Miraculous One-Shots!

Bathed in White

So, I've been wanting to write a Sandboy 2.0 one-shot for quite a while and decided now was as good of a time as any. Especially because of the lack of LadyNoir centered things on this account! Enjoy.                                                                                                                                     -Colorado

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Nightmares were just part of the job description when you were a superhero. From the ones where Shadow Moth showed up at her doorstep demanding for her miraculous, to the ones where Alya had betrayed her and stolen the box right out from under her nose, to the ones where she woke up in her own bed, seemingly normal, with a stranger in a black cat suit crying in front of her, nightmares were a constant whenever Marinette got some shut eye.

It was hard to rank them, none of them were fun and all of them left her in a panicked state when she woke up, but there was one that was much more emotionally taxing than the rest. Dreams where Alya betrayed her could be easily refuted by a simple phone call. The ones where she lost her memories or Shadow Moth showed up could leave her mind after talking to Tikki. Because even though she worried about those things, and even if they haunted her as the moon arose, they weren't real.

They were only sick scenarios her anxiety came up with to add to the never ending fear that came with the job description. A fun house mirror of what reality could become if she wasn't careful. They were ominous warnings, always reminding her to watch her step. Yet, if Marinette thought they were true, the illusion could break easily. Reality met and clashed with her fears and came out victorious time and time again. Cruel fantasies made by her brain playing tricks on her, but they were just that, fantasies.

That couldn't be said about the nightmare that left her a shambles. The one that, even after phone calls and midnight talks, kept her wide awake until sunrise. The one that played again, again, and again in her memories long after she opened her eyes.

Because while the others hadn't happened yet, and most likely never will, this one had. Her imagination didn't have to play a part in getting her to wake up in tears. Only her memories did.

Memories of a tarnished world, flooded and empty. Memories of a moon in pieces, permanently stuck above a city she had once called her home. Memories of touching a face identical to hers and having it crumble until nothing remained.

Memories of the one she trusted most, bathed in white, chasing after her, crying out her real name. Begging, pleading, sobbing for her to give him what she never could. A broken heart, the last that remained in a broken world.

Certainly, the nightmares where Chat Blanc chases after her, tears streaming down his face as he tells her that they were in love were the worst she ever had.

Which is why she should have expected this. It was stupid, really, split second of hesitation was all it took for her to get hit. In a single moment, her world crumpled before her eyes yet again.

And there was nothing she could do about it.

Ladybug was vaguely aware of Chat Noir's worried cry and Sandboy's victorious laugh. It slowly registered that she had gotten hit. A nightmare of hers would come to life, but which one would it be?

Would she lose her powers again? What about her memories? Would Alya show up mid battle claiming her allegiance to Shadow Moth? What if-.

Dread ran through her blood, cold and dark.

'Please, no. Anything but that, anything but him.' Ladybug pleaded with whoever was listening.

No such luck.