MIRACULOUS

Ch. 6

Meloe

"Plagg, claws in," Adrien said as he transformed back. He exhaled and leaned back, enjoying the view of the dark Parisian horizon. The cool rainy breeze was just one of the little thing he grew to appreciate whenever he was stuck in his room. Even more so now that he's finally out there but no real home to go back to… Plagg flew in his view.

"You ok, Adrien?" he asked. Adrien scoffed.

"I faked my death because I thought I would finally get to the bottom of this and maybe save Paris from Hawkmoth. I mean, my dad being Hawkmoth? What a joke…"

"Look, Adrien, I know you enough to know that there's more to what you did. I mean come on; why else do you think I went along?" Plagg asked.

"You always liked the thrill of going off track," Adrien countered.

"I live for those times," Plagg confirmed winking at him. Adrien just chuckled, but then turned forlorn again then rubbed his arm.

"I… I just wish I could've done something for Marinette…"

"Hey, we went over this," Plagg prompted.

"I know… I just wish… I don't know if I wasn't Cat Noir; maybe there would've been something between us…" he pondered hugging himself. Though he then smiled, leaned back again and looked up. "She'll find her way. I know it."

"Don't worry, she may be pure but she's tough as nails," Plagg chided. Adrien chuckled before giving Plagg a piece of camembert. "You know, you're pretty much loaded with cash now. Why not grab a late night meal?"

Adrien simply smiled. But before he could say anything he heard a building collapse from the distance. He quickly turned to the direction of the noise and suddenly realized what was going on…

"Oh no…" Plagg muttered.

"Wasn't that Marinette's bakery?"

"So much for the late night meal…" Plagg muttered. And with that, Adrien ran to the edge of the rooftop. He hopped over the railing and pushed himself off the building wall, jumping off, raising his fist.

"Plagg claws out!" Adrien turned to Cat Noir, midair and bounced off over the buildings and made his way to the collapsing bakery.

Upon reaching the once lively bakery reduced to rubble, there was no one there. Having his staff at the ready, he scouted the area for a minute before reducing his staff to his phone in an attempt to contact Ladybug.

"Please, My Lady, pick up…" he begged, but there was no answer. "Please…oh… Marinette!" he called out. The was no answer… he scouted deeper into the rubble, not letting his guard down. Not wanting to leave any stone unturned (figuratively) he looked for any nook and cranny on what was left of the bakery, including the passage in the kitchen and even peeking inside the still intact oven, he found nothing, of course.

He called again; "Marinette!" no answer still. He tried to contact Ladybug again, only to get no response yet again. "Please. My Lady, I know you're mad but need you now," he pleaded before a glowing purple whip came towards him. He leaned all the way back, narrowly dodging the attack, cutting the pillar behind him in half. When he got back up, he inspected the pillar to find an extremely clean cut. He could only gulp as he imagined what would've happened had the whip actually hit him.

"'Mad' doesn't even begin to describe it," a female voice said behind him, there was nothing but venom in those words.

"Who's there?" he asked.

"Oh kitty, are you saying you don't recognize my voice?" she asked as she stepped out of the shadows. The woman was wearing a skin-tight suit, similar to Ladybug, only darker with purple spots. Revealing a familiar face, "And here I thought you wanted me to be your lady."

"Ladybug…" Cat Noir muttered as his heart shattered as his hands lost some strength, almost dropping his staff.

"Not anymore, I'm not!" she retorted. She hopped and whipped her deadly saber-like yoyo toward Cat Noir again only for him to jump off, dodging it. She walked out of the shadows, swinging her hips seductively with a bitter grin in her face as well as the neon butterfly hovering her face like a mask. "Call me… Meloe."

