There were a lot of mysteries in Marinette's life. The identity of the villain in front of her, for instance. If she would, one day, have a hamster and three kids with Adrien. If she would become a world-renowned fashion designer. However, there were two things she knew for sure;
She was Ladybug and she definitely had her earrings on.
So how the hell was the superheroine standing next to Chat Noir if she was tied to this damn chair?
The girl was absolutely identical to herself. Same hair, same height, same build. Finally, it wasn't that hard to figure out the truth; Alya was here with the fox miraculous (but how the hell had she figured out where it was?), creating an illusion. But she couldn't help but wonder, did Chat know it wasn't his real lady?
"Chat Noir, Ladybug," Hawkmoth practically purred. "I see you've gotten my message."
His eyes were only on Ladybug, searching for a flaw, something that would reveal the truth. But Alya's illusion was perfect and after a few seconds, he seemed to accept the truth, although he didn't seem happy about it. Marinette clearly couldn't be Ladybug. He was back to square one on her identity.
How disappointing.
Behind the duo, another superhero stood tall, watching the scene in front of him, but Hawk Moth couldn't care less about Carapace. So what if they had a little more protection on their side? He had Volpina and Mayura, both on top of their game. Ladybug and Chat Noir were exhausted. There was no way he was gonna lose this fight. No way.
"You've gone too far this time, Hawkmoth," Chat Noir said and Marinette could almost feel her blood freezing in her veins.
There was something about his voice, so deep and raw, so unlike him and his joyful nature. And suddenly, she realized what was that glow in his eyes. Why he seemed somehow taller and older. The way he was standing, legs far apart, jaw tight, his whole body trembling with what she first thought was fear, but now knew was fury. Her partner wasn't angry or scared. No.
He was enraged.
She didn't have any doubts anymore. The small voice in the back of her head, whispering doubts in her mind for weeks now had been right. Sure, Chat Noir and her had gotten closer nowadays in her civilian form. But she had wondered why. Why did he care so much about little Marinette? Of course, a part of her figured out the truth a while ago, but she buried it deep inside of her. Didn't want to think about what it meant. About the possibility of Chat Blanc. So, she pretended. Convinced herself she didn't know. And she believed herself. But she couldn't do it anymore, couldn't deny the truth any longer.
Chat Noir knew she was the real Ladybug.
He knew his partner, his best friend, had been abducted by their worst enemy. And obviously, he had come to her defence and seemed ready to burn down the world to save her. She hadn't expected anything less of him. Marinette trusted him with her life.
But instead of filling her with fear, the realization that he knew who she truly was under the mask filled her with something she hadn't expected. Hope and... love.
Beside Chat Noir, the illusion seemed to tremble with the same rage as him. Maybe it reflected some of Alya's feelings.
"Give us your miraculous," she said. "And no one will get hurt."
She almost jumped at that. She would never say something like that! It sounded so... threatening. So unlike her. But after glancing around, she had to admit; it was the right thing to say. There was something different about this confrontation. And Hawkmoth must have sensed it, too. Because the heroes weren't here to play nice anymore. They weren't gonna ask anymore. They were gonna win, no matter what.
They were done.
Marinette could see the exact moment Hawkmoth realized it. The moment where he froze and looked around, seeing what was in front of him for the first time. Not some teenagers playing around in heroes' costumes, but kids who had to grow up way too fast and were ready to get this over with.
"Never," the villain simply answered and suddenly, chaos erupted.
Chat Noir jumped at Hawkmoth without a second thought, sending Mayura, who had appeared seconds ago, flying into the air without even glancing at her. The illusion of Ladybug followed, faking some attacks, but it was almost pointless. Chat Noir was fighting this one alone.
And winning.
Hawkmoth couldn't do anything else but protect himself from the hero's restless attacks, never having the time to fight back. Based on his expression, mouth slightly agape and eyebrows raised in shock, he never expected things to go this way. He called for his akuma and his accomplice, but neither of them could get close without being sent away in a second.
Marinette had never seen Chat Noir like this. So violent. For the first time, she seemed to fully grasp the extent of his power, of his destruction. But it didn't scare her. Not at all. On the contrary, it was... intriguing. Fascinating. And, dared she said it? Kinda hot.
Figuring out that going after Chat Noir was hopeless, Volpina jumped to where Marinette was chained. Maybe at any other given time, Marinette would have reacted in a smarter way. But she instead decided to blame her scream of surprise on her concussion. Or whatever was happening to her. The dizziness, the blurry eyes, the dry and pasty mouth... something was definitely wrong, but she couldn't focus on this. Not yet.
