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As they bound through Paris, Ladybug prays to the heavens that Hawkmoth and Phantom haven't yet found Master Fu, so that she can warn him and make sure he's safe. But unfortunately, for the avatar of luck, she seems to be pretty damn unlucky when it counts.
"No," she moans when they land in front of Master Fu's place and are greeted with the sight of the door hanging off its hinges. "They got here first. Of course they did!"
"Hey." Noir grabs her hand and squeezes. The leather is warm and familiar, but…he's still not Chat. "We'll stop them, alright? We'll save Master Fu and Adrien."
"If Hawkmoth thinks he's gonna get away with doing this to my bro, he's got another thing coming," Carapace says. The dangerous fury on his face is a look that Ladybug hopes to never again see from Nino Lahiffe, lest she have nightmares for the rest of her life.
"I'll go first," she says. "Noir, cover me. Everyone else, be ready to act."
Unslinging her yo-yo, Ladybug sidles into the massage parlour with Noir at her side, his baton ready to strike any potential threat. The entrance of the building is empty and eerie, and it takes every scrap of willpower to not jump every time she or Noir takes a breath and fills the silence with the whoosh of air. But as they approach the main room of the parlour, the sound of voices wafts out from behind the ajar door, and Ladybug immediately halts and holds her hand up to stop Noir.
"…only a matter of time," says a chillingly familiar voice. Ladybug suppresses the urge to shiver at Hawkmoth's deep, lulling tones that have convinced so many in Paris to accept his devil deals. "The others will soon arrive to save the great Guardian and then all the Miraculouses will be mine. Especially the Ladybug and Black Cat. Imagine my surprise when my chosen wielder attempted to use the Peacock and discovered that it was a fake! And then I find it here, repaired in your Miracle Box, and I realise that my son being one of my mortal enemies explains a lot!"
There's a thump, followed by a low groan from Master Fu. Gritting her teeth, Ladybug digs her fingers into her spandex-covered forearms to prevent herself from bursting in there and ruining everything, but it's not enough to stop the rush of hot hatred that surges through her. Not only is Hawkmoth willing to hurt his own son, but he's also perfectly fine with beating up an old man!
"You are overconfident, Hawkmoth," Master Fu says with a pained chuckle. "You think you can really defeat Ladybug and Chat Noir? Perhaps if you'd had the assistance of the Peacock –"
"Your eyesight must be failing you, old man. Chat Noir is here, serving me as my akuma. Without him, Ladybug stands no chance. And I can just grab the Peacock now and give it to my chosen wielder. You must be going senile if you think I didn't bring backup."
"I wouldn't be so sure. The bond between a Ladybug and Black Cat can overcome more than you think."
Ladybug squeals when arms clamp around her from behind, and she immediately starts to struggle against the iron-tight grip around her. Who'd grabbed her? Is it Phantom? No, the arms that are hauling her into the room are…leather-clad. Noir? What is he doing?
"Ah, Ladybug, right on time." A triumphant smile spreads across Hawkmoth's face. On the floor behind him is Master Fu, with the contents of the Miracle Box scattered around him…but no one else? Where's Phantom? "Excellent work, my son."
"Noir! What are you doing?" Ladybug cranes her neck to look up at Noir, and her stomach drops in horror upon seeing that his green cat eyes are now pure white and blank. Oh. Oh no. Plagg had warned them – he'd said that Phantom had the power of possession – why hadn't she thought of that, she's an idiot, and now she's handed Hawkmoth their Miraculouses on a silver platter –
"As you can see, old man," Hawkmoth says, his eyes glittering, "your precious bond is nowhere near enough to stop my son from obeying his father."
"You're a disgusting excuse for a parent," Ladybug spits. She tries to wriggle out of Noir's grip, but Phantom seems to have retained all his memories of her fighting style, because he doesn't give her any opening at all. "How dare you? How dare you torment and akumatise Adrien and still call him your son?"