Cat Noir knew she's not messing around. He quickly spun his staff around before readying himself for a fight. Meloe began spinning her yoyo and made some stylistic Nunchuk-like moved. The deadly glowing yoyo string doesn't appear to affect her. The tow took a few moments staring at each other. Neither moved a muscle for a full minute…until…

Meloe struck first with a vertical thrust with Cat Noir narrowly dodging by skipping to his left with his staff close to his chest. She then jumped towards him like a wild animal. Cat Noir used his staff extension to push her off and throw her to the other side. Only for Meloe to land gracefully and just charges at Cat Noir again. He uses his staff extension to leap to the top of nearby buildings. Unsurprisingly, Meloe jumps towards him and dashed in pursuit on all fours. Cat Noir was in disarray as he was thinking of something. Meloe slashed her deadly yoyo at him again, he jumps barely missing him but hitting the building edge below him, causing him to falter.

"Ow!" Cat Noir shouts as he landed on top of the car causing the alarm to go off. He opened his eyes only to see Meloe jumping down to him. She swings her yoyo at him, only for Cat Noir to dodge it again but slicing the car in half, causing the alarm to die down.

"You hastate, you die! Amulet of despair!" Meloe shouted, levitating her yoyo to the air.

The sky then suddenly turned to a bright shade of purple and red star starting to pop up, causing Cat Noir suddenly tear up.

"What the…" he whispered as he wiped them off. He also noticed that onlookers and passersby began crying, some harder than others. Cat Noir looked around as people broke down. He even noticed Alya, who even dropped her cell phone as she broke down; no doubt she was filming for her Ladyblog. He then caught a glimpse of Meloe and realized she too was tearing up.

"Feel… my…pain!" she shouted, punching the ground, causing the ground to split at an alarming rate. Cat Noir quickly dodged the attack but did not anticipate Meloe to dash towards him in the blink of an eye and jab him in the gut. He felt the air being pushed out of him and for a second he though his intestines would follow. The sheer force of her punch sent him flying up in the air. As he plummeted back down, he felt as if he was projected into outer space as he flipped uncontrollably as he fell. He landed on the hard Parisian street, creating a smoky explosion. As the smoke cleared there was a huge crater with Cat Noir lying on the center. He coughed as he tried to get on his feet. He stumbled to maintain balance, only for Meloe's fist to meet his face. Pushing him in high speed through store glass windows. Only this time, he gathered himself and managed to land on all fours.

"Cat's always land on foot," Cat Noir managed to crack a grin, despite his pain, both physical and emotional.

"Grrr… It's time to shut that trap for good!" she growled and spun her yoyo and ran as she swung towards him relentlessly. He kicked a piece of building rubble and kicked it toward her, only for Meloe to cut it in half. She immediately reached Cat and then leaned back to dodge the glowing yoyo string, barely missing his nose. The yoyo string cleanly cuts through the pillars behind him, causing the building to collapse.

Meloe quickly made her way out of the building and chased after Cat Noir, still reluctant to fight back. Dodged another attack from behind, he then threw his staff up in the air. Meloe immediately sliced it to bits, only to receive a punch in the face from Cat. He then simply shook his hand of stress.

"I don't wish to fight you, My Lady," But then raised his fists in fighting pose.

"Fine then, it'll save me the trouble," Meloe said dismissively as she spun her yoyo once again. She raised the circling yoyo toward the cat and charged at him like a shield.

He then threw a car at her only to be obliterated to dust by Meloe's spinning yoyo. Cat them immediately ambushed her from behind. He Roundhouse kicked her in the back of her head, knocking her off her feet. She immediately gathered herself and began spinning her yoyo, charging yet again.

"Damn, I can't do much if she keeps spinning that thing," Cat thought to himself as he jumped away.

"Stop moving," Meloe shouted as she began to slice the floor causing Cat Noir to collapse down the hole, Cat Noir screamed in legitimate horror as he plummeted down the crater. "Gotcha!" she cheered. She grabbed her yoyo with her other hand and readied it as a strangling string. But before she could look for him into the sewer, she suddenly noticed Cat making a break for it on one of the accessible tunnels. "Oh, no you don't!" she shouted as she gave chase.

