Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug Chat Noir Rena Rouge Carapace and also Queen Bee

A Slightly More Intense Discussion

Marinette lay down on her bed, facing the wall. Tikki was lying directly behind her, on her back, staring at the ceiling.

It had been a few hours since the school day ended. Tikki hadn't said a word since the initial disagreement, and Marinette was happy to not have to say anything to her. But the unfortunate, inevitable result of that was that now there was a sense of silently growing tension hanging over the both of them.

Marinette wasn't upset so much as she was confused. Tikki was always insistent about following the rules, almost as insistent as Marinette was about breaking them. But this seemed like something else, as though there was a far bigger issue at stake than simply disobeying Master Fu.

Screw it. "Tikki?" Marinette broke the ice.

Tikki was almost startled at the sudden sound of Marinette's voice. After a few moments, she responded. "Yes, Marinette?"

"Ummm..." Marinette thought for a moment about how to properly voice her curiosities. "I..can understand your concern with sharing the miraculous between too many people, but I feel like I might not have the full story."

At this, Tikki paused for a moment, she flew over Marinette and faced Marinette, sitting down in front of her face. "What do you mean?"

Marinette avoided eye contact as best she could, while she carefully thought out every word. "Well, I...don't know if that's the right way to put it. But I feel like there's something...important that you might not be telling me. You've constantly been reassuring me that I was the right choice for the Ladybug miraculous, and then suddenly you threaten to have that privilege revoked. It's just...weird."

Tikki opened her mouth to speak. After nothing came out, she closed her mouth and looked away, as if thinking about something.

Marinette patiently waited, making sure to give Tikki enough time to decide on what to say.

Tikki spoke up a lot more suddenly than expected. "Do you remember how I said that all of my previous owners worked out perfectly?"

"..Something like that, yeah."

"That was a bit of an exaggeration." Tikki was once again on her back, staring at the ceiling and deliberately not looking at Marinette.

Marinette's eyes widened slightly as she suddenly wished that Tikki would make eye contact with her. "Excuse me?"

Tikki seemed reluctant to keep going. But she had already blurted it out, there was no going back now. "..The only reason I've never had a failed Ladybug yet was because I never gave them a chance to really mess up."

Marinette suddenly sat up, looking down at Tikki, who quickly turned on her side and looked away.

Marinette tried to say something, but she didn't have any response. This certainly changed their dynamic a bit, and Marinette was having a difficult time adjusting her tone accordingly.

After a few moments of processing, Marinette closed her eyes, took in a deep breath, held it for a few seconds, and then slowly let it out. She persisted. "How many times have you had your wielders' miraculous revoked over things like this?"

"I'd...rather not say..."

"..Well, it's a little too late for that now, isn't it?" Marinette flinched at her own attitude, worried she was being too argumentative now that she knew about Tikki's willingness to take her miraculous away.

Fortunately, Tikki didn't seem like she wanted to fight back right now. Unfortunately, that made Marinette feel even worse.

Marinette looked to the side, considering her options. She persisted. "So, you just give up on them as soon as it seems like they might not be the perfect fit? And then you wonder why every new wielder is so self-conscious about making mistakes?"

"It's not like I have any other choice!" Tikki shot up to Marinette's face. "Do you realize what happens when a wielder of the miraculous messes up? Or turns to the other side?"

Marinette leaned back out of surprise, reminded of her first time meeting Tikki and how weirdly scary she was back then.

Tikki continued. "Think about our situation right now! Some random Parisian has a miraculous in his possession and he's using it to terrorize the city! Can you imagine what would happen if I fell into the wrong hands?"

When they first met, Marinette just accepted Tikki's scolding. But her infuriating partners had made her a lot more willing to argue with people. She persisted.

"So do you trust Master Fu's judgment, or not?"

"Of course I do! There's no human left alive with as much experience in the miraculous as him! But when push comes to shove, he's only 186, and I've been around for billions of years!"

"How many of your wielders were actually up to your standards?" Marinette questioned. "Were any of them suited for the job? Or did you just mold them into someone who was until they were no longer themselves?"

Tikki started to argue, but she was caught off-guard by what Marinette said.

Marinette could tell that she struck a nerve. She persisted. "That's it, isn't it? You don't care if you end up ruining an otherwise happy life, you just want them to live up to your idea of success. If that's the case, then why even bother? Why not just stay in your box forever instead of taking the risk of your wielder being less-than-ideal?"

Seconds passed by and neither of the two said anything. Tikki looked down, her face no longer visible.

Marinette was initially confident in her statement, but as the seconds continued to pass by without a response, she started to wonder if she had just turned herself into the asshole of this argument.

Marinette let out a small sigh. "Tikki-"

"Do you think I want to do this?!" Tikki's voice came suddenly, louder than Marinette had ever heard her get. She glared at Marinette, her eyes stinging with the effort it was taking to hold back tears. "Do you think that I'm happy with what I've had to do!?" Marinette wanted to say something, but it was painfully clear how bad of an idea that was at the time.

"I've witnessed firsthand what can happen when a wielder doesn't reach certain standards! Trixx hasn't even had a wielder in so many years because they've refused to be chosen this entire time! Why do you suppose that is, Marinette? Do you think that they just got lazy one day and quit for no reason? Do you think that Hawkmoth is the first person in history to misuse the miraculous?"

Marinette took the question into consideration, realizing what Tikki was implying. "Do you think we do this because we want to? We have a duty to fulfill, Marinette! And sometimes, when the fate of the world is on your shoulders, you make some sacrifices that you wouldn't have made otherwise!"

Tikki paused to take in a breath, her voice was somewhat shaky despite her best efforts to hold herself together. "So excuse me for being a bit picky with who I trust to wield the power of creation itself.."

Neither of them wanted to speak anymore.