The car rolled down the rain slick road, taking care only to use major through ways and thoroughfares. With the windows open, Adrien felt the dampness of the rain whip into his hair and face. Still, it was a necessary evil, or so he thought. After all, he had to make sure he was visible.
"Any sign of him?" he asked into his phone.
"Nothing." The phone answered back.
"Coward." He muttered to himself, feeling very slight relief. Maybe Felix wouldn't show up. Then he could just relax the rest of the day and not have to face him.
But of course, that wouldn't solve any of his problems, and he knew it.
"Hey, pull over here," he instructed his driver, pointing a just barely shaking finger at an ice cream cart on the sidewalk. The gargantuan man in the driver's seat sighed and parked, and, with childlike enthusiasm, Adrien piled out of the car, making a big show of buying ice cream for himself, his bodyguard, and everyone else passing by.
"How can you eat at a time like this?" Ladybug asked him through the phone.
"It's ice cream." Adrien explained. He shuffled back into the car and handed his driver a scoop of chocolate. "Besides, how else will Felix find me if I don't make myself known?"
"What flavor did you get me." She asked after about a moment of silence. Adrien sucked air through his teeth awkwardly and said nothing.
"Unbelievable. I see how it is."
"Well, you're not here, I can't get you ice cream! It'd melt!" Adrien defended himself.
"You're lucky I'm not there, or Felix would be the last of your worries." His phone hissed in tinny anger. He smiled, resting his head on his hand.
"If you were here, what flavor–"
"Hold on."
Adrien swallowed his words and sat up straight.
"Yeah, I see him. He's following you."
Adrien leaned forward and gave his driver the signal. Subtly, the car accelerated and took a sudden turn toward the spot he had picked. They moved quickly, but without urgency, so as not to let Felix in on the plan.
"Alright," Ladybug chimed from the speaker of his phone, "I've got to get out of sight. You can do this, Adrien."
With that, the line closed, and Adrien felt truly on his own for the first time since he met with Marinette that night.
The car pulled into an empty lot and rolled to a stop. Any moment now, the cat would be upon them. Adrien leaned back in his seat, took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He was trying to channel as much of the Chat Noir left in him as he could. A little bravery, a little recklessness, a little cunning. Something to make him feel like he had an edge up on his cousin.
As Chat Noir, Felix was a pale imitation. All flash, no substance. But Felix wasn't trying to be Chat Noir anymore. And that was what scared Adrien.
"You ready for this?" He asked his bodyguard, leaning forward. His bodyguard smirked and offered a fist. Their usual ritual before enormous things were about to take place. A silent way of telling someone you had their back. Adrien bumped his fist against the man's and nodded. Here goes nothing.
He stepped out of the car into the rain, sheltering under a small black umbrella. It wasn't raining hard, but why not? He took a few steps away from the car and closed his eyes again, just listening to the sound of the city. Cars rolling by on wet asphalt. Children laughing down the street. The sound of the heavy thud of shoes against the pavement, and the all too familiar metallic scrape of his staff against concrete. He cleared his throat and opened his eyes.
Felix–or, what was he calling himself now? Cath Palug?–was instantly recognizable. A sleek black suit with a pale green necktie. The only thing that told Adrien he was transformed was the presence of a mask over his eyes.
"That's not a very creative take on the look." Adrien sneered. Felix looked down at himself.
"Your skin tight spandex wasn't doing it for me." He rebuked. "I couldn't figure out how to take off the mask though."
"Rookie." Adrien mocked quietly. "It doesn't come off."
The two men stood quietly in the rain, like two sides of the same coin. Felix, the image of perfection, not a hair out of place, perfectly tailored clothing, stood with confidence unearned but bestowed by birth. Adrien, in contrast, slouched, tired, wore an ill fitted hoodie under a raincoat, and worn out sneakers. Bags under his eyes betrayed every sleepless night he had had for the past decade.
"I don't suppose you could just let me have this one?" Felix pleaded, not desperately. He knew the answer already.
"What is this? What are you doing? Why?" Adrien took a few steps forward. "What could you possibly want that you don't have already?"
Felix started to laugh, but the look of genuine naivete on his cousin's face stifled all joviality. "You really don't know, do you?"
"What am I supposed to know?"
"How dense can you get? How have you been alive for nearly thirty years, and never sensed it?" Felix asked him. Adrien simply stared from under his umbrella.
The man in the suit sighed and rolled his eyes. He had always known his cousin was hopeless and ignorant, but there was a level of innocence at work that he had to believe was deliberate, or else, pitifully childish.
"Listen, Adrien." He began, sympathy painting each syllable. Adrien was a tool, but he was a useful one, and he didn't even realize it. There was history between them, and Felix just couldn't ignore the attachment he had to the man. After all, they were so much alike in so many ways. "It's not too late. You can help me. I'll explain everything. It'll be you and me again, just like it always has been."
Adrien squinted. This was classic Felix. Playing the sympathy card. He scoffed. "The kind of help you need comes from a t-trained professional, not me."
