A/N: Y'all were promised a canon family to make people cry, I hope—and also doubt—I can manage that.
Warning - violence and gore
Chapter 25: The unimaginable
"So…." Gabriel said, choking back sobs, "You have a plan, right? Please tell me you know how to save Adrien. I can't have just basically killed my son."
Heartless gave him the finger, "Asshole! The plan is to go in an hour and kill or be killed."
"What about Adrien?" Eden asked.
"He's already there, right?"
They all left the lair and sat in Zoe's room, "If Mara hasn't destroyed Adrien's soul, he can still be saved. Knowing Mara, she will use his soul as leverage. If we destroy the vessel the soul is being stored in, like the place an akuma would be, and activate his will, he can be saved." Gabriel raised an eyebrow,
"His will?"
Kelly started pacing, noticing both of his daughters knew exactly what he was referring to. "Your body submits, your heart succumbs, so why does your mind resist?" He smiled, "That is a direct quote from Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep. That's how possession works in this universe too. His Will can fight alongside us if we jumpstart it. To everyone else, we need to awaken his vengeful spirit."
Zoe stood up, "Okay. So we have to will Adrien to get his spirit ass out here and help us get is body back."
"We need multiple people." Kelly said, looking through Zoe's weapons, "Where's Ladybug?"
"Kels," Harrison asked, as he was brought here and Kelly used his mind powers to erase the last of the drug's influence, "Is bringing Mara the Ladybug Miraculous really a smart idea?"
"No Harry, it is an extremely dumb idea, but it's the best we've got."
"She has the Black Cat." Gabriel said, and Zoe narrowed her eyes,
"You know about that?" He nodded.
"He…he told me he knew everything and…I was shocked to say the least…" He clawed at his hair, memory of his only child trying to murder him and at the same time damning him to hell haunting every waking moment and likely the sleeping ones. "I-I just wanted Adrien on my side and Mara came and said—said that she had defeated a superhero duo and could help me do the same and have Adrien still love me…" Kelly huffed,
"White Sparrow and Lionheart? Yeah. She didn't technically defeat us, as she killed my kwami, and when I was still a superhero thanks to Harry," Harrison waved, "Mara kidnapped Eli and…I can't get fully into what happened there, but we found him half dead, and Amelia sacrificed herself for her son…"
"Well he is evil now." Zoe snapped, and Gabriel just broke.
It was strange for everyone to see the usually stoic man like this, so vulnerable. But Kelly—being a telepath—knew it was because he was realizing the errors he had made over the years and how it had broken his only child, turning father and son against each other, and when he was unable to accept that, Adrien was gone.
"I-I-I give up." He choked out, "I just want Adrien back…I've risked too much." It was disturbing how well Adrien pulled off those golden eyes, in an eerie, nightmarish way. All he needed were some torn clothes and bleached hair and he would be a lovely Anti-Adrien, and not just possessed.
Harrison checked his watch, "We have forty minutes."
"Thirty six minutes and twenty two seconds." Zoe replied. "So we should make up a plan."
OoOoO
Eli woke up and found himself chained to the ground with iron chains inside Gustave Eiffel's outfit. The Blue Jay Miraculous was pressed against his chest and the iron was rubbing on his skin.
"Good. You're up." Eli turned and saw Adrien leaning in the doorway, golden eyes flecked with mischief.
"Hello Eli, how's your Dad?"
Eli was taken aback, "M-My Dad?"
"Harrison. Beautiful man, kind heart, why did he go for Amelia of all people?" Mara stepped into view, "And then my traitorous sister got married and had you, a little warlock. You should have been killed when you took your first breath." Eli's eyes widened,
"You're my…aunt…? You killed your own sister?!"
Mara laughed, "I didn't intend to kill her, she sacrificed herself for you. Don't get me wrong, I would have, but I hadn't meant to at that intended time…"
And Eli remembered that night he had formerly forced into his subconscious, and Mara showed him more of the story.
