🐞 Miraculous ladybug RPG🐾 When the Crimson Fades

Heavy rain pelted the dark alley behind the Grand Paris Hotel, drowning out the sound of Marinette Dupain-Cheng's heartbreaking sobs. This was where she ended up every night. Alone. Broken. The cold of the wet asphalt seeped into her skin, but her heart was far more frozen.

Lila Rossi's lies have taken everything. Her friends, her reputation, even her parents are starting to look at her with disappointment because of the "bad behavior"

Lila slandered her for. Meanwhile, life as Ladybug offers no escape. Hawk Moth attacks relentlessly. Paris demands salvation from a hero whose own soul is dying. Tonight, after a brutal battle that left her battered and bruised, Marinette's mental defenses have completely collapsed.

Tikki floated out of her sling bag, the kwami's tiny body trembling at the dark circles under the miracle worker's eyes.

"Marinette... please, don't be like this," Tikki whispered, her voice choked. "You have to go home. If you keep crying here, Hawk Moth will sense your negativity."

"Just let it go, Tikki," Marinette muttered, her voice empty, devoid of emotion. "Let the akuma come. I don't care anymore."

"Don't say that! You are Ladybug, the protector of Paris!"

"Whose protector?!" Marinette suddenly screamed, tears mixed with rain streaming down her cheeks.

"This world hates me, Tikki! At school, I'm a selfish monster because of Lila's lies. On the streets, as Ladybug, they curse me if I'm even a minute late in saving them! No one wants me. My soul is dead. I don't have the strength to fight anymore."

Marinette hugged her knees tightly, hiding her face.

"I give up. Let this world be destroyed. There's no place for me in it anyway." Tikki wanted to reply, but heavy footsteps approaching the alley forced the kwami to hide back in her bag.

Marinette didn't move. She was too exhausted to care if it was a robber, a sentimonster, or even an akuma. A pair of black boots stopped right in front of her. A large, dark blue umbrella slowly tilted, blocking the rain that had been pelting Marinette's fragile body.

"Crying under a rainstorm is not a safe place for a beautiful girl like you," a deep, yet very gentle voice sounded above her.Marinette slowly looked up. Behind the dim streetlight stood a strange young man. He wore a long gray coat. His face was unfamiliar—he wasn't part of her school, nor was he one of the heroes or villains she often encountered. He was a complete stranger.

"Go away," Marinette croaked, refusing to look him in the eye. "Don't mind me. I deserve to be here."

The stranger didn't move. Instead, he slowly knelt down on the wet asphalt, level with Marinette, ignoring the dirt on his pants.

"No human being deserves to be in a dirty, cold alley like this, alone," the young man said calmly.

"You don't know anything about me!" Marinette snapped, her emotions rising again. "If you knew who I was, you would leave too! You would curse me, accuse me, and tell me to disappear from this world like everyone else does!"

The young man was silent for a moment, watching the violent tremors in Marinette's body. Instead of fear or anger, his gaze softened with sympathy. "You're right. I don't know your name, and I don't know what troubles you're facing," he said quietly. "But I can see your eyes. They are the eyes of someone who has carried the weight of the world on his shoulders for too long."

Those words hit Marinette hard in the chest. Carrying the weight of the entire world. Something Chat Noir or his friends never even realized.

"I... I'm broken," Marinette whispered, her voice trembling as her defenses crumbled again. "Everything's gone. My spirit, my will to fight... it's all dead. I can't save anyone if I'm broken myself."

The stranger sighed softly. He extended a warm hand, offering a dry handkerchief from his coat pocket. "Then stop saving them," said the stranger firmly but gently.

Marinette was stunned, her puffy eyes widening. "What?"

"If the world demands that you always be strong while they continue to hurt you, then that world doesn't deserve your kindness right now," the young man continued, his eyes staring straight into Marinette's.

"Tonight, you don't have to be a hero to anyone. You don't have to prove anything to a blind world. Tonight, you just have to be yourself, who has the right to be tired, the right to cry, and the right to be selfish."

Hearing that, the defenses in Marinette's heart completely collapsed. For the first time in a long time, someone had validated her pain without demanding that she stand up and smile.

Without a thought for identity or danger, Marinette stepped forward and grabbed the hem of the stranger's coat, pouring out all of her pain, Lila's betrayal, and the stress of being Ladybug into the loudest sob she had ever let out. The boy remained silent, holding his umbrella tightly to keep Marinette from getting wet, allowing the stranger in front of him to borrow his warmth from the cruel Parisian cold.

Anime character design sheet, Miraculous Ladybug AU. Marinette Dupain-Cheng looking exhausted and broken. She has dark circles under her tired blue eyes, messy un-tied dark blue hair, and is wearing a baggy dark grey hoodie. Beside her, show her dark Ladybug costume: a muted, dark crimson-red suit with cracked black polka dots, looking battle-worn and melancholic. Moody lighting, dark and dramatic theme. --ar 4:3

A dark, cinematic anime style illustration. A broken and crying teenage girl with messy dark blue hair, wearing an oversized black jacket, is kneeling on the wet asphalt of a dark Paris alleyway during a heavy rainstorm. A tall 19-year-old young man with messy black hair and amber-blue eyes, wearing a long grey trench coat and a black turtleneck, is kneeling in front of her. He is holding a large dark blue umbrella over both of them, sheltering her from the rain. The background shows dim streetlights, neon signs of Paris reflecting on the puddles, a moody, melancholy, and emotional atmosphere. --ar 16:9