So the cat had claws after all, even if it was only barely disguising his weakness. Felix wasn't used to hearing animosity in his cousin's voice, Adrien could never stand up to him. That was part of the reason he was surprised Adrien hadn't worked out what he had years ago.
"Why are you helping her?" He hissed. That woman was like a leech. Always taking, never giving back. "Why her and not me? Who was there for you for ten years?"
"Apparently, n-no one." Adrien spat back. Felix exhaled sharply. So much for getting him to come along willingly.
"You know, I'm going to have to take you." Felix stated. It was flat, matter-of-fact. There was no violence or hatred in his voice. He just had to do what he had to do.
"Felix." Adrien warned. Felix took another step toward him.
"It's not personal, buddy, I just gotta get those earrings."
"Then take them." Adrien took his hand out of his pocket and unfolded his fist, revealing two nondescript stud earrings.
Felix furrowed his brow. He almost fell for that, for just the smallest moment. He stared down at what had to be mockeries in Adrien's hand, then up to his cousin's face. His cousin swallowed, his eyes darting around nervously. He was not selling it.
"Come on, Adrien." Felix shook his head. "Don't even try it."
"They're here, j-just take them, and you'll see."
"Why would you have them and not her?" Felix asked, sarcastically. Adrien shivered.
"Sh-she didn't want to reveal her identity to you. But she knew she couldn't win. You really embarrassed her, it wasn't funny." Adrien explained.
"And I suppose she trusted you with her identity?" Felix rolled his eyes.
"I kind of just figured it out."
"Oh, sure." There was a beat. Adrien moved his hand closer to his cousin.
"Where are the real earrings, Adrien." He didn't even phrase it as a question. It was a command.
Adrien looked down at the jewelry in his hand for a long, solemn moment. Reflexively, he turned his head just slightly to the car behind him.
"That's all I need to know." Felix smirked and walked past Adrien toward the car. Adrien whipped around, words catching in his throat. He watched his cousin take another step toward the car, and toward the man in it. His ally. An unfaltering companion throughout all of his life.
"Drive!" Adrien shouted. Felix was caught himself jumping slightly out of surprise. Adrien lunged and wrapped his arms around his cousin, pinning the man's arms to his sides. "Get the earrings to Ladybug!"
First, there was the screeching of tires against pavement, then the deafening rumble of an engine, and the car sped off.
"You damn fool." Felix spat, wrenching himself free and shoving Adrien away. He stumbled back and landed clumsily on the pavement.
"This is not over." Felix promised. With a leap, he bounded off toward the car with superhuman speed. Adrien watched him go until he could no longer be seen. Then he rose, dusting himself off.
"Yes it is, idiot." Adrien sang. Tikki flew out of his coat, concern written across his face.
"How'd I do?" He asked her.
"Exceptional." She lied. "That was terrifying."
"Yeah, I know. Man, I'm shaking. Okay, no time to waste. You get these to Bugaboo." He instructed, handing the little red sprite the earrings in his hand. She smiled and dutifully took the jewelry in her tiny lilliputian hands.
"So far so good?" Adrien asked as she readied herself to fly away.
"Better than I expected in all aspects!" Tikki assured. He grinned nervously and watched her fly away with the earrings. A few minutes later a car pulled up.
"Mayor sends her regards, M. Agreste." The driver greeted, opening the door for him. He wretched.
"M. Agreste was my father. You can call me Adrien."
The car rolled off after Cath Palug.
"Did he blow it completely, or only mostly?" Marinette quipped sarcastically, putting the earrings on.
"He only almost blew it!" Tikki replied, cheerfully. Marinette smiled. Giving Adrien the real earrings felt like too great a risk when it was proposed, but Adrien swore he needed the real articles. Lying to Felix, he promised, would prove too difficult for him. He couldn't trick Felix, but he could let Felix trick himself. Fool his cousin. Or rather, to let his cousin fool himself. He didn't trust himself to lie to Felix's face, but he could tell the truth and let Felix trick himself.
The whole thing seemed needlessly complicated and risky. But Adrien knew better what he could handle than her. And she trusted him to make the right call. She promised she would.
And, though she would never admit it to his face, it seemed to have paid off. Felix was taking the bait, just as Adrien said he would. She watched him in the distance, leaping like a crazed animal after a speeding car. In a few moments, that car would pull into an underground parking garage where her trap would spring, and, like a crazed animal, Felix would be caught. She transformed into Ladybug.
It felt different now. More like when she was young. There was a lightness to it. With a graceful leap, she swung off into place.
The car skidded around a final corner. The entrance to the garage was dead ahead, but the man behind the wheel could only get there so fast. He was, after all, driving on civilian roads. Still, he was a practiced hand. He'd driven like this before, on roads like these. The trick was not to panic. He glanced in the rearview mirror.
There was a freak at his six, scrambling on all fours to catch up. And he was catching up. Chalk it up to super agility, the man guessed. It would only be a matter of time before this chase ended, one way or the other.
The garage was in sight now. He was almost there. Just a little further.
