"I really, really hate lying to Adrien." Marinette repeated for maybe the fifth time that night, tapping her toothbrush against the bathroom sink. She needed to just finish her nightly routine and head to bed, but anxiety kept breaking her concentration. She sighed, "But Cat Noir didn't leave me with much of a choice, did he?"
Tikki, from her perch on the edge of the decorative soap basket, shrugged patiently, "For what it's worth Marinette, I think Adrien understands."
"Understands?"
"Sure, if it's Adrien's job to guard Cat Noir's secret, then he would probably understand you lying to him to protect it," Tikki smiled. "He might even try to do the same thing."
"Maybe." Marinette conceded. "Is there any way to tell if Cat Noir got my message?"
"You would have to transform to check, but I really think it'll be okay."
"How, Tikki? If Cat Noir told Adrien his identity, it'll put them both a risk!"
Tikki's eyes dropped, "I don't know why Adrien is keeping a list, Marinette, but I'm positive that if it pertains to Cat Noir's identity, then Cat Noir's real identity isn't on it."
"So, you don't think they know each other?"
Tikki sighed and rubbed her forehead.
"I'm sorry, Tikki. I promise I'm not trying to figure out Cat Noir's identity, I just want,"
A thunderous pounding reverberated throughout the Agreste mansion, smothering all other noise. Vibrations strong enough to flicker the lights sank deep into Marinette's bones. She gasped, feeling her heart race a little more with each strong pulse.
The lights gave out just before the pounding stopped.
Marinette bolted for her bedroom door, scrambling over the top of her bed when she hit it rather than trying to maneuver around it. The windowless antechamber beyond her room was completely devoid of light, but it was only three long strides to reach the opposite wall. She fumbled for the door that led out to the wall walk. Falling through it, she hit the steps and stumbled down them, just barely managing to stay upright.
Seeing no immediate threats in the shadowy courtyard below, Marinette sprinted around the wall walk and climbed over the short railing to the front gate. She moved to the edge and crouched.
Half of the street before her was dark, suggesting that something had damaged the power grid. Beyond that, the only indication of a problem Marinette could see was the flashing of car lights.
She went quickly over possible culprits in her head: a long range akuma, a moderately sized earthquake, or an explosion of some kind. If it was the first one, Ladybug would definitely be needed. If it was one of the other two, she might still be able to help, but her absence would be much harder to explain if it was noticed. She was willing to risk that if it meant helping people, but she didn't want to do it needlessly.
Marinette tried to look further along the skyline. Nothing in her field of view jumped out as being wrong. No smoke clouds, no broken buildings, no pied zealot loudly proclaiming personal injustices. Just a semi-darkened street and flashing car lights.
Something was off though. She felt it.
Marinette exhaled slowly, willing away her anxiety so she could better focus on her environment. She felt the hardness and mild warmth of the smooth stone beneath her. She smelled the fragrance of Paris; a mixture of car exhaust, people musk, and sun-warmed buildings with distant hints of the Seine. Visually, car lights flashed, the couple of street lamps that had survived the power outage glowed, and the leaves of nearby trees waved.
She didn't hear anyone screaming or calling for help. There was no sound of running footsteps, no maniacal laughter. There was no sound of anything.
At all.
Someone grabbed at Marinette from behind, pulling her backward. She twisted hard and slammed upward, catching her captor in the torso with a firm shoulder and spinning them both back away from the gate's edge. One arm circled around her as her assailant tried to keep a hold of her. She latched onto it and pulled as hard as she could across her body, flipping her would be assailant over her shoulder. Without pausing to look, Marinette scrambled to pin him. Cat Noir caught her wrists as she went for his throat.
It was Cat Noir beneath her. Probably he'd been trying to save her, but now he gaped up at her in surprise. Then his mouth slowly closed into a curled grin and his chest vibrated. His lips moved wordlessly. He frowned and touched his throat.
