The hospital had been on lockdown since the emergence of Shadowmoth's appearance on the Eiffel Tower. Windows were all bolted down and doors securely locked, announcements being made over the tannoy for everyone to remain in their rooms and not leave the hospital. Paris was under attack.
Adrien took his phone out to call Tom and Sabine. Luckily, Marinette's parents hadn't left the bakery yet, and with a quick check on the protection spell with Tikki, both heroes were happy with their safety. Understandably, Marinette's parents were fearful for what the two teens were about to face. Adrien had promised both that nothing would happen to Marinette, however Tom was only satisfied when Marinette had declared the same for Adrien.
Marinette had drawn the curtains in her room, obstructing the view from outside agents looking in. The door was locked and blocked, hidden and secure, and finally they could begin their advance. Marinette called her transformation once more and became her alter ego, whilst Adrien paced the room.
"Can't you just unify Tikki and Longg? You've done it before."
"We need as many bodies as possible, it'll be more efficient if I'm only acting as Ladybug. Wielding the two will drain my energy quickly and I doubt your father wants a quick fight." Marinette unhooked her yo-yo pulling out the Miraculous she needed.
"Don't call him that, I don't have a father anymore. Though, maybe I have a father-in-law?" He looked over at Marinette catching the wall in front of her eyes. She was in battle mode, and obviously still a little peeved at him.
"Don't get ahead of yourself, Kitty."
"M'Lady, I really am sorry." Adrien walked over to Marinette, hands up in surrender.
She let out a sigh, knowing this would be playing on his mind if she didn't do something to placate him now. They weren't in a situation where having this hanging over their heads would be good for either of them. They needed to retain their focus; it wasn't going to be easy fighting, finally going head-to-head with their arch nemesis and his father.
She walked over to him and took his hands in hers. She revelled in the security and warmth of having them in contact with her own, even with her being in her suit made the feeling intense.
"Adrien, I'm not happy with everything that has happened, but I'm not going to give up on this, I'm not giving up on us. Just one step at a time Kitty." She placed a kiss on his cheek and handed over the horse Miraculous to Adrien. As he placed the glasses over his eyes, he greeted Kalkki, as the kwami appeared in front of them.
"Long time no see, Chat Noir, Plagg." The horse nodded his welcome to Adrien and Plagg, before bowing to the Guardian.
"Good to see you too, Kalkki." Adrien transformed into Arion waiting for his next orders.
"You need to get Alya and Nino, they're together in Nino's room, then Luka and Kagami."
"How about I swap with you, and you go and get Kagami?"
Marinette looked at Adrien, she knew this was going to be uncomfortable for him, hell it was going to be uncomfortable for everyone, and she didn't know half of what had happened since the shooting. She continued to stare at him until he finally let out a sigh, giving in to her instructions.
"Kalkki, voyage." Suddenly a portal appeared and revealed an enthusiastic looking Nino and Alya sitting on a bed.
They bounded into the room through the portal, before Adrien closed it and dropped his transformation. He fed Kalkki, helping the kwami recharge ready to head to his next destination. A tone sounded around the room and Alya pulled out her phone.
"Luka has made it to Kagami as you requested, Ladybug. They should be together when you open the portal," Alya confirmed. She looked over at Adrien and raised her eyebrows. "Good luck, lover boy."
Adrien flinched and dropped her a quick smile before turning to Nino. The red cap wearing teen was looking between Marinette and Adrien in complete awe.
"My - my - my - you - he - she- Mari - Adri - they - who? - I - am - what?"
"Nino, are you ok?" Marinette asked. Nino turned his head slowly to the voice, his neck craning at the speed of someone with severe whiplash. "Nino, blink." She commanded.
Slowly closing and then re opening his eyes, Nino blinked and let out a little giggle, very much like a young girl, it was high pitched and slightly manic.
"Is he going to be ok?" Adrien asked Alya, calling on his transformation again.
