A/N: While reading this chapter, think about the song "Stay Alive, reprise" from Hamilton. Just don't count to ten in French, or at least don't get to seven, otherwise Plagg is doomed to die. Even if he lives for someone else, you counted to seven and he's dead for you! My vast Author powers have cursed this chapter!
So now that I planted that in your heads, here's the chapter.
Chapter 25: Stay Alive (aka The Feels are Nigh)
Adrien ran to Plagg's side, turning him so he was laying in Adrien's lap and not on his side on the cold stone floor. Oh god, the blood, it was everywhere. The floor, the arrow, Adrien's hands, the stomach area of his dark grey sweater….all of it was stained a dark crimson. Adrien was dully startled that he had red blood and not some other majestic color, but that was the least of his priorities.
Plagg looked up through half-lidded eyes, "Go…" he coughed, "Run…" Tikki bowed her head,
"Plagg's right, we need to run."
"No!" Adrien insisted, "Not without Plagg!" He turned back to Plagg, "Come on, i-it isn't that bad yet." He moved to take out the arrow, forgetting he too was Fae and yelped as the arrow burned him. He saw a distinct line-like burn on his right hand.
"Adrien?!" Marinette ran over, her eyes widening at the already second degree burn. Imagine the pain Plagg was going through with that thing still in his stomach if Adrien, a lesser Fae than him, had gotten a nasty burn from less than a second of contact. Adrien hissed a little, but sucked it up. Tikki tried to grab him,
"I don't want to leave Plagg either! But we have to go!" Adrien nodded, taking off his jacket and placing it on his arm and stomach as he picked Plagg up in a bridal style carry, the jacket being used as a pillow and extra protection for Adrien from the arrow.
"Please go…" Plagg begged, and Adrien looked down at him,
"I will. With you."
They moved as fast as they could through the stone tower—though it was debatable if it was a tower or a castle, because it honestly could have been either—when they heard Regina shriek "WHERE DID THEY GO!? FIND THEM!" so unless there were other escaped prisoners, they had to hurry.
They decided to rest in the cellar. Marinette tore some fabric off the hem of her shirt, rendering it a crop top that Adrien would have had a hard time controlling himself around in a different circumstance.
"Plagg, bite down. This is gonna hurt."
"More than…it already…does?" Marinette nodded, taking the shaft of the arrow,
"Yes. A hell of a lot more." She ripped out the arrow and Plagg bit down on the fabric. While it made the burning sensation better, it didn't help the blood that started pouring out faster. Plagg's tan skin was getting paler by the second. Marinette took off her cardigan, "Okay, we need to get off this world, but Plagg is losing too much blood to survive unless we wrap it. Tikki, can I have your jacket?" Tikki nodded and Marinette put the jacket firmly on the wound, earning a whimper from Plagg as she fastened it tightly with the cardigan so it was now a makeshift bandage covering most of his torso
"Plagg, ya still with me?" Adrien asked. Plagg looked up weakly,
"I'm fine…as fine as one can be with an arrow burning through their gut…" Plagg had a weak smile as Adrien picked him up again.
"Just focus on your breathing." This only caused Plagg to cough up some blood. Adrien took to walking behind while Marinette looked for danger with Tikki,
"Is Plagg gonna…"
"Die? I hope not." Tikki looked back to where Adrien was letting Plagg hold one of his hands tightly while still being carried, "But this just shows how much he loves Adrien. He would never dream of doing something like this for the others." She turned back to Marinette, "Plagg's last wielder was worse than Hawk Moth at his worst, a full on murderer. Plagg had barely begun to recover when Nooroo's power was used for evil, we didn't think he was ready. But Adrien turned out to be his true wielder." Marinette cocked her head,
"True wielder?"
"Like in Supernatural, how Sam and Dean were Lucifer and Michael's perfect vessel. It's the same with Miraculous wielders, you're my true wielder, Jared is Viirus', and so on. This is the first time we got all of them in one go—other than Nooroo and Duusu's. A true wielder only shows up once every thousand years. But with that comes a price," Tikki turned back, "A kwami is a part of every wielder's soul. Losing a kwami is devastating, but if Plagg dies on Adrien… he will never be the same."
Meanwhile, Adrien was sobbing as he carried his friend.
"We…we've been through a lot." Plagg nodded,
"Yeah…" he started closing his eyes, "I'm sleepy…" Adrien bounced his elbow, bouncing Plagg's head,
"NO! Don't you dare! Stay awake, buddy!" Adrien smiled, trying to lighten the mood through his internal screaming, "Just for a little bit longer, then I'll get you some really nice cheese!"
