Chapter Text
Looking back, Marinette wished she had known they were in the good old days before they were over. She was so focused on the little things-- the small battles, homework assignments, little white lies-- to recognize the time for what it was: a calm before the storm.
She supposed she could thank Lila for kicking off the beginning of the end. As much as Marinette had her issues with Lila, she had to give her credit for her genius, and for being the first one to figure out Ladybug and Chat Noir’s identities, even before they knew them themselves.
It was stupid, really, the way they found out each other’s identities after such a long time. It wasn’t even during a particularly difficult attack. Marinette still doesn’t know if Lila did it on purpose, as part of some manipulative scheme, or if she just genuinely thought the two already knew each other.
It happened during an akuma battle one day that Lila got caught in the middle of. Chat Noir had swooped in to bring Lila to safety away from the heat of the battle, where Ladybug was waiting to come up with a plan. Chat Noir was holding her bridal-style, and when he placed her down safely on the concrete, she put his arms around him and kissed him on the cheek, in that repulsive and invasive way that only Lila could do. “Thank you so much for saving me, Adrien,” said Lila, face twisted into a smirk.
“What? ” Chat Noir breathed, physically recoiling away from her.
“ What?” Ladybug yelled, eyes wide.
“How did you know?” Chat Noir demanded.
“You mean you’re really…?” Ladybug tried to keep her thoughts from spiraling.
“I mean isn’t it obvious?” Lila said, voice smooth as oil, poisonous as a snake. “It’s really a miracle everyone hasn’t figured out you’re the famous Adrien Agreste and lowly Marinette Dupain-Cheng by now.”
“What-- I, uh, I’m not--”
Chat Noir looked at her in amazement. “You are Marinette,” he said, smiling.
Marinette wished there was someone filming their reactions, because she’s sure her expression was priceless. Eyes wide, utterly speechless, staring at Chat Noir like she’d never seen his face in her life.
Lila laughed innocently as if this was all a big mistake. “ Wow , you two are so silly. Well, toodaloo. I’ve got an audition to be in the next Avengers movie, so I’ve got to go. And don’t you have an akuma to fight?” And she turned on her heels and walked away, as if she hadn’t just dropped a bomb on two teenagers and left them to deal with the repercussions.
She was right, of course. The akuma was causing destruction in the streets, and they had a job to do. They battled the akuma with ease, and somehow throughout the fight Ladybug’s brain was able to process the fact that Adrien Agreste , her first and most obsessive crush, was Chat Noir , the partner that had become a forbidden love.
It might have been harder to process, maybe, if it wasn’t so painfully obvious. Marinette suspected that somewhere in the back of her mind, she had known all along that Adrien was Chat Noir. Maybe she knew and just wouldn’t allow herself to think it, wouldn’t dare tempt herself with his identity. She still had nightmares about Chat Blanc, after all.
And Chat Noir was glowing as if his suspicions had been confirmed, the same way one would when they find out they were right about something, like when they predicted an ending to a movie and got to come out of the theater saying I knew it!
All in all, Marinette thought that finding out their identities would be dramatic, emotional, earth-shattering. In the end though, it just left her with a feeling of rightness that she hadn’t felt in a long time.
They battled the akuma the same way they normally would, and when Chat Noir stepped in front to take a hit for Ladybug, she found that the stab in the heart that she usually got from his sacrifices felt more like a gaping wound. She couldn’t lose him, not now , when she had finally found him.
In the end, she got the akuma and used her miraculous cure, bringing her kitty back to her. They fell into a desperate hug, and didn’t let go even as their transformations fell, even as the sun went down. They talked, explaining everything they could never before, laughing at how many times they had become so close. And yeah, maybe they kissed a couple times.
Maybe the reveal was so underwhelming because the universe was really preparing for what was to come next. They should have been smarter, should have been less caught up in each other and their blooming relationship and more focused on what to do next. After all, Lila Rossi was still out there, with dangerous information ready to drip from her lips.