Marinette scooted off him. She tapped her ear and shook her head.
Cat Noir sat up and mouthed something else, his hand still pressed against his neck. Then he shook his head too. He reached for his staff and twisted some part of it, bringing up its small screen.
'This feels like the work of an akuma. Go inside and hide in your room. Ladybug and I will take care of it.' He typed.
She gestured to him, and with no hesitation he handed her the staff. 'Adrien?'
'Already hiding. Don't worry about him.'
She nodded, but before she could move, Cat Noir's focus shifted to something behind her.
While he'd distracted her, a car had pulled up, unheard in the radiating silence. Adrien's bodyguard was standing in the street, mesmerized by an encroaching darkness of lights flickering and failing one after another.
The world around them shook in that same pulsing vibration from before. Adrien's bodyguard clapped his hands over his ears. His mouth opened wide, and his face shriveled up in pain. He dropped to his knees.
Cat Noir stood.
The darkness was immediate and all inclusive. Street lamps, flashing car alarms, even the lights from the nearby windows, evaporated. Afterimages danced in Marinette's vision, and she felt Cat Noir's leg brush against her as he wavered.
"Listen as the Quiet Man did and share in his pain. He was loved until the very end, but only his grave remains," called a high whispery voice.
Marinette felt Cat Noir crouch down. His arms encircled her, pulling her tight to him. His leg pressed into her thigh. His breath fluttered her hair. He felt both stiff and warm. She was fairly certain, from both his rigid posture and raised shoulders, that he was trying to shield her.
For one painfully long moment, nothing more seemed to happen. Then, as the light spots finally faded, he jerked to his feet, pulling her with him. She tried to hold on to him, let him lead her, but that wasn't his intention. He turned her to him. Then she felt one of his arms go around her thighs just under her bottom as the other one bent her over his shoulder. She bounced against him as he lifted her.
Marinette had the sudden, distinct feeling of her weight being redistributed as Cat Noir took two long strides forward and leapt. She gasped and grabbed ahold of him, squeezing her mostly worthless eyes shut.
Clinging to him, she felt the propulsion of his staff hitting the ground and extending. She felt his body shift just before his landing drove her stomach into his shoulder. She felt the muscles in his back and shoulders move as he threw his whole body into running. Felt him jump again, the sudden shock of his staff hitting the ground and a giddy sensation of plummeting downward. Cat Noir shifted his weight back toward the direction they'd come from and landed with a faint wobble. Then he jumped, or maybe fell, another short distance without the use of his staff. He straightened and walked with an assured gait.
Marinette was completely disoriented. Where was he taking her?
She felt Cat Noir relax a little as he moved, so she wriggled, attempting to free herself. His grip tightened reflexively, then pausing, he deliberately loosened it. He took what felt like several long steps and gently tossed her onto something soft that smelled faintly of pomegranate, coconuts, and fresh linens.
Marinette sat up, wrinkling fabric beneath her, and inhaled slowly. She was in the corner of a large open area. There was no wind movement, but the air around her was decidedly cooler than it had been outside. Through a wall of barred windows in front of her, she could see the distant, light-polluted, Parisian skyline.
That was good. That meant that the akuma had a limited range on his lights out trick. His affected area might be huge, sure, but she could still find light to fight him in if she tried.
A spot of light danced around the room before it trained on her, blotting out the shadows. Turning, she found herself face to face with a grinning Cat Noir holding a flashlight. He handed it to her.
Marinette noticed three things as she played the light around the room. First, Cat Noir had brought her to Adrien's room and tossed her onto his bed. Second? uh, second, was that someone, probably Cat Noir when he searched for the flashlight, had left the cubby door on the right side of Adrien's desk open, and she could see that from where she was. In Adrien's bed. Finally, a small kwami sized object left a streak of red as it darted out of the beam of light behind her partner's head.
Reminded of her task, Marinette exhaled in relief. Cat Noir smiled and offered her a thumbs up.
