Did you know hitting enter over and over will give you a shit ton of linebreaks you can't get rid of? Well, apparently it does. Anyway this is a hella short chapter, but things happen. However, I have the next chapter ready to go (I'm really excited about it) so you guys have a choice. If you want, I can double update today and you'll have to wait awhile for anymore chapters OR I can hold off the next update to bridge the gap between activity. So lemme know in the reviews.


Alya didn't show up to school the next day. She didn't answer his texts either. Adrien glanced over his shoulder at her empty seat with a knot in his stomach.

He knew she wouldn't tell anyone. That wasn't what he was worried about. The hurt in her face was plastered across his mind's eye. He was reminded of all the times he'd lied her face, all the times he hid the truth. She'd never been anything but a good friend to him.

Now she'd probably hate him until the day she died. Ladybug and Chat Noir gave her life meaning. She was trustworthy. He should have told her.

Marinette sat alone, but seemed unbothered. As far as she knew, Alya was just sick.

"I'm taking some of Papa's ratatouille to her after school," she had told him and Nino at lunch. "Wanna come with?"

Nino had readily agreed, but Adrien quickly thought up an excuse. He was pretty sure Alya wanted nothing to do with him.

Hey, Alya.

I just want to apologise again. I'm really sorry I didn't tell you I was, well you know. But if it makes you feel better, no one else knows. Not even Ladybug. You're the first. I trust you not to tell anyone. It could put a lot of people at risk. Anyway, call me if you get the chance.

Read 11:47pm


"Oh yes, of course you're going to cry about it, Ana. Everything always has to be about you."

"I can't help it. I'm sor-"

"Don't give me that "I'm sorry" bullshit. Everytime I try to talk to you about anything that bothers me, you burst into tears! You're too sensitive."

"I'm sorry, Raquelle. I really am. I love you. I want to be there for you, it's just hard. My meds aren't working-"

Raquelle huffed. "Again with the excuses? I can't do this with you anymore, Anastasie. How can I be with someone who can't even handle the simplest things?"

Anastasie glanced up at the other girl in panic. "Please don't leave me." her voice trembled.

Raquelle gave her a sobering look. "This time, I'm the one who's sorry."

Without another word, she stood up and left the sobbing girl alone at the base of the carousel in a unintentional butterfly effect.


The drive home was particularly bleak. All Adrien had to look forward to was a boring dinner with a bunch of equally boring rookie fashion designers his father had seen potential in.

Adrien used to have a choice as to attend these dinners, but Gabriel decided he'd been too lenient if Adrien couldn't take an anniversary show seriously.

He supposed he should count himself lucky, at least he was still permitted to go to school, even if hanging out with friends was out of the equation.

Adrien had learned at a young age to count his blessings.

The car stopped in front of the Agreste mansion, and he slid out of his seat with a muttered thanks.

The house was cold and empty as always, all doors closed, rooms isolated. If Adrien didn't know better, he would have thought no one lived here at all.

"Welcome home, Adrien. I trust you had a good day?" Natalie spoke from the top of the stairs, eyes never leaving her tablet.

"Yes, Natalie."

"Excellent. Your father would like you to be ready for dinner in an hour. The outfit he has chosen for you is in your room."

"Thanks."

Sighing, he walked passed her and continued to his room, closing the door behind him.

He flopped onto his bed, turning in his phone to check it for the hundredth time that day. Nothing. He stared wistfully at the ceiling.

"Well that's it, Plagg. Alya will never talk to me again. Why do I ruin everything I touch?"

Plagg settled down on his forehead, curling up in his bangs. "The ring." He replied simply. "It triggers bad luck when it's corrupted ."

Adrien had already figured that out, but it had a deeper sting hearing it out loud.

Neither said anything more.


The pain of a broken heart should never be underestimated. It can twist something beautiful into something fiercely dark. It fogs the mind and influences the judgement. Its power is equal to love, and neither can exist without the other. But when out of balance, it becomes that of a nightmare. A nightmare that will serve my purpose perfectly.

You shall get your revenge, Crybaby. On your lover and all who have looked down upon you. Your emotions are a strength. You will prove that to them. All you must do is one simple thing for me in return.

"Name it."


Ladybug coughed and sputtered as another flooding tear fell from above.

The wailing was heart wrenching, but she knew she must not be fooled. The colorfully dressed girl was definitely an akuma.

The tears came down like a waterfall, and were thick like jelly.

They had a mind of their own, grabbing onto her and pulling downward, trying to drown her.

The akuma herself seemed rather childish, hair drawn up in twin pigtails, one pink and one blue. She wore a simple, blue and white short sleeve dress that reached her knees. Pink and blue striped tights adorned her legs, but she wore no shoes. And at the top of her head was a single black hair bow.

That's where Ladybug hoped the akuma was.

The girl continued to cry angrily, shouting nonsense and names Lady didn't recognize. She swung up onto the tower with her yoyo, a trail of tears creeping up behind her.

Out of the Akuma's sight, Ladybug quickly dialed Chat.

