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Chat Noir still isn't answering my calls, and I can't locate him anywhere on my yo-yo.
My hands were shaking a little bit, because he had never missed an akuma. Sure, he had missed patrols and meetings because of his father, but he had never missed a fight.
What was going on?
Nightwing places a hand on my shoulder trying to comfort. "We don't have time to wait for him. We have to act now before it's too late for Paris."
He's right. I just really wish that Nightwing wasn't.
The akuma bangs against the jar, urging us to go.
Duty calls.
"I know." I turned to Princess Honey, "this is it," while she put a hand on my shoulder in comfort.
I swing in the air, tucking the jar under one arm, with my yo-yo in the other.
We weave through Paris, and pass all the places I've known since birth. The Seine, the Louvre, The Eiffel Tower, my bakery, my home.
We passed the school, when an eery chill ran down my back. This feeling only gets worse, as we're lead to Adrien's house.
NO.
I pause.
Princess Honey calls me back, "Ladybug—"
"Not now Princess Honey." I tell her, because if I lose my confidence, I'd never go in. We would never find the truth, and defeat Hawkmoth. And we would be stuck in an endless cycle of violence.
I had to know. For better, or for worse. It had to end tonight.
I hope that this akuma was wrong, that I was wrong.
I landed in front of the Manor doors, and knocked them down with a kick. The Manor is as cold and empty as Adrien describes it to be.
The masked people follow us to the Agreste Manor, but they are stopped by the gates.
The akuma guides us deeper into the house, to Gabriel Agreste's office.
It's completely destroyed, poets and fabrics are scattered across the room. The portrait of Adrien's mother is carelessly tossed aside, and the wall were it once hung is carved out. Peering deeper into the hole, it connects into another room.
An observatory of sorts.
Nightwing gives me a cautious look, but I ignore him and enter the room. Robin follows close behind me, with Nightwing and Princess Honey watching behind us.
Butterflies on the floor scattered at our arrival, and flittered to the ceiling.
We were in the right place.
A door was strung aside with claw marks, and I knew that Chat Noir had been fighting his father, or maybe even a Sentimonster.
We hadn't had one in months, and Mayura had disappeared from battle.
I tiptoed deeper into Hawkmoth's lair, past the observatory, an into a larger room. It was dark, barely illuminated by the large skylight.
It was beautiful. Horrifying, but beautiful.
It reminded me of a tomb.
I looked down the catwalk, and it realized that this was a tomb when I saw Adrien's mother lay in a class casket at the end, surrounded by trees. It was unmistakably her, Adrien looked exactly like her.
This was a crypt.
Something shuffled behind us, and the door slammed, trapping us in here. I turned, swinging my yo-yo. "I don't like this," Princess Honey whispers in the stale air.
Chat Noir suddenly dropped down the the ceiling, and Hawkmoth walked from out of the shadows.
"Ladybug! Oh, and you brought me other heroes! What a thoughtful gift," our worst enemy drawls. He brings his cane, and holds is across his front with both hands.
Parts of his costume are ripped, with claw marks to match Chat Noir's.
"Kitty?" I question, as I see him beside Hawkmoth's side. He doesn't have a mask on anymore, instead he's holding it in his hands. He's not akumatized either, or else I would feel it. It can only mean one thing.
Chat Noir is there by choice.
Adrien looks up, and he sees the four of us. Part of him looks like he wants to jump up and join us, but he only pushes himself to his feet. "Ladybug. Princess Honey." He acknowledges, but ignores the other two.
"What are you doing?" Chloe questions him.
"Go on, tell them," the man says.
Adrien reveals, "Hawkmoth's my father."
No. I knew that, but I didn't want it to be true.
No, no, no.
In desperation, I call out to him, "Chat Noir—"
"Don't make it harder than this already has to be," he says instantly, closing his eyes and bowing his head.
"Then don't do this." I urge him. He's one of my best friends, and to watch him fight an internal battle is so hard. I want to help. I can help him.
Tears fall from his green eyes, "I have to."
I back away, pulling my yo-yo away from the belt. "You know the consequences." I tell him, that he was crossing a line he could never come back from.
"I do. But I'm willing to risk it, Bugaboo," Chat Noir says my precious nickname, for what I fear is the last time.
I say bitterly, "Don't call me that. You lost that right when you sided with him. All these years of fighting, of struggling, you've throw away for nothing."
I brace myself for what's about to happen next. "Why?" I croak out, my voice heavy with emotion. "You promised." I remind him of the time where I told him about his Chat Blanc episode.
"You wouldn't understand. I have to get your Miraculous." He says in desperation. "We're saving my mother."
At this moment, I knew I had lost Adrien for good. I warn him, "You know the price. Whatever you wish for will take something in return. It's not a gift, it's a bargain that will leave you empty handed."
"I don't care," Chat Noir grits out. The trace of the person I knew vanished when he called out, "Cataclysm!"
I back away, as he prowls forward. I do not know this person anymore.
Hawkmoth's laughing echoes across the room. "I suppose another akuma wouldn't hurt," he says, looking down at his son, a carefully constructed puppet. He waves his hand, and a paper light akuma appears, flying gracefully.
"Goodbye, Ladybug. Princess Honey." Chat Noir says, before reaching for the akuma floating in the air.
