Everything was a jumble of confusion for a few seconds while the three of them struggled wildly together. The man lost hold of his knife and resorted to punching Ladybug with his fists. His feeble attempts to hurt her might as well have been a friendly pat on the back for all the harm they did. But she knew his attack wouldn't feel so gentle to Adrien, so Ladybug did her best to shield him with her body.

Ladybug twisted around, wedging herself between the two men, and found the blade of a long knife. She grabbed it and flung it away from the tussle. Then she got her bearings and saw the strangely familiar man lifting his fist to punch her in the face again while she crouched over Adrien. Irritated, she shoved him away with one hand and he flew across the street, hit his head on the wall of a neighboring building, and slumped to the ground, unconscious.

She examined the former villain's features for a moment, then remembered where she'd seen him before. He was one of the men who she and Chat had caught burglarizing a jewelry store the night before graduation, the larger of the two. His thin companion was the man who had shot Chat Noir after the Museum robbery, and who had been killed by the police moments later. That must have been this man's brother.

"Wow, that was a wild ride. Are you okay?" Ladybug looked down at Adrien, expecting him to be smiling up at her, or looking at the unconscious man with recognition, or perhaps frowning at her for having defeated the villain without him. But Adrien was not doing any of those things. He was lying still on the street, skin pale in the lamplight.

"Adrien?" Ladybug gasped.

His breathing was shallow and rapid and he was grimacing in pain and clutching his abdomen, his hands were covered with glistening wet blood which gushed darkly from between his fingers. It looked like someone had dumped a bucket of dark red paint on him.

"Oh, my god! Adrien!"

"L...Ladybug..." he whimpered feebly.

"Adrien!" Gabriel's panicked voice rang through the alleyway as he sprinted to his son's side.

Adrien was looking paler by the second, his face taking on a sickly greenish hue. His breathing shuddered and he coughed weakly.

"Call the hospital!" Ladybug ordered. "Let them know I'm bringing your son in for emergency treatment. I should be able to get him there in less than a minute, so hurry!"

"Wait, Ladybug! Take him to Saint-Louis Hospital!"

"But that's farther away!"

"HDH is going to be swamped right now with all the burn victims being discharged! They will see him faster at Saint-Louis. Don't argue. GO NOW!"

Gabriel turned away, whipped out his phone, and began dialing. He was right, of course. The nearest hospital would be swarming with burn victims who had just moments ago been healed by her miraculous power. It would be chaos in there.

Ladybug gingerly lifted Adrien into her arms. He gritted his teeth and moaned in pain.

"I'm sorry. This is probably going to really hurt," she murmured. Then she shifted his weight to her left arm, cast her yo-yo, and pulled them into the air.

They flew over the streets together, Adrien whimpered slightly a few times when she had to land and change direction, but he didn't say anything. Ladybug spoke to him the whole way, trying to keep his attention or perhaps distract him from the pain. She didn't really pay attention to what she was saying, as long as she was saying something. As though by keeping a monologue running she could keep him with her. It would be rude to die while she was talking to him.

"I'm sorry I didn't wait for you, Adrien. I wasn't really planning on capturing the akuma, you know. I was just hoping to get the villain off of you two so you could get away. It just sort of happened. Why did you have to go jumping in like that when he attacked me... sorry, have to jump down here... He might have hurt me, sure, but not nearly as bad as he hurt you. You know our suits make us pretty much impervious. What could a knife have done to Ladybug? ...just one more jump here, we're almost there... And now you're hurt again and have to go to the hospital. I'm really getting tired of carrying your bloody body through the streets, you know. You should stop getting hurt all the time."

"Ladybug?" It wasn't Adrien's voice that spoke. It was a smaller and very worried sounding voice. A small, black, cat-like head poked out of Adrien's pocket. "I don't think he's awake anymore."

Ladybug paused for a fraction of a second on the roof of a building to pull the pins out of her bun and let her hair fall to her shoulders. "Hide in my hair, Plagg. We can't let the doctors see you. And I think they're probably going to strip him once he's inside."

Plagg's eyes welled with tears, but he obeyed, floating out of Adrien's pocket and nestling into her hair while she swung them down the last hundred meters to the emergency entrance of the hospital.

A group of doctors and nurses was waiting for them by the ambulance entrance. They waved ladybug over and helped her lay Adrien on the cot, then immediately wheeled him through the wide double doors.

