Greetings and welcome back! Thank you so much for the reviews, favourites and follows. You guys have no idea how much trouble this chapter gave me. It was like it was jinxed or something. I had to re-write it twice because it wasn't quite right and then it randomly deleted itself off my computer. It was really weird and luckily I managed to recover it.
I just wanted to reiterate a quick WARNING! This story is going to get darker and more violent from this point onwards. I'm just worried I've led you guys into a false sense of security with how semi-innocent the story has been so far. This chapter in particular may be slightly disturbing to some people.
Chapter 14: Darkest Dream
Ladybug's eyes snapped open and she immediately sat bolt upright in bed. Cold sweat dripped from her skin and down her red and black spotted suit as she looked around the familiar yet familiar room. Something felt wrong about today, like Ladybug's dreams refused to surrender her to the day ahead.
Shaking her head, Ladybug rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, pushing the satin sheets off herself before she kicked her feet so they hung off the large queen-sized bed beneath her. The warm rays of the morning sun gently greeted her face, the light shimmering through the glass balcony doors that provided Ladybug with a beautiful view of all of Paris.
Ignoring the persistent foreboding feeling deep within the pit of her stomach, Ladybug forced herself to stand up. She softly ran her fingers down the translucent curtains in front of the double doors of the balcony, and she frowned slightly as her instincts kept screaming at her, despite no danger being present. It was such a beautiful day though. What could possibly have her on such high alert?
Shaking her head, Ladybug wondered if she just needed her morning coffee. She ran her fingers through her short hair in an attempt to maybe soothe her head, remembering with a nostalgic smile the twin pigtails she used to wear.
As she tried her best to silence her screaming instincts, Ladybug made her way downstairs, though for some reason, today had a slightly surreal feel to it. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but it was enough to make her feel weird and on edge.
Yeah, she definitely needed some coffee.
As Ladybug began to approach the kitchen, the sound of giggles of happiness made her automatically smile. She peeked around the doorway of the kitchen to see three small children all sat around a circular table that was pushed into the corner of the kitchen. The eldest boy and youngest boy almost looked identical with black hair and striking green eyes, both of them dressed in similar jeans and hoodies. They sat chatting and laughing with each other as they both ate a bowl of cereal. A baby girl, who looked no older than one-year-old, with blonde hair and bright blue eyes, was sat in a highchair giggling to herself as she watched her brothers.
Ladybug's heart melted at the sight of them, and she smiled softly to herself as she continued to watch them. However, her view was suddenly obscured by two black gloved hands clasping over her eyes.
"Guess who?" a familiar voice asked, chuckling behind her.
"Hmmm." Ladybug pretended to think. "I wonder who it could possibly be?"
She heard the children snigger.
"Maybe the only other person in the house? Adrien," Ladybug teased.
"Aww, you're no fun."
His hands released her eyes, and Ladybug spun around with a smirk on her face. Her blue eyes met his green cat-like ones, and his black leather cat ears drooped adorably and sullenly at her sarcasm. However, Chat couldn't keep up the act for very long, and soon he couldn't help but beam down at Ladybug before wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her closer.
Ladybug leaned against him, unable to look away from his eyes, completely entranced. He had lost some of the roundness in his face, now looking much more mature, and his wild blond hair was now much thicker than before. Ladybug reached up to rest her arms against his shoulders, giggling slightly when Chat leaned down to rest his forehead against hers.
"On the contrary I can be loads of fun." Ladybug winked at Chat, which made him smirk deviously.
"Oh, I know you can, Marinette." His smirk grew wider just as he leaned in and pressed his lips against hers.
Ladybug kissed him back just as eagerly, slowly opening her mouth to deepen the kiss and allow his tongue to explore her mouth and tangle with her own. Electricity pulsed through her body, and she pressed her chest closer against his, feeling empty, lonely and incomplete without having every inch of him pressed tightly against her. Chat quietly moaned into the kiss as he gripped her waist tighter while Ladybug entangled her fingers in his blond locks.