But Lila wouldn’t do anything bad with the information, right? She obviously hadn’t revealed it yet, and Marinette had no reason to think she would now. Sure, she was a bitch, but she wouldn’t go to Hawkmoth with such important knowledge, right? What could she possibly have to gain from it?
Marinette was blinded from the danger by the absolute bliss that was the next few weeks. She had always worried that the moment Chat found out her identity, he would be akumatized and the world would end. Obviously, that didn’t make sense, but Marinette was so relieved that everything was still in order that she allowed herself to not catastrophize for once. She finally let herself be happy.
Adrien would never be permitted by his father to date Marinette, so Chat Noir dated Ladybug instead. And they spent every day at school together, walking the line between friendship and dating, and confusing the hell out of their friends. (Especially Alya, who now knew Marinette was Ladybug, and that Ladybug was dating Chat Noir.)
Normally, Marinette didn’t like keeping secrets, but something about secretly dating Adrien was fun and exhilarating. They flirted and bantered at school, and went out on dates behind the cover of their masks.
Alya was ecstatic to get the first interview where they confirmed they were dating, and Paris was obsessed with their new favorite superhero couple.
And Marinette was so in love. Adrien filled the holes in her heart that had slowly been created ever since she first started superheroing. She hadn’t realized just how much she had been holding in, and how much of a toll it had taken on her, until she suddenly had someone to tell it all to. Sure, having Alya know her secret was great, but Adrien had been there from the beginning. He understood the life of a superhero first hand, the good, the bad, the ugly.
God, was Marinette happy.
Ladybug and Chat Noir strolled through the dark streets of Paris, thai teas from Marinette’s favorite boba shop in one hand, each other’s pinkies playfully held in the other. Ladybug giggled at Chat’s stupid joke, and they wandered the streets aimlessly, all smiles and warmth.
“Alya thinks I’m gonna cheat on you with Adrien,” Ladybug mentioned.
Chat Noir gasped dramatically. “Cheat on me? With that goody-two-shoes model? You wouldn't , M'lady!”
Ladybug laughed. “I’m serious! She sat me down and everything! Said my flirting with Adrien was going too far, and I was going to hurt Chat Noir’s feelings.”
Chat laughed. “Maybe we should tone it down a little.”
“It’s your fault! You’re the one that keeps using terrible pick up lines!” Ladybug shoved Chat a little, causing him to almost spill his drink.
“Well you’re the one that keeps falling for them!” Chat said, giving a playful shove back.
They walked a little longer before slowing down.
“It’s getting late,” Ladybug said. “My parents will want me home.”
Chat Noir nodded. “Want me to walk you back?”
“No, I’ll just swing. Wouldn’t want anyone following us.”
Chat Noir stopped to face her, then put a hand up to cup her cheek. He stared into her eyes for a moment, then kissed her. “Goodnight, M’lady.”
“Goodnight, Chaton. Love you.”
“Love you more.” And then Chat was gone, already jumping across the rooftops.
Ladybug sighed dreamily, then swung off in her own direction.
When she got home, she hung out with her parents a little, got some homework done, finished a sewing project and had just about finished her night time skin care routine when she heard a little knock on her trapdoor.
She started at the noise, and then chuckled. “Well look what the cat dragged in,” she joked, opening the door to let Chat Noir in.
The moment Chat Noir came inside, though, she realized this wasn’t a flirty night-time visit like most other times.
“You okay?” Marinette asked, voice softening at the tears that pooled in his eyes and his dejected body language.
“I’m sorry,” Chat said, dropping his transformation mid-sentence. “I— I didn’t want to be alone tonight.”
Marinette frowned, then patted the empty spot on her bed beside her. Adrien snuggled close to her, leaning his head against her shoulder. Plagg flew off to go talk with Tikki and the other kwamis.
“We have to be quiet, ‘cause my parents are going to bed, but you know I’ll always be here for you.”
Adrien nodded against her chest.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
Adrien didn’t talk for a long moment, and Marinette thought he was just going to stay silent, before he finally said, “Today is the anniversary of my mom’s disappearance.”
