invisible string

1: green was the colour of the grass

No! She was a perfectly loveable girl, the heroine of Paris. Just because she didn't have a soulmate (probably) didn't mean anything against her-after all, 6.4 billion other people didn't. But just in case, she wouldn't tell anyone her suspicions.

Her parents looked a little sad for her when she shook her head but smiled and encouraged her anyways.

That night, she started a new journal, different from her lists of bullying and akumatization and Lila's lies. It was every type of soul bond she could find.

Then, she listed every instance she could remember that could be a connection to one of these types of soulbonds.

This journal had a combination lock and went in the false side of her box in the secret panel behind her false-backed desk drawer. No one was finding it if she could help it.

~~~~

Time/Mystical time/Cutting me open, then healing me fine

Ladybug called "Miraculous ladybug!" and Paris's streets were buzzed by the swarm of red-and-black beetles.

Chat Noir and Ryuuko were pulled together by a golden line.

Marinette's heart sank a little. She had hoped if she didn't have a soulmate, Adrien would return her affections, but apparently, he wasn't her perfect complement.

She bravely walked over and quickly hugged Kagami and Adrien.

"Good luck in your relationship," she sincerely wished them. "Congratulations."

Then she swung away to her balcony, where she detransformed and cried for several minutes; seeing as Hawkmoth had just had an akuma defeated, she should be able to express her emotions freely for a short time.

She winced as she hiccuped.

Apparently, even with her ribs healing miraculously, they should stay still for a couple hours just to be safe. Oh, well, c'est la vie.

Even if she didn't have a soulmate, she had hoped to fall in love. She hadn't counted on her crush having a soulmate, though. Maybe she was destined to be single. That would be fine-she could adopt a dozen hamsters and the kwami could fly free all day while she worked on commissions in her own shop...not a bad life...but this would have to be somewhere other than Paris.

After she defeated Hawkmoth, she was leaving Paris and moving somewhere that needed her help, but not daily and to the extremes like the City of Lights.

Oh, yes. A city of darkness-the opposite of Paris. Perfect.

Marinette began a new notebook, full of plans for post-Hawkmoth.

~~~

Two weeks before Marinette planned for the final battle, she realized she needed a backup player. She reached into the Miracle Box and trusted Tikki's luck to give her the Miraculous she needed.

She blinked in consternation at the box in her hand. "Are you kidding me? This is my good luck?"

Finally, she got up with a sigh. She transformed and swung across the city, finally landing on a plant-filled balcony.

Ladybug knocked on the glass door and was invited in.

"Ladybug, what are you doing here?"

"I need your help. Will you give it?"

"Whatever I can do to help, whenever! What do you need?"

"I, Ladybug, Grand Guardian of the Zodiac Miraculous, give the bee comb of subjection to its true holder, Chloe Bourgeois, for her to use as she and I see fit, for the greater good. Do you accept this responsibility?"