The sound of gagging and laughter nearby showered upon them like freezing cold water, and the both of them instantly pulled apart, gasping for air, before playfully glaring at their children.
"We're trying to eat here," the oldest boy pointed out, pushing his cereal bowl away in disgust.
"I'll remind you of that in ten years, Hugo, when you're kissing your future partner in front of us," Chat joked, wrapping his arm around Ladybug's shoulders and leading them both into the kitchen.
He then gently pushed down on her shoulders, making her sit down at the table before he made his way over to the counter, brewing her coffee and getting some food for them and little Emma.
"You don't have to do that, Adrien," Ladybug insisted.
"Can't I spoil my princess?" Chat winked at her. "It's one of your few days off today and I'm going to spoil you rotten."
"But –"
"No buts," Chat interrupted her playfully and sternly. "My amazing fashion designer wife deserves a break."
Ladybug sighed, relaxing back into her chair, deciding it was best to not continue protesting. She was flattered, and was indeed incredibly tired from all of the hard work she had to deal with at her fashion business lately. The autumn line was coming out soon and Ladybug needed to make sure that she was on top of everything, giving certain designs the go-ahead, as well as trying to organise all of her employees. She was so grateful for this day off. She would actually get to spend some quality time with her family today, whom she worried she had been neglecting slightly these past few weeks.
Ladybug gazed guiltily at her children as they ate. However, the more she gazed at her children, the more Ladybug felt herself frowning in confusion. Her life…it was…everything she had ever wanted. She was a famous fashion designer, married to the love of her life and had three beautiful children. It was the life that she had always imagined for herself when she was younger. But for some reason it felt…off. Ladybug would even go as far to say it felt…wrong.
Ladybug shook her head.
No.
Her life was perfect and she should be grateful; it was wrong to doubt it.
Yes, her life was indeed perfect, Ladybug thought happily to herself as she ate breakfast with the family she had always wanted. Chat wasn't kidding when he said he was going to spoil her. He sorted the children out all by himself, shooting her a glare whenever she attempted to intervene and help out. It still hardly seemed fair though. Chat had been doing most of the work with their children lately, so wasn't it more appropriate for her to be doing most of the work with them today?
Ladybug shook her head at Chat's logic. She loved him for it though.
"So!" Chat clapped his hands together once he was finished cleaning up. "What shall we do today?"
"The park!" both boys squealed, jumping out of their seats.
"'Ark!" Baby Emma tried to join in.
"The park it is then." Ladybug chuckled. "You boys better both get your shoes on then," she added as she picked Emma up out of her high chair.
The two boys instantly ran into the hallway to get their shoes on. Chat helped Ladybug put Emma into her stroller, and Ladybug laughed as Chat insisted on pushing her like an excited child. Ladybug relented, locking the front door behind them once they had all made their way outside. They passed through their front gates before walking down the street to where the park was, both boys running ahead with Ladybug keeping an eye on them, making sure they didn't stray too far away or run out into the road.
Once they arrived at the park, the two boys ran off towards the playground while Ladybug and Chat Noir both sat with Emma on the grass and watched. Ladybug kept having to make sure that Emma wasn't picking the grass and putting it in her mouth as she let her daughter begin crawling around. Ladybug leaned her head against Chat's shoulder as she watched her children. Everything was so perfect. She had achieved everything that she had wanted to out of life.
However, Ladybug still couldn't shake off that nagging feeling that something was wrong. Her life was perfect so why should something be wrong?
This park…it seemed almost…familiar.
It felt like something obvious was screaming at Ladybug at a frequency that she couldn't quite pick up.
This park…shouldn't she have been doing something?
Ladybug soon found herself on high alert for any sign of danger. There was something about this park, which she had been visiting ever since she was a small child, that was making her head hurt. It was like a memory was scratching at her brain, begging for attention, but Ladybug just couldn't quite locate it.
Was there something at work she had forgotten to do? No, surely a member of her staff would have called her if there was something she needed to do. But Ladybug felt like she was forgetting something incredibly important. And it had something to do with this park.