"I wouldn't have needed to do so if you had given me your Miraculouses!" The gleam in Hawkmoth's eyes is so unsettling that Ladybug's stomach lurches, because just how far has Gabriel Agreste fallen in his mad pursuit to heal his wife? How much had his time as the Collector, without the safety net of the Butterfly, affected him? "Adrien won't remember a thing. Once I have your Miraculouses, I can make my wish and he'll forget that he was ever Chat Noir in the first place!"
"That's not how it works!" Ladybug says. "What if Adrien is the one you sacrifice? You can't control the price you pay for making the wish!"
"I'll sacrifice myself! So long as Adrien has his mother back, nothing else matters!"
"And then what? You'll leave him without a father? The universe will shift to accommodate your wish, Gabriel Agreste! How do you know that there won't be another Hawkmoth? That Adrien's mother won't take on the mantle to bring you back? You can't tamper with the cycle of the universe!"
"Enough!" Hawkmoth jabs his cane at Ladybug with a snarl. "You're a child! You know nothing of love or pain!"
"I know enough to know that Adrien would be traumatised if he was aware of what you were doing." Ladybug's voice cracks with the tears she's trying to hold back, because no way in hell is she going to show weakness in front of this pile of trash. "Was it worth it, Gabriel Agreste? Was it worth torturing him by showing him his mother? By tormenting him until he was vulnerable enough for you to akumatise? Even if you do make your wish, can you really live with yourself, knowing what you did to your own –"
White-hot pain explodes across Ladybug's face, and she reflexively lets out a cry and tries to reach up to cradle her throbbing, burning cheek before remembering that she's currently being held captive by both her partners in one.
"Silence!" Hawkmoth's hand, inches from Ladybug's face, trembles madly. "You – you dare stand there and judge me, when you have no idea –"
A flash of green cuts Hawkmoth off, sending him reeling backwards with a gurgle. At the same time, there's a crack behind Ladybug, and Noir staggers and his grip loosens just enough for her to wriggle free and whip her yo-yo from around her waist.
"Nice hit, Carapace," she pants, hopping backwards to join her teammates. Carapace once more gives his terrifying smile.
"Most satisfying thing I've done in my life, dudette," he says.
"Alright, everyone." Ladybug narrows her eyes at Hawkmoth. "Take him down. And try not to hurt Noir or Adrien."
"Cataclysm." Phantom cradles his sparking hand with a twisted smile. It's such an Adrien smile, such a Chat Noir smile, even though it's on Luka's face and corrupted, and for a moment, Ladybug can't breathe. But then Phantom's diving at her and she's forced to duck out of the way, grab him by the arm, and slam him into the floor, then force his sparking hand against a nearby chest of drawers to nullify his Cataclysm. A moment later, Phantom sags underneath her.
"L-Ladybug?" he rasps. Ladybug's stomach jolts when he looks over his shoulder and she's met with hazy, confused green eyes instead of Phantom's pure white.
"Phantom's on the move!" she says, hauling Noir to his feet. "Noir, you'll have to disappear soon to refuel –" She jumps back and whirls her yo-yo in front of her to fend off Hawkmoth's sudden attack, while Noir ducks out of the room to detransform and refuel so that he can jump back in.
"Water Dragon." Ryuuko cracks the water whip in her free hand and catches Rena Rouge, Carapace, Petite Souris, and Honeybee's heads, smothering them with water while they choke and claw at their faces in an attempt to breathe. Shit. Well, at least they know where Phantom is now, though there's not much she can do when she's currently preoccupied with Hawkmoth.
"Yes, my son!" Hawkmoth crows, ducking a surprise attack from Noir, who's back from refuelling. "Seize their Miraculouses!"
"Adrien! Kitty! You have to fight it!" Ladybug cries. She smoothly ducks a sweeping blow from Hawkmoth, then throws her yo-yo to try and pin him, but he's quick to jump out of the way and crack Noir across the knuckles. Noir hisses and instinctively drops his baton, which Hawkmoth scoops up and aims right at him.
