Chat Noir caught his Lady by the waist, pulling her quickly away from the hole that appeared in the pavement at her toes. The asphalt eroded in a lop sided circle.
"Don't want you tripping on acid, My Lady," Chat joked as he sped away from the scene, akuma hot on his tail and a bug in his arms.
"Now is not the time, Kitty," Ladybug told him off as she reached for her yo-yo, swinging it in circles to their side. She wrapped an arm tightly around Chat Noir's neck.
"Hold on now," she said and sent her weapon zipping through the night air to latch onto a chimney and it pulled them up to the roof tops.
Chat Noir tightened his hold on Ladybug and was pulled up with her. The pair landed easily, Chat letting Ladybug go and they looked back down at the akuma. It had turned its attention on some unsuspecting civilians that quickly become victims.
The akuma had turned its hulking, liquid mass towards the group. Yellows and reds swirled across its membrane-skin and it reared its head back. It spat at the people, covering them in clear liquid that quickly began to burn them, dissolving their clothing and skin.
Chat Noir peered over his Lady's shoulder and cringed. "That's basically torture," he said quietly. A red hand shot out and slapped against his chest.
"It wasn't a pun, I swear!" Ladybug only gave him a tight glare.
"Not everything I say is a joke, okay? I wouldn't joke about that," he ended while motioning towards the ground. Ladybug nodded dully and opened her yo-yo to call emergency services.
"More acid victims, gardens on George street," she spoke quickly. "We'll lead the akuma away, you go help them." She was about to end the call when a tinny voice spoke.
"We can't take anymore, Ladybug. All ambulances are out and hospitals are filling up. Those people will have to wait. We need you to stop this thing now!"
"You can't leave them! They are suffering and you just... You can't do that!" Ladybug's voice was shrill as she almost screamed into the communicator.
The akuma below spun, its fluid head turned to look up at the two heroes when it heard Ladybug's outburst. It was moving quickly then. The akuma's body stretched and became a flowing river of acid that soared into the sky towards Ladybug and Chat Noir.
"That is some serious acid re-flux," Chat Noir whispered in awe and Ladybug was pushing him away.
They were running again, leaping from roof to roof to lead the acidic akuma away from as many people as possible. Their original plan had been to get it as far away as possible and they were still trying to do as such. It was hard as the akuma kept stopping to splutter its acid spit over any person or creature it saw.
There were always people in the way, no matter the copious news reports that told everyone to stay indoors and let the professionals do their work. They all wanted to see the heroes bounding down their street to defeat yet another evil creature. Someone always got hurt, and most of the time Ladybug's cure worked to fix any damage, but there had been the occasional instance where someone had gotten hurt for another reason while trying to watch or keep up and they blamed the duo. No matter what good they did, there was always someone blaming them.
Ladybug stopped on the roof of a store to see where the akuma was. She screamed and managed to dodge the monster as it dove against the roof top, its body slamming into the tiles and it flowed out towards the her.
Ladybug swung away from the dissolving building, the store becoming nothing more than a hole in the ground within seconds. She perched on another building and searched for Chat Noir frantically. He dropped down at her side.
"Didn't know they were having a liquidation sale, did you?"
Ladybug opened her mouth to respond but it quickly turned to a curse as acid covered the slate beneath their feet.
"Shi-itake!" she screamed out the half swear and the two flew off again, trying to outrun the akuma.
"Acid what you did there, my Lady!" Chat Noir crowed from her side with a huge grin plastered to his face.
"This isn't time to joke, Chat!"
"Honestly, this whole situation is just melting my heart."
"It'll melt your skin if you're not careful!"
"Don't scald me for my puns!"
"What are we going to do?" Ladybug changed the subject as they continued to try and outrun the akuma. "We can't even get close to it, let alone touch it to find the akumatised item!"
"You always come up with something, my Lady. Always!" Chat Noir gave her a thumbs up and looked ahead. "That sports park! No one around, perfect!"
Ladybug nodded and sped up. She found herself swinging from the trees that lined the park instead of buildings and they skidded to a halt in the center of a field.
Ladybug and Chat Noir stood side by side, both were panting and anxious. Chat glanced at the expression on Ladybug's face. He knew she was worried, this had to be one of the harder battles they'd had. Battles were never easy but this was taking its tole on the girl and he could easily see it, she was so confused.
"You know, I was thinking a chemistry joke would help the akuma calm down," he said, wanting to cheer her up as the creature loomed into the park. Ladybug shot him an expression that read of her confusion tri-fold. The akuma flooded towards them. It slithered through the grass, burning everything it touched but in the darkness there wasn't much to notice.
"Thing is, I don't think I'd get a reaction," he smirked and his shoulders shook in quiet laughter. His laughter soon died and a scream erupted from his throat.
Ladybug spun to see acidic rivulets reaching towards them and a smoking liquid dripping from Chat Noir's face. He didn't stop screaming.
Chat Noir dropped to the ground with hands covering his face, lips parted in a sound that would never leave Ladybug's dreams.
Fix this, fix him.
Ladybug squared her shoulders and forced a deep breath into her lungs. Her yo-yo spun and launched upwards into the night.
