Summary:
The Miraculous Ladybug cure can heal people from any wound inflicted by an akuma, even revive the dead, but if even one of the holders are not the true holders (Marinette is, Adrien isn’t) the weight of the damage done will be inflicted upon the holder of the ladybug miraculous.
Marinette thinks nothing of it, discounts the bruises, soreness, and headaches after every fight as the obligatory battle wounds. She’s clumsy, and not as in shape as a superhero should be, maybe she should drink more water. Make an effort to get some more sleep. She doesn’t think about it.
Until Syren. People drowned. People died. People who were all brought back.
At a cost.
That she paid. That she’s paying.
It starts with coughing. Something is stuck in her chest and it feels like if she coughs hard enough, she can get it out. She doesn’t.
It gets kind of hard to breathe.
It gets worse and becomes pneumonia.
It gets worse.
Her lungs are constantly filling with fluid faster than they can drain it.
She’s drowning. She’s always drowning.
They don’t know why.
They call it “dry drowning,” the body is stuck as the mind moves on, but as far as they know, Marinette wasn’t one of the ones killed in the attack. She is the only one still exhibiting symptoms of drowning, as far as they know, Ladybug had fixed everything, just like she always does. As far as they know.
The science doesn’t add up, it doesn’t make sense. They call in specialists, try to track Ladybug down to ask her what happened, to ask for clarification, for help, but she’s disappeared.
Ladybug is gone.
Marinette is laying in the hospital sick and dying for no discernible reason, no cause that anyone can find, and Tikki is furious.
She knows the cause. She knows the Syren body count. She knows exactly how many people were brought back, and she knows why Marinette’s lungs are constantly filling. It won’t stop until she has drowned 1833 times. One for every person she brought back.
She will not survive it.
All because Chat Noir is not the true holder of the miraculous of destruction.
This has only ever happened to her once. She’s lost many chosen, of course, she is as old as life itself, but she has only ever lost one like this, because she went to great pains to ensure it would never happen again.
A grave mistake has been made. At the cost of her chosen. At the cost of the only true creation soul on the earth in this era. Tikki took her time crafting it. She poured in passion, ebullience, excitement, zest for life in its many forms, creativity, determination, loyalty, strength, a dash of luck, sat back to let it coalesce, and let it go. Just being near the girl makes them both more powerful, and Ladybug seems so invincible because she might as well be. She cannot he bested by a mere man or flimsy akuma.
Marinette may not be aware of how powerful she is, but she has time. She has more than enough time to grow and discover herself.
Or rather, she should.
No. She will. Tikki will correct this grievous error.
Marinette will not die. Not like this.
*****
Tikki flew out of the hospital with a purpose. She was glowing faintly because of her anger, it was so overwhelming it was almost too much to contain. She hasn’t been this angry in a millennia, so she didn’t realize that her power was leaking out of her, she didn’t see the flowers blooming and trees flowering as she flew by. She didn’t see the three pregnant ladies sitting in a cafe across the street, nor did she see that each of their waters broke simultaneously.