Mara groaned in frustration as three-year-old Eli screamed in agony. She was trying to take his strong magical powers and then kill him, but it seemed Kelly had prepared for that and bound the boy's power with ancient runes branded onto the toddler's skin, it looked like a tattoo, but it was so much more.
"Well child," she scoffed, "It's almost over. I have no use for you…" She clenched her fist and Eli shrieked in agony as his soul was cracked and slowly torn apart.
"PLEASE STOP!" He begged, violet eyes full of fear. Mara just clenched harder until the child couldn't take it anymore and slipped from consciousness.
And then White Sparrow ran in with Kelly, "Eli!" She picked up the small boy and held him, "Baby, please wake up!" Mara smirked,
"He's gone. When I'm done with him, you will have nothing but a comatose corpse." Kelly growled, and sent a mental attack at her and stunned her just long enough for Amelia to give him her Miraculous and forced him to run with Eli before it was too late.
Blackwell sisters stared at each other, violet met gold, and Amelia glared,
"Take me. I'm the one that betrayed the family, not my son. If you want to kill someone, kill me, just promise you will leave my family alone!"
Mara took her hand, "You know that by doing this, you are interfering with the prophecy."
"I know." Amelia replied, "And I know that by letting my son live, it will come to pass."
Mara groaned, "The whole point is to stop the prophecy! But I will accept your deal." And the mark of the black raven was on Amelia's hand and she screamed as she took her son's place, then she looked up with a smirk matching Mara's,
"Glad you didn't read the fine print, sister." And Mara was sucked into a dark void and Amelia downed a bottle of hemlock.
Eli put a hand to his chest, "Mom…" Mara had taken that time to steal the Miraculous off his neck, and fiddled with it,
"What a beautiful trinket." She gave it to Adrien, "Here darkling, you use it."
"Darkling?"
"That's the term when someone is under the control of a dark witch, a darkling. So that is what your dear friend has become. A vessel and nothing more." Eli growled and Mara just laughed at his effort to pull free of the chains.
"The chains are enchanted, foolish child." She perked up, "Oh! Seems Fireheart made it just on time." She forced the chains off the ground and into her hands and dragged him along,
"Let me go!"
"Fat chance." Eli brightened to see Zoe—or rather Heartless—glaring daggers at Mara. She was alone, but Eli doubted that was true. Heartless glared,
"Eli, are you hurt?"
"No, I'm fine." Mara grabbed his hair and caused him to yelp.
"You know Fireheart," She said softly, unbefitting her sharp appearance, "You and I aren't so different. Both strong women with more power than we know what to do with—"
"Nobody cares!" Heartless snapped. Adrien looked down at the Miraculous,
"Oh Jaay, guess who's transforming me."
"FUUUUU—" Heartless winnowed—short distance teleporting—to Adrien, and ripped off the Miraculous. But in the scuffle, Adrien grabbed the Dragon Miraculous off her neck and transformed while she threw the Blue Jay to Eli and Jaay snapped the chains.
Wyvern grinned, showing off those pearly white teeth, however, other than battling Heartless, he didn't do much. Until Mara turned to him,
"Find Ladybug and kill her." Wyvern nodded and flew off, and Mara sent the Heartless and Eli flying backward. And then Tigris jumped down and kicked Mara in the face, only to get sent flying backwards with a shriek.
They all crash-landed into the Seine. Heartless helped Eli out and created a blanket to heat him up. He shivered, and looked up in alarm,
"Marinette doesn't know about Adrien!"
OoOoO
Ladybug had been fighting zombies for an hour now, but the sick monsters just wouldn't die!
"My lady!" She turned and sighed in relief as her beloved Adrien came running to her side, only he was wearing the Dragon Miraculous.
"Hawk Moth had me captive!" Wyvern explained as he used his sword to slice through zombies. "Hence the Miraculous. A witch of some sort got Plagg!" He eviscerated some more zombies and threw his arms out, "DRAGON FLAME!" He started to cry, "M-Milady…I've been through a lot…I was just captured by my father, I am not okay…"
She gasped. They had been right about Gabriel all along! "Oh Chaton." She hugged him, and then yelped as he stabbed her in the heart through her back with a dagger made of dark energy, "W-Why…" Wyvern dropped her to the ground and took her Miraculous, then he left her to die…
…
"No!" Eden ran to Marinette's side, "Hey Mari, wake up!" She wasn't breathing. Roari flew to her side,
"Eden, your powers!" Eden tore at her hair,
"I-I don't know how!"
