Final chapter (hurray!) and this was largely unplanned. It was meant to only be the last section, but last chapter I accidentally wrote myself into a situation that I couldn't not resolve, sooo yeah. Perhaps a little rushed, but never mind. I do have ideas for a more serious multi-chaptered story about it (because I have a lot of feelings about this issue, as is obvious) but we'll see if I get around to writing it...

I'd also like to thank everyone who has supported this story, sent reviews and favourited/followed it. I am very grateful and I hope you all enjoy this final instalment!

Day Thirty: Vigilante

It had taken a lot of persuading, and a few harsh words, but eventually Ladybug managed to persuade Alya that her article was damaging. She had been reluctant; it was her most popular post and had been shared several times already on social media, and she hadn't explicitly said anything bad about Viperion, and it was journalism and that's what journalists did.

But, when Ladybug had pointed out that Viperion had nearly died, and that she herself may well have been too hurt to save him, because Chat Noir had chosen to listen to the akuma instead of her, Alya began to see reason.

"I didn't realise he did that," she mumbled, suitably shame-faced. "But, it's like he said, the akuma wasn't talking complete nonsense."

"That was Hawkmoth, not the akuma. He made her say it to rile up Chat. That's the problem with these articles, Alya." Ladybug sighed, arms folded across her chest as she looked through the window at the dark Parisian autumn. "You're giving away personal information, even if it is speculation, and Hawkmoth is using it to his advantage. He knows Chat has feelings for me and, unlike the rest of Paris, he's noticed Chat has a rather bad jealous streak. He knew if he managed to upset him he'd lose focus, and we almost lost because of it. What's more, he's also turning people against Viperion. And if the people don't trust all of us, then it makes it that much more difficult during battles."

"I didn't think of that." Alya had already pulled the article up on her laptop and was now scrolling slowly through it. "I suppose I could edit it. Take out the stuff about Viperion."

Ladybug nearly said yes. After all, the aim of this visit had been to clear Viperion's name and to stop him being antagonised. But she knew that taking out everything about Viperion left little but Alya's words about Chat Noir and Ladybug being soulmates destined to fall in love, and it made her feel slightly sick.

"No, Alya. You have to take it all down. This stuff about Ladybug and Chat Noir…"

"I know it's personal," Alya said, "but everyone knows it. Hawkmoth knows it, so I don't see the harm."

"Everyone knows it but me apparently," she replied, more bitterly than she'd intended.

Alya stared at her blankly. "I don't understand."

"Everyone thinks Chat Noir and I are meant to be together, destined. You and Chat Noir are both so vocal about it that it's sort of caught on. But I don't think that."

"But you're Ladybug! And he's Chat Noir! You're...how did Adrien put it… like yin and yang. It's fate. Destiny. Maybe you just need to give it more time?" She smiled. The sort of smile that was meant to be encouraging, optimistic, but instead it just made Ladybug feel even sicker.

She was reminded of old period romance novels, where young women were betrothed to rich men twice their age and their opinion counted for nought. And, just like those women, those characters, it didn't matter what Ladybug said. No one wanted to listen. They were too invested in the relationship. After all, Chat's heartbreak would be far more palpable, far more painful in their eyes than her deprived agency.

"Just take the article down, Alya," she said, suddenly tired. "And apologise to Viperion. He's not the one overstepping boundaries."

And with that, she launched into the night.

The article was down by the time she'd returned home. And, the next evening, whilst watching a film with her parents, she noticed that Alya had uploaded a new post. It was short and slightly blunt, but she essentially apologised for any misunderstandings caused by her previous post about Viperion, and reminding her readers that romance aside, he was a good and important member of the team.

Marinette was mostly pleased, but also slightly disappointed. She had hoped to maybe bring on another permanent teammate; one who could help diffuse the tension built up between Chat Noir and Viperion, who they could fall back on whenever Chat Noir got in one of his jealousy-induced strops, and who could act as an impartial witness to the unhealthy behaviour Chat Noir had been exhibiting when it came to his flirting.

She had hoped that person could be Alya. She was the obvious choice given she had been the first temporary Miraculous user to be brought in, and she might be inspired to stop posting Ladynoir nonsense if she saw first-hand what their dynamic was really like. But, it was clear to her that Alya would always be more interested in a scoop, and hadn't yet learned what information ought to be omitted. Who knows what she might accidentally put online with more intimate knowledge of the team after some exclusive 'interviews' with Rena Rouge?

And so, she was back to square one. Something she complained to Luka about a few days later over hot chocolate, carefully avoiding confirming Rena and Alya, though she was sure he had worked it out regardless.