There was a cracking noise, the familiar sound of a windshield crumbling apart. The man barely had time to look back before he was struck squarely in the head with a cylindrical metal object. Freak had good aim.
With inhuman determination, the man turned back and kept his hands on the wheel. The world in front of him came unraveled as he began to lose consciousness. Still, he would make it. He wasn't going to let Adrien down like that.
The car slammed through the plastic gate of the garage. No time to stop and take a ticket. Ladybug heard that as her cue and held her breath. Within a moment, the car came skidding in, wobbling uncontrollably. She watched in horror as It swerved into a nearby support column, causing the driver to jerk forward like a corpse into the airbag. He slumped loosely against the side of the window.
This was not part of the plan. Now she had a choice to make, and only a moment to make it. Marinette knew that civilian lives were more important. She knew she had to get that man out of that car, even if it meant compromising the plan.
Ladybug argued, however, that saving the man would be far easier without Cath Palug trying to kill them both. She should prioritize the ring. That was the most rational thing to do. She would surely have time for the man in the car after, right?
That choice was, unfortunately, made for her. Felix had not been far behind, and he leapt through the gloom of the garage and onto the car, ripping the driver's side door off its hinge and casting it aside. It clattered against the hard concrete with a deafening rattle that Felix seemed content to ignore, his attention focused singularly on searching the body of the man in the car.
With a practiced snap of the wrist, Ladybug sent her yoyo sailing through the air toward him. It coiled itself around his torso, just as she had willed it to. With a groan of exertion and a tug, she jerked Felix backward toward her.
"You are going to give me that ring." She promised him.
"Cataclysm!" Never one to waste time, even when caught off guard, Felix screeched his magic word, placing his hand on the wire of the yoyo. It fizzled and cracked in a bizarre and otherworldly way, but otherwise had no effect. Ladybug grinned malevolently.
"Rookie mistake." She taunted. He growled and pulled away from her. She knew she had to approach carefully. All he had to do was touch her once. But otherwise? She had him right where she wanted him. She had won.
"You are going to force my hand, aren't you?" The man growled, staring at the inky blackness orbiting his ring. To him, those earrings were worth degrading himself, lying, and dying for. Why shouldn't they be worth killing for?
Felix had never murdered before. He wasn't that kind of person, even at his worst. He had no idea how it would feel, but he knew it wouldn't be good. But he was very logical, and he knew the value in taking the path of least resistance. He could do it. He could use his power on the woman in front of him and that would be it. Of course, he didn't know that for sure. Maybe it didn't work on people.
But if it did work, and she was out of the way, there'd be nothing to stop him from making his wish. And at that point, it wouldn't even matter that he'd killed a person to make it. He could undo that just as easily.
Then he'd only have to live with himself after the fact. But he could do that, if it meant his life would be his own.
He stared at his adversary. She was trying to work out how to save the man in the car and keep Felix tied up at the same time. Thick white smoke was beginning to billow out from under the hood of the car. It would be harder for him if he'd known her. But he didn't know her. She was just a stranger in a mask. That's what he told himself.
"Give me the earrings or I'm going to kill you." He swore. Her head snapped back toward him. She almost looked like she had heard a funny joke.
He dashed forward, feeling sudden slack in the line around him. As he approached, it came loose and fell to a heap onto the ground. Before she could retract it, he stooped and grabbed it, clutching it for dear life.
They were at an impasse. He gave the yoyo a tug. Not the first time he had held it in his hand, it had a familiar weight to it. Either she retracted the line and brought him closer, or he gave the line a tug and brought her closer. Either way, she was going to be in arm's length soon.
"You can't kill me." Ladybug spat.
"Why not?"
"You're a coward."
Felix scoffed. "That's why I can kill you. That's me taking the easy way out."
There was a momentary quiet between them. Something uncomfortable. Something unnerving. They both knew these words were true, even if neither of them wanted them to be.
"You don't have to do this Felix." Ladybug offered. "It's not too late."
"I've been on this road for ten years. I can't turn back."
There was another beat. Felix gave the yoyo a sudden yank, and the string flew out of her hand. He tossed it lazily to the side, where it clattered like a toy made of cheap plastic. She lunged for it, he lunged for her.
A car pulled up outside the entrance to the garage. Adrien stepped out into the rain. Smoke was pouring out in a deluge from the entrance and up into the sky. A small crowd of anxious onlookers watched from a comfortable distance.
"Fuck." Adrien swore as he ran toward the entrance, shielding his eye from the smoke.
The scene inside was chaotic. Ladybug and Cath Palug were liable to rip each other to shreds the way they were fighting. She was supposed to have gotten the ring back by now. Instead, she was intensely dodging every swipe he made, leaping through the garage like a gymnast. He was trying to hit her with Cataclysm. It made Adrien shudder.
He squinted, searching for the source of the haze. It didn't take long. Lodged firmly in a nearby support column was the front of his car, and his bodyguard, beaten and bloodied, was slumped against the wheel, a thin line of blood flowed down his face from some unseen wound under his hairline. The hood of the car was emitting a foul, burning odor that made his head swim. He made his way, coughing, to the burning wreckage.