"I'm not Adrien," Ryuuko – Phantom – says dully, devoid of life, of spirit. "I'm Phantom. Hand over your Miraculouses."
Petite Souris is the first to collapse in an unconscious heap and Honeybee soon follows. Desperate to avoid Rena Rouge and Carapace sharing the same fate, Ladybug turns and wraps her yo-yo around Phantom's whip arm and jerks, shattering the water whip and freeing Rena Rouge and Carapace, who stagger and gasp in massive gulps of air. Then Ladybug's turning back to Hawkmoth just in time to catch his double-staff attack and leap away with Noir. Out of the corner of her eye, there's a dark thing against one of the walls, but when Ladybug backflips out of the way of another attack and the mass is gone, she dismisses it as her imagination, no doubt from the adrenaline surging through her system.
"We'll never win like this!" Ladybug says. She deflects Hawkmoth's next blow, then is forced to throw herself to the ground when Phantom's Thunder Dragon comes arcing at her and instead slams into the wall, blowing it to pieces and exposing them to the street outside. "Not when Phantom can take us over one by one and force us on a timer!"
She's proven correct when, out of the corner of her eye, she catches sight of Carapace trying to slam his shield into Rena Rouge, who yelps and ducks out of the way, while a dazed-looking Ryuuko attempts to awaken Honeybee. Then Rena Rouge's eyes flash white and she's summoning her Mirage to blind Carapace and then batting him around the head with her flute, before her eyes are once more normal and Ryuuko is diving at her, sword outstretched, only to catch on Carapace's Shellter.
"Give up now!" Hawkmoth says with wild eyes. "You'll never win, Ladybug! You're only prolonging the inevitable! Phantom is my perfect akuma and you'll never defeat him!"
"Perhaps not as he is," says Master Fu's voice. Ladybug whirls around as she dodges Hawkmoth's next attack, and her eyes widen at the sight of her old mentor dressed in brown armour with baggy brown pants, a gold monkey-shaped mask, a golden circlet around his balding head, and a staff in his hands that Ladybug believes is called a Ruyi Jingu Bang, if she remembers her mother's tales correctly. "But I think my team just needs a little assistance from Hóu. Uproar!"
"Uh, what?" mumbles a groggy Honeybee as Hóu catches the little black cat plushie that falls into his hand and starts angling around to search for Phantom. "Ridiculous, utterly…"
"Oh, get up, already!" Ryuuko yanks Honeybee to her feet. "Are you a superhero or not?"
"You try getting half-drowned," Honeybee slurs. Then she straightens up with white eyes and tackles Ryuuko to the floor, calling upon Venom and jabbing her trompo at Ryuuko but instead catching Rena Rouge's ankle when Ryuuko bats her hand away fast as lightning. Then Ryuuko jolts and kicks Honeybee off her and into the wall.
"Chat! Adrien!" Ladybug cries as Phantom stands and jerks her head around to take in Ladybug with a twisted smile marring Kagami Tsurugi's face. "Please, you have to fight it!"
"I told you, I'm not Chat or Adrien." Phantom jabs her sword at Ladybug, who yelps and bats it away with her yo-yo. Out of the corner of her eye, she catches Hawkmoth trying to angle around and come at her from behind, but Noir's covering her back in an instant to allow her to focus on Phantom.
"Yes, you are." Ladybug ducks an attack from Phantom, then tugs on Noir's wrist to get him to duck so that she can lash out backwards and catch Hawkmoth by surprise, forcing him to relinquish the baton so that Noir can reclaim his weapon. "You'll always be Adrien to me. You'll always be my silly kitty."
"That's nice of you to say, Marinette," Phantom says. Behind Ladybug, Hawkmoth sucks in a deep breath and Ladybug mutters a curse. Now they have to take Hawkmoth down or else…or else her identity will be known, and Hawkmoth will be free to target her friends and family all he wants!
"I'm not being nice. I'm just stating the truth," Ladybug says, spinning her yo-yo to prepare for Phantom's next attack. "I love you, kitty, no matter who you are. And I know you don't really want to fight me. You could've floored me by now if you did. I know it. I know you."
