#ilbb

“Did you-er-could you help her?”

“Yes, Marinette, Tikki is going to be fine – she is just eating now. Once she’s finished, her energy should be back up. My healing tonic really did work wonders, I must say, but you… What is it child?”

He must have noticed her expression, but Mari gulped down her tears and pushed her chin up. “Paris needs me, and I failed. What kind of Ladybug does that?” Her lips quivered, but she tried not to cry again.

”That’s not true Marinette; you were incredibly brave! I am so proud of you.“ A squeaky voice came flying closer to her and suddenly she could feel softness on her cheek.

“Tikki,” Mari sighed, “you’re alive!”

”Of course, silly!“ Tikki giggled.Then suddenly the softness was gone and a small gasp escape the kwami, making Marinette’s blood run cold.

“What is it? Tikki?!”

“Marinette, your eyes! You’re hurt! Oh no, this is terrible!”

You think? Mari thought bitterly, but said nothing. “Tikki, there’s no time to worry about me. Can you transform? We have to go back and finish the akuma. Paris needs us!”

Marinette couldn’t see Master Fu’s worried look, nor Tikki’s determined nod.

“Let’s not keep them waiting.“ The tiny kwami sounded so resolute Marinette couldn’t help but feel a little bit hopeful.

“Tikki, spots on!”

She felt the miraculous power settle around her, and as she opened her eyes, she almost whooped with joy – her sight has returned!

Mari gave the old Master a respectful nod and tore out of the shop without a word. She grabbed her yo-yo and quickly checked the Ladyblog for updates – Alya, at least, must have still been okay for the update livestream was online. Marinette sighed with relief.

“Citizens of Paris, oh fuck” Alya spoke from the recording on the small screen, stopping short to dodge a piece of flying debris before she plowed on, “stay inside and find shelter! Steer clear of Avenue Paul Doumer and Trocadero. I repeat, do not go towards Trocadero. There is a large akuma attack and-”

The feed cut off, but at least now Mari knew where she needed to go. She couldn’t help the elation she felt at being Ladybug again, moving freely from rooftop to rooftop. But the good feeling left her in an instant when she saw the destruction all around her. She realized the akuma must have ordered its mind-controlled minions on a rampage through the streets. There were upturned cars, broken store windows, and rubble everywhere. When she finally made it back to the small square where the attack first started, she gasped.

Screaming. People running around frantically. Small fires starting up, with no one to put them down. The police and fire department were struggling to keep Chat Noir at bay, succeeding for the moment, but just barely. Realization dawned on Marinette with growing dread – Chat still hadn’t de-transformed! Which must mean the akuma’s influence was somehow powering him. He roared and trashed in the middle of the square, like rabid feral monster, and even as Ladybug, she shook with dread.

Meanwhile the few remaining civilians bolstered together under Principal Damocles, for some strange reason, were using all they could to distract Dr. Mind Control.

“Ladybug!”

“Look, it’s Ladybug!”

“She’s okay!”

“She made it”

“We’re saved!”

Marinette wanted to scream. No, they weren’t saved! What could she do to help them, when she failed so badly already?!

“Ladybug, I am so happy you‘reokay!” Alya was right there beside her when she landed down on the broken tile pavement.

“Yes, I…” she could feel tears prickling the corners of her eyes again, but her friend gave her the sunniest smile and said “Ladybug, I trust you. You can do it. We’ll distract them both for you as much as we can.”

Mr. Damocles nodded, and as Mari looked around she saw more and more hurt and sooty people, uniformed and not, giving her reassuring looks and nods.

She could do this. She had to. The city of Paris believed in her.

The city of Paris needed her.

“Lucky Charm!”

It went suspiciously smoothly from then on. Effortless. It almost felt natural to use the red-and-black spotted Velcro strip, to tie it around her yo-yo and drag the akuma to the ground. It was all too easy to swiftly grab the doctor’s notepad and tear it to pieces. Perfectly ordinary to just purify the akuma.