Right before Volpina touched her, an evil glint in her eyes, something green covered Marinette, protecting her. The akuma bounced back against the surface, clearly surprised. She stared at Carapace who seemed to come out of nowhere behind Marinette, smirking and making a small tsk-tsk noise under his breath.
"Get out of my way," she growled.
"I don't think so."
Everything in front of Marinette seemed to be happening so fast like it was straight out of a movie. She saw flashes, and movements, like a bad screen montage. Carapace moved, and punched Volpina, who ended up on the other side of the room. She didn't even notice her friend untying her wrists and ankles, focused on the girl lying on the ground.
"C'mon," Carapace said in her ear. "We need to get you out of here. Rena's waiting."
She tried to stand, but could barely move before collapsing into Nino's arms, her breath heavy and fast, her vision even more blurry than before. Her friend swore and she noticed that even Chat Noir got distracted for a brief second, looking at her with concern in his eyes, before going back to Hawkmoth, who was struggling to stand up.
Marinette didn't know how they did it, but somehow they were hiding under Carapace's shell, Rena beside them.
"Alright, they're seeing it," she said to her boyfriend before turning to Marinette. "You need to transform, now."
Any other given time, Marinette would've tried to deny. To act as if what Alya was saying didn't make any sense. But she was so tired and her head hurt so much, she couldn't care less about her secret identity. She didn't care that her best friends knew. However, wasn't Ladybug fighting with Hawkmoth, Volpina and Mayura right now? Or well, faking a fight, never getting touched? While she might not care about her friends knowing the truth, her worst enemies on the other hand...
"But Ladybug..."
"She's getting Marinette out right now with Carapace... and she's out of view. Transform, now!"
She didn't need to be told twice. "Tikki, spots on!"
She started feeling better as soon as the magic enveloped her. It was like a fog was suddenly lifted from her mind and finally, it felt like she could properly breathe.
"We're both out of time," Carapace added.
"Don't worry," Ladybug said, standing up tall. "Thank you for your help. Now go away, both of you, and hide. We've got this."
She didn't wait for their reply. In mere seconds, she was standing next to her partner. She had never felt this way before. Never felt this power, this rage inside of her. She could now completely understand Chat Noir. There was something different, something powerful about them now. Something that had never been there before.
She was oh so ready to end this shit. And Hawkmoth definitely saw it, this light in her eyes, because he screamed and attacked, jumping at them with a multitude of butterflies behind him. But both Chat and Ladybug jumped out of the way fast enough and absolutely destroyed the butterflies. They didn't turn white and didn't fly away without a care. They turned to ashes, crumbled down on the floor.
As they were making their way through the butterflies, Ladybug calling her lucky charm (a red and black hammer), they vaguely heard Hawkmoth screaming at Mayura. And suddenly, Volpina, who was previously trying to punch Ladybug in the face but always missing, collapsed on the ground, her transformation released.
"Why?" she screamed at Hawkmoth, not even trying to pretend that she wasn't his accomplice.
But Hawkmoth didn't have the time to answer, because he released his own transformation before throwing his miraculous at Mayura.
"Run, and finish what we started!"
One of them probably should've gone after the villain, who ran and escaped while the heroes were stuck there, eyes glued to the man in front of them. But they couldn't move, could barely breathe.
Because Gabriel Agreste stood there, not a hint of remorse on his face.
But although his secret identity was a shock for Ladybug, this wasn't what she was focused on. The only thing she could think of was the way her partner had started trembling, his mouth opening and closing, trying to say something without having the words, his eyes glistening with tears. And everything made so much sense, now. She couldn't believe she hadn't seen this before. The hair, the eyes, the secret pain, the generosity, the courage. She really had been blind.
It also explained the faint smell of cheese but let's not get into that right now.
She moved closer to him, putting her hand on his shoulder. Now clearly wasn't the time to freak out. Her partner needed her.
Adrien needed her.
"Do you want me to..."
"No," he interrupted. "I got it."
He turned to her, and added: "Thanks, M'Lady."
He walked to where his father was standing. He hadn't even tried to move! He was just standing here without a care in the world, his face bloody and his clothes thorned.
"Why?" Chat Noir asked, voice low.
"Because I would do anything for my family."
Chat Noir froze but didn't say anything else, too stunned to speak. For his family? Was this about his mom? Did his dad really think that this helped them?
Adrien had made peace with his mother's death a while ago. It was still painful, obviously, but... It was life. And he had moved on, somehow. And no matter his dad's reason, he couldn't get behind them. And could never forget him for the pain he had put so many people through, including him. He had acted as if he didn't have a son. Neglected him, pretended he wasn't there. Actually fought him almost every day! His father could say what he wanted, Adrien knew he didn't do it for his family. Gabriel did it for himself. Yes, maybe in his twisted mind, he wanted his old family back. But he also always loved the power. And somewhere along the line, he clearly lost himself in it. And that's not something he could ever forget. The image of so many akuma victims, unknown or friendly, ran into his mind. The city in flames. People dying, brought back to life by Ladybug. His own death, again and again. The injuries on his body and on Marinette's. Her small body, tied to this damn chair... He would never forget him for this. And he was sure that his mother, wherever she was, never would either.
