Ladybug and Chat Noir immediately broke apart, running for the source of the scream.
What the two saw was a horrid sight.
A large, spider-like creature was marching around the courtyard of the Bourgeois luxury hotel, trapping people in webs of gossamer.
Ladybug turned to Chat Noir. "It's a good thing we're already transformed," she remarked. Instead of instantly answering like he usually would, Chat just scrunched his brow in worry.
"Ladybug...," he said.
"If this is about me not fighting because I'm pregnant and it might hurt the baby again, I'm not listening," Ladybug snapped, and ran headfirst into the danger. She sure was glad that her dress was comfortable.
Chat Noir was still worried for Ladybug and, obviously, the baby, but he was a lot more worried about the monster that was attacking innocent partygoers. So Chat ran after Ladybug, extremely stressed for two different reasons.
When the two superheroes reached where the spider-woman was attacking, they found lots of squirming people trapped in silk webs. "Help!" they cried.
"Who are you?" Ladybug's voice rang out, strong and firm, causing the spider-woman to turn in her direction.
When the spider-woman saw Ladybug and Chat Noir, she let out a cruel laugh. "Oh, I see the heroes of Paris have come to save their friends! How funny!" the villain guffawed.
"You didn't answer her question," Chat Noir pointed out.
The spider-woman smiled, exposing blindingly white teeth. "My name is Arachne," she said, "and I'm going to kill Chloe Bourgeois!"
"Of course you are," Ladybug grumbled. "It's always Chloe. Always."
The spider-woman ran off into the streets of Paris suddenly, leaving dozens of citizens trapped in webs.
"We need to get them out," Chat Noir said, pointing to the trapped and squirming partygoers.
Ladybug put a hand on his arm. "We need to get to Arachne first. If we don't, she'll only trap more innocent people," she reasoned.
Chat Noir nodded, guilt flooding his bright green eyes. "Don't worry," he assured the trapped people, "we'll be back. We need to get to Arachne first."
Ladybug grabbed Chat's arm with one hand, and, with the other, pulled out her yo-yo and dashed after Arachne.
❁
When Ladybug and Chat Noir finally caught up with Arachne, she was at the Dupain-Cheng bakery, capturing anyone who just wanted some sweets.
"Oh, God, what if she gets my parents?" Ladybug began to panic, horrible ideas filling her head. "What if she kills them? Oh, God! Oh, God! Oh, God!"
Chat Noir hated to see Ladybug like this. She was usually so calm and collected, - at least when she was Ladybug - but whenever it came to her family, Ladybug had a knack for thinking up the worst case scenario happening.
Placing both his hands on Ladybug's shoulders, Chat Noir looked Ladybug straight in the eyes and said, "Your parents will be fine. Arachne hasn't killed anyone yet."
Ladybug took a deep breath and nodded. She knew she was being irrational, but Ladybug just couldn't help worrying about her family. It was her fatal flaw. "In that case," Ladybug said, "let's go catch an Akuma!" And, with that, the two heroes jumped down to where Arachne was catching her latest victims.
"Hey!" Ladybug yelled at the villain, yo-yo out and Chat Noir at her side.
"I see Paris's bravest superheroes are quite perseverant," Arachne cackled, letting Parisians all around her go free. "How cute!"
"I know I'm cute, but don't you think this isn't the time to be complimenting me?" Chat Noir asked.
Surprisingly, Arachne actually laughed at Chat's humor. "Oh, and you're funny, too," she sighed. "It's a shame I'll have to trap you, too."
"Think again, spider," Ladybug said. Before Arachne could react, Ladybug had grabbed Chat Noir and swung onto the roof of the Dupain-Cheng bakery, right behind where Arachne was standing.
"Where are you?" Arachne roared, turning in circles. Thankfully, her large size made Arachne very slow.
"I have an idea," Chat Noir said.
"What is it?" Ladybug asked.
Chat grabbed Ladybug's arm and jumped onto Arachne's back.
"What are you doing?" Ladybug screeched, mid-jump.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" Chat Noir answered as they landed. "Being clawsome."
