Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug. It belongs to ZAG animation and Thomas Astruc.
Just One Yesterday Pt. 2
She's gone. Plagg's gone. Everything's gone. And it was all because of him. Yeah, Ladybug may have said cruel words, but so did he. They had both torn each other to bits with their own claws, and for Adrien it had hardly even started. Adrien curled around himself and let the shock of what had just happened hit him.
He had hurt Ladybug in the worst possible way by using his cataclysm on her. He had literally melted the flesh off of her bones. The shock that the true identity of Ladybug was Marinette also hit Adrien like a ton of bricks slamming into his already bruised ribs and he cried out into the night. All of the raw emotions streamed out of his body and left him exhausted by the end of it.
"I don't know how I can live now," he whispered, rocking his body back and forth, feverishly. "I'm useless at everything. I just endangered the whole of Paris just because I decided to be selfish," he wept. "What's the use of living if I have nothing to live for, anymore?"
"There are a lot of things I can list off right now that are reasons to live for, and I think your Lady is one of them," a small voice chirped quietly. It was such a tiny voice that Adrien thought for sure that he was dreaming, or already dead. He only believed in the small life form when it slowly whizzed close to his face and whispered the same phrase again.
This time Adrien opened his watery eyes to a red floating blob. Adrien wiped his eyes with his dirty sleeve and the blob became clearer. The little floating blob turned into a red kawami that had eyes that were so tired and worried. She had three black dots positioned on her head. She also had two antennas poking out of her head. Even though Adrien realized it was a Kawami, his brain could make no other connections between the Kawami and anything else, but the Kawami thankfully filled in the blanks.
"I know you're scared, Adrien, but for this moment you have to trust me. I am the Kawami to the Ladybug Miraculous, and we have to return her to her normal state. The fate of Paris rests on her being returned to normal, and you're the only one that understands her enough to save her." Tikki whispered.
Adrien stared at the Kawami incredulously. "What? Did you see what I just did to her? I crushed her heart so much she became akumatized. How in the world am I the only one that can help her? I think I even hurt you!" Adrien stayed curled around himself as he pointed to the bleeding spot on the Kawami's head. Tikki waved it off and explained that she could heal herself like she had done for Marinette earlier.
"It's really no big deal, Adrien. You should be more worried about yourself. Anyway, as I stated earlier, we need to focus on returning Marinette back to herself. And since you have known her for five plus years and have knowledge about Kawamiis and akumas, you are the best candidate to help her," Tikki explained. As always, no matter what the situation, Tikki was trying to be caring and comforting to support the people around her. Adrien was much more used to Plagg's mild caring, that he was not used to the caring of other people, or Kawamiis. He knew Plagg cared for him, but he thought that it was amazing that Tikki wanted to help the person who had personally hurt her and her charge.
"Yeah, I guess I'm the best candidate and practically the only one for the job since I destroyed anyone that would be willing to help Ladybug, or Marinette. But the real question is how? I can't transform…..Plagg's gone. My ring is gone. And even if I had it Chat Noir can't exactly do anything but destroy without Ladybug. She captures all of the akumas, and that's the only way we're going to resolve our issue," Adrien sighed tiredly, then continued.
"There's not really a Miraculous that I can borrow, and I can't exactly turn into Ladybug since her earrings were akumatized. Therefore, we are left with a boring, old civilian, and how can a normal civilian do anything?" Fear rolled itself into Adrien's mind, and tears started to leak out of his eyes again. Adrien was just so tired. Why can't I just sleep this problem away?
"No Adrien," Tikki said firmly, pushing herself past Adrien's knees that were blocking his face. Tikki fluttered in front of his face and she grabbed his cheeks in her tiny paws and shook him sternly. "Come on, you're Chat Noir in and out of costume. Hasn't Plagg told you that?" Tikki huffed. Adrien shook his head a little bit.
"Not really."
