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Marinette's P.O.V
My mind went blank with only the doctor's message repeating in my head.
"...Sabine Dupain-Cheng has passed away."
"...has passed away"
"...passed away."
I felt my lip quiver and eyes burn, ready to release every emotion I felt at the moment. Pain. Anger. Guilt. Question after question began to drill their way into my skull. I felt myself trembling, eyes focus on the wall on the other side of the room but not paying attention to anything. My world crashed and burned to the floor in a blink of an eye.
Everything collapsed in an array of frustration that would haunt me every night and minute of the day. My legs wobbled from beneath until my knees gave out, and I fell to the floor in a heap.
Sadness overwhelmed my soul as I gasped for air and the first sob filled the room. My heart ached for mama's hugs and kisses one more time, to see her smile wishing me a good morning.
That won't ever happen again. She's gone! She's dead!
My body racked with sobs, growing louder after the other and tears burned my face as they slid down my cheeks. This can't be happening! This can't be real...right? This is just a dream-no, nightmare that I'll wake up from and mama will be okay. She will hold me and say that she is still here. She's alright.
Yet, the pain felt too real, so it couldn't be a dream. I cried for the loss of my mother. I need her. I can't bare the thought of not seeing her ever again. Why did this have to happen to such a sweet and kind person? Why did it have to be her?
"Marinette, you need to calm down before an akuma gets here," Tikki warned, concern laced in her voice. I shakily gasped and sometimes hiccupped trying to steady my mind, ridding the bad emotions from my mind.
"Deep breathes in and out. In. Out. In. Yeah, just like that," my Kwami encouraged, the sensation brushing of her small hand on my forehead trying to comfort me.
Once I was breathing normally again, I slid to the nearest wall and brought my knees to my chest, hiding my face from the world. Tikki did her best to comfort me.
I appreciated that a lot, but it was hard to focus on happy thoughts when all I want to do is cry. Questions raced through my mind so quickly that I almost didn't hear the chime of the bakery's bell.
Does papa know what happened yet? If he doesn't, how will I break the news to him? How am I going to tell my friends without breaking down in front of the whole school? How am I going to save Paris if I am an easy prey for Hawkmoth?
I need to be strong and the only way to do that, without anyone noticing, is to avoid people. No more being weak. No more crying. My job is to keep people safe, not be a victim for evil purposes.
Ladybug failed to save someone once, she nor Marinette will ever be helpless ever again. I don't think I would be able to break papa the news. Hopefully, it's still in the messages. I stumbled up to my room quietly when hearing my father's footsteps coming up the stairs. I shut the door when the creaking of the door opened.
"Marinette, are you still here?" Papa called. He sounded like himself...sort of. He probably didn't know about it yet. Carefully, without making too much noise, I crept to the stairs that lead to my bed and went up them to lay down, hugging a pillow closely.
I heard shuffling downstairs before the muffled sound of the phone's messages played. Not wanting to hear my father cry, I escaped through the skylight and onto my balcony. I sat on my chair and stared out at Paris's scenery, trying to get my mind off of reality.
The school's bell rang, signaling everyone that school was over. I stood and walked over to the railing before ducking down to watch students scrambling out the doors like ant's crawling from their hill. I could see Alya with Adrien and Nino but couldn't tell what they looked like or talking about from this distance.
"They're probably looking for me," I thought, sadly and feeling guilty. My friends (and crush) are probably worried when I didn't return to class. I watched as a flash of blonde collided into the other making me a little annoyed that my hands clutched the railing's bars.
Then I felt a pair of eyes on me and shifted my eyes to Alya to see her staring in my direction. I couldn't tell if she saw me or not which worried me a little.
As much as I love my best friend, I didn't want her to come and check on me, drowning me in questions. Crawling back over to the chair, I paused then lifted the skylight and listened carefully. The place was quiet...to quiet for my liking.
That's when it hit me. Papa could be akumatized! Not thinking, I jumped inside and rushed down the stairs to find papa. Why didn't I help him? Why am I so useless?
"Papa!" I called out desperately around the house but there was no sign of him. I ran out of the apartment and down to the bakery to see a single light on in the kitchen.
There he stood, mindlessly rolling out dough on the table. I walked over to him, stopping when standing right behind him. I was relieved that he was okay, but it did not stop the churning in my stomach.
"Papa..." I called out, making him jump a little. He must have been deep in thought if he didn't notice me walk in. Papa didn't turn around and took a moment before catching me off guard as he spoke with a quiet and gloomy.
"D-do you k-know?" he asked, voice cracking and sounding smaller than his usual bubbly self. I immediately knew what he was talking about mama.
"Y-yeah," I answered, not sure what else to say. A moment of horrible silence fell upon us. As soon as I thought I would break, papa sighed and turned around. He wrapped his arms around me, and I didn't hesitate in returning his warm hug.
I sniffled at times, and papa began rubbing my back trying to comfort me. His embrace helped ease the pain a little, but it will never replace what I had with mama. That piece will forever be an empty spot, a gap with nothing to fill it. What kept my heart mended, is now torn.
