#pv!ladybug

She was thankful that her partner wasn’t being split upon unnatural lines, but his scream was the worst she had ever heard. It was somehow worse than every parent and child separated, every friend injured, every time lovers would find the other dead. It was worse because this was Chat, brave and selfishly selfless Chat, the flirt who started by giving her roses and had eventually become her friend.

Hawk Moth smirked as Chat stopped screaming, eyes closed. “One down,” he said as he dropped Chat Noir. “One to go.”

Tikki once told her that the strength of her power depended on two things: how selfless it was, and just how much of her force of will is being used. Ladybug’s entire being rushed towards her partner. She scooped him up and jumped through the side of the blimp.

Apparently, the selfless thing was to flee the battle. Thus, it was luck that allowed the two of them to remain relatively unharmed as they landed on a high-up roof.

“Come on, Chat Noir,” Ladybug said, shaking him. “Wake up.”

Shaking him caused black bubbles to peal off his body, revealing grey clothes underneath. Ladybug shut her eyes.

“This isn’t funny, Chat, I don’t want to learn your identity right now, so wake up and transform back, or at least give me a signal that you’ve hidden.”

She waited three minutes before opening her eyes.

Félix didn’t wake up when she screamed. Ladybug clasped a hand to her mouth to make sure she wouldn’t attract attention. As she calmed her breathing, she had an idea.

“Hey, Félix,” she said in a coy tone of voice, drawing out the syllables in his name. “It’s me, your not-at-all-secret admirer. If you don’t wake up in the next ten seconds, I’m going to tell everyone at school that you agreed to marry me once we graduate from lycée!”

Ladybug waited twenty seconds, willing herself not to cry.

“Félix, I’m sorry. That was mean of me. Say the word, and I’ll leave you alone for the rest of our lives. Ask me to kiss you, and I’ll do so gladly. But first, you need to wake. Up.”

As he stayed unconscious, Ladybug allowed herself to start crying. She picked up the wrist Hawk Moth had attacked. She narrowed her eyes.

A couple months ago, Ladybug and Chat Noir had encountered an unconscious woman while they were on patrol. There was nothing wrong with her, aside from the rainbow butterfly insignia on her forehead. They hadn’t been able to wake her up, so they took her to the hospital. The nurses hadn’t seen the insignia.

Later that night, Tikki had told Bridgette that no one without a connection to magic would be able to see that insignia. It was good that she and Chat had taken the woman to the hospital, because she would’ve wasted away without medical attention.

The woman was still asleep, as far as Ladybug knew.

That same insignia was on Félix’s wrist.