It didn't change anything.

Soulmates.

An accepted concept without any real impact on anything.

No marks on skin to lead you there.

No string of fate pulling you to your other half.

No physical evidence of anything.

Just knowing.

Knowledge that wasn't passed down through generations or taught a school.

Simply knowing that everyone had a perfect someone out there without ever being told.

Everyone knew.

It didn't change anything.

Marinette's early life was as normal as anyone else's.

She ate and slept.

Met people.

Made friends and foes.

Started school.

Got bullied and learned.

She lived.

What else was there to say?

The interesting stuff didn't happen until she became a teenager.

That's when her life took a turn away from ordinary.

A pair of earrings changed her life.

She became someone else.

More confident.

More willing to stand up for people.

More sure in herself.

That saved her a few months later.

Lila Rossi was a liar.

She didn't turn the class against her.

They did that themselves.

But she was strong and she was certain she'd get through it.

She did.

The next year she was placed in Ms. Mendeleiev's class.

That was how it continued.

Both Ms. Bustier and Ms. Mendeleiev followed them to lycée.

She stayed away from her old class and got new friends in her new one.

Her schedule cleared up when their ridiculous requests disappeared.

It made it easier for her to do well in school despite having Ladybug responsibilities on top.

It got even easier when they defeated Hawkmoth and Mayura.

Through the years they'd gotten closer and closer.

The heroes that stood with her and Chat Noir had changed.

She needed people she could trust.

Viperion and Ryuko had become frequent allies.

It got worse before it got better, but they got them in the end.

The next day Master Fu had disappeared and taken their miraculouses with him.

She hadn't known.

She didn't get to say goodbye to Tikki.

Mentally she'd admit to hating Master Fu just a bit for that.

And Adrien had been Chat Noir.

He'd told the police when evidence was being filed against Mr. Agreste and Nathalie.

It didn't change her mind about him.

He'd been her partner, but he had also been an enabler.

Ladybug and Marinette had been treated differently.

He'd never seen the girl behind the mask.

She ended up telling Luka and Kagami after a while, but they were the only ones.

They were older then.

There wasn't a threat anymore, but she still didn't want to share Ladybug with anyone else.

Ladybug was a part of her that she'd lost.

A personal part.

It was different for her than for the rest.

Adrien had been the only other permanent hero and for him Chat Noir had always been a freedom first.

He didn't need that anymore.

He moved on to other things.

She couldn't do that.

Not completely at least.

The need to make a difference and actually help people wouldn't leave her.

She ended up going out at night sometimes.

Stopping crimes her and there.

Normal crimes.

Those that magical terrorists made people forget.

She was careful.

No one could know what she was doing.

Time passed.

At seventeen she went through the single most difficult time in her life.

Marinette lost her parents.

Car crash.

She was the only survivor.

Her classmates visited her several times in the hospital.

Luka and Kagami practically lived by her bedside.

They grieved with her.

It took two months for all her injuries to heal.

Longer to get back to where she wanted to be physically.

She kept training.

Nonna came to Paris to take care of her.

They moved into a flat.

She went back to school.

Slowly they got into a routine.

And with time it got better.

She wasn't over her parents deaths.

That wouldn't happen for a long time, if at all.

Some days were better than others.

But she felt ready to go on with her life.

Her maman and papan wouldn't have wanted her to be miserable.

Her friends were a huge help.

Then her last year of school came around.

One last year before she'd graduate.

It was also the year she got put back in Ms. Bustier's class.

The exact same class she left years ago.

Everyone was older, but they all still thought her a bully.

But time kept moving.

They won a trip.

One week in Gotham of all places.

Nonna had been so excited.

She'd sat through more than a few conversations about all the things to see.

Her Nonna really had been everywhere.

So in the end of October they went to America.

Now, she might not have had to deal with any mayor bullies or liars for years, but she certainly wasn't stupid.

Everyday she woke up multiple hours earlier than needed with the help of four alarm clocks plus a wake up call.

She kept close watch at all her belongings at all times.

The itinerary for the entire trip with a very detailed map came with her.

That meant she never got left behind or lost.

Not for lack of trying on Lila's part.

The girl already had full control over the class, but still actively went after her.

Despite that the trip was fun.

She got to see so much.

Gothamites wasn't the most friendly bunch, but she'd had a few interesting conversations.

They were persistent too.

One guy had tried to get her wallet ten times in half an hour.

Pick pocketing could become a sport by how well people here did it.