I flinched when hearing a knocking on the door. Pulling away from papa, I ran up the stairs knowing who it was. I shut the door to the trapdoor and locked it so no one could get in. I didn't want to face anyone of my friends right now, and I hope papa will get the hint. I scrambled up the steps and curled up on my bed, holding my pillow to my chest. Then there was a pounding on the trapdoor.
"Marinette, it's Alya," my best friend's muffled voice came from the other side.
"I know you're in there. I heard you running up the steps and shutting the door."
I sighed, getting up and slowly making my way over to the trapdoor trying to think of an excuse to get her to leave me alone for the time being. Nothing came to mind as I unlocked the door, letting Alya in. I made my way back to my bed and hoped she would get the message my father failed to see.
"Girl, this is the second time you disappear after lunch without returning. I get that you sometimes disappear during odd times and come back super late, but don't think I didn't see you on your balcony-"
"Alya, can you get to the point," I said, a little harshly without looking at her.
"Mari...what's wrong?" she asked, concerned.
"I-I...Nothing's wrong. I just didn't feel very well last night. Sorry," I told her. It wasn't necessarily a lie nor the whole truth, but it was the best thing I could think of on such short notice. I couldn't tell if Alya bought it or not, but I wasn't planning on turning to find out.
"Alright," she said unsure, not totally believing me. I wasn't very good at lying. I'm not sure how people haven't figured out that I am Ladybug yet. Honestly, I'm so clumsy with secrets in my civilian form than I am with Ladybug.
"Did you hear about the new akuma? It's been out for three months now, the longest akuma that's been released," she suddenly asked. This grabbed my full attention. I almost looked over my shoulder because no, I didn't know at all. I've been worrying about my mom so much that I didn't even notice.
"Chat Noir has been battling this new villain all by himself, and Ladybug hasn't even appeared. The akuma calls herself Pandora, you know the myth about Pandora's Box that contains all the world's sorrow and sickness," Alya explained. I shot up from my bed with wide eyes when hearing the word "sickness".
Could...Could the reason my mama is gone be that of an akuma that Ladybug could have easily stopped? I wasn't listening to the blogger ramble on about her blog. The one thing that was on my mind was anger. Nothing mattered at the moment except getting my revenge for the death of a loved one. Whoever this Pandora character was was going to pay...big time!
Clenching my teeth and fist, I stormed out of my room with my purse then ran to the nearest alleyway to transform. I could hear Alya calling my name, but I didn't listen and kept going.
When I was finally hidden, I opened my purse to let out Tikki and before letting her say a word, I transformed. Jumping across rooftops at full speed and zipping through the air, the pent-up rage was messed with my mind. I landed on the Eiffel Tower's beam and tried to think where the akuma could be.
"Mind letting the cat out of the bag, M'lady? This cat has been feline very lonely these last couple of days without you," Chat flirted, a grin plastered on his face. Behind the happiness, there was still a good dose of concern that wavered in the cat's eyes.
"Do you know where the akuma is?" I asked, urgently.
Chat gave me an odd look before saying, "I know how we can find her."
"How?" I asked, demandingly, outraged with the akuma that took my mother. A fire ignited within my soul and craved for the sweet taste of revenge.
"Ladybug, what's wrong with you?" Chat asked, standing and carefully walking closer to me. I glared daggers at Chat and clenched my teeth so hard that it would leave a crack. Rage boiled throughout my body, and I couldn't control or think what I was doing.
I felt blind. Lost. Suffocated with a whole new dilemma I didn't think I would face for a long time until it just happened recently. There was no warning. There were just lies, and I was deceived by them all. It is one of evil's greatest punishments, heartache.
I could have saved her from the akuma. Could have stopped it before it started. Maybe there is still a chance that I can save her. I just need to cure the villain and things will go back to normal. Everything will be fixed and how it should be. Taking a deep and unsteady breath, I calmed myself down enough to talk in a nice manner.
"Nothing, just some things that just recently happened, but it'll be okay once we finish the fight. I'm sorry for yelling at you," I apologized. Chat Noir smiled, it was a serene and relaxed smile.
"It's okay. We all do it sometimes," he said, shrugging his shoulders. A small pit of regret rested in my stomach but nodded anyway.
"So...how do we find Pandora?" I asked, going back to my usual brave and confident self.
"A little purrsuasion. Pandora's purrwer is to spread evil and catastrophe. She doesn't have a very good home life and I guess, it finally made her civilian-self snap. Now, Pandora wants to spread all of life's evil that she has felt to others," Chat explained.
"So...what you are saying is that we need to be having a good time to lure her out," I thought out loud before sending a forced smirk over to my partner.
"That is a claw-some answer, Bugaboo," he complimented, sending a wink.
"I suppose that was some good investigating skills. Good job, Kitty," I congratulated, teasingly. We set out to look like we were having a fun time racing across the rooves. I had one thought on my mind, getting mama back. I was going to save her this time from the akuma, unlike the first time.
"Don't worry, mama. I will fix my mistake, and you will be back home in no time with papa and I. I won't fail you again," I thought, making a promise to my family.
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