AN: Disclaimer, does it really have to be done every time? Yeah? Okay, I don't own the show or it's characters, or the Scarlet Lady comic. Sorry this one took a little longer, it's when things are starting to get more serious. Also, just so I'm covering all the bases, I feel I should be giving a slight trigger warning about trauma and some domestic abuse, pretty sure that counts here. Enjoy!
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Chapter 10: Masquerade
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Every hero was awestruck about what had just happened before them. One bombshell after another had been going off in the last few minutes. Each person was now aware of the identity of their partner, and each had their own take on it. What made it more concerning was that Laspeyres had been made aware of the identities of the heroes, if he hadn't already been known through the battles with the sentimonster. Whichever the reason, it made things all the more serious for Ladybug. If Laspeyres got away this time, then everyone would be at risk. Knowing Adrien's identity put their friends, their families, anyone their civilian lives had contact with right into the enemy's hands, and they have no way of stopping him. Then there was the safety of her partner, her love. She had to protect him.
Meanwhile, Laspeyres was sent over the edge with the new information he discovered. The power of the tiger had knocked him off and made part of the building collapse on him, but he never lost consciousness. Meaning he heard everything going on when the rest of the group arrived. It had been Adrien. Chat Noir had been his son the entire time. Ruining his plans, keeping him from saving his wife, keeping him from making his greatest wish. The world would have been a better place, a perfect redesign, if his own son hadn't been the one interfering. He had never felt the need to discipline his son physically, but the level of rage he felt right now was making it very tempting.
"All this time, the key to my victory had been living under my very own roof. To think I had suspected you before, and never gave it another thought. That only infuriates me more..." Laspeyres held tightly to the scythe as he towered over the black cat, who's leg was pinned down by a piece of concrete.
"Wha- " Chat Noir wasn't sure he was hearing the villain right. Under his roof? What's he talking about? Ladybug was confused as well, his words stopping her from going any further.
"I never would have thought you to be such a disappointment until this very moment. It was disgraceful enough when I allowed you to go to a public school, but all those times you chose to defy me and endanger the family name! Now I see that all of that came from the delusions of you playing the hero. You delayed my success at making our family whole again, Adrien, this is all your fault!" He was all but screaming now.
And in the middle of all that the picture was easily forming in the black cat's head, as well as everyone else. "F- Father?"
"Yes, and now you're going to help me set things right!" Laspeyres reached over and yanked Chat's arm up roughly, ready to slip his ring off. Chat would have screamed in pain from his stuck leg going into an awkward position, but Chat was too frozen stiff to react what was really happening right in front of him.
Everyone else was having their own reactions about what was happening before them. The ones that knew of Hawkmoth from their own experiences felt shocked and disgusted. Marigold and Ladybug almost couldn't believe that all this time it had been their partners' father that was fighting them, hurting them, using their friends and family. Tigre Mauve, on the other hand, had felt almost as frozen as Chat Noir. The only ones that felt different about it was Red Beetle and Ebony Mao, since they had a different enemy in their world. Red looked around to find that Aspik and Multimouse were holding it together better than the rest. He would have asked about it, but answers would have to wait for another time, what mattered now was keeping their enemy away from the miraculous. Luckily, Ladybug snaps out of it first and uses her yoyo to pull the akumas arm away from her partners miraculous.
"Let him go right now, Laspeyres!" she demanded.
"No, I will not. His miraculous belongs to me!" Laspeyres calls for his powers again and makes all the rubble fly through their air once more. He refuses to let the heroes win the battle this time. This time he will be victorious.
Chat Noir finally shakes himself out of his stupor and tries to pull away from the akumas grasp. "Let go of me!" He goes to reach for his baton, but his father's voice stops him.
"Adrien, I order you to stop struggling and stay still." His words felt like it cut through the boy's body, and all the fight left from Chat's body.
"Yes, father." he replied dully.
"Chat, what are you doing?! Fight Him!" Ladybug called for her partner. Father or not, she couldn't imagine him just surrendering like that.
"I can't." was all he could say.
"Oh, screw that!" Tigre Mauve stepped in and used his bolas to wrap it around Laspeyres' arm to help Ladybug's yoyo in keeping him from the ring. "So, it turns out you really are that sick, aren't you?!"
"You watch your tongue, son." he said the last word with venom.
"You're not my dad, and you're not a real one to Chat Noir. You're nothing but a heartless jerk wad that wants to rule the world.!" he ran up and landed a kick at the villain's head.
"Why you insolent little whelp." Laspeyres swung the scythe at the tiger, who dodged it easily.
Red Beetle took notes of everything going on. They had to get Chat Noir away from the akuma, and Tigre Mauve needed a moment to recharge his kwami. He looked around at all of the floating rubble, then at Multimouse, some lone boards and cable, and finally at his spotted mousetrap lucky charm.
With a plan starting to form in his head, he turned to his partner, who was getting herself back up after being thrown off by the akuma, "Kitten, give Ladybug and Tigre a hand, keep Laspeyres busy."
"You got it." she took off.
"Multimouse, I need your help. Can you still divide yourself into more copies?" he turned to the mouse hero.
"Yeah, I can do it as much as I want as long as I don't make myself completely whole again." she answered.
"Great, I know what we have to do." he gathered up some of the cable while Multimouse used her multitude power once more.
"I want to help, too." Aspik started to follow them, but Red stopped him.
"No, not yet. I have another job for you, and it's the most important." the spotted hero informed him what needed to be done.
Tigre Mauve and Ladybug tried to pull the akuma away from Chat Noir, but Laspeyres wouldn't release his hold on him, and the black cat was just standing there.
"Chat Noir, come here." Ladybug called out to him again.
The sound of his lady's voice broke Chat out of his trance, and he tried to break away from his father's grip again. He got ready to use his baton to either strike at the man, or at least use it to leap himself away. But then Laspeyres voice rang out again.
