The Things You Do For Love {Discontinued 4 Rewrite}

19

Marinette flopped onto her new bed, frantically trying to suffocate herself with a fancy throw pillow. Damian leant against her tall dresser, blinking in confusion. She let out an unholy scream into the sheets, ripping off the tucked in blankets and smacking all the pillows against the bedside chair. Next thing to come down was the century old tapestry that she tore down and stomped all over. 

"You know, if I were in your position, I would stop, clean up and then potentially murder a high-class ranking diplomat from Canada before returning for a nap."

Marinette stopped mid-tantrum to stare at Damian, awestruck.

"I'm kidding. That was my mother. He ought to get kicked out of office anyway, don't give me that look," Damian rolled his eyes, flicking a lint particle off his mesh sleeves. 

"Great. I'm in the presence of a mass murderer's rude ass murderer son and a ton of ninjas. What a wonderful dream. Do pinch me, I wish to wake up now," Marinette grumbled.

"We're not 'murderers.' We're assassins." 

"Big deal. You guys are more like a whole bunch of asses."

"Ouch, ooh, that hurts," Damian pretended to be upset. 

Marinette sat up, picking up the tapestry, scanning over it.

It looked like one of the old murals her grandmother had behind her own bakery in China. Herons surrounded ponds lined with tall reeds, all staring into the fading navy sky, where a dragon of gold, topaz orange, red and vibrant emerald green spiralled around. Further into the background, small rice farmers plowed away in their rice paddies, gathering rice.

In another side of the wall, another, larger tapestry hung. 

Marinette checked the stomped tapestry for any fixable damage before hanging it back up, walking to the other. Her azure eyes twinkled in befuzzlement and amazement. Two fingers ran down the silken threads.

Depictions of kwamis, kwamis, interacting with humans. 

Over to the side, a girl in twin buns and something like a short thigh length hanfu a bright spotted red and a baggy pair of black pants and traditional tai chi shoes wore a decorative mask, 'talking' to another miraculous wielder - the cat miraculous holder, dressed in a male hanfu, tight black pants with green accents and the same tai chi shoes. Cat ears. A long braid, like Marinette's own, during her Lady Noir transformation fell along his back. 

"This... shows the original miraculous wielders... where did you find this?!" 

"My grandfather likes to travel... dominate... I believe he bought that from a mage in China during the late 1400's."

Marinette's eyes nearly shot out of her eye sockets. 

"1400's?" 

"Lazarus Pits. To put it, he's basically immortal." 

"You're joking, right?! He can't- that's impossible!"

"And having the ability to transform into an outdated superhero with the powers of a floating, talking animal is impossible. Please. There's superheroes with the power to shoot laser out of their eyes, fly, survive and fly around in Space, destroy an overpopulated city within a day, covering everything in a power-numbing radioactive toxin... let's see... there's also half-demon, half-human peoples that exist..."

"Okay, so it is possible. But... how? Is he like a god, or like... a deity... demigod? What is he?"

"He's my grandfather."

"That's- are you going to ever tell me anything?"

Damian looked her up and down. "No."

"Are you kidding? I'm your be-" Marinette stopped. The word betrothed was a foreign 'taste' on her tongue. She didn't like it. "I'm your... soon to be, uh, partner for life! I think I ought to know these things since we're going to have to spend the rest of our lives together!"

"Don't remind me," Damian grumbled. "Fine. Since you're my 'partner for life.'"

"My grandfather is the leader and founder of the League of Assassins, formed many centuries ago, back when he was still... who knows what age. A sickly, dying prince was in need of a cure, in which my grandfather found the Lazarus Pits, which can cure any sickness and bring back the dead... if they aren't too far gone, that is."

"And...?" Marinette had to admit, this would've made a decent action movie. 

"The waters of the Lazarus Pits can make one go insane... in the end, the prince was cured, but went insane, murdering my grandfather's first wife. Because of that, Ra's Al Ghul plotted revenge, forming the League of Assassins you see here... today."

"All that... because he lost his wife? Like, I understand that he would be upset, but... starting a whole legion of hired hitmen and..."

"Don't ask me. I sometimes don't even understand how his mind works."

"I'm getting the psychos just keep getting younger...?" 

Damian almost smiled. Shocker. "Perhaps. Enjoy."

"Yeah..." Marinette pursed her lips, leaning back against the wall. 

This was it. This was where she was stuck for the rest of her pathetic life. 

Damian took one last glance at her, before leaving.

"Don't act so bummed. This place is actually quite nice... "

Marinette sunk to the floor, taking the miraculous tapestry with her. 

She rubbed the ancient threads of the silken 'picture,' right over the head of the ladybug wielder.

Another easy-to-identify miraculous wielder was the rabbit miraculous wielder, dressed in a tight skin suit of pale blue and white, almost like Alix's current costume. An obi was wrapped around their waist, holding a staff in place. The weapons must have changed in time... since the staff was normally a weapon used by Chat or King Monkey. 

Alix... another brush against the threads. 

Lounging in a tree, coincidentally, was the bee miraculous wielder, dipping a finger into a beehive dripping honey. He wore his long raven hair in a black and yellow streaked ribbon, lamellae armor with a golden sheen and a conical rice field hat. A thin tulle cape depicted wings, supposedly blowing in the breeze. 

Chloe... Marinette especially liked the armor detail, something all their modern costumes lacked. Maybe it was because of her experience trying to put on Damian's armor... or just the armor in general. Maybe because of the kidnapping or the fucking swords everywhere.

The turtle miraculous wielder dressed in a baggy merchant suit sat near a pond, right next to the dragon miraculous wielder, dressed in loose robes. Kagami's miraculous sword sat on their lap, a deeper crimson, with a golden detail around the handle, which was still black.

Looking at the tapestry, it brought sympathy to Marinette... seeing old depictions of all the old miraculous wielders... the clothing, the attitude, based on how the little people sat or stood around, either alone or with others. The monkey miraculous wielder seemed to be talking to the goat, rooster, pig, dog, ox, fox and horse miraculous wielders.

The snake miraculous wielder kept to themselves, sitting under the tree where the bee miraculous wielder sat in. 

Perhaps they were having a conversation. 

Maybe they were both close to falling asleep. 

Just looking at it gave her ideas of what could possibly be happening.

The ladybug wielder scolding the poor cat wielder for getting into mischief.

The monkey wielder was talking about how they managed to climb a tree and see the entire village from above, going into incredible detail about all the lights and sounds he could hear.

Marinette smiled - for the first time in... however long she was here.

All she knew was that she was going to be here for a long time. 

(t.b.c)