"Buddy, get up." He muttered, kneeling next to his bodyguard. There was no response. He sucked air through his teeth and put a hand on his friend's neck. It took a moment but there was a light pulse. Adrien sighed. "Alright you big idiot, don't scare me like that."
He leaned over and tried to reach around to the safety belt. The man's incredible width made it difficult, and Adrien had no choice but to go around and approach from the other side. He backed away from the car, only a meager two steps, before he the air was knocked out of him completely.
"Adrien?" Cath Palug had collided with him head on, sending them both stumbling to the floor. Adrien winced and felt his heart skip as he had nearly been touched by Cataclysm. Felix rose. "You bastard. How did you lie to me?"
Before Adrien could respond, Felix was tackled from behind. Adrien watched in sheer horror as Ladybug brought blow after blow down on Felix in a desperate attempt to render him unconscious. It was mortifying, seeing her indulge in such gruesome violence.
"Help me!" She commanded. He obeyed, rising and running over to her.
"What do I do?" He asked as Ladybug pulled Felix to his feet and locked his arms in a hold.
"Get a fucking miraculous from my yoyo!" Ladybug ordered, narrowly avoiding her slow demise at Felix's touch. He made an inhuman groan as he fought desperately, teeth gritted in pain and adrenal frenzy.
Adrien looked at her and hesitated. She turned her head, their eyes locked, and in that moment, there was only fear in Ladybug's eyes.
"Now!" She ordered. The man sprinted away, searching desperately for the yoyo. It had rolled some distance away, against a wall. He crawled toward it.
God, he didn't want to do this. He slid the thing open. Pink light shone from within, nearly blinding him. Every fiber of his being resisted his instinctual movements as he shoved his arm in. It was warm and indistinct inside, like shoving an arm into a world that didn't exist. His brain told him he should give up, roll over and die, before using the thing he had now closed his fist around. A small, round, metallic object. He wrenched his arm free and tossed the yoyo away, opening his fist to reveal the miraculous in his hand.
"No, fuck!" He screamed.
He looked around for the yoyo. He would take another one. Not this one. Any of them would do, just not this one.
But he couldn't find the yoyo. He had thrown it and it had rolled away. He stood and began looking under cars.
"Adrien!" Her desperate cry came and rattled his existence. He grit his teeth. He gripped the sides of his head. Tears stung his eyes, and his heart felt like it would explode any minute.
He looked over at her. She was very quickly losing ground against his cousin. The car, on the opposite side of the garage, had stopped smoking and started flaming.
No time. It had to be this one.
He slipped the brooch on.
"Oh." Nooroo gasped with some surprise. "Adrien?"
"Yeah, yeah, no time. Please. Please, tell me how to use it." Adrien pleaded desperately. Nooroo looked around. Where was he? What was all this?
"Now, Nooroo!" Adrien ordered. The kwami, so used to following the commands of the Agreste household, snapped to attention.
"What do you wish to know, master?" He asked nervously. Adrien didn't have time to ruminate on how uncomfortable that made him.
"Does it have to be a butterfly? Could it be anything? Can I give someone powers with anything?" Adrien asked, nervously fiddling with the brooch as his body instinctively tried to tear it off and destroy it.
"No, no, you can just touch the person." Nooroo explained, urgently.
"Transform me!" There was no time to thank the creature.
Violet light filled the corner of the garage he was standing in, though neither Felix nor Ladybug dared take their eyes off each other to look.
Adrien sprinted to the car. Everything was wrongly good. His brain knew he shouldn't be able to run this fast. It knew he shouldn't feel this fit or able. Nothing was right about how right it all felt.
He slammed a hand against his bodyguard's shoulder. The man snapped awake, inhaling deeply, and then?
And then it was weird. Adrien could feel the man. His emotions. His bruises. The ache in his bones. The weight of his age. The confusion, at first, then the panic. The long history this man had had working for his family. Then before that, working for a dozen people and in a dozen places and seeing things that no one should have to see. The loss of everything, the finding of a sort of family, the instinctual need to protect that family.
"Hey Buddy, it's me, Adrien." A voice in the man's head told him. "I'm okay."
The man relaxed visibly. That was more important to him than whatever dull ache he was feeling from his head wound.
"Listen, I'm giving you the power to protect us. Get the hell out of that car, okay?"
The man nodded. The relief he felt, that confidence that everything would be okay, became more than a feeling. It became a strength. And it surged through every fiber of his existence.
The man exploded out of the car, joining his charge by his side. With a grunt, he pushed the wreckage of the car far away to the other side of the garage, where it slumped against a wall, a smoldering pile of twisted, burning wreckage.
"We gotta help Ladybug." Adrien instructed. The man nodded. There were a thousand things happening each moment as their feet pounded against the pavement toward Ladybug. They were moving as fast as they could, but it still felt like eons passed before they reached the two of them.