"Oh, THAT CAT!" Tikki ruffled her sleek fur, and an angry light shone from her eyes. "I'm going to give him a piece of my mind when he gets back. I've told him, he needs to reassure humans' confidences more. Humans have way too many problems staying happy. I mean, look at how many akumas have showed up in Paris alone? And what does Plagg care about? CHEESE! Oh my god, I'm going to kill him! I'm going to give him a-" Tikki suddenly stopped her rant mid-sentence when someone started petting her head. Adrien had stopped crying and was calmly stroking the top of her head. Tikki leaned into the touch for a space of time, then went up to Adrien's cheek to nuzzle it. Adrien laughed weakly, and it was enough to give Tikki hope.
"Adrien?" Tikki questioned. Adrien hummed in answer, saying he was listening. "I need you to find Alya and Nino."
Adrien opened his eyes and looked at Tikki sadly. "Nino would be easy, but….I de-destroyed Alya while I was Chat Blanc. I don't even know if she survived my attack." Adrien sobbed. "And even if she did, she wouldn't trust me anymore. Especially after she learned what I did to Mari. She wouldn't help me." Adrien leaned up against the brick wall behind him for support.
"Well, it's worth a try, isn't it?" Tikki whispered comfortingly. "We need help planning something to take Marinette back, and I think the author of the Ladyblog and the master DJ of Paris are needed for the job."
Adrien nodded in agreement. "Ok, I'll text Nino now, then I'll find Alya." Adrien looked for his phone with a purpose in his body language, and he pulled up Nino from his contacts. "You do realize how strange this is right?" Adrien asked Tikki.
"Why is that?" Tikki raised her eyebrows in question, and she cocked her head to the right.
"I finally learn the identity of My Lady and I meet her kawami for the first time, but instead of some romantic scene where Marinette and I hug and kiss, here I am plotting an attack on her with her Kawami. It's not at all what I was expecting." Adrien sent a text to Nino saying that he needed his help, and he asked if Nino would meet him at the old factory in an hour. He then returned his attentions to Tikki. "I never knew the reveal would have to be taken with such sadness."
Tikki cuddled Adrien's cheek again. "I didn't know it would work like this either. Although, the reveals never go as planned. With every Ladybug and Chat Noir in the past, something always went wrong. But you know what? It always ends up just right." Adrien's phone buzzed at a new message, and Tikki peered at the screen with Adrien. When Adrien accepted the text, he saw an explosion of caps lock messages.
"DUDE! ADRIEN! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN! EVERYONE HAS BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU FOR WEEKS! EVEN YOU'RE DAD HAS BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU!" Nino had texted.
Adrien quickly typed his message back. "It's a very long story, trust me. But I promise to tell you everything when you meet me. I need you to do something for me first." Adrien elaborated in his next text. "Can you bring a first-aid kit?"
Nino responded instantly. "Dude if you got yourself nearly killed, I'm going to have to finish you off for you stupidity." After a few more seconds, Nino added, "Don't worry, I'll bring it. But be careful. I missed you, Dude."
Adrien smiled at the screen. "I'll be careful, Bro. Missed you too. *fist bump*" Satisfied, Adrien put his pone away and slowly got up. He sighed heavily as he looked at the light in the sky. "Let's go get Alya, Tikki," Adrien whispered to Tikki. With that, he walked out of the alleyway slowly.
000
Lady Luck sauntered down the Champs-Elysees in the early dawn, throwing her yoyo in random directions. Everything that the yoyo touched melted. Cars raced in every direction trying to avoid her foreboding figure. The Arc de Triumph was still glowing with the multicolored lights that helped it glow in the night, but the beauty was slightly marred by the thousands of people trying to climb up the sides of it to get out of Lady Luck's way. Lady Luck just laughed. She laughed because of all of the people fleeing in her wake. She laughed because of the scared screams of tourists. She laughed at how ironic her name was. She wasn't really bringing Luck to those of Paris, but she was bringing great luck to her master, just like she should. She even laughed at the thought of the scared look on Adrien's face when he would see all of the destruction.
Ladybug Luck jumped onto the roof nearest her, and felt joy rise in her chest as she felt the building below her feet start to crumble. Lady Luck enjoyed this feeling the whole way to Hawkmoth's lair.
