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Lights glittered across the city, through windows and atop buildings. Red tail lights trailed behind cars in the streets. Monuments were put on the spotlight, proudly displayed like medals of honor. As the sun sank below the horizon, people dwindled back into their homes while the streets remained full. The buzz of the day began to settle, and a whole new orchestra of sound burst to life in the night. Gentle beats of music wafted from bars and nightclubs while theaters put together plays. It’s Paris as usual- bright enough to outshine the stars.
Or at least, that’s what it should have looked like. Instead the people had fled like a river bursting through floodgates and trickled away till the buildings were empty and the streets deserted. The once beautiful Parisian lights had gone out and drowned the city in darkness. Very few souls had dared to stay after the death of their hero.
But Ladybug was still here. She spends most of her nights atop random rooftops, huddled under a blanket and watching the stars she’d often wondered had existed at all. She couldn’t bring herself to stay in her family’s bakery alone, and… It was silly but she felt that above Paris her partner was watching over her. She was a lone soldier now, in the war against Hawkmoth. She couldn’t bear the thought of abandoning the city, and she couldn’t bear the thought of Hawkmoth hurting anyone else. She had to stop him.
Chat Noir died; crushed and defeated by an akuma some time ago. She had failed to save him. And then Hawkmoth had the Miraculous of Destruction in his hands. After that the attacks on the city became so violent that other deaths followed her partner’s.
Beneath Ladybug’s mask, Marinette Dupain-Cheng had tearfully pushed her family away with a lame excuse. Her mother and father couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t flee the city with them, but were unable to take her away. Marinette knew she’d hurt them, but somehow it didn’t sting as badly as she’d thought it would.
Since the funeral, she’d stopped feeling as strongly about anything as she did before. She’d been made to stand at Adrien Agreste’s funeral as the spotted heroine, unable to comprehend who she was mourning for more- her sweet and dear classmate, or her partner and trusted friend. In the end she’d had to excuse herself early to deal with a particularly nasty akuma. She’d never been so glad to get away.
Since the city was abandoned, she frequented Chat- Adrien’s grave. She knew she shouldn’t be anywhere predictable for Hawkmoth to find her, but she didn’t care as much as she should. And when she was there, she would smile softy. He’d always said he loved her smile. She wished she’d been able to tell him that he could never love her smile nearly as much as she coveted his. It would have made happy.
Although the city had been evacuated, there were still people here and there. The homeless who scavenged the empty shops, elderly who refused to leave their homes, the unfortunate who had a taste for trouble and the curious who wanted to gaze on the outcome of the battle for the Miraculous with their own eyes. As well as the occasional daring reporter or two who wanted some news for the outside world. Despite the considerably smaller pool of people to akumatize Hawkmoth remained undeterred. There were still akuma to fight every week. She’d even cured people who had been turned outside of Paris.
She wasn’t entirely alone in her struggle. Master Fu remained in his shop, offering advice and healing when she was down. Alya visited Paris frequently, though Marinette only met with her as Ladybug. She’d ceased contact with the people she knew as Marinette. How could she face them after selfishly placing herself in a warzone? She’d tried to call her parents just once after they left. It had ended in a heartbreaking argument where they failed again and again to convince her to leave. Her chest still ached with the memory of her mother’s tears.
For the most part, the heroine remained spotted. Only for her Kwami’s sake did she release her transformation every now and then. But she felt on guard at all times. Akuma nowadays targeted lone women especially. Hawkmoth was hoping to catch her in civilian form and find out her identity. After that she’d be easy pickings. Then there was the fact that she felt more than exposed whenever she detransformed. Something about Paris being empty left her feeling naked and in the spotlight in a way she’d never felt when she was surrounded by people. As if she’d felt hidden within the dense population of the city. She’d been stripped bare without them around her.
There are days when her chest is crushed with thoughts of Chat Noir. She needs him here with her. She can’t fight Hawkmoth alone. She has to find the villain. She has to take back Chat’s miraculous. She has to stop him- But she can’t. She’s nowhere closer to finding him than when she first became Ladybug. And he’s wearing her down. It had been difficult enough fighting with Chat with her, and without him it was all she could do to hold on.
She goes to bed at night nursing her cuts and bruises. She wondered if maybe, if she just lay there, she could somehow pretend the warm blanket around her was actually his arms. Wrapped around her tight and secure. His hand in hers. That he was still there with her, under the bright stars over a Paris drowned in darkness. And when she opens her eyes she swears she can see a flash of blond hair and striking green eyes.
She dreams of him and the old days. She’d never admit it out loud, even now, but she misses his puns. His stupid flirting. He was trying to win her over until the very end. And now… Well now it was too complicated for her to understand her feelings. Did she love him? Of course. But maybe not in the way he’d wanted her too. Even her feelings for him as Adrien didn’t seem real anymore. She just missed him.
Time never goes back. Once things change, they’ll never return to being the same again. She won’t eat lunch with Alya, Nino, and Adrien again. Her relationship with her parents will never be quite the same. Paris will never be right again. And she- would she ever be Marinette again? She was going to go to university, become a fashion designer, and become an intern. But the university is closed like the rest of Paris. Who knows if it’ll open again. If people will come back. Who knows if she’ll even survive. But she won’t give up. It would be a disgrace to the people who’ve died. It would be a dishonor to Ch- Adrien’s memory. To his Miraculous and Kwami.
Tears slip down her face. “I won’t leave,” she whispers, words dissipating into the vacant city. “I won’t leave you.”