PART 2:

Chapter 5:

Lying Low

Adrien had expected the guards to drag him down into the dungeons. So it came as quite a surprise to him when Princess Chloe instructed her men to escort "Cat Noir" to her private chambers.

And they did, with a bit of resistance on Adrien's part.

It was a cozy bedroom – way too cozy for his taste. There wasn't a speck of flooring that wasn't covered in carpet. Every chair or bench had at least one plush pillow on top of it. It was as though Queen Bee was allergic to anything made of stone or wood. If there was one thing Adrien hated, it was other nobles who thought they were high above everyone else. The ones that treated themselves like breakable china dolls were the worst.

If Queen Bee thinks I'll warm up to her like one of her cushions, Adrien thought cynically, I'll gladly throw myself in the dungeon.

The primped princess arrived not to long after. As she pulled off her gloves and strolled over to her dresser, Chloe snapped her fingers to her guards without looking at them. "Wait outside," she said bluntly.

Adrien glowered at the two men suffocating his arms when they finally released him. As the guards filed out one by one, Adrien quickly glanced around the room. All the windows were closed, and the only other exit was the exceedingly-large fireplace, and that had an exceedingly-large fire going on at its core. Looks like I'll have to talk my way out of this one, Adrien concluded.

Once the door sealed shut, Chloe turned and stalked up to the thief, looking him up and down with her bulbous baby-blue eyes. She hummed and gripped Adrien's chin with her thumb and forefinger, turning his head this way and that. Adrien tried not to wince as her nails bit into his skin.

"So," Chloe finally said, her voice slurring like melted wax. "You are the one." She gave Adrien a smile that made him even more uncomfortable. "I'm starting to see the allure."

Adrien brushed her hand away like a proper gentleman, but affixed her with a look of abhorrence. "I'm flattered, Princess, but you're really not my type," he said.

Chloe frowned and wrenched her hand away. "First of all, that's a bit informal, wouldn't you say?" she growled. "Show some respect, thief. It's "Your Highness"." She emphasized that title with a regal bow before straightening up with a sultry pout. "And second of all... why not? You obviously have a taste for fair princesses who like to dress up."

Adrien raised an eyebrow and then shook his head with a snort. "I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about."

Chloe found that oddly amusing. "You and Marinette really are made for each other," she deduced with a slight tilt of her head. "For one thing, you both think I'm an idiot." Then she lifted the roll of parchment in her hands with an evil smirk. "But I know everything."

Adrien clenched his jaw. No point in hiding anything now.

The princess chuckled and fiddled with the letter in her hands. "Perhaps you should add "kingdom sabotage" to your long list of crimes," she said like a disappointed mother scolding her child. "You've poisoned Marinette's heart, threatening my brother's marriage in the process, and now the fate of my kingdom hangs in the balance – all because of your feelings."

Adrien's green eyes sharpened with resolve. "I can't help my feelings for Marinette," he said adamantly. "But neither am I ashamed of them."

Chloe narrowed her gaze, and the room seemed to grow colder to Adrien.

Then she began pacing around him. "Love..." the princess snarled with a bit of a hack as though the word tasted like spoiled wine. "Love is a disease – one that deludes us to the point where we no longer accept reality as it is; where we think whatever we want can happen simply because of our feelings."

Adrien kept his face expressionless as Chloe came back in front of him. "Fortunately," she continued, "like all diseases, love can be vanquished in one of two ways." She held up one finger with a tiny smile. "A cure..." She held up a second finger with a menacing glare. "Or death."

Adrien smirked. "Apparently, I'm not the only one lousy at metaphors... or threats," he said boldly.

Chloe brushed that comment off and brought her face closer to Adrien's, making him unconsciously lean away. "Do you know where your Ladybug is right now?" She pointed towards the door. "She's right down that hallway, packing for her honeymoon tomorrow."

Without thinking, Adrien glanced behind him. He imagined Marinette waiting for him beyond the threshold, unaware that the boy she loved had been captured and would probably be executed this very same night. Adrien tried to hide the remorse in his voice. "She'll never know I'm here."

"Oh, don't worry," Chloe said with surprising enthusiasm, "she will."

Adrien turned back her, dumbfounded. "You're... You're going to just let me go?" he asked in disbelief.

That golden-rimmed face perked up into a sweet grin. "Even better," she said. "I'm going to let you walk down that hallway, Adrikins, and go into her room. You're going to "sneak in" – like the dashing rogue you are – and tell Marinette that you've received her letter." She waved the parchment in front of him as if enticing him to take it. "Then you're going to tell her why you're here." Chloe leaned closer again, and the next five words she said came out as nails scrapping against rock: "Because you don't love her."

