Miraculous Short Stories

Pieces of My Heart

Post Miracle Queen - Marinette's nights are haunted by memories of recent event. A late night run to clear her head is met by unexpected company and a realisation she had tried to hide. A Ladynoir story.

Marinette tossed and turned again and again in her bed. Memories of images and responsibilities from the last few weeks had been haunting her mind causing sleep to elude her night after night. Alya had noticed at school how tired she had become, asking with concern if everything was alright. Marinette would brush it off with a smile like she always did saying she was working late on a new design, or in the bakery or some other convenient excuse. She wasn't sure Alya totally bought it, but she stopped asking which Marinette was grateful for.

On the other hand, Adrien wasn't buying it at all and seemed to have been keeping a closer eye on her during the day. She assured him more than once that she was fine, just busy, but he would just look at her questionly with the same level of exhaustion evident in his own eyes. Since Marinette had taken a step back in her pursuit of Adrien, she had found herself more able to talk to him in normal sentences and their friendship had improved quite a bit. She hadn't asked him about Kagami, but she assumed they were dating. After all, they had shared Andre's ice-cream together, but then again she had too with Luka yet she was not dating him. Not that he didn't want to, but she couldn't bring herself to. She knew it broke his heart when she turned him down, but she knew it was the right thing to do. There just wasn't enough pieces of her to go around.

Marinette looked at the clock in her room and groaned at the 1:50AM that illuminated back at her. She sat up, accidently disturbing Tikki as she did. The little red Kwami floated sleepily up to her chosen. "Can't sleep again?" She asked, her voice full of concern. Marinette slowly shook her head. Tikki looked down sadly before she had an idea. "Why don't we go for a quick run. A rush of cold air can be good to clear the head?" Marinette looked up at her skylight. The stars were out and the moon was shining. It might be a bit chilly out, but it wasn't a bad idea. At least it was better than continuing to toss and turn the way she had been. Marinette smiled at her Kwami and nodded, calling her transformation before quietly slipping out into the night.

Throwing her yo-yo, Ladybug relished the brisk air on her face. After a good half hour of scaling buildings and leaping across rooftops, Ladybug stopped to have a breather on top of one of her favourite perches. The rooftop was high and fairly sheltered from the view of anyone nearby - not that anyone else was out at this hour. Sitting on the edge, Ladybug looked up at the moon. It was full and bright. She couldn't help but be reminded of the time Chat Noir had set up that candlelit scene for her under a moon just like this one. She felt a pain in her heart as she remembered turning him down. She had turned him down for Adrien, who was now with Kagami.

She couldn't bring herself to hate Kagami. The Japanese girl did what Marinette had been too scared to do, go after the person she loved. Marinette had decided that if Kagami could make Adrien happy, then that was what was more important. Though she had to admit, some days he looked almost as bad as she felt and she couldn't help but wonder why. Nevertheless, Adrien wasn't hers to claim. She had never told him how she really felt and now...now she was Guardian of the Miraculous. The weight of the responsibility she felt in protecting such a secret really left no room for relationships with civilians, not Adrien and not Luka.

Luka. She really did like Luka and she knew how he felt about her, but she didn't love him. Not in the way she believed he deserved to be loved. She felt bad about it, because Luka was there for her when she needed a shoulder to cry on but she could never give him more than just a piece of her heart. She could never tell him what was really the matter, that her sadness that day Miracle Queen struck was more than giving up on Adrien, but that she had been handed an enormous responsibility and lost her mentor in the process. What she wouldn't give to talk one more time with Master Fu. She had spoken to Wayzz many times over the last few weeks, but as wise as the Turtle Kwami was, he could never replace Master Fu.