Where Does the Red String Go? -Miraculous Ladybug AU Soulmates

Chapter 38- Again

Marinette's POV

I'm in the green meadows again.

The green rabbits are here picking green flowers and eating green grass, bouncing around in their green fur.

The green wind is here too, edging across the corner of the background and waiting for a moment to wrap around me again.

I wonder what happened to the story. The story of the cat and the snake. Did the cat win? Or did the snake kill the cat? I know that I can't retell the story this time because the green wind slowly edging closer to me will suffocate it before the ending.

But what if I start at the end? Maybe the story will finish before the green wind shuts it down. I have nothing else to do in this lonely place. Everything here is an illusion, a fake play. All the rabbits only do one motion- bend down to eat grass. Then they do it again. And again. And again.

It is the same with the movement of the wind, and the fluttering of the leaves. It's just a staged setting. So what if...I push it? Would the backdrop eventually crumble? Tentatively edging forward, I slam my mental force against the barrier.

It pulses, wobbling but still holds. I push again, this time with more force. The force field still holds, but the green rabbits are slowly disappearing. What if I focus on one point of the shield? The green wind is now swirling around me, curious to see what I'm doing. Like it's a being.

I pierce the shield with my mental energy, twisting it as minute cracks appear like spiderwebs. The illusion instantly falters, flickering like a dying light. I twist again, the green wind now trying to stop me. I grit my teeth, spearing the shield with all my strength as it finally wields.

And I fall.

Spiderwebs of color streak behind me as I tumble, tumbling and tumbling. The air is rushing beneath me, the green wind nowhere to be seen. The colors halt, stop, rewind, recharge, and streak past me again. Stopping and starting, going everywhere and nowhere in all different, infinite directions.

Eventually, I land. The air is gently rushed out of my lungs as I slowly try to regain my breath. I sit up, I'm in another meadow. This time it's blue, blue like the summer sky. I flinch back, I don't ever want to see this color again. But in my drunken haze, I can't pinpoint why.

I slowly inch back, trying to calm my racing heart. No, No. I hate this color with all my heart. The feeling of anger arises within me, and the blue slowly becomes washed with red. NO! Not red, anything except the color red. The colors stir within me something so wretched that I scream.

This time, it isn't suppressed. The sound dives across the empty landscape, across the rolling hills, and sprawls over the atmosphere. Its echoes are infinite, morphing the sound into different variations. I cover my ears as the red streaks with the blue, splashing and tainting it.

I suddenly miss the green wind, at least it protected me from this morbid horror show. Closing my eyes, I bundle up in a ball and try to ignore my screams, echoing in every octave there is.

And like it's been there all along, the green wind comes. It wraps around me, numbing my emotions, succumbing to its gentle breeze. I sigh, the feeling of relief so gratifying that it rocks me to oblivion. The green lulls me to sleep, easing all my worries away like before. But it's still holding me in its claws, trapping me without me realizing it.

Yet somehow, I still feel safe.

"Adrien?" I mumble, the green wind slowly morphing into Adrien's eyes. He's sitting next to me, bags rimmed under his beautiful green eyes. Green, like meadows.

When he hears my name he shoots up from his seat, before I can even say anything he envelops me in a hug. I allow myself to bathe in his springtime scent and warm body, knowing I don't deserve it.

"I-I'm s-sorry Adrien." I bumble and burst into tears. I couldn't believe I had ghosted him when he was right about everything all along. His feather-soft hair brushes against my cheek, catching my tears. "I-It's m-my f-fault, I-I-I s-should h-have listened." I blubber, so ashamed that I hide myself in his clothes. I don't deserve him.

"Shh, It's okay Marinette, I forgive you," Adrien says, hugging me even tighter. "Ouch," I mutter as his arms crush my stomach. I cross my arms and look at him in disbelief.

"Y-You d-don't get to s-say that! A-After e-everything I've d-done to y-you." I say and burst into tears again, hiccuping. "It's okay Marinette. People make mistakes," he whispers. "Besides, I think you paid for it enough." He says and I look down. I'm practically covered in bandages, covered so tight it's a wonder I can breathe. "Oh," I say. All the events come back.

"Here we are again," I say, a feeling of nostalgia gripping me like a vice. "If only I listened to you the first time," I whisper and look down. How could I be so stupid?

"It was the red string. The emotions made you like that. The more time you spend with your soulmate, the more you fall for them. I shouldn't have left for two weeks, it just made you and Luka grow stronger." Adrien says and gently places an arm on my shoulder.

"I'm sorry too."

"I nearly died again?" I ask, seeing the pain in Adrien's eyes as confirmation. "How'd I even survive?" I say. "To be honest, I don't know," Adrien replies, enveloping me in another hug. He squeezes me, and I feel his shattering relief through the string. "But I'm so grateful you're here," he says and smiles. "You're my soulmate Marinette, and I can't lose you for the world."

I smile too. "You're my soulmate, Adrien," I say, finally saying it. The truth behind those words weighs me, and I know I'm right. "You're my soulmate!" I say again and laugh. He's my soulmate. My true soulmate. The one that I'm supposed to be with, forever and ever.

I lean forward and kiss him on the cheek.

This time, there's no doubt.