She nodded. He pulled her to her feet and pointed toward the bathroom.
Marinette hesitated. She drew a slow 'A' in the air.
Cat Noir shook his head and gestured the other way, toward Adrien's open bedroom door.
"Listen as the Quiet Man did and share in his pain. He was loved until the very end, but only his grave remains." The ghostly voice had found its way indoors. The ground rumbled again.
Cat Noir crept around the edge of the bed toward the open door, and Marinette followed him with the flashlight beam.
"Listen as the Quiet Man did and share in his pain. He was loved until the very end, but only his grave remains." The voice was louder, closer than it had been before. The flashlight began to flicker.
Cat Noir bolted the rest of the way and slammed the door closed. He pointed frantically toward the bathroom. Marinette nodded, but she grabbed Adrien's desk chair on her way, and jammed it under the other bedroom door.
The flashlight went out before Marinette could lock the bathroom door. She took a moment to breathe. The akuma could darken and silence areas, but it had to have a more hostile power too. Something bad enough that Cat Noir had decided that rescuing her was more prudent than trying to fight the thing by himself.
A familiar weight settled onto her shoulder. Reaching up, Marinette felt Tikki press a small cardboard rectangle into her palm. It was an open matchbook. It took some fiddling, but Marinette got one of the matches lit. It was less light than the flashlight had been, but it was definitely better than nothing.
Tikki mouthed something to her. Marinette shook her head and cupped her ear. The kwami frowned. She darted toward the sink and pulled open a drawer. Coming up with toothpaste, Tikki wrote her message on the mirror.
'You're going to have to depend on Cat Noir a lot for this one.'
Marinette nodded. She shook the flame out and took a deep breath.
Tikki, Spots On. Ha! She didn't hear the whispered words or the usual crackle of magic, but she saw the flash of pink light in Adrien's mirror and felt the spreading warmth of the transformation.
Ladybug lit another match.
Movement in the mirror drew her attention. Something was on the door behind her being reflected. She turned. Dark fingers were pushing their way into the bathroom.
She recoiled, dropping her match. No time for another, she tucked away the matchbook and fled to the shower room. She scrambled up onto the bathtub, yanked open one of the windows, and threw her yo-yo. She felt it connect and pulled. The dark outlines that blurred past her were cut short as she crashed into a wall.
Breathless and dazed, she let go.
She dropped, hit the ground feet first, and spiraled over backwards. Pain blossomed in her skull, and her vision erupted into a brilliant haze. She gasped in air.
Slowly, the starless, wine-colored sky solidified, and the pain subsided. A dark shape loomed over her. Before she could react, both shape and sky disappeared in a blaze of light that, after a moment, coalesced into a screen.
'You okay?'
She nodded. The screen vanished, and Cat Noir took ahold of her wrists and hauled her to her feet. She stumbled into him, relieved to feel the familiar form of her partner. He held her until she could stand on her own.
Cat Noir reopened his staff, and quickly thumbed a message. He held it out to her, 'Did you rescue Marinette?'
She nodded again and pulled out her yo-yo. 'Barely. Can you see akuma? Know what it does?'
He nodded and traded his staff for her yo-yo so she could read while he typed. 'Adrien rescued. Couldn't find father or assistant. Mourner got bodyguard outside front gate.'
'Mourner name for akuma vic?' She switched weapons back with him.
'Looks like weird shadow thing. It touched BG with a lily & he vanished leaving headstone. Also, manipulates sound & light.'
So, death was this akuma's hostile power? Ladybug swallowed hard.
Cat Noir, his face eerily lit by his screen, was focused, not afraid. But he didn't have a reason to be frightened, did he? This wasn't the timeline Timebreaker had killed him in. Ladybug reached out to him, touching him lightly. He glanced up at her in response. The half-smile that played across his mouth helped ease her as he finished typing.
