Chapter 10

Adrien? Ladybug looked at Cat Noir who was just as surprised to hear that name. No. He couldn't be Adrien, could he? Ladybug's mind started racing with that new information. She thought of Adrien and Cat Noir. Adrien was always so reserved and quiet while Cat Noir was expressive and loud. They were nothing alike, yet that was what made them so similar. It made so much sense! They looked and sounded the same. They had the same gestures and nervous habits. Cat Noir would sometimes show the same kindness and compassion as Adrien did all the time, and Adrien would act a little cocky and crack jokes like Cat Noir. Cat Noir was Adrien. She felt stupid for being so oblivious.

"Adrien?" Ladybug whispered, wondering if asking him aloud would change the fact.

Cat Noir looked over at Ladybug. Once their eyes met she knew the truth once and for all. She wanted to ask him so many questions, but Cat Noir turned his attention on Hawk Moth.

"How do you know that?" Cat Noir asked. He was panicking. If Hawk Moth knew who he was, then he could know everything. How long had he known? Did he just find out, or did he know for a while? What else could Hawk Moth know?

Hawk Moth grinned evilly. "So it's true," he said. "I will admit, I still had a couple of doubts about your true identity. So thank you, Adrien Agreste. You have been most helpful." Hawk Moth started walking over to the superheroes. He was heading towards Ladybug. She was the bigger priority at that moment.

"Is it true?" she asked Cat Noir.

He sighed. "Yes. My real name is Adrien Agreste. In real life I'm just a kid with an overbearing father and a modeling career. That's who I am."

"I know," Ladybug whispered. Her voice was rough, and her eyes were shining with unshed tears.

His cat ears perked up at her words. "You know?" he asked inquisitively. "How do you know?"

Hawk Moth had reached her by then. He knelt down and used his cane for balance. "Now, it's time to figure out who you really are, Ladybug."

She put up no fight as Hawk Moth reached up to her ears. She cried out as the earrings were forcefully taken, her powers along with them. Having her powers stripped from her like that tore through her soul. It felt like her flesh was being ripped and peeled away from her body. She felt her transformation disappear, and she was back to normal. Tikki didn't reappear like she usually did. The earrings stayed charged up with her power. They looked just how they did when Marinette first received them.

Cat Noir gasped when the transformation went away. "Marinette?"

She managed to give her boyfriend a small, weak smile. She was still recovering from having her powers forcefully taken away from her.

"Hi, Adrien" she muttered. He only stared in disbelief.

Cat Noir kicked himself for being so stupidly oblivious. He fell in love with the same girl twice! He thought back to all the reasons he started liking Marinette in the first place, and they were literally the same reasons he loved Ladybug. They were so similar it was staring him right in the face! They both wore their Raven black hair in pig tails and they both had gorgeous bluebell eyes. They were both confident and brave and quick on their feet. He had tried for months to figure out who Ladybug was, and she was sitting right behind him this whole time! He thought about the reasons as to why he didn't realize that before, and it had to be the fact that Ladybug was always sure-footed. Marinette always seemed to be tripping on air or running into things. Of course that difference could be boiled down to the Ladybug powers. Everything else was the same.

Marinette looked up at Hawk Moth's smug face and suddenly it felt like she was having one of her nightmares. She used to dream about being caught by Hawk Moth. He would use both Cat Noir and Adrien as leverage to have her give up her Miraculous. She would refuse and then he would torture the boys endlessly. He would tell her that she could make their pain stop if she gave up her earrings. She kept refusing. He would then promise her that he would stop when he had her Miraculous. He wouldn't wait for an answer. He would cut into them, cut off their fingers, and burn their skin with acid; then suddenly they would be whole again and he would demand she hand over her earrings. She had these nightmares enough times to know that when she gave it over to him he would break his promise. He would start torturing the boys all over again while she watched helplessly and powerlessly. It was an endless cycle, and it only stopped when she woke.

Cat Noir watched as Marinette's smile went away and her eyes darkened when she looked up at Hawk Moth. A peculiar expression ran across her face. She had a dazed look, but not her usual day-dreaming one. She was scared and her eyes were faraway. It was like she was remembering something horrifying. He wanted to reach out to hold her, to comfort her, but he was still ensnared in the spider silk. An idea popped in his head and he snuck a glance at Marinette. She was no longer dazed and scared. Her eyes were intent and focused, and he never felt more in love.

"This entire time," Cat Noir muttered, his mind going back to the realization Marinette was Ladybug. "So I was right about us knowing each other in real life." He was flashing back to the battle with Lady Wifi. He had suggested way back then that they knew each other outside of their superhero lives. She doubted it, but he was right. They didn't just know each other; they were friends up until very recently.

"The other night on patrol, we were literally talking about our dates with each other!" Cat Noir continued on the edge of laughing.