Adrien reeled back. "What?!" he snapped.

Chloe smiled at him sadistically. "You're going to tell Marinette that you never truly cared about her, and that you two can never be together," she explained. "It'll break her poor little heart. And tomorrow, she will walk down the aisle into my loving brother's arms. That will cure her."

The room seemed to turn a slight shade of red... and so did Adrien. He clenched his fists so badly his fingers turned cold and hard. "What makes you think..." the thief growled at Chloe forebodingly, "...that I would ever do something as cruel and unacceptable as that to her?!"

The blue-eyed bitch didn't seem frazzled at all by his beastly demeanour as she replied, "Because if you don't, I'll use the second option."

Now Adrien was grinning again, only this time more sinisterly. "You'll kill me?"

Chloe bore a wide, toothy smile. "Oh, no, no, no..." she cooed with an evil gleam in her eyes. "I'll kill her."

Adrien stopped breathing. His face went utterly slack, and he felt a sharp pinch of dread nipping at the corners of his heart.

She didn't just say that... She wasn't being serious...

But that smug, regal fortitude on Chloe's face told him that she couldn't be more serious.

Adrien's mouth parted. "You'll what?" he breathed in barely a whisper.

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Must I repeat everything to you?" she sniped with that trademark icy glare. "Or are you just that clueless?" She sighed. "Killing you would just make Marinette love you even more. Theo's marriage and the entire kingdom would ultimately crumble."

"But if she were to die – say, at an assassin's hand..." Chloe added with a nudge of her chin at Adrien, "she would die a martyr. Bourgeois would forgive the tragedy, even mourn it. Her grief-stricken parents would reward us greatly for bringing their daughter's killer to justice, and the merger between our two kingdoms would be complete."

Rage began building up inside of Adrien. "You would do that to your own brother's fiancé?!" he asked in a raised voice. "To an innocent girl who only wanted –!"

"Innocent?!" Chloe interjected with a sharp snarl. "Innocent... because she is the fairest in the land, adored by every noble and commoner who so much as hears her name being spoken? Innocent because she never has to worry about inheritance or power or reputation? Innocent because SHE didn't have to be cut, molded, and shaped into the perfect little princess by her own parents, who love her unconditionally just for being their daughter?!"

Adrien went rigid as the princess in front of him revealed the darkness inside her at last: pure, unwavering malice shadowing the delicate features of her face, her eyes so rough and stormy they could sink an entire fleet of ships, and her mouth bearing the hungry scowl of a demon waiting to draw blood.

Chloe stroked Adrien's face with her long fingernail, running it along the skin like a knife. "Nothing would please me more," she whispered cruelly with a sharp flick of his chin, "than to choke the life out of her with my bare hands and see if she still looks pretty afterwards." The princess smiled and pulled away with a shrug. "But like I said, the fate of my kingdom hands in the balance."

Now, as he stood precariously on the edge, Adrien understood. This was a woman who had been given everything... except the ability to follow her own heart. This was a woman driven by envy and hatred for a fellow princess who had that kind of freedom. To Chloe, Marinette was just a pawn on the chess board – if push came to shove, Marinette could be sacrificed without a second thought for what Chloe believed was the greater good.

It made Adrien fear for Marinette even more, if she was to marry into this kind of family.

She lives marrying Theo, or dies loving me. Either way, Chloe wins. Either way... I lose Ladybug forever.

Before he could stop himself, Adrien was standing back in the tunnel of his nightmares, listening to Marinette's horrified screams and being unable to reach her in time.

He had already lost his mother, his father, his home and his life. He couldn't bear to lose the woman he loved as well... not when he had this one chance to protect her. Heart-wrenching dread filled Adrien, and he felt his eyes burn. Dear god, don't ask me to do this to her.

He shook his head at Chloe. "You're insane," he spat.

"And you're a fool in love," the princess spat back, her triumphant grin returning, "which is why you are going to do exactly what I told you."

Adrien fiddled with the lucky charm on his wrist... and he hung his head with shame and sorrow.

Once her pack was filled with the essentials, Marinette double-checked that her quiver had enough arrows. Her Ladybug cloak lay sprawled on the bed, and her travelling boots stood ready to be put on. She also made sure her new fur-trimmed uniform was buttoned up – the weather would only get colder from here on out.

Marinette shivered excitedly from the prospect of her impending escapade. With any luck, she would be out of here before sunrise. She could already see the look on Chloe's face. If only I could be there when it happens, Marinette jeered.