“Oh, Chaton, I’m so sorry,” Marinette said, running her hands through his hair.
“It’s— It’s not that , well, it is, it’s just—“ Adrien sighed. “My father isn’t home.”
“What?”
“He knows what today is, and every year we usually at least eat dinner together,” Adrien said. “But tonight he left me alone. He didn’t even bother to tell me he was gonna be gone. I got home to a note on my desk saying he would be gone on a business trip for a few days.”
“That’s awful, Adrien,” Marinette said.
“I mean, he does that all the time, but… Tonight? He left me alone tonight?” Adrien’s voice cracked.
“You don’t deserve that.”
“I just— I can’t keep doing this. I can’t keep coming home to an empty house. I can’t keep putting on a happy face. It’s wearing me down. I feel like I’m withering away.”
“Oh, Adrien…” Marinette didn’t know what to say. How could a father be so awful to his son? Adrien was nothing but sunshine and positivity, even after everything he had been through.
“Do you think it’s possible for a parent to not love their child?”
Instantly Marinette’s thoughts fell on Audrey Bourgeois, such an awful person, and an even worse mother. And look what it did to Chloe. The lack of love left her bitter and guarded, shielding her heart with cruelty so she couldn’t be hurt again.
Adrien wasn’t like that. His life was similarly terrible, but he stayed loving, stayed trustful through it all. He wore his heart in his sleeve and believed in the best in people, even after so many let downs.
“Yeah…” Marinette said, deep in thought. She didn’t know Gabriel Agreste very well, but she was good at reading people. “But I think your father does love you.”
“I almost wish he didn’t. Maybe it would make it easier. Maybe then I could hate him, instead of blaming myself.”
“Just because someone loves his child does not make him a good father. Loving someone doesn’t make you less selfish,” Marinette said, voice barely over a whisper. “He should’ve been there for you. He should be there for you now.”
Adrien nodded, taking the words in. Marinette realized that her breathing had synced with his as they laid so close.
“When my mom disappeared, and when they first pronounced her dead… It was like my father became a different person. He had always been strict, but now he was distant and cold. People told me to give him time, that he was in mourning, but…” Adrien’s voice cracked, and a tear fell from his eye. “ I was in mourning too. And I needed him. He wasn’t there for me when I needed him.” His shoulders shook a little as more tears fell.
Marinette wrapped both her arms around Adrien, and pulled him close so his face was buried in her neck. She could feel his hot tears dampening her nightshirt. “I’m so sorry,” Marinette said. She rubbed circles in his back. “It’s gonna be okay. It’s gonna be okay.”
They stayed like that for a while, until Adrien’s eyes were dry.
“I’m so glad you’re here, Marinette,” Adrien said. “You’re the best thing that's happened to me in a long time.”
Marinette chuckled a little. “I’m so glad we found each other.”
“Me too.”
“I’ll always be here for you, Adrien. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Eventually they fell asleep like that, nestled against each other. Plagg and Tikki curled up in their holder’s laps, and Marinette couldn’t help but feel like for the first time in a long time, she was truly at peace.
Meanwhile, Gabriel Agreste sat on the bench next to the Seine, checking his watch. The city was quiet this time of night, and only the distant sounds of honking and the rushing water of the river could be heard.
Where is that girl? Gabriel thought, checking his watch again. It was 12:32, and she had arranged to meet at 12:30. He was about to get up and leave when he heard a smooth “Hello, Mr. Agreste,” from behind.
“Ms. Rossi,” Gabriel greeted.
She sat next to him, gazing out at the water. She crossed her legs. Finally, she turned to look at him. “It’s late, so I’m going to keep this brief.”
Gabriel raised an eyebrow, not used to children speaking to him that way.
“I know you’re Hawkmoth.”
Gabriel couldn’t stop the small gasp that escaped him. “How—“
“Doesn’t matter.”
Gabriel scoffed. He didn’t like being talked down to.