At those thoughts, Ladybug's vision began to blur and contort before everything around her glitched for a split second, as if she was inside a damaged video game.
Ladybug instantly stood up, beginning to panic as her terrible feeling did not vanish, even when her vision returned to normal. Ladybug felt like her heart was beating in her ears, painfully pulsing away as the world around her continued on as if nothing strange had just happened.
Had Ladybug finally cracked?
"What is it, Mari?" Chat asked, concern lacing his voice.
"Did you not just see that?" Ladybug gasped out as her eyes continued to dart around.
She instinctively reached down and pulled Emma towards her, and her eyes darted over to Hugo and Louis to make sure they were okay. They continued to play on the swings and, like everyone else, didn't seem to notice that anything weird had just happened.
"See what?" Chat started to sound slightly freaked out.
"Everything…it was like it just…glitched?" Ladybug tried to explain as best she could without sounding crazy.
Maybe she was crazy. Hearing herself saying what happened out loud made Ladybug doubt what she had just witnessed. Chat was right. Maybe she did work too hard and now she had finally snapped.
"Looks like I was right," Chat mused, his eyebrows furrowing, "you are in dire need of a break."
Ladybug sighed as she hugged Emma tighter and protectively against her chest. She looked around the park one last time before sitting back down, shuffling close to Chat slightly, but her heart refused to calm down. Ladybug had never felt more alert. Alarms were blaring inside her mind, and her gut kept screaming and clawing at her. All Ladybug could coherently translate from it was that something was dreadfully wrong.
Goosebumps rose on Ladybug's skin as the atmosphere felt heavy. What was it about today that had Ladybug so on edge? Everything seemed so normal yet abnormal at the same time.
The temperature dropped, and Ladybug began to see her breath in front of her as the warm air from her lungs collided with the now much cooler air around her. No one else seemed phased though. Everything seemed to glitch violently again, zig zagging lines flashing across her vision like a bad television reception. Everyone else in the park, including her children seemed to freeze in place, their faces flickering and blurring like static. Their features melted away, and their eyes, noses and mouths were replaced with deep black holes. The abysses which had appeared on their faces turned towards Ladybug, staring at her, cold and empty.
Sweat dripping from her brow, Ladybug slowly looked down to see that Emma had the exact same dark holes in her face, and was staring up at her with an expressionless look on her void covered face.
Ladybug screamed and darted upright, backing up slowly as her blue eyes scanned everyone's faces. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut before opening them again, praying that this was some sort of hallucination due to her exhausted and stressed state.
That wasn't the case though. The dark voids on the faces of everyone around her remained, and they all tilted their heads to the side in unison as they continued to stare at her.
"Marinette, what's wrong?!" Chat cried out in alarm as he stood up, not seeming to notice the fact that his baby daughter had giant holes in her face.
Chat, however, apart from Ladybug, seemed to be the only remaining normal person. His handsome features remained perfect with no black holes on his face to be seen.
Ladybug's reply became stuck behind a lump of intense fear in her throat. The sky was now stained a blood red colour, and the world around her growing dark as the people in the park began to slowly walk towards her, their arms outstretched is if wanting to grab her. Ladybug backed away, and Chat's eyes widened in alarm.
"Marinette, please!" he begged, slowly taking a cautious step towards her, his expression unsure and terrified.
"Do you not see them?!" Ladybug finally managed to shriek out.
"See what?"
"Their faces!" Ladybug screamed, moving her hands up to grip her hair as her eyes remained wide, wild and terror-stricken. "This isn't right, this world isn't right."
"No, Marinette, everything is fine," Chat tried to reason with her.
"It's all wrong!" Marinette shrieked before closing her eyes tightly shut and covering her head with her hands in the hopes of keeping her obviously fracturing mind together.
A loud screech suddenly echoed around her, like finger nails pressing and sliding firmly down a chalk board. Instinctively, Ladybug covered her ears, unable to control the tears of pure fear that brewed in her eyes. Ladybug had never been in a situation like this before; she didn't know what to do. It was like she was living in a nightmare.