"Need help?" Eden looked up and saw a beautiful young woman standing there.
"Who are you?" The woman bent down and smiled.
"You know me. I wish you didn't, but you know me." Eden was still confused, and then the woman sighed, "Look again." Her eyes turned coal black and Eden shrieked,
"Dausi?!" Dausi nodded, looking at Marinette.
"The girl is dead. But she hasn't slipped completely and can as such be saved. Zoe has the power of life and death, and you have the power of creation—you're perceptive, and while you can't create a new being, you can bring things to life. Like a doll, or a person. Just focus."
Eden glared at the shapeshifter, and then her hands lit up. "Woah!"
Marinette jerked upright.
"Wha…what happened?"
"You died. Adrien murdered you." Eden explained the rest, and Marinette tore at her hair,
"Seriously?! I was right all along! And Zoe can still be blamed for Adrien not telling me!"
"Yeah…." Dausi agreed, "But on the bright side, theoretically, Adrien can be brought back by an act of true love from the person who he loves most, whether he knows it or not."
Eden pulled out her phone, "Zo, we found her, she's fine, if not pissed. We'll meet back at the Eiffel Tower to take down Mara."
OoOoO
Felix sat the ground, watching Gabriel cry at the foot of Emilie's coffin.
"Emilie…I've made a terrible mistake…" Felix cocked his head,
"Is Kitty gonna be okay?" He turned,
"I…I don't know…I don't want anything more than that. Not that he would care if I died." Felix got up and sat in the older man's lap, brushing away Gabriel's tears,
"Kitty loves you, doesn't he?" Gabriel shook his head,
"No. I love him with all my heart, but I've made too many mistakes for him to give a damn about me. This whole mess is my fault, Felix, you need to understand, love doesn't solve everything." Felix frowned, deep in thought, even biting his lip a little and brushing back a strand of dirty blonde hair that had been getting gradually darker with age,
"Nobody can hate you more than someone who used to love you." He looked up, "Mama told me that once. She also told me that family is complicated. She said you always love your family, that doesn't mean you like them. Kitty still loves you, even if he doesn't know it. Maybe he's just trying to avoid getting hurt."
Gabriel cocked his head, "You are very bright for your age. But what do you mean he's trying to avoid getting hurt?" Could it be possible that Adrien did care still? Or was it too good to be true.
Felix was more than happy to answer, happy to hear someone fascinated by his genius and not just pass it off as normal like both of his magical—even if the father was unaware—parents,
"It's the cycle of abuse!" He said cheerfully, "Mama was the same way. Every time Mama or Kitty started to doubt the love after long periods of abuse, they would receive some, and then they would ditch any idea of running away. Both Mama and Adrien did everything they could to harden their hearts by finding replacement parents. But the problem is that the cycle never truly goes away. But this comes to your advantage, if you go to him, and tell him how sorry you are, the ice around his heart will thaw and he will auto give you a chance, even if he is doubtful. Then you prove those doubts won't become a reality."
Gabriel gasped, "You think I can still win him back?"
"Only an act of true love can thaw a frozen heart." Felix replied matter-of-factly, holding up a small revolver, "Go to him. I can take care of myself." Gabriel got up,
"Thank you Felix. You really are a smart kid."
"I know. Now go, Fucker." Gabriel rolled his eyes, changed into better running clothes, and ran to the Eiffel Tower with hopes of at least saving his son.
OoOoO
Heartless was fighting zombies—or rather annihilating them—she had started with exactly a thousand, and now there was only one.
Heartless laughed, "Oh there's only one left!" The zombie looked around, and spoke,
"Oh shit, I think I might be the last one—uh…Billy! Billy! Are you there Billy?"
