Lady Noir's POV
"GO GET 'EM, LADY NOIR!" I hear Alya cheer.
I give her a fake smile and wave.
I extend my baton and shoot towards the sky, ignoring the screaming pain in my right arm. The pain is unbearable at this point. The dark magic just continues to grow every time I think of Adrien, but no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to forget about him.
My hand slips and I gasp.
"Shit."
I collapse on a building, rolling over on the hard cement, blinking back tears. Why? Why is this happening to me? How did it come to this? What did I do?
I know that crying will only make the black magic grow more, but at this point, I couldn't care less. It's too painful to hide my emotions. I sit up and bring my knees to a ball, and sob.
After everything, I'm still only 15.
"Oh boo hoo, look at this pathetic mess," I hear an evil voices cackle from behind me.
I look up and immediately glare at the blonde floating in the air.
"Chloé."
Chloé is wearing a tight black crop top and a red checker printed mask, paired with red stockings and black combat boots. She has one big bow in the shape of a heart to hold up her ponytail, and on each first, she has half a heart.
"Ah ah ah," She teases with a smirk. "I'm not Chloé any more. I'm Heartbreaker!"
I roll my eyes. "What do you want, Heartbreaker? Why are you doing this?"
She smirks and lands on the building I'm collapsed on. "You should know, Dupain-Cheng."
I gasp. "How... how did you know?"
Heartbreaker cackles. "Hawkmoth told me."
There's a good and a bad to that. If Hawkmoth told her, that means she was already akumatized when he told her, and she'll forget everything when she's purified. But the bad side is... that means Hawkmoth knows who I am.
But how?
"Why are you so mad at me, then?" I ask, terrified.
"You should know!" She snaps, stomping her foot on the ground and balling her hands up in fists. "Adrien chose you over me!"
I frown. "You're going to let Hawkmoth akumatize you over some stupid boy?"
She ignores me. "Hawkmoth says that today, he's outsmarted you. He believes that I'll be his last ever akuma."
What?
I struggle to stand up. "What do you mean?"
Heartbreaker shifts her weight, then stares deep into my soul. "I'll give you a hint: dark magic."
"Dark magic?" I question. "What do you mean by that?"
Heartbreaker grins. "I mean this."
She stomps on me, keeping me trapped on the ground with the weight over her foot. She pumps her arms by her chest, then balls her hands into fists and slams them together, creating a dark orb of magic.
"MY LADY!" I hear someone scream. "NO!"
I look at her terrified, but it's already too late. Heartbreaker shoots the dark orb into my chest and cackles, then does a backflip off the building and runs away from the scene.
My world instantly is tinted with black, but other than that, nothing has changed. I wonder what happened?
Suddently, Mister Bug shoots his yo-yo and dashes towards me, grabbing my shoulders and shaking them.
"My lady! Don't listen to them!" He shouts.
I slap his hands and jump out of his grasp. "Don't you ever 'my lady' me again, you idiot!"
He grabs my hands. "You're right. I'm sorry. I should have told you everything, but I can't right now. All I know is that we're both in great danger!"
Once more, I snatch my hands away from his grasp. "What do you mean, 'great danger'?!"
"She shot me too with her magic," He points at Heartbreaker, now running away from us. "Her power is to make us feel pain. Any pain. Emotional, physical, mental... anything. Voices in our heads will tell us things. Things that will make us hurt."
Oh no.
"Hawkmoth gave her this power so our dark magic would grow," I whisper, realizing how dangerous her power is.
"What?"
"Hawkmoth gave her this power so our dark magic would grow!" I repeat. "I know because Heartbreaker said it herself!"
"She did?" He asks, puzzled.
I sigh. "Well, not exactly. She gave me a hint. All she said was 'dark magic'. At first, I was confused, but now I get it."
"How are you so sure?" He asks.
"We know that the dark magic is lethal. We must be approaching the worst of it, which means we don't have long. Hawkmoth must want to speed up the process so he can get our miraculous!" I shout, terrified. "He did say that Chloé would be his last akuma, after all!"
"Hawkmoth..." Mister Bug curses under his breath.
I hesitate, but I place my hand on his shoulder. "Hey... are you okay?"
He shakes his head. "No, but I don't have time to talk about that right now. All I know is that we have to find and beat Heartbreaker."