Wait a second…nightmare…dream…
The latter word echoed around in her head in a familiar male voice that she felt like she had recently heard. Dream…that word felt like it held some significant importance, but it felt like the memory was just out of her reach.
Ladybug nearly jumped out of her skin when warm arms wrapped around her. She opened her eyes to see Chat's black leather covered chest obstructing her vision. He embraced her tightly, resting his cheek against the top of her head before giving her forehead a gentle kiss and pulling away slightly so he could look at her. Ladybug remained trembling in his arms, and tears stained her cheeks which startled Chat even more.
"A-Adrien?" Ladybug stuttered out, checking to make sure he was real.
"Marinette, will you please tell me what is going on?" Chat pleaded with her, placing a finger under her chin and making her look him in the eyes.
As she gazed into Chat Noir's eyes, something clicked. Chat Noir. Why was she calling Chat Noir by Adrien's name? That wasn't his name. She did not know Chat Noir's real name. It was almost as if the reality around her was behaving like a…dream.
That's it!
The memories of fighting Dreamscape thrusted themselves violently to the forefront of her mind, like a car crashing into a wall at one hundred miles an hour. The force sent Ladybug's mind reeling as everything came rushing back to her. She must have been hit by one of his canvases. No wonder everything had seemed so perfect. He had given her visions of her dream life!
"This isn't real," Ladybug whispered, gripping Chat Noir's leather suit so tightly that if it had been made from any other material, Ladybug was sure to have ripped it.
"What?" Chat asked.
"This isn't real," Ladybug repeated, louder this time.
She slowly loosened her grip on Chat's suit and began slowly backing away. Chat's eyes grew even more pained and panicked as Ladybug continued to take slow steps backwards. The world around them had melted into pure darkness to a point in which all Ladybug could see was the glow of Chat Noir's pain filled green eyes. The Chat Noir in front of her sure seemed to be the best illusion in her dreams right now.
"I'm being toyed with," Ladybug whispered to herself.
"You can't leave me! Not now, not after everything!" Chat suddenly called out to her, sounding like a man on the brink of losing everything, shocking Ladybug to a brief standstill.
No. He wasn't real, Ladybug kept telling herself. This illusion was just to keep her distracted so she wouldn't be able to stop Dreamscape.
"You mean the everything that wasn't even real!" Ladybug called out back to him, their voices echoing in the void.
"But we could have that again!" Chat begged, it sounded like he was holding back tears. "It was all real, and it could all be real again!"
Ladybug growled. This magic was amazingly strong and real sounding.
"I am not a toy to be played with."
With that, Ladybug turned her back on the now dim glow of Chat Noir's desperate and pleading eyes and took off running. Where she would run to, she didn't know. She just knew that she needed to find a way to escape this nightmare and back to sanity. Paris needed her, and she was technically sleeping on the job right now.
Looking frantically around in the darkness for some form of light, Ladybug kept running, even as her lungs started to burn and protest. Her muscles pleaded with her to stop and rest, but Ladybug knew she couldn't afford to. Much to her frustration, her movements felt like they were going slower and slower each passing second. It was beginning to feel like she was running underwater. She thrashed her arms forward in an attempt to drag herself along in what felt like a thickening air.
It didn't work, and Ladybug continued to flail around in vexation, trying in vain to make herself move faster, or at least at a normal running pace. The void around her was deathly silent, causing Ladybug's ears to ring and creepily allowed her to even hear her own blood pumping through her body.
As she continued to run ever so slowly forward, a very dim yellow light began to appear in the distance. Ladybug found herself sighing slightly in relief at the sight of something other than pure darkness, though she still remained petrified and cautious as she continued to run towards it. The light grew brighter and larger as Ladybug approached. Her movement began to return to a normal pace and she no longer felt like she was running in slow motion.