"Get off me!" Arachne screamed at the two superheroes, trying to turn her head enough to see them. Unfortunately, she also turned her body, causing Ladybug and Chat Noir to stumble around on her round body.
"Maybe this wasn't such a good plan!" Chat shouted, falling.
"You think?"
Ladybug's hand found Chat's arm, and she used her yo-yo to get the both of them off of the horrendous half-spider half-woman that was Arachne.
Landing on the ground, thankfully not injured, Ladybug surveyed Arachne and the damage that she had done.
"She's trapping people in spider webs," Ladybug observed.
"I noticed that," Chat Noir retorted.
Ladybug's eyes darted around, searching for some way to defeat Arachne. Then she spotted something.
"Her necklace is where the silk is coming out," Ladybug pointed out.
"Yeah, so?"
"So," Ladybug said, rolling her eyes, "the Akuma is probably in her necklace. And if we get the necklace...."
"We stop Arachne," Chat Noir finished.
"Exactly!"
"Let's not waste any time, then!" Chat said, pulling Ladybug to his side and willing his staff to make the two go higher into the air.
"We need to be level with her neck," Ladybug said.
"Got that," Chat Noir answered, stopping his staff from growing anymore.
Before Ladybug could snatch the necklace Akuma from Arachne, the villain saw the two superheroes.
"So, you don't give up so easily? I don't mind; I love a good challenge," Arachne lashed out with her silk trap, taking the elongated staff out from under Chat Noir and Ladybug.
Arachne's body was so big - Ladybug supposed it was because of Hawk Moth's weird power - that her neck was a good thirty feet in the air.
Air which Ladybug and Chat Noir were falling through.
"Ladybug!" Chat yelled.
Ladybug reached out for Chat Noir's hand, and, right when the two were about to hit the pavement, Ladybug used her yo-yo to swing to the top of a building.
Before Ladybug could say anything, Chat Noir enveloped her in a bone-crushing hug. "You're awesome," he whispered in her ear.
"I know," Ladybug chuckled in response.
"I'm sorry, am I interrupting?" Arachne's harsh voice asked, breaking Ladybug and Chat Noir apart.
"Yes, actually," Chat Noir replied, crossing his arms. "See, there was this party that Ladybug and I were attending-"
"Oh, I know about the party," Arachne snarled, "I was there. That insufferable Chloe Bourgeois mocked my beautiful dress and purposely ruined it. All that hard work and money - all for nothing because of that Chloe Bourgeois! But Hawk Moth promised to give me all the beautiful dresses in the entire world if I stole your Miraculouses." With that, Arachne lunged out at Ladybug and Chat Noir in an attempt to steal their precious Miraculouses.
Just as Arachne's gargantuan hand swiped down where Ladybug and Chat Noir were standing, the two superheroes somersaulted away, making Arachne roar in frustration. "I thought I was dealing with superheroes, not acrobats!" she screamed.
Ladybug swung out her yo-yo at Arachne's necklace, only for Arachne to snatch it from Ladybug, pulling her along with it.
Unfortunately, while the yo-yo was safe in Arachne's hand, Ladybug toppled over the edge of the building.
"Ladybug!" Chat Noir screamed, despair lacing his voice and tears swelling in his eyes.
Arachne heard a deep voice in her head yell, "Get her Miraculous! Don't let her die!"
Arachne grabbed Ladybug, saving her from falling. However, Arachne wasn't about to save Ladybug from another terrible fate. In fact, Arachne would cause the next horrible thing that Ladybug would face.
Arachne trapped Ladybug in a web of sticky silk, and, no matter how much she struggled, Ladybug couldn't get out of it.
Arachne let out a cruel laugh at Ladybug's useless struggling. "You're not getting out of this one, Ladybug," she said, reaching for the trapped superhero's Miraculous.
"I beg to differ," Chat Noir broke in, brandishing his staff at Arachne.
"What?" Arachne shouted.
"You need my Miraculous, too," Chat said, "and if you take Ladybug's Miraculous, I guess I'll just have to jump off this building."
