Adrien holds a pose, about to say his transformation words, when fear suddenly stops him. He didn't want to be Catastrophe anymore, but Cat Noir now. He's afraid he wouldn't be able to change. Closing his eyes, he takes in a deep breath and focuses. He focuses on the past, the good memories, and how great it feels to be Ladybug's true partner. "Plagg, claws out!" In a flash of green, black leather covers him head to toe, and he opens his eyes to see he's his old self again. "I... I'm back!"
Ladybug smiles. "I missed you, Kitty."
"I'm back!" Cat Noir repeats, laughing, and flexes his muscles.
She rolls her eyes. "Yes, yes..."
He steps across the room and gently grabs his lady's face, winking before deepening a kiss on her. She stands there, flustered, and her cheeks tint. "You don't know how long I waited to do that as my old self again."
Ladybug cups his cheek. "It's good to have you back, partner."
At midnight, they run across the sleeping city towards the Agreste mansion and sneak in through Adrien's bedroom. Cat Noir looks around, sighing. After tonight, he might never see this room again. So many good memories here... He shakes the nostalgia away, grabbing his lady's hand as he leads her through his house. He would never call this place home again.
Now it was just a building.
The duo tip-toes downstairs through the foyer and crouch by the office doors, locked like they suspected. Ladybug steps forward and takes a bobby pin out of her hair, using it to pick the lock, and it opens slightly. They rush in and close the door behind them and lock it. They stand and stare at the portrait of Adrien's mother.
"She's beautiful," Ladybug whispers, and Cat Noir agrees with a nod. "Are you ready for this, Adrien?"
He wasn't, but he had to be. "I am. It's time we finished this once and for all." Cat Noir steps forward and looks up at his painted mother. He had no idea what he'd see down there, but if his mother were truly down there, he hoped she was really gone. She didn't deserve to wake up to this nightmare. He finds the grooves Felix told him about and presses the secret buttons.
Ladybug steps closer to Cat Noir as the floor opens and the glass elevator takes them down. Cat Noir's eyes widen at the sight in front of him. How could this have been in his house this whole time without him knowing? He sees the bridge Marinette talked about, the water chasm below, and the garden under bright windows. There was a silver casket where he—unfortunately—knew his mother currently rested in. After all this, he'd give her a proper burial and funeral, like she deserved from the start.
They step out of the elevator, but Cat Noir doesn't move. His feet stay still, his legs frozen. He wasn't sure if he could do this anymore. "I... I don't think I can, Milady."
Ladybug grabs his hand. "It's okay. I'm here, Kitty. We'll do this together."
Cat Noir slowly nods and lets his lady escort him across the bridge. They reach the silver container, and he presses a palm to the touch pad. A soft hiss escapes as it opens. His mother lays still, unconscious, and Cat Noir starts crying. It was one thing to hear about your dead mother's body; it was an entirely different thing to actually see it. "Felix was right," He admits with a whisper.
"I was wondering how long it'd take for you two pests to get here." They spin around and find Hawk Moth standing on the bridge, cane in hand. "You two are inseparable, so I'm not surprised you arrived together."
Cat Noir glares at his father. "You're going to pay for all the harm you caused this city, Hawkmoth."
Hawk Moth looks directly at him. "So, you're back, Cat Noir. Welcome home."
"Home?" He questions, almost laughing. "You call this home? I would think more of a prison."
"I did the best I could, Adrien. As your father, I always did the best!"
"Is that what happened to Mom?" Cat Noir shouts, gesturing to his sleeping mother. "The best?"
Hawk Moth shakes his head. "You don't understand. Everything I did was to save her, to bring her back!"
Ladybug's eyes widen. "You want to use our miraculous to wish your wife back!"
Hawk Moth looks at Ladybug now. "Always the smart one... Miss Dupain-Cheng."
Both of their eyes widen.
"H-How?" She questions, confused.
"I knew of your identity long before my son's. Almost seven months ago to be exact."
Ladybug and Cat Noir share a look, and both think, what happened seven months ago?
