The Miraculous Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir

Gravity

Footsteps echoed through the silent auditorium, a bright spotlight, blazing like the sun, the only light apart from many phones set to record the last performance that they had all been waiting for. The performance by the now famous singer, famous for her heartbroken songs. The singer they adored for her hurt.

Marinette stopped in the centre of the stage, black kitten heels achieving the effect of her being taller, black dress plain and elegant. Black feathery wings stretched from behind her, attached to her dress in a way that made them appear like they were waving gently. Her heavily painted eyelids, ethereal in the way that black and blue swirled across her cheekbones and the delicate wisps that licked at her ears like fire.

She took a deep breath as the piano began, as well as the melancholy sound of the orchestra, lifting the microphone to her lips and opening her cerulean eyes to stare across at the audience.

"Something always brings me back to you.
It never takes too long." Her soft, smooth voice amplified to fill the space, not one member of the enraptured audience couldn't hear the sorrow and regret in her voice, the pure, unadulterated sound bearing the weight of years of emotions unavoidably spilled out in that fateful night where the cause of her heartbreak sat in absolute silence.
"No matter what I say or do,
I still feel you here 'til the moment I'm gone."

She couldn't cry. She would not ruin her makeup artists' hard work, even if it was going to be wiped off after this performance. Not even if the burden of all these negative feelings finally being acknowledged was that she'd cry herself to sleep in the comfortable silence of her own home.

"You hold me without touch.
You keep me without chains.
I never wanted anything so much,
Than to drown in your love and not feel your rain." Her breath trembled slightly at the last melodically spoken word, reminding her all too much of the day it all started. When tears dripped from the heavens, from angels themselves, and she stared into whirling green eyes of mystery and kindness, when she fell for the one who wouldn't truly love her back.

The audience, absorbed in her presence and eagerly awaiting her next lines, took no notice of one individual who sat, deathly pale as he always was these days, and green eyes, now dull having lost their sparkle long ago, brimming with unshed tears.

"Set me free,
Leave me be,
I don't want to fall another moment into your gravity." She closed her eyes, reminiscing days spent dreaming, dazing, staring, daring, dating... crying. Betrayed. Heartbroken. Still, even now, incapable of blaming him.
"Here I am, and I stand so tall, just the way I'm supposed to be.
But you're onto me, and all over me.

"Oh, you loved me 'cause I'm fragile," False. He loved her for her undeniable strength.

"When I thought that I was strong." False. She always believed herself to be fragile and weak, unable to ever do anything right by herself.

"But you touch me for a little while,
And all my fragile strength is gone." ...True. She'd melt, lose every ounce of anger and pain and sadness at a single touch, forget why she was ever mad at one sweet kiss.

"Set me free,
Leave me be,
I don't want to fall another moment into your gravity.
Here I am, and I stand so tall, just the way I'm supposed to be.
But you're onto me, all over me.

I live here on my knees,
As I try to make you see,
That you're everything I think I need here on the ground." Her voice swelled up into a tidal wave, washing a feeling of awe and reverence through her audience.

His tear streaked face continued to watch her, emotions dancing through his head, his stomach, his heart. Regret. Sadness. Fury at himself for letting her go.

"But you're neither friend nor foe,
Though I can't seem to let you go,
The one thing that I still know is that you're keeping me down." The piercingly sweet sound of her song reached a peak as the instrumental rested for a moment, the only sound in the auditorium her note held, before it all came back down.

"Ooh, you're keeping me down, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
You're onto me, onto me, and all over...

Something always brings me back to you.
It never takes too long." Her voice came to a rest after dropping significantly, as well as the instrumental with simple notes that resonated with familiarity and echoing resemblance to the beginning of the song. The music faded to an end, she lowered the microphone to let out a breath.

Applause. Cheers. Autographs. Smiles. Poses. Pictures. Selfies. Three thousand people all hoping to talk to the woman who rose to become the world's idol.

Three hours later. Footsteps echoed through the silent auditorium, a bright spotlight, blazing like the sun, the only light apart from a single candle she held in her hands. Teary, starry eyes watching the dancing flame whirl and lick at the air.

Now, she wore a simple tight-fitting black tank top with a grey sweater layered over the top, and light jeans. Nothing like the elegance she portrayed earlier. She carried her guitar, a simple acoustic with drawings all over it in permanent marker.

Oh, her childhood spent drawing on ber guitar. Sometimes she almost forgot who all the hearts were for.

"Marinette."

Then she remembered.

"I just came to apologise. So, I'm truly sorry for kissing Chloe. I never would have let her kiss me if I knew the cost was losing the woman I love... I'll... I'll be going now..."

Footsteps faded out.

A second set of footsteps dashed towards him.

She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his chest, inhaling his lingering cologne and feeling her eyes tear up. He hugged her after a moment spent shocked, remembering nights spent in each other's arms. He still loved her, he really did, it was undeniable... but the question is, did she still love him?

Two years later, Marinette was a married woman. Adrien couldn't be happier. Especially when little Emma came along with her mother's hair and father's eyes.