Still, this wasn't going to be an easy decision. King Thomas and Queen Sabine would worry sick for her, and Bridgette – though she understood her little sister better than anyone – would miss her terribly. But Marinette had already written a letter for her family, explaining why she had to leave and the new information she uncovered from Bourgeois' marriage contract.

It hadn't been that hard to uncover, and being a princess had its perks. All Marinette had to do was convince the royal bookkeeper that she wanted to review the details of the union for the sake of Dupain-Cheng. The old man had been very generous, so Marinette felt a little bad about lying to him, but it had been worth it in the end.

For while scavenging through the agonizing fine print of the contract, Marinette uncovered one particular loophole that would change everything: Both kingdoms had no right to declare war on the other if either the bride or the groom – for whatever reason – denied the marriage outright, so long as both kingdoms reached a new, mutually-beneficial agreement on the sharing of lands, wealth, troops, and/or resources.

In short, Chloe's threats meant nothing to Marinette, and she knew for a fact that her parents and King Andre were never the kind of rulers who would immediately resort to violence.

Still, there was only one way that could all happen: Adrien had to come tonight.

So now Marinette double-checked and triple-checked her supplies just to pass the time. And with each long, silent minute that went by, the princess's nerves began to get the better of her. He'll be here, she assured herself. He's probably on his way up right now.

Unless Adrien hasn't received the letter yet. Unless Hawkmoth's already tracked him down and...

Marinette shook her head, furious at herself for allowing such thoughts into her head. Her encounter with the Sorcerer King at the ball still haunted her.

So Marinette breathed in slowly and closed her eyes, re-imagining the moment she caught sight of Adrien in the crowd. She could feel his warm hands intertwine with hers, his breath on her face as they huddled so close together, as he whispered her name...

"Marinette."

Her eyelids flung open. She had definitely not imagined that.

The princess turned slowly towards the door of the chambers... and her heart fluttered.

Standing right there, slumped against the door as he carefully inched it closed, was her Cat Noir. Her partner. Her rogue. Her prince.

"Adrien," Marinette said breathlessly.

He nodded rather stiffly, the lines on his face flat and unreadable. "I got your letter," he said as he stepped out of the shadows.

Marinette blinked several times to make sure she wasn't dreaming. Once she was certain of that, her face lit up with joy and her eyes began to water. "You came," she whispered. Just like she knew he would.

Suddenly, nothing was stopping the blunette from running over to Adrien and throwing her arms around his neck. Her momentum caused Adrien to stagger and twirl them both around in their spot. It made Marinette laugh.

Then his arms were around her waist and squeezing her as though he never wanted to let go. She felt his hot breath against her neck, and a warm jingle flowed down her spine.

All the while, Marinette sighed happily, "You came you came you came you came..." At the same time, her thoughts were singing a chorus: He loves me!

Now she had no regrets whatsoever in leaving her family, Theo, Bourgeois and Chloe behind – not as long as she had her Cat Noir.

Adrien reluctantly set her back down. That was all right with Marinette. There would be plenty of time for that later.

She smiled up into his eyes and cupped his face in her hands. "Oh, Adrien," she said with a blissful giggle. Then she closed her eyes and leaned closer to him, her lips pursing...

...until he leaned away from her – more like jerked away – and removed her hands from his face. "Wait," Adrien said hoarsely.

Marinette open her eyes, her smile lessening. That's when she finally noticed that he wasn't smiling back at her, or reaching out to touch her. In fact, he seemed so sullen and distant. And he had pulled away from her attempted kiss.

"What's wrong?" the princess asked, her eyes laced with concern.

Adrien's mouth opened and closed several times before he stammered, "I can't... I mean, we can't."

Marinette blinked at him... and then snorted with amusement. "Of course we can, silly kitty," she said encouragingly. "We can go, we can be together... we can leave all of this!"

She clasped his hands tightly and held them against her chest. Adrien stared down at them blankly, his Adam's apple bobbing a bit. Is he scared? Marinette thought. Is he afraid of what Hawkmoth might do to me if I go with him?

Well, she was just going to tell him that she didn't care about any of that.

"Look," the princess said more softly, trying to get him to look into her eyes again. "I know there are costs, but I've planned everything." She grinned at him with pride. "I found a loophole in the marriage contract. My family will understand, and Chloe will have no choice but to honour it. Trust me, Adrien – she can't hurt us."

Her thief finally glanced up at her, but once again his face remained perfectly impassive.