She didn't really mind.

It was kind of like training.

The week flew by in no time and she had a blast.

She finally understood why Nonna loved travelling.

Too bad she underestimated Lila.

Damian didn't live a normal life.

He never had.

He always had to fight.

Fighting was a constant.

One he didn't know what to do without.

He didn't mind it.

Not really.

It was the lack of control that got on his nerves.

Control.

He'd never had it.

Not over anything in his life.

There were expectations he had to live up to.

First it was to become an assassin.

That had never been a choice.

It was what he'd been raised to believe he wanted.

Then the vigilante business.

Robin.

That had been his choice, hadn't it?

Except did he do it because he genuinely wanted to or because that was what was expected of the son of Batman?

He didn't know how to answer that.

How could he when he himself didn't actually know?

He was eighteen and he had no idea what he wanted to do with his life.

Everyone else had their lives and their plans.

They also had ideas for him.

None of them sounded appealing.

College.

That would be painful.

He already knew most everything a college student needed.

It would be just like all the other years of school he'd been forced through.

WE.

It wasn't for him.

Drake already had everything handled on that side and even if he was interested he be unnecessary.

And all these options continued, but not a single one of them was for him.

It made him a bit nervous.

What if he couldn't find anything?

At times he'd be in the cave and just watch.

Take everything in.

Look at all the marks of time.

The suits.

The Gotham map displayed on the batcomputer.

The others.

And it would always hit him.

This wasn't where he wanted to be.

Gotham wasn't where he wanted to spend the rest of his life.

It never had been.

Gotham was his family's city.

Not his.

All the legacies were strangling him.

It wasn't as easy as being someone else than Robin.

Robin wasn't the only legacy.

Gotham herself was a legacy.

And he was so tired of all expectations.

When had he last been seen as something else than someone's offspring?

Son of Thalia al Ghul.

Grandson of Ra's al Ghul.

Son of Batman.

Son of Bruce Wayne.

He was never Damian.

Not Damian Wayne.

Just Damian.

Both sides of his life wasn't what he wanted them to be.

He didn't know how to fix it.

He was stuck.

Stuck going through the same old actions again and again.

He needed to get away.

That was probably why he'd agreed to go to Paris to sort out some problems with that branch of WE.

Lila Rossi.

At the moment those two words echoed as a curse of the worst kind in her head.

That little-, ARGH!

She'd woken up late.

Really late.

Someone had snuck into her room and tampered with her alarms and told the reception to change the time of her wake up call.

Thankfully she packed the evening before and only had to get dressed and run.

And run she did.

Like a mad woman.

The bus had already left.

That was fine.

Completely.

She just had to run to the other side of town.

There was no way she'd get a taxi in Gotham.

She was in a hurry, not suicidal.

It took one hour of running, pushing past mostly innocent pedestrians and lagging her suitcase behind her to make it to the airport.

Then she got through security and passport controls to still miss her plane by ten minutes.

Ten. Minutes.

That settled it.

The universe hated her.

Her stomach decided that was the perfect time to remind her she skipped breakfast.

Fantastic.

He'd arrived early.

Early by a lot.

It wasn't so much for being on time as for getting to experience the airport.

He loved it.

People were all around him, but he went unnoticed.

There were more important things to do than gawk at strangers.

Languages drifted all around him.

He understood quite a lot of them, but not all.

It was something with the atmosphere of it that never grew old.

He loved airports.

And he had a couple of hours to kill.

It wouldn't be difficult.

The day was young and it was a perfect time for a cup of hot chocolate and some breakfast.

They met at the cafe.

It was filled with people and there were nowhere for Marinette to sit when she came.

Except with Damian that was sitting in his lonesome at a table meant for two.

He wasn't even paying any attention to the girl he suddenly was sharing a table with.

Or at least that's what she thought for twenty minutes straight.

They hadn't said a word to each other since she'd asked if the seat was taken and he'd answered in negative.

That lasted until a waiter tripped over someone's suitcase.

Damian turned his attention to the commotion.

She caught a glimpse at his sketchpad.

A pencil drawing of her and her hot sandwich.

That was the start of their first ever conversation.

Most of it revolved around their chosen art forms.

They made it a contest after a while.

They'd pick something around them to draw inspiration from and see who could make something out of it.

Good thing she always had a small sketchbook in her bag.

Then they moved on to telling funny stories about people they saw at other tables or passing the cafe.

