Marinette Dupain-Cheng stood on the highest peak of the Eiffel Tower, eyes closed, head tilted back to listen to the wind buffeting her and the city beneath her, so far away. The monument had closed an hour ago, so there was no one in the world left to see her. Ladybug remained invisible against the night sky. She sighed in relief and leaned forward, empty air cool against her face.

Ladybug leaned further forward still, held in place now only by the wire of her yoyo tied around her waist, and dreamt briefly of letting go. Of simply falling hundreds of feet into the night and disappearing. She might do it. She saved herself from death by a hair's breadth a hundred times, and likely would a hundred more before it was all over.

She wondered, if when Hawkmoth was defeated, she would feel the need to come here again. If standing on the razor's edge and contemplating the empty night before her would bring her the same relief. Would she feel the need to be completely alone? Invisible? The way she feels today- so many days?

She loosened her yoyo to fall further forward, laying almost parallel to the ground with her feet planted firmly against the tower. Ladybug never slips, anyway. Her fingers rested on the wire, for lack of a more comfortable place to put them, and Ladybug breathed.

In. Out. In. Out.

She exhaled all her intrusive thoughts and tried to bring in peace with her inhales. She didn't always succeed, but it was no matter. Any negative thoughts she brought in could be banished with an exhale or two.

Ladybug hadn't always intended to come here, to make coming here her thing like Chat Noir's thing is to sprint across the rooftops without rest until he can barely stand, then collapse into an exhausted sleep. But there had been an akuma fight that brought her up here, once, and after she'd called Miraculous Ladybug and repaired the city, after Chat Noir had heeded the warnings of his miraculous and bounded away; she'd been left alone, standing on top of the world. And she'd thought.

It would be easy.

Ladybug wasn't going to jump. Well, technically she was, she wasn't going to spend hours carefully climbing down, after all, but she wasn't going to let herself hit. Not tonight. Maybe not any night. She'd already decided before she'd left her house, but had still wanted, needed, this feeling. This air, cold and blowing her hair this way and that, rocking her body with particularly strong gusts.

Here she was all alone, the weight of her responsibilities, too heavy to fly this high in the atmosphere, were left hovering closer to the ground. Her eyes remained closed against more than wind.

Sometimes they ran into each other, on their bad nights. She would be here, so hollow she floated above the city, and she would open her eyes and see him below her, sides heaving and eyes wild, as he pushed himself to the limits of his enhanced abilities in an effort to expend the energy that was tearing him apart. He would glance up casually and see her when no one else could, another benefit of the miraculous. The first time it happened a current of understanding had passed between them and they had silently agreed to never speak of it. Tonight she shut her eyes against the possibility, safe in her assurance that even if it was a bad night for him, he would not mention seeing her come morning.

Time passed, the city moved on beneath her, and Marinette breathed, mind blissfully empty. She sighed when she felt that enough of her stress and pain had been soothed for the night, and let herself drop, keeping her eyes closed until the last second. This was a move she'd performed enough to have it down to an art. She knew exactly how much time she had before she hit the ground.

At the last possibly second Ladybug threw out her yoyo and began her journey home, setting her jaw as the weight that was her constant companion settled back on her shoulders. She glanced over her shoulder to the Eiffel Tower as she landed on her roof, giving it one last longing look before stepping back into her own skin.