"Chat Noir! Don't!" Ladybug yelled, panicked.
"I'm sorry my lady, but you do what you have to," Chat Noir shrugged.
Arachne looked extremely conflicted with herself, obviously weighing the pros and cons of letting Ladybug go.
"Well," Arachne snarled, "I suppose I'll have to capture you, too." She lashed out with her silk, but Chat Noir jumped away, unnaturally graceful and catlike. Then again, he was kind of a cat.
While Arachne was distracted with Chat Noir, Ladybug wriggled her arms out of her silky trap.
"Lucky Charm!" she yelled.
A spotted grappling hook fell into Ladybug's outstretched hands. Finally, a Lucky Charm that had an obvious use!
Ladybug cast out the grappling hook, catching Arachne's necklace in it.
But Arachne still had Ladybug's yo-yo.
Ladybug knew she couldn't get her yo-yo, as she was trapped in a web in Arachne's hand, and her hands were full, so she did one of the most risky things in history.
"Chat Noir, catch!" Ladybug shouted, throwing the grappling hook at her companion.
Chat Noir turned around just in time to catch the hurtling piece of metal.
"Get my yo-yo!"
Once Arachne saw what had happened, she growled and dropped Ladybug, not even caring about getting her Miraculous.
Ladybug didn't even have time to scream before she had somehow grabbed onto Chat Noir's staff, which was outstretched towards her.
Ladybug held onto Chat's staff with one hand, and slipped the necklace Akuma around her neck. It was a risky move, but Ladybug wasn't the one with the negative emotions, so the Akuma couldn't take control of her.
Chat Noir extended a hand to Ladybug, helping her onto the roof. She couldn't walk, as her legs were bound together with that godforsaken silk, but Ladybug really didn't care about that when she saw what was in Chat Noir's hand.
"I see you've gotten my yo-yo," Ladybug said. Her words were unimpressed, but her tone was extremely grateful.
"I guess I'm just clawsome like that," Chat Noir shrugged, holding the yo-yo out to Ladybug.
"You already used that pun today," Ladybug smiled as she took the yo-yo from Chat.
"Would you like to do the honors?" Ladybug asked, holding out the necklace to Chat Noir.
"Gladly, my lady," Chat Noir said, taking the necklace from Ladybug and throwing it down on the ground, instantly smashing it. A small Akuma fluttered out of the glass shards.
"You've done enough harm, little Akuma," Ladybug said, capturing the Akuma in her yo-yo.
"Bye-bye, little butterfly," Ladybug waved at the now not-evil butterfly as it gracefully flew into the air.
Chat Noir held the grappling hook out to Ladybug, which she happily took.
"Miraculous Ladybug!" Ladybug shouted as she threw the grappling hook in the air.
"Where am I?" a woman asked. She was standing where Arachne had been before.
"You just...ran away from the party," Ladybug lied, shrugging. Just then, her Miraculous beeped.
"I've got to go," Ladybug said apologetically, looking at Chat Noir.
"I'll go with you. Honestly, after tonight, I just want to sleep," he said.
"And never go to another party again?" Ladybug asked.
"To be honest, I'm not exactly planning on it," Chat answered.
"You do have really bad luck with parties."
❁
When Ladybug and Chat Noir got home, Ladybug destransformed.
"Just in time," she sighed.
Chat Noir destransformed right after her. "Oh, God, that was terrifying," he sat down right on their apartment floor, putting his head in his hands.
Marinette sat down next to Adrien. "I know," she said quietly, pulling her knees to her chest.
"No, seriously," Adrien looked up, and Marinette saw tears welling up in his eyes. "We could have died."
Marinette leaned her head on Adrien's shoulder. "I know," she whispered. "I'm just mostly concerned on whether the baby is okay or not."
"Honestly, right now," Adrien sighed, putting an arm around Marinette, "I'm just happy we're both okay."
❁
A/N: And so the more-than-one shot comes to an end! I hope I almost gave you a heart attack when both of them almost died. :)