'Unless you want to call it different. Good news: been watching it. Doesn't react to noises, so it can't hear either or all sound really gone. Also, talks with its hands.'
She frowned and rolled her hand, a gesture for him to keep typing while she read over his shoulder.
'Phrase it repeats not said with mouth. Moves hands to say words. Think maybe it's LSF.'
'Would like to see it. Any ideas?"
He grinned and handed her his staff. Following the moving silhouettes of his hands, she saw him unhook a gun shape with a large barrel from his belt. He pointed it toward the ground, and produced a large, blinding beam of light.
The beam went out and he traded it to her for his staff.
'Handheld spot, full charge, point & squeeze.'
Before she could thank him, the voice drifted over to them. "Listen as the Quiet Man did and share in his pain. He was loved until the very end, but only his grave remains."
Ladybug looked up and saw a distorted shadow breaking away from the dimly mottled building. She felt Cat Noir lunge forward and saw his staff glinting as it extended. It hit the shadow somewhere close to its middle, and the shadow receded slightly. After a few seconds, it started toward them again. Cat Noir reeled back, his posture stiffening.
Ladybug held up the spotlight and pulled its switch.
Dark, elongated, limbs unevenly attached to a child sized body. It hovered low to the ground, unmoving and impaled on Cat Noir's staff.
The spotlight flickered. With frozen movements in the coruscating light, the Mourner raised a hand. Then the spot went out altogether.
"Listen as the Quiet Man did and share in his pain." What had previously been a declarative lament had become an angry wail. "He was loved until the very end, but only his grave remains."
The shadow lunged.
Ladybug grabbed her partner by the waist. Hooking her fingers into his belt she threw her yo-yo toward the roof. She had no idea how close the thing got before they were airborne, but as it hadn't managed to touch either of them, she honestly didn't care.
Cat Noir twisted, getting his legs around her and preventing the two of them from slamming full force into the side of the Agreste mansion. The sudden stop was still a little jarring, and for a few seconds, she was crushed between him and the wall, but she wasn't stunned. She exhaled, trembling with nervous laughter.
Cat Noir's chin brushed against her shoulder as he leaned hard to their right. He loosened his grip and patted the hand she held him with. She let him go. He dropped a few feet, then helped her down to the ledge he stood on.
As soon as she had her footing, Ladybug tried the spotlight. Nothing happened. It was possible that the Mourner had just drained the battery or broken the bulb, but more than likely he'd killed the light magically and it wouldn't work again until he was defeated. She pulled out the matches Tikki had found for her and struck one.
Cat Noir had been peering down into the backyard, nibbling his lower lip with a furrowed brow, but he looked up when the match flared. He twisted open the screen on his staff. 'Don't usually ask this, but will you let me go at this alone? You're at a serious disadvantage here.'
Ladybug shook her head. She held up a finger. She pointed at herself, pantimined walking with two fingers, then pointed at him.
He shook his head and took the matchbook from her. After lighting a match to replace hers, he offered her the staff. She quickly typed, 'Won't let you fight a killing akuma alone, but I can follow your lead.'
He reached over and typed, 'K, Want to see what else it can do before we see what your luck brings us?'
She nodded. Cat Noir shook out his match, then typed, 'hold onto me. I'll find you candle downstairs.'
Ladybug nodded again, and put away the matches. She grabbed his belt right next to the tail with one hand. Cat Noir adjusted the belt a little, settling her knuckles into a slight dip at the small of his back. After a short pause, he selected a window and led them into the dark mansion.
It wasn't bad. Not at first. The further they got from the window, though, the more oppressive the surrounding nothingness became. More than once, Ladybug contemplated using her yo-yo's screen to cut through the darkness, but she didn't want to risk the Mourner breaking it like he had the spotlight.
Cat Noir paused and turned toward her. He took her free hand and pressed it to a long round object. Then, still facing her, he took a step back, pulling her other hand downward.