"Even if Rena Rouge had been a good contender," he said, his red-cold fingers curled around his mug, "there's no guarantee you would be allowed to give her a Miraculous permanently."

"I guess," Marinette muttered. She swiped her thumb across the mountain of whipped cream on top of her drink and licked it off. "And I suppose it wouldn't have done much about the main Chat Noir issue. I wish I could just make him understand that I'm not interested. But he's so invested in it. I really think it would break him if he actually took it to heart."

"So you should give in?" Luka arched an eyebrow. "His feelings are more important than yours?"

"No. But...I still feel sorry for him. And irritated." She frowned and glared into her drink. "Mostly irritated."

"Well," said Luka slowly. "You could always throw him in the Seine…"

A smile twitched onto her lips which quivered with the effort to suppress her laughter. "He might not fit. You've already chucked so much stuff in there."

"It's a river. It flows into the sea. Just give it a few days and it'll be empty and ready to dispose of your problems."

"I'm glad your system works," she said, giggling.

"In all seriousness, there has to be something we can do."

"The problem is everyone in Paris is on his side. They're all taken in by this romance-" she rolled her eyes- "and of course his love is more interesting and therefore more important than my...lack-of. If I could just make them see that this isn't what I want and it isn't helping save Paris, maybe he might back off a little bit. It won't make him stop but maybe if no one's egging him on…"

"Maybe Alya could put up an article about it?" Luka suggested. "You could write one yourself, as Ladybug, and send it to her. That would look good on her blog, right?"

Marinette shook her head and returned to glaring into her mug. "She wouldn't," she mumbled. "Aside from Chat Noir she's the biggest Ladynoir supporter out there. She thinks I just need to give it time and then maybe I'll realise I'm in love with him after all or something. There are a lot of people who think I'm just playing hard-to-get, or holding off until we defeat Hawkmoth."

"Are there any other blogs?"

"None as dedicated as Alya's. There are articles and posts around but they're all on general news websites."

"Then maybe-" he gave a faux devious smirk- "you need to take this into your own hands. Or, into your own blog."

"What, like some...vigilante blog?" She gave a short laugh. "Who'd read that?"

"Lots of people if it's by Ladybug."

"I don't have time to run a blog. I don't even think I have enough material to write a full post."

"Back to square one."

"Again." Marinette sighed heavily and took a long sip of her drink. Warm, smooth chocolate and the tang of sharp, nearly artificial, orange danced across her tongue. (The cafe had run out of mint flavouring, to both her and Luka's dismay.) "Looks like I just have to keep doing what I was before. Say no whenever he asks and hope maybe he eventually looks up what it means…"

"There has to be something. What if...what if I break up with you and- no hear me out!" he hastily said as her face had slipped into an unimpressed glare. "What if I break up with you and then date you, Ladybug, as Viperion. Then he'd have to back off."

"No."

"Alright. What if you, as Ladybug, admit you have a boyfriend as a civilian?"

"No, Luka." Marinette shook her head, leaning back in her chair. "I don't want him to stop because of another man. I don't want him to stop out of...courtesy for someone else. I want him to stop because I told him to. Otherwise he'll just wait for me to be single. He's got it in his head that we're meant to be, so he won't accept any other relationship as being long-lasting."

Luka looked at her sadly then down at his hot chocolate. "You're right," he said. "He needs to stop for you, not for someone else."

She reached across the table and gently uncurled one of his hands from his mug and held it in her own. Her fingers brushed against the black spinner ring she'd given him for his birthday and idly twisted it. "Thank you."

The next akuma didn't appear for a while. Perhaps Hawkmoth had worn himself out with two in one day, or maybe with the start of December and Christmas fast approaching there was too much festive cheer going around for people to be upset or angry enough to be used. Whatever the reason, Ladybug was glad of it.

It was thanks to this break, possibly, that Chat Noir turned up at the next attack—a fortnight later—perfectly friendly again. He still gave Viperion a disgruntled look at the beginning, but he didn't flirt. He had once more stepped into the role of partner; he had Ladybug's back, he listened to her plans, and he kept his inappropriate comments to a minimum.

The battle was won in record time. The akuma victim, a student stressing over his end-of-term exams, didn't stay long. Before Ladybug could even ask if he was okay, he cried something about a biology project and ran away.

"Hopefully we won't have to fight that again," Chat Noir said. "I have enough homework as it is without akumas blasting more at me. I thought I'd be trapped in that trigonometry chart forever."

"Only a couple more weeks until the Christmas break," Ladybug pointed out. "Hopefully he and everyone else can keep their cool until then."