"I'm not hungry…"
"And not just any cheese! Camembert—oh…" he sucked in a deep breath as Plagg looked up at him, "It must be really, really bad…" the tears started spilling over, as it truly sank in that Plagg, his first real friend, was dying. "Just stay awake, please…I promise we'll get you help, but you have to hold on."
Plagg's eyes glazed over, "I'll just slow you down, please leave me."
"No. Out of the question. Even if you die, I'll take you back so you get a proper burial—not like that will happen!"
"Found you." Adrien turned and saw Maescia behind him, holding FaeBane laced chains. Plagg growled, holding up his hand,
"Not today…bitch." He activated Black Storm and Maescia fell to her knees.
Plagg fell limp.
"PLAGG NO—…no…Plagg…we need to hurry." He gave Plagg's dying body to Tikki, "Take care of him. I've got this." Marinette sent him a worried look, but helped Tikki run off. Adrien turned to Maescia, the wind picking up dangerously.
"What?" Maescia asked, standing up, "You stepsister ripped off my hand!"
"AND YOU TRIED TO KILL ME AND MY MATE AND ALMOST KILLED MY FRIEND!" Maescia frowned,
"Almost? Honey, he's already dead. And he did it to himself." Adrien clenched his fists,
"He's still breathing!"
"Not for long." And Adrien lost it.
Activating a form much like Heartless or Tenshi, he demonstrated a Noble Fae Form. His eyes were orbs of neon green, his hair turned jet black as his skin took a grey tint and his fingernails turned to claws. His ears were even longer and pointier, and his teeth were pointed fangs. Cataclysm activated in both hands.
"H-How is that possible..!?" Maescia breathed. Fae Noir smirked, teleporting behind her and grabbing her by the throat, his voice a mix of his own and something much darker,
"Don't fuck with the God of Destruction." Maescia screamed as she turned to dust and crumbled.
Adrien changed back and ran to where Tikki and Marinette were. Plagg was slumped on the wall, unmoving.
"How is he?" Adrien asked. Tikki bowed her head.
"I've done everything I can, but he's asleep. I can't wake him up…his chances just dropped drastically." Adrien fell to his knees, taking Plagg's cold hand,
"P-Plagg…" Then they heard a weak chuckle and Adrien's eyes met Plagg's cat-like ones, which were glazed but open,
"I've still got something in me." Plagg said quietly, "I won't leave…without saying goodbye… you always said I was stubborn…" he chuckled, coughing up more blood.
"No! No goodbyes…y-you'll be okay…" This was not happening. It couldn't be happening. It couldn't… "Damnit, you will not die! YOU HEAR ME!? We have been through Hawk Moth and Mara and a fucking Barbie movie. You can pull through this…"
"Don't be angry at me." Plagg begged, "I never thought I would die either, eternal god and all." Adrien picked him up again,
"YOU STUBBORN PIG! FIGHT! YOU DON'T HAVE TO LEAVE!" He started weeping, "Please…don't go…I swear, if you die, I will bring you back from the dead and not give you cheese for a month!"
Plagg chuckled, "You monster…" he started crying, clutching his stomach, "I'm scared." Adrien nodded,
"I know. I'm scared too. But we have to be strong. You have to be strong."
"Adrien…I—" Plagg gasped for air, causing Adrien to set him down in a panic. Plagg fell slack and his eyes closed. Unless they got him healed, he wasn't going to wake up.
"PLAGG PLEASE!" He bit his lip in determination, carrying Plagg up the stairs and into the main room of the tower, "Just stay alive for a little longer, so we can get you to a doctor."
"I can heal him." They all turned and saw Regina standing there, gesturing to Plagg, "Give yourselves up, and I will heal him."
"Go to Hell!" Marinette snapped, "We won't let you anywhere near him."
Regina shrugged to Marinette and turned to Adrien, "Are you really going to be that bad a chosen and let him die in your arms?" Adrien looked down at Plagg's limp body with ragged breathing, before pulling him close and taking a step back from Regina.
"You are the reason he stabbed himself!"
"Am I?" She put a finger under her chin, brushing back a strand of straight black hair, "Or was it to save you?"
"And you think we're just gonna sit here and be the bait?" Adrien snapped.
"I did." She replied, walking up to them, "Unless you want him to die. Regardless, you are going to stay captured!" She threw a hand out of perform a spell, and Adrien sprinted away.
"Tikki, Spots On!" Ladybug ran too, "What now?" She asked, amazed Adrien's Fae legs matched her speed as a superhero. Adrien used his wind powers to dig into his pocket and tossed a keychain onto the ground that turned into a Gummi ship.
