Two more chapters, then it really begins.

-Miraculous Ladybug and Chat Noir-

Adrien fell through his open window just as he detransformed, releasing the magical creature within. Plagg zapped out of Adrien's ring and landed, limbs sprawled, on his bed, likely very exhausted. The power flooded out of his body, bringing back all the exhaustion from his sleep deprivation. Muscles tired, Adrien walked over to his desk and pulled out a slice of Camembert and threw it across the room to his Kwami. Plagg instantly sat up and swallowed the entire slice in one go.

"Whoa, whoa!" Adrien exclaimed. "You never eat your stinky cheese so quickly. Are you okay?" He asked jokingly.

The look he got back from Plagg was anything but that of being humoured. His features displayed that of worry, grief and anger. "How can I be okay!" Plagg snappily replied. "Hawkmoth has plans to murder another person but my chosen is too love struck with Ladybug, and happy to be done with a fight, to care! If anybody should be worried about Marinette it should be you! She's YOUR princess, after all."

Plagg hardly ever spoke like this. Voice, rash and angry he stared up at Adrien, as if daring him to deny his claims. Adrien made to do so, but stopped. Plagg was right. His friend was in mortal danger and he had completely forgotten. The truth of his words where like a slap to the face and a punch to the gut. What kind of hero was he if he just forgot about citizens in mortal danger, especially one which he owed so much to. "I'm sorry to disappoint, Plagg."

Plagg continued to stare at Adrien with anger. Then his features softened. "It's ok, my boy. Your tired and busy. Not your fault. Just transform and go check up on her."

"You got it." Purpose pushed his exhaustion to the side. "Plagg, Claws out!"

-Miraculous Ladybug-

The dark figure watched as the injured girl struggled down the fire escape of the building opposite his own. "What a strong and resilient young girl." Contemplated Hawkmoth. "It really is a shame. She would have made an excellent ally, if it weren't for her tendency to mess with my plans and get in the way." Hawkmoth stared down at, the now limping, Marinette. He had just watched as four men had tried to attack the girl and watched as she fought them off. He had left his mansion in a huff, disappointed with Lila's failure to hunt down the nuisance. The girl was a thorn in his side and he intended to weed it out, even if he had to do it by his own hand. He had been rather happy when he saw the men as he thought that he, as Hawkmoth, would not have to kill the young woman. He was then extremely surprised when the girl managed to fight off the attackers, leaving them in various stages of agony. Marinette, he observed, had not made it out harm free. During the fight she had been slashed down the leg by the attackers knife. Hawkmoth jumped off his building as Marinette reached the ground, ready to finally rid himself of this pain.

-Miraculous-

Marinette's injured leg dragged behind her, bleeding into her pink jeans. She was moving as quickly as she could without passing out, trying to get as much distance between her and the violent and disgusting men. Her brain was on full alert, searching for even the slightest movement in the darkest corner of her sight. She was panicking, thinking she could hear things she didn't and swaying a bit to the side. She looked forward and continued to speed out of the alley. A whisper of air flicked her stands of grimey hair into the air. Her body tensed as a shadow seemed to soar over her, landing in her way of the alley exit. The dark figure stood in a dark suit and silver mask. A purple brooch rested at his colar bone. The butterfly miraculous.

"Hawkmoth." Marinette seethed menacingly, her eyes holding a hatred that Hawkmoth did not expect to see. The kindness he had once seen on their few encounters, him as Gabriel Agreste, was completely gone.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng." Hawkmoth greeted, voice devoid of all emotion. "I expect that the parisitic duo has informed you of how bad your current situation is."

Marinette stared back at him, somehow staying strong and brave in the face of the most feared villain of all Paris. A silence hung in the cold night air, which then Marinette broke with a questioning whisper.

"Why?"

Hawkmoth stared down into the eyes of the smaller girl. She was obviously frightened by her situation, but she wasn't allowing it to dictate her actions. If he was going to end the poor girl's life he would at least let her know why it had to be done. He wasn't that cruel.

"Over the past three years since Ladybug and Chat Noir's first appearance you have managed to interfere with my plans. Your influence over your friend, stone heart, delayed his second akumatization, therefore delaying my plans. Your natural kindness has delayed, or even stopped, the akumatization of many of my victims before my akuma could reach them."

A grin spread over the woman's face, but disappeared soon after. She was trying to hide her happiness over what a nuisance to him she had been. Hawkmoth, despite Marinette's effort, had seen the smile and was aggravated.

"You may smile now, girl, but your interference will no longer be tolerated. It is this confidence and your want to stop me that makes me resort to your unfortunate end." Marinette's ferocity did not waver, as she continued to stare up at him. Even with complete confirmation of her coming death her bravery stood strong. Hawkmoth continued, making sure to keep all his attention on Marinette, looking for a sign that she may try to make a break for it.