"He'll be fine, you do what you need to do, I'll fix him." She grabbed Nino's tee and pulled him towards her, placing a kiss on his lips. Nino's eyes still transfixed on the superhero in front of him, puckered his lips in a very amateur way. He couldn't piece it together. He was currently in Marinette's hospital room, and the reason for that was because she was Ladybug. Oh God, this was going to take some getting used to. His best friends were heroes.
"Kalkki, voyage," Adrien opened his second portal and saw a tear-stricken Kagami being consoled by Luka. He stepped forward into the portal and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. His heartbroke. He had caused this, he had caused so much heartache.
"Ladybug needs you both," his voice betrayed him, a small crack being heard in his words. Luka nodded, standing up and walking towards the open portal. He looked back to see Arion sitting beside Kagami, understanding he needed to leave the two alone, he made his way through the portal.
"Kagami, when we go through here I know you're going to have mixed feelings when you see who I am, but please we need to get through this before we can talk. Just know I am so, so sorry, for everything."
Kagami looked at the horse-like hero in complete confusion, before nodding and standing up.
"Ladybug needs me?" She asked, a confirming nod from Arion.
She followed to where Luka had gone, Adrien closing the portal once he, himself, had stepped through. He looked at a still suited Marinette who was handing out the Miraculous to her fellow heroes, snake, fox, turtle and dragon, and gave her a supportive smile.
"Don't we need Chat Noir? Is he meeting us out there?" Luka was first to speak up, wondering where the cat-like hero was.
"Kalkki, dismount!" A flash of light over took the room and Adrien appeared alongside his friends.
"Ok," Luka looked at Adrien before turning back to Marinette. "So, you're Marinette?" He asked.
"In the supersuited flesh." She exclaimed before looking over at Kagami. The brown eyed girl was staring intently at the dropped head of Adrien Agreste.
"And he's ..." Luka trailed off as Plagg made his appearance to the group.
"The epitome of bad luck? Oh yes, this one sure is! The best suited to it I've ever had."
"Plagg," Marinette scolded. As much as she wanted to defend Adrien, everything Plagg said was true. Bad luck was definitely on his side.
Adrien stepped towards Kagami, hands reaching out to touch her shoulders.
"Kagami, I didn't -"
She pushed them away and turned back to Marinette.
"Not now Adrien, remember, business first, we will talk later." He nodded and took a step backwards, calling Plagg into his ring and becoming Chat Noir.
As though his costume possessed a magnet, he made his way over to Marinette, standing side by side with his Ladybug, everyone else placed on their jewellery and called their transformations.
"We know who Shadowmoth is, and he knows who we are."
"You - you know?" Alya asked.
"We do," Adrien responded, his shoulders sagged at the information he was about to place on his fellow heroes and friends. "It's my father."
The gasps echoed around the room as Nino fell into his catatonic state again.
"Are you trying to kill my boyfriend?" Alya asked, giving Nino a strong shake and trying to get him back on the planet with the others.
"Adrien, how are you coping?" Luka walked forward and placed a hand on Adrien's shoulder.
"I've been better. It's been quite a hectic thirty six hours. You know - finding my soulmate, finding out she is Ladybug, almost losing her, hurting one of my best friends, oh, and finding out it was my father that hired the hit on Marinette because he knew she was Ladybug."
A gasp circulated around the room again, followed by a growl. Everyone looked to Adrien expecting it to have sounded from his mouth but instead he was staring at Kagami. It seemed the dragon had something to say.
"He's been manipulating you, Adrien. How did I not see it happening?" Her face was full of venom, Adrien actually felt sorry for his father, a whole lot of pissed heroes were about to take him down.
"What do you mean?" Marinette asked.
"My mother. She used me to get closer to Adrien and M. Agreste. I just went along with it as it meant I won Adrien, I never noticed the signs, or more I didn't act upon them. I'm sorry."
"Anyone else confused?" Alya asked.
"Firstly, Adrien is not a prize to be won," Marinette stated, "and secondly, I'm sorry you've been dragged into this too. But right now we need to think about how we defeat Shadowmoth. He's managed to create some sort of akuma who creates akumas."