“What matters is that I have a piece of information that may be of interest to you,” she said. “And a deal to propose.”
“Is that so?”
“How would you like to know Ladybug’s identity?” Lila asked, a smirk twisting her expression.
“How could you possibly—“ Gabriel felt a pull of anger in his gut. How could this mere teenager possibly know Ladybug’s identity, and he didn’t?
“I know yours. And… some others.”
“I’ve always known you were talented.”
“You flatter me,” Lila said.
“What do you want in exchange? Money? Adrien?”
Lila snorted. “No, no. There is only one thing I want,” she said. “I will tell you the name of Ladybug, and, hell, I’ll even help you get her miraculous and the miracle box, if you promise me one thing.”
“And what is that?”
“I want the butterfly miraculous. When you’re done with it, of course.”
Gabriel was a little taken aback. Why would she want the butterfly miraculous? Nooroo and all the pesky empathy that came from the magic tended to be more trouble than it was worth. Honestly, the miraculous was just a means to an end for Gabriel.
It was an easy choice, really.
“Deal.”
When Marinette woke up, the other side of her bed was cold. She sat up with a start, and checked her phone.
She had one text from Adrien, received at 5:47 am:
Went home before anyone realized I was gone. See you at school Princess!
Attachement: 1 Image
Marinette chuckled at the selfie of Chat Noir on her rooftop, the first beginnings of dawn creating a pink sky behind him. She wished he had woken her up, but knew he liked to let her sleep. He always joked that she slept like the dead.
Marinette responded:
Just woke up. See you soon!
Then she put her phone down and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She groaned, wishing she could get just 5 more minutes of sleep. Nevertheless, she dragged one leg, then the next, out of her covers and slowly made her way down the ladder and onto the main floor of her bedroom, eyes half closed.
It took her a long moment to register the dark figure standing in the corner of the room, and another to react.
By then, he was already on her, jabbing a syringe full of God knows what into her neck. “No—!”
Marinette’s thoughts turned fuzzy, and her limbs felt heavy. She fell to the floor while she wriggled to get away from him.
Stay awake. She willed herself. Keep fighting.
Hawkmoth put an arm over her chest, pinning her to the floor. “Stay down , you pesky bug,” he snarled through gritted teeth.
“No! No! Help!” Marinette cried, but her own voice was starting to sound distant and her limbs were starting to tingle. She suddenly remembered who she was. “Tikki, spots—“
Hawkmoth ripped the earring from her left ear before she could finish the incantation that could have saved her.
“Tikki! Tikki!” Marinette yelled, but her vision was going dark and Tikki was nowhere to be seen.
Hawkmoth took the second earring with little grace, and then he released Marinette to struggle on the floor.
“No! No!” Marinette said, but her voice was getting weaker. She could barely keep her head off the floor, let alone lift her body to sit up.
Her vision went fully dark.
When Marinette woke up the first time, everything was blurry, and she felt nauseous. She blinked heavily, but found that she couldn’t move. She was plopped still in the same position that she passed out in.
“Where is it!” Hawkmoth yelled. Marinette’s room was a mess, every drawer and door open, things scattered across the floor. Marinette couldn’t tell if he was searching for something or throwing a temper tantrum. “Stupid fucking Gaurdian!” Hawkmoth growled.
Marinette groaned as she tried to will her limbs to move.
Hawkmoth turned to look at her. “Stay asleep!” He demanded, and then stomped over to Marinette and kicked her in the head, hard.
The last thought Marinette had before she passed out again was: For a supervillain, Hawkmoth really is quite childish.
She woke up only very briefly, the second time. She felt someone pulling on her ankles, and then lifting her up. She tried to open her eyes, but the moment she cracked one open, the light was so blinding that a splitting headache hit her, and she passed out again.
When Marinette finally awoke the third time, it was for good. The first thing that hit her was the intense throbbing in the side of her head, so strong that she groaned in pain. She tried to lift her arms to rub the sleep out of her eyes, but found that she couldn’t.