Adrien could almost hear and feel his heart breaking inside his chest. But although the pain was intense, the betrayal and the realization, there was always a sentiment of closure. He had tried so hard to be the perfect son. To have his father's approval. But now, he knew it was pointless. And that if he, one day, had his father's approval, it would mean that he had failed somewhere along the line.
He never wanted to be like him.
At this moment, Adrien promised something to himself. He knew the Agreste name would be tarnished for a long while, but wouldn't let it stop him. Hawkmoth already took his father away from him, he wouldn't take his name, too. He would rebrand it, and make it into something else. And someday, he swore, the Agreste family name wouldn't be associated with Gabriel Agreste, the villain who had terrorized Paris for so long. It would be a synonym of success, happiness and above all, love. And no one, no one, would ever think of Gabriel Agreste again.
***
The people of Pairs went wild when they saw the cops taking Gabriel Agreste into custody. It was safe to say that no one had seen this coming. Although they tried asking the heroes a bunch of questions (how did the fight go, do you have his miraculous, are you injured, where's Mayura, how did you find him), Ladybug and Chat Noir simply escaped through into a nearby roof, promising to answer at another time. Before leaving, they saw Nino and Alya in the crowd, both teary-eyed. These two simply nodded, knowing that their friends would come and see them when they were ready. That Adrien would come when he was ready. So instead of waiting around and pretending that they were happy about their victory, Ladybug and Chat Noir ended up hugging each other, transformation dropped.
It was kinda funny, in retrospect, how it happened. They didn't ask questions, didn't even pretend to be shocked (even though, to be honest, Marinette had been screaming inside of her head for at least thirty minutes now). Their transformation simply dropped and they ended up in each other's arms. Surprisingly, Adrien didn't cry. He was sad, devasted even, but no tears came. Maybe later, when the truth would truly settle in. But right now, simply holding Marinette in his arms was enough to mend his broken heart.
"How did you know?" Marinette asked after a moment. "Where I was, and... everything else."
"I figured out your identity during Princess Justice."
Marinette probably should've been surprised. He had known for so long! But she didn't care. Not anymore.
"Oh."
"And when Volpina took you earlier... I panicked. I didn't know where to start looking! But Hawkmoth... My father sent a message. Everyone could see it. It was on every television, every cellphone. He claimed that this was for me, for Chat Noir, and that he had the girl and that I had an hour to meet him unless he would... Anyway. He never said your name, I don't know why. The whole city went crazy. Who was this mysterious girl?" he let out a humourless laugh. "Alya and Nino came to me directly. She saw Lila take you and she figured out it was you, but she didn't understand why I was so freaked out. And I kind of... exploded, I guess?"
"You told them the truth."
"Yes. You should've seen Alya, it was impressive. She didn't freak out, was completely calm. We ran to your house and she went into your room while Nino tried to keep me calm outside. And she came back with her's and Nino's miraculous. She said the kwamis were all already out and eagerly told her where the box was. They were worried about you."
Marinette's heart filled with love at this thought.
"And so were we. I don't think we ever ran this fast. And well, you saw the rest. I thought I was gonna lose my mind when I saw you tied to this chair."
"I'm fine," she whispered, hugging him close, trying to express everything she couldn't say with her words.
"Hmm. Well, you should go to the hospital. For your head."
"I feel fine," she repeated.
"Of course you do," Tikki, who had stayed silent in her corner with Plagg, suddenly said. "Although you did have a small concussion, the suit helped a lot and I managed to completely heal it after you called your cure. And don't worry, I also purged all of the drugs from your system!"
"The what?" the teenagers both exclaimed at the same time.
"That's how Lila knocked you out and how they managed to keep you sedated until they wanted you to wake up."
Adrien practically vibrated with rage. "And where is Lila now?" he asked through clenched teeth. "I didn't see her leave."
"Me neither," Marinette added. "I guess she escaped while we were looking elsewhere."
"Like Mayura."
"Yes. She still has the miraculous. It's not over."
"It's Nathalie."
"I figured."
Adrien moved to fully look Marinette in her eyes. "She will come back. She's completely loyal to my father. She won't let him down."
"I know. We will be ready."
"Yeah... We will."
"You and me against the world?" Marinette asked.
Adrien leaned toward her and whispered against her lips: "As always."