"What happened?" one of them asked. "His father called and said he'd been stabbed and needed emergency surgery."

"He was attacked by a man with a long knife... It looked like maybe thirty centimeters long," she held her hands apart to show the length of the blade. "He was stabbed just below his ribs on his right side."

"Thank you, Ladybug. We'll take it from here."

"Wait!" Ladybug cried and the nurse looked back at her. Ladybug's earring's beeped one more warning. "I...I'll let his girlfriend know where he is. Where should I tell her to go?"

"She'll have to check in at the front desk. They can tell her where the waiting room is from there."

Ladybug nodded once, cast her yo-yo, and flew through the air. She had less than a minute remaining before she would transform back, not nearly enough time to get back to her own house, but Adrien's apartment was much closer. So she swung over the rooftops, arced around the tallest buildings, alighted on Adrien's balcony, and entered his bedroom just as her transformation lifted.

Tikki flew out of her earring and drifted weakly toward the ground, like a dry leaf falling from a tree. Marinette caught her in her shaking hands. "I'll find you some food first," she whispered, stepping toward the bedroom door.

"Wait, Marinette," Plagg chirped. He flew to the wall that separated Adrien's room from Nino's and pressed his ear to it, listening. "Okay, he's not there. He must have a gig tonight."

"Thanks, Plagg. I'm not thinking very clearly right now."

"We understand," Tikki sighed weakly.

"All right, food first." Marinette hurried to the kitchen and dug around in the cabinets until she found a box of cookies. She opened it and brought it into Adrien's bedroom, then she rummaged through his clothes until she found a V-neck t-shirt and a pair of shorts which wouldn't look too big on her. She could pull it off, she thought. And, anyway, she really didn't care about her clothes. She just wanted to look normal enough to avoid too much speculation.

She washed off the blood in the shower, bringing her own outfit in with her to rinse the blood out of the fabric. She was thinking sensibly enough to know that she would have to clean her clothes if she wanted to avoid anyone learning her secret identity. The news helicopters had seen Ladybug with Adrien when he was stabbed. If she was discovered with his blood all over her clothes, it would be impossible to avoid discovery. So, while she cleaned herself she also focused on working the blood out of her dress and jacket.

When she was finished, she dressed in Adrien's clean clothes and stashed her own under his bed, laid out on a towel to dry.

The two kwamis watched her in silence, patiently waiting for her to be ready. Marinette looked down at the them, their enormous, expressive eyes shining up at her plaintively. Plagg was shedding silent sparkling tears and appeared to be past words.

Marinette's heart was still thundering in her chest, her hands were still shaking, her stomach was twisted in a knot so painful it felt like she had been stabbed, too.

"Tikki... I'm so scared. What if I go back and... and he's..."

"He's not dead, Marinette," Tikki assured her, solemnly.

"He isn't... but, how do you know for sure?"

"Because Plagg is still here. He can only be here if Adrien is wearing the ring still. If the ring is removed, or if no living person is wearing it, Plagg will disappear."

"Please, Marinette!" Plagg begged. "Please let's hurry!"

"Yeah... Let's go." She opened up her bag and the kwamis dove into it together. Then she hurried through the door, down the stairs, and out into the cool night air.

When Marinette arrived at the hospital, the atmosphere felt so calm and peaceful it was surreal. The brightly lit entrance, beautiful artwork, and indoor landscaping seemed indecently cheerful. Everyone speaking in hushed tones or calmly making their way in and out, as though Adrien's life was not in dire jeopardy, seemed wrong, insensitive. They should be running around in panic, or openly weeping. Not acting like this was any other night.

Marinette tremulously approached the front desk and asked about Adrien. The woman behind the counter told her to check in on the clipboard and gave her directions to the place where she could wait for an update on his condition, a small room adjacent to the intensive care unit. Marinette thanked the woman numbly and started walking. She knew enough about hospitals to understand that only the most critical patients were sent to the ICU, and many never made it out again. The polished white tiled floor shone underfoot. Overhead she could see stars through the glass ceiling. Palm trees lined the walkway along with tables and chairs where visitors could sit and relax. She might have been strolling along a street lined with cafés, but for the high walls on either side, the echoing of subdued voices, and escalators leading to upper levels.

