This is a pretty heavy chapter, with a fight, a fatal lie and a very heartbroken Chat Noir.
You have been warned ;)
And before she knew it, they made their way to the school. Slowly it dawned to her what Miss Fortune wanted. Just a moment before she was akumatized, Marinette had thought about Alya and that-… She was a fake friend-… OH NO!
"STOP HAWKMOTH! STOP, PLEASE! NOT ALYA!", she screamed.
She watched helplessly as Miss Fortune crouched on the roof of the school and looked down to her classroom. Alya was sitting on her place, just like everyone. Chloé was still there too.
Miss Fortune smiled and let herself fall down, already thrilled to hurt, maybe kill people.
Marinette screamed and yelled at Hawkmoth and Miss Fortune, trying to change their minds, hoping to protect her friends that way.
Neither of them reacted in any other way than laughing at her.
Miss Fortunes feet crashed through the glass of the classroom and Marinette saw her best friend's fearful eyes.
"STOP HAWKMOTH! I SURRENDER, BUT PLEASE, LET ALYA GO! Let my friends be…", she sobbed.
Hawkmoth only laughed louder, making her head ache.
"Oh no, you'll watch. You'll watch and suffer for everything you've ever thrown in my way to be victorious, Ladybug."
Miss Fortune reached out and let her strings of fabric wind themselves around Alyas neck, choking her forcefully while lifting her up. Alya already turned violet as she was in front of Miss Fortunes face.
"Real friend, huh? Let's see who's pitying whom now, shall we?", her akumatized form whispered, just loud enough for Alya to hear.
The brunette's eyes became big and her breaths became forced.
"M-Marinette-…?!"
Miss Fortune smiled evilly and threw Alya down on her desk, finally releasing her. Marinette could already see the marks the fabric left on her best friend's neck. Alya glanced up, holding her neck, eyes full of sheer horror. Her gaze shifted over to Nino who laid by the teacher's desk, terrified. He looked back at her, fearing Marinette's akumatized form would actually kill the girl.
Alya turned her head again to lock the Akuma's eyes with hers, now more confident.
Marinette began to understand what Alya would say next.
Slowly she shook her head but of course no one saw.
"Alya, no-… You don't know what she's capable of. Don't, don't mention Ladybug, please don't'!"
But of course her best friend had no idea that it actually was Ladybug being the akumatized one this time. Marinette got louder, hoping someone would actually hear her, but of course it was only Hawkmoth laughing back.
"ALYA, RUN! PLEASE!"
Her best friend grinned confidently while Miss Fortune let her fabric press her harder onto the desk.
"Ladybug will come and she will save you, Marinette. She'll save us all. Just hang in there a little longer."
Marinette wanted to cry, wanted to yell at her classmates to leave as fast as they could because this time, Ladybug would not be able to save them.
"NOO! DON'T DO THIS TO THEM HAWKMOTH! DON'T, I BEG OF YOU-…"
Her words went by unheard and she was cut off by her own voice.
"Ladybug is dead. I killed her.", Miss Fortune snarled, grinning at the sight of Alya's face slowly falling desperate, "She cried and pleaded to let her live but I showed no mercy. I removed the Miraculous from her and left her to bleed out. She has stopped breathing by now, trust me."
"NOOOOOOOO!", a voice cried out, smacking Miss Fortune in the head with a baton, "LADYBUG IS NOT DEAD! SHE'LL COME!"
Chat Noir landed right behind Alya on the desk. With ease he pushed away the fabric pinning Alya down to the desk now that Miss Fortune was distracted. He lent the brunette a helping hand and brought her to safety while the Akuma was still distracted by the pain the baton had caused.
Meanwhile Marinette was struggling to break free.
"NO! HAWKMOTH, STOP THIS RIGHT NOW! I'LL KILL YOU, YOU PSYCHOPATH! YOU'RE JUST SICK! LADYBUG ISN'T DEAD!"
"Oh, but Ladybug, you said so yourself. The hero is dead. You killed her by letting a comment of a spoiled brat get to you and now I have her – your – Miraculous. My question: How will you explain this to them while not telling them your secret identity? Oh wait-… You're Ladybug's murderer. Nobody will believe you anyway."
Marinette broke down weeping while her body hunted down Chat to take his Miraculous too.
"No-… No, please-… Don't do this to me-… To them-… Anything, but-… Hawkmoth please, I already surrendered. Please leave them be and please let Miss Fortune set that right again."
"Never! Ladybug's dead and it will stay that way!", he hissed.
Marinette closed her eyes, hopeless. Anywhere she looked through Miss Fortunes eyes, she found desperate eyes, fear and pain, crying friends.
Chat fought well on his own but maybe it was just because he was raging. Tears streamed down his cheeks in a straight line as soon as he realized Miss Fortune was right with Ladybug not showing up. Slowly he started to believe that Ladybug was really dead, Marinette could see it in his slumped shoulders, his defeated face.