Stairs, she realized, he's put my hand on the banister, and now he's telling me there are stairs.
Ladybug exhaled slowly, but nodded. Cat Noir waited for her to find the edge of the first step and get one foot on the second before he started moving again.
This was bad. This was one wrong move from rolling down a circular staircase, possibly taking her partner with her. And she wasn't sure how tight the walls were, but that would only matter to the two of them, not the Mourner. And he could be anywhere. If he popped up in front of them, Cat Noir stood a chance, but if he came from behind...
She pressed closer to her partner.
He paused and without turning, touched her thigh. It wasn't a halting gesture, not with how light it was. Maybe a questioning one? He patted her leg. He was checking on her.
She took another deep breath and nodded, her face ruffling his hair. He smelled like leather and coconuts, with faint under tones of pomegranate. She remembered Adrien's bed and briefly wondered if her partner and her dearest love used the same personal care products. The weird comparison at such an inopportune time cut her fear a little and made her giggle.
Cat Noir started moving again.
Clinging to the thought of Adrien made the rest of the descent easier. She remembered what it was like to rescue her prince. She warmed herself with images of his smile. She promised herself she'd invite Cat Noir to their wedding, if he promised to be happy for them.
At the bottom of the staircase, Cat Noir peeled her fingers off his belt and let her go. She immediately went for her matches.
They were in the antechamber that connected to her room and the wallwalk on the second floor. She moved to the outer door and pushed it open. The cool breeze put out her match, but she didn't mind. The flowing air and faint ambient light helped soothe her.
Cat Noir took her matchbook. He'd found a taper candle and an ornate handheld candlestick in the drawer of the accent table. He lit the candle and counted the leftover matches in the book. He frowned, drew another matchbook out of the drawer, and after consulting it, he handed her the candle and the new matchbook. He pocketed the used one.
She followed Cat Noir to the grand foyer and had a moment of elation when the light from her small candle reflected off of the marble in the gray and black room. Realistically, the room was too large for the reflected light to increase her field of view by much, but every centimeter made her feel a little more secure.
Cat Noir peered down into the darkness of the first floor. He focused on something, his expression shifting to concern. Before Ladybug could catch his attention to find out what was wrong, he jumped over the railing.
Ladybug took off around the stairs and immediately slowed when her candle flickered. She growled in frustration, not that that emitted any more noise than anything else had, and continued at a slower pace.
Cat Noir was kneeling next to something by the door to the kitchen. He no longer looked upset, just pensive. He summoned her over with a gesture.
As she drew closer, the object became apparent. It was a small gravestone. Fear carved into her belly. It could only be one of three people. She forced herself to walk slowly. Natalie, Gabriel, or Adrien?
Cat Noir pulled out his staff and started typing. He stood, and handed it to her. 'Houses like this usually have a backup generator, that may have been where she was going when he caught her.'
She. Ladybug knelt down next to the headstone.
Natalie Sancoeur.
"Listen as the Quiet Man did and share in his pain. He was loved until the very end, but only his grave remains." The Mourner was somewhere above them. Cat Noir looked up and then dragged Ladybug to the middle of the floor.
Ladybug pulled her yo-yo and moved to the side of Cat Noir. She followed his gaze and aimed just above where she thought the bannister should be. She threw in a sweeping arc by twisting her wrist and following through the rest of her body. In her other hand, the candle guttered with the sudden movement.
The yo-yo hit something, wrapping around it. Instinctively, Ladybug pulled. The candle flickered and flared, revealing a body hurtling towards them. The Mourner phased out of her yo-yo at the same time Cat Noir yanked Ladybug to the side, guttering her candle again.
Ladybug saved her light by dropping her weapon to wrap her hand around the candle. When she got the light steady, she looked around, but the Mourner had withdrawn. She tapped Cat Noir's arm and pointed to her yo-yo.
Cat Noir nodded in understanding. He approached the yo-yo slowly, sideling toward while he tracked a moving object.
