let me hear your voice tonight (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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vocab_drabbles2023-07-02 03:24 pm
alexseanchai) wrote in vocab_drabbles2023-07-02 03:24 pm
Entry tags:
69 Stygian - Miraculous Ladybug - help me chase the shadows away
help me chase the shadows away (622 words) by AlexSeanchai
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire
Additional Tags: Season/Series 05 Finale Spoilers, Community: vocab_drabbles, Community: fandom_empire, Podfic Welcome
Summary:
Vows sworn on the river Styx, one border of the land of the dead, are, if not unbreakable exactly, certainly come with an unavoidable punishment for breaking them. It may not be possible for a mortal to swear such a vow—but rewriting reality so that the boy who killed him and the girl who watched him die did so swear, and will be so punished?
Alya stops filming and sets down her phone. "The record is now off. Can we repeat that with less bullshit, please?"
Chat Noir shudders. "I'd say now I know what Plagg feels like when he forgets he can't name the girl under the mask," he tells Ladybug, "but either I don't or Plagg's pain tolerance is terrifying. Good God, that was unpleasant."
Ladybug squints at her partner. Slowly, she says, "You told him."
" 'Told' might be a bit strong." Chat Noir clicks his baton-phone open and closed.
"But he knows." Ladybug flings her arms around him; Chat Noir flails. "Kitty, you're the best!"
"So there's some reason you're unable to tell people who Monarch was," Alya realizes.
Ladybug grimaces. Chat Noir says, "And several reasons we shouldn't. Nothing we just said was a lie."
"Almost nothing," Ladybug corrects.
"Just Monarch's child's pronouns." Alya pauses, working through this. "Oh. Oh. Oh no. And there's going to be a statue—"
"…How did Adrien take it?" Ladybug asks, almost inaudible.
Chat Noir snorts. "Put it this way. It's a good thing I have armor that won't break his fingers when he throws a punch."
Ladybug draws a sharp breath and hugs Chat Noir tighter.
"Nino needs to know," Alya says abruptly. "And Marinette. Maybe the whole team, but at least Marinette and Nino. Adrien's closest to them, they need to know what they're supporting him through."
"Um," says Ladybug.
"Adrien thinks the whole world needs to know," Chat Noir observes, voice a little too lighthearted. "I think nobody else needs to find out the hard way how thoroughly his father made sure he'll only be remembered as a hero."
"—But we're talking about it now," Ladybug realizes. "If we just avoid saying his name— Wait, how did you tell Adrien if you only now noticed it hurts to try?"
Chat Noir opens his mouth. Closes it again. Opens his baton-phone.
Alya's new phone boops twice for incoming texts. She checks: "I'm screenshotting this on principle," she tells Chat Noir, who grins.
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire
Additional Tags: Season/Series 05 Finale Spoilers, Community: vocab_drabbles, Community: fandom_empire, Podfic Welcome
Summary:
Vows sworn on the river Styx, one border of the land of the dead, are, if not unbreakable exactly, certainly come with an unavoidable punishment for breaking them. It may not be possible for a mortal to swear such a vow—but rewriting reality so that the boy who killed him and the girl who watched him die did so swear, and will be so punished?
excerpted from transcript of Ladybug and Chat Noir interviewed by Alya Césaire, hours after the memorial service for Gabriel Agreste:
AC: Do you know who Monarch was?
[LB shakes her head.]
CN: He's— [Pause.] We're not answering that. [Long pause.] Look, you've seen what happens when Adrien Agreste shows his face lately. If Monarch's name gets out, can you honestly tell me nothing of the sort will ever happen to his daughter?
LB: Who had nothing to do with any of this.
CN: Who would have told us if she knew. Who might have told us if she even guessed.
LB: She's on our team, even, I've called on her before when one of our teammates wasn't available. She deserves better than she will get if the world finds out she's Monarch's daughter.
CN: Also I guarantee you there are people watching this who, if we named him, they'd accuse us of slandering his good name and me of murder. I'm getting enough of those accusations from myself, thanks.
LB: So yes, we know who Monarch was, and no, we're not telling anyone. I'd apologize but I'm not sorry.
Alya stops filming and sets down her phone. "The record is now off. Can we repeat that with less bullshit, please?"
Chat Noir shudders. "I'd say now I know what Plagg feels like when he forgets he can't name the girl under the mask," he tells Ladybug, "but either I don't or Plagg's pain tolerance is terrifying. Good God, that was unpleasant."
Ladybug squints at her partner. Slowly, she says, "You told him."
" 'Told' might be a bit strong." Chat Noir clicks his baton-phone open and closed.
"But he knows." Ladybug flings her arms around him; Chat Noir flails. "Kitty, you're the best!"
"So there's some reason you're unable to tell people who Monarch was," Alya realizes.
Ladybug grimaces. Chat Noir says, "And several reasons we shouldn't. Nothing we just said was a lie."
"Almost nothing," Ladybug corrects.
"Just Monarch's child's pronouns." Alya pauses, working through this. "Oh. Oh. Oh no. And there's going to be a statue—"
"…How did Adrien take it?" Ladybug asks, almost inaudible.
Chat Noir snorts. "Put it this way. It's a good thing I have armor that won't break his fingers when he throws a punch."
Ladybug draws a sharp breath and hugs Chat Noir tighter.
"Nino needs to know," Alya says abruptly. "And Marinette. Maybe the whole team, but at least Marinette and Nino. Adrien's closest to them, they need to know what they're supporting him through."
"Um," says Ladybug.
"Adrien thinks the whole world needs to know," Chat Noir observes, voice a little too lighthearted. "I think nobody else needs to find out the hard way how thoroughly his father made sure he'll only be remembered as a hero."
"—But we're talking about it now," Ladybug realizes. "If we just avoid saying his name— Wait, how did you tell Adrien if you only now noticed it hurts to try?"
Chat Noir opens his mouth. Closes it again. Opens his baton-phone.
Alya's new phone boops twice for incoming texts. She checks: "I'm screenshotting this on principle," she tells Chat Noir, who grins.
This message will self-destruct fifteen minutes after you read it. We think it will be safe to talk about this with Adrien's classmates this past year—minus Chloé and Lila, and plus Kagami, Luka, Zoé, Marc, Felix, and of course Ladybug, Chat Noir, and their teammates—aftereach of them has read this message. Please do not try to tell anyone else, you do not need the headache.
[Screenshot: text from Ladybug: Chat Noir, Gabriel Agreste is Monarch. I'm waiting for you at his place. We'll only have a shot if we fight him together.]