It was really amazing how no one had found the lair before. It was quiet easy to find it. The lair was in front of everyone's noses. The stained glass window of a butterfly stood out like a sore thumb at the back of Gabriel Agreste's manor. Lady Luck carefully hooked her yoyo to her belt, and she broke open the front doors of the manor and walked casually past Gabriel's assistants, who were quivering under their desks. She opened a hidden door behind a portrait of a young and beautiful blond woman in Mr. Agreste's study to find a long spiraling staircase that led the Lady up.
Reaching the last step on the stairs, Lady Luck looked around again to see purple wall paper hanging off the walls to an anteroom that desperately needed redecorating. There was an old and dirty brass door in front of her, and Lady Luck popped the door open and just walked into the next room like she owned the whole manor.
The next room was wide and spacious. Little pearly butterflies fluttered in the early morning sun that was streaming through the large, circular stained glass window on the other side of the room. There were only two pieces of furniture in the room, an armchair and a small couch, both a shade of burgundy. They were centered around a stone fireplace that was camouflaged with the wall. Hawkmoth sat brooding in the armchair, and he just stared into the fire that was turning to embers.
Lady Luck threw herself onto the couch. She inspected her nails on her right hand as she held out the black ring in the other. "I believe you were wanting this?" She asked with little to no interest.
Hawkmoth snapped out of his thoughts and he snatched the ring out of Lady Luck's gloved hand. He immediately tried the ring on. "My, oh my, My Lady. What a find!" Hawkmoth cried happily. The bright colored rays of the sun reflected off of the black surface and onto Hawkmoth's greedy smile.
Lady Luck twitched slightly at the nickname, but didn't give it a second thought. She just though it was her weaker form trying to resurface, so she pushed back at the feelings. Her face was once again of nonchalance.
"So you are happy, master?" Lady Luck asked.
Hawkmoth nodded. "Oh yes. You make me very happy. Now I just need Ladybug's earrings."
Lady Luck was quiet.
Hawkmoth's greedy smile crashed, and he turned angrily to his new minion. "Does your silence mean that you do not want to give me the earrings? Or does it mean that you can't access them?" Hawkmoth's fist clenched suddenly and Lady Luck grabbed her throat. She calmly tried to take in air as Hawkmoth tried to drag it out of her. He finally let go when he saw fear finally enter her eyes, and he sat back in his arm chair, satisfied. "Now which is it?"
Lady Luck took in large gasps of air, then managed to whisper, "The Kawami took the earrings as I transformed. They are no longer on me." Lady Luck fiddled with the hair in front of her ears, and Hawkmoth took notice.
"Then why do still have earrings on?" He asked gently, but a gruff scraping escaped his throat, showing his anger.
Lady Luck looked at him and answered him simply as she rubbed her sore neck. "These are dangerous times, master. My weaker form thought she was smart to carry or wear fake earrings in case someone tried to steal her miraculous. That is the reason why you do not have both of the Miraculouses in your hand." Lady Luck relaxed in her couch again, but Hawkmoth forced her up again.
"Fine. I'll take your word, but don't think I'll let you get away with this. You get to go out there and look for your precious kitten and those dratted earrings." Hawkmoth practically picked her up and threw her out the door. "Good luck, Lady Luck, but get out. I don't want to see you unless you have those EARRINGS!" Hawkmoth slammed the bronze door shut and Lady Luck felt his mind finally leave hers, if only for a moment. And in that moment, Lady Luck checked inside her pocket to check for the two circles of her earrings. She sighed heavily before leaving down the staircase to continue her reign of terror.
000
"Alya? Alya? Can you hear me?" Adrien whispered, shaking Alya's tattered body. Her body was in a terrible state when Adrien had found her. Blood was gushing from as many wounds as possible, and Adrien had to tear up his white over-shirt to stop most of the wounds from bleeding. Tikki had heard a weak heartbeat, so Adrien was gently trying to rouse her. Several minutes went by and nothing happened, but Adrien didn't stop. If anything, he tried harder.
"Come on! Mari needs you! Please Alya, Paris needs the best Ladybug reporter right now. Please wake up. I really didn't mean to hurt you in this way. I'm so, so sorry. Will you forgive me?" Adrien stopped shaking Alya and curled around himself. "Please…please wake up," Adrien whispered. Silence.
