WATCH THE EPISODE "TROUBLEMAKER" BEFORE READING THIS STORY!
Chapter 8: Only Love Can Conquer Hate
A wave of light traveled up from Ladybug's feet to her head, making her costume disappear and turning her back into Marinette. The lucky charm in her hand disappeared from her hand. Marinette looked down at her hand as it vanished. Tikki suddenly appeared in front of Marinette, confused and worn out. Plagg flew over to her and held her as she regained her strength.
"You okay?" Plagg asked Tikki.
"I'm okay. Thanks." Tikki responded. She turned to see Marinette standing there, looking confident. "M...Marinette? What are you...why are you-" Tikki said before being interrupted. Marinette lifted her head.
"Saving Adrien." Marinette said to her. Tikki scratched the top of her head.
"Wait, what? How can you when you're without your powers?" Plagg asked her.
"I was just thinking the same thing. Marinette, you're not making any sense!" Tikki added.
"Look, I know you weren't there Tikki, but at one moment, Adrien was able to overcome
the akuma controlling him. He's still in there and I think I can give Adrien the strength to defeat Hawkmoth's dark power completely. I think I can bring Adrien back." Marinette explained.
"Wow! Not many people can fight off an akuma's dark power. This is rare." Tikki said.
"Exactly. I feel that I can use this to my advantage." Marinette replied.
"So was finding out where the akuma was completely pointless then?" Plagg asked her.
"I don't know...but I think I might be able to drive it out of Adrien in a way other than breaking the object it is hiding in." Marinette replied. Tikki sighed.
"Marinette?" Tikki flew closer to Marinette. "You do realize that if this doesn't work you're done for? Once he hits you with his power, there's no way back from it." Tikki explained to her. Marinette thought to herself for a second. She took a breath in and walked towards the door, and sighed. She tried to relax. She realized that what she was attempting to do could risk her own life. Fear coursed through her. She clenched her hands in a fist, attempting to gain the little bit of confidence that was left in her.
"...I know. I have to try though. I'm the one who created this mess so...I have to do everything in my power to make all of it right." Marinette shifted her gaze to the left of her. "It's the right thing to do." She turned her body slightly to face Tikki and Plagg. "You two stay here. I...don't want anything to happen to either of you incase I…" Marinette bit her lip. "...you know." Tikki and Plagg frowned, realizing that if Marinette didn't come back from this, they would lose a dear friend and one of the greatest and bravest Ladybugs that they have ever seen.
Marinette turned back to face the door. She took another deep breath. She began to reach towards the door knob. She hesitated for a moment. Regaining that bravery she so desperately needed, she grabbed the door knob and turned it, opening the door and walking out into the carnage that has become of her city. She looked around, seeing destruction all around her. Cars were lit on fire and smoke filled the air, making her eyes burn. She looked up, seeing an orange tinted sky. Parisian citizens were running all around, like wild animals. She could hear nothing but the sounds of screams and cries. She didn't see Couverture around anywhere. She began to walk around, searching for any sights our sounds of him. Suddenly, she heard some crashing to the right of her. She turned her body towards the sound and started running towards it, passing the infected as she ran. As she ran around, flashbacks came to her mind of what has been said to her over the past few hours.
Whenever there's a problem, you're always able to fix it…
You're the only person that keeps Adrien going…
You have been Adrien's way of escape; a free pass to being himself…
Adrien really does love you…enough so to forgive you no matter the circumstances…
If there were any time we need you, it's now!
Marinette grew determined. She ran faster towards the sound of crashing. She started running short on breath. Sweat beads went down her forehead. Marinette wiped them off of her forehead as her eyes were focused in front of her. She stopped suddenly, reaching an intersection. She focused on the sounds around her, listening for any sudden noise hinting at Couverture's position. She closed her eyes and concentrated. She suddenly heard laughing from behind her. She quickly turned seeing Couverture in midair behind her. His arm reached towards Marinette, ready to strike her.