His bodyguard slammed into Cath Palug with the force of a speeding truck, throwing him to the ground, pinning him down with the peculiar and practiced precision of a trained professional. The man wriggled and writhed for freedom, but even his enhanced strength was nothing compared to the indomitability of the man on top of him.
"You okay?" Adrien asked, joining Ladybug by her side, lungs burning for fresh air. The woman, gasping to catch her breath as well, put a hand on his shoulder and nodded, wiping the saliva from the corners of her mouth.
"Yeah. Thanks." She replied, straightening up and laying eyes on him. She froze and stiffened, air caught in her lungs. It took all her willpower not to back away. He was the spitting image of his father in that costume. She chose not to say anything.
"Got him, buddy?" He called to his retainer. The man gave a thumbs up. Felix was occupying himself by desperately trying to use Cataclysm on the man, to no avail. Every time he touched the man, the dark energy around his hand simply faded away. Adrien took a few lumbering steps toward his cousin, not drawing close enough to be touched, but close enough to look the man in the eyes. "It's not gonna work, Felix. He's immune. That's his power."
Felix looked up at his cousin, first with a sort of primal fury, then confusion, and finally, disgust. "Only you would stoop so low."
"I'm not proud." Adrien replied slowly, squatting in front of the man, resting his arms on his knees. "Are you?"
Felix spat. "You have no idea."
"Well, you shouldn't be." Adrien, rose, standing triumphant. "You should know not to go up against me and LB."
Felix shook his head, unimpressed. What was the point now of explaining? "What are you going to do with me?"
His voice was totally neutral, no feeling in it at all, no more avarice, no more wrath. Just a tired man, waiting to see what came next. Adrien gave a hand signal and felt the large man pinning him down wrench his hand up, not gently. He slipped the ring off Felix's finger and tossed it to Adrien, who caught it.
Then, eager to get rid of it, he ripped the brooch off, tossing it perhaps a bit too forcefully to Ladybug. Now there were no disguises. Adrien and Felix were face to face.
"You know, for a decade, you were my brother. I shared everything with you. I trusted you completely." Adrien began, staring at the ground.
"You let me walk all over you." Felix growled, unimpressed. "You've always let people walk all over you. Me, your father, her, you just let them do whatever they want."
"Maybe that's true. But it's only because I trust them completely." Adrien argued.
Felix shook his head. "No, that's not why. And if you had helped me, you'd know the reason why. But you didn't, so you won't."
Adrien, unsure what to make of that comment, chose to ignore it. "You can let him up. He's not a threat anymore."
The bodyguard rose, releasing his captive, who chose to stay prone on the ground for several long moments before rising to his feet, designer clothes smeared with dust and grime from the ground below.
"You're free to go." Adrien sighed. Ladybug snapped to attention.
"What?" She protested. Adrien silenced her with a dismissive wave of the hand.
"I know you aren't an evil person, Felix." He continued. Felix was trying not to show his surprise, and failing. "I know because I spent a decade with you. And I have good memories. Genuine memories, I hope. I am choosing to believe that you won't do this again, because I am choosing to trust you."
"You're an idiot."
"You aren't forgiven." Adrien ignored his snide remark. "I've written you out of the company, you're going to have to start from zero. But maybe some good, honest hard work will help you figure your stuff out."
Silently, Adrien put a hand on his cousin's shoulder. He took one last look at the man, the darkness and confusion in his eyes. The man who fought tooth and nail for the things he wanted. The man whose ambition, though misplaced, was admirable.
This was his friend. This was his brother and his partner. He was also a fiend and a traitor. And Adrien hoped he never saw him again. But he also hoped he did, one day, see a changed man in him. He chose to believe there was a part of Felix that cared. That was salvageable.
"I know you do the things you do because, not because you're a bad person, but because you want the best for yourself." Adrien shut his eyes and sighed. "You've always been ambitious in a way I could never be. That's not a bad thing. Just don't destroy everything around you to get there."
"Let's go, Ladybug." Adrien called. He turned and began walking away. His partner jogged to catch up, giving Felix the stink eye as she passed, and his bodyguard closed the gap with his enormous gait in no time. Felix was left standing in the haze of the dimly lit garage alone.
"Adrien, Stop."
Adrien stopped.
"Come here."
Adrien turned and walked silently back over to his cousin. Ladybug and his bodyguard watched in silent confusion, sharing uncomfortable sidelong glances at each other.
Adrien approached his cousin uneasily. He knew this would happen. He knew he wouldn't have the nerve to stand up to Felix completely. He was so close, too, almost out of there.
"What is it, Felix?"
It would be so easy, Felix thought. Just tell him to hand over the ring, and he would have to. He would have no choice. It was the ace up his sleeve, the trick he had saved just in case. After all, he had the ring. He'd had it for years.
And after Gabriel gave him the others the pieces were all in place. Three rings, and a pair of earrings. That was all Felix needed. Then he could make it so he and his cousin were just as real as everyone else. Just as alive. Not subservient. Not straddling the line of existence and nonexistence at the whim of whoever owned their respective rings.