She sat up in a panic, adrenaline numbing the pain in her skull as she saw her predicament: she was in some sort of dark room, wrists and ankles tied to the chair she sat in. “Help!” She yelled, straining against the ropes around her limbs. “Help! Please! Chat Noir! Chat!”
As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she found that the room she was in was much bigger than she thought, and a huge ornamental window was placed in the center, revealing a view of the city.
It was night time already? How did Marinette lose an entire day?
“Help me! Please! Chat Noir! Someone, please!” Marinette’s heart was racing, and the pain in her head crescendoed, forcing her to stop yelling and yelp in pain, squeezing her eyes shut as if it would help.
“Oh, would you shut up ?” A voice said, and Marinette whipped her head to the side to see Hawkmoth, transformed into Shadowmoth with the butterfly and peacock miraculouses unified.
“You! Give me my miraculous back, or I swear to God I’ll—“
Hawkmoth cut her off with a chuckle. “You’re not really in the position to be making threats right now, little guardian.”
Marinette shuddered in rage and fear. How could she let this happen? How had she been so stupid as to let her guard down? “Yeah? Well—“ Marinette tried to think of something to say that could give her an upper hand. Then it dawned on her. “You couldn’t find it, could you?” She chuckled.“You were right there, in my room, and you couldn’t find it!” She burst out laughing, sounding slightly unhinged. “It was right there for the taking, and you couldn’t find it! That’s why you took me here, because you need me to get the miracle box.”
Hawkmoth growled in frustration and stalked toward her, smacking her across the face. That shut her up quickly. “I assure you this is no laughing matter,” he said. “You will tell me the location of the miracle box, or you will suffer the consequences.”
Marinette’s concussed mind was racing, trying to come up with a plan to get out of here. Hawkmoth didn’t seem like the kind of person to make empty threats.
Marinette was comforted by the thought that, by now, everyone will know she was missing. Alya and Marinette had come up with a plan, when Marinette first revealed her secret, that if anything were to happen to her, Alya would take the box and hide it somewhere neither Hawkmoth nor Marinette would look.
That way, Marinette couldn’t reveal its location, not even through akumatization or torture.
Marinette hoped she could count on Alya to pull through on the plan now.
Marinette glared at her captor, hoping she looked intimidating. She tapped into the false superhero confidence she relied on to win every battle. Maybe if she kept talking, it could keep away the debilitating fear and awful pain in her head. “I am Ladybug, whether I have my earrings or not. I will get out of here, and you will wish you had never crossed me in the first place.”
Hawkmoth raised an eyebrow, smirking. “Aw, you think you’re threatening,” he patronized. “ You , in all your— what? five one? Five two?— glory? You’re not Ladybug. You’re barely even an adult.”
Marinette scowled. Why’d he have to come after her height? What a dick. “Having the miraculous doesn’t make you Ladybug,” she said. “Trust me. Chat and I switched once and it was a disaster.”
“Have you ever considered that that was because you two are incompetent?”
“Have you ever considered shutting your pie hole?”
Marinette felt a small satisfaction from Hawkmoth's livid expression.
In retaliation, Hawkmoth grabbed the Ladybug earrings from his pocket and held them out in his palm.
Marinette stared at them hungrily. She struggled in her chair, trying and failing to get to her miraculous, to the one thing that could save her.
Hawkmoth laughed at her. “You don’t get it, do you?” He put the first earring in his left ear, then the second in his right. “These are mine now. Your little joyride as a superhero is over. You will never be Ladybug again.”
Marinette’s stomach turned, feeling weirdly violated watching her enemy wear something so personal to her. She wanted to throw up.
Tikki appeared in a flash of red light, and a surge of hope filled Marinette. “Marinette!” Tikki squeaked.
“Tikki! Tikki, help me get—“
“Tikki, I am your master now. I forbid you to go near her. In fact, do not even speak to her.”
Hawkmoth’s tone was so cold, so unfeeling, that even Marinette shut up for a moment.
