Chapter 24

Marinette was waiting for him when the elevator halted in the atelier, giving him a soft look. "There you are, hot stuff," she giggled at the nickname she'd invented. "I've been so worried about you today. Why weren't you at school?"

Adrien gripped his ears and squeezed his eyes shut, "No, this isn't real. This isn't right."

He looked back at Marinette. She was glowing, not the soft gold that everyone else out of balance glowed, but light purple. Adrien shivered. She smiled sweetly, "What's the matter, Adrien? Did I say something wrong?" He shook his head and bolted for the door. "Adrien! Wait! I can help you!" The elevator gave a sudden lurch and started descending. His father would be returning, and Adrien didn't have much of a head start. What he wouldn't give for a Cataclysm right now! Panicked, Adrien bolted for the door. The floor of the mansion started shaking. He barely made it out of the foyer before the massive chandelier broke free of the ceiling and crashed down in a waterfall of crystal and glass.

The doors banged shut behind him, but outside was even worse. The wind from a few days previous had picked back up, and Adrien fought against the gale as he pulled out Sabine's cell phone. He dialed the number and Tom picked up on the first ring, "Adrien?"

"I'm out! But I've got maybe a two-minute head start, tops."

"Don't come here. We moved her."

"Where are you?" Adrien panted, running into the blind.

"Someone's coming to get you." The line went dead. Adrien ran around the corner and came in view of the Boulangerie-Patisserie between the park and the school. A sleek silver sedan was parked in front of it. Adrien's heart hammered in his chest as he dove behind a bus stop to avoid being spotted. The ground started shaking again. He gripped the edge of the bus stop signage to prevent himself from falling over, feeling overwhelmingly dizzy. He rubbed his palms into his eyelids, and when he opened them, the whole world was flashing colors—gold and purple in a violent competition for dominance. He glanced at his hands—they, too were flashing back and forth.

Suddenly, a brilliant gold car skid to a halt in front of him. The door flew open and Kagami, face streaked with soft gold light, beamed at him. "Get in!"

He complied. He didn't even have the door shut behind him when the car took off. Adrien peeked out the back window and saw the silver sedan pull away from the Boulangerie-Patisserie. "We need to lose them," he panted.

Kagami gave a terse nod and gave the car a string of commands in Japanese. The car lurched forward and flipped around a corner; Adrien clicked his seatbelt in place and held on to the door handle for good measure.

"Where's Marinette? The real Marinette?" Adrien questioned Kagami.

"I don't know, I just knew I had to find you."

Adrien blinked, "Wait, who called you? Tom?"

She shook her head, "No, I just had an overwhelming impression that I needed to go to that bus stop and find you right then."

"And you did?"

She gave him a narrow look, "Like I said, it was overwhelming."

"This is… really weird."

"Tell me about it," Kagami said nonchalantly.

"Well… Thanks, then, for not abandoning me."

"Care to explain what's going on?" Kagami asked.

Adrien looked out the back window again. The sedan wasn't visible, but he still felt uneasy. "I don't think I've got the time to give this very strange situation justice," he answered.

"Ok, fine," Kagami shrugged, then ordered the car to take them to an unfamiliar address.

"Why are we going there?" Adrien asked.

She gave him a strange look, "It felt like the right place to go." Then, her skin flamed gold so bright Adrien had to shield his eyes. He looked outside—Paris continued to flash purple and gold. Adrien began feeling quite queasy and was grateful when the car made its final rapid U-turn and screeched to a halt.

"Go. Good luck!" Kagami wailed as Adrien jumped out of the already-accelerating car. He hid behind a garbage can just as the silver sedan whipped around the corner and sped off, chasing down Kagami once more. He breathed a sigh of relief.

The building was a simple bank of row houses with an overgrown garden in front. He walked forward and looked at the name on the front gate—in faded letters, it read "Rolland Dupain." Adrien pushed the buzzer.

"Who is it? What do you want?" the tinny speaker barked.

Adrien cleared his throat, "This is Adrien Agreste, I'm looking for Marinette."

The front door creaked open and Adrien saw a pair of piercing eyes and a bushy mustache peek out. "Can I crust you?" the voice commanded over the speaker.

Adrien smiled at the pre-determined passcode, "You're all I knead."

The voice over the speaker was holding back a chuckle, but still had to verify, "I still doughnut know if I can trust you… will you rise to the occasion?"

Adrien pressed a fist to his lips, swallowed to contain himself, and then clearly spoke, "Yes, we're bready for action."

The gate lock buzzed and clicked, and Tom threw the front door open for him. "You found us!"

Adrien grinned, "I'm so glad you're all safe." Sabine was waiting by a couch. Marinette was lying on her side, looking even worse than when Adrien had left her an hour previous. "So nothing's improved?" he whispered.

Sabine shook her head. Adrien knelt on the floor beside Marinette's limp body and stuck his fingers down his sock, pulling out the two tiny earrings. He threaded them through the holes in her earlobes, being as gentle as possible. "Here's hoping this works," he muttered, and kissed her pale forehead.

"Adrien," Tom whispered, "do they know you're here?"

Adrien nodded, "Most likely. Kagami's taking my father's goons for a wild goose chase, but that can only last for so long."

"Kagami? You told her where we were?"

