Adrien rushed to the window before Marinette could react, his eyes jolting around to locate the source of the sound. "It's an akuma," he informed Marinette, turning back from the window, "we should get somewhere safe."
He placed his hands on her shoulders again, shielding her body from whatever was outside the house. She began to blush harder and started to laugh nervously as she felt his hands guiding her shoulders.
Adrien opened the trapdoor out of Marinette's room when the sound of splintering wood and rushing wind filled the air. He quickly dove on top of her as he felt bits and pieces of the room around them slamming into every part of his body.
Marinette's mind flew far away from the imminent danger. Adrien's chest was touching her face, she could feel the softness of his shirt and the toned muscles underneath. She could feel herself flying into heaven as she breathed in his scent. So what if he smells like cheese, she thought, it's what I want to smell every day.
Something gooey flew between the teenagers and Marinette felt Adrien's perfect body leave her side. He struggled as the black tar tightened around his body. Marinette looked over to the man holding her Adrien hostage as he laughed maniacally.
The akuma showed itself as it raised a second hand to Adrien's level. The man standing on top of it wore a suit that showed every color of the rainbow and a large 'Press' signed hung off the side of his hat. "Well, well, well," he spoke through his laugh, "what do we have here?"
He stepped off a floating pen and walked over to Marinette as she remained on the floor, Adrien and his prison following closely behind. "The famous Adrien Agreste and a baker's daughter, isn't that just the most fairy tale thing you've ever seen?"
The akuma bent over and placed his face barely an inch away from Marinette's, his breath smelt like the cold chill that runs down your spine. "I've always been a sap for a good love story. Now, who would better serve my narrative? The baker-" He stood up and placed a hand on Adrien's head "-or the prince?"
Adrien squirmed in the ink as it squeezed his lungs, "The prince, the prince!"
"How valiant," the akuma spoke in a mocking tone, "the prince giving himself up for the peasant girl. It almost brings a tear to my eye. Almost."
He placed a hand on Adrien's cheek and pulled his head until the akuma's mouth was next to Adrien's ear, "You must really love her."
Adrien flinched as the Akuma pressed his lips against Adrien's head. As he pulled away, Adrien wasn't moving. Marinette jumped to her feet and cried out his name, rushing towards the frozen boy. The akuma dropped the Adrien statue into Marinette's arms.
"Adrien," she whispered as she brushed his cheek. His once warm soft skin had now turned cold and rough. Marinette stared as her eyes slowly filled with water and she held on tighter to Adrien's stone face. Her fingers ran over the injection site as it oozed the same black tar that held him hostage. She cradled his pained expression in her hands, desperately hoping that she would see even a hint of life.
The akuma spoke to Marinette, but she couldn't hear his crackling voice through the tears that filled up her ears. She didn't need to, she could feel the laughs bounce against her back. She watched as the rainbow colored akuma walked out of the hole in her house and stepped onto his pen and floated out of sight.
It took several minutes for Marinette to catch her breath and stop the flood of tears that started to fall out of her eyes. She let Adrien fall onto the floor with a loud clunk as she could feel something starting to build inside herself.
Tikki flew out of underneath her bed and beside her face, "Marinette?"
Marinette didn't speak as she stood up and walked over to her desk. She grabbed onto her chair and began to squeeze as hard as she could. She knew that Adrien would always be in danger with her as Ladybug, he had even been dangled from the Eiffel tower; but that was only an illusion, not the real thing.
Marinette gripped the chair tighter.
This was real, this was the real Adrien. That was the real Adrien, lying dead as a doorknob in the middle of her bedroom. But she always thought that she could protect him. Even if the rest of Paris were to fall into fire and dust, she would always be there to protect him from anything. If she couldn't even protect Adrien the one chance she was given, what hope was there for protecting an entire city.
Her knuckles turned white as she
Marinette knew that if she purified the akuma, everything would go back, but this might be too far. She could clean up everything, but bringing something back to life was something different.