"Not only have you stopped my akumas from reaching their victims, but you have, on an increasing number of attacks, fought my akumatized villians. Either by helping the duo, such as with evilistrater or revealing my alliance with Lila Rossi, or by fighting akumas by yourself and defeating them for Ladybug to de-evilize. Your interference in my plans can go on no longer. It really is a shame. You would have made a great akuma, maybe finally succeeding where others failed, or even an incredible ally. Too bad you chose the wrong side. Too bad you refused to be akumatized. Too bad you ruined so many of my plans."

Silence once again held in the air. This time Hawkmoth broke it, lifting his cane, preparing to attack.

"I'm sorry to have to do this." His voice held no senseirity. Brandishing his cane, he slashed at Marinette's injured leg before kicking her, sending the girl flying down the alley.

-Miraculous-

"Where is she?" Chat whispered to himself.

Chat Noir had travelled to the Dupain-Cheng Bakery, and was currently peeking through Marinette's bedroom window. Panick was starting to consume the hero. If Marinette wasn't home at this hour it couldn't be good. And the fact that Hawkmoth was after her made it that much worse. What if she never made it back from where ever Ladybug had taken her? Sliding up his baton, he tried to call Ladybug. Nothing. She must have detransformed. Chat peeked further into the Dupain-Cheng household. Both Sabine and Tom were sitting in front of the phone. It was on speaker. Chat pushed his ear against the glass. Maybe he could hear something. Faintly, he heard on the phone.

"I'm sorry Mr and Mrs Cheng. We're looking, but we haven't found your daughter. We made calls to multiple of her class mates. She was last seen, by her class, heading to the principal's office. Many said that she made a slight dizzy spill. Once she was sent to the principal's office, because of her lateness, she was ment to return to class but she never did. Past that, we have no leads on her location. We heard from the few witnesses of the most recent attack, that the akuma was, indeed, after your daughter."

The couple exchanged worried glances. "Oh god..." tears ran down Sabine's cheak. It hurt Chat that their stable and loving family was in danger of falling apart, all because of Hawkmoth.

Chat had heard enough. Reluctantly, he removed his head from the window and rested back on to the balcony and lent forward on the railing. This was bad. Marinette was really missing. He couldn't just wait for the police to find her. What if it was too late.

Well, if he where to go look, and he was going to, around the area they had fought Concealer would be a good start. It wasn't a strong lead, but it was all he had. Determined, Chat Noir leaped off the balcony heading in the direction he last saw his lady.

Chat Noir's eyes scanned over the building and down the streets, looking for Marinette. His black ears twitched, searching for the slightest sound of her voice. Suddenly, his ears picked up a voice, yelling exasperatedly.

"Aaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!"

Chat Noir changed direction and headed towards the yell.

-Miraculous-

Marinette was trying to orientate herself from the hit when she heard the tapping of running feet on the paving headed her way. The patting stopped and she roled to the side. Hakmoth's cane struck where her head had been, seconds ago, with such force that it sent cracks splintering through the paving. Marinette crawled up onto her knees and rolled forward, and away from Hawkmoth's attempt to slash at her. Hawkmoth was becoming furious. "Stand still, you insignificant little girl." He commanded, anger flowing in his voice. Despite the situation a grin tugged at her lips. "But Hawkmoth," She began, making her voice as small and innocent as possible, "if I'm so insignificant then why do I attract so much attention as to bring the most infamous person in all of Paris into MY presence?" Marinette felt around for a weapon and found a metal pole. Grabbing for it, Marinette twirled around to look at Hawkmoth. He leg caused her to kneel, facing him. He was surprised to see him so close. His face held an uncontainable amount of rage. So taunting him might not have been the best idea. Hawkmoth jumped into the air and slashed down with his cane's sharp point. Marinette didn't have time to fully prepare for the attack so she could only redirect the attack with the pole. While she was nowhere near as good at fighting with this kind of weapon as Chat, she was still pretty good. She wasn't going to make this easy for Hawkmoth. Hawkmoth jumped back and stared at her, indescribably aggravated by how well Marinette was holding him off. "Impressive." Hawkmoth congratulated. "Futile, but impressive none the less." Marinette carefully stood up to full hieght, metal pole still held in her hands. Time to get off of the defencive. Lifting her weapon, she pushed through the agony of the gash along her leg and charged at Hawkmoth. Letting out a cry, she slashed down with all her strength hoping to connect with his body. Hawkmoth made to block but changed his decision. If he got hit he was protected, but if he struck her it would be much less difficult to finish herself off. So, instead of blocking the attack, he chose to strike at her side. Marinette felt the full force of the blow, flying into the wall of the alley, but not before she had been able to smash the villians shoulder with her pole. The man fell to a knee, but had a whicked grin stretch across his face. The fight was over. He rested there, only his shoulder injured, while his target, Marinette, lay there on the floor, bleeding, bruised and defeated. Her head lay on the floor, eyes lazily following him as he lifted his cane. The sharp point of the cane held against her neck and a small trickle of blood leaked from the point. Hawkmoth stared down at the girl's face, pain easily seen in her eyes. "Goodb-"