"I believe that day you and your friends—those other rotten teens with the glasses you hang out with—were going to the movies," Hawk Moth explains. "From what I remember, I didn't give you permission to go, and when I found out you snuck out anyway, I sent your bodyguard to pick you up and take you home.
The day jogs Adrien's memory.
"On the car ride back, you were so full of hate, angry, sadness—so many dark and beautiful emotions—that I couldn't risk not taking advantage of a perfect situation! I sent out my akuma and Nathalie kept watch. You were walking back inside, slouching, whining, pouting, and before I could create my masterpiece, your love bug saved you."
Ladybug's eyes widen. She remembers that day perfectly.
Marinette grabbed Adrien's hand and dragged him across the street toward the cinema. "Come on, slow poke! We won't get good seats if you don't pick up your feet!"
He laughed and apologized. "Sorry, Mari. I'm just lost in thought right now. If my father knew I was here—" As if bad luck were on his side, his phone started ringing—with a call from his very angry father. "Oh no."
Nino grabbed his hand. "Don't answer it, dude! Ignore it! For once, do something you want to do!"
"What's the worst that could happen?" Alya added, trying hard to convince him.
Adrien thought about the worse that could happen, and the fear sent chills down his spine. He'd get in more trouble for ignoring his father's call than sneaking out. "I can't. I have to answer this." He stepped aside and answered the call. "Hello, Father—"
"Adrien, where the hell are you?!" Gabriel shouted through the phone, which caused Adrien to flinch at the sound of his voice. "You were supposed to be home from school an hour ago! How dare you sneak out when you're supposed to be working on your piano lessons?"
"Father, I just wanted to see this movie with my friends," Adrien started, but was interrupted, once again.
"I don't give a damn! You disobeyed me," His father screamed. "Your bodyguard is on his way to come get you. Don't you dare think about sneaking off. You don't want to imagine what punishment you'd come home to," He threatened.
Adrien's head fell with a frown. "I understand, Father. I'll wait right here."
"Good. If you ever do this again, Adrien, you can say goodbye to that school and to your friends." He hung up without another harsh word.
The three friends noticed Adrien's shoulder shaking and approached him cautiously. "Adrien?" The dark-haired girl asked as she carefully stepped around him to look at his face. He was crying now. "Is everything okay?"
"I have to go home now. You guys enjoy the movie," Adrien told them as he worked hard to hide his tears. "I can never do anything fun..."
Alya and Nino smiled sympathetically at their sad friend and wished there were something they could do to help. There wasn't. "Sorry, bud. Maybe next time."
"You coming, Marinette?" Alya asked her best friend.
Marinette kept her eyes on Adrien. She felt bad for him. He didn't deserve this life and his father didn't deserve his son. "Yeah, I'll be right there," She promised her friends as they walked inside.
"You don't have to wait with me," Adrien assured his friend as he finally looked at her. "I'll be fine."
Marinette stood beside him and gently bumped her elbow into his side. "What, you can't have company?"
Adrien smiled, but it faded as soon as the silver car rolled up in front of them. "Guess not," He whispered as he opened the back door. "I'll see you later, Marinette."
The girl waved and watched the car drove off. She didn't want to watch the movie anymore. She pulled out her phone and sent a text to her friends, feigning a stomachache and that Adrien took her home. Her friends bought her excuse and enjoyed their movie.
Angered now, Marinette walked to the Agreste mansion, ready to give Gabriel a piece of her mind. He had no right to treat Adrien the way he did. She picked up the pace and started jogging over, crossed the street, and found herself on the sidewalk across from his house. She saw Adrien through the front gates, and above him an akuma that flew toward him. Eyes widen, she dared not wasted a second before she transformed and grabbed her yo-yo. "Be gone, you nasty bag!" She shouted and caught the bug with her yo-yo. After it was purified, she let it go and forgot to follow it.
"Ladybug?" Adrien questioned, his eyes as wide as hers were at that moment. His heart raced at the thought of almost being akumatized. But as always, his lady saved him.
