When It Ends

Stripped

A thousand thoughts echoed in Ladybug's mind as she loaded the paintball gun. She prayed her tactic would not go wrong, Uzi-san was a much better shot than her, something would go wrong wrong WRONG-

She took a breather. If something went wrong, she had Viperion. This was scary though. Her Ladybug facade was cracking. Hopefully she would be 'repaired' soon. The people of Paris were used to a calm, collected heroine- not a worried, awkward one. She finished reloading the gun, and prayed that her aim would be enough. She got up from behind the jeep and fired three times.

For once, her aim was spot on.

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞

Uzi-san was in the midst of blocking and firing when two unexpected paint missiles hit his sunglasses.

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞

'Yes!' Ladybug involuntarily yelled. She quickly collected herself, launching over the hood of the car. She had hit his sunglasses and the barrel of his gun. A paintball was lodged inside, rendering the gun useless. For now, the blinded villain would have to take off his glasses, realising his gun was indeed useless, and reach for a spear he longer had. All he could do was watch as the two heroes smashed the melee weapon. A black butterfly flew out.

Ladybug quickly de-evilized the akuma, restoring it to its natural, pure white form. It fluttered away slowly.

'Miraculous Ladybug!' she cheered, throwing the paintball box up into the air. It shimmered once, then disappeared in a shower of magic ladybugs that restored Paris to its former glory. Behind her, the defeated Uzi-san transformed back into a teen, a 15 year old boy. He stood up and looked around him, utterly confused but hiding it.

To be honest, all he could remember was him lying in his bed. Holding his shattered family heirloom, a small ornamental knife. A severe feeling of betrayal. His mixed relief and terror to know that he was moving schools, that he would be free- but the bullies, his tormentors, would come back, wouldn't they?..

And a small butterfly coming to rest on the blade. Someone speaking in his ear, and then everything went black.

He walked away slowly, holding his miraculously fixed knife and hoping against hope that nothing else would go wrong today.

Ladybug looked around for the akumatized victim. He was gone, and she had no idea where he was.

𓆝 𓆟 THREE HOURS LATER 𓆟 𓆞

It was 8:00 PM, and a stripping of the Miraculous would start.

A simple message would be sent to Chat via her Bugphone.

Chat Noir, meet up at the Eiffel Tower at 8 tonight. I have something to do, but you need to come. It is very important.

-Ladybug

Brief and simple. He replied half an hour later.

Alright, Ladybug- but we need to hurry. I have something important to do.

-Chat

The trap was set. Ladybug did have to do more in order to enable the plan of course. She vaulted home and swept back inside, for once not detransforming. Her parents yelled at her to keep the noise down, but she was too swept up by adrenaline to hush. Quickly, she opened the Miracle Box at ten to eight, and retrieved the Rooster Miraculous. This was possibly the craziest thing she'd ever done, other than becoming a hero (and fighting magic butterfly terrorists).

'Orikko, Tikki, unify!'

She transformed into- well, she still looked like her normal heroic self, albeit with a thumb ring. She was however, a unified form of Ladybug and the Rooster Miraculous. However, she had more concerning things on her mind...

'What do I call myself?!'

Sighing, she decided to continue calling herself Ladybug. Quickly, she looked at the time. Six minutes until eight- she had to hurry. 'Sublimation! I grant myself the power to read Chat Noir's thoughts.' Yes, that was creepy, but she had no other way of knowing his true feelings. If she confiscated his Miraculous when he simply wanted to return the box, that would be more than a little awkward. This is the best way, she thought.

Hopefully.

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞

It was five minutes after eight. Chat Noir was late, but in his defence, he had a date with Lila tonight in twenty-five minutes, and Milady was cutting it close. He arrived at the Tower, looking for her.

But she was nowhere to be found.

He hissed, annoyed. Looking around for something to entertain himself. When your partner is late, it's quite easy to go through all the good cat videos on the internet. He looked around again- and spotted a round red object on the floor, spotted with black dots. It was the Miracle Box- but how? He looked around again. Slowly picking it up. He stared at it. His thoughts started racing. In his shock, he failed to realise this was quite impossible- why would Ladybug just leave this here? But he was too busy daydreaming (or nightdreaming?) about what he could do with the box.

I should probably take the box, he thought. Just to protect it. Ladybug isn't here.. And I could take some of the jewellery out for a spin. Always wondered what I'd look like with the Dragon Miraculous. Dragon Noir.. that has a nice ring to it. And the Bee Miraculous! Oh, the possibilities are endless. I can always give Milady a reason as to why I have it, right?

Then, he had a.. rather interesting thought.

I should give a Miraculous to Lila! As a gift for the date. Why not?

Chat Noir started to push at the box's buttons. A few Miraculous popped out. He picked up the Turtle Miraculous and, looking at it, slowly slid the bracelet on. That's when Ladybug appeared, tying him up and smacking the bracelet off.

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞

Chat Noir was clearly unfit for a hero's duty now. So that's why Ladybug launched herself from below the platform and tied Chat Noir up with her yo-yo, surprising him enough so that she could tie him up tight. He yelled. Perhaps reflexively, he screamed, 'CATACLYSM!' and turned his hand towards the string. Ladybug was prepared for that eventuality though. Months of kneeling in the near-dark morning, wondering what to bring for the school day's events, had helped quite a bit.

Holding a piece of paper, she pressed it to his hand, causing the Cataclysm to be wasted. He hissed and looked at her, waiting. He knew he was caught with his hand in the cookie jar, but he wanted to see what she would do.

'Chat Noir, I renounce you of the Miraculous of the Black Cat.'

And with that, she took of his ring, revealing his true identity.

Well, she was right. It was indeed Adrien Agreste.

He squirmed, glaring at her. 'What the hell, Ladybug? What the hell do you think you're doing?'

'What do you think I'm doing, kitty?' she said, using the nickname sarcastically. 'What the hell do you think I'm doing? I, as the guardian of the Miraculous, renounce your Miraculous. You were unfit for it. To put it simply, you don't help me with battles anymore- you find some excuse to relieve yourself of a hero's duty, sneaking off to do who knows what. You, when I need your help, leave me, doing what? What could possibly be more important then literally leaving me in the dust? You are unfit, horribly unfit for this job. That is why, Agreste, you will no longer be Chat Noir. I'm sorry, but it is something I must do.'

With that, she collected the Miraculouses and the Box, and flew off without looking back, leaving a dejected Adrien alone. Contemplating the loss of Plagg, and how on earth he was supposed to get to the date in time.

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞

1271 words!