Mayura

Requiem: Thanatos

Surrounded by darkness, as if standing in the eye of a great and terrible storm, the Miraculous watched their foe, who could have been one of them, knowing that she was the cause of the horrors they had endured. As she levitated above her enemies, Mayura's eyes began to stream with tears, though they did not obstruct her vision or compromise her cold, confident expression.

"Why are you doing this?" Volpina called out, forcing her tone to remain dispassionate. "Are you working with Hawk Moth?"

"I act on my own accord," the dark Miraculous declared with sinister joy in her icy tone. "You must have noticed it by now, no matter how hard you have all tried to deny it: The world is unbalanced. Sorrow runs rampant through every man, woman, and child. The three of you were told you bore righteous purpose…that you served a greater purpose…that your deeds were justified. I have come to tell you that you have each been deceived."

Chat Noir, Ladybug, and Volpina remained staunch, showing no signs of doubt of fear. Having seen all the pain brought on by darkness, they vowed to bring light to the world until the Dawn returned. Their purpose remained ever the same: They were to restore and fight for the hope of all who existed around them.

"While the three of you basked in the fame and light of glory, those less fortunate were made to crawl, suffer, fight, and kill for what they needed," Mayura continued, her voice growing heavier with the sorrow and pain of those around her. "Those you deemed unworthy were brought to their knees, and all under the authority of sanctimonious warriors no more virtuous than any other."

"Hawk Moth was the one who stepped on those he felt were beneath him," Ladybug declared with conviction. Though her anger boiled in her veins, she forced herself to remain calm. This new Miraculous could be redeemed, she knew. "We're trying to set everyone free. We're nothing more than servants to the people of Paris. We'll help you, just like any other."

Her eyes widening before frosting over with a rage so palpable she nearly choked on its presence, Mayura focused in on the ladybug Miraculous. "You…" she howled as a mist of darkness wrapped around her body as well as Ladybug's. "For years, I've watched you. Out of all Miraculous, yours was the greatest sin."

Ladybug looked down at her body in surprise and sorrow as the cold, ominous mist slithered and coiled around it like tentacles. Despite her efforts to fight, the young woman found herself unable to resist the shadows flowing into her eyes, turning her irises a dull shade of ruby and glossing over them with an icy blue layer resembling glass.

"Ladybug!" Chat cried out as he and Volpina rushed to their friend's side. Before the two could reach their beloved ally, a barrage of black and blue feathers soared down from the sky, impaled the street, and formed a wall between them.

"Ladybug, don't give in!" Volpina begged while vainly attempting to breach the barrier. "Everything she'll show you is a lie!"

Ladybug shivered and trembled as her nearly paralytic body grew weak and cold. Pressing her elbows into her sides, the young hero looked at her quaking hands as the dark mist shrouded them. Then, within an instant, there was nothing but shadows. "Ladybug…" Mayura's voice gently called out in the void, her tone sinister and apathetic. "It started out so simple, didn't it? A little girl playing dress-up and calling herself a hero." Jolting her head to her left, Ladybug found nothing but darkness. "I don't know who gave you your Miraculous, but I do know they would never have done it had they known what you would become." Ladybug thrust her head to the right, only to find black feathers falling from a terrible black sky. "A false idol…A thief of dreams…One who crushed hope while claiming to inspire it. It was all so simple when it began, wasn't it, Ladybug?" Hearing sorrow and remorse pouring from Mayura's mouth, Ladybug lowered her head and desperately attempted to find the source. "I'm sure you were such a sweet little girl before they found you…But the power changed you. That mission you were inspired to accomplish ruined you. It led you to justify the horrible things you felt and did. And all the while, the people suffered." Ladybug turned around sharply. "Why did they do this to you?" the dark Miraculous beseeched the young woman. "Why you? Was it to spare themselves the shame? The horror? The Sorrow?"

Opening her eyes, the young Miraculous stood in a dimly lit doorway, dressed in a poorly stitched Ladybug costume, her hair in ribbons, looking out in fear at the unhappy world before her. The little girl quivered and shook as her lip quivered and her pale cheeks grew rosy and hot. "I forgot about that…" Marinette recalled, no longer filled with confidence or joy. "I was alone when I became Ladybug. I was so young, so scared…But I was doing the right thing."

"You were miserable," Mayura gently hissed as her cold hands wrapped around the child. The dark Miraculous knelt down behind the poor, unhappy girl and rested her chin upon her shoulder. "A sad, lonely little girl trying so desperately to escape the loneliness. You would do anything you told you, just so you wouldn't have to feel the sorrow anymore…But it didn't go away, did it?"

"No," Marinette let out a heavy sigh filled with bitter sadness.

"No," the dark woman lovingly reassured her guest. "It only grew. You were drowning in sadness and despair. And what did Ladybug ever truly do for the city of Paris? Look around you: terrorism, theft, murder…and Ladybug can do nothing to stop it." The little girl's eyes began to glaze over with hot, blinding tears. "But still, you fought. You never once stopped to think about the criminals you battled, or even the reason why they acted as they did! Did you ever once consider that the world was more than heroes and villains?"

