First of all let me say that Spanish is hard, and I compliment anyone who speaks the language.
Second of all let me say that as a French speaker it's harder to look at Spanish words and go "I know that word!" and then have to explain how it works through English.
Thirdly, the reason that the speech patterns at the end of this chapter are so weird (you'll know it when you see it) is that I'm taking the similar words between French and Spanish and making them to be recognisable in English, with a weird Spanish twist to them so that as English speakers, readers would be able to semi-understand what is being said just as much as the heroes do. (Sorry about that if it sounds weird!) (The reason why it doesn't happen beforehand is because we all know how villains like to ramble and monologue, but actual normal human beings know how to choose their words!)
Anyway, enjoy!
Once again, she was running.
But this time, she was also flying.
'I'm coming, Chat Noir!' She said, catching her yoyo on a fresh anchorage and swinging forward.
She crossed the final distance that was the park and she was back on the scene.
To find it empty of one Chat Noir.
'!?' Electrodo shot at her, appearing suddenly and angrily, ranting furious Spanish at the superhero.
'Where is Chat Noir!?' Ladybug shot at her, her eyes flashing. She seized her by the collar with both hands and raised her high enough that Electrodo's toes only just scraped the ground.
Electrodo said something back, shaking her head, before pointing at the side of Ladybug's head.
'What?' Ladybug gripped her tighter, not budging an inch.
Electrodo rolled her eyes, then tugged at her own earlobes meaningfully.
However Ladybug had lost her patience. 'I don't care if you want my Miraculous.' She said in an unmistakably dangerous tone, her steely gaze hiding a hammering heart. 'You'll have to take them out of my cold, dead hands. Where. is. Chat. Noir.'
Electrodo raised a despairing eyebrow at her.
It was then Ladybug's turn to roll her eyes.
She released one hand in order to make a triangle atop her head. 'Chat Noir.'
Electrodo gave a noise of surprise, before shrugging, shaking her head frustratedly.
He's still alive.
Thank God.
But the akuma took advantage of her moment of relief, and fired electricity from her fingertips to the soles of her feet through a staff pressed tightly against Ladybug's shoulder.
Ladybug writhed, but refused to let go.
Instead she twisted and hurled the girl towards the water, and since the girl decided to shriek as she went ended up with a mouthful of sand, skidding to a stop just before the water's edge.
Ladybug watched to see that Electrodo did not immediately come after her, before looking around.
She looked around at the deserted beach, and the empty buildings on the other side of the wide walkway. A cursory glance at the doors saw no signs of forced entry, but she knew that her kitty would not have wandered far.
On a hunch she raced over to the park she had crossed earlier, where a playground sat innocently in one corner, whilst the akuma continued to spit out a highly unpleasant amount of sand, scrabbling her nails against her tongue and cursing.
Ladybug looked around within, grateful that the entire beach, including this place, had been cleared of civilians.
'Chat? It's me.' She hissed to the general air around her.
A black hand extended from the semi-spherical cubbyhouse, and waved her over.
'Buginette?' He hissed back concernedly, retracting his hand.
'Don't worry, she's back on the beach. She doesn't know where you are. Are you ok?' She said, glancing back at the akuma.
Ensuring that Electrodo was sufficiently distracted, she slipped inside with him.
He was a mess.
His face covered in grazing burns, and much of the way he moved seemed painful.
But the most impressive part of his appearance was the spectacular beginnings of a black eye that was his left eye, angry bruising already appearing across his cheekbone and his mask protruded irregularly around the swelling.
'I've been better.' He shrugged, waving a dismissive hand, before grinning at her sheepishly. 'I feel like you've only been rescuing me lately.' He turned to look out the window for the akuma, but paused at her movement.
Carefully she cupped his face with both hands, and turned it to look at her. 'That's not true at all. You've been saving me just as much as I've been saving you, if not more.'
He leant forward and kissed her quickly. 'S-so what are we going to do about this Akuma?' He managed, trying to not look too pleased.
'If we capture her, we're going to have to work quickly.'
'Right.'
She hesitated for a moment, thinking hard, then spoke. 'I say we rush her from either side, she won't be able to focus on us both. We can outnumber her.'
He nodded, not bearing to take his face away from her forgotten hands. 'Hey,'
'Yes?' She said, half distractedly, her attention mostly back at the akuma again.
'Did you really say you loved me back?' He flushed red, well, the parts that weren't an already angry red flushed.
She looked back at him, her expression softening completely. 'Of course I did, chaton. Would I lie?'
He shook his head slightly. 'No,' he admitted, turning his head slightly to press his lips into her gloved palm. 'It's more I thought I might have dreamt it.' He muttered shyly.