"Adrien, I am your father, and you will obey me!" the weight of his words brought Chat back into a submissive state.
Ladybug didn't understand what made her partner act like this, what was his father doing to him? Whatever was really going on, she had to separate him from that man. So, she tugged on her yoyo again to pull the akuma away with Tigre Mauve's help. Laspeyres only countered by grabbing hold of the lines and swinging them away from his arm. Tigre Mauve tried to go after him again, but he couldn't get close enough while continuously dodging the deadly scythe. When the final beep of his miraculous went off, he wasn't sure how he was going to be any further help.
"You go recharge, Tigre, I got your back." Ebony ran past him, ready to strike the akuma with her staff. Grateful for the opportunity, he jumped away to a safer spot. The one good thing about identities not being a problem anymore was that he didn't have to hide away while he fed Roarr.
Ladybug and Ebony Mao both make a charge for Laspeyres again, but he's not making the terrain easy for them. He uses the pieces of the ground to break them away from heading in his direction. Ladybug swings on her yoyo to double back, but a random floating rubble hits her on the side. Ebony takes a turn in attack by using the rubble stationed in mid-air to reach him from above. Laspeyres sees this and uses a large boulder to shoot from beneath her and lift her up higher in the air and sandwiched to another piece. It wasn't enough to crush her, but she was pinned for the moment. She didn't want to waste her cataclysm, so she used her strength and her staff to force herself away while listening to the akuma laugh at her expense.
"How pathetic." he mocked. But then he heard something behind him.
"Venom." Marigold called out.
Laspeyres quickly turned around to find the bee holder ready to thrust her stinger into his body. He forced his son in front of him to take the hit, causing the paralysis to spread over the black cat. Then he used his powers again to crumble to ground.
"NO!" Marigold yelled again as she fell into the new ditch the akuma made.
Laspeyres leaped away from the heroes and saw this as a good opportunity to get the black cat ring again. However, when he tried to reach it, he found that his son's hand had been closed into a fist and was unmovable because of the bee's venom.
"NO! Curse you!" he screamed.
"Right back at you, old man!" Tigre Mauve joined the fight once more. Ladybug came at his side as well.
"Do you really think you can win like this?" Laspeyres asked rhetorically. "The second any of you use your powers, I will trap each of you and take your miraculous. Surrender them now, and I will show mercy."
"Never going to happen, Laspeyres!" Ladybug attempted to shout back, but the earlier blow left her winded and made it harder to raise her voice. All the heroes were at a great disadvantage against Laspeyres. Frontal attack wasn't working so far, but she still wanted to try a few more times before using her lucky charm. Maybe Red Beetle's charm would help them now.
"In the next few minutes, I will be able to take the ring from my son's finger and I will have the power of destruction. And then all I will need next is the earrings, be it yours or the other boys. Either way, you have no hope of winning even with the help of these extras." he gestured to Tigre Mauve, who was helping Marigold out of the ditch, and didn't pay much mind to anything else around him.
"How's this for an extra!?" he suddenly heard a voice above him. He looked up only to find the tiny mouse heroes dropping a baseball sized rock right on his head.
"Ahhhh." he gasped in pain and jumped away before anything else could fall on him.
That had been his big mistake, for he stepped onto a tight wire that broke away after his foot touched it. He looked at the wire, seeing it was connected to the spotted mousetrap that Red Beetle had and was starting a system where many of the tiny Multimice were stationed. The mousetrap let loose some more wires, which released a rock that rolled down a board, see-sawed another, and broke away a few sticks that were holding back a large boulder that was right above Laspeyres head. Seeing the danger, he stepped aside and let the boulder land right next to him and his son.
"Hehehe, was this your clever plan?" he wasn't impressed with this version of the ladybug holder, or the mouse.
"No, that was just a distraction." a voice answered him as it snatched Chat Noir out of his grasp, and leaped away to join the other heroes. It was the snake holder, and he met back up with Ladybug.
"Oh, my poor kitty." she looked over at Chat to see if he was hurt. The paralysis hadn't worn off yet, but other than that he seemed fine.
"NO!" Laspeyres yelled again. He made a charge for Ladybug again, not caring if he hit his son as well, everything would be fine once he made the wish with their miraculous.
He never made it to them. A recovered Ebony Mao used her staff to slide down to him and give him a good strong kick in the abdomen, knocking him off his feet. He tried to get back up, but was suddenly tied down by the bolas weapon of the tiger. It wrapped around his feet and went up to his chest, making him drop the scythe. The weapon was picked up by Red Beetle, who broke it into two to release the dark butterfly.
"That's enough evil from you, little akuma." Red said as he caught the insect and purified it. "Bye bye, little butterfly. Miraculous Red Beetle." he called as he threw the spotted mousetrap, and everything in the Louvre was returned to normal.
The miraculous cure restored the paralyzed Chat Noir, who didn't do much other then get himself back on his feet and thank Aspik for the save. He turned back to the enemy, not sure what to expect of him. Laspeyres was then returned to the ordinary Shadowmoth, who was no less angry at losing once more.
"If you think this is over, you are sadly mistaken..." he growled with such hate toward all of them, that it made Chat shiver. He still couldn't believe that it was really his father under the mask. How many times had an akuma come close to killing him if not for his lady's cure? Or when his bodyguard had been akumatized and he was falling to his death. His father had let it happen.
"Give it a rest Shadowmoth, it is over." Ladybug said back at him. "We have you tied down, you've lost your advantage of being an akuma, and you can't make your own right now. Even if you got away, we know who you are now, Gabriel Agreste, and all it would take is one phone call to the police. You won't have anywhere to hide."
"You're wrong, I won't let this be the end. You think I care how many people find out who I am? Once I have the miraculous and make the wish, none of that will matter." despite being tied up and at the mercy of the heroes, Shadowmoth still held himself strongly.