But Adrien didn't know what Felix knew. As though he never sensed it, Adrien had lived nearly thirty years of this constructed life without so much as glimpsing the truth. Never once wondered why he and his cousin were identical. Why he really never could say no to the authority figures in his life. Why all he ever wanted to be was the perfect son to a father who treated him like an object.
He never realized that he was a carefully constructed facsimile of a person. And of course, Felix was the same way. The two of them were created by a vain, selfish woman who thought she could mold for herself the perfect child out of thin air. Then she did it again as a 'gift' to her sister. Then she died.
He could order Adrien to do whatever he wanted. Return the ring. Fight Ladybug. Throw himself into the burning wreckage and die. And Adrien would do it happily.
Because Adrien had never known the freedom that Felix knew. Felix had his ring, and the man who had it before had had no interest in using it. But Adrien had never held this ring in his own hands. He only thought he had free will. To Felix it was pitiable.
In fact, it was depressing. If the situation were reversed, if Adrien had Felix's ring, he knew what his sad, sappy cousin would do with it. He would give it to Felix. Give him his freedom. And that fact was chewing away at the back of his brain, the part of him that could still separate 'right' and 'fun'.
Felix turned the ring over and over in his pocket. Felt the cold metal of it. Fine. He wouldn't tell Adrien to give anything back. He would let Adrien choose. This wasn't admitting defeat. This was postponing victory.
He pulled the ring up out of his pocket, holding it between his thumb and finger. Adrien eyed it curiously. His father's wedding ring? It was a plain band, with no adornments.
"A gift." Felix said, neutrally. Without letting go of the ring, he looked his cousin in the eye. "I want you to figure out what this ring really is. And when you do, come find me. We'll talk about what to do next."
There. One last command. That would do the trick. He'd see his cousin again one day.
He placed the ring in Adrien's palm, and watched Adrien close his hand around it, slowly. There was confusion in his eyes.
"You're the master of your own fate now, Adrien." Felix was almost congratulatory as he gave his cousin a pat on the shoulder.
"I," Adrien began. But he said nothing. What could he say? What was this? A trick? A trap? Or was Felix being genuine? And if so, about what? All these questions flooded the man's brain, but were quickly overshadowed by a singular notion: What is this ring?
"Adrien." a woman's voice called. He shook his head, snapping from his stupor. Ladybug had a hand on his shoulder. "We gotta go."
"Right."
Solemnly, they left the garage, each mind whirling with doubt. Felix watched them go until they were out of sight. He scratched his chin, lit a cigarette, and really enjoyed this one. Took each drag as though it were his last. There was a bitter taste in his mouth, but he wasn't sure it had been from the smoke. Could have been this whole week. He shook his head. What was he thinking? He was really going to kill Ladybug back there?
He laughed silently.
Of course not. How would he deal with that? No, Ladybug didn't have to die. No one had to die. Clearly. Her weakness had never been Chat Noir, and it certainly wasn't his power.
It was Adrien. That was her weakness. She'd shown her hand too much.
He dropped the butt of the cigarette and ground it into the pavement with his heel. When the time came, he would get those earrings.
And Adrien would help him do it.
"Adrien?"
He was pretty sure the ring had always been in the possession of the family. What did Felix mean? Was it a Miraculous? Surely not. He knew what they felt like to hold.
"Adrien."
Was this a key? Like some kind of cipher or something? Or was he overthinking things? Was it something more symbolic than that, was Felix speaking metaphorically? He turned the ring in his hand, slipped it on and off of his finger. Nothing. He felt nothing from this ring. A mundane object in every way, as far as he could tell, and yet, there was something about it. He wanted to keep it safe. Always on his person.
"Okay, he'll take a latte I guess." Marinette sighed, exasperated. Adrien looked up at the waiter, who was staring at him expectantly.
"Hm?" He looked down at Marinette, who was smiling the way she did when she wanted to throttle him to death. "Latte is fine."
The waiter nodded and walked away. Adrien drew his hand out of his coat pocket, where he had been fidgeting with the ring. He smiled absentmindedly at Marinette, but she did not return the gesture. Her face betrayed her concern.
"You zoned out again." She was trying to sound annoyed, but the way she said it was more concerned. "Still thinking about Felix?"
That whole thing had ended three days ago. They had won, their second major victory in their career. And it was messy and weird and exhausting and Marinette didn't know how she felt about it, especially about letting Felix go. But Adrien made it clear he didn't want another member of his family to rot behind bars. Didn't want to do that to his cousin. And the negative press it would bring his company was not what he needed right now. He would have enough on his plate already when he got back to London.
So she conceded. Fine. Felix could go free. Even though he was a creep, and almost murdered her. She shivered just thinking of the possibility of seeing him again. The thought that he was still walking the streets made her truly uncomfortable in a way she couldn't process. But she had not told Adrien that.
Since that day, Marinette had tried to be more patient, more compassionate, more understanding with him. She had stopped going on nightly patrols. She was on a sort of hiatus from Ladybug. She just wanted to spend time with Adrien before he left.