"Billy's dead…again." Heartless replied, "I fucking re-killed him!" The zombie ran at her—yes, it was the fast zombies, not the comically slow ones, which was both parts terrifying and exhilarating—and she dodged away from it,
"You asshole! It's okay, I will do this, I will do this, I will defeat you! For my friend!" Heartless rolled her eyes as she winnowed behind it again,
"Sure man, i killed literally 999 versions of you. What makes you think you can do it?"
"I don't know!" It sounded like Moshirige from Corpse Party—or more specifically the NicoB version that any Picky Penguin would know about—and that made her laugh. She stood still,
"Okay. I'll give you a freebie. Hit me. Hit me you little fuck."
"Okay!" The zombie, that Heartless was officially calling Moshirige, paused, then ran around her, "Wait, I gotta position myself just right."
"Oh come on man, jus do it!"
"No! It needs to be perfect!"
Five minutes later
Heartless was actively chasing this zombie around, "Dude, if you aren't gonna do anything, I'm just gonna re-kill you."
"Okay, okay, uh heeeeeeeeeee—" It barely grazed Heartless, she blinked, "Okay…that's all I got." Heartless snapped her finger and the zombie exploded.
She rolled her eyes and made her way back up the Eiffel Tower.
OoOoO
Marinette ran up the Eiffel Tower with the help of Dausi and Tigris, to see Adrien giving Mara the Ladybug Miraculous. Dausi turned into a hawk and grabbed the earrings from Adrien's open palm, then she put them on herself.
"What? Better me than Mara." Fair. Mara glared,
"Dausi LeMay, long time no see, old friend." Dausi sneered,
"We were never friends! Spots on!" Coccinelle gave the witch the finger. She wore a red and black suit without polka-dots; her mask was black at the top and red at the bottom; she wore black gloves that were a little above her elbows and had a thick red horizontal stripe at the end. She also wore black boots that are above knee-level. Her hair was in a long braided ponytail down her back and to her knees.
But this was all part of the plan, as Adrien, as a darkling, only took orders, so with Mara distracted handling the transformed shapeshifter than the inactive Worldbender, Marinette had time to run at Adrien and kiss him.
What wasn't a part of the plan was that nothing happened. Adrien looked at her, and went for the kill again, only for Heartless to appear and destroy the knife.
Coccinelle used her yoyo to smack the arrived Lila in the face, and the undead darkling villain seemed to be unable to understand Coccinelle and Ladybug were not the same, and the two were battling in the sky, since Coccinelle could use her shapeshifting to create ladybug wings for herself.
Heartless and Adrien were using dark magic and kung-fu against each other in a way that would put the original Kung Fu Panda to shame. But Adrien got bored of an equal and went after a vulnerable Marinette, who he didn't seem to have any sense of recognition towards,
"Adrien! Please stop! This isn't you!" They all turned and saw Gabriel, who looked like he had been to hell and back, with a shotgun on his back that had clearly been fired—not well—judging by the gunpowder on the fashion designer's hands. Adrien smirked, releasing Marinette as Mockingjay came running,
"Gabriel what are you doing here? I ran into my son fighting zombies while using a Miraculous!" The trio of OCs—as Eden called them—had each gone their separate ways to handle the city as they knew Queen Bee, Rena Rouge and Carapace were to the east, so Heartless had taken the west—wicked witch of the west much—Eden had taken north, and Eli had taken south.
"Well look who it is." Adrien drawled, grinning in a manner that made his golden eyes all the more noticeable, "The man with nothing to lose."
Gabriel bowed his head—meanwhile Mara was facing off with Heartless and Tigris, while Lila and Coccinelle were still duking it out in the sky—and he slowly walked towards Adrien, cupping his cheek. To the shock of everyone, Adrien looked startled, and he didn't do anything. Gabriel moved his hand to hold Adrien's and dropped to his knees.