"You were about to be akumatized," The superhero explained and tried to make it sound like she wasn't stalking him. "I didn't have a choice, Adrien."
Adrien smiled at her. "Thank you, Mil—Ladybug."
Nathalie's eyes were wide from where she stood in the window of the office, phone in hand. She took in a deep breath. "Sir... Adrien's classmate, Marinette Dupain-Cheng... she's Ladybug."
Ladybug steps back, petrified, and shakes her head. "You knew all this time?" Freaking out now, her breathing goes in and out as she tries to calm herself down. She didn't have a protective charm for herself; she couldn't let herself be vulnerable. All this time, Hawk Moth has known the truth. He's been studying and watching her. But why did he never attack her? "If you knew all this time, why didn't you do anything about it?"
"Perfection takes time, and I needed my plan to work," Hawk Moth explains, taking a step closer to them. "Then come to my surprise three months later when my son—my son! —is discovered to be Cat Noir. I couldn't have planned it better for myself."
"I am not your son anymore," Cat Noir mutters, but his father ignores that comment as he glares at him.
"Then you had to go and play that cruel trick on me, making me believe my son had been kidnapped, missing, gone from Paris."
"You didn't even care that I was gone!" Cat Noir shouts back, a tight grip around his baton. "I watched, I saw you! You called off the search parties! You didn't care at all!"
Hawk Moth shakes his head with an evil chuckle. "Honestly, you gone Adrien was the last thing I expected to bring me peace. I couldn't bear to look at you anymore, so sue me for not missing my own son. If I could call you that."
"What..." He whispers, feeling each individual crack in his heart as it breaks, and a tear slips down over his mask. "Father, how can you say that to me?"
"Enough talk!" Hawk Moth slams his cane on the ground and extends his hand. "I'll give you the chance to hand over your miraculous before I have to take them by force."
"Never!" Cat Noir shouts, aiming the end of his staff at his father. "You'll never get our miraculous, Hawk Moth!"
"That's right!" Ladybug swings her yo-yo into a shield and steps forward. "Come to think of it, why don't you hand us your miraculous before we take it by force?"
Hawk Moth laughs. "You really think I'm scared of you? Two dumb teenagers?"
"We've kicked your ass before, haven't we?" Cat Noir mocks, smirking.
"And we'll do it again," Ladybug adds with a grin.
"Well, I guess you leave me no choice then." Hawk Moth raises his cane. "By force it is." He leaps at Cat Noir first, who dodges his attack, and swings his cane at the cat's feet, causing him to trip forward.
"Adrien!" Ladybug shouts, rushing to his side to block an attack. She kicks Hawk Moth in the chest and helps her partner stand.
Hawk Moth charges at the teens again. "Give me your miraculous!"
"No!" Ladybug jumps into a backflip away from her enemy and lands on the railing of the bridge. She watches Cat Noir and Hawk Moth fence—one using his cane and the other using his baton—and she thinks of a way to stop him. Hawk Moth seems stronger now, angrier, too, and that's the worst possible combination to mix together.
Cat Noir ducks as the cane flies over his head. He falls on his back, blocking an attack in time as Hawk Moth towers over him, leaning in his face. "Get... away... from... me!"
"Adrien, don't you want to bring your mother back?" Hawk Moth asks, glancing over at the silver casket. "We could bring her back! I just need your ring and her earrings."
"I don't want her back!" Cat Noir shouts, bringing his legs back and shooting them forward as he kicks his father away. He jumps to his feet. "I accepted Mom was gone a long time ago and I'm okay with that now! Using magic to bring her back wouldn't be right."
Hawk Moth stares at his son in disbelief. How could he not want to save his mother? How? "What is wrong with you, Adrien? That woman raised you, cared for you, loved you!"