Tikki watched Plagg's chosen sadly. He was a strong soul, he just didn't know exactly how to fix this, but she did. Tikki patted Adrien on the cheek, then whizzed up to Alya's ear and whispered, "Alya, Ladybug's here and wants to meet you." Amazingly it did the job, and Alya slowly opened her eyes, looking around.
"Ladybug? Where?" she said sleepily. Adrien breathed a heavy sigh of relief and hugged Alya tightly. Alya jolted a little in surprise and stared blearily at the blond head full of hair, but she returned the hug. "Adrien? What are you doing here?"
Adrien pulled out of the hug and sat in front of Alya with a happy smile on his face. Tikki hovered onto Adrien's shoulder and smiled at Alya as well. "Wow," Tikki said to Adrien, "she's talking fast and comprehending a lot for almost dying."
Alya looked at the glowing blob on Adrien's shoulder and started freaking out. "AHHHH! What is that THING?! AND WHY DOES IT TALK?" Alya jerked back her arm and cried out. "AND WHY IN THE HELL DOES MY ARM FEEL LIKE IT'S BEEN BEATEN TO A PULE?" Alya stopped moving and leaned against the wall of the old factory. All of the color had drained from her face and she struggled a little bit with her breathing, but she recovered quickly.
Tikki flew to a safe distance between Adrien and Alya's faces and she started to explain to Alya what had happened and what she was, but Adrien cut in before she started to speak. Adrien thought it would be better if Alya received the information from a human instead of a floating, imaginary thing. Tikki quieted, understanding instantly.
"Alya, just stay calm. You got seriously injured, and I don't want you endangering yourself more by stressing yourself out. This," Adrien gestured to Tikki, "is a Kawami. It is real, and is the reason why Ladybug transforms. This Kawami is named Tikki, she likes cookies. But never mind that; both Tikki and I need your help," Adrien explained. Alya looked at Tikki suspiciously, but then she nodded at the Kawami.
"It's nice to meet you,…Tikki was it?" Alya asked. Tikki nodded. "Interesting….. well what do you need me for. You seem like a very ancient being that could surely fix whatever needs fixing with a flick of your paw, so why me?"
Tikki moved a little closer to Alya with a worried expression. "You don't know our problem, do you," she said sadly. Tikki paused for a few seconds, deciding whether to continue with the bad news or not. "Well I'm afraid I have some really bad news to tell you…. Marinette has been akumatized. It is very important to get her back to her normal self because like all other akuma victims, they need to be saved. But we mostly need her back because…" Tikki paused again. "Because she is Ladybug."
"WHAT!?" Alya cried out in disbelief. "My friend? Marinette Dupain-Cheng? Ladybug? Do you mean to say that my best friend, for six years and two months, has been Ladybug all along?" A bright smile spread over Alya's whole face when Tikki nodded in conformation. "Oh my gosh! That is so cool!" Alya cried. She looked like she could jump up and down in excitement, but she refrained. All of a sudden her body stilled.
"How did Mari become akumatized?" She asked. All of a sudden she was quiet.
Adrien sighed in defeat. He knew the topic would eventually come up, but he desperately hoped it wouldn't. Too late now, I guess. I did do it so I have to face the consequences somehow, Adrien thought to himself. "Umm….That was me." Adrien hung his head and looked away from Alya as he began.
"I made Marinette become akumatized. I don't suppose you remember who attacked you?" Adrien asked.
Alya shook her head, shocked by the question. "No, I'm sorry I don't." Before Alya could say anything else, Adrien barged into his explanation. He looked into Alya's eyes this time as he did so.
"Well to start the story on how Mari got akumatized, I have to start with what I know about your attack. The akumatized Chat Noir, Chat Blanc at the time, got angry at Ladybug after they had a fight and he became akumatized. His goal was to destroy each and every one of the followers of Ladybug. You were one of the last enemies he preyed on. He hurt you trying to get information of Ladybug. Next he went after his last enemy, Marinette…..Ladybug. He had been following her for a time, memorizing everything she did so he would be able to predict every move she made in the final battle." Adrien's shoulders rose and fell as he continued his explanation. His breaths were unsteady as he continued to retell a memory that he never wanted to think about again.