Ladybug let out a long sigh and rubbed her tired eyes for a second. "You see, that's your problem right there. You're a man that has anything and everything he could want. Your wealthy, respected, successful, and you have a wonderful son that loves you." she gestured to Chat, who was amazed by his lady's words. "Whatever you hope to gain with the ultimate wish couldn't possibly be worth the risk of what little family you have."
"Ladybug, you don't know anything. You suffer from the delusion that you were doing the right thing by stopping me from gaining your miraculous, but in reality, your success was keeping me from making the perfect world..."
"Perfect to who?" Chat spoke up, finally finding his voice.
"Perfect for everyone. I would have made things whole, make things better for us. If you would just do as I say, Adrien..." Shadowmoth tried, thinking if he could make his son see reason, he would join him.
If the suit hadn't been impenetrable, Chat was sure the claws would have been digging into his palms with how tightly he was making a fist. "But that's all I've ever done."
"What?"
"Everything you asked of me, I did for you. When you wanted me to be a model, I did it for you even when I hated every moment of it. I stayed true to the extra lessons when all I really wanted to do was be with my friends. And then I kept waiting over and over again to spend a meal with you, but I let it go because I thought you were too busy or missing Mother. But now I find out this whole time you were just using the power of the butterfly pin to terrorize the city. What kind of person does that!? Is this what happened to Mom!? Is this why she left you!?" his voice was really high now. He knew there were tears falling from his eyes, and he didn't care. Chat had been wanting to say all these things for some time now.
Shadowmoth wasn't actually paying much mind to his son's words. It was like letting a bratty toddler use up their temper tantrum, and wait for them to get tired. But then that final part spiked his anger all over again. "Shut Up you Damn Brat! Emillie Did Not Leave Me! She would never do that!"
"Oh, yeah, then what happened to her then!? Why don't you never talk about it?!" Chat shouted right back.
"The damaged peacock miraculous took her away from us, and if you help me, we can bring her back." Shadowmoth went back to negotiating, thinking the truth would persuade the black cat.
"Using the wish won't bring her back, Shadowmoth." Ladybug stepped in again. "Even if it did, there would be a great price to pay. The likelihood of that would be that your son would take her place."
"You're wrong. If the wish is worded correctly, such consequences would not matter." he debated with his nemesis, and then turned back to Chat Noir while turning the ring behind his back. "Adrien, I want you to join me. Come to my side and hand over your ring if you want me to bring your mother back."
Any defiance he had inside simply left his body. He didn't want to listen, but his feet wouldn't stop moving. And then he found himself saying. "Yes, Father."
But Ladybug didn't let him take another step. She stepped in front of him and placed a hand on his chest. "Chat, what are you doing!? You don't have to listen to him!"
"I... I ... I can't disobey him." was his answer, not realizing how literal that actually was.
Something was wrong here, Ladybug was sure of it. She turned back to the villain. "What are you doing to him?!"
"I am his father, it's only right that he should want to help me, no matter what." Shadowmoth gave a simple answer.
"No, this goes beyond a son's loyalty to his father, you're doing something that makes him act against his will." Ladybug turned back and held her partner's face in her hands. "Chat look at me, you don't have to obey him."
"But... but he's my father..." he struggled.
"I know, kitty, I know, but what your father's doing is wrong. If you just stop listening to him, and think about what you want to do, I know you'll do the right thing." she rubbed her thumb against his cheek, letting him know that she was here for him.
He wanted to fight it, he really did. But trying to disobey was like trying to break himself out of a strait jacket. No matter how much he fought, there was no way for him to feel free. Maybe if he didn't think about being free, but of something else. Think about Ladybug, about Marinette, and how they make him feel. His brave wonderful partner, and his sweet, shy classmate, and then how there one in the same. He let the warm feelings run through his chest at the thought of this wonderful girl, and his father's demands didn't seem so important anymore.
Shadowmoth could see some of the turmoil across the black cat's face, then it faded into calmness. So the little girl's words were getting through to him, huh? Well, he wasn't going to let Ladybug defeat him again, and if it wasn't going to work with his son, then he'll turn to one of the other boys. He didn't know if this would work, but he didn't see a reason for it not to.
"Adrien, I order you to give me your miraculous." he addressed Red Beetle.
It suddenly felt like there was a rope wrapped around Red's heart, pulling and tugging him toward the man. His feet might have started moving if it hadn't been for his partner that stepped in front of him and grabbed hold of his arm.
"You leave him alone, you creep." Ebony Mao hissed at Shadowmoth.
"Adrien, come here." He tried again.
"N-no... never." he got out and held himself strong, not moving an inch.
So, it wasn't as strong with him, possibly because this wasn't his world. Shadowmoth growled in anger and tried to go for the tiger holder next. Tigre Mauve could see the look in his eyes, and went straight to covering his ears.
"Don't think for one second that I'm going to listen to anything you say, you dirty old stick in the mud." he shouted, and was grateful when Marigold came up next to him as well.
Shadowmoth only got more infuriated at being ignored. Looking at the snake and the mouse holders, he could tell that the result would be the same. All of these heroes did nothing but get in his way. It wasn't even the ones that were his sons that he blamed, it was the others. The one that was Ladybug, the girl that outsmarted him so many times. Whoever she was, even as Miracle, was always the one that ruined everything. All this would have been over ages ago if it hadn't been for her. And if Chat Noir had strong feelings for her, it meant Adrien did as well, which only insulted him more.
"Adrien, I want you to step away from Ladybug." he ordered Chat Noir again.
He heard his father, but his focus remained on Ladybug, who was still looking him in the eye and begging him not to comply. "N-no, she's my partner, my lady."