"Of course. I hit about everyone in the city with my power. Who is my last victim? You." He said before attempting to zap her. She gasped before swiftly jumping to her left, avoiding the blast. She looked up at him.
"Adrien, I know you're in there and I know you can hear me." Marinette said. Couverture rolled his eyes. Hawkmoth stood and watched, confused.
"Where's Ladybug? Where did she go?! Where are Ladybug and Cat Noir?!" Hawkmoth said as his left hand clenched into a fist. Couverture gazed at his hand, charging it up again for the next blow.
"Ugh, this again. This is getting...o-old." Couverture said, beginning to struggle. Adrien began to fight off the akuma once again. Marinette's hope began to rise as she watched Couverture hold his head as if he had a headache. She realized what she was doing was working. She kept talking.
"Channel those positive thoughts. I know you can." Marinette said to him as she stood there. Couverture grunted and groaned, continuing to fight of the positivity wanting to take over.
"Stop it!" Couverture yelled as he began to make fists with his hands. His breathing became heavy. His eye color began shifting back and forth from red and black to Adrien's normal eye color. Marinette face filled with determination. She spoke even louder.
"I know I hurt you, Adrien! I should never have run away! You might hate me now but...I want to make everything right again!" Marinette told him. Couverture's face winced.
"Shut up! Your words mean absolutely nothing!" Couverture exclaimed.
"Fight it, Adrien! Fight it!" Marinette yelled. Couverture kept on grunting. Hawkmoth noticed his suffering. He decided to give Couverture some encouragement.
"Don't let her take away what's rightfully yours. You deserve the powers you have been granted. Give into those negative emotions in your heart. Let the hate flow within you!" Hawkmoth told him. Couverture gained a bit of strength from Hawkmoth's advice, letting out a loud scream. The negativity began flowing in his veins once again. He released his hands from his head, charging them up with as much power as they could take. He decided this time, he wouldn't hold anything back.
"Enough!" He exclaimed, reaching his hands out towards Marinette once again. She screamed, shielding her eyes from the sights of what was about to destroy her. The charge hit her, creating an explosion from where she was standing. Couverture lowered his arms, panting from using so much energy. He watched as the smoke rise, waiting to see what was left of Marinette. He began to squint, trying to see past it. Suddenly, he witnessed the impossible.
Marinette was still there…
...and still alive...
She was covered in cuts and bruises. She was extremely weak but was able to get on a knee to keep herself up. Her breaths sounded like wheezing. Her vision was blurry due to the lack of strength. She wondered how in the world she was still alive. She looked around, realizing she was still breathing and upright. She was still able to see everyone around her.
"Wha….how am I…." Marinette wondered. This was impossible. No one could survive a blast that powerful. She pondered the possibilities. How...how am I still alive? How am I not affected? Couverture watched as she kneeled there. He did a double take. He couldn't believe what he was looking at. He became extremely confused.
"How? How is thi-...this...this shouldn't be happening!" Couverture exclaimed. Hawkmoth was confused as well. He growled, angry at the fact that this normal, everyday girl was still standing.
"This doesn't make any sense. She should be losing her mind right now!" Hawkmoth yelled. This was a mystery to him. He wanted this problem to be fixed once and for all. "Don't let this stop you Couverture! Finish her!" Hawkmoth exclaimed. Couverture let out a loud scream. He whipped his arms up above him, charging them up once again. He hit Marinette again. The blast wasn't as strong as the first one. He believed it to be enough to affect her mind. Marinette was still unaffected. She panted, keeping herself up on a knee.
Tikki and Plagg managed to sneak out of the building they were once in and fly closer to the battle between Marinette and Couverture. They watched as she continued getting hit by Couverture's dark power. They were confused as well. They began trying to figure out what could be going on here.
"How is she doing that? Shouldn't she be losing her mind right about now?" Plagg asked Tikki. Tikki carefully observed the situation. She began to ponder all of the possibilities. Suddenly, she came to a possible explanation.