"This past night Chat Blanc finally caught Ladybug and tore her to shreds. He weakened her enough so that her transformation would disappear. He learned she was Marinette, and when she said she cared about both sides of him, Chat Blanc lost control." Adrien's voice was a monotone now. He didn't want to lose control over his eyes again. "He used his cataclysm on Marinette and almost turned her to rubble. This action made the love that Marinette had for Chat disappear, and she became akumatized, telling Chat Noir that she would make him miserable." Tears welled up in Adrien's eyes, but he kept them in. There was a deep silence between everyone in the alley. Finally, Alya broke it.
"What happened to Chat Noir?" she asked quietly.
Adrien took in one more deep breath, but he couldn't control the tears anymore. "He was de-akumatized and his miraculous, and Kawami…Plagg….. was taken from him by Ladybug. He is now looking for his friends to help him get his lady back" Adrien finished in a whisper.
A pair of warm and slightly mocha colored arms wrapped around him in a brotherly hug, and Adrien realized Nino had made it in time to hear his story. Adrien fell into the hug gratefully excepting the rare feeling of being loved by family.
Nino reached out to Alya with one hand and pulled the three friends close together. "We're here for you, Bro. We'll help you get your Ladybug back. Our little Mari," Nino whispered.
Tikki smiled from her perch on Alya's shoulder. If only Mari knew about the family that is waiting for her right now. Tikki joined the hug by nuzzling into Alya's shoulder. The group stayed like that for a long time.
"So what's the plan?" Nino asked a little while later as he was patching Alya up. Tikki was by his side using her magic to heal some of the more serious wounds while Adrien was building a sling for Alya's broken arm out of the remains of his white over-shirt.
"Truthfully? I don't know. I mean it's going to take a lot of work, even if we did have a plan because we still need Ladybug to catch the akuma and turn everything back to normal. When Marinette was akumatized, the akuma went into her earrings, so we can't-" Adrien was cut off by Tikki as she suddenly spun up into the air yelling something in a foreign language that was probably centuries old.
"Tikki, slow down! And please, speaking in French would be much appreciated," Nino said, stopping what he was doing. Alya reached out her hands as Tikki came soaring down again. Tikki landed in Alya's hands, but didn't stay grounded for long. She started bouncing up and down in excitement.
"Sorry, but I just realized something. If the akuma had gone into the Miraculous, I would have been sucked into the earrings, similar to what happened with Plagg." Tikki giggled at her revelation, but the humans around her were not comprehending anything.
"And that means…..?" Adrien asked, looking at Tikki, waiting for her to explain.
Tikki huffed a little, annoyed. "Remember how you had that fake ring Adrien? Well Marinette crafted fake earrings a few months ago because the akuma villains were getting better at grabbing the Miraculouses. She always carried around her spare. I can't really remember, but I think she was wearing her fake earrings. So we have hope! We have a Ladybug!" Tikki cried happily. The rest of the group whooped in excitement, but Alya stopped the celebration with a hand.
"This still isn't good. Hawkmoth could have both Miraculouses by now and could be taking over the world right now," Alya reasoned, but Tikki shook her head happily.
"It's been at least four hours since Ladybug left Adrien. Hawkmoth would have taken his chance already if he had them both," Tikki explained.
Adrien grinned with a true smile for the first time in weeks as he whispered with hope. "Then Mari's still under there if she didn't give the earring over. We have a lot more hope at winning this than before. We've got this!" Adrien clapped his hand on Nino's and Alya's backs. "We can get Mari back!"
000
"Adrien, I brought you the cookies that you 'desperately needed'. Now will you tell me what's going on?" Natalie set the tray of cookies heavily onto one of Adrien's tables, and then she turned to Adrien with her hands on her hips. Adrien grinned happily at Natalie with a half chewed cookie in his mouth as he offered a seat to her.
Alya, Nino, Tikki, and Adrien had snuck into Adrien's room at mid-day and they now sat in assorted furniture around Adrien's computer. After checking if his father was away from his home, which he was, Adrien secretly invited Gorilla and Natalie into his room. Now he had a group of people part of his secret society to take Ladybug back from Hawkmoth. After not seeing anyone he cared about for three weeks, Adrien was enormously happy that practically all of the people he loved were all in one space where he could keep an eye on them. The only person that was missing was Marinette, but Adrien could deal with it since they were all together for her; to help save her.