That was the last straw. "FORGET ABOUT LADYBUG, SHE'S NOTHING COMPAIRED TO FAMILY! I WANT YOU TO FORGET EVERYTHING, I ORDER YOU TO FORG-..."
Shadowmoth didn't see the flash of white that came up beside him, and slapped a hand over his mouth before he could finished. It was Chat Blanc that held a strong hold over him. The white cat then used a cataclysm to release him from his bonds, but didn't let go of the villain. He had him in an armlock and jumped away from the heroes while keeping a hand over Shadowmoth's mouth. Once the two were a good distance from all the heroes, Miracle showed up in front of him and created a shelter to surround all three of them. Shadowmoth wasn't sure what was going on, but the look that Miracle was giving caused fear down his spine for the first time.
"You..." she was seething, "Do you have any idea what you almost did!?"
Chat Blanc removed the hand over Shadowmoth's mouth, but still held him down.
"No I don't, and I don't care." he shouted back. "You were supposed to give me what I was owed for helping you! You were supposed to give me a bug and cat miraculous so I could make my wish! You were just using me to get what you want, and planned to betray me from the start!"
She shook her head, not surprised by his answer. "Did you really think I would give a monster like you anything?"
"Call me all the names you want, it makes no difference. I will succeed whatever the cost may be. If I have to, I will make Chat Noir into my own akuma, my own Chat Blanc, and there's nothing you can do to stop me!" he was laughing at that point, as if he wasn't aware anymore that he was the vulnerable one.
Ladybug held on tightly to her kitty at Shadowmoth's words. Like hell she was going to let that happen to her partner. Chat Noir, on the other hand, felt like his whole world was crashing down on his head. His father not only didn't care about him, but was more than willing to sacrifice him just for power. Did his father even exist anymore at this point? Was this what happened in that timeline that Ladybug told him about? And what had Miracle really stopped him from doing?
A twisted smile spread across Miracle's face when Shadowmoth stopped laughing, which changed his look to confusion. She held out her hand and called out in clear voice. "Barkk, Fetch."
A bright light appeared on his chest, and then zipped into Miracle's hand. When the light went away, it was replaced by the peacock brooch, his peacock brooch! He looked down to make sure it was gone, and he had gone back to being plain old Hawkmoth.
"What!?... How!?... When-"
"You recall that little scuffle we had in the security room?" she asked while twirling the brooch between her fingers.
That's right, she muttered something and then struck him in the chest. That must have been when she used the power of the dog. But still, Hawkmoth would not give in. "This doesn't change anything..."
"Oh?" then she held out her hand again, and he suddenly remembered. She had struck him in the chest twice. "Barkk, Fetch."
Now the butterfly pin was in her hand, and he was reduced to a powerless Gabriel Agreste, still being held down by Chat Blanc. All was not lost yet, he could still use his wedding ring.
"Adrien..." he started to say, but Chat Blanc held a hand to his mouth once more.
Miracle gave him a vexed look once more. "Even now, you still plan to use your son."
Even if his mouth had been free, he wasn't going to say anything in his defense, and Miracle wasn't going to listen. Instead, she reached for his arm and removed his wedding ring. He tried to fight away, but Chat Blanc only held him tighter.
"I'll admit, pretending to team up with you hadn't been part of the plan. But you were so desperate for the bug and cat jewels, that you bought whatever story I threw at you. Hehehe, you even bought all that nonsense I said about the heroes being imposters..." A joyless laugh escaped her as she put the ring on her own finger.
Ladybug listened closely to Miracle's words. What did she mean by that? She had been calling all the other heroes imposters, and that was just a ploy to get close to Gabriel? If that was the case, then what was her motive when she unified the rabbit and snake? Did that mean she was actually looking for something from one of them from the start? Had they all been falling into her trap this entire time? And why did she take Gabriel's ring? The miraculous she understood, but not the wedding ring. What was she going to do next?
"While I have no further use for you, I can't very well let you go unpunished. And believe me when I say that this is greatest form of mercy that you deserve." her voice was low and cold, colder than Gabriel could have ever done himself, which is what made him so afraid when she said. "Orikko, Sublimation!"
Miracle was blocking the view of Gabriel to all the other heroes and the green film that came from the shelter made it harder to see, so they weren't sure what power she granted herself with the rooster. Whatever she did, it caused the man to make a sudden cry and then stop, like someone had hit pause on his voice. Then the shelter finally went away. Chat Blanc stood up not holding on to his captive anymore, and Miracle stepped aside to reveal a Gabriel Agreste statue. His body was still in the position the white cat held him in, and on his face was a look of pure pain and terror.
"Father?!" Chat Noir couldn't stop himself from crying out.
"You- you killed him!" Ladybug declared.
"Not quite." Miracle answered like it was no big deal. "I granted myself the power to turn anyone I touch into stone, and that only someone with the rooster can have the power to reverse it."
Chat Blanc came up behind her when she finished explaining, and removed a single strap bag from his shoulder that Ladybug didn't notice before. He held it up to Miracle, who opened it up to reveal the miracle box.
"Hey, you give that back right now!" Ladybug shouted.
Miracle only smiled as she held the box in one hand, and the butterfly and peacock miraculous in the other. "Hmph, I should think you'd be a little more grateful."
"About what!?"
"Well, look." she placed the miraculous in the designated spaces. "I just restored the miracle box for you, now the only ones left are the bug and cat. You can go back to being a normal girl with a normal life."
The last thing Ladybug was going to be was grateful. "Not like this, not the way you handled it. You saw fit to be judge and jury when you should have let us take Gabriel Agreste into custody, make him answer for his crimes."
"Change him back right now!" Chat Noir demanded suddenly. He didn't know what he should be feeling right now, but he knew that his lady was correct. There was a right way to do this, and no matter how much it may hurt him later on, he would follow his partner.
