I'm sorry for the wait, but I hope you all like this chapter.

A big thank you to Chat-and-ladybug for your lovely comment, it means an awful lot!

Also, I had another idea for a story: an AU where Mari is a florist who writes the love notes to put in flowers people want to send, and she keeps having to write beautiful love notes to Ladybug from a mysterious stranger. Would any of you read that or should I just do a one shot of the idea? Let me know!

Hope you enjoy!

No. No no no no no.

I pause, my expression not faltering. Lila is almost laughing, a malevolent glint in her eyes. Like she can almost tell that I'm panicking inside.

Oh, who am I kidding?

She can definitely tell.

I get to my feet, unsteady without the balance of my hands. I feel less intimidated now that I'm on her level, but by the way she drifts over to me, leaning close to my face, she's still in control. She hasn't finished manipulating us yet.

"Of course, you don't have to. You could just let me kill him. After all, he has been a meanie hasn't he, not telling you about all of this. But personally, I think Adrien here looks a lot better without this lodged in his throat, am I right?"

I force myself a glance at Adrien. He is trying to silently get my attention with his eyes, which are wide with desperation for me to listen. He gives a curt nod of understanding with all the space he has.

I know what he's trying to say, just from his expression. He's trying to tell me that it's ok for me to let him die. That he knows that he betrayed me, and he wouldn't blame me.

Because he would let him die too.

I think about all of the hurt, all of the anger, the confusion residing inside of me right now. It's stored away into my brain and crumpled up in my limbs and around my heart. In the past few minutes I've never been upset so much by someone I thought would never betray me. But, for some reason, there's a kind of barrier that blocks out any thoughts that Lila is encouraging. And then I understand. I understand what she's after, what she wants to do to me. She wants me to consider letting Adrien die for all he's done to me.

Sure, part of me will never forgive him for tricking me, but I can't even consider the possibility of letting him die.

Yes, he's hurt me.

A lot.

However, I know that it will never make anything better if he dies and it's because of me. If he did, I'd just be closer to becoming the monster that everyone wants me to be.

No matter what they think, I'm not stupid. I know that monsters are in fact real. Everything like that is. Except monsters, they are the hardest to uncover at first.

When I was younger, I used to be convinced that there was a monster under my bed. That it was waiting for the moment that I fell asleep so that it could devour me in a single bite. So, every night I would shine a light under my bed to see if there was anything there. And every night there wasn't. After being locked away, I stopped checking for the monsters. Because I knew that they were real, just not in the way I thought. I stopped trying to find the monsters, because I realised they roam land in broad daylight.

As humans.

I'll never let myself become a monster like that.

So, I take a deep breath.

Even though it is going to destroy me inside and outside, I'll do it.

For closure on my friendship with Adrien.

"You have my word," I say, avoiding all glances in Adrien's direction.

Lila squeals in excitement.

"Yay! Ok then, do your worst. Remember the consequences."

I sigh in relief as my shackles come free and my arms fall back to my sides. I close my eyes and pause, trying not to think about the aftermath of what I'm about to try and do. Taking a deep breath, I stay as calm as possible and I stand with my feet slightly apart.

I can feel the air around me still, and I begin to dwell on the emotion inside of me, picturing the hurt as a gallon of water that is swirling, rushing, flowing, charging, crashing, destroying me, racing, bubbling, killing me, draining my energy, out from my heart and into my veins, rocketing through them to reach their destination and be free at last. The water wants to escape, trying to find holes in my skin to pour from, but it can't find anywhere. Every hurtful thing ever said to me is on repeat, louder than a thousand fireworks all exploding in my memory. All I can think is of how I've been betrayed by Adrien, and of how the truth can hurt so much worse than a lie when you hear it from the one person you'd never expect. There's so much emotion, so much stronger than anything I've felt before.

I open my eyes.

Now.

My hands are gaping holes, allowing the water to pour out from them in tidal waves of white light that wash over the walls, cleansing and scrubbing the walls of soot and tar and decay. Like I'm trying to get rid of that part of it.

Like I'm trying to get rid of Adrien.