"Can I bring him back?"
The kwami paused for a second, "I know my magic can get whatever is in his system out, but he may not be-"
"Tikki, can I bring him back from the dead."
"Marinette, he may not be de-"
Marinette snapped her head to Tikki and stared down the kwami, "Can. I. Bring. Him. Back?"
Tikki paused for a second, preparing herself, "I don't know."
Marinette's fingers pierced the lining of her chair."Tikki," she whispered painfully, "spots on."
Ladybug showed up in the park in less than 10 minutes. Her eyes were bloodshot and her cat partner was nowhere to be seen. She approached the akuma as he arranged several statues in an almost chess-like formation. "Welcome Ladybug-" he turned around to face the superheroine of Paris and gestured towards the incapacitated civilians, "-would you like to play a game?"
"That depends," she spoke softly and with force, "does it involve you being put on trial for murder?"
"Murder? That's quite the accusation."
"You're injecting random fluids into them, there's no telling what that will do to a human. You're killing everyone you put that stuff into.
The akuma looked back at his row of trophies, "That wasn't my intention, but it still doesn't change my plan."
Ladybug, pulled out her yo-yo and began to spin her defensive circle. "Akuma's usually don't want only murder, what's your goal?"
"Well, because you asked so nicely, I'll tell you. There's a lot of thing in this world that people miss. The world is dying, people are starving, and death is all around us. That sounds important, but people only care about the celebrities. The people care more about what a pianist had for breakfast than when 50 people die in an hour. So, I've taken care of it."
"Through murder?"
"Of course, it's the only permanent solution."
The akuma approached Ladybug, avoiding the spinning yo-yo and placed a hand on her cheek. He moved their heads side by side, as he did with Adrien. "You're part of the problem, Ladybug."
As he moved closer to press his lips to her forehead, she dove backward letting her yo-yo slam against his jaw, staggering him. As he found his footing, Ladybug's yoyo wrapped around his neck and she pulled him down and pressed a foot against the string of her weapon.
The demented smile on his face didn't face, he began to chuckle as Ladybug pressed harder against his neck. "What's so funny?"
The akuma's voice was strained as he spoke, "What a headline, 'Ladybug the Killer'. What will Paris think?"
"I don't think that's what you should be worried about right now."
As his laughter grew, Ladybug felt her hands shaking and her grip getting looser. The akuma's pen appeared behind Ladybug and slapped her off and into a wall. She collapsed onto the floor while the akuma stood himself up, frantically looking around for any sign of red or black. "I knew you wouldn't do it Ladybug, you're too weak. Your pathetic reputation with the people of Paris is more important than doing what needs to be done to stop me."
Ladybug fell onto her knee, catching her breath. Where's that damn cat?
"Do I need to kill more people to make my point clear to you? You won't even see this in the news tomorrow."
The akuma began to walk around the park, following Ladybug's flight path. She quickly dove behind a bench, keeping her breath slow.
Where's that damn-
"That's all good and all," a voiced echoed out, "but what's with the pen?"
Ladybug recognized the voice as Chat's, or at least she thought. Her head was still spinning after her head slammed into the brick wall at Mach 5.
The voice continued, "I mean, I get you're some sort of author or something, but is hawkmoth having an off day?"
"You see-"
"Cause I don't know if you know this, but today's journalists use computers."
"If you come out, I'll show you how powerful the pen is."
Something smacked the akuma in the back of the head. He spun around and began to ride his pen before getting smacked by another rock. As the akuma was distracted by the rock throwing menace, Ladybug peaked over the bench to find the akumatized object. A surge of pain ran through her body when she moved it.
She pressed her hand to her side, she couldn't feel any blood, but it felt like a sword had just run through her skin. She clenched onto the pain, trying to cut off the feeling to her sides. Ladybug could feel herself losing consciousness and her view of the world began to fade to black.
As the world turned to black, she felt two hands grab onto her tightly.