"Get in!" Adrien set Plagg down on the bed in the back and got in the driver's seat, launching them away from that world. He looked back to where Plagg slept, "Mari, in the top of the closet, there's a sewing kit. Do you think you can…stitch him up? There's a hospital at that mall in the Lanes Between, and I have it in the navigation, but we won't get anywhere if he loses all of his blood."
Marinette grabbed the sewing kit and lifted up Plagg's blood caked sweater to reveal a rather horrific sight that made her need to swallow vomit. She held up the needle and thread,
"Okay…I can do this! Stitching up a person…just pretend it's clothing!" She stuck the needle in and gagged at the 'squish' sound it made as she started stitching up, thanking god that Plagg wasn't awake to feel the pain.
Tikki held Plagg's hand, "That will work for the blood loss, but it's the wound to his vitals and the Ashwood poison that worries me."
"What's the cure for Ashwood when it hurts Fae?" Marinette asked. Tikki sighed,
"Time. Time that Plagg doesn't have. Ashwood is even deadlier than FaeBane because it eats away at his magic—his life force. Even if Plagg recovers, he will be nowhere near as powerful, as seen by the fact he only stunned Maescia and it severely drained him."
"So if Plagg dies…" Marinette mused, "Adrien would be the next kwami?!"
"No." Tikki said, "Unless Plagg names him heir, that won't happen."
"Guys!" Adrien snapped, turning back to face them, "Don't talk like that! Plagg will be fine!"
"Right…" Marinette bit her lip at how desperate Adrien look, and placed herself in his shoes. Would she be any different if Tikki was the one on the brink? No. She wouldn't. "Sorry…"
OoOoO
Adrien carried Plagg into the mall,
"HELP! My brother! He needs help!" He ran through frantically. Plagg remained still, his head lolling limply like a child's toy, "Please!" He looked around until he saw a very familiar man, "Dr. Winston!?"
Dr. Winston turned with an expression that read "Kill me." Adrien ran over,
"Please! He's dying! I need help!"
…
Dr. Winston looked at the boy in Adrien's arms. He was Fae, and judging my the burns along the wound, he had been stabbed by Ashwood. You aren't a doctor in a magical universe unless you know the stuff.
Now, he knew there was no cure this boy had time for. He had actually been here on vacation, trauma therapy for the horrors the Agreste family showed him. He had just gotten a lovely massage and was on his way to yoga!
He felt the newfound zen leave him. The wound was already infected and that boy was so close to death it was shocking he wasn't already, as it was clear he had gone into irreversible shock, meaning he wasn't going to wake up.
What does one do in this situation? He couldn't help, didn't have the balls to try to help because he knew it was a lost cause, but the desperation and newfound hope in Adrien's eyes hurt. Did he say "Fuck this shit, I'm out." Did he run away? Did he run outside even though the ship wasn't here for him, meaning he would basically commit suicide in the Lanes Between? Did he hide in the bathroom? WHAT DID HE DO!?
When he became a doctor and was assigned to the Agreste family, he expected Adrien would get a paper cut or something and his parents would treat it like the end of the world. And for a while, it was like that. But when Zoe came around, the injuries started getting more serious and suddenly he was watching a woman die in childbirth when she had only just conceived. That was far above his pay-grade, and this was too. He was a pediatrician! Not a surgeon!
Yes, the Agreste family had a pediatrician caring for them. But in his defense, the other members of the hospital thought that was all that was needed for the sheltered kid! And when the injuries got more traumatic, the others decided "Nah, I'm not gonna fuck with that, let's leave it dumped on Dr. Winston."
After a second of silence that felt like hours to both, Dr. Winston sighed, knowing he would never escape the Fae teenager if he bolted.
"Look, there is a hospital ward here. I'll do what I can." Adrien beamed,
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Dr. Winston had a sad smile as he turned away, knowing he couldn't do much, and Adrien would likely kill him for it.
Don't thank me yet.
OoOoO
Adrien paced in the hospital, actually wearing a hole in the floor. Marinette was supporting a crying Tikki. It was gonna be okay. Dr. Winston was here! And he took care of Zoe when she was in a coma, others said she wouldn't pull through and he had correctly predicted she'd be up in a week! They were in the hands of a professional, Plagg would be fine.
Dr. Winston came out after another hour. Adrien looked up,
"How is he?" Dr. Winston shook his head and everyone gasped. No… he couldn't be…
"He's in Irreversible Shock, and is comatose…I did everything I could with the other doctors, but there is nothing more we can do. I suggest saying your goodbyes." Adrien grabbed the man by the throat,
"YOU SAID YOU COULD SAVE HIM!" Marinette forced the iron grip off the doctor's throat,
"He said he would do what he could, but that wasn't enough…Come on, mon chaton, let's go see Plagg."