Adrien let Tikki slide out of his shirt, with her permission first, and Natalie and Gorilla's eyes widened in surprise, but recovered like it was nothing. "This is Tikki. She is a Kawami, and she is the being that helps the superhero Ladybug transform. Chat Noir has one too," Adrien explained. Tikki waved then darted towards the tray of cookies and started munching down happily. Adrien was then cut off by Gorilla's gruff addition to the conversation before he could continue.
"Plagg. Yes we know all about him and his cheese habits. We also know what happened to Ladybug. We have not been living under a rock for the past twelve hours, or six years. Just tell us some of the ideas you have for your plan and tell us what to do," Gorilla said in a monotone voice, without any emotion. Natalie nodded in agreement with him. Adrien just sat there with his mouth hanging open.
"What? How?...Never mind, don't answer that. I don't want to know how you guys figured it out. I guess I just want to thank you guys for covering up for me for however long you knew," Adrien said weakly. How did they figure it out? Did they tell my father? No, they wouldn't do that. But how did they figure it out? Adrien thought rapidly.
"You were not as discreet as you thought you were, but you're welcome. And no, we haven't told your father. It is your discretion on whether or not to tell your father, not ours. But right now we need to work on your plan," Natalie finished sternly. Adrien always wondered how Natalie could always read his mind, but he guessed it came with the territory of knowing him for so long. Adrien was just glad that she was on his side.
"Ok, we know the akumatized Ladybug-" Adrien began, but Gorilla cut in.
"Lady Luck."
Adrien nodded. "Ok." Adrien winced slightly at the name. "Lady….Luck still has the Miraculous earrings of Ladybug and she hasn't turned them over to Hawkmoth, which means we have a chance at finishing this battle by capturing her akuma." Adrien finished his sentence and looked at his group of friends expectantly.
Natalie blinked a few times. "That's it?...That's all you've got?"
"Yep," Adrien said cheerfully. Natalie winced, and started rubbing her temples while mumbling curse words to herself.
"Oh dear, we have a long way to go" Natalie took a deep breath in and out, and then turned to Alya. "Alya, would you mind pulling up your Ladyblog? We might be able to look at your coverage of each battle in the past five to six years to see if there are any similar patterns in the weaknesses of the villains." Natalie took out a note pad and a pen. "Then we can record our findings on here."
Alya did as she was told, and brought up her Ladyblog, and she pulled up the tab for the battles, especially the endings of the battles. The crew watched the battles closely and Natalie wrote down various notes on her pad of paper.
The only similarity that the group discovered between the akumas was that they could rarely focus on two things at once. There were only a handful of akumas that could easily dodge surprise attacks, but they in turn had a similar fault. While they were dodging the two attacks led by the superheroes, they concentrated less on keeping their akumatized item safe.
"Ok, so we need to have a plan to cover both of these possibilities because we still don't know how powerful Lady Luck is. Although, I have a theory that she can easily multitask. She had so much energy when she, erm… transformed. There is no doubt in my mind that she is one of the most powerful akumas Paris has faced," Adrien reasoned when they had finished the videos some hours later.
"I agree, but what should we do? Have like four people come at her all at once so she has to really multitask, or what?" Nino thought out loud. His face suddenly lit up. "Oh! How about we set something on fire close to her so she'll be preoccupied with that, then we'll have some animals come from the zoo with awesome theme music blaring in the background and…" Nino kept on rambling and rambling until Alya threw her uninjured hand over his mouth to silence him.
"I know you're trying to help, sweetie," Alya said in a sickly sweet voice that bordered on murder, "But shut up."
Nino closed his mouth promptly and looked at Alya wearily as she pulled her hand away. He was very unsure about what she would do (on a daily basis really) if he opened his mouth, so he kept it shut for a while in fear of being slapped.
"Anyway," Alya jumped into the conversation again, "Do you think we could possibly confuse her by having multiple things go wrong for her in different parts of Paris to distract her. It could be possible. We'll just need some people to play decoys to be the victims of Lady Luck's wrath, but I think it could work."