I place my hands on my hips. "Yeah, why did she run away anyways? Usually, the akumas are constantly attacking us so they can get our miraculouses."
He sighs. "Are you sure you wanna know?"
I give him a concerned look. "Yeah, why wouldn't I?"
He looks at the Paris skyline, staring into the setting sun. Dark clouds start to cover the sky, and thunder can be heard in the distance.
"Hawkmoth expects us to die before we beat Heartbreaker."
Silence.
The wind stops blowing, the trees stop dancing, the thunder stops crashing.
The world just goes silent.
"What?"
"He expects the dark thoughts in our heads to speed up the process of the dark magic growing, and then eventually, the dark magic will kill us," he explains, not daring to look at me.
I blink, not wanting to even move.
"It's useless to risk putting the key to end this all in front of us, so instead, Hawkmoth forces Heartbreaker to retreat so we can't cure her."
"No...." I whisper. "No... no, this can't be happening..."
Mister Bug looks at me with tears in his eyes. The dark magic striking through his eye is growing bright red. He looks horrifying.
"It already is, Lady Noir."
"No!" I scream. "Not true! I don't hear any voices! In fact, I don't even know what you're talking about!"
"Oh, but it's already happening to me. The voices are saying stuff about my mother, my friends, and about... about my father. The voices seem to know our greatest insecurities. They know what they need to say to make us break down."
"What... what are they saying?" I ask, grabbing his hand.
Thunder crashes in the distance. "They're telling me that... that my mother didn't love me. She ran away from us."
"Oh, Mister Bug, you know that's not tru-"
"-that my friends hate me. That Nino is just putting up with me because he feels sorry for me."
I get a little worried. "Adrien, that's not true. You know it-"
"-That my father hates me. My father is ready to kill me. My father-"
"ADRIEN!" I shout, blinking back tears and grabbing his shoulders. "That's not true! Listen to me! The voices are messing with you! They aren't true!"
He stares at me. "They're saying that you wanted to give up on me."
My eyes widen.
"Is that true?"
My breaths start to get fast. Oh my god, Marinette, this is you're fault. You could be the death of Adrien.
You're... you're a failure. You don't know what you're doing. Someone else would have been better for the job. You-
"It's the voices, huh?" Mister Bug chuckles. "I could tell by the expression on your face."
Oh my god. He's right.
I sigh. "Yeah. It... it feels so real. It feels like I'm thinking it myself. I kinda thought it would be like other voices whispering into my head... but no. It's actually me thinking that."
"Feels too real, huh?" he whispers, looking away.
I grab his hand, and place it against my chest. "Well, we're going to get through this, chatton! We are not going to die. We are going to make it. And the first step is to get to Heartbreaker and defeat her!"
He smiles weakly. "You're right, my lady. Now, where are we off to?"
I point down towards the direction she ran off to. "Obviously, first we follow her trail"
He nods, and follows me as we jump down from the building and chase after her.
"Is that her?" I hear him call out as we sprint down the destroyed Paris streets.
We see a blonde ponytail bounce up and down.
"I think so. She's destroying her path so we can't follow her!" I shout.
"We aren't going to let that stop us, are we my lady?"
I continue to run, but slow to a stop. Buildings are collapsing around us. What if one falls and hurts Mister Bug, or worse... what if he-
"My lady?" Mister Bug interrupts, glancing back at me.
I shake my head, realizing that I've caused us to stop in the middle of the road. "Ugh, I'm sorry. I just think we should be careful. I suggest we-"
"-The voices," Mister Bug cuts in. "It's the voices."
I look at him with big eyes. He holds out his hand and smiles.
"Common, we're almost there. We don't want your dark magic to grow anymore."
I look down at my arm, and quietly gasp. He's right. The dark magic has slowly started to climb over my chest. It seems to be aiming for...
"The heart," I realize.
Mister Bug gives me a confused look.
"The heart," I repeat. "The dark magic kills us when it reaches our heart."
Mister Bug's eyes grow wide. "You're right. That makes sense."
I point at the dark magic oozing from his earrings. "And look, yours has swallowed up half of your face and is climbing down your neck and chest. It's aiming for your heart too."
"But look," He counters, pointing at the glowing red magic across his chest. "It looks like an inch or two more, and it could reach it."
I look at him concerned. "Then we have to hurry. Ignore the voices in your head, chatton. It's our only hope."