She followed Cat to the surface where it is revealed to be one of the more secure areas of Belleville. She kept her cool as she readied her string again and looked around.

"Here, kitty kitty," she taunted. She suddenly looked to her side and swung her yoyo at her right, seemingly hitting Cat as he winced loudly and made a loud thud as he collapsed at the trash. She jumped over the roof where Cat apparently collapsed on. She spun her yoyo and readied for the killing blow. "Bye bye little kitty," she mocked as she slashed the rubble where Cat supposedly landed, only to see that he wasn't there. "Huh?" She suddenly saw Cat's shadow behind her. She turned only to see him holding up a huge neon sign. "Wha… ha… HA!" she gaped, leaving her shocked in place.

"I'm sorry, my lady," Cat bawled as he smashed the neon sign on her head. Causing the sign to break into pieces as Meloe screamed in pain and lost balance and fell on her back. Cat shivered at the sight. "Oh, I've been playing too much 'Yakuza'"

Cat then kicked the yoyo off her hand and grabbed her on a chokehold. Meloe tried to resist as she grabbed his arms trying to break free and gasped for air.

"Shh… don't fight it," he hushed as Meloe closed her eyes. Meloe then fell to apparent unconsciousness. Cat stood for a moment as he let her lay on her back. He panted as he processed what had just happened. "I should've known this would happen…" he muttered. He then leaned in on top of her as he prepared to remove her earrings. "It's over now my lad… OOOhhh…"

Meloe's eyes snapped open, causing Cat to freeze in shock and then received the hardest kick in the groin he ever felt. Cat collapsed on his knees grabbing his groin and lay on his back painfully.

"Ow! Now, that's a cheap shot!" Cat yelled in genuine anger, rolling around painfully.

Meloe then grabbed him by the hair and began to drag him down the street. With her enhanced strength, she threw Cat up in the air. Only for Cat to grab a hold of the edge of the building and landed on his feet, only to notice that she was making a break to pick up her yoyo.

"Not good, she hits me with it it's all over!"Cat thought as she dashed towards her.

As she was about to reach her fallen yoyo, Cat rammed her with his shoulder, knocking her off course. Meloe only growled as she landed on her feet, taking a feral fighting stance. Cat also took an unarmed fighting stance, no longer hesitating.

As Meloe charged with a barrage of fists with Cat once again on the defensive, he evaded and tried to get a different angle. He tried a roundhouse kick her only to be blocked but Cat recovered quickly. Meloe raised her leg up high attacked with her ankle, which Cat dodged but actually made a hole on the concrete floor.

"Yikes…" Cat muttered as Meloe continued her barrage but Cat quickly caught up to her and grabbed her both her arms. She tried to head butt him but Cat pushed her away without letting go of her arms, thus her head did not reach him. He pulled her back in and he jumped kicked her chest.

"Oh!" Meloe's eyes were as wide as she like she was just about to have an aneurysm. "Oh… oh…" she collapsed on her knees as she was unable to maintain on her feet.

"How do you like them apples? A cat can eat your face off!"

"Grr… this is going nowhere! Lure him to me!" Hawk Moth commanded.

"But Hawk Moth, your location will be compromised," Meloe protested.

"At this rate, you will lose to Cat Noir! Bring him to me!"

"Grrr… FINE!" she retorted. She jumped up the rooftops and made a break for it.

"Wait!" Cat shouted as he followed suit.

Cat gave chase to Meloe, he then quickly noticed that Meloe was heading towards the Agreste Manor. With a gasp, Cat Noir dashed towards her and jumped to tackle her. Knocking her off her course, the two rolled into a construction site. The two kept rolling uncontrollably into a cement bag then into a hole into the tall entrance hall. Both then landed hard on the recently died pavement.