She pulled him close and kissed him tenderly. 'I love you, chaton.'
He gazed back, starry-eyed, a broad smile blooming across his face.
'Come on,' she returned with a gentle grin, tapping his nose, 'we have to save Barcelona.'
Electrodo was having a terrible time.
She didn't understand the scope of her powers, and now that those two irritating superheroes had disappeared it was only now she had the opportunity to test that scope.
Whatever their names were.
The weird spotty one and the weird cat one.
Electrodo had given up on remembering their names and now referred to them as Blondie and Spots.
And then there was the weird voice in her head, always encouraging them towards them.
He had called himself something dumb-sounding, and she now referred to him as "Schizophrenia", although she conceded that it was a bit long.
Also, his Spanish was truly appalling.
His French accent rang through with every word, and it grated on her already frazzled nerves.
But as soon as he had released the shocks on her, she knew she had to listen.
She gathered he wanted Blondie's ring, and Spots' earrings, but she wasn't a hundred percent sure why.
But if it meant she got to stay as Electrodo, then whatever he wanted.
So she figured out her powers, and she was getting the opportunity to use them.
But then those damn superheroes disappeared.
Spots seemed to make a tactical retreat while she had been fighting Blondie, and then Blondie had made his escape after she had beaten him for a while.
Not that she had escaped unscathed; She was sure there were bruises appearing under her suit where Blondie had hit her earlier, and one of her wrists was painful and swollen, but she was undeterred and determined to be the victor.
She sported many angry red marks of her own as well until she had finally turned the tide of getting her rods back when she had struck that taunting idiot across the face.
She was particularly proud of that one, and Schizo had complimented her greatly for it. Not that she cared what he thought, he was just a dumb Frenchman anyway.
Now they were gone, she had been readying herself for their next attack.
She had indeed started out in the world with an understanding of her abilities; she had the power to generate and control electricity.
She knew how it worked, like all the other akumas.
But what she had not been prepared for was the sheer amount of power that coursed through her veins.
Schizophrenia spoke up then, with his terrible French accent, urging her to seek out their jewellery. He kept referring to them as his Marvelouses, or something.
Well, whatever.
The day was weird enough as it was.
But if she got to keep her powers at the end of it, then she was happy to do whatever he wanted.
It was just as she was thinking this that Spots appeared.
Well, less appeared, and more came out of nowhere and seized her seemingly by her collarbones.
She had time to shoot something like 'What the-' at the girl before she got her grip on her, and the look that Spots followed it up with left her floored.
The sentence she spoke held enough threat to storm a castle, but it was still lost on her.
Right, she had to get the earrings.
Spots hurled her across the beach once they had gotten their meanings across, and both left the exchange feeling dissatisfied.
Well, one also left taking a bite out of a fairly sizeable percentage of the beach, but splitting hairs aside.
But now she knew how to beat them.
They were seemingly after her anklet, and she'd have to draw them in.
The two looped around the akuma.
'You go left, and I'll go right!' Ladybug said, taking a wide circle around the akuma.
Chat obeyed wordlessly, skirting around the edge of Electrodo's range.
'Get in close, but do it fast!' Ladybug instructed.
'Right!'
Ladybug ensnared Electrodo with her yoyo, the shocks unaffecting through one of her lucky-charm gloves.
Chat wore the other, and now went low, reaching for the anklet.
But Electrodo was too fast, and now struck out at the pair of them, catching Chat's lowered reflexes off guard, sending his baton spinning away.
Ladybug leapt back to safety, but did not miss seeing Electrodo land heavily atop of Chat with both feet.
Ladybug yanked her off of him quickly, sending the akuma flying in the opposite direction a handful of paces, but Chat did not immediately get to his feet.
'Chat!?' ladybug exclaimed, closing the few steps over to stand between him and the akuma.
After a brief moment he sat up, stunned.
'Wowzer,' he said, his head spinning.
Ladybug stood before Electrodo protectively, and unblinkingly.
But it was then that Electrodo saw her revenge.
She raced forward, ignoring her binds from the yoyo wrapped around her torso, and seized Ladybug around the shoulders, raising her up off the ground.
'Put her down!' Chat slurred slightly, hauling himself to his feet.
He had to focus hard on remaining upright, but still threw a protective hand towards his lady.
'Let me go!' Ladybug shouted, struggling to break free of Electrodo's grip, whilst trying to kick any part of the girl she could reach.
But Electrodo grinned a wicked, wicked grin.
Ladybug shrieked as a humongous voltage shuddered through her, constricting and releasing seemingly every muscle in her body.