"Like on heroes day?" Nino finally gathered some of his cognitive skills back, querying to the extent of Shadowmoth's new power.
"More intense by the looks of things." Adrien responded.
"Luka, we're going to need 'second chance' activated as soon as we leave this room. Make sure you find food for Sass to recharge, I can see us having to use your power frequently." Marinette looked between her friends. This was going to be the biggest fight they'd experienced yet, the bar had been raised and defense would no longer be good enough for the battle, they needed to attack.
Placing on Kalkki's glasses, Marinette called the unify to become 'Pegabug'. A notification sounded from their communication devices taking their attention away from the task at hand.
Opening them up, they could see Shadowmoth standing in a dark room with a rounded window behind him. It seemed he had taken over the news stations, along with connecting to their weapons.
"Good afternoon Paris, I hope you are enjoying my little present. Though it seems your beloved heroes are leaving you all out to suffer, I mean, Ladybug promised to be there for you, but where is she now? Are they playing hide and seek? Ladybug, this is it, the final game. Winner takes all."
The connection broke, each remaining still staring at their communicators.
"He's no longer at the Eiffel tower." Adrien said, breaking the heavy silence.
"We'll need to split up. If it's a game of hide and seek he wants then that's what we'll play." Marinette responded. "We'll need a bigger team though."
Alya caught onto her meaning and stepped forward.
"Do you want me to help give them out?" She asked. Marinette smiled, she knew her friend would catch on. Opening her yo-yo she grabbed half of the remaining Miraculous' and handed them over to Alya.
"Tell them to keep them until we know for certain Shadowmoth has been defeated. The same goes for all of you, too. With the Miraculous spread out he has less chance of getting them all and it'll give you and your families a hint of protection. Be careful." She wrapped her arms tightly around her best friend, pouring out every emotion she had.
"Before we go I just want to say thank you, and I love you all," they quickly made their way into a group hug. Separating with sad smiles on each other's faces.
"Kalkki voyage," they all stepped through the vortex to a street not too far from the Eiffel Tower. Marinette looked over to her fellow heroes, keeping Adrien by her side.
"You all go to take down Mayura, and leave Shadowmoth to us," if anyone was going to take his father down it was them. The man had ruined their lives for too many years.
"Carapace, I need you to cover all the butterflies with your shield until we defeat Shadowmoth. The loose akumas can multiply if not purified and we're already at a negative with the amount out there already. We need to try and get the citizens to fight with us, we need to keep the morale high, I'm trusting you all to do this. Rena you know who goes with which Miraculous right?"
She nodded her yes.
"Good, hand them out and direct them to the Eiffel Tower. Get King Monkey to put on a show or something, make the surrounding people and the victims laugh, let them know we've got it covered. Chat and I will head straight to the Agreste Mansion to see what we can uncover there."
They sounded their confirmation of the task before heading off to their desired locations. Ladybug turned to her soulmate and partner.
"I'll take these other Miraculous' and meet you on top of the mansion. Do not go in without me."
Chat looked at the floor and kicked a rock into a wall, unfortunately with his superhero strength the rock shattered into hundreds of pieces.
"Chat?" He continued to look down.
"Adrien!" She demanded, causing him to look up into her eyes. "Promise me!"
"Fine." He extended his baton to jump away before deciding to head back to his lady. "A kiss for good luck." He wiggled his eyebrows at her, making a sweet giggle leave her lips. She kissed him on the cheek and gave him a wink.
"We'll discuss more later."
"Meow," he exclaimed with a smile. Offering her a two fingered salute, he launched himself into the sky and onto the rooftops. She watched him go with heart shaped eyes. They'd get through today and then they would have the rest of their lives to be together. She would have the rest of her life to show him the love he deserved.
Swinging her yo-yo ready to extend it to the rooftops something caught the corner of her eye. She stopped and looked to the entrance of the alley to see Alix appear, skidding around the corner. She must have found a way to sneak out and find them. She grabbed Marinette and pulled her deeper into the alleyway, called on her transformation, and took the hero's gloved hand, pulling her into the burrow.