Viperion nodded. "That would be nice, but I doubt it. Lot of people in class are getting stressed. I need to get going before I transform back. See you both next time." With a wave and an almost too-professional smile, Viperion hurried away from the scene.

Ladybug was about to give her own goodbye and follow-suit but Chat Noir stopped her.

"Can, uh, can I have a quick word, Ladybug?" he asked, sounding nervous. "It won't take long."

As much as she desperately wanted to say no, Ladybug knew she had to accept. She needed to speak to him, and if he was planning on going on another romantic crusade she had to do it soon. However, she had seen Alya skulking around the area, filming snatches of the attack, and cringed at the idea of any personal conversations ending up on the Ladyblog.

"Sure," Ladybug said. Her earrings had only beeped a couple of times; she still had a few minutes left. "But let's go up there, more private."

Chat looked up at the rooftop she pointed to and nodded. "Yeah, good idea."

They quickly scaled the building and sat down on the roof's edge, feet dangling high above the Parisian streets below. It was early afternoon, and the sun was struggling through a thin layer of silvery clouds. In the distance a storm was brewing, threatening to bring with it the year's first snowfall. But, watching the thin streaks of clouds drifting ahead, the wind was blowing the wrong way.

"I wanted to apologise," said Chat Noir. "About last time. You were right; Viperion could have been seriously hurt because I didn't listen to you. I'm sorry. I was just frustrated because, well, you know why."

"I do know why, Chat. And that's something I wanted to talk to you about, actually."

"Oh?" His eyes filled with hope and trepidation.

A pit opened up in the bottom of her stomach. "I understand that you have these feelings for me," she said, fidgeting and suddenly unable to look at him. "But I don't have feelings for you. Not the same type of feelings, anyway." She stole a quick glance at him and immediately regretted it; his eyes had turned dull. She ploughed on. "You're my friend, Chat, and I care about you a lot but not in that way. I know it hurts—I understand how it feels to be so in love with someone that you get obsessed. You lose sight of what's important and what's acceptable. I felt that way about someone else and I ended up doing some really stupid and inappropriate things, and it's only once I got over those feelings and realised what a healthy relationship is supposed to be like that I looked back and saw how ridiculous I had behaved. The truth is, I was in love at him, but I didn't know him well enough to be in love with him. And-" This was the important part. Ladybug forced herself to look at him again, right in the eyes, and as she spoke her heart broke with his. "And I think that's what you've done as well. You're in love at me, but you don't know me well enough to be in love with me, with who I am when I'm not bound with my kwami and trying to save Paris."

"But…" He swallowed, his face like a kicked kitten. "But we're the cat and the ladybug," he said quietly, desperation bleeding through his voice. "We're partners. Destined to be together."

"We are partners," she said. "And the ladybug and cat are destined to be together by the nature of their beings, but as the people we are without our kwamis, there's no pre-destined connection between us. We're partners in fighting for peace, but not romantic partners. I'm sorry, Chat."

"But how do you know?" he pressed. "How do you know we're not meant to be together like that?"

"I spoke to my kwami about it," she replied. "Maybe you need to speak to yours too."

"Yeah." His voice cracked. "I'll do that. Thanks, Ladybug."

It was done. Chat mumbled his goodbye without looking at her and vaulted away, no doubt to one of his 'spots', inaccessible to most people, to lick his wounds.

Ladybug stayed until her earrings beeped for the final time and Tikki was evicted from her body. She took a cookie from her purse and let Tikki nibble on it while sitting on her shoulder.

"Are you okay, Marinette?"

"Yeah. I just...I feel kind of bad."

"Do you regret it?"

"No. But I remember what it was like being in love with Adrien, and doing all sorts of stupid things to try to talk to him. Things I really shouldn't have done. I managed to get out of that before he noticed. But Chat...I had to tell him. If Adrien had had to tell me to stop when I was pursuing him, it would have been so embarrassing. So awkward, I would've felt awful about it. I just wonder if maybe there was a better way to say it, but…"

"If you'd been gentler, he wouldn't have understood, Marinette." Tikki swept the cookie crumbs off of Marinette's jacket and brushed her cheek against her face. "For what it's worth, I think you did the right thing. I know it wasn't an easy conversation for you, and you should be proud of yourself."

Marinette sighed and stroked Tikki's head with her finger. She shut her eyes against the sky as the wintry winds played with her hair, and breathed in, out, in, out, until the weight she'd been carrying in her heart was lifted away with the breeze.

She opened her eyes. The sun poured through a small break in the clouds, showering her with a soft, silver light. She smiled.