However, when she threw the Velcro in the air and shouted, “Miraculous Ladybug!” she knew in an instant that something was wrong.

The usually powerful magic only sparked and sputtered, barely de-transforming the akuma and his victims, fixing a mere fraction of damage and injuries before fizzling out into nothing.

Her earrings beeped once, then twice, way too fast, and she was running before she could meet Chat Noir’s confused green gaze. Alya yelled after her, but she had already gone.

Ladybug came into Master Fu’s shop through a window this time, but it was Marinette that passed out, broken, on his shop’s hardwood floor…

Next time Marinette came to, everything was dark. She startled violently. Her head felt as if it were filled with cotton, her arms and legs were heavy, and something was pulling on her left arm uncomfortably. As she trashed around warm hands came up on her shoulders, and she startled into stillness.

“Shh, Marinette, it’s okay. Calm down. You are in the hospital. You are safe.”

It was her father’s voice. Once again – beaten, sore, and terrified – Marinette started to weep.

Wet, breathless sobs wrecked her small frame as she pawed at the bandages wrapped over her eyes. Tom and Sabine exchanged worried looks. Their baby girl looked so small, so terribly frail in that big hospital bed, and they were both lost.

“Hush love, shhh, it will be okay, we’re here with you,” Sabine whispered to her daughter, fingers combing through the matted black hair coming out from above the tight bandages. Slowly, Sabine moved her hands down, entwining fingers with her daughter’s and bringing their hands down into Marinette’s lap.

“What happened Mama?” Marinette finally asked, though she dreaded the answer.

“You got hurt in the akuma attack, honey. You had a concussion, they think, and you wandered around for a while before someone found you and brought you in here.”

Marinette turned to the sound of her father’s voice and asked, feebly:

“Why can’t I see, Papa, what’s wrong with me?”

“Love –” Tom started, but Sabine stopped him with a look.

“Your eyes got hurt by the chemical that got released out of those horrible container trucks,” Sabine told her daughter gently, “they’ll need some time to heal. That’s what the bandages are for, love.”

Tom pursed her lips, the doctors’ words of scarring and likely permanent damage still fresh on his mind, but he understood. Marinette was frightened. It wouldn’t do to scare her any further. Although he wasn’t sure if giving their daughter false hope was the best idea…

“Marinette! Oh girl, you gave us all such a fright!” Alya’s voice came from the door, a booming delivery from the misery that was her uncomfortably silent hospital room. Mari had insisted that her parents go back to the bakery, they already missed too many days for her, and she didn’t want to ruin her family’s business on top of everything else.

“You look horrible! Oh Mari, I am so, so sorry.” Her friends voice was quieter now, and though Marinette felt warmth of Alya settling on the chair right by her bed, her insides turned cold. “I thought you ran to safety when I couldn’t see you anywhere, and instead you were hurt, and I didn’t help you. Some best friend I am!”

Alya was blaming herself. Marinette had failed-failed as Ladybug, failed Paris-and her best friend was blaming herself?

“Alya no! It wasn’t your fault!” It was mine, she didn’t say.

Alya pursed her lips and looked over her friend with worry etched into every line of her face, but this, Marinette couldn’t see. At long last Alya sighed, with resignation. She hugged Marinette tightly and for a second Mari thought she could feel drops of something wet and warm hit her cheek.

But then Alya moved away and asked in a perfectly calm and clear voice:

“So, how are you feeling? No, I am stupid, don’t answer that. Of course you feel horrible – what even are all these things they got you on?”

Alya pointed to the IV bags and waited a beat, only to realize Marinette couldn’t see her gesture.

“I mean-the IVs, what are they giving you? At least some good drugs?”

Marinette smiled, a small hesitant thing though it was.

“Yup. The best. Makes everything feel like a dream. Maybe it is!” she tried to joke.

“Oh no you don’t, girl! If this was your dream, I am pretty sure there’d be –” Alya suddenly stopped mid-sentence.