Somewhere along the line they'd ordered a coffee each.

Somewhere along the line they'd stopped talking to a stranger and instead made a new friend.

Somewhere along the line they forgot about reality.

At least for a couple of hours.

She didn't notice the time until her cellphone went off.

It shocked her how long they'd been speaking.

When she took a look around the cafe was nearly empty.

Big difference from when she'd entered.

But back to the phone call.

It was Nonna.

She bit her lip. "Sorry, but I really have to take this."

Damian didn't get mad. "I get it, but you should answer that before whoever is calling hangs up."

That's exactly what she did.

"Hi Nonna," she greeted in french.

"Hello Marinetta! How did your trip go? Did you met any cute boys?"

"It's been absolutely amazing. I'd really love to come back someday." She ignored the second question. "But, enough about that. How was India?"

Nonna hadn't travelled since she'd started living with Marinette so she'd taken the chance now.

While she was in America her Nonna went on her own adventure.

Her flight was only supposed to land a few hours before Marinette's.

"Fantastic! I have so many pictures to show you. And the stories. You wouldn't believe half of it." That remained to be seen. "Is your flight delayed? You should be in the air right now."

"I might have missed it." She heard a sharp intake of breath on the other side of the phone. "Lila messed with my alarms. All of them. When I finally woke up the bus had already left. I ran to the airport and through the controls, but I still missed it."

"Okay, stay calm. We'll- Shoot! Marinetta, I have to go. My second flight is about to leave and I need to turn of my phone. I'll land in Paris in one hour. I'll call you straight back and we'll solve this. Hang tight."

And she was gone.

That could have gone better.

"Your class actually left you behind. How incompetent is your teacher?"

Damian.

"You speak french."

It wasn't a question.

He nodded anyway. "And your grandmother speaks loudly. It made it easy to hear both sides of the conversation."

"Well, now you know then." She sighed. "I'm going to have to figure out how to get home when Nonna lands."

Her new friends furrowed his eyebrows. "You're going to Paris, right?"

"Yes?"

She had no idea where he was going with this.

"I'm headed there too. You can come with me if you'd like?"

"That's not really how flights work."

One of his eyebrows rose in that way that is impossible to replicate. "You want to bet?"

"You have a private jet?"

"Technically it belongs to my father."

"You have a private jet."

That was the beginning of one of the best months in his life.

At least this far.

He had non annoying company on the flight over.

Unusual in his family.

He felt like he knew Marinette better than most anyone after just one day.

And it only got better.

In Paris he got to boss around an entire division of morons and utter sheep without anyone interfering.

Let's say there was a huge change in personnel.

He kept meeting up with Marinette too.

During her lunchbreaks, after school and work, at weekends...

It was weird.

That pressure he'd had on his chest for ages felt just a tiny bit lighter.

He had a friend that helped with that.

He helped her in return.

Slowly she wormed her way into his life until he couldn't picture it without her anymore.

She had become his best friend.

He didn't think he could bare returning to Gotham.

So he didn't.

"Okay, who's the girl?"

"What makes you think there is a girl?"

"The fact that you didn't deny it is telling."

"..."

"..."

"I told you I intend to stay in Paris and your first suspicion to why was that I've met a girl?"

"I'm the world's greatest detective and your father. Are you really surprised?"

"Not really, no."

"You still haven't answered who she is."

"Her name is Marinette."

"Surname?"

"Unimportant."

"Is that because you're planning to change it to Wayne in the near future?"

Beep.

One thing that changed after that was the fact that he started going out at night.

He had kept up with his training, but he hadn't actually done any crimefighting since he came there.

Black clothing with a hood and he was ready to go.

They didn't cross paths like that until early spring.

Let's say it lead to quite a enlightening and surprising conversation.

They went out together at nights after that.

"I have no idea what I'm going to do after I graduate."

And she plonked down on her office chair.

"I thought you wanted to be a fashion designer." He didn't look up from his notebook, but she knew he was paying attention.

She spun around a bit. "Well, a certain designer with a butterfly fixation ruined that for me. Still love designing and fashion, but it just isn't the same anymore."

"Hence why you're currently stuck."

"Yep."

"Then why are you asking me? I had the exact same problem up until a few months ago."

"Simple, Birdboy. How did you get out of it?"

Damian kept sketching. "I packed my bag and left the country."

They left the day after she graduated.

They were eighteen when they left France behind for Greece.

Italy, Spain and Turkey soon followed.