"So, kitty? Are you out of breath?", Miss Fortune hissed. It seemed to give Chat the last push he needed.
"YOU WILL PAY!"
Yelling, he jumped and brought down his baton with all might. Miss Fortunes shoulder cracked. Then he punched her in the stomach and lastly, he landed a kick on her cheek bone, breaking it with a loud and sickening noise.
The Akuma fell to her knees, finally giving Marinette the chance to gain back the control over her body.
"Chat-…", she breathed, her throat feeling sore, "The bracelet-…"
Marinette held out her hand and showed him the colorful bracelet Alya had given her just this morning. He walked over to her, his face a grimace. Dust of destroyed walls, that had been lifted from the ground by a light breeze, clung to his black suit, giving it a new pattern, almost drawing forms on the black fabric.
"Oh, so you've come to your senses? Well, it's too late now."
He punched her in the broken shoulder, causing a massive wave of pain, almost knocking her unconscious. She fell to her unharmed side, still holding out her arm where the bracelet was located.
"Please-… Just destroy it-… Set the Akuma free, Chat, please-… It's Marinette-…"
Chat's facial expression only hardened. He raised a boot, kicking her in the ribs, cracking a few of them.
"You killed my lady."
He kicked her again and Marinette began to feel scared. This time there would be no cleansing light, so this time the injuries on the Akuma would last on her body, at least they wouldn't vanish with all of Hawkmoth's evil. Luckily, Chat had decided to not use his cataclysm. The girl did not want to know what had happened if he did, for the balance between Destruction and Creation would have been disturbed.
The feline hero raised his foot again, but Marinette cried out.
"CHAT PLEASE, THE BRACELET! DESTROY IT!"
He finally let go of her, after another kick to the forehead. The blonde kneeled down next to her and took off the bracelet. With a yank it was ripped in two. A black butterfly flew out and tried to flee but Chat took his bell and caught it, trapping it inside.
With a flash, Marinette felt Miss Fortune leaving her body. She didn't even hear Hawkmoth as he slipped out of her mind, leaving behind a beaten up Marinette. Luckily for her, the magic had protected her Marinette-self from sustaining major injuries. While Miss Fortune had had broken limbs and ribs, she only got a dislocated shoulder and a few really painful bruises on her ribs and cheek bone.
Groaning, she sat up, blinking a few times. Blood dripped into her eye and she quickly closed it, running her hand over her forehead to prevent more blood from dripping down. As she looked at her hand she flinched by the amount of blood that clung to it.
Chat sat next to her, with hunched shoulders, sobbing quietly.
"Chat-…?", she questioned, "Chat Noir?"
The boy in black leather looked over to her but avoided to meet her gaze. She slowly reached out but stopped herself before touching him.
"Chat, you have to believe me-… Please, Ladybug is not dead."
His head snapped up and faster than she could process it, he had slapped her. She instantly knew it was not with all his strength, because she had seen Chat in action and this was more of a pat even if her head was flung to the side. She gasped but turned to face Chat again.
"Please, I need to talk to you. Ladybug's not dead and I can prove it to you."
"SHUT UP! The last thing I need now is a girl, humiliated by her fucking classmate like every fucking day, the murderer of my lady trying to tell me the girl she killed is NOT DEAD! I don't need you to apologize, I don't need you trying to make me feel better and I certainly don't need you to talk to me in any way! Just-… GET LOST!"
Tears welled up in Marinette's eyes as he left.
A breeze stroke over her wet cheek when he got up and she watched him jump up to the roof, running away, probably off to somewhere quiet.
Alone, she sat in the middle of the schoolyard, being watched by the students who were hiding in classrooms and on the gallery of the school.
She looked around, finding Alya's gaze. Her friend kneeled next to Nino, still holding her neck, eyeing her. Marinette quickly looked away and tried to get up. She managed to get to her feet and gave it her best to walk out of the school without making any eye-contact with anyone.
As she reached the bakery she was completely exhausted.
But the bluenette was wide awake again when she realized there was an ambulance parking right in front of her parent's house. She remembered her mother being knocked out by Miss Fortune and stumbled forward, up the stairs to see her mother laying on the couch, surrounded by her father and two emergency doctors.
Everyone looked up when she barged in.
"M-… Maman-… Papa-…", she pressed out, still hesitant if they would reject her too.
There was a silence between them until one of the doctors finally gave in and walked over to her.
"You're hurt too. Let me see that."
He touched her shoulder while she didn't break the eye-contact with her parents. She yelped out as he moved it, biting on her quivering lip.
"Yes, it's dislocated. I want you to stay focused and bite down on that towel here."
She nodded, biting down on the fabric but almost spitting it out because the memory of a certain other fabric made her want to throw up. A wave of pain flooded her consciousness and she felt her shoulder plopping back into its place. Shortly after, her world went black and she collapsed.
And from here on, things will escalate...