The pain was excruciating, like hot knives attacking every part of her body, like a sledgehammer rapidly slamming her chest, she couldn't see, she couldn't fight back, she couldn't think-
'Ch-Ch-Chat!' She managed through gritted teeth, and his head cleared.
With hardly a thought for himself he body-slammed Electrodo, knocking Ladybug from her grip.
Together the two tumbled a few rotations, before he seized her and flung her away, further down the beach.
His head was pounding as he turned to run the few steps back over to his fallen lady.
'Ladybug!' He exclaimed, sitting so quickly his knees left skid marks in the sand.
She wasn't moving.
She wasn't breathing.
A tiny trickle of blood flowed from her nose.
'No!'
He fussed over her uncertainly, brushing the hair from her face and fumbling for her throat for a heartbeat.
'Ladybug, please!'
He hunched over her crumpled form, with tears in his eyes.
'Marinette,' he whispered to her brokenly.
Before he looked up.
Chat Noir,
No.
Adrien Agreste stood up and snarled.
Electrodo finally freed herself from Ladybug's yoyo, and now tossed it at her feet, spitting on it.
'Cataclysm!'
He rushed forward, forcing a retreat from the akuma, and with reverence he gathered up Ladybug's yoyo.
Electrodo shouted something at him, and he shook his head to clear it.
But the images kept flooding back.
He had to stop this akuma.
He had to.
Marinette's life hung in the balance.
He let the yoyo fall to the sand as he again rushed Electrodo, this time with intent to fight.
And they did indeed fight.
He wielded the back of his rubber gloved hand like a shield, whilst readying his cataclysm for a moment's opportunity to present itself.
As they fought, he had to actively keep his mind from wandering back into the form he kept at his back, never allowing Electrodo to come anywhere near his lady.
But Electrodo wasn't letting him anywhere near his baton either.
So it was thus they battled, Chat one handed and disadvantaged, until-
The akuma flipped backwards, performing a perfect handspring, but Chat caught her right foot with the glove as it flipped past his nose.
He yanked hard on it, throwing off her momentum, and sending her tumbling onto the sand.
She had opened her mouth to curse at him, and now suddenly found herself once again enjoying the tastes of Barcelona's beaches.
She rolled to glare up at him, but he, having the height advantage over her where Ladybug would have not, lifted her by the ensnared ankle until she dangled helplessly a few inches off the ground.
Electrodo clearly swore at him, pumping full of electricity enough to kill, but she could have thrown a power station's worth of electricity for all that it mattered through his rubber glove.
With a careful hand he destroyed the anklet with the briefest of touches, and let her fall back to the ground carelessly as the dark butterfly flew free.
Without thinking he raced back to where the yoyo lay in the sand and hurled the it at the departing butterfly, string and all, and watched as it snatched it up, shutting its hatches down tight.
When he caught it again the yoyo did not sit right in his hand, oddly heavy and unbalanced, and he knew the akuma butterfly was not purified, merely trapped.
He span on his heel and ran back over to Marinette.
He tossed the yoyo to her side so that he could pull her into his lap, gathering her in his arms.
'Ladybug?' He questioned, his ears flattening.
Chat pressed a hand to her ashen face, her forehead, anything that could help.
'Please, no,' he pressed a kiss to her temple, 'Marinette,' he cradled her to his chest, covering her face in gentle, desperate kisses. 'I've got you, Buginette. Please, come back to me,' he shook his head, hiding his face under her chin as he fought down the tears that fought twice as hard back. 'I can't do this without you,'
She was dead,
She'd been protecting him and she was dead,
Why couldn't he look after himself?
Why couldn't he protect himself?
Why did he always have to rely on her to rescue him, like a baby?
Behind him, a young woman with short, brown pigtails and caramel-coloured skin looked about herself confusedly, dusting off the sand.
But his attention was focused on Ladybug.
Angry red veins spread up her neck and over her cheeks, and she was still not waking up.
He was not going to start howling, not there.
He didn't care how, but he would protect her identity with his life.
He would take her home to Paris.
God, he'd carry her all the way back to her little bakery on the corner.
He'd sit down with her parents and tell them everything, because if nothing else, they deserved to know the truth.
He'd take Tikki, and her earrings, and, and,
He couldn't do this anymore, not without her.
He clutched her lifeless form closer, forcing down the sobs that threatened to engulf him entirely.
Not fifteen minutes ago she'd been smiling while she finally, finally told him she loved him.
The strong, powerful, confident Marinette Dupain-Cheng, protector of Paris, and unbeknownst holder of his heart since their first days together.
Everything was in the clear, they had no more secrets between them.
They'd only just found each other.
And she was gone.
A hand tapped him on the shoulder, and he snapped up, hunching over Ladybug protectively and snarling.
