where are you?"
"Where were you?"
She froze at the echoing voice behind her. Slowly, she turned. Standing behind her was the akuma. Her eyes were no longer glowing, and while her hair was still on fire, the flames did not dance as they had when she'd found her in the alley. If anything, the akuma seemed…muted. Like she had been doused with a bucket of water.
…like Valentine's roses, left out and trampled in the rain.
"Do not interfere, Ladybug," the akuma whispered. Ladybug realized tears were spilling silently from her pale, glassy eyes. The heart-shaped pendant hanging from her neck was whole, no sign of the cracks that had split it before. "Please…I will not take your Miraculous. Just…give them a cha…"
The akuma paused, her eyes widening as Hawkmoth's familiar butterfly-shaped mask covered her face. Her eyes darted back and forth. The corner of her pendant cracked.
"Yes, Hawkmoth…" she whispered. Ladybug braced herself, yo-yo swinging at the ready beside her. The akuma's eyes began to glow.
"Whatever he's promising you, he won't deliver," Ladybug said. "He never does."
"You will not interfere, Ladybug," the akuma said. Her face hardened with a glare, and then she was lunging at Ladybug. She was faster than Ladybug had anticipated, and the hero barely had time to roll to the side to avoid being hit. She came up with her yo-yo spinning, deflecting every claw-like punch the akuma threw at her. The akuma slashed wildly, clearly have no battle experience or plan besides a chaotic assault. "Please! Let them be! Give Hawkmoth your Miraculous and –"
"I will never give Hawkmoth my Miraculous!" Ladybug cried. She ducked below another punch and kicked out, landing a hit in the akuma's gut and knocking her back. She threw her yo-yo forward, lassoing the akuma in place. She struggled, squirming against the magically enforced rope, but Ladybug held fast.
"Who are you?" Ladybug asked. "Why are you doing this?"
"Hannah and Geoff need a chance! Just…just give them a chance!" the akuma cried. Ladybug pushed out a frustrated breath.
"Why don't you?" she asked, annoyed. "You know…not every screw-up is a lost cause! Just because she messed up her first confession doesn't mean they couldn't have worked it out! I was there – he was going after her! You just had to give them time to fix it before you barged in!"
"Time…time…that's all I'm trying to do," the akuma wept, and Ladybug hesitated as the akuma stilled. Her eyes were glowing brighter. The crack in her pendant deepened. Ladybug's eyes widened as she realized what was happening – what was about to happen. "We all just need…a little more time…"
"NO!" Ladybug screamed, lunging forward and reaching for the pendant. The crack split the pendant in two, and Ladybug was tossed back as the akuma exploded with light.