"I was just saying that!" Nino complained, but once again shut up when Alya glared at him.
"That's actually a pretty good idea, but I don't want to endanger you guys. This is my problem to deal with. I can't push it on you," Adrien complained.
Natalie shook her head. "Adrien. We are your family. We're going to help you matter what. Like I stated earlier, we are at your disposal, just tell us what you want."
Adrien smiled at Natalie caringly, then turned to his computer to change the web page to a map of Paris. He quickly copied the image and pasted it onto his touch screen. Tikki passed him a pen for the screen, and Adrien chose a color. Next, Adrien circled where the Eiffel tower was located.
"Alright, this is where I think the battle should end up. Since this whole messy situation of akumas started there, I thought it would be cool to end it where it began." Adrien looked up and saw several heads nodding in agreement. He turned back to the screen and circled several more popular locations all over Paris. He circled the Louvre, the Notre dame of Paris, the Arc de Triumph, the Sacré-Coeur, the beginning of the catacombs, and the Ferris wheel on the Place de la Concorde
"These places are the largest tourist attractions, just like the Eiffel Tower. If we want to distract Ladyb- Lady Luck, then we need to get tourists involved. I don't mean endanger them, but just use them for hiding in plain sight. We need one person for each attraction to maybe make an explosion, get Jagged Stone there; something. With all of these things happening hopefully I will be able to distract Lady Luck," Adrien explained.
"But we're only four people, not counting you and Tikki. We need at least six to seven. It's a great plan, but we just don't have the people," Alya pointed out.
"My brother Guillaime can help us, but I also think some of your classmates will definitely help," Gorilla added.
Alya pulled out her phone. "I'll contact some of them now."
"Great!" Adrien smiled again. "Now we can get to assigning places and jobs." The group huddled close again. It was agreed upon that Tikki would stay with Adrien but they would still be close to everyone else just in case something went wrong. Nathaniel, Kim, Juleka, Alix, Rose, Mylene, and Ivan answered back to Alya almost instantly, and all of them combined were able to lay out a plan. They were also able to situate almost everyone in pairs so everyone could be safer. Everything was working out…..well almost.
"You look like a very happy lot. Care to fill me in?" asked a high pitched, female voice. Everyone in Adrien's room were absorbed in their work around the computer, but they spun around at the voice. Their sparkling eyes burnt out as soon as they turned around, and their hearts plummeted. There standing on the window sill was Lady Luck. She looked a little more bloody and dirty since the last time Adrien had seen her, and it curdled his stomach.
"What are you doing here?" Adrien growled. He stood up slowly and stood in front of his family, protectively. While he was doing this he deleted the map of Paris off of the screen before she could see their exact plan.
"I see you have been planning my demise. How sweet." Lady Luck jumped down from the window and landed like a cat on the blue carpet of Adrien's room. She unhooked her black and white yoyo and swung it around lazily. "I am here to teach you a lesson, Adrien. Don't you remember?" Lady Luck looked coyly at Adrien, but the expression didn't reach her eyes. Her eyes stayed blank and black.
Adrien tried standing a little taller, and he ignored her comment. "Get out," Adrien growled. Behind him his friends got ready for battle, just in case. Gorilla pulled out his personal tranquilizer gun, while Natalie pulled out her Taser. Nino and Alya quietly pulled out various objects out of Adrien's desk like scissors, pens, and in Alya's case, a lamp. As soon as Lady Fortune had appeared in the room, Tikki had hidden behind the computer, immediately knowing something was off and she needed to stay alive for Adrien's sake. People thought Kawamiis were immortal and could never die, but Tikki knew that to be wrong. She was low on energy and was at a high risk of dying at the moment. She needed to protect herself first.
"I don't really feel like it," Lady Luck responded in a snotty tone. "I came here for the earrings, and I'm going to get them." She continued. Lie. That was the first thought that popped into Adrien's mind, and he believed it. He knew she was carrying the earrings. She just wanted to create mayhem.