"Exactly! She did everything a mother is supposed to do for their child," Cat Noir agrees, taking small steps as their circle each other. "She loved me, and she always will, I know that. I had my time with her. I will always love Mom. I love her enough to not bring her back to this... this nightmare! This horror show! Mom wouldn't want this. You think she would, but you're wrong. That's one of the many differences between you two." He takes in a deep breath and whispers with a shattered heart, "She died loving me and you live hating me."
"If your mother could see you now..." Hawk Moth spits in disgust, eyes dark and cold. "Do you think she'd be proud of the man you are, son?"
Ladybug throws her yo-yo in the air. "Lucky charm!" She raises her hand and catches a red and black polka-dotted yin and yang pin. "Yin and yang?" She questions to herself, looking around for any clues, but the only things lighting up were her earrings and his ring.
Distracted by his father's words, Cat Noir doesn't react to Hawk Moth's attack as his cane swings into his side, sending him flying across the room, and slamming into the wall.
"Adrien!" Ladybug shouts, running and jumping off the bridge as she rushes to his side. He lays limp, unconscious, and she shakes his shoulders. "Adrien? Adrien! Wake up. Please, you have to wake up..." Her bottom lip shakes as she starts crying and begging. "Please!"
Hawk Moth charges over and in a quick thought, she pulls Cat Noir's ring off his hand and slips it on her own. His transformation falls and Adrien lays stiff, still unconscious.
"Your duo is now a solo, Ladybug," Hawk Moth tells her as he steps forward, hand extended. "Give me the miraculous before you end up the same way as Adrien."
"How could you hurt your own son?!" Ladybug shouts, crying, and holds a hand to her chest. "How can you be so cruel?!"
"Adrien was never my son!" Hawk Moth shouts, slamming his cane against the wall, and Ladybug flinches back. "Just some random thought that suddenly existed. His existence is what eventually killed my wife—" He explains, turning to glance at his sleeping bride, "—and I could no longer tolerate him! I resented Adrien with everything in me. His mother loved him—I don't know why—but those two shared a connection I will never understand."
"You mean..." Ladybug's eyes widen. "It is true? Adrien is a sentimonster?"
Hawk Moth nods. "Yes, and his creation is what caused Emelie to get sick and die. He killed her, and I'm going to do everything I can to bring my wife back, even if it means sacrificing Adrien."
Ladybug stands still, sobbing to herself, and she looks behind Hawk Moth at her partner, her best friend, her lover—Adrien. She didn't want to believe everything she heard and part of her was glad Adrien wasn't awake to hear it, either. All this time, all these years, Adrien's never been loved by his own father. He couldn't, for the man had nothing but hate, anger, and resentment in his heart, and every time he looked at his supposed son, he only saw his wife's killer. His own father who'd willingly hurt him and his friends to get what he wants. His own father who'd sacrifice his own son.
Adrien deserves better, Marinette thinks to herself. And I'm going to give him that.
"Tikki... Plagg... unify!"
"NO!" Hawk Moth shouts, charging at the bug, but as the kwami and miraculous merge together, a bright light encases her in a soft glow. It blinds him and he has to raise an arm to shield his eyes.
Her suit splits down the middle—one side black with red dots, the other red with black dots—and the yin-yang symbol covers her chest. Her pigtails combine into a high ponytail with red and black highlights, racing down her back as a cape falls behind her. Once blue eyes fade into a bright purple and a staff forms in her hand. Before a normal girl, now stands LadyCat.
The strong force of her power sends Hawk Moth flying across the room, out through a window. He falls to the city streets, breaking every bone in his body.
LadyCat floats over the bridge as the glow fades in the room fades and she looks down at a sleeping Adrien with a sad frown. He still wasn't waking up, so she didn't have another choice. "I'm sorry, Adrien," She speaks, her loud voice echoing the room as the walls shake. "You won't have to suffer anymore."
She hears the two kwamis fighting, begging, conflicting in her mind for her to stop as she lifts the staff in the air. She cries out to the universe. "I wish time as it was, before Cat Noir's reveal, and when Adrien was loved!"
A ball of explosion sets off in the room and LadyCat is thrown back through time as her memories are erased and rewritten.