"NEVER!" Miracle screamed, causing everyone to take a step back. "You have no idea what he has done to us! What he almost did to you! What he would've kept doing if I didn't put a stop to it! He deserves far worse than what I did to him! They all do!"
"That's not true!" Aspik spoke out with Multimouse at his side. "Just like all of us, Gabriel Agreste is different..."
"NO HE'S NOT! THEY'RE ALL MONSTERS! HE HAD TO PAY!"
"So what, this is all a matter of revenge!? You couldn't get enough of it in your own world, so you took it out on ours!?" Ebony Mao accused, since this is what it was starting to look like to her.
"No, I want to get back something I lost! Getting rid of that lunatic was just a bonus!" Miracle had tears in her eyes now.
Ladybug could only guess what that something was. "Is that why Chat Blanc is just a sentimonster?"
"What?" she said shortly.
"It's true, isn't it?" Red Beetle stepped in. "Chat Noir and I saw you using the connection with the peacock to control him? You used the image of Chat Blanc to fight us, making Ladybug thinking her partner was akumatized. You were just trying to make us fight so you would get the upper hand. Then you used Shadowmoth to do your dirty work and trap us in the museum. Whatever it is you want, you're no better than him since your main goal was getting the miracle box."
"Is that what you think? That I'm treating him as my puppet?" Miracle asked rhetorically as she gestured to the white cat. She rubbed the tears from her eyes, then scowled at the heroes for the accusation. "Everything... Everything I'm doing is to get my kitty back. Nothing else matters to me, and no one is getting in my way, not even myself..."
Her words struck a chord at Chat Noir's heart. So it was her partner that she lost, and the Chat Blanc was just a faded memory of him. She must have really loved him if she felt grief this desperately. He found himself feeling equally sad and angry for her. She was like the others; Ebony, Marigold, even Multimouse... all of them, except...
"We won't let you succeed." Ladybug said proudly, breaking his thoughts. "Restoring the box or not, it doesn't change the fact that you're still an akuma, and we have to stop you."
"How about instead of stopping me, you help me?" Miracle grinned like she had all the cards in her hand.
"What do you mean?"
"You, Ladybug, are the only one that can give me what I've been searching for."
"But I thought you said it was all a lie to get close to Shadowmoth." Ebony said confused.
"The part about imposters, yes. I'm sorry if that hurt anyone's feelings." she said that, but they could tell she didn't mean it. "No, I knew what it was that I needed because the snake and rabbit was obeying my specific orders. I just had to make sure everything was in the right place. So, Ladybug, if you give me what I want, I'll give you the miracle box, separate my own snake and rabbit miraculous, and everything will go back to the way their supposed to be. You'll all get to go home, and probably be better off than when you left, since you will all know the truth."
She looks so sure of herself, Ladybug thought. The spotted hero still wasn't positive on what it was that Miracle wanted from her, and she probably wouldn't find out until she agreed to the akuma's proposal. Whatever it was, it felt no different than the ultimate wish; a foolish pursuit with too high of a price.
"My answer will always be no."
Miracle put the miracle box back in the bag, placed it over her shoulder, and then made her staff appear in her right hand. "Fine, have it your way. Chat Blanc, bring me Ladybug."
Chat Blanc leaped toward the spotted hero, ready to strike her with his claws. Ladybug quickly spun her yoyo to shield his attacks. He kept hitting her a few more times before Chat Noir stepped in with his baton to push the white cat off his partner. Tigre Mauve joined the fight as well. His weapon was destroyed, so he resorted with hand-to-hand combat with the akuma, who easily blocked and countered back.
Before Ladybug joined the three-way cat fight, she turned to the other heroes. "You guys go after Miracle, get the box!" then went ahead.
Ebony Mao agreed, then addressed her partner, the bee, and the mouse. "You all need to recharge, Aspik and I can take care of Miracle."
"Right." Red agreed as he detransformed, and gave his Tikki a cookie.
The two Marinette's joined him in feeding their kwamis as the snake and black cat headed for the leader akuma. Aspik started by throwing the lyre like a boomerang, but Miracle struck it away and made it return to the scaled hero. Ebony did her part next by taking a hit with her staff, and Miracle dodged it by leaping into the air, and staying up there. She levitated herself, possibly with the rooster again, all the way to the top of the pyramid, and Aspik and Ebony followed her up.
The three heroes on standby were all charged up and ready to go. Red Beetle turned to the two girls and spoke. "You two go help Ladybug, the best strategy right now would be to stop Chat Blanc. I'll help the others with Miracle."
"Right." Marigold and Multimouse said together, than ran toward the others. Chat Blanc was still able to hold the other two cats back, all the while trying to make a grab for Ladybug.
Red Beetle caught up with the two heroes that were still attempting to reach the top of the pyramid. Every time they got close, Miracle would knock them back off by either using the wind dragon power, or using the goat to create wooden barrels or marbles to roll down and make them lose their footing. She was treating this like some sort of live video game, just laughing away as the heroes struggled. Red told them to keep going as he separated from them and reach the roof of the Louvre to try and attack from above.
Things weren't going any better for the other team. Chat Blanc never seemed to get tired, even with the five heroes attacking him left and right and he kept making Ladybug his primary goal. Every time he would flip Tigre over, or pulled Chat out from under his feet, he would go after the spotted hero. Not that she made it easy for him, Ladybug was fighting just as hard as her two companions, but she wouldn't be able to last forever.
"We need to find the amok and purify it!" she called out while shielding herself from the white cat.
"It doesn't look like Red and the others are any closer to that than us!" Tigre grabbed the white cat by the tail and pulled him away from Ladybug.
"Let's just focus on subduing him right now!" Chat Noir tried to put him a head lock with his staff, and Chat Blanc grabbed hold of it and flipped him over again.
"Right, Marigold, you stand by and get ready to use venom if we get him pinned." Ladybug ordered the bee. She threw her yoyo to wrap around the white cat, but he jumped away, and started to use his cataclysms.