"I don't have them," Adrien said sounding unconcerned. "But I do believe they are somewhere. I lose things all the time and they are never where you expect them to be. I suggest you start where you least expect them to be. Happy hunting!" Adrien smiled tightly and promptly turned around so that he was facing his computer again. He was hoping against hope that she would take his word for it and disappear, but he knew he was being to hopeful. He just needed to come up with a plan to get out of this situation before she did.
Lady Luck laughed shrilly. "You're so naïve, but very well. If that's what you're going with, so be it." Too late, Adrien thought. Lady Luck launched her yoyo at Adrien's back, but Gorilla leapt in front of Adrien, shooting his tranquilizer gun at the same time. He missed, but Lady Luck didn't. Her yoyo slammed into Gorilla, and Adrien's bodyguard crumbled to dust.
"NO!" Adrien cried out as he turned around and tried to grab the crumbling Gorilla, but it was too late. Too late, too late, TOO LATE! Adrien thought rapidly.
While Adrien was pre-occupied, Natalie, Nino, and Alya stood in front of him with their prepared weapons. Lady Luck rolled her yoyo back into her hand, and she smiled at the four.
"This is going to be really fun," she whispered. Instead of hurling her yoyo at them, Lady Luck chose to run straight at them and use her yoyo sparingly. She dodged the debris that Nino and Alya were now throwing, and she ran straight towards Natalie. Natalie pushed a button on the side of her Taser and two electrical cords sprang out and attached themselves to Lady Luck's body. An electrical shock rushed through the cords and momentarily shocked Lady Luck into a stillness. Nino took this opportunity to slam the sharp scissors into the wounds that were already gaping on Lady Luck's body. Alya, in turn, raised Adrien's lamp above her head, ready to strike. For that moment everyone forgot that they were fighting Marinette, and truthfully it didn't matter. Marinette was gone. Only instincts were left.
Just as Alya swung to hit Lady Luck over the head, Lady Luck snapped back into reality and reacted instantly. With one hand she turned Alya's lamp to ash with her yoyo, and with the other hand she pressed her fingers onto the perfect spot on Alya's neck, making her collapse. In the next second Lady Luck did the same with Natalie while destroying her Taser with the yoyo. Nino cried out in shock and leapt for Alya, trying to protect her, but Lady Luck was faster.
In the next instant Lady Luck grabbed both Natalie and Alya, and threw them over her shoulders. Lady Luck ran towards the window and jumped onto the sill. "You seem a little slow on the uptake today, Kitty. Hope you're more ready next time. I do love a challenge." Lady Luck winked dirtily at Adrien, and then leapt out the window. Where was she heading? No one could possibly guess. What mattered was that she was gone. She was gone with seventy-five percent of his family, and more.
Adrien got off of his knees and laid a hand on Nino's shoulder while Tikki came to land on his. Nino was still staring at the empty spot on the carpet where Alya had just been lying.
"We've got to end this," Adrien whispered like he was making a promise. "The final battle must happen tomorrow."
Adrien turned on his TV, and the news popped on instantly. All that could be seen were images and videos of Paris being destroyed. Everyone in the room took large, deep breaths.
"We've got to end this," Nino repeated.
"Let's just hope I can grab Marinette's earrings in time," Adrien finished. "I'm going to text everyone to tell them what just happened, then we'll go from there."
Hey readers! Ok, so unlike what Adrien said, I will not be writing and publishing the final battle tomorrow. It's going to be a while. I still can't believe I wrote this much for this chapter, or actually wrote another chapter. Anyway I hope you liked this chapter better since it is a little happier. Plus Adrien finally got to eat! Thank you for all the support on this story, it's great! I didn't expect someone to tell me right after I published it that I need to make a happy ending, and you know who you are. I didn't expect anyone to tell me to continue it, so thank you to everyone that did. Now when I was looking for inspiration for this chapter I found a Miraculous Ladybug comic where Chat Blanc hunted down Ladybug and tore her to shreds, which reminded me of my plot. I'm sorry about the similarities, I truly didn't mean to make my story so similar to the comic. JEG, your comic is beautiful, and I didn't mean to use some of the same ideas, but you were an inspiration. Anyway, please comment, favorite, or follow if you haven't done so already. And until I write again, TTFN!
