Hello, Sapphire here! Thanks to all who favorited, followed and reviewed! Trigger Warning: there are some depressive and suicidal thoughts in this chapter, as well as a description of a past suicide attempt. Be safe, take care of yourselves, and if these are triggers for you, you can skip the first section of this chapter and read after the first line break. Also, there is blood and violence later this chapter.

Restart

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Adrian woke up in a bed that wasn't his own. He started to sit up and felt a flare of pain in his gut. He pulled on his arm and noticed an IV was in it, and there was a machine monitoring his heartbeat.

'Right, I got shot. I must be in the hospital,' he thought to himself.

Just then, the door to the room opened and Celine walked in.

"Thank God you're awake," she said in relief. "Would you like some water?"

Adrian tried to reply, but his parched throat wouldn't let him.

"I'll take that as a yes, then." Celine went into a small side room and came out of it with a glass filled with water. "Drink slowly," she instructed.

Adrian took a small sip of the water and his throat immediately felt better. He let out a small sigh. "Thanks, Celine," he said to her quietly.

"Of course. And here's your ring. I'm sorry I took it, but you would have died if I hadn't acted fast enough," Celine apologized without actually sounding sorry. Adrian took the ring but didn't put it on, holding it in the palm of his hand.

'Maybe she should have let me die,' Adrian thought to himself.

"What's that expression for?" Celine asked with narrowed eyes.

"My father, he said he never cared about me, and he tried to kill me, how am I supposed to be happy to be alive right now?" Adrian spilled before he could catch himself.

Celine pulled up a chair to where Adrian's head was and sat in it. "It doesn't surprise me that you're depressed right now, but I wish you didn't feel that way," she told him.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that," Adrian whispered.

"No, tell me how you feel about all of this. If you don't tell me what's wrong and what's fine, how can I fix the problems for you?" Celine reasoned.

Adrian felt tears well up in his eyes. "Father hired someone to kidnap me so he could get rid of me when I was a baby. He didn't care at all, how can I be happy like this?"

Celine smiled sadly. "I know how much it hurts to be hated by the ones who are supposed to love you the most, but there are so many others who do love you, Adrian. I've known you for like, 3 days and I already love you. I know what it feels like to want to die, and trust me, dying won't fix anything. Think about all of your friends, Adrian. They'd be so sad if you died. They really care about you."

"My father told me I'm a waste of space. What if he's right?" Adrian asked.

"Adrian, I was told the exact same thing by neglecting foster parents. After I ran away, I attempted suicide. See the scar on my wrist? I nearly bled out. My current foster parents took me in after that. They proved to me that I was worth loving. I'm sure that your friends can prove that to you as well," Celine finished.

Adrian smiled sadly and slipped his Miraculous onto his finger. "Where are my friends, then?"

"Adrian, I didn't tell them which hospital you are at. I'm sure they'd be here if they knew. Besides, most of them don't even know that you're hurt because I didn't tell them," Celine said.

"I suppose that makes sense," Adrian agreed.

"I'll call them now. I'm sure they'll get here as soon as they can."

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"Marinette!"

Marinette started at the sound of her best friend's voice. She didn't know what Alya was doing in her room as Rena Rouge, but Marinette had a feeling that maybe Alya knew her secret.

"I've got Hawk Moth's miraculous," Rena continued. "I'm sure you'll know what to do with this."

"How the hell did you get this?!" Marinette exclaimed.

"I recorded Gabriel Agreste admitting to shooting Chat Noir and it turns out he was Hawk Moth, so I took his Miraculous. Here, take it," Rena held out the butterfly Miraculous to her.

"What about Mayura?" Marinette asked, grabbing the Miraculous.

Rena shook her head. "She wasn't there. The police arrested Gabriel, but we still don't know who Mayura is or where she's at."

Marinette sighed. "At least we know Hawk Moth won't be bothering us anymore. Maybe Mayura will go into hiding or turn herself in. She never came close to being as active as Hawk Moth. But, um, why are you giving me this?" Marinette asked, gesturing to the butterfly Miraculous with fake confusion.

Ring, ring, ring.

Rena Rouge's phone began to signal an incoming call. She pulled out her phone to see Celine calling her. Rena immediately answered, ignoring Marinette's question.

"How is he?!" she demanded.

Marinette strained to hear what Celine was saying but heard nothing.

"Okay, I'm coming," Rena announced and hung up.

She then turned to Marinette. "Transform and come visit Chat with me, will you?"

"Wha- whadayamean?" Marinette spluttered.

Rena rolled her eyes. "Did you really think I wouldn't put two and two together? The entire class knows who you are except maybe Adrian, and who can blame him for not noticing?"