"Alix, I need to get back out there." She made her way to leave only to find the door closed. "No," she screamed, "I need to get back out there." The more time she spent in here, the more time Adrien would have to do something stupid.
"Ladybug, listen to me, and listen closely. I have replayed this day over and over again, and this is the third time I've had to come to you, or Adrien."
"What?"
"I haven't got time to explain. But there is only one way to win, one out of four million different outcomes." Alix began to explain the situation sounding more like Dr Strange than Alix Kubdel. The next words though she understood perfectly. "Call Chat and tell him to carry on in alone."
"How can Chat being captured be the right choice? His father is being ruthless, he'll kill him" She shouted back, the anger she felt was unlike anything she'd experienced before. There was no way she'd let Adrien battle his father alone.
"You've got to let him go," Alix whispered. Marinette looked over, she could clearly read what Alix meant by the look on her face.
"No!" Marinette responded by shaking her head, "there has to be another way."
"There is no other way, Marinette. When the time is right, you must let him go. You must let him leave you."
Marinette looked at her friend, the girl she trusted with so much information, the girl she trusted with her life. With Chat's life.
The tears rolled silently down Ladybug's cheek, down Marinette's cheek. A sixteen year old girl who was about to lose the most important person in her life, who had far too much responsibility in her hands.
Why did she have to do this? Why her? Why could she not have her happily ever after?
"And if I don't?" She whispered back, voice small, meek and mild.
"You remember Chat Blanc don't you?"
The reality hit her like a brick wall. The only way Chat Blanc doesn't happen is by allowing her partner to die. Her chest tightened, tears threatening to spill over her mask. The mask which was now more of a burden then ever.
"Will I - Can I -," She wanted to ask if she could bring him back. If there was a way to deal with such heartache. She'd just found him and he'd just found her. Her partner, her soulmate.
"I can't tell you anymore." Alix looked away, sniffing to herself. The motion cut through Marinette's heart like a knife. That was it. She was losing him. Losing the single, greatest person she'd ever met.
Closing her eyes, Marinette let out one last sigh before pulling on her Ladybug confidence and preparing to attack. She had no choice in this, it was her heartache for the good of mankind.
"OK," she whispered, wiping the back of her glove across her nose. "ok." Her lie came out terribly, the heartache was so evident on the young girl's face.
Alix nodded and opened the burrow door, back to where they came from. As Marinette went to step through, she was stopped by a hand on her wrist.
"Make sure Luka doesn't use 'second chance' after it's happened."
In understanding, Marinette wrapped her arms around her friend and took a deep breath. This was it. This was how it ended.
Alix moved away and Marinette took out her yo-yo, dialling Chat's baton as her heart collapsed.
"M'Lady? Are you ok?"
Adrien could clearly see her face and Marinette knew it looked a mess. Tears cascading and eyes vibrant red.
"I love you," she said, she needed him to know. He deserved to know.
"I love you too, Bugaboo. What's happening? Why do you look-"
A sudden thundering sound from behind the camera, broke their attention from each other, Adrien turning his head towards the noise.
"My father, he knows I'm here. I know you said not to go alone but -"
"Do it Kitty! I trust you."
His screen went black and he was gone. She let out an ear piercing scream and collapsed onto the floor clutching her stomach. Even though she knew she needed to move, that she needed to protect she just couldn't do it. Her stomach was fighting hard to empty its contents.
A sound of a crowd pulled her attention out onto the street. It sounded like ... laughing. Turning her head she saw Kim suited as King Monkey, leading the crowd down the street. Alongside him were the other heroes, each speaking to members of the public creating smiles and positivity. Her friends were doing this for her, the blind trust they gave in the teenage superhero dressed as a Ladybug.
Pulling herself together she stood up. Her friends were risking their lives for her and for Paris. Adrien was fighting alone for her and for Paris. It was about time she acted like the superhero she was. Yanking her yo-yo, she descended into the sky. She had a job to do, and, hopefully, the luck of the Ladybug would be on her side.