Chapter Text
Marinette heaves a sigh as she slumps against the ruined wall. She slides down until she’s hugging her knees, uncaring of the rough scratch of stone against her back. Shaky breaths escape her.
Tikki bites into a cookie on the ground next to her, too exhausted to even fly.
It’s day three of the akuma battle in paris. Three days of nonstop fighting, dozens of akuma tearing through the city. By the time she purifies one butterfly and restores some of the damage, another arrondissement has been reduced to ash and rubble somewhere else.
It feels hopeless. Even with five miraculous users working around the clock, they can’t keep the akuma at bay. Marinette wipes away her tears, fighting back sobs.
Chat and Carapace are fighting off three akuma -- maybe more -- on the other side of the river. Rena is taking on two by herself. Queen Bee had just gotten petrified fighting alongside Ladybug.
Taking a hit that was meant for her.
“Chloe Bourgeois,” Marinette chokes out. “Of all people to risk their life for mine.”
Her parents are hiding out in the bakery. She hasn’t seen them since this whole thing started, but she has received the countless texts and voicemails from them both. She hadn’t answered. If they knew she was out there somewhere, they would want to go looking. She needed them to stay home.
Her phone is dying. Soon she won’t be able to contact anyone at all.
Agreste manor is locked down -- has been since the moment the fighting broke out -- and Marinette can only pray that Adrien is safe inside. Mme Bustier’s apartment was dark. There wasn’t time to think about what that could mean. Mme Chamack had been out with the news van a few times, and Marinette prays that Manon is safe somewhere. Maybe she’s at the bakery with her parents. Hopefully Maman had gotten the Ladybug doll from her bedroom for her.
Alya’s family is at home, all save for Nora who has been out on the streets looking for her sister for the past three days. She had been helpful in quite a few fights, as painful as it had been to lie and say that Alya hadn’t been seen.
The silence on the Ladyblog was deafening.
Nino’s parents were home last they knew. He had lied to them, said he was locked in Agreste manor with Adrien. It kept them from worrying.
If only they knew for sure that Adrien was home safe.
She's purified 20 akuma already, and Tikki is barely holding on. Ladybug had resorted to looting a convenience store for a package of cookies for her. Marinette hasn’t eaten since last night.
She can’t remember which injuries came from which akuma. She has a scratch on her leg that she needs to heal, but she can’t remember how she got it. Chat had broken his wrist that morning, she hopes that one of the butterflies she had purified had healed it by now.
Rena had gotten a concussion the first night. It had taken 4 different butterflies -- six different lucky charms -- to reverse the damage.
Tikki pats Marinette’s thigh, and she mumbles the transformation words, not even blinking as she transforms. It lessens a lot of the pain. Stops a lot of the bleeding.
She flips open her yoyo and calls Chat.
“My Lady,” he answers breathlessly on the first ring. “Is everything alright? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, Chat.” She leans back against the wall and stares at the smoke and ash in the sky. “Are you okay? Is it safe to talk? How is Carapace?”
There are a few moments of labored breathing into the microphone and Marinette tries not to let another sob escape her.
“I’m all good now. Carapace is recharging in a bookstore next door. I’m all good. Thanks for taking out whoever broke my wrist earlier.” He speaks quickly, hushed. The sounds of destruction still echo from the streets.
“You’re welcome, kitty. Chloe got petrified a few minutes ago before my transformation wore off. I’m going to try and get her back first, and then we’re going to track down Rena.”
“Got it.”
“Chat?” she asks, voice breaking.
“Bugaboo?”
“This isn’t the end,” Marinette says firmly. “I’m not going to let it end like this. But I need you to know that you are my best friend and I love you.”
“I love you too,” Chat’s voice is rough. Her chest aches. She knows what that love means for him. She wishes she could return it fully. These days, she isn’t even quite sure what’s stopping her.
“I want you to know who I am. Under the mask.” She takes a shaky breath. “I feel like everything is slipping out of my control, and I don’t think I’ll be able to keep my identity secret after all of this. I want you to know first.”
“My Lady-” Chat starts.
“I know it’s a terrible time for something like this, but I can’t go back out there unless you know.”
The line is quiet for a moment. “I want to tell you who I am too.” The twinge in her chest sharpens. He’s always wanted to tell her, always wanted to know.
Marinette chuckles weakly. “Too bad, I called dibs. I’m going first.”
Chat’s laughter is just as hollow. “I’m finally learning who my lady is beneath the spots, and I can’t even see her.”
“I look terrible right now, kitty. I wouldn’t want you to see me like this.” It’s true. Ladybug magic keeps her suit mostly clean, but her civilian clothes are covered in dirt and grime and dust. She had crawled her way through half the city at one point while detransformed.
“You’re always the most beautiful girl to me.”
“I’m Marinette,” she blurts out, sooner than she had wanted to. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng. You’ve always been my friend, Chat. In and out of the mask.”
Silence.
With every second passing second she feels like her chest is being crushed.
“Of course it’s you.” Chat breathes. “It couldn’t possibly have been anyone else. Only you.”
Relief floods through her. “Come to the bakery when this is all over. I’ll make you as many croissants as you want.”
“Ultimate Mecha Strike?”
“You’re On.”
The mic peaks on Chat’s shaky exhale. “You know me, Marinette. Outside of the mask. You know who I am.”
She stiffens. That doesn’t make sense. She’s checked on everyone she knows. All of her classmates, her family, her friends. She’s made sure everyone is safe. Everyone that she hadn’t handed a miraculous and dragged to war with her.
“Who? Who are you?” She asks, a desperate edge to her voice. Who has she forgotten? Who has she missed?
“Adrien. Adrien Agreste.”
Any other time, the name would be enough to shatter her. Not right now. She’s in the middle of a fight. She can’t think about that right now.
“You’re not in the manor,” is all she can say.
“I was out when the first akuma hit. Carapace is coming back now. We’re going to keep working on things down here. Message me when you get Bee back and when you catch up to Rena. She’s been on the move since noon.”
He hangs up.
Marinette wants to call him back, to demand that he talk to her, but Chloe is still outside, and she needs to catch up to the akuma that got her.
The fight isn’t over yet.