Till the End of the Line ~ A Miraculous Short Story

Marinette

I don't normally put songs above my chapters, but this song was the one I played over and over until my family was ready to murder me while writing it because I feel like it fits the mood I was going for in this chapter. No idea if it'll be long enough to last the whole chapter, or way too long, but whatever.

I was thrown into the window by the moth creature along with Chat, Rena, and Carapace. I could feel it give way under our weight, and all of a sudden we were falling onto the pavement below. I screamed, grabbing hold of my friends with one arm and throwing my yoyo up into the air with the other, praying it would catch something.

The string pulled taunt in my hands, and I could feel my arm being ripped out of its socket from the sudden weight. I shrieked in pain. Shards of glass shattered down onto my face. The pain in my arm felt like a raging fire, but I had to ignore it, had to hold up my friends. I lowered us to the ground, grunting from the effort.

"Ladybug?! Are you okay?" Chat asked me, his eyes filled with concern. I didn't get a chance to answer him before we were thrust back into battle with the monster. Everything hurt. But I kept fighting. There wasn't really any other option.

We came at the monster from all angles, tried everything. We couldn't get to Shadowmoth and destroy the amok, and we couldn't end this without it. There was only one option left. I thrust up my yoyo with my good arm, calling out the familiar words. "Lucky charm!"

But what I got didn't make any sense. A ring, like the cat miraculous, but spotted, and my earrings. I looked around for a solution, but the only thing I could see was the ring and the earrings..

Well wonderful. Now all we could do was keep fighting this losing battle. I could see the terrified, tired faces of my friends around me. How could I save them?

Then it all made sense. I wish it hadn't. I wish there was some other way. But here it was. A solution. A way to end it once and for all.

"Rena, Carapace, you need to go." I choked out. They gave me confused looks. "Just... trust me. You have to get as far away from here as possible."

"Ma-Ladybug, what are you going to do?" Alya asked me, eyebrows creased.

"I have a way to end this. Just promise me you'll get out of here." I told her, pleading with my eyes.

"Okay. I trust you." She took Nino's hand and together they jumped away, over the rooftops. I was glad that I could see them one more time. Together, flying over their home.

"M'Lady, what are you planning?" I turned to Chat with tears in my eyes. I hated that it had to end like this. That I had to take him with me. But there was only one way, and I needed him.

"Chat, when you merge the miraculouses, you can have one wish granted. We could stop him. Forever." The words sounded like they were coming from someone else.

"But, but that takes a huge sacrifice. There needs to be a balance."

"Yeah. And I wish there was another way, but..." I blinked back tears. "We can save Paris. The world. All it would take is us." His eyes widened as he realized what I meant. Asking him to do this had to be the worst thing I'd ever done. Guilt crushed me along with pain.

"Let's do it."

"What?"

"If we can sacrifice ourselves to save everyone, There's no other choice."

"There has to be though. I can find something, just let me think!" I couldn't let him die. I didn't matter, but him? I loved him.

"The miraculouses, they were your lucky charm, right? That means this is how it ends. This is it. You and me against the world, remember?" The sad smile he gave me nearly broke me. But it also gave me the strength to take his hand and accept.

We had held hands before plenty of times, but this was different. It was like the miraculouses sensed that we were ready. It was time.

Pure energy traveled up my arm, encasing my body. I focused on only one thing. Ending this nightmare.

I watched white light envelop me, Chat, Shadowmoth, everything. It felt like being electrocuted. We rose up together until the light faded and we were thrown back onto a rooftop.

Every inch of my body was in pain. A single breath felt like running a marathon. But I looked over and saw his hand, still in mine. Black on red.

Until it wasn't. Until I could feel my suit peeling off, leaving me in bloody clothes, and my bare hand was touching his.

"Adrien?" Maybe it should have been a shock. Maybe I should have yelled or gasped or done something, but it just seemed so right I wondered how I hadn't known this from the beginning. Of course these two sweet, caring, funny boys were the same.

The pain faded away, and I knew it was ending. All of it.

It probably should have felt wrong, dying so young. I wasn't even halfway through with my life yet. I hadn't graduated, become a fashion designer, I hadn't gotten married or had kids. I hadn't even gotten that hamster. It should have all felt so wrong, so unfair. But it didn't.

Lying here, hand in hand with the dying boy beside me, there was no place I'd rather be. Maybe some people just aren't supposed to live long lives. Maybe they have to pack everything into just a few years. And I had. There were a million things still left undone, but that was okay. There would always be someone else to finish them. For now, all that mattered was that I was here, on an abandoned Paris rooftop, happy to die as long as I was with him.