Phantom remains rooted to the spot, staring at Ladybug with wide, haunted milky eyes. She sucks in a deep breath, then starts to lower her sword, when –
"No!" Hawkmoth bellows while jabbing at Noir, who leaps aside and tugs Ladybug out of the way too. "Attack her, my son! Take her Miraculous! Obey your father!"
Phantom shudders and shakes her head. "I – I can't hurt my lady –"
"Fight him, Adrien!" Ladybug re-slings her yo-yo and rushes over to grab Phantom's hands. "You don't want to hurt me. You don't want to hurt any of us. Your heart is massive, kitty. You've got so much love right in here." She reaches up to rest a hand over Phantom's heart, while choked gasps roll from between Phantom's lips. "Hawkmoth – Gabriel Agreste – he won't get away with this. I know you'd never choose to work with him."
"I – I can't –"
With a soft smile, Ladybug cups Phantom's face and rests her forehead against Phantom's, just like her mother always does with her. "I love you, Adrien," Ladybug murmurs against Phantom's mouth. "I love you, Chat Noir. Luka and Kagami and I love all of you, my sunshine. Please…"
Phantom shudders and sags against Ladybug, and Hóu is by their side in an instant, pressing the black cat plushie to Phantom's back. Phantom gasps and slumps forward, nearly toppling Ladybug with her weight, and a pale figure staggers back from her, a disco ball hanging from his wrist.
"What in the world?" Hawkmoth says as Ladybug jumps away while supporting a dazed Ryuuko. Noir tries to take advantage of his distraction to attack, but Hawkmoth parries with lightning reflexes.
"Adrien?" Noir gasps after dodging an attack from Hawkmoth. Bile rises in Ladybug's throat when she gets a good look at the pale figure and realises that it's…Adrien. It's literally Adrien, except with chalk-white skin, hair as white as snow, white clothes, and lifeless ivory eyes; the only colour on him is the silvery, flashing disco ball around his wrist. He looks…dead, like a ghost; a phantom of his former self. Oh, her poor kitty!
"Ladybug!" Hóu lashes out with his Ruyi Bang and shatters the disco ball into pieces, releasing the evil black butterfly from within the shards. With a snarl, Ladybug snatches the akuma with her yo-yo, while Ryuuko steps away with her eyes flickering between Adrien and Hawkmoth.
"No!" Hawkmoth bellows. "My perfect akuma!"
"I told you that you could never hope to overcome the bond between Ladybug and Chat Noir," says Hóu with a triumphant smile.
"Time to de-evilise, Adrien!" Ladybug cries, releasing the white butterfly. A purple-black mass encases Phantom and melts away to leave a fully-coloured Adrien, who blinks owlishly and stares at the mess around him.
"What am I doing here?" he says slowly. His eyes widen when he registers exactly where he is and who he's with. "Master? Why am I here? Hawkmoth? That's – you're my father – did you akumatise me –"
"Adrichat!" Honeybee grabs a hyperventilating Adrien by the arms and sinks to the ground with him. "Talk to me. Five things you can see. Now!"
"No matter," Hawkmoth snarls, edging towards the collapsed wall. "I have plenty more akumas, and emotions are running quite high today. I'll simply – gah!"
Ladybug blinks and readies her yo-yo when Hawkmoth staggers back and clutches at his throat. He's seemingly being strangled by an invisible force…except that no, it's not an invisible force. It's tiny mouse people with their pink jump ropes wrapped around his throat, using the leverage of their feet planted against his nape to cut off his airway.
"Souris?" Ladybug bursts out. Wait…hadn't Petite Souris been knocked out by Phantom? Maybe she'd only just regained consciousness. Or maybe she'd hung back, waiting for the right moment to strike, like a mouse in the shadows.
"Take it, Ladybug!" one of the Petite Souris clones cries. "His Miraculous!"
