The Miraculous Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir

Bye bye little butterfly

Before you read, I cried a little writing this. Just a warning, much sadness incoming.

Marinette stared at the butterfly, watching it flit this way and that. Slowly lifting a finger, she offered a perch for the winged insect, and it settled on her finger. A pure white butterfly, gently flapping its wings on the finger of a girl who purified it. Lifting her head up, careful not to startle the butterfly, she sang a song that she had not sung in years - although she quoted it nearly everyday.

"Petit papillon, float away on borrowed wings

Please take care of my loved one

For he will never love me the way I do him

So I have stopped waiting for him to come

Petit papillon, fly away with a piece of my heart

Never to return it to me

For though this love tears me apart

I know it cannot be

Petit papillon, good bye petit papillon

A butterfly of pure white

Take care of my loved one, papillon

Bye bye little butterfly." Her voice warbled through the clearing, as she stared at the butterfly. She repeated the song, over and over, until the butterfly flew away and her voice broke and her eyes were too wet to see out of. 

Marinette had a sister. An older sister, her name was Bridgette. She played with her older sister, who had the green eyes of her father, but the same black-blue hair as herself. Bridgette was like a second mother, a best friend, and a sister all in one. When their mother ran the bakery late, Bridgette would play video games and dolls with Marinette, and would sing her to sleep every night. 

She would sing that song.

One day, Bridgette went out with her boyfriend Felix. Felix was Adrien's cousin, but Marinette had only met Felix once. She thought he was cold at first, but had that same kind nature she saw in Adrien. Her big sister had loved this boy, he made her smile brighter than the sun, so she was happy for her.

But that day, Bridgette never came back.

They said she died in a car crash. Felix died with her. Marinette knew now that Felix and Adrien weren't particularly close, but he would never know how much it hurt. Felix and Adrien were freakishly alike - but every time she saw the boy of her dreams, she couldn't help but see Bridgette laughing beside him, that picture from that photo.

So when they went on this school trip and Adrien wore a grey vest, she couldn't help but run.

The image of her dead sister haunted Marinette. Bridgette had been Marinette's closest family member, her best friend, the person who would always love her no matter what. She was her light, and now that light was gone. Forever.

Adrien had come across Marinette, who was kneeling in the middle of a clearing, sobbing. He didn't know why she ran - Alya and Nino had immediately gone looking for the girl after they found her gone. He listened as she sang the song again, clutching her arms and choking on her words.

"Petit papillon, good bye petit papillon

A butterfly of pure white

Take care of my loved one, papillon

Bye bye little butterfly." She knelt down, touching her head to the ground, whispering the line again. "Bye bye little butterfly." 

"Marinette?" He approached the girl, who jolted up and stared at him before tears filled her eyes once more. She angrily punched the ground.

"Why do you have to look so much like him?" She exclaimed, anger and pain lacing her tone. He was taken aback but continued to move closer. "If she hadn't gone out with him, she'd still be alive. Why do you have to remind me of that? Why do you have to look so much like Felix?!" She broke down again, hugging herself. He froze. No-one had mentioned Felix for a long time. He was dead.

"Felix... Felix is dead, Marinette." His voice was quiet and sweet, and Marinette wanted him to stop it. She needed him away, so she could put away these memories again.

"I know! And so's Bridgette!" She yelled, pulling at her hair. Adrien stared at her. Bridgette, Felix's girlfriend. Bridgette... what was her last name? Felix mentioned it before, mentioned that she made amazing pastries and had a heart of pure gold...

Bridgette Dupain-Cheng.

"Oh god, Marinette, I'm so sorry..." He suddenly understood what she said before, and felt terrible for causing her so much pain over something he couldn't change.

"No, Adrien, it's not your fault... it just hurts... so much. We were closer than sisters, she was my best friend, my closest family, the one who loved me no matter what..." Her voice broke and she sobbed again. Adrien knelt down next to her, putting an arm around her trying to comfort the girl he didn't know all that well. "And... those stupid butterflies... it couldn't just be a boy who looked like the one she loved, could it? There had to be more. There had to be the butterflies, the white butterflies... and that stupid cat with his stupid nicknames..." She leaned her head on his chest and continued to cry.

White butterflies. Pure akumas. Bye bye little butterfly. His Ladybug was feeling that exact same pain that his princess was.

"She... she was Ladybug before m- this one, and I'm sure Felix was Chat. No wonder the kwami's found people who looked so similar, they were as heartbroken as I am, trying to find as close a replacement as possible... at least, Tikki was..." Marinette's voice was muffled slightly by his shirt, but he heard her words clearly. "I wonder if that's all I'm good for... a replacement of a dead girl..."

Adrien lifted her head, forcing her to stare into his eyes. "Marinette, you will never be a replacement. You are kind, generous, strong, sweet, and smart. Your sister may have been Ladybug, but so are you, and not just anyone can be Ladybug. You hear me?" She gulped, tears still running down her face. 

"You look so much like Felix... I see her over your shoulder. So many pictures in her room were of the two of them, only one of them had me in between them... Felix was smiling at her, with so much love and affection, and now I see an almost identical smile everyday and it..." She cut herself off with another sob. Taking a breath to try and calm herself, she continued. "It brought back that memory. Bridgette had me on her shoulders, and Felix commented on how motherly she looked, and she blushed bright red, and I pointed at Felix and said 'If she's the mama you're the papa' and he chuckled and poked my nose and said 'Maybe some day, but that's entirely up to Bridgette, Princess.'"

Princess...? Oh no, he had done it again. Regret, anxiety and concern filled him.

"He called me Princess every time he video called Bridgette, every time I poked my head to wave at him. And now... that damned cat... stupid Princess nickname..." She shook again, and he held her just a little tighter. "You stupid alley cat, how could you possibly know? Stop blaming yourself." Her last sentence was a soft, unbroken sentence. He glanced at her, she was avoiding his gaze. "You both look so much like Felix... how could you not be one and the same?" She whispered, mostly to herself.

"Marinette...?"

"Why do you have to always have her looking over your shoulder?" Marinette whispered again, seeing a hand of pinkish skin tone, connected to a long arm, joined to a slender figure, adorned by the smiling face of her Bridgette.

"Love him like I loved Felix, Mari. I love you. Bye bye little butterfly." 

Petit papillon, good bye petit papillon.

Adrien

A butterfly of pure white.

I loved her as much as you love Ladybug

Take away my loved one, papillon.

More than life itself

Bye bye little butterfly.

She was taken from me by a butterfly.

Bye bye little butterfly.

And one day, that butterfly will come back without her.