"Wait a minute…" Tikki said.
"What? What?!" Plagg exclaimed, flailing his arms around in a panic.
"It's Adrien! He's controlling Couverture's power!" Tikki told him. Plagg stared at her blankly. He needed more clarification.
"O...kay, when you want to start making sense, let me know." Plagg replied. Tikki shook her head in amusement.
"Adrien's able to combat the dark power the akuma is putting on him. If I'm correct, if he's able to do that, he can mess with Couverture's powers too! Not to sound cheesy…" Plagg suddenly got excited. Tikki facepalmed. "No, Plagg, don't take that too literally. I don't have any camembert." Plagg sighed with disappointment. "Anyway, I think Marinette's love for him is giving Adrien strength, making him strong enough so that his powers don't have any effect on her!" Tikki explained to him.
Couverture continued using his power on her, even though it did absolutely nothing. He grew tired and weak from hitting her so many times. Marinette became weaker and weaker with every hit he threw at her. She dropped on her hands and knees. She winced as pain shot up from her legs. Even though the hits didn't affect her mind, they had a lot of force to them, pressing her down with every blow.
"Why….Ahhh!" Couverture yelped in pain from the fighting force of Adrien. "Why aren't my powers working!?"Couverture exclaimed, about to completely lose his mind. He was extremely frustrated. Adrien continued to fight him. Couverture desperately wanted to give Marinette what his negative side thought she deserved. Marinette tried gaining the strength to speak again.
"I'm sorry, Adrien." A tear began to fall down her cheek. Marinette felt she could drop any minute. She never felt so weak. She was starting to lose the will to go on. "F...forgive me…please" She almost dropped to the ground completely but caught herself just enough. "I...love you." She softly said before collapsing. She fell, unconscious, covered in wounds. Plagg and Tikki gasped.
"MARINETTE! NO!" Tikki exclaimed. Her eyes grew wide, witnessing the possible destruction of someone she was close to. She frantically tried to fly over to her before Plagg grabbed her arm.
"Tikki, no!" Plagg told her, trying to hold her back. "There's nothing we can do!" He said to her, reminding Tikki that their existence had to remain a secret. Couverture began to laugh maniacally, finally defeating the one person who created the pain in his heart. Hawkmoth listened to Marinette's final words. He became speechless.
"She still...loves him?" Hawkmoth asked himself, baffled. After everything that happened at Varengeville-sur-Mer; all of the yelling and the crying and running away. After all of that, her love for him hasn't gone away. He didn't understand. He couldn't.
Suddenly, Couverture felt a pain in his body. He held his head once again and began wincing. Adrien began to fight again. "No! Ah! No! Stop!" Couverture screamed. He wanted the pain to end. Hawkmoth watched as Couverture began to weaken. He noticed that Adrien was overcoming the negativity that the akuma was giving off.
"Does Adrien love this girl that much?" Hawkmoth asked himself. His anger turned into sadness. He started to reminisce back to his own life. He remembered what love felt like; how wonderful it made his life and how he wouldn't have traded it for anything. He wished he could do anything to have that love back in his life again. He began to feel empathy for his son. He wanted to fix everything. He couldn't bear seeing his son suffer. He realized he made a big mistake. He took a deep breath and said four words he never thought he would say.
"Akuma...return to me."
The akuma flew out from the photo of Marinette. The darkness disappeared from it. Couverture suddenly let out a loud cry, slowly descending. Couverture touched down to the ground gently. A wave of black suddenly covered him. It disappeared, slowly starting from his feet to his head. Adrien was back, wearing the suit that he had on for the photoshoot at Varengeville-sur-Mer. He panted, slowly gaining strength back in him. The people around him started to glow a bright yellow. The light escaped from them, returning them back to normal. The same yellow light flowed all over the city, fixing all of the destruction that was done to the city, turning everything back to normal. Cars were back upright and street lights lit up the streets once again. The Parisians cheered, realizing that everything was back to the way it was. Many of them ran to their loved ones, grabbing them into a tender embrace.