Marinette had to laugh at that realization. Her kitty always came through to lighten up the situation.

"Ah, Marinette," Hawk Moth said once the two teenagers were done talking. "The daughter of a baker. It is always the last person you would expect."

Cat Noir scoffed. "So you are not the least be wounded by the fact two teenagers were able to defeat you over and over again?" he asked. "I mean, that must really hurt. A grown man such as yourself getting your butt kicked by a couple of kids. That must hurt your pride a little bit.a"

Marinette glanced over at him and saw his cat eyes narrow. She bit back a smile since she knew what he was about to do.

"I must admit, being thwarted by children was not something I expected," Hawk Moth said, "but the satisfaction of beating you is the same regardless."

Hawk Moth pocketed the earrings then made his way over to Cat Noir. Marinette wasn't afraid for him since she knew what was about to happen. Hawk Moth reached forward to Cat Noir's right hand, but the cat had a plan. Arachna had left his right hand free so his Miraculous could easily be taken. That was a stupid move on her part. The superheroes were always on the same wavelength, and Marinette knew she had no way of getting out of the webs, but Cat Noir did. She knew that if he could manage to escape, then they would have the upper hand, or upper claw has Cat Noir would say.

"Cataclysm!" he yelled before Hawk Moth could get his fingers around the Miraculous. Cat Noir turned his hand around and pressed it, fingers spread wide, onto the web. His destruction power spread and started disintegrating the spider silk until both of them were free.

"Looks like you forgot one tiny detail, Hawk Moth," Marinette said as she instinctively got into her fight stance. Her eyes zeroed in on the pocket Hawk Moth had put her earrings in. She needed to get her earrings back before it was too late.

"No matter," he said, unfazed. "Arachna, Phantom Wolf, attack."

Marinette and Cat Noir watched in horror as Hawk Moth backed up to let his latest villains advance forward.

"Wanna switch it up?" Cat Noir asked. "I get Spidey while you take on Teen Wolf?"

Marinette nodded. She hoped that she could hold her own without her Ladybug powers. Fighting a wolf was something that a non-superhero person could do. Hopefully she could as well.

Cat Noir spotted his staff laying by the opposite wall. His ring beeped and he knew that he needed to wrap it up. One of them without powers was bad enough, but both of them? That would be it. He glanced over at Marinette and she was staring down the wolf without an ounce of fear in her eyes. Even without her powers she was still fearless. He loved her so much.

Arachna shot a web at him, but he jumped up out of the way. He flew over the spider villain then landed behind her. He got on all fours and ran to his staff. He was able to dodge her webs as he ran thanks to his animal senses. He grabbed his staff then broke it in two. He extended both to the length of a sword. He spun them around to create a shield as she uselessly threw her webs at Cat Noir. His deflection of webs didn't discourage Arachna. She kept hurling webs faster and faster, but Cat Noir was easily able to keep up. If only he could get closer.

Marinette noticed that Cat Noir had retrieved his staff. She saw how many pads he had left, and he only had four minutes before he turned back to normal. Using his cataclysm got them out of the spider silk, but it might've cost them their lives. She tried to keep her mind off of that thought. There were more important things to worry about. Phantom Wolf growled then crouched low to the floor. She knew enough about canines to know he was about to jump at her. Just as he was air born Marinette dropped the floor and kicked up with both her legs before he could land on her. She launched him a few feet behind her and he landed in a heap of gray fur. Marinette stood back up quickly wishing she had her yoyo.

Phantom Wolf wasn't fazed by Marinette's dodge. He growled even louder then charged at her. He knocked her down to the floor then lunged for her throat. Marinette threw her hand up and clamped her fingers around his thick neck to keep his teeth away from her. She reached down the wolf's leg to get the akuma off his leg but right before she had her fingers around it Phantom Wolf took advantage of her slight distraction and was able to nip her arm. He only just broke the skin but Marinette knew she couldn't let herself get distracted like that again. Another slip-up like and he could bite her face off. Making sure she didn't lose focus or loosen her grip on his neck, she reached around for something to hit him with. Coming up empty she just tried to keep Phantom Wolf from biting her. She tried kicking and kneeing him in the gut but the wolf didn't even seem to notice. Marinette felt sweat start to drip down her face. She could only hold back the wolf for so long.

Cat Noir saw Marinette struggling to keep the giant wolf at bay. He saw the lack of viable weapons around her, and an idea came to him.

"Marinette!" he yelled.

Marinette turned her head at the sound of her name. She saw Cat Noir twirling his staffs around. When he noticed her looking at him he threw one of them to her. She caught it surprisingly easily then used it to hit Phantom Wolf on the side of his face.

"Thanks, partner!" she called.

"No problem, LB," he said.