“Yes, master,” Tikki said in a quiet, resigned voice. She hovered inches away from Hawkmoth, staring at Marinette with broken eyes that said I’m sorry. Marinette started trembling, feeling sick.
“Tikki, no…” For the first time since being kidnapped, she felt like she was about to cry.
Hawkmoth rolled his eyes at the scene. “Pathetic,” he said. “Nooroo, Dusuu, Tikki— unify.”
In a subjectively underwhelming transformation sequence, his suit changed to merge the magic of the butterfly, peacock, and ladybug miraculouses.
It was quite an ugly suit, really, but Marinette couldn’t blame him. She had had some pretty ugly unification suits as well. Red and black spots tended to clash with everything.
Marinette watched Hawkmoth in silence as he embraced the power of the added miraculous, and then stumbled a little, holding a hand to his head.
“Dizzying, isn’t it?” Marinette raised an eyebrow, amused. “All that power. Few people are strong enough to unify more than one miraculous, especially one as powerful as the ladybug.”
Hawkmoth regained his footing and straightened up to glare at Marinette. “What would you know about it?” He growled.
“Well I am the guardian,” Marinette said, like it was obvious. “I know what it's like to hold such power. I even wore every single miraculous in the box, once.”
Marinette’s thoughts drifted back to that day, when she had to fight Kwami Buster. Master Fu told her she was the first ever to wear so many miraculouses, and she understood why. She had held herself together long enough to finish the fight and save their kwamis, but the power took a toll on her. When she got home that day, she was terribly sick, weak and trembling, vomiting over the toilet all night. For days after she struggled just to get the motivation and strength to do basic tasks. It was like the magic had drained her energy on a physical and a spiritual level. It took it all out of her.
It was amusing to see the same thing happen to Hawkmoth, though.
“You are a waste of potential,” Hawkmoth said.
“Gee, thanks.” Marinette said. “At least I’m not a prick.”
Hawkmoth’s hand shot out, grabbing her around the neck, cutting off her air supply. “You don’t get it , do you?” He gritted his teeth. “ I am the one in control here. You cannot save yourself; no one is coming for you. You aren’t leaving here until you tell me the location of the miracle box.”
Marinette heaved, trying and failing to get air in her lungs. Hawkmoth just tightened his grip the more she struggled. The pounding in her head was excruciating, but not as much as the burning in her lungs. Even through it all, though, she held her glare, staring down her enemy, refusing to submit to his threats.
Finally, once the edge of Marinette’s vision started going black and she was sure she was going to burst, he released his hold.
Marinette gasped and sputtered, gulping down air greedily. Hawkmoth turned his back on her and readjusted his shirt, picking off a piece of imaginary lint.
God, she hated him.
“So what will it be, then, little bug?”
She hated that he called her that. Chat Noir called her that, and it used to be comforting. Now it just made her itch to punch him in the face.
“Would you believe me if I told you I wasn’t the guardian?” Marinette tried, tone sarcastic. Her voice was scratchy and raw.
Hawkmoth sighed like he had the hardest job in the world. It was infuriating. “I didn’t want to have to hurt you.” He at least had the decency to put on a woeful expression. “But I guess neither of us will get what we want. Lucky charm!” He threw Ladybug’s-- no, his , now-- yo-yo in the air.
A knife-- shiny, red and black spotted, sharp -- fell from the sky and into his hand. He grinned.
Marinette’s stomach dropped. Her eyes widened and the sight and her breathing picked up. This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening. Please, please , don’t let this happen. Please don’t let him torture her with her own power of creation.
Maybe someone heard her prayers, or maybe she still had some of that Ladybug luck leftover, because when Hawkmoth turned to her, his breath hitched, and he wavered.
The knife fell from his hand and clattered to the floor, and Hawkmoth put a hand to his head, groaning in pain. He collapsed to his knees, too weak to hold himself up.
Marinette’s panic started to recede a little, although she still kept one eye on the knife laying on the floor. She barked out a laugh. “You want to play with magic, but you have no idea what you’re dealing with.”
