Miraculous: Tales of Ms. Ladybug and Tom Cat

Part 59: Sacrifice

Ladybug was desperate. She had searched every piece of rubble, every last chunk of debris, but she still couldn't find her Lucky Charm. And based on the beeping of her earrings, she was running out of time.

Where is it? Where is it?! She thought. It couldn't have been far, Viperion had hit the ring, making it so it would be somewhere nearby. It had to be around here. If it wasn't, then she couldn't fix all the damage caused by the villains, and dozens of lives would be lost forever.

Her search continued to be fruitless until eventually, her earrings lost their last dot, transforming her back into Marinette and losing her Lucky Charm forever. She tripped and fell as they deactivated, tearing her pants and scraping her knees as if to add insult to injury.

As the realization of what happened washed over her, she sat down and began to cry. There was nothing she could do anymore. None of this would be fixed, and it was her fault because she lost the Lucky Charm.

"Marinette," a voice said behind her. "I'm sorry about this, but it had to happen."

She looked behind her to see Viperion and Bunyx with sorrowful expressions on their faces.

Ladybug's eyes went wide when she realized that they might have figured out her identity. 

"What do you mean?" she said, attempting to distract from the fact that she was Ladybug and all of this was her fault.

"We're so sorry Marinette," Bunyx said, "we know who you are and we knew this would happen.

"You, you knew this would happen?" she asked. "You knew my Lucky Charm would get lost when you threw it? You knew I wouldn't be able to fix everything and yet you still went ahead with this plan?!" 

"We had no choice! Every other future we found ended with Hawk Moth destroying the world!"

Marinette ran up to Viperion, tears streaming from her bright blue eyes, and collapsed on his chest.

"Go back." She begged. "Go back and fix this."

"We can't do that Marinette," Viperion said. "This had to happen for us to get the Miraculous out of Hawk Moth's hands. As of right now, history will be back on track and we'll get both Miraculous back and win."

She pushed herself away from him and gave him a look devoid of anything but disappointment. "We'll win?" she asked. "We'll Win?! Does it matter if we win if we have to make sacrifices like this? If we have to lose this much to get there?!" She gestured to the destruction around her. "This isn't a victory, this is a sacrifice. And one we shouldn't have ever had to make."

"Marinette, you're not being rational!" Bunyx said. "If we hadn't done what we did then the whole world would've been destroyed along with everyone in it! You, Adrien, Thomas, Alya, the girls, our class, and every one of us you have ever loved would've been destroyed." she grabbed Marinette's shoulder. "It was a tough call to make, but it was either this or destruction. Sometimes you have to do the wrong thing for the right reason,"

Marinette pushed her back and gave him a look of shame. "I never should've trusted you!" she said, running away as tears streamed down her cheeks.

Bunyx just looked over at Viperion, wiping away tears of despair after breaking Marinette's heart. "After this is over, I'm never using the Miraculous again. Not if it makes me have to do things like this."

Bunyx nodded. "I know that must've been hard, and what comes next is gonna be even harder. But this is the way to us winning."

"Marinette was right," he said, removing his Miraculous and transforming back into Luka. "This isn't a victory. This is a sacrifice."