Mayura
The Host of Sorrow
"Each Miraculous carries its own power," Master Fu explained to his students as an ancient incense slowly burned. "Deh mantle of Ladybug is deh power of Creation, a most wondrous and sacred power dat is not to be taken lightly. Deh mantle of Feline is deh power of Destruction, a power feared and distorted by many, but a holy and pure gift to those who understand. Deh mantle of Volpina is dat of Change: It is not deception or cowardice, but deh essential progression of deh world and all life dat dwells within it. Deh mantle of Papillon, despite how Hawk Moth has distorted it, is deh power of Hope. Marinette, you have carried deh power of both Creation and Hope, but Papillon was meant to empower deh people and give strength to deh weak."
Marinette, Adrien, and Alya looked at one another, each trying to fathom the depth of their powers and why they had been chosen to bear them.
"So, Marinette and I are opposites," Adrien declared, envisioning the Yin and Yang symbol represented by Ladybug and Chat Noir respectively. "Do all the Miraculous balance each other out like that?"
"Yes," the old master answered, notably impressed. "For, in balance, dere is peace. Without harmony, all will plunge into chaos. Alya, dere is one Miraculous to balance yours, as dere is for Papillon. In time, I will reveal more to you. Never forget deh need for balance and harmony…"
After grooming his Akuma, Gabriel forced himself to retire for the night. Lying in his cold, empty room upon a perpetually chilled bed made for two, the man clenched his blankets and justified his actions and reasons until his weary mind and body finally gave way to a dull slumber. Once his suffering for the day ended, Nathalie gently stroked her friend's hair before departing from him.
Kneeling in Hawk Moth's cold, dark chamber, now robbed of the uncertain light of the butterflies, Nathalie's exposed body took in the weak light of the moon until the window closed and sealed itself away behind the cold, metal wall that protected its master from the world. Without her glasses, the woman placed her trust in the Miraculous she now held in her right hand. Her long hair now rested atop her pale, weary shoulders as stray locks dangled in her face. However, she saw nothing but her ultimate goal. Clenching the empowered pin, Nathalie raised it to her right breast, remembered Gabriel, and pierced the golden needle through her flesh. Once the pin sealed itself through her body, the woman slowly rose onto her feet as her pain turned to the ecstasy of power and mercy. Letting out an overpowered gasp, she felt the power of the Miraculous flow through her body. However, the power was neither joyful nor uplifting: Nathalie had opened her body to depth and crushing weight of the pain, loss, regret, guilt, sadness, and isolation that plague the world: She became the host of their sorrows. Tears began to well up in her eyes, only to stream endlessly down her cheeks and onto the cold, metal ground. Remember why you're doing this, the woman told herself, even as the sorrow threatened to drown and consume her. You're doing this…for him. For Adrien, for Emilie, and for him… I'll bear this pain for you, Gabriel!
Tightly pressing the Miraculous to her chest, Nathalie raised her head to the sky once more, and felt her entire body grow colder as the tears continued to fall. Her pale skin grew ashen before it froze over as a dark-aqua color, painting her lips and nails as black as night while her hair grew to her mid-back and took on a blue-laced raven-black color. Her eyes flashing open, the woman felt them gloss over with a natural blue hue as her irises became ruby-colored amidst the streams of tears. As an unhappy choir of black-hued peacock feathers fell from the vague and shadowed heavens, Nathalie threw open her arms as a beautiful darkness swaddled her and formed her uniform: The woman's tender, naked body was soon covered by a skin-tight, dark ocean-blue gown coated in black patterns resembling both peacock feathers and exaggerated depictions of tears, that draped from her neck down to the floor, covering her shoulders in upward-facing points and swathing her arms in sleeves that extended to a strand wrapping around each of her ring fingers, slitting at the thigh of her left leg, and cleaving into a large spread peacock feathers covering the ground around and behind her dark-blue, high-heel-covered feet, and forming a large single feather that rested atop the right parting line of her hair and extended down just above her eye. Once her transformation was complete, the dark Miraculous felt a powerful field of blue energy discharge from her new form in a violent burst that dropped her to her knees. Slowly, the woman stood up, raised her head up, and opened her cold, pain-soaked, and sinister eyes with a black smile across her face. The tears now glistened lightly in those cruel eyes, occasionally dripping down her cheeks.