When she finally arrived at the waiting room for the ICU, trembling and feeling sick to her stomach, Marinette fell into a chair and stared at the floor. The image of Adrien's hands, blood oozing between his fingers, rushed to her mind and she stood up again. She couldn't sit still, not when his life was in danger. She paced the room nervously, biting her lip, looking through windows in an attempt to catch a glimpse of Adrien.

After a few minutes the door opened and a balding man wearing blue scrubs and spectacles walked in. "Are you a relative of Adrien Agreste?" He asked.

"I'm his girlfriend. His father should be here soon, too. How is he?"

"I'm afraid he's suffered a severe laceration to his liver. We've rushed him into surgery, and our surgeon will do everything he can to stop the bleeding. At this point, I'm afraid we can't predict how things will go until we get a better look at what we're dealing with."

"He's bleeding to death?!"

"There are many large blood vessels in the liver. But it is often possible to stop the bleeding. And, as I said, the surgeon will do everything he can to help him. Someone will come update you if anything changes. In the meantime, there are refreshments available on the back table while you wait."

The man left. Marinette resumed her restless pacing. She'd thought an update would answer questions and help her feel better, but she only felt worse now. They might be able to stop the bleeding? They can't predict how things will go? How serious was it? Again, the image of gushing blood flowing between Adrien's fingers rushed to her mind. Marinette covered her face with her hands in a futile attempt to block it out and wept.

Then suddenly she realized how late it was and that she hadn't gone home when she was supposed to. Her parents must be worried about her. She fumbled with her phone and finally dialed the right number.

"Marinette? Are you okay? Where are you?" her father answered, in a stricken voice.

Marinette's voice tightened and she almost couldn't speak. "Dad... it's Adrien."

"Adrien? What has he done?!"

"Nothing, Dad. There's been an accident. We're at the hospital..." she sobbed and couldn't continue.

There was a short pause. "Which hospital? We'll be right there!"

"Saint-Louis Hospital. I'm in the waiting room by the ICU," she managed to say. "He's in surgery now, but... they say he's bleeding... and, and they're trying to stop it but..."

"We're on our way. We'll be right there, sweetheart, okay?"

"Okay," she sniffed.

Marinette hung up and then helped herself to a handful of tissues from the side table to clean up her face a bit. The waiting room felt ominously empty and still after the phone conversation with her father. Somehow she'd thought that getting Adrien to the hospital would have delivered immediate results, almost like her miraculous power. Doctors were supposed to heal people, but it didn't feel like he was any closer to being okay now than when he was lying on the street beneath her. And calling her dad had felt similar. Parents were supposed to protect their children, to make things better when they went wrong. She knew that her father couldn't always fix everything, but deep down inside her was a little girl who still felt like he could, and had hoped that once she heard his voice everything would be okay again. But it wasn't.

The door opened again and Marinette's eyes flashed up, but this time it wasn't a nurse entering from the ICU, but another visitor coming in to wait with her in the bright and lonely room.

Gabriel Agreste came through the door, his long bony face haggard, his eyes reddened, but he shed no tears. He slowly paced the length of the room in silence and sat on a chair next to Marinette.

"Has there been any update on my son's condition?" He asked in a hollow voice.

"They've taken him into surgery to try to stop the bleeding," Marinette answered quietly. "They say he was stabbed in the liver."

Gabriel moaned and leaned forward, resting his face in his hands. Marinette thought he might be crying, but when he finally sat back up his eyes, though weary and red, were still dry. He gazed at her with a strange mixture of grief and resignation, then sighed.

"I was always afraid something like this would happen. He never believed it was possible, but... it is a father's job to protect his child... and I've failed."

Even though her own heart felt torn in two, Marinette could still see the anguish in Mr. Agreste's eyes. "It isn't your fault. There's no way you could have prevented this."

"But it is. This is all my fault. You must know that."

Marinette almost forgot her own grief as she stared into Gabriel Agreste's face. Was he confessing to what she had long suspected but could never prove?

"Yes, it is," he continued. "And no matter how much you might hate me for it, you can never hate me as much as I hate myself right now. I am the one who prevented him from leaving tonight to join you. I am the one who chose a man who would be a danger to you even without superpowers, though I never thought he would pull a knife on you." His jaw tightened as he spoke the last sentence.

Marinette's mouth went dry. Her voice stopped working. She stared, wide-eyed, at Gabriel. Then finally she managed to move her lips. "A-are you saying...?" she breathed.

"Yes, Ladybug. I am Hawkmoth."