"You got it." Marigold had her spinning top out, waiting for the right moment.
"How are we going to stop him!?" Multimouse asked, dodging the small cataclysms Chat Blanc was flicking in her direction.
"Some good luck might be helpful right now, milady." Chat Noir addressed his partner.
"Lucky Charm!" she called out, and was presented with a role of three inch wide spotted ribbon. It wasn't strong enough to tie down the white cat, so she wasn't sure what else to use it for. She slipped the roll on her wrist, saving it for later, then turned to the mouse hero. "Multimouse, help me tie his legs down. Chat and Tigre, you go for his arms as soon as we have him."
"Understood." Tigre answered, ready to pounce on the white cat as soon as he had an opening.
"How are we going to get him to stay still long enough?!" Multimouse asked.
"Let him come to me! Once he gets near enough, we'll close in on him." Ladybug stopped spinning her yoyo and left herself wide open for the akuma. He saw her, and separated from the other heroes. Chat Noir wanted to go after him, but stopped at his lady's orders. "Wait!"
Chat Blanc took the bait and headed straight for the ladybug hero. He stopped using his cataclysms, and reached a hand out to grab her. Once he was about a yard away from her, Ladybug signaled the mouse to use her jump rope while she used her yoyo and trapped his legs. Tigre Mauve pounced on him, and grabbed his left arm. Chat Blanc made to punch him with his free arm, but then that was grabbed as well by Chat Noir. They had him, now they just had to keep him down.
"Marigold, now!" Ladybug called out for the bee hero.
Marigold rushed to the pile of heroes plus akuma, and got ready to call for her power, when she noticed something on the back of the white cat's head. She almost didn't see it because it was blending in with the boy's completely white hair. It looked like two pieces of sash tied together. Why was it there, and what was it connected to? Looking a little to the side, she saw some more of the sash hiding under his messy mop of hair. It almost looked like it was connected to his mask, which didn't make any sense. The suit magic always stuck to their bodies like a second skin, why would there be a sash to hold the mask to his face?
"What are you doing, Marigold!? Use venom, quick!" Ladybug snapped her out of it.
"There's something here." Marigold answered as she reached for the sash, and undid the knot.
Going back to the fight with Miracle, Aspik and Ebony Mao were still working their way up the pyramid, and the akuma kept throwing things there way, this time it was the horse miraculous. She was creating portals at random times, sometimes under their feet, so they would end up at the base of the structure and start over. It got to the point that Aspik was too tired to keep going, so Ebony told him to wait there and catch his breath. Miracle was actually having fun messing with the heroes, so much so that she nearly forgot about the other bug hero that was swinging his way toward her. She turned and blocked him from kicking her off the pyramid, but she still lost her balance and slid down the structure. Red Beetle followed behind her, keeping his balance and met back up with the snake and black cat.
Aspik was the first to meet up with Miracle, and tried to use his lyre again. Miracle countered with the use of the monkey miraculous, and turned his weapon into a real snake that wrapped itself around Aspik's arm. Then she turned to Ebony Mao and dueled their staffs together. This went on for another minute, until Miracle looked to the side and saw what Marigold was about to do.
"No! STOP!" she screamed, not paying attention to the fight.
Red Beetle saw an opening. "Kitten, NOW!"
"Cataclysm!" Ebony Mao summoned her power and made a reach for the staff, thinking that must be where the akuma is, or at least the amok for Chat Blanc.
But Miracle paid her no mind and made a sprint back to the heroes that were holding down the white cat. However, she didn't completely dodge the cataclysm. Ebony's hand made contact with her long black cape, and broke away from Miracle's body. It didn't make a difference, but it did present something that Red Beetle had not seen before because the cape had covered her back the whole time. It was something he had seen before, but only very recently. Just a few minutes ago in fact.
Miracle didn't make it back to her white cat in time. Marigold had removed the sash, which caused a white, masquerade looking mask to fall from the boy's face. Then as soon as the mask was off, a black cloud of smoke covered the body of Chat Blanc, and presented a normal boy being held down by four heroes. Everyone had let go of the boy, Ladybug and Multimouse removed their weapons from him, and left him alone on the ground.
Ladybug was beyond confused. She looked at the mask that was still in Marigold's hand, and back at the boy. So, he wasn't a sentimonster after all? This one seemed more different than the rest. Looking closely, she could see that it was still an Adrien Agreste, but his hair was much shorter, almost a buzz cut. His clothes were a mess, like he had slept in them a few times. And his body, he was so much skinnier than the Adrien she knew. He almost looked sick. What was more disturbing was that his eyes were open, and he seemed conscious, but he wouldn't get off the ground. He was randomly flinging his arms out and around, like he was trying to get rid of something that wasn't there. His speech was really off as well. What came out of his mouth was nothing more than incoherent moaning and crying. What had this one been through? What had Miracle done to him?
Multimouse was the first to react, and held his head up before he started hitting it against the ground and really hurt himself. "Easy Adrien, easy." she tried to sooth him, but he wasn't reacting to her very well.
"What have you done!?" Miracle came up to the group, the other heroes not far behind her.
Red Beetle had witnessed everything as they joined the rest of the heroes, and shouted back at the akuma. "What did they do!? What have you done to him!?" he pointed at the boy on the ground. Aspik joined his partner in holding the boy down while the others addressed the akuma.
"I didn't do anything..." Miracle answered, but it sounded more like a regret.
Ladybug wasn't buying it though. "Liar, you were just using him the same way Shadowmoth was using-"
Miracle didn't let her finish. "Longg, lightning dragon." a bolt of electricity struck Ladybug, and knocked her on the ground.
"Bugaboo!" Chat Noir ran to his lady's side, helping her back up.
"How dare you..." Miracle said under her breath. "I would never..."