"Come to the Eiffel Tower ASAP. I need you." she told his answering machine.

Of course he wasn't transformed. Why would he be? The news cars were just now arriving. If Marinette hadn't been at Alya's, who got an Akuma tip on the Ladyblog, she wouldn't have known either.

The Akuma referred to herself as Crybaby, which Marinette didn't really understand. It seemed a bit insulting. But she wasn't her to judge Hawkmoth's taste in villain names. Besides, it was fitting.

Suddenly, the cries grew louder. Ladybug whirled around. Crybaby was standing now, her tears flowed with dingy gray, inside of the crystal clear they had been before. Her eyes glowed a bright blue. She stared at Ladybug with a grin that made her heart twist in terror. And then she vanished into a puddle.

She appeared in front of her, Ladybug gasped, her start nearly causing her to fall.

The tears finally stopped. Her eyes no longer glowed. But the grin remained.

"Hello, Ladybug. Wanna play a game?"

Ladybug backed up slowly. There was something about this akuma that she'd never seen before. There was something more to her than just a desire for vengeance or anger. It was something truly dark. Something sinister.

Impulsively, Ladybug flung her yoyo at the Akuma, it wrapped around her before she winked and vaporized once more. The tears she became coiled around Lady.

"Tag, you're it."


"Adrien, listen to me. You can't transform. We don't know what it will do." Plagg pleaded, and it was the first time Adrien had ever heard the kwami sound scared.

"I have to. You saw that akuma. I can't let her fight alone."

"No! It's too risky."

Adrien gently took him into his hands and cradled him. "I'm sorry, Plagg. But you can't decide this for me."

He nuzzled the boy's thumb. "I know."


Ladybug was chasing a stream of water up the tower when he arrived. He raced to her as fast as he could, but he knew something was wrong. The ring squeezed his finger painfully in an icy grip. He swallowed. Maybe Plagg had been right. There was something dark present in his transformation that had not existed before. It was suffocating.

It took him longer to reach the top of the tower than it normally would have, but he still made it in time to pull her almost purple face from the tears.

She gasped and choked. She gave him an almost adoring look. "Glad you could join us."

He pulled out his staff. "I wouldn't miss it for anything. Any idea how to beat her?"

"No. Anytime I get close, she turns into...this." she pointed down and the giggling water at their feet.

It flowed and twisted, slowly taking shape. "Hello, Chat Noir." she spoke, grinning wider than seemed natural. "Have you come to play?"

His chest heaved. He could do this. It was just another akuma. He lunged with his staff, and just as Ladybug had said, she vanished into a puddle and rolled away in a small wave.

But she didn't stay in that state for long, instead quickly reforming into herself. Her eyes glowed much fainter than before.

"That's it!" Ladybug told him. "Transforming into water takes energy. If we keep getting her to go to a water state, she'll run out of strength."

Chat nodded, and watched as his lady flung her yoyo towards the villain, who swiftly collapse in on herself, and fell to the ground like rain.

As Ladybug suspected, she reformed almost instantly. Chat took a turn, swiping at her with his claws to the same result. They continued their false attacks, each time Crybaby reforming faster and faster until she could only transform a single body part at a time. That's when Ladybug struck. The black string of the yoyo twisted around her waist and yanked her forward, right into Chat Noir's waiting arms. Without missing a beat, he ripped the hair bow from her head, and she fell into a puddle with a cry of pain. She reformed on the safety railing of the tower and began sobbing again, her eyes glowed a dull blue as she put everything she had into those final tears.

What happened next was something Adrien was never really able to remember clearly. It was a memory that was clearest in nightmares and foggy when he woke up. But he never forgot how it felt. It was like having everything inside you drain out until you were nothing but a cold, empty shell.

He wasn't thinking. He didn't connect cause and effect. Free and purify the akuma. That was their job, wasn't it?

He hadn't noticed that stream had begun to retreat down the tower. He didn't she that she was no longer in a safe place. He didn't hear Ladybug screaming at him to wait.

He tore the black ribbon in two. The akuma escaped into the open air.

Then there was the scream. He ran the rails in time to see the water turn back into a normal person in a blackish blueish cloud. Her grip slipped. She began to fall. She stared up in terror, screaming for help. He jumped.

He fell through the sky after her, arms outreached. He would make it in time, he told himself. He had to.

The ground was rushing towards them, and Chat begged any deity willing to listen to please let him reach her in time.

There was a sharp tug around his waist, swiftly stopping his descent. "No!" he screamed.

The girl looked below her, the earth coming up to greet her. She turned back to him, tears in her eyes. A small smile graced her lips. A smile of forgiveness.

The yoyo slowly pulled him up, he struggled against it. There was still time. He could still save her.

The sound would haunt him for the rest of his life. A sick, wet cracking. For a moment, everything was silent. He stared in horror where she now laid, bent at unnatural angles, blood steeped quickly to through her clothes and onto the ground around her. Her open eyes were now lifeless, but that small, barely-there smile still graced her lips.