But Adrien had become sort of closed off as an individual. He would be silent for long periods of time, staring out of windows or at that ring Felix gave him. He insisted nothing was wrong, but she knew that wasn't true.
She chalked it up to Felix. Something about the whole thing must have rubbed him the wrong way. Which she understood completely. Or maybe it had been the butterfly miraculous. Maybe using it brought up something dark in him. She didn't know. But she did know he wasn't receptive to anything she did. It was almost trance-like.
Which was frustrating, because she was trying to be more open with him. And maybe even a little flirtatious, even if she was doing a poor job of it.
"I guess so." Adrien half lied. Felix had lingered in his thoughts, true enough, but the ring was the real object of fascination for him, and he didn't even really know why. It was almost unnatural how it occupied his thoughts.
"Are you sure you're ready to go back to London?" She asked him when he didn't continue. His face twisted into an expression of reluctance and he sighed.
"I have to be. Can't be away for too long." He sighed. He didn't like London, and the thought of going back to his humdrum life of corporate stoogery was depressing. Especially now that he didn't have Felix to hoist all the boring stuff onto.
There was an awkward pause that was thankfully punctuated by the arrival of their order. This didn't feel right. This wasn't the farewell Marinette wanted. It didn't feel like closure after many years, it felt like leaving too much unsaid. This was not how they operated anymore. She took a swig of her coffee, burning her tongue and throat on its way down.
"Listen." She started. He looked up from his coffee with sudden attention. She almost put a hand on his, chickened out at the last moment, and laid it flat on the table. "We're partners. We trust each other. Whatever is on your mind, you can tell me. I want to make sure you're okay before you leave."
Adrien smiled. Having seen her fight just days before, he could tell she still wasn't the same Ladybug he'd known, and maybe she never would be. That was okay. She was still bitter and reckless and angry and tired, but she was taking steps to be more trusting and he appreciated that. He pulled the ring from his pocket and placed it on the table in front of them.
"Moving a little fast here, aren't we, Adrien?" Marinette joked. He shook his head.
"All day I've been thinking about what Felix said when he gave me this. All that stuff about how I'm the 'master of my fate' or whatever. What did he mean? He told me to figure out what this is, but as far as I can tell, it's a normal ring." Adrien mused, staring down at the simple object before him. "It has to be something, right? A miraculous, somehow?"
Marinette scoffed. She'd know if it was a miraculous. "Felix is just trying to get in your head. That's what he does, Adrien. He just wants to make you uncomfortable."
Adrien considered this, face folding into a thoughtful scowl. He shook his head. "I feel… something. When I hold it. I just don't know what."
"May I?"
Adrien nodded. The woman slid the ring across the table and held it in her hand. It was nothing special. Slightly heavier than she expected. Made of some dark metal, one without much luster. She slipped it on her finger. Nothing happened.
"Transform me?"
Again, no reaction. This was, in every way she could perceive, a normal ring. She slipped it off her finger and held it in her hand.
"I don't know, seems normal to me." She conceded, rolling it between her fingers. "Why don't you worry about it later, and just enjoy a break, you know? You've earned it."
Now there was a good idea, Adrien thought. Just worry about it later. It wasn't going anywhere, he would have time to think about this when he got back to London. He would. He would worry about this later.
He took the ring back and stuffed it in his pocket, smiling at Marinette with sudden clarity, as if, in an instant, his doubt had been cleared away. "You're right. No sense losing sleep over it."
"There you go." Marinette congratulated, giving him what she guessed was a gesture appropriate for the nebulous relationship between them: Go in for a playful punch on the arm, change it to a pat at the last second, linger there for two and a half seconds, draw away awkwardly. Yes. She was a natural at this. Adrien's raised eyebrow and sarcastic smirk was surely a sign that he was impressed.
"What are you going to do now, LB?" Adrien asked, concerned that she would return to old habits in her downtime. She took a sip of coffee, looked out into the distance and drummed her fingers against the table. The gears were turning in her head.
"I don't know. Paris will always have its hero. But nightly patrols are no fun without a partner. Maybe I'll, I dunno, join a pilates program or something. Take Tai Chi. I need a hobby." Marinette sighed. Adrien smiled, a mix of warmth and relief on his face. He reached into his briefcase and pulled out the corner of a page he had stuffed into it on his way out of her house. It was one of her designs. He grinned mischievously.
"You have a hobby." He teased.
She scowled and made a grab for it, but he stuffed it back in his bag. That was about as hard as she was willing to fight on this, so she crossed her arms and slouched and pretended to be annoyed with him.
"Just gonna hold on to these, in case you have an interest in fashion." Adrien promised innocently. She rolled her eyes.
"Maybe I should take your miraculous back again, you're getting too cocky." She huffed. Adrien shook his head and looked down at the black cat ring on his finger. He never planned to use it for anything. He wasn't sure he even wanted it. But Marinette insisted he take it. It belonged with him and it was better to keep it away from the earrings anyway. She was trusting him with it. Just another small step she was taking.