“Shut it,” Hawkmoth huffed. He pushed himself up with trembling arms, and then fell to the floor again.
“Do you even know what will happen if you merge the Ladybug and Black Cat powers? The stronger the magic, the higher the price. At this rate, you probably won’t even be able to handle it.”
“I said Shut! Up!”
Marinette smirked. “It’s okay to admit when things are hard. Using the power of creation might’ve just been a little too much for you, old man. Do you need me to call Life Alert?”
Hawkmoth banged a fist against the floor in anger, sending an echo booming across the room.
“I can’t wait to see how you get out of this one,” Marinette said. She felt like a queen, sitting there in her chair while he bowed at her feet on the floor. Except queens weren’t usually tied up.
Hawkmoth shuddered, looking pale and sweaty. Marinette worried he was going to throw up. Now that would be disgusting. She pushed down the twinge of sympathy she felt for him. He was a supervillain, he was her kidnapper . He deserved this.
Hawkmoth was panting, now. He couldn’t keep this up much longer. Finally, in defeat, he muttered “détransforme moi.”
Marinette gasped a little in shock, and then schooled her expression to be cool and collected, as if her entire worldview hadn’t just changed. “Had enough yet, Mr. Agreste?”
He looked infinitely better once he was no longer channeling so much magic. He slowly stood up on wobbling feet. He limped over to Marinette, gathered all of his strength, and punched her in the stomach, hard .
Marinette doubled over as much as her binds would allow her, coughing and sputtering. When she raised her head again and blinked a few times, Gabriel Agreste was gone, only the red and black spotted knife remaining to leave her company.
Alone finally, she let everything she had just seen sink in. Tears pooled in her eyes: tears of fear, of pain, of shock. This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening.
“Oh, no…” she whispered to herself, bottom lip trembling. “ Adrien… I’m so sorry...”
This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening.
Except it was.
“Chat Noir! I need to talk to you,” a voice called in the wind.
Chat Noir looked down from the rooftop he was currently perched on to see Alya Cesaire waving at him.
“It’s about Ladybug!”
Well that got his attention. His heart rate spiked from its already quick rate and he jumped down to talk to Alya.
When Marinette didn’t show up to school that morning, Adrien wasn’t really worried at first, knowing her to be notoriously tardy. However, as the hours dragged on and she still didn’t show up, the uneasiness in his stomach became unbearable. He kept staring at the last text she sent him: Just woke up. See you soon!
No matter how many calls and texts he sent her, she didn’t respond.
Adrien agonizingly waited until school got out before transforming and went to check on Marinette at her house. The only thing he found was a room ravaged and strewn apart in a rampage, and a missing Marinette. He had been patrolling the streets desperately ever since.
“Have you seen her?” Chat couldn’t help the anxious wavering of his voice as he spoke to Alya.
Closer up, now, he saw that worried tears pooled in her eyes. She squirmed, looking just as anxious as he felt.
Alya shook her head. “Look, I…” She hesitated. “I’m Rena Rouge. I know Marinette is Ladybug. I have the miracle box, but…” She bit her lip. “I think Hawkmoth has her. ”
“Shit. Fuck. I mean, I figured that, but…” Hearing it said out loud suddenly made the situation feel a lot more real.
“Fuck,” Alya agreed, tapping her phone against her thigh.
“We need to think. We need to…” A sudden realization fell on him. It was so obvious . He should have thought of it sooner. “ Lila, ” he said.
“Lila?” Alya cocked her head.
Adrien thought back to class that day, thought about the way Lila strutted like she had just won a game, and seemed so amused whenever someone mentioned Marinette’s absence.
“Lila’s working with Hawkmoth,” Chat Noir said numbly, heart hardening like ice. “She knows where Marinette is. She has to.”
Alya’s expression twisted into something a little more like determination. “We have a lead, then,” she said.
Chat Noir held out a hand. “Partners?”
Alya clasped his hand tightly. “Let's get our Ladybug back.”