However, Ladybug froze when something cold and wet touched the back of her neck. Now at a standstill, Ladybug slowly touched the back of her neck, sighing slightly in relief as she felt her familiar pigtails in their usual place; her normal sixteen-year-old body was back.
Ladybug carefully touched the tiny wet patch on the back of her neck before pulling her fingers away to inspect them. A tiny water droplet sat on her finger with small ice crystals inside that continued to melt against the heat of her body. Ladybug gazed upwards into the dark void to see more tiny little flakes of snow falling down.
Feeling unnerved, Ladybug pressed on, walking now instead of running in order to pay closer attention to what was ahead of her.
The closer she got to the yellow light, the larger the snowflakes became, and the heavier they fell. Soon, Ladybug felt like she was walking through a blizzard. She could feel the cold through her suit, though it didn't bother her too much. Her breath came out in wispy puffs of smoke that swirled gracefully in front of her face before disappearing, and layers of snow appeared beneath her feet, becoming deep enough to almost reach Ladybug's knees.
She trudged onwards through it, confused and scared over what was happening, but at the same time, morbidly curious. Was she still dreaming? Had she finally found a way out only to teleport to the top of a mountain?
The latter seemed to be the most likely case. Or, at least, she was definitely on a mountain.
The ground beneath her sloped to such an angle, that Ladybug had a challenging time walking straight without slipping and falling. The sky was dark and stormy, with snow blowing all around her, making it difficult for Ladybug to see more than a few feet in front of her. The light was still visible though, and Ladybug used it as her beacon of guidance, like a lost ship would use a lighthouse.
Ladybug couldn't help but become transfixed by the light ahead of her. It was like it was calling to her, the light's warmness reaching into her very soul, begging for her to approach. Ladybug could not resist the call of this siren.
As the wind howled around her, Ladybug suddenly couldn't help but halt at the sight of something red. The snow just in front of her was stained crimson red by, what Ladybug assumed with a pounding heart, blood. A trail of blood.
Ladybug's eyes followed the stains of fresh blood that seeped into the pure whiteness of the snow, and realised with a gasp that it was leading directly to the yellow light in the distance. Did she dare continue to follow it now? Maybe someone needed her help? At that sinking thought, Ladybug's superhero instincts couldn't help but kick in, and her mind was instantly made up.
Ladybug continued on.
The blood stains in the snow became thicker and larger, and Ladybug bit her lip, starting to feel slightly faint at the sight. The wind and snow continued to pound against her body, like tiny, powerful cold fists punching every inch of her. Her face was beginning to feel numb, and she wrapped her arms around herself both for warmth and as a source of comfort.
The yellow light grew even bigger and brighter. Ladybug's eyes widened slightly before squinting again to protect them from the storm as she heard what sounded like a woman sobbing. Ladybug was not alone. Someone was definitely out here, hurt, and maybe even as lost as she was.
The cries were gargled and slightly animalistic, at times sounding almost like a wounded bird. The closer Ladybug got to the light, the more she could start to make out what looked like a hunched over hooded figure. That's when Ladybug realised the source of the light. It was a lantern. The hunched figure was sat next to it, facing away from Ladybug, a pool of bright, fresh, red blood flowed into the snow around her, forming a lake around her.
At that sight, Ladybug froze.
The woman didn't seem to notice her presence. She just continued to cry in a pain that was indescribable. Whoever this person was, they sounded like the most tortured soul on the planet.
Ladybug found herself too terrified to say anything and remained as frozen as the snow and ice around her. Something deep inside Ladybug was screaming at her to run! Run away and never look back. Ladybug fought it off though. This woman was clearly in a lot of pain and seriously injured; she needed Ladybug's help.
Cautiously, Ladybug took a step forward, bracing herself slightly as the deep snow crunched beneath her foot.
The woman did not react.
Growing slightly more confident, Ladybug took another few steps forward before stopping just beyond arm's reach of the mysterious woman. Again, the woman did not move, seemingly still not noticing Ladybug's presence. Her dark blue cloak billowed out around her in the intense wind, though her figure and features remained hidden.