Wait, was the Mourner still in the room? But that didn't make sense. Did it? Why wasn't he attacking? Why was he just letting Cat Noir get her yo-yo back for her? Why didn't he extinguish her candle?
Focusing on Cat Noir, Ladybug realized that the Mourner was hiding in the shadows on the other side of him. Her partner leaned forward, then leapt back away from the yo-yo without retrieving it. His movements illuminated the Mourner for a brief few seconds. The akuma victim froze, his lily still extended. Then her partner landed, eclipsing the light once more.
Well then.
Ladybug held the candle above her head, and kept her pace steady but easy as she went to retrieve her yo-yo. The Mourner didn't interfere.
She summoned her Lucky Charm immediately, and wasn't surprised when she was given a lantern full of kerosene.
She opened up her yo-yo. 'Can you keep him safely distracted in here?'
Cat Noir nodded.
'Give me minute and a half, then destroy dining room wall.'
Cat Noir nodded again, and sprinted off into the darkness.
Ladybug headed for the dining room. She hurried around the table as fast as she felt she could without endangering her light. When she reached the fireplace, she set down both candle and lantern and looked for firewood. She found it behind a subtly hidden panel.
She stacked the wood as she'd seen her father do in his stove, then smashed the glass part of the lantern on the wood, drenching it in kerosene. She picked up the candle and waited. The minute the wall vanished in a haze of darkness, she threw the candle into the fireplace and sprinted forward.
Light blazed to life around her. Ladybug jumped the table, using the last edge of it to propel herself over the shambles of ruined wall where the Mourner hovered, froze in place. She snapped the stem of the lily, releasing the akuma.
No more evil doing for you. She grinned, catching it easily. She released butterfly, then headed back to the fireplace. Reclaiming the metal handle and base of the lantern, she threw it into the air.
The return of light and sound was a relief. Then she heard the sobs coming from the grand foyer.
The Mourner was a little boy, who couldn't have been more than six or seven. Cat Noir and Natalie Sancoeur were both crouched next time him, watching his hand movements. Cat Noir shook his head and looked helplessly up at Ladybug. Natalie surprised them both by signing back.
The little boy threw his arms around her. Natalie accepted this, and looked up at the superheroes. "He says he misses his grandfather. The rest of their family are all hearing, but the two of them weren't. Since his grandfather died last week, he's felt very alone."
"Poor kid." Cat Noir shook his head.
Natalie stood, lifting the boy in her arms. "Ladybug, Cat Noir, if the two of you will permit it, I would like to take this child home. It's clear to me that he can tell me where he lives easier than he can tell either of you, also,"
She took a deep breath, "Also, I would like to talk to his parents. I have a cousin who works at the local school for the deaf, and I would like to pass her information on to them. If he's feeling lonely in a hearing world, maybe having the chance to make other non-hearing friends will help."
"Of course, and thank you for seeing him home." Ladybug nodded.
Natalie nodded and gestured toward the front door. The heroes took the hint and left together.
When they reached the street, Ladybug turned to Cat Noir. "There's a conversation I need to have with you, the sooner the better."
"Want to meet up later tonight?"
She shook her head, "It doesn't have to be in person. Transform around one, and I'll call you then. Okay?"
"Sure," He nodded. "Want to give me a clue as to the topic of the conversation though?"
Stepping in close to him, she whispered, "Marinette said Adrien is keeping a list. She thinks it's of Cat Noir potentials. She said she's tried to mislead him, but she's still concerned. I told her I would talk to you and we would handle it."
Cat Noir blinked several times. Then he nodded. "Alright, I'll talk to you tonight."
Hey all,
Sorry for going MIA. Somewhere in the middle of January, I realized I wasn't really working on most of my current creative projects, and just needed a break. Thanks for understanding.
Also, a special thanks to my brother and RoseySparrow for helping me with this chapter.
Cheers,
SG