A few years later…

The streetlamps flickered out, plunging Paris into a darkness not even the stars could penetrate. The only sounds were the infrequent cars crawling down the roads, headlamps like small suns, the distant hollering of young people stumbling out of a late-night bar as it finally closed, and the faint padding of footsteps.

Ladybug turned around to see part of her team of vigilantes gathered: Chat Noir, Viperion, Rena Rouge and Carapace. They were adults now, and their suits reflected it. The bright colours of their youth were darker, the patterns simpler, the designs more streamlined and practical. The only one who still looked the same was Viperion, but then again Luka had always been too old for his body.

"All clear, Ladybug," said Rena Rouge. "Streets are empty and most of Paris is asleep."

"Apart from the late-night drinkers," Carapace added from his usual place at Rena Rouge's side. "But they're in no condition to be akumatized. I don't think Hawkmoth would go that far."

Ladybug nodded, smiling. "Good. Thanks, guys. I know this was a last minute call and it's late, but…"

"You had a feeling." Rena Rouge shrugged. "Your feelings are usually right. Just not tonight."

"Can't be right every time," Chat Noir said, grinning. "Is there anything else you need us for or…"

"No. Paris is fine, and Hawkmoth isn't going to be trying anything at this time. We should all go home and get some rest."

"Good," said Rena Rouge. "No offence, but I've got places to be tomorrow."

"Yeah, same," said Carapace. Waving goodbye, the fox and the turtle departed.

"Sure I can't persuade you to grab a late coffee with me, Ladybug?" Chat Noir asked. Then he winked and laughed. "Anyway, I'll see you next time, milady. Snake."

"Cat," said Viperion, matching Chat Noir's smirk. Then, when Chat Noir had disappeared into the night, Viperion turned to Ladybug. "Maybe I can convince you for that late coffee?"

"Thanks, Viperion, but I've got a busy day tomorrow. I need to get up early. Lots to do."

"Oh really. Fun day planned?"

"Mmhmm. What about you?"

"Hm…" Viperion frowned and tapped his chin, but his eyes gleamed with amusement in the moonlight. "No, don't think so. Free as a bird."

"You sure about that?"

"Well, now you mention it there might be something. I'll have to check my calendar."

Ladybug giggled and gently slapped his shoulder. "You do that. I'd hate for you to miss anything important."

"In which case you really should go home and sleep. I'd hate for you to sleep through your alarm and be late for something important."

"Oh ha ha." She glared when Viperion merely stuck out his tongue. "If that's how you're going to behave then I'm going home."

"Well alright then." Viperion's smirk softened slightly. "I hope you have a good time tomorrow on your super-busy day."

"You too."

"What if I don't have anything planned?"

Ladybug glared again. She turned him around and pushed him vaguely in the direction of the Seine. "Oh, just go home!"

"Alright, alright! I see when I'm not wanted." After throwing her a sly grin over his shoulder, Viperion ran across the roof they were standing on and leapt into the night. She heard him call, "Goodnight, Ladybug!" and then he was gone.

By the time Ladybug returned to her room, it was nearly 2am. And yet, despite the late hour and the long list of things to do in the morning, she wasn't tired. She dropped her transformation and tugged on the pyjamas folded neatly on her bed, once arranged with cuddly toys and oversized pillows but now empty.

Marinette left Tikki resting on one of the simple pillows her mother had replaced her old ones with and descended into the main part of the room. It was as empty as her bed. Gone were the mannequin and sewing machine, the computer and picture frames. The walls were plain pink, the desk clear, the floor swept. She knew without opening the drawers that they had been cleared, and the wardrobe once full to bursting with sewing projects now contained only one dress, and it was carefully hidden in a large, white dress-bag.

The only objects out were a pink suitcase sitting beneath the window and two small boxes on the dressing table. Marinette slid off the ring she wore, white gold with a padparadscha sapphire, and opened the first box. It was lined with black velvet with three slots, two of which held more rings. The first matched her own; a white band shaped like branches and dotted with tiny pink gems. The second was larger and thicker: a simple band with guitar strings embedded around the top and the bottom, and etched in between a delicate pattern of branches and petals.

Having placed her ring carefully in the box, Marinette turned her attention to the second box. It was wider and flatter, and when she opened it she revealed a silver necklace. The pendant was a large, smoothed triangle locket, prised open to form a heart shape. Inside the locket, encased in glass, were two guitar picks: one a limited edition Jagged Stone design, and the other patterned with cherry blossoms.

Marinette smiled as she ghosted her finger across the pendant, thinking back to when she had gotten them. Remembering the first meeting, and meeting again.

FIN