The two painfully tried to get back up. Meloe recovered quickly and knocked him over. Pinning him down, she punched Cat in the face relentlessly, trying to knock him out. Cat quickly blocked her punch; he then flipped their positions and began his own barrage of punches. Meloe grabbed Cat fist and twisted it as if she was trying to break it. But Cat quickly caught on and flipped accordingly to avoid his wrist being broken. She jumped and kicked Cat on the face, propelling herself back to the roof to where she had fallen before.

"Damn it!" Cat cursed as he jumped up after her. They finally reached the Agreste Manor, the place he was dreading to come. "I never thought I'd be back here so soon…" he thought as he sneaked in. He wondered the empty dark halls. The only light source was the dark blue and purple sky caused by Meloe, which still caused his emotions to run wild. He was so focused on the fight that only just now he could hear people still crying and talking in melancholy and sadness in the distance. Now he too is suffering from the effects of Meloe's power again. With the dark halls of the manor he once called home, unwelcome images of his past began to overwhelm him.

"Where's mom…?" Cat shook his head as thunder suddenly struck. He looked out the window. He looked around in anguish and started to tear up again. "Mom…"

"She's away in Tibet in business for a while," He heard Gabriel reply with a gentleness his father once had. Adrien really missed that.

"Emilie, please, you have to let this go…" Gabriel pleaded, Cat remembered that conversation when he once eavesdropped them.

"No Gabriel! Not when I'm this close!" Emilie practically yelled at that moment. She was anguished and agitated. "Think about Adrien!"

"That is exactly why I'm begging you to stop! Don't you realize this is hurting you, as well as Adrien?"

"Why don't you believe in me?!" Emilie's anger was something he had never seen his mother emit, or since. "I'm doing this for us! I will do this! And I will stop anyone who gets in my way!"She growled.

The vision ended just in time to see Meloe jumping down on him, about to strike. Cat narrowly dodged the attack with Meloe's fist hitting the floor, making a small hole. With a grunt, she blended back in the darkness.

"Ladybug, stop!" Cat bellowed, looking around, "This isn't you!"

"You don't know anything about me!" she growled from the shadows.

"You're hurting, I know that much," Cat replied. Meloe attacked again with a barrage of kicks and punches. Cat blocks and dodged everything and tried to fight back. But Meloe backed out again.

"Don't get all wise on me, you stupid Cat. You're not the one whose life changed in the blink of an eye. You never lost anything or having to fend for yourself!" Meloe growled.

"You're wrong!" Cat shouted back. "I know we failed these people, it's gonna happen. But it's the burden we chose to carry…"

"I DIDN'T CHOOSE TO BE LADYBUG!" Meloe screamed as she tackled him. On top of him, she delivers a barrage of punches on the face. He kicks her off him knocking her across Gabriel's office. As Meloe tried to get up while leaning on Gabriel's desk, Cat then dashed and tackled her, breaking the des and turning the tables on her. He head-butted her and knocked her out.

Cat then relaxed and got off her. He got into sitting position and panted. But before he could get his head around what had happened. The floor started to lower and Cat realized that it was an elevator. An elevator right behind his father's desk was taking both him and his unconscious lady down to what appears to be a large hall with butterflies flying around. He got up on his feet and looked around. Then a hole appeared overhead and it opened as if it was a lens of an old camera. It was a large window, making the hall look like an observatory. The purple aura that was covering the night sky was dying off. Right then, Cat heard footsteps coming from nearby. Turning his head to the source… there he was, Hawk Moth. Cat's anger burned so much that he felt like his body is about to bursts into a fiery inferno that would threaten to take Paris with him. He made a fist, causing his knuckles to crack.

"I knew it…"

A/N: I apologize for the delay. It turns out that I have a tougher time with action scenes. Especially since this chapter is mostly one big fight scene. Because of that, I got stuck several times. This is considerably shorter that previously but I will make chapters shorter now to whip them out quicker, while also making them worth the wait. Anyway, please review, I need the feedback.