Adrien lifted his head and looked around. He smiled, glad to know that all the damage was fixed. The guilt is his heart still lingered, realizing that a few lives could have been taken with what he had done. Suddenly, he realized something.
"Marinette!" He exclaimed. Having all his strength back, he lifted himself upright and looked around, searching for Marinette. He turned his head to his left, seeing Marinette lying on the ground, immobile. "Marinette!" He began to panic. He got up as quickly as he could and ran over to her. He dropped to his knees, scooping her up in his arms. He observed her, noticing her covered in battle scars. "Please wake up. Please!" The guilt in him rose. "Marinette...please." He began to accept the unbearable. He felt tears filling up his eyes. He felt horrible inside to the point of feeling a bit sick. He took his left hand and brushed a piece of her midnight hair aside. He stroked her battered and bruised cheek.
"You didn't deserve this...you didn't deserve any of this." He said to her. He sniffled. He couldn't believe he did this to her. He was so mad at himself. His heart felt heavy. He took his head and rested it against Marinette's. A tear fell down his cheek, landing on hers. He put his left hand back under her and pulled her close. He continued to cry. Adrien started to become unsteady, accepting the reality that Marinette was taken from his life. It wouldn't be the first time someone he loved was taken from his life. Adrien began to have flashbacks.
Father! You're home! Where's...where's Mom?
Son...I have something to tell you.
Father...Where is mom?
I'm...sorry, Son.
No…NO! MOM! NO! NO! MOM! PLEASE NO!
The tears came down harder. Adrien wanted all of the pain to go away and all of the horrible things in his life to end. He wanted Marinette back. He wanted his mother back. He wanted everything to be the way it used to be. He wanted happiness back. He wanted love back.
"I can't...lose you too." He said in a shaky voice. He held Marinette even tighter, refusing to accept that she was gone. He wouldn't dare believe it. He couldn't live with himself if he was the one that caused her demise. He wouldn't ever forgive himself. It would be all his fault. Suddenly, one of Marinette's fingers twitched. He gasped. Could it be? He lifted his head, shifting his gaze to her. He felt a breath in her. Her eyes opened very slightly.
Marinette was alive.
Marinette looked at Adrien, who was filled with tears. Adrien was awestruck. He had never been so relieved about anything in his life. His one love was back in his life. Marinette spoke in a weak voice.
"A...Adrien?" Marinette said. Adrien grew a giant smile. He took her into a tight embrace again, forgetting that she was hurt. She yelped. "Ow!" Adrien's eyes grew wide. He suddenly loosened his grip on her.
"I'm so sorry, it's just...you're alive." Adrien said as he took his left hand and began stroking her cheek again. Marinette shared a smile before wincing at the slight pain she felt from Couverture's blasts. Her eyes squinted. A tear fell down her cheek. "Marinette?" Adrien said, wondering why she was beginning to cry.
"Adrien, I'm sorry. I'm really sor-" Marinette began to explain. Adrien placed two fingers on Marinette's lips, stopping her from speaking. He softly shushed her. He gave her a smile.
"It's okay." Adrien said before leaning his forehead on hers, continuing to hold her in a loving embrace. "We're going to be okay." He told her.
Plagg and Tikki quickly snuck around all the Parisians, flying quickly into Marinette's purse. They watched as Adrien held her tight.
"Well, that was a close one. It looks like everything's going to be okay!" Tikki said. Plagg groaned. Tikki turned her head to face him. "Why are you so upset?"
"Why? Why?! I still didn't get my camembert!" Plagg exclaimed.
"Dark wings...fall." Hawkmoth said before de-transforming back into Gabriel Agreste. Gabriel stood there, looking out his butterfly shaped window. He smiled, glad to see that Marinette wasn't a goner. He couldn't be more relieved to know. Nooroo appeared in front of him, slightly weak. He lifted his head to look up at Gabriel.