Adrien refused to accept what the doctor was saying. It had to be some fucked up prank Plagg had suggested now that he was fine. It had to be…
It wasn't.
Plagg lay flat on the hospital bed, cleaned up, but still so pale that his tan skin was as pale as Adrien's. He had an oxygen mask and was hooked up to all the things.
Adrien fell into the ugly green armchair and clutched Plagg's hand, begging for a small squeeze.
"Come on Plagg, prove them wrong…" He pleaded, looking up in hopes of seeing green cat-like eyes, only to find closed eyelids, "Please…"
Tikki sat down beside him, "There is a way, potentially, to save him."
"Anything!"
"The Inheritance Ceremony." Marinette cocked her head,
"What's that?"
"It means Adrien becomes the Kwami of Destruction, and he and I can perform the wish. We can't wait until he's…dead…to do this. Fae never come back right, like Pet Semetery wrong, like murderous zombie." Everyone shuddered at the idea of a zombie Plagg walking around and killing everyone. That was not what they wanted, not at all. Adrien nodded to himself,
"We can use the wish to heal him."
"Yes. And since he isn't dead, there won't be a price. And even if another noble Fae got hurt, they can easily fight it off. Plagg did this of his own will, otherwise it wouldn't have happened at all." Adrien stood up,
"What do I have to do?"
"You need to get him a vessel." Tikki said, "Doesn't have to be willing, but Plagg needs to verbally name you his successor." And then suddenly Adrien was gone, and appeared with a random man,
"Here is a pedophile."
"That works." Tikki said, "That was impossibly fast though."
"What? I got a text from Zoe saying Joselyn eats souls, so I looked up a list of pedophiles for her to munch on. Nobody will miss them."
Tikki touched the pedophile's forehead with one hand and Plagg's with the other,
"Plagg, slæpe tô brôðor. Lendan mid ðêos wæterbûc ðêah−hwæðere gêocian êower!" There was a green glow and the pedophile's eyes turned to Plagg's cat-like ones.
"Wha…what?" Plagg looked down at his vessel, "What happened?"
"Plagg!" Adrien beamed, "We need you to perform the Inheritance Ceremony!" Plagg's eyes widened,
"What?! NO!" He turned to Tikki, "What were you thinking telling him?! I refuse to put that burden on him!" Adrien glared,
"Stop talking suicidally! You'll die without this!"
"You're the one talking suicidally!" Plagg snapped, "This is a big deal and you can't go back, there is no giving me the power back if you heal me!"
"You're the reason I didn't commit suicide!" Everyone gassed at his outburst, except Plagg, who bowed his head as though he knew that all too well, "Zoe helped, but you know I would have been dead before she arrived if it hadn't been for you!" Marinette had her hands over her mouth in horror and shock. Plagg looked away towards his normal body, and the weak yet rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor.
"I am not damning you to an eternity where you could kill the people you love with one touch. I doubt you could even have a family with my power. So no," he turned back to face him, "You will not succeed into guilt-tripping me into saying 'yes'."
"I-I…I can't watch you die!" Adrien pleaded. Plagg gave him a sad smile,
"Then don't look." He cupped Adrien's cheek, "You can't talk me into doing this. I'm going to return to my body now. I want you to go back to Zoe and get a whack at the Regina piñata for me. I love you, Adrien, I really do. I'm so sorry." The vessel fell limp, dead.
The sound of a flatline filled the room.
Doctors rushed in with an AED, trying to bring him back, start his heart again, but to no avail.
Time of death, 2:36pm, January 9th.
Adrien held the body tight, screaming in Fae tongue, anything he could think of. Plagg couldn't be gone. HE COULDN'T BE!
"Plagg no…"
Marinette turned to Tikki, "W-What's gonna happen now? There is no bad luck and destruction, only good luck and creation." Tikki sighed,
"A new Destruction will be born. My guess is, since Adrien is the true wielder, it will be his firstborn." Adrien wailed, throwing himself onto Plagg's cold, dead body,
"And how is that different from me being the new Destruction?! T-That stubborn cat! He—he didn't have…" he sobbed, "he could have still…" This had to be a nightmare. It felt like a part of himself, a part of his soul went missing the second Plagg stopped breathing.
"Anything?" They all turned and yelped when they saw Regina sitting in one of the other armchairs, holding her fingertips together with a smirk on her face and one leg crossed over the other. She looked over to Plagg's corpse and chuckled darkly, holding an Ashwood arrow, the same one used to kill Plagg.
It didn't escape Marinette's notice that the hand she was holding the arrow with was gloved.