The world seemed to enter into a collective hush, as if offering a benediction to the dark angel that now rose before them. No longer weak, afraid, or bound, Nathalie spread a dark-aqua peacock-feather fan in her right hand, revealing the purple-black interior of the feathers as well as the ruby eye on each plume. Her pin now flowed with purple and black energy as it rested, embedded in its host's breast atop her uniform. "…I am Mayura…" the newest Miraculous declared in a voice stronger and deeper than her original. "The host of sorrow." Spreading her fan over her mouth, the woman recalled the unseen death of her mother, and once more uttered the same pain-laced laughter from that day. Soon, the sorrow she had known for so long, and the sorrow Gabriel had been left to drown in, would be Ladybug and Chat Noir's. All who stood by them would crumble and fall in sorrowful disgrace, and Hawk Moth would rise as Gabriel Agreste finally achieved his sacred, holy dream. As her laughter grew beyond her control, the dark Miraculous felt icy tears stream down her cheeks.
His eyes thrusting open, Master Fu sat up in his bed, cold sweat covering his face as he gasped for air. "…Where are you?" he choked out as his heart began to pound.
Passing through the dark, freezing lair her employer used to torture himself, Mayura, like a gust of silent wind, made her way to her beloved's bedroom, her feet levitating above the ground. Naked under thin sheets, his thin, sweat-soaked body jolting as unspeakable nightmares plagued his unhappy mind, Gabriel clenched his bedspread as the unrelenting images flashed before him: Emilie's final breath, the blood pouring from her mouth onto the floor as she attempted to say goodbye, the first time the woman donned the Peacock Miraculous, and, finally, a torn and gray image slowly becoming consumed by darkness that depicted a miserable and sobbing Adrien, still a child, his shoulders gently held from behind by Emilie in the broken form she had taken on by the hand of the Peacock. Screaming and opening his eyes, Gabriel immediately felt a cool, gentle, loving hand slowly pass over his face, barely making contact, until it stroked back his silver hair and settled just beyond the crown of his head. Unable to speak or even gasp, the man watched in awe as the forbidden Miraculous shed tears while smiling lovingly down at him with the strength and intention of a devoted mother. With her other hand, the woman wiped away his tears while gently hushing him. "Are you an angel?" the suffering man choked out as tears welled up and flowed down the sides of his face while he continued to gaze up without so much as blinking. "Has my beloved returned to me?"
"I am Mayura," the dark Miraculous declared, her voice a dark comfort laced with a mystical echo. "Gabriel, you no longer need battle Ladybug and Chat Noir alone. I am here now," she lovingly promised with every inch of her agonized heart. "As I had promised long ago, I will never leave you."
"Nathalie?" Gabriel gasped as his eyes were blinded by tears. "Nathalie, no! Please…I told you never to use the Peacock Miraculous. It's damaged beyond all repair…I begged of you…I beg of you now…Its powers will…"
"Gabriel, my powers will serve you until the very end," Mayura gently assured her beloved as her chilled hands lightly clasped his and stroked its back. "Whether I live or die means nothing, as long as I can see your dream fulfilled. For you, I will do anything. Rest now, my dearest prince. I will see to it that no one will suffer but Ladybug and Chat Noir."
"Nathalie, I…" the silver-haired man choked out, slowly pulling himself up, only for Mayura's cold hand to press against his heart and stop him. "Nathalie…you would do this for her?"
"For her, for Adrien, and for you, Gabriel," the Miraculous answered in a voice heavy with loving obligation. "For you, …I will see the world drown in sorrow." The two gazed at one another as their silence served as confessor. "I don't want you to suffer anymore…I will bear this burden for you now."
His throat sealing as his eyes continued to flow with tears, Gabriel allowed himself to be lowered down onto his back. Mayura simply smiled, touched the tips of her fingers against the man's skin one last time, and slowly raised her hand up, never taking her eyes away from his. Before she could pull it away, the man took his savior's hand in his own, pulled it closer to his face, and kissed it with endless gratitude. "…Thank you," he exclaimed, his voice, though profound, barely that of a whisper. "Even in my sin and shame, you have been sent to me. Thank you, Nathalie."