They chatted a little longer, just until they reached the bottom of their coffee cups. It was the somber, reluctant way people who were parting spoke, all the usual platitudes of 'Next time' this, and 'When you come here' that. The way people spoke when they didn't want to go.
Adrien checked his watch. He had a train to catch, and he had to leave early to get there on time, what with customs and all that. "Such a pain in the ass. Why we ever left the EU I'll never know."
Marinette swallowed. There was a lot left unsaid, and Adrien seemed to be waiting for her to say it, but she wasn't sure what it was she had to say. She felt this way about him, this way that didn't have a word associated with it. It was heavy and dramatic but amazing all at once. No two people in the world had the kind of relationship they did, but what was that relationship?
"I," she began, her brain trying hard to organize the different chemical stimuli into coherent sentences, a miracle at the best of times.
"Want you to know that you've taught me the value of trust and companionship. Before you came along, I was on a dead-end street, but you've shown me that it's never too late to pick up the pieces. Your friendship and belief in me is invaluable, it's a pillar I can lean on. You are amazing, beautiful, and I want you to always be in my life, and I don't even really care what that looks like. I don't know if I want to date you or what, because I'm a mess and I am having every thought, all the time, but when you're here, things make so much sense. I just want to know that you're around, so that I can look at you, even at my lowest, and know that things aren't so bad, because you still believe in me. So go back to London if you have to but come back to me, because you are my partner and my friend, and you carry with you a piece of me."
Is what she wanted to say.
"Make sure you come back to visit! Maybe we can get drinks next time."
Is what came out of her mouth. Unbelievable. A decade later, and she still couldn't articulate in front of him. Sometimes she felt like she hadn't changed at all.
"Sure. It's a date." Adrien smiled, crouching into the back of a car so thoughtfully provided by the mayor once again. His bodyguard, who normally drove, tapped his foot anxiously in the back seat. She watched the door slam shut, and the car roll away down the street until it turned out of sight. She sighed dreamily. All too reminiscent of her youth, she thought. The more things change.
She leaned back in her chair reflecting. After a moment or two, she produced a cellphone from her bag, and scrolling through the contacts, she placed a call.
"Hey Alya." She said.
…
"Oh, you saw that whole thing? Yeah, I'm fine, it's just, you know. We got the ring back in the end."
…
"Of course! You know I can handle it myself. But uh. He did help. A little."
…
"Yeah, well. You know. The more things change the more they stay the same. Listen, you wanna come over sometime? We have catching up to do."
After a brief conversation, having successfully arranged a reunion with her friend, she hung up. It felt good to reach out to people again. She was excited for something for the first time in quite a while. She knew Adrien would be proud of her.
One brief stop before he left Paris. Someone had to know something about this ring.
"You understand that this visit is to last no more than one hour."
"Yeah, of course, listen, buddy, I have a train to catch. This isn't going to take more than five minutes." He told the guard, anxiously tapping his foot while the man frisked him and his bodyguard. The man backed away with his hands up defensively.
"Alright, alright, you're clear." The guard muttered, slightly offended. He walked hurriedly down a long, drab hallway with a metal door at the end. The man opened the door and let him in. He stood in a drab concrete room with a sheet of translucent material between him and the other occupant.
He hated this. But he had to know about this ring. If it wasn't a miraculous, he thought, then it had to be an akumatized object. But he had worn the brooch. He knew what that felt like. And this wasn't that. Which left only one option, and he knew of only one person that was an expert on that subject.
She looked up and adjusted her glasses.
"Adrien?" Nathalie Sancoeur asked.
Adrien held up the ring to the glass. He had no interest in speaking with her more than he had to.
"Whose amok is in this?"
Atuhor's Nose:
And that's that. You know, it's always a nerve wracking thing, uploading something you created to the internet. It is, of course, just one of the many ways we make ourselves vulnerable. For this, especially in a fandom that can be as reactive and somewhat volatile as MLBs, I'm always slightly nervous. But you know.
I don't write because I want people to tell me how good it is, although that is a nice bonus. I write because it is fun. This one became less fun as it went on. This, combined with the first part, is a looooong story, and I started to run out of steam part of the way through. I want to move on to other projects, but I knew I couldn't leave this story unfinished.
In the end, I feel it's a little bit formulaic. You know how this one turns out about halfway through. I do think I can do better. And as some have pointed out, the first half's twist is a little cheap in my opinion. Not my best work. I think Adrien is a little too stable compared to Marinette, who's a total wreck the whole time. I tried to hand wave it by stating that he had easier access to better mental health resources, but fighting against the kind of trauma he went through is a fight that never ends.
But I appreciate you reading about these washed out, sorry thirty year olds. It was a fun exploration. I did learn a lot. Maybe one day there will be a third act, where everything comes to a dramatic finish. But that day is far in the future, if it exists at all. I'll see you all in a little while. Got something cooking. Expect it to go out... Hmmm... Before The Sequel to Breath of the Wild comes out.