"Oh, save it." Ebony shouted at the akuma. "No one's buying your little crusade act anymore! You're just the same as all the rest of the akumas. Willing to do anything to get your way, and not listen to reason, until that stupid butterfly is finally off your body."
"And luckily for us all, I know where the akuma is." Red added.
"What!?" several of the heroes all said at once. Miracle had turned to face him, exposing her back to Ladybug and Chat Noir. There they saw what looked like Ladybug's symbol; a bright red circle with several black spots around it.
"I probably wouldn't have realized it if I hadn't seen what Ladybug's miracle box looked like. Thanks for showing us all." He started to explain, which made Miracle growl at his realization. "That's how you've been using all the miraculous, the box is attached to your back."
Looking closer, Ladybug could see that Red was right, it did look like her miracle box, but it was smaller and looked like it was attached to the suit. This did make her see things more clearly now. It explained how she was able to use all of them, but wasn't wearing any jewelry. Ladybug didn't know what would happen if they destroyed the box to get the akuma, but it still gave them an advantage.
"End this now, Miracle." Ladybug warned. "You can still do the right thing. Separate the rabbit and the snake, and send everyone home."
Miracle's shoulder only got tense, and she clinched her fists not looking at the bug hero. "No. Masquerade, find yourself a new host!"
At her words, the mask that was still in Marigold's hands flew up to eye level, and attached itself to her face. The bee holder struggled against if for a minute, until her arms suddenly went slack, and a dark cloud of dark magic went over her body.
"Marigold!" Tigre Mauve cried out for his partner.
When the cloud went away, in its place was a new version of Marigold. It sort of reminded Ladybug of when Queen Bee became Miracle Queen. Her colors were in reverse, the tussles on her wrists and ankles were spikey, and her pigtails were longer and sharper like stingers.
"Goldie...?" Tigre approached her cautiously.
The reverse Marigold looked at him for a moment, then said in a low voice. "Venom."
Suddenly a swarm of wasp looking insects flew from her hands and headed for the tiger hero. He ducked out of the way, but that didn't stop several from flying onto him and stinging him through the suit. One got him in the right arm, where he had his miraculous, and he felt the strong zap of pain that made his arms go numb. Then another one went for his left thigh, and he dropped down to his knees. Ladybug and Chat Noir quickly stepped in to shield him from getting stung any further. This caused the wasps to spread out and go for the other heroes.
They all had their shields up trying to keep the insects off of them. Multimouse and Aspik had to work hard in keeping the Adrien on the ground from being stung. Some were still able to sting them, and the buzzing noise seemed to upset the boy even further. Miracle just stayed on the sidelines, watching all of them struggle.
"What do we do, Ladybug?" Chat Noir asked his partner.
"I'm not sure." was all she could say. The insects had them pinned down, and they couldn't reach the river for safety. Even if they tried, Ladybug didn't have enough aqua powerups for all the heroes.
"We have to help Marigold." Tigre Mauve struggled to get some feeling back in his limbs. Since he still didn't have his weapon, he made a run for his partner, seeing if fighting her would stop the insects. So far, she was just evading him.
"The mask, that's what turned her into this. We have to get it off of her." Red Beetle called out. He joined Multimouse and Aspik in shielding the defenseless Adrien.
"I'm on it." Ebony Mao made a jump for it, away from the swarm and in the direction of the bee holder.
Tigre Mauve could almost get near her, and saw only one way to stop her. "Sorry about this, Marigold. Clout!"
The force of the tiger's punch sent Marigold flying in the direction of Ebony Mao. The black cat responded by using her staff to swing and kick Marigold down, and tackle her to the ground. Once she had her pinned, she made for the mask and got it off of her. The mask reverted to a simple white masquerade mask, all of the insects disappeared, and the bee holder was returned to normal.
"Thank you, Ebony, that was awful." Marigold said when the black cat let her back up.
"Sure, no pro- what!?" The mask came back to life again, and was trying to reach Ebony's face. She held on to the sash to keep it from touching her face, but it was very strong and determined.
"Kitten, hold on." Red started to head over to help his partner, but came to a halt at her words.
"Stay away... or it will... get you instead... I can ...hold it." she struggled.
"It's pointless." Miracle said. "As long as Masquerade can find a face to attach itself too, it will turn it's host into an akuma to fight all of you. The best thing to do is to give it back to my partner."
"What if she's right, milady? It's a sentimonster, so we can't destroy it." Chat whispered to his partner, not seeing another way.
Ladybug, on the other hand, looked around her at all of the other heroes, and then at the ribbon lucky charm that she hadn't used yet. But now she understood what it was for. "Actually, that's exactly what we have to do."
"What?" Chat asked confused.
Ladybug didn't answer right away, and turned to the other bug hero. "Red Beetle, you stop Miracle."
"Right." Red obeyed and went after the akuma again. Miracle was quick to defend herself, so she paid no mind to what the others were going to do next.
Then Ladybug turned back to her partner. "Chat, cut this into several pieces, about two feet long."
He understood his lady, and used his claws to make several strips of ribbon. When they had enough, Ladybug gave a piece to the snake and mouse, and one extra for the unwell Adrien.
"Cover your eyes with the ribbon." she ordered, then gave pieces to Tigre Mauve and Marigold to do the same. Then she went to the black cat that was still struggling with the mask. "Ebony Mao, use your cataclysm on it."
"What!? ... I thought... you said... you can't use it... on sentimonsters..." she looked at the bug holder, confused to why all their eyes were covered.
"Just do it!" Ladybug order again.
Still not sure what the plan was, she followed the bug's lead. "Cataclysm!"
Cracks started for on the mask, and it stopped trying to go after Ebony's face. It began to swirl and twist in every direction, flattening and crumbling itself in disarray. Then it tried to go for the black cat again, it couldn't because Chat Noir had quickly wrapped her eyes in another piece of the ribbon. The mask had to find eyes to go over but it couldn't see any. Then it turned to the fight between its master and the boy bug hero, and flew in that direction.
