Marinette Dupain-Cheng has disappeared for good.
Chat Noir refuses to give up on finding her, even if Ladybug already has.
* * *
Started: July 27, 2017
Finished: December 17, 2018
Idea inspired by @its_nusa_obviously 's book, Stuck.
Cover drawn by...
Surprisingly, the pain lessened and became almost tolerable. After spending what seemed like forever lying to convince her partner that the pain was completely gone, she pulled it together and made him go fight with her while she still had time.
Ladybug's eyes were drooping in exhaustion, and she had to keep rubbing them. The rush of air she felt when swinging on her yoyo seemed to wake her up a little bit each time, but right after, she was dead tired.
"I underestimated the importance of beds," Ladybug mumbled to herself deliriously.
"So this is the miraculous Ladybug, huh? More like the miraculous Lazybug!" The akuma taunted her distractingly.
'This is just a person under Hawkmoth's control. I'm not going to smack him. I'm not going to smack him,' Ladybug repeated to herself as she took an irritated huff.
"Says the akuma with the female horse name, sitting on a cloud. What's your excuse for such atrocities?" Chat Noir tried to distract him again. He glanced back at Ladybug worriedly, seeing how exhausted she was.
"Excuse me, you cosplaying anime girl. I had a horrible nightmare, and now everyone should have them!"
"Did you just call me a cosplaying anime girl?!" Chat Noir growled, pulling out his staff.
As the immature males in the attack argued, Ladybug bought the time to try and think up another strategy. Was this object she had to purify even materialized, or was it air, just like he was?
How an akuma could turn solid matter into air was beyond her, but there had to be something she wasn't seeing.
* * * Within * * *
The colorful world around Marinette began collapsing in darkness, creating a pink light to form around her like a bubble. When she looked up, she noticed a smaller red field of light was pushing away from her, and inside her kwami was yelling frantically yet soundlessly.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"I'm losing you!!! No, Marinette!" Tikki screamed, but Marinette couldn't hear a single word.
She watched as Tikki's form pulled slowly away from her own.
"Ladybug won't survive if you disconnect from me! You won't survive if you leave! You can't go! Hang on, Marinette!" The kwami yelled, trying to push against the force pulling Marinette away.
"Tikki? What's going on? I can't hear you!" Marinette asked, but her kwami couldn't hear her either. She felt nothing but intense fear and a bewildering confusion.
"Marinette!!" Tikki cried out again, pushing her fins out to reach for her holder.
Marinette reached up, but her hand wasn't able to pass through her pink field of light. She uselessly skimmed the surface with her hand, unable to leave the bubble-like light field. She could see Tikki mouthing her name frantically, yet they seemed to be pulling farther and farther apart. Marinette was tethered between a gaping black hole and reality.
