The barbs really dug into her feet, and she really regretted not having boots like her loyal partner had, who had met up with her over top of the fence.
"So the goal is to bring more supplies from the West over to the East, right?" The cat themed hero beside her shifted, and she admired the darkness of his suit that kept him hidden from any cameras, from snipers laying low.
Her own suit was muted red with as much black as it could get; her arms were covered in a black material, her neck was hugged by a black turtleneck, and her spots were large black circles meant to hide away as much of her muted red as possible.
Anyone as visible as can be is liable to get shot down, to be tugged down out of the way, and they knew as well as they did from their first attempt that it was impossible to get civilians over the wall and to safety without injuring everyone involved.
The memory of that little girl clinging to her, fingers stained red, and crying though no sound left her throat, just tear tracks falling from her eyes, burned Ladybug in the worst way possible.
She knew that she couldn't help how things were, but she denounced her German or faux German blood as it were; she'd started only speaking a mixture of broken French and fumbling Mandarin Chinese around her home ages ago.
Ladybug hopped off of the wall and watched her partner join her on this side, from the way he held himself, she realized that he must sleep on the other end of the wall; unlucky paired up with lucky.
She sighed, shoulders stiff and tense from when she stood on the wall, feeling more exposed than she had any right to feel; she knew that her suit blended into the shadows with only a hint of the woman underneath though it wasn't quite the shade of black of her partner's suit, hid her less than his hid him.
Ladybug moved among the limited streets, the limited half of the city, as she entered a small, half abandoned bakery, and spoke to the man there, thankful that he didn't recognize her as more than the masked heroine that everyone knew roamed the streets at night, and that he didn't see a glimpse of Marinette Dupain-Cheng behind her mask.
Once she'd left with a decent amount of food, she followed a somewhat curious but still desperate Cat Noir over towards a small, medical office.
The man that ran the place tiredly let them have the medicine, making them promise to protect his niece and her mother; they lived in the East.
Ladybug bit back her gulp, bit back her fear like Tikki'd trained her to, and assured him that they'd do what they could.
"Is there anything that you need?" She asked softly, knowing that regardless of the willingness of everyone else to help that they could be captured, could be interrogated, too many people knew of the masked heroes though thankfully no one knew their identity, and they could be killed.
"Nothing more than a little walk with you, M'lady." There was an unspoken phrase there, 'through the West,' and Ladybug wondered not for the first time how things came to be as separated, how distance meant more than just a simple word, more than a basic direction.
Just the span of a short walk meant the difference between enough food to survive over the ability to rest in peace; she was lucky to be on this side, and yet she didn't feel lucky when she woke up, stared at her mom's picture, and talked to it as if the wall wasn't just shy of their humble, little bakery.
"Just," She sighed, "Here." She handed a small loaf of bread to her partner, "Just take care of yourself and your family for me, alright?"
It didn't make her stomach rest easy, but all that she wanted was for the few that she'd let herself draw close to, to be happy, to be alive, to be well.
His green eyes shattered a part of her heart when they turned to face her.
They reminded her of the woman that slept with her neighbors, took up their young daughter's old room, that sometimes cried herself to sleep, as if she could feel the wall dividing up her heart, dealing physical blows.
Sometimes Marinette thought of that woman kind of like her own mother; her mother being stuck in the East, divided away from them, alone without them.
It could always be worse; you could be alone, and she knew that, knew that if you were isolated from family and friends just enough that the world becomes an even darker, even colder world.
She scaled the wall with her partner, helped him deliver the food and medicine where it needed to go, and encouraged him to take that bit of bread home to his family.
Ladybug can't help but lean forward and kiss his cheeks like she's full blooded French, like this is France, and she smiles a sad, heartbroken smile when she sees his face turn red.
She doesn't see him for months after that or may be it's longer; time has a way of feeling both infinite and finite, and she can't quite find the words to heal a broken heart.
Ladybug continues her mission, bringing food, medicine, and supplies over the wall from her home, from her half of the city, over to his.
Any survivor is another beautiful person, another chance at hope, but she doesn't quite have the words to say when hope feels half shattered without her partner.
The sun beats down on her as she watches and leans to help when she can move past her heart in her throat, tears in her eyes, and the nerves that kick start around her, only amplified by the sheer frenzy of those already in front of her.
Her hands don't shake when she tears down pieces of that wall, of that divide, hears families' rejoicing when just a small section has been undone, witnesses families running past the rubble to embrace.
Nearly cries herself, nearly cries harder, when most of the wall is down, and she watches as fiancees finally greet each other with a kiss after so long, and her heart breaks for what they've been through.
She can barely breathe when Cat Noir runs to her, lifts her off of the ground, "Ladybug, Ladybug, M'lady." It's a repeated mantra, and she isn't sure anymore where one of her names ends, and the next begins.
"Cat Noir, are you okay?" When she pulls back, she sees that whatever parts of his skin are visible are covered in bruises, cuts, scars, and even remnants of dried blood.
She feels nauseous once she realizes that they'd caught him and tortured him, treated him like an animal, or even worse.
"Yeah, I'm fine. You're here." He sent her a quickly steadying smile, "You're the only one that felt real from the West."
Ladybug smiles despite herself as she drags him away from the sunlight, to the faintest shadows between buildings, and let's her transformation drop; the people had needed Ladybug, but she just needed her partner and to wander back and find her mother once she can breathe again.
"Ladybug?" He doesn't know her name, she can tell, but when there is a flicker of recognition, like he's seen her somewhere before, just never knew a name to go with her face, she feels relief pool somewhere within her.
"No, Marinette." She can barely speak fast enough, "Marinette Dupain-Cheng, my father runs a bakery in the West."
Somehow he smiles despite himself and lets his transformation drop, "Adrien. Adrien Agreste, my father ran a business in the East."
Somehow it's all that she never knew she wanted; he looks familiar in the way of a long forgotten childhood memory, and she pulls herself into his arms to kiss his lips, trying to remind herself that he's here before her and not leaving anymore.
When they walk back, hand in hand, her mother is hugging her father tight like she can't quite burrow into his arms the way that she wants to, needs to, and Marinette realizes not for the first time that the wall has been up for far too long.
She tugs Adrien's arm and encourages him to run with her, and when she hugs her parents, both at once for the first time in forever, and it makes her feel like a little girl again, Adrien's right by her side.
Marinette can't help but cry now without the protective shell of her suit, while she feels like a child for the first time in forever, and she watches as Adrien and his mother move to hug for the first time in forever too.
A part of her can't even be surprised that the woman that her neighbors housed when she had nowhere to go was her partner's mother, and she smiles a sad smile when she catches Adrien's mom embracing what has to be his father for the first time in so long.
All that they can find the energy for is full of new reunions and grasping at the thin hints of where they can go from here; she's thankful that her partner, her black cat, will have her back through all of the slow rebuilding, the slow chance of true joy entering their lives again and the lives of those all around them.