"I'm sorry you weren't successful, Master." Nooroo said to him, although he was glad Hawkmoth didn't conquer Paris.
"No, Nooroo. I let him go." Gabriel said to him. Nooroo was confused.
"Why would you do that?" Nooroo asked him. It was weird for Hawkmoth to do that. Nooroo couldn't be any happier that he made the decision to take the akuma back though. He only wondered why he would do such a thing.
"This girl loves my son. I would never take love away from him." Gabriel explained as he took the locket off of his shirt collar, holding it in his hands. He opened it, revealing a picture of his wife. Gabriel's lip quivered, remembering the day she went missing. It was one of the saddest days of his life. Losing the one woman he loved changed his life as well as his heart. Gabriel tried holding back the tears. Nooroo noticed his sorrow. He flew up to his hands, holding them gently with his. Gabriel's gaze shifted to him. Nooroo shedded a slight smile.
"You did the right thing, Master." Nooroo reassured him. Gabriel smiled back. Although he was desperate for Ladybug's and Cat Noir's miraculous, it felt right to retreat. His son was happy. There was nothing more he could ask for. Gabriel took the locket in his hand and attached it back to his collar. Gabriel turned around and walked towards the platform so that he could exit his lair. Nooroo followed him. After stepping on the platform, he slightly turned his head.
"Don't expect this to happen often, Ladybug and Cat Noir, wherever you are. You will fail one day and then, I will have absolute power." He said before the platform descended. Nooroo sighed, wishing for Gabriel to turn back to good like he was in the past.
"Here, let me lift you up." Adrien said to Marinette. Marinette nodded. He took Marinette securely in his arms and stood up. She took her arms and wrapped them around his neck for extra support. She felt extremely faint. Her vision was still somewhat blurry. She looked at her arms as they wrapped around Adrien. She noticed all of the scratches and bruises covering them. She found it hard to believe that she was still standing after all the pain she endured from Couverture. Adrien noticed Marinette observing her arms with a worried look on her face.
"You okay?" Adrien asked her. Her gaze shifted to him. Marinette nodded slightly. Adrien understood her fears at the moment. It had to be scary seeing yourself all cut and bruised, almost meeting your demise. He felt lucky. He couldn't be any more grateful that she was still here. Suddenly, Adrien and Marinette heard the sound of sirens in the distance. He squinted, trying to see far away towards the sound. Two police cars and an ambulance drove towards them. The lights were so bright that Adrien had to cover his eyes. Marinette squinted at them. The cars came to a sudden halt. The tires screeched as the stopped. Adrien and Marinette winced at the piercing sound. A male EMT came out of the ambulance. Adrien began calling for them.
"Hey! Over here!" Adrien exclaimed. The EMT turned his head, seeing Adrien holding a wounded Marinette in his arms. The EMT quickly rushed over to Adrien, knowing there was a sense of urgency.
"Is she alright?" The EMT asked Adrien with haste as he began to carefully observe her wounds.
"She's a bit scraped up. Other than that though, I think she's alright." Adrien said as he looked at Marinette. The EMT took a light from in his pocket and shined it in her eyes, checking her pupils in case of a concussion.
"There doesn't seem to be any sign of a concussion. It wouldn't hurt to keep her for observation. Let's get her in the ambulance." The EMT said to Adrien, motioning him to bring Marinette over to the ambulance. Adrien followed him. When they reached the car, the EMT opened the doors. Inside laid a bed.
"Let's put her over here." The EMT told Adrien. Adrien stepped into the ambulance and placed Marinette gently on the bed. The EMT placed an oxygen mask on her as well as a pulse oximeter to keep an eye on her heartbeat. He closed the doors to the ambulance before the ambulance started moving. Adrien stood next to her, trying best to keep his balance from the moving vehicle. He took Marinette's hand in his.
"You're going to be okay, Marinette." He told her with a smile. Marinette smiled back.
CHAPTER 9 COMING SOON!