"Lucky charm!" Ladybug shouted into the heavens and in an array of red and white hearts a canister of oven cleaner fell into her hands. That had to be the worst charm ever! Ladybug was already frantic and distraught and this only caused further confusion.
The akuma formed before her, the blob of acid becoming a large ball with arms and legs, colours swirling within it. It spat at her, Ladybug quickly swinging her yo-yo into a shield and protecting herself and the screaming Chat Noir from any further harm. The ricocheting bullets of acid hit near by trees and caused them to melt into the ground.
"Oven cleaner is alkaline!" came a voice that Ladybug had never heard before. She turned to try and find the new person but only saw a flash of black pass her eyes. Small and cat-like.
"Kwami?" Ladybug focused on it, still fending off further attacks. The small creature floated in front of her. She searched out Chat Noir, finding the blond young man in white and black and jeans, still writhing in pain.
"Yes!" it screamed at her. "Throw it! Don't you pay attention in science class? The akuma is acid, the cleaner is alkaline! Boom! Now throw, you stupid bug!"
Ladybug didn't waste another moment and ripped the top from the canister and threw it at the akuma. White powder flew from it and floated down over the creature.
She didn't wait to see if it worked and turned away to run towards Chat Noir and scoop him up into her arms. Once more they were running. She ducked behind a small group of trees.
With Chat laying on the ground at her feet, she spoke to the Kwami as she opened her yo-yo. "Go find water, a water fountain or something. We need to wash his face." It left without a word.
She glanced back at the akuma as it was shrinking to roughly the size of a person, still bulbous and liquid. Now it wore a long white coat. It must have been hidden in all the liquid, she thought and dialed the emergency services once again.
"Ladybug, we can't take any more, we told you," the line operator said as soon as they connected through their direct line.
"One more, okay? Just this one! I've nearly got it!'
"We can't. Important people only, miss."
"What? What kind of policy is that?! Everyone is important!"
"You know what I mean. I'm sorry I can't help you."
"He's important to me, isn't that enough?"
The black cat Kwami returned, a ball of floating water following it. He let it splash across Chat Noir's face and it drenched into his hair and clothes.
"No, miss. Unless they are important to the city then we can't currently help. Too many people need help."
The Kwami was talking to him and pushing past his hands to try and wipe away the acid. Chat's hands fell away from softly tanned, bubbling skin and flaming red-raw cheeks, lips twisted in pain. Ladybug's heart stopped. The Kwami was throwing blobs of acid off to the side, it wasn't hurting him but his charge's face was grotesquely twisted into agony.
"Miss, are you there? Ladybug, I'm sorry." The voice tore her away from Chat's features. She was breathing hard when she replied.
"Adrien Agreste," she whispered with howls of pain in the background. "Is that important enough for you?"
She didn't wait for an answer, closing her yo-yo. They could track it...if they would help her.
"I'll be right back," she whispered to the Kwami behind her. "Look after him."
With that, she was running back into battle with her weapon at the ready, swinging and dodging, wearing the monster down and tiring it while she searched for a way to destroy the coat while not touching the acid. Soon she was behind the creature in a moment of its confusion, she dashed in. She ripped the coat from its form to tear it in two with all of her built up rage and inner turmoil.
The black butterfly appeared just as it should and Ladybug plucked it from the sky with her yo-yo to purify it. She found the empty canister of oven cleaner and threw it into the air, hardly able to choke out her cure as she was already running back to Adrien and his Kwami, magic already settling around them.
"What's wrong? Why didn't it work?" she screamed to a halt and fell to her knees beside her partner who still had his eyes sealed tightly and burnt skin peeling away from his face. "Kwami, why didn't it work? The Cure cures! It should have helped him!"
Ladybug was frantic and she grabbed at Adrien's hands. His fingers clung to her and he tried to choke out her name. Tears were running down his cheeks and Ladybug was soon crying too.
"He was Chat Noir when he was hit," came the voice of his Kwami by Ladybug's ear. "He was Adrien when you cured everything. The magic didn't recognise him." His voice was somber and full of emotional pain.
Ambulance sirens sounded in the distance.
"Why did you leave him?" Ladybug asked softly, only able to conjure a hoarse whisper. She was brushing the hair back from Adrien's face and making soft noises to calm him.
"Didn't mean to, so much pain... His body couldn't comprehend it so it got rid of something else that wasn't meant to be there. I'm sorry."
The apology seemed strange from the Kwami. Ladybug looked across at it and saw that it was crying too.
"Not your fault," she whispered as paramedics tore across the grass. No, it wasn't his fault. It wasn't anyone's but her own. Chat Noir may be her shield, but Ladybug was his and she had failed.
She kept hold of Adrien's hands as the medical crew fussed over him. He didn't want to let go, she could tell as they lifted him away from the ground and Ladybug was dragged to the ambulance with him. Up until now she'd been ignoring the beeps from her earrings but as she stood by the back doors of the van they caught her attention.
She bent down to whisper in his ear. "You probably wont hear me but I am so sorry. I'm going to find a way to help you, I'll do anything. I'm really sorry, Adrien."
His fingers tightened around hers and it was like he'd gripped onto her heart. She was still crying as they loaded him into the ambulance and took him away.