Ladybug jumped as she threw her head back and let out a scream of pure, unadulterated agony. The sound tore at Ladybug's heart, and her compassionate nature cried out for her to help this poor woman while her instincts continued to hold her back. The woman's scream continued to echo throughout the mountains, bouncing off the snow before it was carried many miles by the racing wind.
Ladybug's ears rang slightly when it was all over, and she moved to take a step around her to view the woman from the front. As the young hero slowly side stepped around her, the woman's face still remained hidden in her cloak, though the cloak had opened up slightly at the front.
The sight that greeted Ladybug made her gasp loudly and gag simultaneously.
The woman was crouched on her knees, only the top half of her body dressed in a shirt. What skin of her bare legs was visible was as pale as the snow around them. The rest was dripping in thick blood, and it cascaded down her legs like the waterfalls of hell. The woman's hands covered her crotch where the blood appeared to be oozing out from.
The strange woman screamed again, and Ladybug stumbled back slightly before falling onto her back in the snow. Panicking that the woman was now not in her line of sight, Ladybug quickly whipped her head around to gaze back at the woman again. Though her hood remained covering her head, Ladybug felt every nerve of her body turn to ice at the sight of two bright orange eyes staring menacingly at her from beneath the hood.
As her blue eyes locked with the glowing orange ones of the woman in front of her, Ladybug cried out in fear as she felt a warm arm lock around her waist and begin pulling her away at lightning speed. The stormy mountain shrank and faded away as warm thin fingers stroked through her hair soothingly. Ladybug couldn't bring herself to fight against the warm presence that had whisked her away from that awful scene.
She closed her eyes gently in relief, beginning to relax slightly. Maybe she was finally getting out of this awful nightmare. With eyes still closed, Ladybug felt like the world around her had begun to spin, and the warm arms around her disappeared before being replaced by a solid, hard surface that she seemed to be laying down on.
Ladybug's eyes snapped open, revealing a starry sky above her and when she looked to her left, the view of the dark silhouettes of Parisian buildings greeted her. All was quiet and calm, not a beep of a horn or the rev of an engine.
Oh no. Not again!
At the realisation of what was going on, Ladybug darted upright and leapt to her feet. This all felt way too uncomfortably familiar to her at this point. Her blue eyes scanned all around her before resting on two glowing green cat-like eyes between two tall chimneys. With a grin on his face, Chat Noir slowly stepped forward, his hands clasped casually behind his back. Ladybug frowned at him and took and automatic step back.
At this, Chat Noir frowned.
"What is it with you and running away from me lately?" he asked with a hint of betrayed annoyance.
"I – I just…" Ladybug then squashed her guilt down and her frown deepened. "This isn't real…none of this is real."
Chat merely chuckled, continuing to walk closer. Ladybug took a step back for each step forward that he took, and soon she found her back colliding with a chimney behind her. She was trapped. Like cornered prey, Ladybug began to panic, and it felt like her heart might thud directly out of her chest when Chat stopped directly in front of her, blocking her escape. He gently raised one gloved hand to stroke her cheek softly and lightly, barely touching her, but the electricity it sent pulsing through her body had Ladybug instantly melting and weak at the knees. Chat smiled at her obvious reaction to his touch.
"Does this feel real to you?" he asked, and Ladybug gulped and nodded, making Chat Noir's smile widen even more. "How could you think that anything we had together was fake?" His tone carried an element of impossible to conceal hurt.
Ladybug found herself in a confused, tingling mess, lost for words. Chat raised his hand to brush a stray strand of hair out of Ladybug's face, his eyes gentle and loving. Ladybug found herself unable to tear herself away and fight back at the illusion. Everything about him felt so real. The warm feeling of his chest that barely brushed her own, the feel of his left hand on her waist, and his right hand that came back down to rest on her cheek. Even his thick delectable scent hung in the air around her, submerging her, drowning her.