The german mountains were a sight to behold and swiss chocolate was to die for.

Denmark was flat as a pancake and perfect for biking.

In Finland everyone sounded angry 90% of the time.

She learned how to make awesome scones in England.

They started dating in Wiscousin.

And that was only the first month.

They saw and experienced so much.

But, then that wasn't the only thing they did.

Vigilantism wasn't easy to quit after all.

Marinette made them completely new suits.

Damian got them untraceable weapons from questionable sources.

Both outfits were black and they had green or red detailing depending on whose it was.

He still used swords and she had gotten a one of a kind metal yoyo that would work just as her Ladybug one had done.

Marinette had nearly strangled him in a hug when she got it.

Utility belts rested on their hips and both had hoods and masks.

No. Capes.

That had been a big no no for both of them.

Especially for Marinette, the mini Edna Mode she was.

One year

So little time can change everything.

Mystica and Diabolo had built themselves a reputation.

It wasn't a hero's reputation.

They were called many things, but never heroes.

Ghosts, saviours, spirits, vigilantes, shadows...

They didn't have their own city.

They were well known for being mobile.

Spotted all around the world from big cities like Tokyo to small villages in the depths of Amazons.

It was impossible to know where they'd be next.

They were unpredictable.

The point was that they didn't want to save the world each and every week.

They wanted to save people.

They didn't go against supervillains.

At least not often, but that was a story for another day.

They went against other evils.

Drug rings.

Child trafficking.

Serial killers.

Corruption.

The mob.

They stopped rapes and robberies.

And they did it well.

No, they weren't heroes.

They'd both happily left that behind.

They only ever returned to Paris twice.

The first was for two weeks during their second year travelling.

They weren't planning to come back there, but circumstances changed.

Kagami died.

Plane crash when she was travelling from one of her competitions.

By then she'd been engaged with Luka for a couple of months.

Marinette had to be there.

For the funeral and also for Luka.

Soft strumming was the only sound for a long time.

The funeral had been yesterday and now she was with Luka in his apartment.

They hadn't said anything except the initial greetings, but there had been no silence.

There never was when it came to Luka.

The guitar had filled the void with some of the saddest music she'd ever heard before.

Yearning, sadness, grief...

He'd always been good at playing his feelings.

She didn't try to make him open up.

He was already doing it through his music.

They hadn't needed words in a long time.

"She was my soulmate."

"Oh."

There was nothing else she could say.

Losing a fiancee was tough.

Losing a soulmate?

The fact that he told her was miraculous in itself.

Soulmates were personal.

Most never said a word about it.

She knew she wouldn't.

The music continued and no more words were shared.

Life went on.

They took odd jobs all around to cover their expenses.

One day they'd be covering a city with posters for some event and another they'd be filling in for the waiters that had caught the flu.

At one point they bumped into Jagged.

She ended up drawing up designs for his next tour.

Damian's talent hadn't gone unnoticed either.

Guess who drew the cover for Jagged Stone's next album.

They kept travelling to different places in the world.

Mystica and Diabolo made many appearances.

They put an end to the biggest drug cartel in Europe.

A village in Peru wouldn't have to worry about the corrupt police anymore.

Australia's biggest company fell from grace when their dirty laundry was mysteriously uncovered.

Life went on and they thrived.

People started to notice.

They braved Gotham.

He'd sent monthly and untraceable messages to let them know the universe hadn't managed to kill him yet.

He'd never told them where he was, what he was doing or with whom he was.

The bats had never been as surprised as when their youngest came back after three years with a girl in tow.

They made the most mundane entrance possible and still it caught everyone off guard.

Alfred Pennyworth opened the door as he most often did when the doorbell went off.

The fact that it was nearly midnight was was only a bit unusual in this household.

Someone that was aware of the residents' nightly hobby wouldn't bat an eye at the time.

He was prepared for a great number of things.

Master Damian alongside a young lady however was not one of those things.

The boy that had been so angry when he first entered the house all those years ago smiled at him. "Penn- Alfred. This is Marinette. She's my girlfriend."

Alfred had seen a lot happen on these very grounds and he could honestly say that little surprised him anymore.

This was probably the closest he'd come in a long time.

He opened the door wider to let them in.

He'd take it all in stride.

"Welcome home."

The bats finished up their patrol and returned to batcave.

It was one of those times where all of them were in the city and had gone out.

Otherwise everything was just as usual.

They changed to civvies and headed up.