Ladybug had already made her way over to them and call out to the spotted boy. "Red, get over here, quick!"
Red Beetle acted quickly and obeyed Ladybug, but not before grabbing hold of the bag that held the miracle box. She didn't hesitate to wrap the last piece of ribbon over his eyes. Now the mask could only see the eyes of its master and went to attach itself to Miracle. Seeing this, Miracle activates the turtle shelter to protect herself. The fractured mask continues to hit against the shield trying to get to the only host it could find, so it wouldn't obey her.
"Hmmm, clever move, Ladybug." she smirks, then held up her fingers. "Masquerade, I release you from existence." She snapped her fingers, making the mask disappear and the feather released from her staff.
Ladybug removed the ribbon from her eyes and caught the feather with her yoyo. Using the remained spool of her lucky charm, she called out the miraculous ladybugs, and everyone was safe. However, when she looked around, she found that not everything was fixed. The statue of Gabriel Agreste still remained, and the Adrien that was being held by Multimouse and Aspik still seemed to be in an unstable state.
"I don't understand." she looked at each hero, hoping one of them had the answer.
"What happened to them had nothing to do with the amok, so why should they be cured?" Miracle responded for her.
"You still lost, Miracle." Red said holding the miracle box up.
"What makes you think I wanted that?" she asked, tilting her head to the side. "And what makes you think that I've lost?"
"Whatever it is that you do want, we won't let you succeed." Ladybug said with confidence, and all the other stood beside her in agreement.
All Miracle did was smile. "This isn't over. You will give me what I want, Ladybug, or I'll just find a way to take it myself." With that, she opened the portal under the statue of Gabriel, and then jumped in herself.
Despite the akuma getting away, the heroes couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief that it was over for the time being. Ladybug was still worried what it was that Miracle wanted with her specifically, but she would just have to cross that bridge when she came to it. She turned to Red Beetle, glad that he still had hold of her miracle box.
"Thanks for getting that back for me, Red." she smiled at him.
"No problem, Ladybug." he said back as held out the box to her.
She was about to reach for it, when she noticed the cries that were coming from the Adrien that used to be Chat Blanc. He looked really scared and was crying out wordlessly into the air. Multimouse tried to keep him calm by rocking him back and forth in her arms and making shushing noises, as if she were handling a toddler. Aspik also tried to help by keep his hands down so he wouldn't hurt himself or his partner. He wasn't being forceful, though, and rubbed his arms now and then to sooth him. This boy really was in such a sorry state, and all the other heroes weren't sure what to do with him.
"What do you think is wrong with him?" Chat Noir was the first to ask.
"I don't know, but it's way beyond us. We should probably take him to a hospital, see what they can do." Ladybug thought of the best answer.
"But what about our secret identities?" Chat asked. "If we show them who he is, it will clue in on who we are as well."
"I don't think it matters now. We know who Shadowmoth was, even if we save him later, he's just going to be arrested, and he was the only threat to the city." Marigold pointed out.
"Right." Chat Noir said more to himself, the full events of the night finally catching up to him.
Red listened to the heroes talking it over, then glanced down at the box in his hands. It was an interesting set up, different to when Master Fu had it. Chat Noir explained what had happened when the guardianship had been passed down to Ladybug, and it changed form. He could see the symbols of each miraculous on the black dots. The one on the top was a plain black, which he guessed was meant for the bug and cat miraculous. Then as he looked further, he noticed that there were two more that didn't have glowing symbols. He did a quick look around at which ones were missing. It wasn't the butterfly or peacock; he saw Miracle put them back. Unless...
"Oh, no." he gasped.
"What is it?" Ladybug heard him, and turned back to the bug holder.
"Your rabbit and snake miraculous, there gone!" he showed her the spots that weren't glowing.
"WHAT!?" Ladybug grabbed hold of it and took a look for herself. He was right. "No no no no..."
"But when did she...?" Chat started to ask.
"Ugh, she must have taken it before she stepped in to stop Shadowmoth." Ladybug answered, feeling her panic rise.
"It makes sense, she had enough time to do so." Marigold agreed.
"She played us again." Ebony Mao growled. "It was never about the box; she just wanted those two miraculous."
"What do we do? What do we do?" Ladybug started to pace back and forth, holding the box to her chest.
"Milady, calm down." Chat Noir placed a hand on her shoulder. "Well get them back, don't worry."
She took a deep breath to steady herself. "You're right, we'll get them back. We need to take care of Adrien there, and then come up with a plan..."
No sooner had she said that did a big white light appeared before all of them. Ladybug recognized this; it was the Burrow. And out of the Burrow came the holder of the rabbit miraculous, who stumbled on her own feet, coughing violently and holding her body as if in severe pain.
"Bunnix!" Ladybug and Chat Noir called out together.
.~*~*~*~*~*~
.
AN: I'm so so so sorry for how long this one took. First of all, things were getting really busy for me, life and all that. Then I wasn't happy with the way the first draft turned out, so I went back for a full rewrite. Then when I was finally happy with it, my computer started to screw up and half of the chapter got erased, I was so upset. At least now I was able to get it done. I'm glad I won't have to be writing Gabriel anymore here. Was I write about the trigger warning? I felt like it was close, but not sure if I ever crossed that line or not. I don't know, the whole thing with the ring fills for a lot of debate.
So, more of the secret is revealed about Chat Blanc? What's wrong with this version of Adrien? What will Miracle's next plan be? And what could she want with Ladybug?
That was Chapter Ten, I hope you enjoyed it. I have about three chapters left in the works, so keep an eye out for them. Feel free to leave a review if you like, tell me what you thought of it, and what might happen next. Thanks for reading ;);)