A metal pole entered his vision, contacting his head with, what seemed to be, the force of a cyclone. It launched him down and out of the alley. Finally landing, he looked up, with rage of his kill being interrupted, to see a dark figure leaping across buildings with an almost limp body in his arms. Hawkmoth slammed his fist into the paving, furious with the black suited hero.

-Miraculous-

Chat had seen how Marinette had fought Hawkmoth. He had seen her, from a distance, charging towards Hawkmoth. Her ability to actually injure Hawkmoth had impressed him, as he had fought Hawkmoth, one on one, a number of times, and had hardly ever been able to hit him that hard. He was just glad to have saved her in time. Hawkmoth had undoubtedly been mere seconds from finishing her off. If only he had gotten to her sooner. Then she wouldn't have been so hurt. The bakery came into view. "Don't worry princess," Chat Noir whispered, "we're almost at the bakery." He looked down at her as Marinette's eyes widened.

"No... we c-can't." She managed, through the pain.

He slowed down. "What do you mean 'no'? Your parents are worried!"

"I-I'll explain." She breathed out. "Just l-land. O-on a, a roof." She closed her eyes, incredibly tired.

Chat reluctantly landed down on a roof, laying her down on the ground. Her eyes lazily opened and she stared up at him. Marinette's gaze was met with Chat's questioning eyes. "Are you okay? You're hurt. Did Hawkmoth do all this to you?"

Marinette took in a deep breath before speaking. Her eyes looked like glass as streams of watery tears rolled down her cheaks. They where hot on her face. "It- It wasn't just- just Hawkmoth." Barely a whisper.

Chat was puzzled. He had only seen the villian. Marinette continued. "There where some men. Fo- four of them. I managed to fight them off but I- I was hurt. That's- that's how I hurt my leg."

Chat Noir looked down at her leg and his eyes widened in shock. There was a surprising amount of crimson blood. He hadn't noticed she had hurt her leg. That explains why she hadn't tried to run. Marinette continued.

"I was get- getting out of the alley when he appeared. Haw- Hawkmoth. He attacked me. He- he kicked me down the-" a erratic cough escaped her. Chat face grew in worry. "Down the alley. He was going to finish me. I- I found a weapon, a me- metal pole. I blocked him, pushed him back. I tried to attack and was able to strike him, but he then hit me. Hard. I was launched into the wall. That- that's were you found me." A wave of exhaustion washed over her and a touch of black flickered into her vision.

A silence held weakly in the air. Chat spoke.

"I'll take you home. I want to talk to your parents about the situation."

"N- No!" Marinette interrupted. "I don't want my parents to panic."

Chat looked flabbergasted. "Don't want them to panic!" He flailed. "Your parents have perfect reason to panick. She you're wanted dead by Hawkmoth! What happens if you don't return home one day? Why of your cold body is never found? What will that do to them?"

Tears stained Marinette's cheaks. She already knew this. As a superhero she knew that one day a villian may actually kill her. In her career as Ladybug she had lost limbs, been eaten, almost forced to stay ladybug forever and brought to the brink of death a number of times and everyday She worryed about how her parents would cope, never seeing their daughter again, and possibly not even knowing if she was alive and lost, or dead.

She could see the appeal, but she would not put that much pressure on her family. "Fine Ch- Chat. I'LL tell them."

Chat grinned with relief and happiness, evoking a pang of guilt from Marinette about the lie. She hated lying to her partner.

"Please, take me to my room. I need to clean up. I don't want my parents to have a heart attack."

"Sure thing, princess." Slowly Chat lifted Marinette and jumped across, onto her balcony. Silently, he opened the window and inched Marinette through. "Are you okay, Mari?" He questioned.

"Yes Chat." She paused. "Thank you for... saving my life."

Chat Noir gave her a solemn nod. "You're welcome, princess. Now clean up and go talk to your parents." Chat tuned away and lept back into the night.

-End chapter 10-

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Next one will be a summary chapter woven into the story, before the main plot of the story FINALLY kicks in. Thank you for reading my story so far.