It was all too much. He was the forbidden fruit that she just had to take a bite of. In that moment, Chat was everything she ever wanted and more. He was an oasis in the middle of a vast, dry desert. A warm light of a fire in a dark, stormy night. He was all she ever needed.
With a gasp, their lips collided together hungrily and passionately. They gripped each other tightly, as if afraid they would drift apart from each other. Chat traced his tongue around Ladybug's lips, begging for entrance, and she was more than happy to oblige. She gripped his soft, gold locks tightly, pulling him impossibly close to her while his hands traced around her waist and up the small of her back. Unfortunately, they both needed to breath, and they eventually slowly pulled back from each other, panting for air as their eyes remained hooded as they gazed at each other.
However, Ladybug's gaze couldn't help but be briefly captured by something glowing brightly just behind Chat Noir's shoulder. The stars above them began morphing from twinkling points of light into round, glowing orange eyes. Ladybug found herself completely bound to their gaze, unable to look away or move even a millimetre. Her whole body became stiff, and it felt like Ladybug was forced into the back of her own mind, losing all feeling and control over her own body.
The orange eyes continued to stare at her, unblinking and hypnotically. Out of nowhere, Ladybug felt an intense anger consuming her, setting her whole body ablaze that could only be extinguished by the removal of Chat Noir's ring.
Of its own accord, and startlingly without any input from Ladybug, her hand reached down to Chat's that was still wrapped around her waist.
Chat gasped at the sudden change in Ladybug's eyes and the feel of her hand slowly reaching for his ring. He immediately jumped back, and Ladybug growled in frustration and pain. Every cell inside her burned, screaming at her to get his miraculous. She wanted it. She needed it. Those two phrases whirled around her mind, continuing to chant like a mantra. It was all her mind, body and soul could focus on.
Chat Noir's eyes widened in fear and concern before he jumped out of the way as Ladybug once again attempted to make a swipe at him and obtain his miraculous. She could see the betrayal, hurt and confusion in his eyes, but Ladybug didn't care. Spurred on by that thought, Ladybug leapt towards him and he easily dodged, beginning to make a run for the Eiffel Tower which loomed darkly in the distance. Ladybug followed, crying out wildly as she chased him up the tower, leaping from one thick metal bar to the next.
Once they reached the top, Ladybug gasped as she finally managed to regain some semblance of control after seeing the vulnerable expression on Chat's face.
What was she doing?! Why was she hunting down her partner for his miraculous? She wasn't interested in his power. Ladybug could feel the fire that had possessed her pushing against her free will in an attempt to regain control again, but Ladybug forced it back just enough to make a snap decision.
"T-this is all j-just a dream," she managed to gasp out, "I-I h-have to p-put an end to t-this."
"What are you talking about?" Chat demanded, gazing at her worriedly.
"None of t-this is real," Ladybug continued, "y-you're not real."
Ladybug knew there was only one way to forcibly wake yourself up from a dream.
She frowned in determination as she peered down at the insane drop below them, continuing to lose the fight against the raging inferno that had her wanting Chat's miraculous.
No more.
She needed to stop this and save Paris.
Chat Noir followed her line of sight before his eyes widened as he realised what Ladybug was thinking.
"Ladybug, NO!" Chat screamed as he reached to grab her.
He was too late though. Ladybug flung herself off the edge of the top balcony of the Eiffel Tower.
She let her body fall limply in the air like a rag doll, ignoring Chat Noir's screams above her.
The city buildings, roads and trees began to disintegrate into blue and orange feathers around her as she fell faster and faster through the air and into the dark void below.
Normally, I wouldn't apologise for leaving things on a bit of a cliffhanger, but this time, I actually am sorry, because I have no idea when I'll be able to update again. It'll definitely be sometime over the next week or two, but as for what day exactly I couldn't tell you. I've really fallen behind in my work and need to catch up. I'm really sorry about all this, guys.
But yeah, that was one hell of an acid trip of a chapter – a hell of a lot to digest. As always let me know what you all think in a review, and I'll hopefully see you soon.