"A…Adrien…I was wrong that day. There was someone I could lose. I had meant that I had thought I wouldn't lose you…not knowing I already had and my actions made it worse…" he sobbed, "You are the most precious thing to me. I'd do anything to keep you safe…if you want to kill someone, kill me. Just come back, let me look into your eyes and see my son at least once." He looked up, "I love you Adrien. I always have, even if I really am the worst human being out there." Adrien wasn't looking at him, and Gabriel turned to see….
Another Adrien? This Adrien was wearing Cat Noir's suit, without the mask, ears or the hair and eye chance. It was like Adrien wearing the costume in Frightengale only without the ears. His eyes were pale spring green.
Mara turned from Heartless, "Impossible!"
Lingering Will smiled to Gabriel, though it was strained, "I heard you." Heartless facepalmed,
"Seriously?! Gabriel, the guy who practically killed you, brought you back!?" Lingering Will shrugged, gently pushing Marinette out of the way to have a stare off with Mara.
"Remember what I last said to you? One day, I will return to this land, and I will set things right. Gabriel was the voice I needed the fully cut through the dark. And now I will get my body back and kill you."
Marinette gave a teary smile, "Is it really you?" Lingering Will turned,
"Always Bugaboo."
Mockingjay looked down and saw Lingering Will, "Sweet!" He sent his throwing knives at Lila and the bitch shrieked as one went through her eye, causing blood to spurt out.
Coccinelle turned to him in horror, "Holy fuck, that thing can cut people?!"
"Yeah. Duh."
"We should help the others. I don't think Lila is gonna be doing much."
"Agreed."
Adrien turned to Mara, "Mistress?"
"SHUT UP!" Lingering Will roared, running at Mara, but the witch held up a bracelet with a glowing green gem, matching the color of Adrien's normal eyes.
"I can destroy your soul." Mara said simply. But that was an error in judgement, because Heartless tackled her, "Give me that!"
Everyone just stared for a second at the two women rolling around and pulling each other's hair. It was actually a good catfight.
Kelly grinned, coming up the stairs, covered head to toe in human blood.
Eden's eyes widened, "Dad?! What happened?!" Kelly rubbed the back of his neck,
"Well…"
Kelly and Mayura went to Fu for help to get more Miraculous and a repair for the Peacock. But that was not Kelly's plan.
Because the second the old fuck opened the door, Kelly was on top of him, beating him senseless and letting blood spurt out of every hole and continuing to beat on him
"That's for ruining my life." Depression and rage, plus hearing this old man had kicked his daughter out alone in the rain made him hold no remorse for pulling out a knife and carving into the guardian.
He found himself bitterly disappointed when Fu stopped screaming and pleading for mercy and died. He huffed.
And Mayura vomited, rocking back and forth in the corner.
"DAAAAAAAD!" Eden shouted in exasperation as Mara and Zoe rolled past them, "That Kills people!"
"I know." Kelly replied nonchalantly, "I wanted him dead."
"Should we intervene?" Marinette asked. Lingering Will shrugged,
"Meh. Let Zoe have her fun."
Plagg was the one who had enough and grabbed the bracelet, throwing it to Lingering Will before Mara could react. Lingering Will snapped the bracelet and a green, glowing orb flew into Adrien's chest.
"Thanks Plagg!"
"Why you—" Heartless pulled Mara's hair again, dragging her back into the catfight.
"Eden, you need to use your healing powers to expel Mara's influence!" Eden complied, and Lingering Will went up in sparkles, and Adrien jolted up, his eyes green.
"Adrien!" Both Marinette and Gabriel cheered, hugging him with tears in their eyes.
Mara punched Heartless in the boob, and got out of the catfight, clenching her fist and causing Mockingjay to shriek in agony, clutching his chest and curling into a ball.
"ELI!" They all ran to his side, so nobody noticed Lila grab Adrien by the back of the neck.
And throw him off the Eiffel Tower.
Mara laughed, "You can only save one, Fireheart. Either your brother falls to his death, or your love's soul is shattered and he falls into a slumber never to awaken."
Heartless' eyes widened. How could someone ask her that?! Adrien or Eli? Eli or Adrien? WHY!? The image of Adrien bloody and broken was in her mind, and the image of Eli in a glass coffin just like Emilie Agreste.