I can feel myself getting more and more tired, like the water is my energy and I can feel it seeping out of my body like a pool of blood. I'm struggling with the effort to keep control. My emotion is winning, it's winning. It isn't quenched yet and wants to get rid of everything.

So there's no going back.

Despite the feeling it's giving me, I can't deny how beautiful it looks as it returns the room back to a different normal. Lila and Adrien are standing by the side, mouths gaping as they take in the spectacle I'm creating. Adrien looks horrified, as if he knows that I'm doing this all to save him and that somehow makes him feel worse.

The room is nearly restored.

But there's a problem.

I'm not ready to stop. There's still so much hurt and anger inside of me, confusion and desire for answers, and I'm still overwhelmed. There are still bucketsful of emotion that need to be repaired. I'm reaching nearly no energy whatsoever and yet I can't stop when I see the knife that's pressed against Adrien's throat. I need to stop the suffering. Mine and his. I have to. I can't leave it. What do I do?

Lila understands. She's figured out where my power comes from. So, she pushes the knife harder into Adrien, and I'm not sure whether she's hurting him. He's not dead. Yet.

With one last crazy surge of energy, I scream out in pain and weakness. My cry makes everyone in the room shudder. A burst of blinding light emanates from every part of my body, exploding in a blast around me.

Adrien is knocked to the floor, Lila is sent flying against the wall with a tremendous power, Lila drops her knife, Adrien's shackles disappear, Lila clutches her head, a drop of blood spilling from it, she's staring at me with a hungry look in her eyes, guards are at the door, in the room, surrounding me.

There's chaos everywhere.

And I'm standing in the middle of it.

Frozen.

Adrien is in front of me, and our eyes meet. Everyone else is oblivious, engrossed in making sure Lila is ok, they don't pay attention to us.

Just like that, blue eyes meet emerald and my mask flies to the floor, shattering. There's a cave inside of me, a vacuum, an absence of everything. Now the feeling of sadness is raw, burning into me.

I don't think I can stand. I think I'm going to feint. No no no. Not now. Not right now. A stray tear of pure sadness slips from my eye as I crumble to the floor, and Adrien isn't fast enough to catch me.

"Marinette! NO!" I hear him shout as I fall.

I'm too tired to fight it and show them I'm awake.

I think I'll just listen for now.

I hit the ground, eyes closed, and I listen to the voices surrounding me.

"This is all your fault," says Adrien angrily. His voice is cracking. I think he's crying.

"Me? No, blame your father." Lila. I'd recognise her sickly-sweet voice anywhere.

"Not brave enough to face me, is he?"

A brief pause.

What about Adrien's father? He's never mentioned him properly before.

I try to fight the weakness and listen further.

"Whatever. I can't believe you didn't tell her," Lila mocks, snorting in laughter.

"I-I didn't know how, ok? Things were going so well," Adrien replies, his breaths heavy. He's definitely crying.

"So well you decided to break her heart?" Lila's voice is getting louder, closer to me. She must have crouched down next to me, "you know, this is all your fault. It's clear her power follows emotion, and you broke her so bad this has happened. Don't you realise, silly boy?"

"What," Adrien answers bluntly.

"You did this. This was you, not me," she starts to laugh at him, "you really do destroy everyone you touch. No exceptions."

I think I hear the exact moment Adrien breaks down crying, and then I hear Lila click her fingers.

Then I'm being moved, dragged along the floor ever so slowly by two sets of hands. My curiosity takes over and I open my eyes to see the ceiling moving before me. It makes my head spin. Although it strains my eyes, I see Adrien is facing the newly cleaned stone wall, fist clenched as he rests his head on his hand and leans on the wall. Hearing me being moved, he turns around and when he sees my eyes are open, his eyes fill with another round of tears. He starts towards me, but more guards hold him back, wrapped up in their protective clothing, but he pushes against them, trying to break free of their tight grasp.

"Don't worry Marinette! I'll get to you, I promise. I'll make everything right!" he screams to me through the havoc.

The last sound I hear before my eyes roll to the back of my head is Lila's laugh, echoing through my brain.