Adrien shook his head, "No," he brushed the hair away from Marinette's face tenderly, "Marinette did. She's still got some control over this reality; she's still fighting him however she can." Adrien gulped; his mouth achingly dry. Marinette's grandfather padded over in his slippers and patted Adrien's shoulder.

"She's going to be alright," he acknowledged. "I have a good feeling about this." Adrien looked to Sabine, who was now glowing a light golden color.

She nodded, "Me too."

"Me three," Tom grinned, his face glowing brighter than the others.

"Now," Roland declared, "who needs bread?"

"Papa!" Tom moaned, "This is hardly the time—"

"I'm sorry, son, but it is always time for a slice of fresh bread."

Adrien chuckled and stretched his back as his stomach rumbled at the mere mention of food. When was the last time he'd eaten? The day before, probably… "A slice of bread sounds great."

Adrien sat at Rolland's table, his senses and emotions completely worn out. The bread he was given was perfect—simple, delicate, homey. He felt his nerves softening and realized just how hungry and overwhelmed he had been.

"So," Tom asked, taking a seat next to Adrien and adding a spoonful of jam (Rolland glared at him) to his bread, "want to tell me what happened?"

Adrien took a drink of orange juice that Rolland had provided, and then recounted everything that had happened in Hawkmoth's lair. Tom was a great audience—he gasped at all the right moments, got teary when Adrien recounted finding his mother entombed in some kind of coffin, yelped when Adrien talked about his father's arrival in the lair, and shouted "No!" when Adrien relayed the narrow miss at the end. Adrien felt a renewed fondness for Marinette's family, and an aching chasm grow within him for not having a similar support system of his own. He shook off that depressing notion—he could mourn his family situation later. Now it was time to focus.

"So," Tom pondered, "you got the earrings, but not the suit. That's probably disappointing, huh."

Adrien shrugged, "Without my kwami, there's not much I can do even with the suit. I got the more important item."

Tom gave him a very fatherly smile, "That… that touches my heart, to hear you say that, Adrien. You could have made it out of there with your suit if you hadn't stayed to look for my baby girl's earrings, you know."

Adrien shook his head, "Without Ladybug's earrings, none of us are making it out of here intact." He leaned back and rubbed his neck, "I just wish I still had Tikki to talk to. Or Plagg. Or anyone that might know what's going on and how to fix it. I wish Marinette were awake," he looked over to where she lay, then walked to her side and tenderly held the hand that wasn't already in Sabine's lap. He smiled softly, "She's warmer!" Sabine nodded, stroking her daughter's hair. Adrien noticed something else, "Whoa! Her earrings—they're glowing!"

Sabine's head snapped toward Adrien, "They are?" He had told her what that meant. She looked both eager and terrified.

Marinette's eyelids fluttered and she gave a little moan.

"Marinette!" four excited voices called at the same time.

"Quick, get her some water!"

"Back up, everyone, she needs air!"

"Everyone calm down!"

"Shh I think she's trying to say something!"

"Marinette, dear, are you ok?"

She coughed, "D-don—" her voice was so weak. Adrien's heart was breaking. She tried to move again, and Sabine rubbed her arms and forehead to encourage her to relax. "Don't—" Marinette's voice was barely audible. Everyone leaned in, "—give up on me."

Ladybug was gasping for life, her breath shallow and rattling. "Don't give up on me," she whispered, barely audible over the roar of the inferno around them. She had so little strength, it was painful to watch her collapse to the platform on the Eiffel Tower.

All Chat Noir could do was cry, "Hang on, Ladybug! I'm coming, I won't give up!"

"Don't you get it?" Hawkmoth's derisive voice sneered, "You've already lost!"

"No, Hawkmoth," Chat growled, getting to his feet and baring his teeth, "you've lost."

"Look around you, you foolish child," Hawkmoth's nose wrinkled as he swept his hand over the burning city, "this reality is almost totally destroyed. Even without your Miraculous, I win. My new home without magic, without the Miraculous that has damaged my Emilie, without you awaits me."

Chat Noir shook his head, "It's not right. It's not going to be the way you want it. You would know it was a lie, all of it, and she would never be your wife." Chat yelled, choking back tears as he came to the painful realization that he had to give her up if he wanted to save reality, "She wouldn't be my mother. She wouldn't be the same."

Hawkmoth only grinned wider, "If you don't want to be part of the glorious rebirth of reality, that's your choice. I gave you the dream you wanted, and you rejected it. That's your choice, not mine!"

"There's always a price!" Chat screamed desperately, "There's a price to pay!"

Hawkmoth threw his head back and issued a cruel, icy laugh, "That's the best part! I've made my decision, I know the sacrifice… the question is, do you?" With that, Hawkmoth lunged at Chat, and the two tumbled over the edge of the tower, locked together in battle, falling into the firestorm below…

"Adrien! Come on!"

"What happened?" Adrien was on all fours, head pounding. "How did I fall asleep?"

"I don't think you were asleep," Tom bellowed, "but that hardly matters. We've got to go, now!"

Adrien was so dizzy that he could barely stand, and still was off-kilter from the reality shift, but he looked around to gain his bearings.

Marinette was standing, supported between Sabine and Rolland. Tom was steadying Adrien. Marinette's eyes were half-open, and she kept murmuring, "Don't give up on me!"

"She's awake!" Adrien cheered.

"GO, NOW!"

Adrien looked outside. Paris—this Paris, this reality—was on fire.