…
Gabriel didn't desire any more waiting, grabbed the fallen Dragon Miraculous, and jumped after Adrien. He could see his son falling, his eyes full of fear.
He had gone skydiving with Emilie before, so he knew how to fall faster. He caught up with Adrien about halfway down the tower, and grabbed hold of him.
"Fa—" Gabriel shoved the Dragon Miraculous on him, "Blazze, transform him!" The transformation covered Adrien, so he was protected upon impact.
But Gabriel wasn't. He felt every bone in his body shatter, and it hurt like hell.
Adrien was unscathed. That was all that mattered to the former supervillain, seeing his son unharmed, in his final moments.
Wyvern shook him, "Father? Did you just save my life?"
"Of course I did…" His voice was barely a whisper, and Adrien was cradling him, he could tell, but he felt himself slipping away. He wished he could tell Adrien everything, apologize, make things right between them, but it was only going to be one, not two. Only one person was going to die—Mara didn't count—and Gabriel was damn sure it wasn't going to be Adrien, "I…I love you…"
And he died.
…
Adrien screamed, holding the corpse of his father. The father who gave his life to save him.
"Come on…wake up…please?" After two years of not caring, wanting to be the one to kill this bastard, something about this made something snap, and he felt his heart of ice towards Gabriel Agreste start thawing. He hated it. He wanted to laugh at the man's corpse, but all he could do was cry.
But Eden's healing left lasting side effects on him, as he shed a white-gold tear.
It was very Tangled-esque, the dramatic glow, and then the color returning to Gabriel's face. He took a sharp intake of air, and opened his eyes,
"A-Adrien…?"
"Father…" Adrien laughed in relief, ignoring the zombies around them, and crushing his father in a hug.
"Ow!" Adrien smiled,
"Sorry…I'm just…glad you didn't just die." He stood up and held his hand out, "Come on. Let's go." Gabriel tried to take his hand, but didn't get any ground, shrieking in pain and falling to his knees. Maybe he hadn't been completely healed as Adrien had hoped.
"My…my legs…" He gasped in pain, and Adrien noticed Gabriel's legs must have healed wrong, as they were sickeningly crooked, "Adrien, leave me here…go…"
"Nope. Not gonna happen." He slung his father's arm around his shoulder and dragged him along, "I'm still pissed at you." He said this mostly to convince himself this was true, and it was, but no longer hatred, and he knew he himself was partially to blame for what happened.
"Adrien, son…you don't have to pretend to care."
"That's the problem. I'm not pretending, no matter how much I wish I was." He huffed, "Looks like I got roped back into the cycle of abuse." Gabriel sighed,
"Abuse? No. Whether you sent me to prison, kill me, or whatever you have planned, I want to be a part of your life and not as the villain. I won't force you, and I was so dumb to accept Mara's offer. But I took my quest to get your mother back…I took it too far, and I'm sorry."
Adrien bit his lip, "I think I'll take you up on that offer on an in-depth talk. Then I'll decide."
Gabriel just smiled, a tear falling down his cheek, and did his best to help Adrien along, "Take me to the car, then go back and join your lady." Adrien looked down,
"I'll take you home. Blazze, wings out."
And then the Eiffel Tower exploded.
While that was happening
Heartless turned to where Gabriel had jumped after Adrien, "Thanks Gabe." She snapped her fingers and Lila exploded in a mess of blood and gore that made Eden and Marinette nauseous, Kelly proud, and Coccinelle dully annoyed. She sent Mara flying backwards, and Eli eased a little bit.
"And now I kill you." Heartless turned her left hand into a sword and started swinging without any technique, blinded by inhumane rage. But was she truly human? No.
Regardless, she had Mara pinned to the wall in less than a minute.
"H…How…" Mara breathed in devastation at the realization she had passed of the goddess of death. The Dark Queen, ruler of the Underworld, that was what she was, trapped in the form of a human girl.