"I-I tried," Marinette whimpered as her tears soaked her mask. "But people were being hurt. I had to stop Hawk Moth."

"If not Hawk Moth, you would have found another," Mayura persisted, feeling the Miraculous' body growing colder. "Didn't it occur to you that the day would come when he stopped his attacks? Did you even once consider why it was he sought the Miraculous?" Ladybug watched as a man cloaked in shadows fell to his knees and wept on the floor. "Think of all the sorrow you have caused him. Think of all the sorrow you have brought to the people you claim to want to save."

"Ladybug!" Adrien and Alya's voices screamed through the darkness. "Please, don't give in!"

Looking off in the distance, where her friends' voices shined with a light as warm as the sun, Marinette remembered the truth: Tikki was by her side every step of the way, like a Guardian Angel watching over her. Chat Noir stood by her while Alya followed from a distance. She was never alone, and there was never a doubt in her mind that what she was doing spread the hope her town so desperately needed.

"Don't you want all that sorrow to melt away?" Mayura continued to hiss, her tone as genuine and convincing as it had ever been. "Not just your sorrow, but the world's? All you have to do is give up your Miraculous and convince your partners to do the same. They can relinquish their pain and sorrow and live happy lives again. They'll never have to mourn or cry again." Ladybug began to clench her fist, though the tears continued to drip from her eyes. "…Can you truly bear to carry their sorrows any longer?"

"…I can't bear anyone's sorrows but my own," Marinette finally spoke up. "There will always be sadness in the world. I'll forgive Hawk Moth…But I won't let him hurt the innocent to get what he wants. It's not too late for him, and it's not too late for you." Turning around and shattering the ice that sought to consume her, Ladybug stood as a woman before Mayura and gazed into her eyes. "You don't have to be this anymore, and we'll never give up until the world is safe."

Lowering her head, Mayura's eyes openly flowed with tears that soon turned to small streams of blood. "So sad…" she choked out. "So…very sad." At that, the dark Miraculous vanished into the shadows, which shattered and freed the young woman from all that bound her. The three Miraculous then reunited and stood side-by-side before the wicked one. "Do the two of you choose to follow her?"

"Hell yeah," Volpina declared.

"To the very end," Chat concluded.

"Thank you," Ladybug replied to her beloved allies. "The two of you are my greatest power."

Lowering herself to the ground, Mayura glared at the three and charged forward. Volpina and Chat Noir extended their weapons and sprinted toward their opponent while Ladybug threw her yo-yo and swung into the air. Like a bolt of lightning striking a rod, the four collided. Images flashed through the dark Miraculous' mind, recalling every hope and dream Gabriel had for saving his family, and how Ladybug and Chat Noir repeatedly crushed them.

Blocking each of her opponents' blows, Mayura grabbed the feline Miraculous by the chest and drove him into the street, forming a deep imprint in its surface. Seizing the opportunity, Volpina swung her flute into her opponent's back, knocking her off-balance and allowing Chat to recover. Ladybug then thrust herself against the dark Miraculous and landed on all fours to serve as a boost for Chat Noir. With the aid of his friend, the blond young man jumped into the air and tackled Mayura before she could rebound from Ladybug's strike. The other two Miraculous closed in on their foe, prepared to strip her of her Miraculous. Before her enemies could reach her, though, Mayura released a stream of feathers that thrust the three heroes onto their backs, allowing her to return to her darkened sky. Ladybug, Chat Noir, and Volpina quickly returned to their feet and gazed up at their foe.

Tears began to drop to the ground, continuing until a stream had formed beneath Mayura. Despite this, the Miraculous stood their ground. "…Why couldn't you open your eyes?" the dark Miraculous furiously choked beneath her breath. Her words bore a sorrow so great and so true it ached to utter them. "It did not have to come to this…Damn you all." The heroes remained determined, showing no signs of fear or hesitation. "Damn you all…" The air was silent as Mayura dug her nails into the palms of her hands. "…Then, you will all drown in the endless sea of sorrow!"

Feeling a large drop of water splash down upon her head, Volpina looked up to see a distorted sky twisted with darkness and flowing with a raging stream of tears. The other Miraculous gazed up in shock and awe as a downpour of tears came upon them. At first, they endured and attempted to face their enemy, but it wasn't long before the gallons of salty droplets soaked their bodies and obstructed their vision. Mayura continued to call down her storm, even as her eyes and nose streamed with blood. The sight of Chat Noir falling to his knees and desperately fighting to stay above the swelling pool rising to his ankles, coupled with Volpina clenching her throat for fear of drowning, brought only remorse for what could have been, but seeing Ladybug struggling to walk forward, eyes shutting, arms and legs quivering, provided a brief feeling of joy for the dark Miraculous.

