Chapter Text
Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir
Stranger in Town
The Madness of Love’s Flame, chapter 12
“Noooooo!” howled Deanna, dropping to her knees. Ladybug knelt beside her, while Adrien knelt beside her on the other side. “This…can’t be happening!”
“C’mon, Deanna, it’ll…” But Ladybug couldn’t bring herself to say “it’ll be alright.” They’d all just seen Damien, her brother, just…blow away like smoke in a high wind. Instead she looked up at Morax. “Sir, can’t you…do something?” Anything?
In answer, he walked over to them and placed a small crystal on Deanna’s neck. The effect was instantaneous: Deanna stopped sobbing and went limp. “Take her into the next room.” Adrien picked her up and carried her to the room indicated.
Once they were gone, Morax turned to his Chief Technologist. “Well? Anything?”
But the devil was shaking his head, looking at the graph on his cleartablet. “He appears to have completely discorporated, all in an instant, sir. I’m not even picking up a trace of him on any scan.”
“Damn it!” snarled Morax. The attending demons and devils looked on with worry; they’d never seen the Demon of Knowledge, Learning, and Wisdom expostulate so. Mastering himself with an obvious effort, he turned to them. “Run some more scans. It’s possible that he…well, just run some more scans. Any and all scans you have available. Also, summon my wife. We need to run scans of any nearby universes. I know it’s a slim hope, but it’s all we’ve got.”
…..
In another part of the castle / University, the demon known as Akane was becoming more troubled by the minute.
This bonding crystal she’d found---she had no business having it. Such crystals couldn’t be stolen; they could only be given away. And it was, without a doubt, the bonding crystal belonging to that tall shadonai who claimed he’d been part of the team that rescued her from…
From…
From what? That had never been made totally clear. The times she’d broached it to Revered Lady Luan, she had simply been told there had been a breach in one of the universes, centering on one of the worlds Hell had outposts in, and that she had been severely injured. Without medical help, she would have died. So she owed him her life…but what were these strange feelings that seemed to be haunting the outer perimeter of her thoughts?
Why couldn’t she get him out of her mind?
Well, there was only one thing to do. However she’d come by it, this crystal did not belong to her. It belonged to him. So it was only right and proper that she return it to him.
Surely, that was the least she could do.
……
Lord Morax’s office: Deanna seemed subdued, and Ladybug worried about her. After all, she’d just literally seen her brother die…
Morax was speaking. “...not sure what went wrong. It may have been an effect of his previous exposure to the Madness of Love’s Flame; we just don’t know. Deanna,” he turned his full attention to the demon girl, “I really don’t know what to say. According to our readings, his tau factor went down to zero. This resulted in…well, in what you saw.” He fell silent. Then, “Are you alright?”
“No.”
“I didn’t think so. Of course, you know you…and your friends…have my…make that our…” he amended as Luan entered the room, “deepest sympathies.” He spread his hands. “That said, there is really nothing more I can say. You have our full support…is there anything we can do?”
“I…I appreciate your sympathies, Honored One. But…” She trailed off.
“Well, in any case, take this.” He reached into a drawer on his desk and brought forth a small crystal of a design she was unfamiliar with. “This crystal is specifically designed to heal emotional trauma. Sleep with it. It won’t magically heal your trauma, but it will give you, perhaps, a bit of a boost on the road towards healing.”
“Th-thank you, Honored One.” She took the crystal, stuffed it in her pouch. “I…I…will be okay, I think. Eventually.”
“Good to hear.” He stood up, straightening his uniform. “I’d like you back in a month, for a check up. Sooner, if you feel the need. Don’t worry about appointments; I’ll make the time.” He turned to Ladybug, who’s presence at this meeting, along with Adrien, had been specifically requested. “You’ve good friends.” He gestured with his head at the two humans. “I leave you in their hands.”
Adrien got on Deanna’s left side, and guided her out of the room, towards the departure point, leading back to their world. Ladybug---Marinette---felt a twinge of jealousy, but could understand his actions. Deanna was clearly still recovering; Marinette didn’t think she should be left alone right then. She saw them towards the “take off” point, then veered off in search of members of her group.
“I…I can walk, Adrien. I, I’m alright…”
“You let me lean on you when I learned about father. It’s only fair I return the favor. Isn’t that what friends are for?”
She smiled a shaky smile. “Friends. Yeah…thanks, Adrien.” She leaned against him, letting him hold her, savoring his strength and nearness.
Ladybug found Chloe, Sabrina, and Alya in a small room adjacent to Morax’s office. Chloe, who was sitting, hunched forward, on the couch, was staring at her cell phone fixedly. Passing behind her, after gathering up the others and sending them towards the point of departure, Ladybug happened to pass behind her and saw what she was watching. She did a double take. “What th---? Chloe? You videoed Damien’s death? And now you’re watching it? Chloe, that’s, that’s ghoulish!”
But Chloe motioned to her to sit next to her. “‘Bug, sit here. I need your input. How’s your lip reading?”
“My what?”
“Lip reading. How’s your lip reading?”
“Look, what’s that got to do with---*”
“Daddy insisted I take courses. Said it was the world’s oldest intercom. It was one thing I was never able to cry my way out of, with him. But now I’m glad I took ‘em. Look. Watch. Just watch.” And she replayed the video.
Ladybug, wincing all the time, watched the clip, which had apparently been shot from behind Deanna, through the clear lid of the regression pod. She saw Deanna place her hand on the lid; saw Damien press his hand up against hers. “Now watch his lips.” Ladybug saw the shifting form within…saw Damien seeming to speak…saw the horrid finish, with Damien’s form becoming less distinct…saw the form within blow away like dust in a high wind.
“Okay,” she said, shuddering. “I watched it. Now what was I supposed to see?”
“You didn’t see? He was trying to speak. He must’ve known something was…wrong…and was trying to speak to his sister.
“But what was he trying to say?”
“How should I know?”
Chloe sighed. “I was afraid you’d say that. Okay, first: have you noticed the way people speak, down here?”
“?”
“Remember what Adriel said? ‘Here, words have power.’ I think she was right.”
“Chloe, what does that have to do with---*”
“You never hear anybody say things like, ‘I swear,’ or ‘I promise,’ or similar words or phrases, do you?”
“No. But what does---*”
“From what I could tell---and I admit, I could be wrong---it looked like what he was saying was, I promise I’ll come back to you.”
Ladybug looked blank. Chloe pressed the idea. “He promised to come back to her. To Deanna. He promised. Don’t you see?”
“Not sure…”
Chloe blew out a breath. “If I’m right---if I’m right---he made a promise. He made a promise. And, and if words do have power, down here, he has to keep his word.”
“But…but he’s---*”
“‘Bug, that may not matter. Not down here. Not in this place.”
Ladybug thought about that. She was forced to admit…it was possible. “But if that’s so, that’s great news! We can tell---*”
Chloe stood up and paced nervously. “No we can’t! I might be wrong! I might have, have misread what I think he said! Or that flame, or whatever it was, may have so completely destroyed him that he can’t come back, promise or no. And, and if any of that’s true…Ladybug, I can’t do that to Dee! I mean, get her hopes up…for something that may not happen? A, a false hope? It would devastate the poor little thing!” She rubbed her hands alongside her head. “I, I couldn’t do that to her!”
Ladybug, still seated, looked up at her in amazement. “When,” she began, her voice almost a whisper, “did you grow up?”
Chloe looked blank for a moment. Then she looked down at her feet. “Oh. It’s the shoes. They’re platforms.”
To be continued…