Noir Spots

Hardly a Hero

Let's make a list of people I've killed so far, shall we?

My boi Gabe

My will to live

Stormy Weather

Darling Nathalie

Adrien's sanity

---

A storm was raging inside.

As Ladybug, hero of Paris, carried a dead highschool student through the streets, all she could feel was the storm of emotions swirling in her stomach.

Reporters, citizens, everyone watched and took videos and pictures as she stomped by, Noir at her side and a dead civilian in her arms.

Ladybug should have been terrified and heartbroken, shaking and sobbing.

She had let an akumatized civilian die, wounded and unable to control herself.

Ladybug had let herself be distracted by a little crush. She was just like Chat Noir, goofing off and letting others get hurt in the promise.

She should feel angry, scared, depressed.

All she felt was numb.

Aurore was still warm in her arms. She had been breathing, smiling, laughing mere hours before.

Glossy tears filled her eyes, threatening to fall.

She wasn't a hero, she didn't deserve the title. She was just as bad as Mayura, Chat Noir, Hawkmoth.

She was hardly a hero, she was more like a villain.

The partners trudged through the city, heads held high and eyes empty, towards the mayor's office.

A camera flashed in the corner of her eye, it felt like a gunshot of light.

"Ladybug! Ladybug!" Someone called out.

She didn't stop walking, kept her eyes straight and trained on a building in the distance.

"What happened?" A different voice yelled.

She couldn't stop. If she did she would fall apart. And she couldn't have that, not in front of her city.

Beside her, Noir's eye twitched. Ladybug could see her partner's fists shaking--whether with anger or despair, she didn't know.

"What is that?" A woman with her child called out, screaming to be heard over the reporters and journalists.

Ladybug did her best to ignore them, to ignore everything but the building a block away.

Keep moving. One foot in front of the other. Right foot, left foot.

"Is that a new Akuma? What happened to it?"

It.

The word rang out in Ladybugs' mind.

It.

Like she wasn't human.

"Can't you fix it with your Lucky Charm?"

She had tried.

Over and over again.

But the body in her arms remained heavy with death.

Right foot, left foot. Right foot, left foot.

Ladybug took a breath. They were so close to the mayor's office, one step and they would be walking up the stairs.

"Was this due to the incompetence of your new partner? Do you need Chat Noir?"