Marinette sighed and went on, "And now that I know you love me too –"

"I don't."

She stopped and frowned, her breath catching.

It wasn't just those two little words he said that hit her hard. It was the way he had said them: so straightforward, so remorseless, so... cold.

"What?" Marinette asked, her eyebrows drawing together with confusion.

Adrien shook his head at her. "Love you," he replied. "I don't."

Now the princess's face softened and her eyes widened with shock. He didn't... He didn't actually say...

"I'm sorry," Adrien said with a heavy sigh as he pulled out of her grasp. "This was all a mistake."

Marinette felt her hands go numb all of a sudden. She felt the iciness in his gaze sear into her bones, making her shiver. "I don't understand..." she uttered. Why is he saying this? Why is this a mistake?

Adrien straightened up and gave her a narrowed look, like he was disappointed in her answer. "You really don't know?" he asked. "You have a family, Marinette – a future, a chance to be happy. I don't." He hung his head in shame and reached into his pocket. When his hand emerged, it was carrying a small, crumpled piece of folded paper. "You said I would always be in your heart and..." Adrien swallowed hard and shook his head. "...and that is too cruel a fate."

My letter, Marinette realized. He did get it!

But then... why was here, if only to tell her what was slowly starting to break her heart?

Marinette glanced back up at him in disbelief. "But you... you came to see me at the ball," she insisted. "You came here tonight..."

Adrien eyed her broodingly again. "I went to the ball," he explained, "because I wanted to see if I really did have feelings for you; that it wasn't just some... small infatuation." He shook his head with a remorseful look. "But I was wrong."

Now Marinette was shaking her head, and her eyes filled with hot tears. "You don't mean that," she said defiantly... though she had trouble saying it that way. She breathed in with a sniffle. "You can't..."

But her partner – her prince who had always been openly honest with her – placed a reluctant hand on her shoulder, his green eyes unlike the ones she had seen back in the Enchanted Forest. "Go live your life, Marinette," Adrien said in a softer tone, though not without that empty, hollow edge to it. "Live it without me because there is no place for us together, no matter what we do or where we go. Stay here, and fill your heart with love for someone else – someone who can love you the way I never have." He swallowed again and added, "The way I never will."

Suddenly, Marinette couldn't stop the tears from falling. "No..." she gasped. She let out a shaky sob and forced herself to look away from him, her eyes squeezed together. "I don't believe you. I don't believe any of this!" She looked up at him again, her face red and wet and shattered. "Adrien... what is going on? Why are you -?"

At that moment, something was being pressed into her open palm. Marinette looked down... and her heart almost cleaved in two.

It was her lucky charm. The one she had given him to remember her by. The one he had worn to the ball. The one he had promised he would never give away.

But now...

"I came here tonight," Adrien said as his fingers once again pulled away from hers, "to give this back to you. I came here to say goodbye, my l-" He stopped himself, almost wincing, before correcting himself coldly, "Your Highness."

Not "my lady". Not "Ladybug". Not even "Princess".

Your Highness... as though every other part of who she was meant nothing to him.

This time, Marinette didn't try to look up at him as he turned and left her alone. She just stared down at the charm in her hand. It seemed heavier than it looked, but all the more fragile... just like her heart.

She heard the door screech open, saw his shadow on the floor pause for a moment. Then he slipped through the threshold and was gone. He didn't even bother to close the door.

She should run over and slam it shut. Hard. Let him know exactly how much pain he had left her in.

But Marinette couldn't bring herself to do it.

Instead, she clutched the charm to her chest and cried silently. All the while, she cast a pleading gaze towards the open doorway.

Even when no one came, even when the rest of the castle fell asleep and the cold night air seeped into her room, Marinette left the door open.

The night was cold. The ground was colder.

But Adrien's heart was the coldest of all.

The moment he had turned away from Marinette, he let the tears fall. He had stopped in the middle of the doorway, wondering if she was going to call him back. When she didn't, he stole back into the hallway... unable to bring himself to close the door in front of her.

The guards did not bother Adrien as he waddled down the hallways and out the front gates of the castle. Chloe had made sure of that.

Now Adrien was back in the Enchanted Forest, making his way aimlessly through the trees. The glowing moon above taunted him with its cold, heartless, unyielding light. Just leave me alone! He wanted to shout at it.

He'd had enough of it all: moons, stars, trees, castles, princesses, beaded bracelets... everything.

Adrien didn't know how far he had walked, or how long it had been since he left Castle Bourgeois. Quite frankly, he no longer cared.