As Ladybug she could spin Cat Noir's staff as fast as he could, but as Marinette she would have to make do with just using it as a normal staff. Cat Noir had extended it to about six feet long before he threw it to her. She wasn't as proficient in staff weapons as he was, but she knew how to hit. With a weapon in her hand she felt more confident and was able to land a few hard blows to the wolf. The last one hit the wolf in the head sufficiently knocking him out. With the wolf incapacitated she went after Arachna. She ran and swung the staff to hit her hard on the head. She knew exactly how much force to exert to knock her out for a good long while.

"You're welcome," she said with a smile as Arachna fell to the floor.

He smiled proudly at her before his ring beeped. Three minutes left.

The two of them faced Hawk Moth. Marinette wasn't sure but she thought she saw fear in his cold, dead eyes.

"Give her back her Miraculous," Cat Noir demanded. "We all know you're nothing without your villains."

"I can always make more," he said. "Now that I have the ladybug Miraculous, you have no way of defeating them."

He was right. That was why he was always so adamant of getting the ladybug Miraculous over the black cat's. Ladybug was the only one who could turn the akumas back to normal.

"We'll be able to take you down even without our powers," Marinette said confidently.

Hawk Moth chuckled. "I highly doubt that, but it looks like we'll find out in just a few minutes," Hawk Moth said, eyeing Cat Noir's ring.

Her eyes went to the butterfly pin attached to his tie. She remembered the conversation she had with Master Fu. If she took his Miraculous then he would be powerless as well. That would even the playing field a bit.

Cat Noir charged at their enemy. He held his staff up high but Hawk Moth blocked his blow with the cane. Cat Noir took another swing at him, but Hawk Moth blocked that advance as well. He tried to get the upper hand as he fought against Hawk Moth, but he wasn't able to gain any ground. Marinette gasped as she saw her partner slip. She dashed forward and held up her half of his staff in her hands to keep Hawk Moth from landing a blow to Cat Noir's side. The cane hit the metal with a sharp tap. From behind her Cat Noir extended his staff so that it pushed Hawk Moth off balance which caused him to drop his cane. Marinette kicked the cane out of his reach so Cat Noir could get her earrings safely. He ran forward and reached into the pocket where he had seen Hawk Moth put the earrings. He threw them back to Marinette who caught them easily. Once they landed in her hands Tikki appeared again. The two shared quick words of delight before Marinette put the earrings back on.

"No!" Hawk Moth yelled when Marinette had her Miraculous back.

"Tikki, spots on!" Marinette said. It felt like a part of her soul was returned when she put the earrings on. She loved the feeling having her powers back. She would never take them for granted again.

Hawk Moth watched in horror as Marinette transformed, but grinned in delight when Cat Noir's ring beeped. One minute and counting.

"Cat Noir get out of here!" Ladybug yelled when she saw the same thing as Hawk Moth. She grabbed her yoyo and spun it so that a red glowing circle appeared. She never thought she would be that happy to have her yoyo back.

"I'm not leaving you here alone!" he refused adamantly. He moved to stand by her side. He had forty seconds left.

"Adrien, I swear I will drag you out of here by your tail if you don't leave right now!" she yelled at him, using his real name for once. She hadn't even realized she had used it until she said it.

Hawk Moth laughed. "One door closes another one opens," he said. "You can fight me all you want, but it's not going to change the outcome." He raised his hand and the butterflies started flying faster. They got more organized and then flew straight for Ladybug. She ducked as they flew past her. The butterflies flew around her in a thick circle. They didn't harm her but it served as a distraction.

When they had flown away she looked back up to see that Hawk Moth had captured Cat Noir in an inescapable embrace. She glared at the sight of her partner defenseless like that. Cat Noir struggled against Hawk Moth, but it was moot. In seconds he was going to lose his transformation. She had been counting down in her head and only five seconds remained. Four. Three. Two. One.

She saw a little black creature fly out of the ring and within moments Cat Noir had transformed back to normal. It pained her to see Adrien standing there. By that point she had accepted the fact that it was Adrien underneath that mask, but that was the first time she had seen it for herself. He looked very defeated as Hawk Moth pulled the ring off of Adrien's hand. The black cat Kwami got sucked back into the ring just like Tikki had been.

Ladybug threw her yoyo and wrapped it around Hawk Moth's leg. She yanked on the string bringing him to the floor. Adrien had gotten pulled down with him but Hawk Moth was too busy trying to get the string unwound to keep a grip on the young boy. She heard the ring clatter to the ground with Hawk Moth's fall. It was too dark to see the ring from where Ladybug stood, but she saw Adrien start to search for it.

The yoyo retracted so Hawk Moth was pulled until he was on the ground in front of her. She bound his hands then knelt next to him. "Let's see who you really are," Ladybug said, echoing his words from earlier. She grabbed the pin from his collar and once it was off a purple butterfly Kwami appeared out of the pin. Hawk Moth detransformed into someone very familiar to both her and Adrien.

"Father?" Adrien asked.