Right. Miraculous first! With a growl, Ladybug closes her fingers around the spiky purple brooch at Hawkmoth's collar and yanks, dislodging it from his suit jacket. In a flash of purple light, Hawkmoth is replaced with Gabriel Agreste, who sinks to his knees once the Petite Souris clones release him and leap down to the ground to meld back together into one girl.
"Adrien –"
"Don't," Ladybug snarls and throws her yo-yo to practically crack Gabriel's ribs with how tightly she binds him. "You don't have the right to speak to Adrien. You don't deserve to even look at him."
"Everything I did was for him!"
"No," an ashen-faced Adrien hisses from where he's being smothered by Honeybee, Rena Rouge, Carapace, and Ryuuko. "Everything you did was for you. Don't try and pretend that you were doing it for me. I'd made my peace with Mother's disappearance, even if it still hurt."
"I was going to fix all of this! You wouldn't remember a thing!" Gabriel's eyes glitter madly. Ryuuko just snorts and shakes her head in disgust.
"But you would remember everything," she says. "And clearly, you would be able to live with the memory of torturing your own son, or you wouldn't have dreamed of going this far in the first place."
"You can't akumatise yourself," Adrien whispers. "Not without the safety net from the Butterfly to protect your mind. Nooroo should have told you. Nooroo would have told you! But you never listen to anyone other than yourself!"
"Can anyone take him to the police?" Ladybug says before Gabriel can speak again and send Adrien spiralling even further. "Or have all of you used up your powers?"
"I think you're the only one who hasn't," Noir says. His arms wrap around her from behind and she stiffens, but he doesn't squeeze like he had when he was Phantom; his touch is light and grounding and honestly, exactly what she needs right now. "Will your Miraculous Ladybug start your timer?"
"Yes," says a detransformed Master Fu, with the little monkey kwami Xuppu hovering by his side. "But it might be more appropriate for both Ladybug and Chat Noir to take Hawkmoth, as they are the original two heroes of Paris, and Plagg needs to refuel."
"Right." Ladybug ducks out of Noir's embrace to unwind her yo-yo from around Gabriel, only to snatch Noir's baton out of his hand and smash Gabriel around the head with it, just like Chat Noir had smacked Lila with the fire extinguisher all those months ago. Gabriel topples over like a sack of potatoes, out cold, but she still bashes him once more for good measure. Definitely not for personal satisfaction. Nope, she's Ladybug, and Ladybug doesn't do that.
"No fair," Noir complains. "I wanted to do that."
"Get in line, guitar boy," Honeybee snaps.
"Miraculous Ladybug!" Ladybug throws her yo-yo into the air to release the healing ladybug swarm, which repairs the front of Master Fu's parlour and all the damage that had been done during the battle. Thankfully, Gabriel remains unconscious and unmoving. Huh. Even Tikki can be petty when she wants to be. "Spots off."
The others release their transformations as well. Luka crosses over to kneel next to Adrien, offering the silver ring, and Adrien lets out a wordless cry when Plagg zips over and nuzzles against his cheek. Marinette can't help but smile at the sight, even if her eyes prickle as well as she throws herself down next to Adrien and wraps her arms around him so tightly that she doesn't think she'll ever let go. Adrien's arm immediately snakes around her waist and pulls her even closer, and Marinette's heart starts to physically break when she realises that Adrien's arm is trembling uncontrollably but he's not crying. He probably hasn't cried in…gosh, how long?
"I can't believe it's over," Mylène says, staring at Gabriel as though he's a poisonous snake that'll strike at any minute. "We defeated Hawkmoth!"
"You were amazing, Mylène," Marinette says, and Mylène squeaks and ducks her head, red-faced. "We literally couldn't have done it without you catching Hawkmoth off-balance like that. He was getting ready to hightail it out of here."
"I'm afraid it's not over just yet."
Marinette and everyone else turn to face Master Fu with wide eyes. Grimly, he holds up the Miracle Box.
"Hawkmoth's ally must have taken advantage of the chaos to sneak inside while our attention was elsewhere. The Peacock and the Tiger are missing."