“Chat Noir.”

Marinette scoffed. “What would Chat Noir be doing in my dream?”

“Meow-ch, that hurt, Princess. I am paws-itively dreamy!”

Chaton.

“Ch-Chat Noir?!”

Alya was having the wildest daydream, otherwise this was making no sense. The spandex-clad superhero climbed in through the window, his characteristic smirk falling off his face the moment he really saw Marinette.

“Oh Princess! Princess, what happened?”

His voice was so soft just then and Mari almost wept again. Almost.

“It’s nothing Chaton. ‘Tis just a flesh wound. You should have seen the other guy!”

You should have seen the other guy? Really, Marinette? She groaned internally – but it must have worked, for both Alya and Chat giggled at her silly joke.

“That was horrible, Mari, even for you.” Alya giggled, grasping her hand.

“I am hilarious, and you know it.” Marinette deadpanned. “Now, Chat, as much as I appreciate seeing your pretty face, is there a reason you’re here?”

“Aw princess, you really think I am pre–” Chat started saying, then, at Alya’s guffaw, he realized she had her eyes bandaged and most definitely could not see him. “I wish you wouldn’t be so cruel to me.”

“Dream on, Alley Cat.”

“Alas, my sweet princess, it wasn’t you I came looking for – Miss Césaire, you think this Alley Cat could borrow you for a bit?”

“Me?”

“Her?”

Alya turned to exchange incredulous looks with Marinette, but her friend was still turned, unseeingly, away in Chat’s direction. Alya’s heart clenched painfully, so she turned back to Chat instead.

“I mean now isn’t the best time, but I suppose…”

“It’s okay, Alya, really, I mean, it’s not like I am gonna go anywhere…” Marinette gave her friend a bright smile, “Go, help him. God knows he needs all the supervision he can get.”

“Oi!” Chat exclaimed, but Alya was already dragging him outside, through the door this time around.

Marinette had her own reasons for wanting Alya to leave. She had a pretty good idea about why Chat would need the famous ladyblogger to help him, and if Ladybug was to make an appearance, Marinette needed to be alone.

“Tikki? Hey, Tikki, are you here?”

“Yes Marinette? What is it?” her Kwami’s soft voice answered.

“Can you make sure the door is locked?”

Mari heard the whoosh of air being displaced as the small creature whizzed across the room, then a metallic click, and voila. Instant privacy.

“Tikki – spots on!”

It was a weird feeling to be transformed into Ladybug, her senses coming back to her with a view of a crammed hospital room. She looked through the windows and her eyes watered at the sight of the bright blue sky.

No. She didn’t have time for this. She had to call Chat.

Opening her yo-yo communicator, the ladyblog popped up on the screen, and just as she expected, a fresh message from Chat Noir to Ladybug featured on the front page.

“Chat!” she spoke calmly into the answering machine, “I am okay, but I need some time to recover after that last akuma fight. Do you think you can handle Paris on her own for a few days? Don’t worry Kitty, I won’t leave you on your lonesome for too long. Bug out.”

With a sigh, she gave one last longing look to the open sky before de-transforming in a wave of searing pain.

“Shit,” she groaned.

Tikki’s healing powers must have washed all the sedatives out of her system, but now that she was separated from the kwami once more, she would have to pay for that.

Days passed by in a swirl of nurses and doctors. Now that she was awake they were continuously prodding and probing her with more and more tests, trying, in vain, to understand just what had caused her so much pain and damage. Marinette wasn’t fussed – she knew what caused her injury, flinching anytime her mind conjured the image of feral Chat Noir and a void-black aura of cataclysm closing in on her face. And just as clearly, she knew no doctor would be able to help.

The longer she laid there, the more resigned she felt.

The hospital made her feel strangely floaty. Sterile and disconnected.

It was almost safe, in a way.

That is, until it wasn’t anymore.

“Mari, love!” her mother came into the room with a swirl of energy, “We’re finally taking you home!”