Nodding her head, Mayura turned and slowly vanished into the shadows, leaving Gabriel alone in his empty bed. Though the world had forsaken him, she still remained. She was the mercy he had given up on so long ago, and she would make everything right.
Rolling onto his side, Adrien pulled his blankets tightly against his chest as a painful chill washed over his body. Passing by the young man's room, Mayura smiled to herself as the tears continued to fall from her eyes. I love you, Adrien, she declared to herself as she began her fearful quest. All that I do, I do for you and those you love.
Gazing out at the world through Mayura's sight, the hopeful, happy, and gentle woman Nathalie once was, watched through sad, bloodshot eyes welling up with tears as corruptive veins began to form from her eyelids and spread around her eyes. The pain was unimaginable, but she could bear it for him. Making her way onward, Mayura became Nathalie, the composed, dignified, and restrained woman who wore her hair in a tidy bun and relied on glasses to hide the sorrow in her eyes, before becoming the unkempt and undone Nathalie, who walked upon naked feet, her hair down, and her eyes, like her body, bare and exposed for all to see and judge. As the distraught woman continued down her unhappy path, she felt all the scars of her past reopen and bleed down her back while healed bruises, scrapes, and tender muscles began to pain and mark her arms, legs, and torso. Now, more than ever, she bore the heavy, icy chains of sorrow, silence, self-denial, discontent, and fear, dragging them as she dragged the burden of others upon her weary shoulders. At last, Mayura made it to her master's chamber, ascended to his observatory, and opened his eye into the city.
Darkness had settled over the face of Paris, ushering in a cold and indifferent wind that flowed past houses and offices but chilled those who walked the streets alone and unguarded. Although fearful, the dark Miraculous raised her tear-blurred eyes toward the sky, and spread her arms to the world. Releasing a sharp gasp, Mayura felt the pain and sorrow of the Parisians flowing into her body and spirit. At first, the weight of their pain and suffering was unbearable and crushing. The very idea of hope seemed to fade from existence amidst the suffocating blanket of despair and sadness. However, she would carry the weight alone, all for those she loved. Once she had accepted the collective sorrow of those around her, Mayura felt her body begin to flow and cascade with newfound power as hot tears welled up and splashed down from her eyes. "…The world is in pain," she declared with a weighty tone, though her face bore a smile. "She cries out in sorrow and loneliness, only to go unheard. There is no end to their suffering…" The woman then released a heavy sigh of discovery, closing her eyes and raising her head up higher. "And the so-called champions carry a weight of sorrow greater than any other…"
Dark-blue feathers began to fall from the skies over the city of Paris, serving as Mayura's eyes until they hit the ground and wilted. Like a monsoon of darkness, her feathers blew through the air and coated rooftops, sidewalks, the lakebeds, and the lost and lonely people with nowhere to go. More prominent than any other was the one called Volpina, whose powers served only to burden and terrify her. After all, she was little more than a child. Smiling warmly, feeling what the young soldier had felt for so long, Mayura opened her eyes and released a flurry of dark feathers from her body, each filled with Volpina's doubt, apprehension, and fear. Of the swarm, only four feathers survived long enough to conceive avatars of the young woman's ambient emotions: The feathers grew and contorted until they formed dark, needful creatures the size of toddlers, covered in dark and matted fur, and flowing with blue energy. "Go, my children:" Mayura lovingly commanded of her creations. "My Avatars. Bring the girl to me…Fill her mind, body, and soul with the despair she has been fighting."
The Avatars each nodded their heads, their swirling black and yellow eyes focused on their mistress, and allowed their bodies to be blown into the city like feathers on the wind. Through their eyes, Mayura could see Volpina's conflict and unhappiness. Touching her cold hand to her throbbing heart, the dark Miraculous felt the young hero's pain inside her body, causing her to shed a greater stream of tears. "I know how you suffer, my child," she exhaled with the full weight and magnitude of her empathy. "You are still innocent…Come to me, and I will bear your sorrow for you. Only Ladybug and Chat Noir will suffer."