He nods, and we continue to run after Heartbreaker.
We dash through what's left of the Paris streets, jumping over dead cars and dodging falling bricks. The city has turned into a battle field. I start to question how she did this all on her own. Her power is to mess with people's emotions, and not anything else.
Then how did she destroy this city on her own?
"Mister Bug!" I yell as we continue to dash after Heartbreaker. "Keep an eye out for anyone else on the scene!"
"Why?" He shouts.
"There must be someone else helping her. She couldn't have done this all on her own!"
"I think she could have!" Mister Bug yells back. "I mean, she wants to trap us, right?"
He's wrong.
"Seriously?" I scoff. "You think she did all of this?"
"Please, if you see anyone else who did it, then tell me, Lady Noir."
He's doubting me. He doesn't trust me.
I stop running and glare at him. "What if this is a trap?"
"We're right there!" He shouts, pointing at the blonde hiding behind a car. "We can defeat her! Come on!"
He's wrong. He doesn't think I know what I'm talking about. He wants us to get hurt.
"My lady," he whispers, grabbing my hand. "Please, it's the voices in your head telling you not to."
No. He's wrong. I can't listen to him.
I snap my hand away from him. "No, the voices in your head are telling you to lead us into danger!"
"No, I'm not! Unlike you, I'm not vulnerable!" He shouts.
I glare at him. "No, you're wrong! I've always gotten us out of danger, not you!"
"And who sacrificed themselves countless times, over and over again, just so you could win?!" He snaps.
"Your ego is getting in your way, you idiotic bug!" I scream.
His glare pierces my heart. "No, Lady Noir, yours has."
Tears begin to fall down my cheeks. "I can't believe I ever loved someone as heartless as you!"
We hear an evil voice cackle from above.
"I don't know why Master Fu decided to give some miraculouses to two hormonal teenagers. Obviously it was too much to handle."
In an instant, we both look up. For a split second, we can see a man standing on the top of the Paris buildings, with a cane in his hand and a mask on his face.
But that was only for a second. Suddenly, a car is tossed towards us and hits both me and Mister Bug, and we go flying. Our backs hit a brick wall and we fall limply to the street floor.
"You seriously think that you can win this, Lady Noir and Mister Bug?" The evil voice taunts us from the building above.
Hawkmoth.
He's the one who's been destroying the city. He does have super strength, after all.
"Are you seriously... going to do this... to me?" I hear Mister Bug cough as he tries to stand up.
"Oh Adrien, you we're always such a disappointment," Hawkmoth glares. "I've had enough of you two! Now go - rot and let me take your miraculouses!"
Instantly I look up, but when I do, I watch as Heartbreaker hits the support beam of the building we're next to, and it crashes on top of us, leaving us trapped in a tiny air pocket of bricks and concrete.
The world goes dark. Only the glow of the dark magic growing on us is giving us light.
"My... Lady..." I hear Mister Bug squeeze out, coughing up dust and dirt. "Are you okay?"
I can't even describe the pain I'm in anymore. Our argument we had was too dangerous. I should have realized that it was the voices in my head messing with me.
Now, all I know is that the dark magic has reached my heart, and the same goes for my partner. It's too late. It can't be stopped.
"Mister Bug, it's growing on me," I whisper, terrified with tears running down my face.
His bright green eyes look at my arm. Dark energy is seen through my skin, running through my veins, from my arm all the way down to my heart.
"I know, Lady Noir," He whispers to me, reaching out and holding my face. "This will be over soon my lady, I promise."
I look at him and start crying even more. The Ladybug miraculous has infected his face similar to mine. Dark magic flows through the veins in his face from his earrings. They shoot across his face all the way down to his heart, one even through his eye, which is now a glowing a bright green which is seen through the dark.
"Are we... are we really going to di-"
"Don't think about that!" Mister Bug interrupts me. "I-I don't know."
I hold him tightly and pull him close to me. "If this is the end, I... I want to tell you something."
"Are you sure?"
I nod, tears running down my cheeks.
"I... I have something to say too," he mumbles.
"On three, we both say it, okay?" I suggest, smiling through my fear.
He freezes, but then quietly nods.
"One..."
"Two..."
I take a deep breath, feeling my body burn from the dark magic flowing in me. I don't have much longer.
"...Three."
The end is near.
- Melody Wyatt