Adrien's day hasn't gone swimmingly. For one thing, he's pretty sure he won't be coming home until he wins, which means that, aside from time spent with Marinette, he'll be Papillon every minute of the day...

But now he knows who he's after. Marinette and Father are all that stand between him, and the world. And if he can prove that Marinette loves him, and make her see his point of view, and what's in it for her, the she'll certainly join him eventually, right? Honestly, what can he do now? Turn back? Accept that he killed pointlessly? Move on?

Never gonna happen.

He meets her eyes, and feels the thrill of joy and protectiveness that always races through him, looking at her, even when she's looking at him with fury and hatred. He extends his hand towards his Princess, with wide eyes. "I love you. You know it's true. I wouldn't do this if I didn't know that the end would justify everything, for both of us."

She bites her lip, seeming to hesitate. "Papillon..."

"You love me, right?" he asks, voice quiet, almost scared. "You still love me, even though things have been changing, right?"

She doesn't move a muscle. "That doesn't matter anymore. Love or not, we should have figured out that a hero and a villain won't work."

"I'm not a villain," he steps toward her, taking her hand in his. "Princess, it's still me."

His father steps between them, eyes flashing. "Adrien, have I really failed you as a father so much that you never learned what the word 'no' means?"

The Butterflies begin circling them. "You failed as a father when you first locked me away from the world and forgot I existed."

Father cringes back. "I was trying to protect you from this. From the carnage in your blood."

"Good job!" Adrien rolls his eyes. "Really doing great there."

Marinette puts a hand on his father's shoulder. "Um, Mr. Agreste? Not to interrupt. but... akumas... blood... murder... we don't exactly have time to talk."

The man looks between the two kids, and nods. "Right you are, little Lady. Time to go. Adrien Agreste we are not done talking about this," he rushes through the last line before vaulting away. Marinette looks back, and nods slightly.

"Yes. Of course I do," she whispers, before swinging down to fight the akumas.

...

It isn't easy to fight two akumas at once. Gabriel's just glad that at least one of them is relatively nonviolent... if they take out the Knight, then the Princess will fall easily.

The Knight is proving difficult to take out.

The armies of soldiers, fighting out of love, aren't giving up any time soon, no matter how stacked against them the odds are, which makes it hard to incapacitate them without resorting to casualties. Love is a powerful motivator. Man, Gabriel is glad that he has his staff, not the knives, or someone would have gotten very, very hurt by now.

He knocks aside a pair of soldiers, heading for the leader, the Knight. She's standing protectively over the Princess, blade at the ready, and for a moment, Gabriel's almost proud of his son. To find such strong emotion, and bend it to his whim, takes a lot of strength. Yes, it's twisted and wrong, and yes, Adrien's in trouble, but still... undeniably impressive.

The girl sees him and steps forward. "Give me the ring. Then he'll let her go."

Gabriel sighs. "Nobel though your intentions are, I must refuse."

"If you will not give it over willingly, I am prepared to take it forcibly."

He nods, readying his staff. "You are prepared to try."

She smiles, and lunges, but it's easily parried. Her eyes widen. "Oh."

"Oh."

He's more than a match for her, and while she's busy fighting him, she's distracted from Princess, who's daydreaming, not noticing the girl sneaking up behind her...

...

Marinette snaps the hair ribbon lightly, without too much trouble. She's honestly a little offended that the akuma he named for her is so weak and delicate. Nothing without the Knight. She wrinkles her nose, as Rose falls to the ground, as much under the spell of oblivion as any other victim, and glares up at Adrien. "I can fight you, you know!" she calls up. "I'm not weak!"

"If you were weak, you wouldn't be you," he calls back, voice carrying over the rooftops.

Meanwhile, the Knight is distracted, turning quickly. "Rose!"

She finds herself knocked upside the head, into Marinette's arms. "Thanks," she grins, snapping the sword over her knee, and activating the cure... huh. That was easy. Too easy. After Jackady, this wasn't what she expected.

That's when she notices that the people the Princess put to sleep, aren't waking up. Rose's blue eyes flutter open, as Juleka holds her gently, but everyone else lies in the street, over forty people. She runs to the bodies, checking, and... yes, that's a pulse, and she can see the rise and fall of the chests. They aren't dead, but why aren't they waking up?!

"He's still transformed," Gabriel growls. "And he's using his energy to keep them under a spell. Remind me to ground him."

"What do we do?" Marinette looks to the older man. "I've never dealt with him like this before, murderous. You have. Or someone like him, anyway."

"I'll get them to a hospital," he says calmly. "You're about to detransform."

Marinette hesitates, but nods, and heads away...

...

Lila Rossi steps into the sunlight of Paris, smiling brightly. "Finally..." she laughs, twirling around excitedly. She managed it. She actually managed to get out of that house! She can scarcely believe it, but she's in Paris, and she'll be here for the next year, right?

She begins racing down the street, eyes bright, and hair blowing in the gentle breeze. She's here, in the city of lights, love, and recently, of magic. And in her heart, she's certain that whatever power has been choosing citizens to be heroes and villains, is going to choose her as a heroine.

She's never been more ready in her life.