"Fine. Tikki, Spots On!" Marinette called. There was a burst of red light and then Ladybug was standing in her place. "Let's go."

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Nathalie was determined to pull this off. She needed Gabriel, even if he couldn't be Hawk Moth. Even if he didn't love her the same way, she still needed him and wanted him to be happy, and if his wife and daughter would make him happy, who was she to say no?

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Nino knew that Adrian was Chat Noir. He'd known for a long time. But at the moment, he really didn't want Adrian to be Chat, because that would mean that his best friend could be dying.

Nino plopped on his couch to turn on the news and nearly dropped the remote in shock. Hawk Moth arrested and identified as Gabriel Agreste, the headline blazed as Nadya Chamack was talking.

"He was caught admitting to several crimes on a recording posted on Alya Cesaire's Ladyblog," the news reporter was saying.

"Holy shit, Alya! What did you do?!" Nino exclaimed. He yanked out his phone and called Alya immediately.

She picked up after a few rings. "Nino, I'm-"

"Alya, you're on national television and it's saying you caught Hawk Moth. What the fuck did you do!?" Nino exclaimed.

"Oh, um, I recorded him and the police were there, I didn't catch him by myself. Anyways, Mari and I are going to visit Adrian in the hospital. He's at the Hotel-Dieu Hospital in room 502," Alya informed him.

"Dude, seriously?! Do you know the full story of what happened to him?" Nino questioned.

"He was shot as Chat. Now can you come as fast as possible, please?" Alya begged.

"Alright, I'm coming. Bye," Nino said and hung up. There went any hope of Adrian being okay.

"Wayzz, Shell On!" Nino called and lept out of the window to the Parisian streets.

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Nathalie knew what she was doing was risky, but breaking Gabriel out of prison was necessary in order to get the butterfly Miraculous back, as well as the ladybug and cat Miraculous. She knew that if it went wrong then it would all be for nothing. That's why, when she saw Carapace leaping through the streets of Paris, she took the opportunity to kill him.

She shot him with the same gun that Gabriel's long-lost daughter had foolishly left behind. He had fallen in an alley, and it was unlikely that someone would find him before he bled out. She moved to find him to take his Miraculous, because Gabriel could use it to break out of prison.

Nathalie moved into the alley. Carapace was slumped against the wall of a building, hands pressed against a wound in his stomach, blood gushing out. He looked up to Nathalie, saw the gun in her hands, and seemed to realize what was happening.

"Shelter," he croaked. A glowing green shield formed around him, shielding him from Nathalie.

"That'll protect you for only 5 minutes. I don't know if you'll even last that long before you bleed out," Nathalie sneered.

"I take it that ~cough~ you're Mayura, then," Carapace wheezed.

"You won't live long enough to tell. I, however, have all the time in the world. Tell me, did Chat even survive?" Nathalie taunted.

"Not ~cough~ gonna tell," Carapace hissed. There was fury in his eyes, but pain contorted his face.

"Second chance."
"Venom."

Two voices called out from behind Nathalie. She whirled around to see Queen Bee and Viperion, looking absolutely furious. Nathalie smirked. "Duusu, spread my feathers," she called. She was enveloped in blue light and came out as Mayura.

The two superheroes charged her. They ducked, punched, kicked and spun, each trying to land a hit on her. Block, shove, kick. Viperion was launched into the wall next to Carapace and Mayura tried to take that as an opening. She used her amuck on her gun but was then stung by Queen Bee's venom.

While Mayura was paralyzed, Carapace's shield went down with his transformation. "Nino Lahiffe," Mayura noted. Queen Bee ripped Mayura's Miraculous off.

"Get him to the hospital. I'll take care of her," Queen Bee told Viperion. Viperion scooped Nino up and ran as fast as his legs could carry him, and Queen Bee grabbed a rope out of a nearby dumpster.

Nathalie felt the paralysis start to fade and moved to grab her gun, which happened to be on the ground a few feet away. But before she could get to it, Queen Bee noticed and grabbed her wrist. "Not again," Queen Bee hissed. "The police are coming, and they know you're Mayura."
Queen Bee tied Nathalie's wrists together with the rope. She then scooped the gun up, dragged Mayura out of the alley and shoved her into the arms of a police officer who had just arrived.

"Here's evidence. This is the Miraculous, but I can't give it to you. This is her gun, you can keep that," Queen Bee told him.

"I hope your friend dies, Chloe," Nathalie snarled.

"Fuck you," Queen Bee hissed before leaping to follow where Viperion had run off to.

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