He was ready in an instant to whisk his fallen away, and be damned whosoever tried to stop him.
It was the girl.
'Soy an nursh.' She said, with short, clipped words. 'Nursh.' She said carefully.
'Nurse?' He questioned suspiciously, the wicked expression on the girls face as she electrocuted the girl in his arms still fresh in his mind.
She nodded, a cautious glance towards the form in his arms. 'Cann helper.'
'But, you were trying to kill her,' he said, shaking his head, and clutching her tighter.
'Por favour,' she said pleadingly, looking down at Ladybug.
He gazed at her for a long moment, before sitting back.
'Fine. But I'm watching you.' He said, making the gesture towards his eyes and her with short snapping motions of his wrist.
She moved around him quickly, shifting Ladybug into the recovery position with great care, yet practised ease.
She checked her vitals, speaking aloud to herself in rapid Spanish.
'What's your name?' Chat questioned, hovering uncertainly.
She glanced up at him, before answering with a lengthy sentence, her hands still at work.
He shook his head, before gesturing to himself.
'Chat Noir.' He said, before pointing to her.
She looked him up and down with an appraising look, before sighing slightly. 'Julieta.' She shook her head slightly, before returning her attention to Ladybug. 'You novia is aliva, rubiatta.'
'She's alive!?' He exclaimed, hovering closer, but she shooed him back.
'Sí. Isa breatherando.'
He pressed his hands to his face, sighing in relief.
Then he pressed harder.
He wasn't going to cry in front of an ex-akuma.
He was not going to cry.
Damn it.
'Thank you, Julieta.' He managed, his voice catching embarrassingly.
'¡Aqui!' she said suddenly, and he looked up, scrubbing at his face hurriedly.
'Do you need water?' He snapped around at their environment, before remembering that Marinette had taken the bag. 'Hang on,' he made to stand up, but Julieta whipped out a hand to drag him back down with surprising strength.
She snapped something him, but he paid more attention to not faceplanting on the sand.
'Chat?'
The tiny, whispered voice echoed around every inch of his chest.
'Ladybug!'
He made a large movement with the intention of scooping her up, but Julieta swatted him hard enough for him to overbalance.
'¡No!' She snapped at him, continuing the phrase with something else, but the intent was clear.
Tentatively he reached out again, and this time Julieta allowed the movement so that he could take her hand.
'Thank god,' he managed, tears standing out on his face, 'thank god,'
'De nada,' Julieta waved at him, before continuing to talk to herself, fussing over the girl.
'I have to,' Ladybug took a steadying breath, 'fix things.'
'Don't push yourself,' Chat fretted.
'Help me sit up.'
He shifted forward, much to Julieta's obvious complaints.
With slow movements and significant effort on Ladybug's part she was more-or-less upright, and extended a shaking, gloved hand into the air.
'Miraculous,' she breathed, 'Ladybug.'
Above them the ladybugs started with their breathtaking magic.
Julieta gasped as she watched them whirl around the beach, cleansing the destruction in their wake.
She pointed them out to the superheroes, gibbering rapidly, and the two smiled back at her knowingly.
And then the magical swarm circled around the two, and the girl leapt back, startled.
'Helpa!' She exclaimed to the crowd that had started filtering through the buildings.
But as soon as they had come, they vanished into the sky in a puff of red.
Ladybug now sat unaided, looking down at her hands in relief.
She looked up now at Julieta, and smiled.
'Gracias.' She said gratefully.
'De nada,' Julieta mumbled, awestruck.
People started down onto the beach, and the girl sat back in the sand.
Chat Noir carefully and unnecessarily helped Ladybug to her feet, and Julieta gazed up at the pair of them, questions falling from her lips.
'We're ok,' he said to her, 'we're ok now,'
Having ensured Ladybug's stability he moved around Julieta to gather their respective abandoned weapons.
He returned even more puffy eyed, even though the black eye had long disappeared, and dropped the yoyo into Ladybug's waiting hands.
Ladybug without hesitation purified the butterfly, and released it into Barcelona's cloudless sky.
'I'm fine,' Chat said resolutely to Ladybug's unasked question, a twinkle of a smile in her eye. 'It's nothing.' He made a show of stowing his weapon, and approached her.
Without warning he threw his arms around her, squeezing as hard as he dared.
'I'm just so glad you're ok, Marinette,' he whispered, for her ears only.
She squeezed him back appreciatively. 'So what's the tally for who rescuing who?'
He shook his head slightly, burying his face a little deeper into her neck.
'We'd better get out of here quickly,' Ladybug said after a long moment, 'the crowds are coming back.'
Reluctantly he released her, and together they flew off into the setting sun.