The kitchen was the destination.

Fighting crime took a lot of energy.

They walked in to find Alfred, Damian and an unknown girl at the table.

Apparently they'd been in the middle of telling Alfred about the festival in Brazil.

The girl was smiling broadly and gesticulating wildly with her arms as she told a story about a paper dragon.

Damian had a small, but still present smile on his face.

The adoring look he was giving the girl was impossible to miss.

Any hopes of going to bed anytime soon went down the drain.

They spent the entire night explaining everything and telling stories about the world they'd travelled.

Funnily enough alter egos were never mentioned.

It made for a nice last surprise for the family when Damian and Marinette went out on patrol with them.

"Do you think she's your soulmate?" Dick asked him.

"I can't see it being anyone else."

They didn't settle.

Travelling wasn't something they ever wanted to give up.

Gotham became a normal pit stop, but they never stayed for too long.

The world was a big place and they wanted to see it all.

It continued until they suddenly were 25 years old.

It was one of their exceptions.

One of the times they went up against actively world threatening threats.

The league of assassins were trying to destroy most of the world.

Weapons had been strategically placed to wipe out 90% of the population.

All assets had been called in.

That included them.

The locations were scattered all over the world and all major players had been given one to check out.

They'd been handed Paris.

The weapon they were looking for was supposed to be a box of some kind.

One had already exploded and taken a lot of people with it.

It had gone of early and alerted them to the threat.

A lot of hacking did the rest.

A team was trying to figure out how to stop it all, but so far they had no idea.

They didn't even know when they would blow.

The odds were stacked against them, but they had to try.

It was the second and last time they were in Paris.

It was by complete chance that they were the once that got the base of operations.

The base of operations which were filled with assassins.

Good thing they weren't amateurs or they'd been dead before they entered.

They took out the assassins, got to the machine and stopped all explosions from going off worldwide.

That was the short version.

The long version included eight hours of non stop fights and a huge amount of knocked out ninjas.

The bomb for lack of other words had been speeded up so they'd had to defuse an unknown weapon on a very limited time.

The timer had literally had two seconds left when they'd stopped it.

They'd saved Paris and most of the world.

Another happy ending.

Then everything went wrong.

Everyone were ecstatic.

The world lived to see another day.

Heroes, civilians and even villains celebrated.

On the floor of a warehouse in Paris two people laid lifeless.

"We did it! We actually did it. We saved the world." Mystica was obviously thrilled about that.

Diabolo loved seeing her like this.

So full of life as she did a tiny victory dance.

He pulled her closer to him. "Marry me."

"Gladly." And he could hear how she was trying not to cry.

Time stopped as they caught each other in a kiss.

It was soft and sweet and perfect.

They didn't see it coming.

A sword through his back that pierced them both.

It was pulled out and they collapsed.

An assassin walked out of the room without looking back.

Maybe they missed one, maybe they called for back up, maybe one of them woke up...

So many maybes and it didn't even matter.

They'd been distracted and someone had taken advantage of that.

It didn't take long for them to reach the same conclusion.

They weren't going to make it out of this one.

Lethal wound, too much blood.

It was serious.

They'd either bleed out or fall from the internal injuries.

They were going to die.

"I- love you."

Wrong.

Too strained.

"That's cheesy."

It hurt like hell.

He could see her laying right next to him.

She was wearing her mask, but he knew she was looking at him too.

She tried to chuckle, but ended up coughing. "I know."

Even dying she was smiling.

He was struck by how beautiful she was.

He didn't want to die.

There was so many places they hadn't been yet.

So many things they hadn't tried yet.

He'd never get to marry her.

"I love y-you too."

Her hand reached out to bridge the gap between them.

She couldn't reach him.

He felt those blue eyes lock onto him.

"One last-." The coughing got worse. "One last a-adventure?"

Those words should terrify him.

He knew they'd be the last ones she'd ever say.

But this was Marinette in front of him.

He would never have been able to live without her.

He used whatever energy he had left to take her hand.

"W-with you?" He swallowed. "Always."

He could feel her weak pulse as the world slowly dimmed.

A comfort up until the very moment he felt her slip away.

He followed moments later as the world went dark.

"One last adventure?"

"With you? Always."

Soulmates did't change anything.

Everyone knew about them.

Everyone knew how they worked.

No one wanted to know for sure who theirs was.

The only thing anyone knew about their soulmate was what their last words to them would be.

Sometimes knowing was a curse.