Talk to Me, Princess | Marichat - Miraculous Ladybug

Chapter Seventeen - Stepping Into Dangerous Territory

I wake up and check the clock, seeing it's 6:17pm. I had a three hour nap, or close to it. Might as well say goodbye to my sleep schedule, cause that definitely will screw it up for the next few days.

I trudge downstairs, seeing my parents eating dinner and chatting. They fall silent for a moment as we lock eyes, something of a guilty look in their eyes.

"We didn't want to wake you, sorry honey. Would you like some?" My dad offers as my mom points towards where the rest of the dinner is waiting patiently for me to feast upon.

"I'm okay, I'm just gonna grab a drink and do some work." I lie straight through my teeth. We don't have any homework yet, and I don't feel like working on any designs right now.

"Well, there's tons of food when you're hungry." My mom says, looking back towards her meal as she pokes at it with her chopsticks. I can tell she's hurt, and I should talk to her about that. But I just can't bring myself to hear them tell me how much I'm letting them down.

I know I should be eating, and acting normal. I know it hurts my parents to see me behaving like this. I'm such a selfish daughter, but I can't help it.

Maybe once school is done I'll take Tikki on a world tour and we can just leave Paris and everyone behind. I bet they would do better without me anyways, always bringing down the mood.

I grab a glass of water and head back to my bedroom. I make the horrendous mistake of clicking open my phone, and doom scrolling through Twitter. I can't help myself from seeking out news about Ladybug, and reading everything.

I'm talking everything that I can find. Anything that anyone writes that even mentions me.

A lot of people are kind, but there's an overwhelming amount of people that are not-so-nice about my work as Ladybug. Far more people than there ever has been before.

I choke on a sob as I see the tweet reading:
Ladybug is a joke. After all these years and her so called love for Paris, she's never done one thing to stop Hawkmoth.

This is followed up with another tweet reading:
It's all about prevention, not reaction. All Ladybug does is wait for Hawkmoth to act, defeat his Akuma, and call it a day. When will she actually go after him??

I bite the inside of my cheek until I taste blood. Through blurred vision, I read the words:
If Hawkmoth is gone, Ladybug ceases to be useful. She lets him continue being a villain so she can be a selfish hero. It's all just to stay relevant, wake up people.

I can't stop the sobs that wrack my body, tossing my phone to the side so I don't need to keep subjecting myself to nasty things people are saying.

None of it is true. Not even in the slightest. Sure, I'm anxious about what happens when we defeat Hawkmoth, but my goal always has been and always will be to defeat him.

What is true though, is that people are turning against me. That I'm losing public opinion day by day, and I don't know what to do about it.

I can't defeat Hawkmoth when I have no clue where he is. He almost never comes out of hiding, he gets everyone else to do his dirty business for him. How am I supposed to locate someone like that??

It's impossible.

"Princess?" The soft voice is so gentle I can hardly hear it, but I do. He's here, finally. Why does he always come at the worst time?

Or, I suppose the best time. When I need someone the most, Chat Noir always shows up. It's as though he has a little radar that goes off every time I'm moments away from a meltdown.

"Chat Noir." I choke out, peering up at him through the window. I wait for him to approach before I realized I locked the hatch door to get out onto my balcony. Today will be the last day I ever do that, I want Chat to come see me easily.