"As I said." Heartless seethed, "I'm better than you. You may claim we aren't different, but we are very different. Because you are a monster, I am a heartless murderer. There is a fine line. But the heartless murderer is different from the monster because of this." She released Mara, with a cold stare, "Want to live? Then run. Run from this land and never return."
Mara nodded, and started to run. And Heartless smiled, about to run to Eli's side, when Eden shrieked as she saw Mara come back full force, with enough energy to kill her sister upon impact.
"ZOE!" She transformed into her own ultimate form and used light energy to send Mara flying through the wall of Gustave Eiffel's office and crash into the room.
Tenshi looked to Heartless, and helped her up.
The form changed Eden's clothes to silvery white and black flowing nightgown styled dress, with the symbols on her leggings somewhat resembling an eye with a wind pattern. Her eyes were also white-gold. Her hair was the same, if not slightly lighter.
Tenshi floated an inch off the ground, and launched a ball of fire at Mara, scorching half of the witch's face and burning away that half of her hair, making her look like Two-face from the Batman series.
Mara got up, and looked to be in excruciating pain. Heartless just laughed. The witch seemed to be glaring at her, but with only half a face, it was hard to tell.
"Do I need to kill someone for you bitches to take me seriously? FINE!" She snapped her fingers much like Heartless had before, and Eli—who had been cradled in Kelly's arms for safekeeping, let out another hearty shriek of misery, before there was a light explosion from him…
As Mara shattered his soul.
Heartless ran to her love's side and Kelly shook in rage. "Eli? Please don't be gone! YOU CAN'T BE!" He didn't wake up and she felt it, that he was gone. She slowly turned to Mara, not intimidated, but infuriated, "I'M GOING TO FLAY YOU ALIVE!" She winnowed and dug her nails into Mara's throat, drawing blood.
She grabbed the Cat Miraculous, and used her power to send it to Adrien.
Kelly realized what was going to happen as his daughter was covered in dark energy. He grabbed Marinette in one arm and Eli in the other, and ran as fast as his legs could carry him. Coccinelle fled as well.
And the Eiffel Tower exploded.
In the massive crater, Mara was—somehow—still alive. Tenshi had backed up as Heartless was surrounded by fire and dark energy, before roaring to the sky, and a guardian emerged.
The guardian had an ink-black, muscular, humanoid form with a partially bandaged head that hosted relatively human features. It had yellow eyes gleaming above a mouth filled with sharp teeth, as well as two long antennae spouting from the top of its head. A hole appeared in between more bandages on the torso in the shape of a heart. Lastly, it had very large hands, its torso coming to a tail-like point that fades away into its host's body.
Heartless ordered the guardian to grab hold of Mara, making the beaten woman squeak in pain.
"You're…crushing…my bones… Let me go!" Mara ordered. And Marinette looked to Adrien, who was hugging a sobbing Plagg.
"Did she just ask for mercy after basically killing the love of Zoe's life?"
"I think so…." Adrien responded, "All I know is I wouldn't touch that with a twelve inch pole."
Heartless bore her teeth, "Did you give Eli any mercy?" Mara knew the answer and the guardian crushed her until bones started popping out of place and her eyes started bugging out.
"Are you going to kill me?" Mara asked, on the brink of death. And Heartless shook her head.
"How do I get Eli back? Tell me that and I will spare you."
"The boy is gone! It will be easier to wake Emilie Agreste!"
"When have I ever cared about a challenge?" She narrowed her eyes.
"He is gone. Gone forever. There is nothing you can do." Heartless pursed her lips into a thin line,
"I still won't kill you. You will spend the rest of your days in a dark prison of my creation, wishing you could be dead." Mara shrieked as she vanished in flames.
Heartless changed back to Zoe, and she truly realized Eli was gone. There wasn't anything she could do. The unimaginable had become a reality. She had just lost the love of her life. She knew how Gabriel had felt.
She dropped to her knees, feeling as though her heart was ripped from her chest, and sobbed.
A/N: Well… I just did that. No death threats, please. Next chapter is the last one, then the third installment, Hero's Journey. Remember to review and save Cheeto!