"No!"
It's too late.
White haunts me like a ghost, and Chat Blanc stands before me. His eyes too icy blue to ever me real, sends shivers down my back—but not in a good way.
"You should give up. No one has to get hurt," Chat Blanc says, his eyes as cold as icicles, but words giving opposite intentions. Even while akumatized, he stills cares about me and Chloe.
I start swinging my yo-yo, promising my former partner, "You'll have to let me know when that is because I'll never give up. Never."
"I'm sorry, My Lady." He says, pulling out his claws.
Banging sounds against the door, and Hawkmoth says, "Looks like the reinforcements are here."
The masked Parisians are here, ready to serve their master. The door begins to dent inwards, and we immediately spring into action. Princess Honey and Nightwing hold the observatory doors together, preventing the masks from entering.
Chat Blanc lunges at me, though he keeps his cataclysmed hand close to his chest. I dodge away, barely missing his slashes.
Robin covers me, as he draws his sword, and swings it at Chat Blanc. He hissed in return, and his blue eyes burn into Robin's green.
"Go help them!" I told Robin, fearing he would get hurt fighting Chat Noir.
"I'd be in their way. The best way I can help would be to fight. It's what I'm best at." Robin says, breaking his silence after so long.
I nodded, because I knew he was stubborn, and wouldn't back down from a fight.
Chat Blanc looks at the two us of, and laughs, "You do realize that cats eat birds and crush bugs? You're making this too easy on me."
I roll my eyes in sync with Robin.
"Tt. You act like you have won a fight you haven't fought yet," Robin says, spinning his katana around. "We shall see who the real victor is."
Chat Blanc runs towards Robin, so I hit him with my yoyo. He hisses in pain, and Robin tries to catch him off guard. Robin slices off his tail with his katana, and in response, Chat Noir Cataclysmed his sword. He dropped it before he did too, but scowled at the white cat.
Chat Blanc leaps with both of his hands extended, ready to end Robin.
Robin smirks, and I watch as he strangely feels as home while fighting someone. He sidesteps, and then kicks Chat Blanc in the ribs.
Chat Blanc is sent tumbling to the ground, digging his claws in the ground to stop him from going over the catwalk.
"Hurry!" Princess Honey yells. "They're breaking through the metal!"
I look over at the sides of the room, and suddenly, a plan formulated in my head.
I make eye contact with Robin, and then at the support beam of the room. With a wicked grin, the vigilante understands perfectly.
"You are pitiful." Robin taunts. "You can't even land a hit on us, rendering you useless to save your mother." Knowing that his words would sting, he raises his arms, egging Adrien on to attack him.
It works, and Chat Blanc has a steely rage burning in his eyes. He lunges for Robin, who has ever so subtly positioned himself in front of said beam.
Robin dodge at the last moment, and Chat Noir's hand hits a support beam of the room. The beam turns to dust, and the wall comes crumbling down. It pins Adrien to the floor, and more importantly, his arms so he can't move his hand and cataclysm anything else.
He is stuck.
I immediately turn my focus to Hawkmoth.
Hawkmoth was exhausted. He was weak, from fighting his own son, from Truth Seeker and Chat Blanc, as well as those Parisians who were trapped under the masks.
I pointed in his direction, and it was a promise. That he was next, that this was the end.
In perfect sync, Robin and I attack Hawkmoth from opposite directions. Hawkmoth has no choice to
but to be on the defensive, backing away towards the catwalk, towards Emilie.
I hit Hawkmoth with my yoyo, as the old man hits it back with his cane, as he barely dodged Robin's sword.
Eventually, we watch him off balance, as he stumbles over a patch of grass, next to his sleeping wife.
I throw my yo-yo at him, and watch as it wraps around him, trapping him.
It felt too easy, taking down Hawkmoth. I felt like it should've been harder to take down the villain who had been controlling my life for the last three years.
I hear his brooch behind to beep, and it's glimmering nature begins to fade. Hawkmoth detransforms, and he becomes Gabriel Agreste.
No wonder every akuma had the worst fashion sense, he was the designer behind their costumes.
"Keep him there," I tell Robin, as I unwrap my yoyo, heading towards the jar. I open the jar and watch as the akuma begins to glitter away.
Feeing the exhaustion setting in, I just throw my yoyo and trap the evil butterfly. "De-evilize!" I yell, and then I watch as the butterfly flies away, as white as snow.
"Miraculous Ladybug!" I yell, throwing the jar into the air, and I watch as the Miraculous magic fixes everything anew. The masked Parisians disappear, and Princess Honey and Nightwing immediately shift away from the door.
Robin ties up Hawkmoth, and Princess Honey checks in on Adrien, who is now unconscious.
I turn to Hawkmoth, "You are pathetic," I seethed at him, pulling my you tighter. "You realize, in bringing back your wife to life, the wish would've asked for another?" I state, "It could've taken Adrien in return."
"You think I didn't know that?" Gabriel Agreste said guiltless. "I knew the power and the cost. I would've done anything for my wife."
"You are a monster." Princess Honey said, full of angry tears. She pulls out her spinning top, and says, "Venom."
I watch as she neutralizes Hawkmoth, freezing him into place, and it finally hits me.
We won.
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