"And now I have my own use for you two…besides bait of course." The witch matron mused, gesturing to the two of them with the arrow, "Especially if I kill Tikki." Se flicked her wrist and Marinette's earrings flew into her palm and suddenly the arrow was pointed at Tikki's throat, "Surrender or she joins her brother."
"Never!" Tikki blasted Regina's stomach with some sort of luck blast, which made the witch lose her footing and allowed Tikki to run away from her and shift into her animal form.
"You little bitch!" Regina growled, as Adrien shielded them both. Regina softened, "I can bring Plagg back using you two. I thought you would want that."
"Not using Marinette!" Adrien sneered, but his next words were quieter, "And…Plagg wouldn't want that." He gained a little confidence, "Besides, have you never seen either adaptation of Pet Semetery?! Fucking zombie here to kill us all! While each adaptation did it differently, the point still stands. Don't bring people back from the dead!" If Tikki hadn't warned him that was how Fae were brought back, he would be trying to find a way to bring Plagg back. And while Adrien currently wanted to die in a hole, he needed to protect his mate and Tikki, prevent Marinette from feeling the same feeling he did right now.
"That's resurrection." Regina said, "Not reincarnation. So I'm going to be taking all three of you anyways, but if you come willingly, the process will be much more…pleasant."
"Then Plagg will have died in vain." Marinette growled. Regina shrugged,
"Doesn't really matter because he's dead now. Nothing you can do about it except come with me."
Adrien sucked in a breath, "Fine." This would protect Marinette. They were already in checkmate, so this was the less painful option. A part of him wanted to ram himself into that arrow, but that wasn't what he should do. But he had a plan, or the starts of one, "But I get one phone call."
Regina looked rather bemused, "You're not going to jail, you don't need to make 'the' phone call. But whatever, anything to make you cooperate." Marinette looked confused as well. Adrien dialed Jared, knowing Zoe was busy and Jared was around,
"Zoe…"
"No…this is Jared."
"I know."
"Then why did you call me Zoe?"
"This call is to say goodbye." That got Jared's attention,
"What? I'm listening." He heard the sound of a pencil on paper and he mentally sighed in relief at the fact Jared had figured out the message would be cryptic.
"Remember this wind chimes I got you, those ones of the tower…remember me like that. Back where we were, those were the good days, and I'll be there again." He chuckled sadly, "You know what to do. Don't come looking for me. Goodbye Zoe." he hung up and turned to Regina,
"Time to go." He send Marinette a reassuring look and she seemed to understand his plan.
OoOoO
Jared looked at what he had written down of what Adrien had said. Wind chimes? Back where we were? He looked to Eden, "Does this mean anything to you." Eden looked at it,
"Hm…no. Not really."
"Why?" Gabriel asked, coming in and reading the paper, "Where did you get this?"
"Adrien and Marinette are in danger." Jared said, "Or at least it sounds like it. He was trying to tell me something, but I have no idea what the fuck he was trying to tell me."
Then it hit him.
On their travels before they hit the fucking Barbie world, they went to a world with a dark tower in the center of a barren wasteland that looked like a former battle field. it was very windy there, but the piece of soul they had been tracking wasn't there anymore, so they left.
"I know where they are!" Gabriel pulled out one of the magic potions that relieved the pain in his legs. He grabbed a semi-automatic machine gun,
"Let's go then!"
"Go where?" Camille asked curiously.
"The Dark Tower." All of them turned and saw Kelly come in, Joselyn hiding behind his feet. Zoe looked like a shell of herself, just sitting in the white armchair and rocking herself back and forth. She was stained with blood and was wearing a new necklace that she held tightly in her fist.
"Sounds rather cliche." Macy pointed out, "But it isn't. It's mother's stronghold other than the manor. That place is so dangerous that someone without magic won't last in there without a hell of a lot of help."
Eden gasped at the sight of Joselyn, who was still hiding behind Kelly's legs. She was a small girl, a little smaller than average. She was gangly and it was clear she hadn't eaten enough. But overall she was healthy.
"We need an inside man." Kelly said, looking down at Joselyn, "Regina still thinks she has the demon influence. The only reason she doesn't is because I removed it." Joselyn bounced on her heels,
"So I get to be helpful?" Kelly nodded, picking her up and hugging her tight.
"You don't have to do this."
"But I do, Daddy." she looked up with big eyes, "She killed my mother, and I'm the only one who could pass as being on her side."
Zoe looked up, "Okay. Someone take Joselyn now, and the rest of us leave at down."
A/N: So Plagg is dead, and Joselyn is off to be an undercover spy.
If you don't want anyone else to die, remember to review!