"Do you see how you have brought your friends to suffer, Ladybug?" Mayura cried out with anger and disappointment in her voice. "Had it not been for you, they could have walked away and lived happy lives. Now, you will all die."

Volpina fell to her knees, gasping and begging for air, only for Chat to support her on his knee and lean over her head to provide a brief escape from the onslaught of tears. The sight, broken though it was, nearly shattered the ladybug Miraculous' heart, but she knew her friends would endure, and so she continued onward. Millions of teardrops beat down on the young woman, each telling a different story of sorrow and pain, but she still continued.

"Nathalie!" Duusu called out in fear and concern. The Kwami tightly grasped her beloved partner's arm with her astral form, as if trying to pull back her hand. "This is too much! Your body can't handle something like this!"

"I told you, Duusu," Mayura gently replied. "I was never going to walk away from this. All I need to do is endure just a little longer, and she'll come back to us." Despite all the pain burning in her weakened, frail body, the dark Miraculous forced herself to prolong the storm. "For her, and for them…I can endure anything."

"Please!" Ladybug desperately cried out as she spit back the tears raining down onto her face. "It's not too late for you! Just stop the storm, and we'll forgive everything!"

"The world will be a better place without your kind, Ladybug," Mayura called back, taking no pleasure in what she had to do. The thought of saving the world from Ladybug's lies and abominations bore the weight of obligation, shattering any joy retribution once gave the dark Miraculous. "Even in death, however, I will hate you forever. Your friends' loss shall bring me nothing but sorrow, though. All that they have done could have been forgiven, but your choices have killed them."

"Don't listen to her, Marinette," Tikki pleaded with her friend and partner. "Believe in yourself. Believe in your friends. Put aside all your anger and sorrow to see who and what you truly are."

Forcing her eyes to focus on Mayura, despite the burning droplets washing over her face, Ladybug tightened her glance, uttered a silent prayer, and extended her yo-yo in front of her chest. "Please…" she begged in a whisper. "Save everyone."

Suddenly, the clouds began to twist, ushering in a powerful bolt of pure, white energy that destroyed Mayura's storm and freed Volpina and Chat Noir. As her companions gasped for air, Ladybug allowed the white light to wash over her body and consume her. The dark Miraculous hid her eyes from the blinding flash, her nostrils flowing with blood as she gasped and attempted to recover from the strain she had underwent. Soon, the white energy faded, revealing a beautiful, glistening young woman whose flawless, red-spotted raven hair flowed down to her ankles, dressed from her neck down in pure, radiant, white silk resembling Ladybug's costume but spotted with thin, flowing aqua rings and releasing two massive, transcendent wings from the back of her shoulder blades. Upon the divine figure's snow-like face was a white mask coated with aqua rings that framed two glistening white-and-blue eyes above lips whitened and glazed with light blue.

"A perfect Lucky Charm," Volpina exclaimed as she and Chat Noir attempted to rise onto their feet. The angelic sight seemed to give the other Miraculous renewed strength and vigor, even after the ordeal that nearly destroyed them.

"Saint Ladybug," the blond young man gasped at the heavenly sight before him.

Her nearly crystalline eyes focusing on her foe, the woman once known as Ladybug stepped forward without fear or hesitation. "Mayura," she spoke up in a voice so strong and sure it inspired chills. "You will bring no more pain or death to this city." The dark Miraculous clenched her fists despite the terror welling up within her. "I shall offer you one last chance at redemption…Will you accept?"

As blood belched from her mouth, Mayura snarled and charged forward with bladed feathers in each hand. Chat Noir and Volpina closed their eyes and turned away, as if to spare the dark one shame. Saint Ladybug shed a single tear of disappointment and betrayal at the sight, but did not hesitate to raise the spotted wand that was once her yo-yo. In a flash of light too brilliant for human eyes, the world grew silent, and the war finally ended.

Mayura, swathed in darkness and tears, faced Saint Ladybug, draped and exposed in light and the warmth of love, in a world filled with a heavenly white glow. The two stared into the other's eyes, sharing their pain and sorrow. Despite the beautiful radiance before her, Mayura refused to relent or embrace the peaceful force.

"…Why, Mayura?" the white Miraculous finally spoke up, her voice laced with sorrow.

"What does it matter now?" the dark Miraculous answered scornfully, though her words revealed the terrible sting of failure and sadness that would never fade. "You could never understand Hawk Moth as he truly is. That's why you chose to fight him all this time."

"The two of you were hurting people…Why can't you see that every life is worth the world?"

"Because this world only takes…I would have given my life to save her. But your kind wouldn't have it. I hope only that the world you fought to protect: The world where she no longer exists, was worth all the horror."

In that instant, the white light faded, finding Mayura lying on the ground in defeat, Saint Ladybug falling to her knees and returning to her original Miraculous form, and Chat Noir and Volpina walked one another over to their ally. With the barrier of darkness gone, the night shined under the blessing of stars as a warm wind passed through Paris.