But then his treacherous heart made him look back at the gleaming towers sticking out of the treetops like daggers. If only he could pick up one of them and put himself out of his misery.

She'll never forgive me for this, Adrien thought wretchedly.

It killed him to realize that lying to Marinette had been so easy; that he was able to appear like he didn't give a damn without a single twitch or blink to betray him; that all those unforgiveable words had just flowed out of his mouth like he had freaking rehearsed them.

She'll never forgive me... and I'll never forgive myself.

Moonlight blinded his teary vision, and Adrien turned away and staggered back into the dark, endless expanse. But no matter how far he went, he couldn't get his lady's pain-stricken face out of his thoughts.

Then Nino's face appeared. Then Alya's. Then Rose, Kim, Max, and then Nathaniel and Juleka. They all would be wondering where Adrien was. They were probably waiting anxiously by the window for him and his Ladybug to emerge hand-in-hand down the moonlit path to the cottage.

Adrien stopped in his tracks.

How could he face his friends after what he had just gone? How could he stand to be near such wonderful, good people when he had performed the most vile, egregious act imaginable?

Everyone he loved – his mother, the love of his life – had disappeared from his world like dandelions on a breeze. And it hurt every time. He couldn't bear to endure anymore pain like that.

Maybe... Maybe it was better to be alone.

Nino would be furious. He would never let Adrien go anywhere without him. The huntsman had sworn an oath to protect him after the exiled prince had freed him from Hawkmoth's control.

But the only thing that needed protecting had been destroyed. All that was left now was a black, hard stone.

Adrien clenched his fists, his face darkening almost as bad as the shadows around him.

He couldn't afford anymore heartbreak... because he had no more heart to give.

Which also meant he had nothing to lose, nothing to fear.

But he did have something to look forward to; something that would solve all of his problems and finally rid him of this horrible hollowness once and for all:

His stepfather. Gone. For good.

Adrien almost smiled at that.

Not just gone, he corrected himself, but destroyed. Erased from the history books. Thrown off the face of the earth.

Now that the thief had a taste of the darkness, there was no point in dipping his toes in the water anymore. No point in playing by the rules. No point in playing the "righteous hero".

He lifted his head resolutely and broke into a sprint. "I'm coming for you now... Hawkmoth," he said with a feline snarl.

He was no longer Prince Adrien. That boy would never survive in a world where having a heart didn't get you anywhere.

But Cat Noir, the black-hearted thief, could survive.

And he would... but first, he had a king to kill.

That same king could barely believe what he was seeing through the magic mirror... or what he was feeling, for that matter.

The grief, the self-loathing, the bitterness, the rage, and the thirst for vengeance – it was the most invigorating sensation Hawkmoth had felt in so many years!

He couldn't help but laugh wickedly. "This has turned out better than I ever hoped!" he exclaimed to no one in particular. He gleefully watched Adrien's dark form race through the shadows of the Enchanted Forest. "A poor prince deprived of happiness and purpose in the light, and now he willingly turns to the darkness to ease his suffering," the Sorcerer King mused with another cackle. "I love it!"

All this time, he thought he had to kill King Gabriel's son in order to complete his revenge. But now... this unexpected turn of events was giving him a more promising idea.

Hawkmoth strode eagerly from his chambers and into a small atrium at the top of the centre spire of the castle. The royal family had once used it as a greenhouse; a sanctuary for all kinds of exotic plants and insects.

But once the new King of Agreste had married Queen Vivienne and ascended the throne, he transformed the atrium into his personal breeding ground for a very rare species of butterfly.

Several, tiny pairs of glowing blue wings fluttered in Hawkmoth's presence. Their own iridescent light made them more beautiful than any other butterfly... and more powerful.

Especially when combined with their master's dark magic.

Hawkmoth held out his hand. "Come to me, my little akuma," he purred.

One of the butterflies flapped obediently towards him and landed on his outstretched palm.

The king placed his other hand over top of the creature in a cocoon. Then he cast his spell. His brooch pulsed with purple energy, and several wisps of it flowed down his arm and through his fingers before striking the little butterfly.

Once it was complete, Hawkmoth presented his newest creation: a butterfly with pitch-black wings adorned with veins of glowing purple.

There was a reason why his soldiers were called Akuma Guards. And now, there was going to be a new member enlisting.

"Time to go on a trip, my friend," Hawkmoth said to the corrupted butterfly with an evil sneer. "It's high time my stepson and I rekindled our old bond."

And as his maniacal laugh echoed throughout the atrium, the remaining blue butterflies scattered fearfully in his wake.