Apologies for the short chapter, but this just came and I NEEDED to get it up before I crash into bed.

A reminder that this is a rated M story, with threatening behaviour, torture and imprisonment coming up. I hope you enjoy the turn this story has taken, I honestly never thought it was going to take this dark turn.

Let me know your thoughts, and thank you for reading.

Just to add, if you don't want to read it but want to know the gist, send me a message and I can ket you know what happens.

Lady Rhi X

Where am I? My head, huh, I can't move my hands.

The sounds of metal scraping on the floor echoed in the dark room. Lying on the hard cold floor Marinette struggled to get up. Her hands shackled behind her back, the cold metal cut into her wrists as she failed to sit up. Squinting, she looked around to find a large window with moonlight pooling through, the metal framework design resembling butterfly wings which spilled into the light on the floor.

The panic crept in as the haze in her mind started to lift.

Am I alone? I think so, I can't see anyone here. Bearings, bearings, bearings. What do I remember? Where was I last? The mansion...with Adrien.

Where's Adrien?

Fresh panic surged through her as she once again struggled to grasp her surroundings. Rolling onto her front, Marinette brought her knees under her stomach and managed to bring herself to kneel and craned around to get a better view of her surroundings.

"Adrien!" Marinette's eyes landed on a mop of blonde hair several feet behind her. The cuffs cutting into her arms preventing her from reaching him or seeing his face.

Tikki?

Wanting to call out for Tikki, Marinette refrained from doing so, as she was still having trouble remembering how she had got into this situation. The little bits that were available to think about however were jumbled up, and until she knew they were definitely on their own, Marinette was not risking exposing herself as Ladybug. Sitting on her bum and crossing her legs, Marinette used her shoulder to rub her earlobe on either side, relieved when she felt the presence of her studs still in place.

Adrien left early because...his dad wanted to have breakfast with him. I arrived at nine and then...Nathalie was on the phone...

Gabriel came out of his office...no wait...Adrien came out of the office...yeah, and Nathalie wanted to speak to him but he said...'we won't be long'...and...

Adrien started to stir, the noise of metal scraping on the floor told Marinette that he was also chained up.

"Adrien," Marinette hushed urgently to him. "Adrien, are you hurt?"

"Urgh..."

"Adrien please, please answer me."

Marinette was pleading with the panic became rife again as he lay there barely moving. Silent tears accumulated in her eyes as she willed him with all her might to move. Seeing the glistening pool of liquid on the floor next to his head, caused Marinette to lose the need to be quiet, and replaced it with the want to be heard.

"HE'S BLEEDING! DO YOU HEAR ME? HE'S BLEEDING!" Sobs came as she realised he still was not responding with more than a few moans, "Help...please." She finished weakly as the sobs took over her body. Leaning forward, she ignored the deep cuts caused by the cuffs becoming worse and tried to reach him.

Lying down, Marinette was mere inches from where his hair was splayed on the floor. Whispering words of encouragement, she pleaded with him. "Adrien, if you can hear me, please, please, make a sound, move anything, please I need you."

A soft moan came from the still figure in front of her, giving her little relief before more tears dropped onto the floor. "I can't, can't lose you." She whispered as she let the prospect of him not pulling through over take her. Sobbing with uncontrollable jerks, she curled into herself as she let out an agonising cry.

"You're not who I thought you were, are you?"

Adrien got up smoothly, the shackles that Marinette thought were holding him down stayed on the floor. His hair came off, as the figure she thought was Adrien, stood up to tower over her. In the darkness, it was difficult to make out who was standing before her, but she was certain, this person was not Adrien, but a decoy.

Shoulder length hair shone as the person stepped into the dim light of the moon, the sound of heels echoing with each step and their face in darkness as the light came from behind. The figure had womanly curves, and was clenching her fists at her sides. Bending down the figure picked up the shackles holding Marinette in place. Silently Marinette waited for their next move.

"Marinette, Marinette, Marinette." The female mockingly imitated Adrien, "how is it, that a boy, absolutely infatuated with Ladybug...becomes a man...who worships you?"

Marinette did not know how to answer her. Hoping she could bide some time to escape, Marinette waited for the next words to come from this woman's mouth.

"He could have had ANYONE. He chose YOU," an accusing finger pointed straight at Marinette, who tensed as she braced herself for more words to come. "Even before you came here, he spoke about your talent, how caring you are, how you make the sun seem cold... you. What's so special about you?"

Marinette was glad this woman was seemingly starting to rant, as this bought her more time and hopefully an insight into what the hell was going on. Calming herself, Marinette was able to feel a reassuring pat on her back, one she recognised as coming from her Kwami.

"I thought you were Ladybug," the person let out a hollow laugh. "Especially since you have the same hair, the same eyes," the person took aggressive steps towards Marinette, and roughly cupped her chin. Snarling in her face, she continued, "the same attention from Chat." She spat on Marinette's face. "Why," she inched closer so Marinette could feel her breath, "why is it that you get to have him and Adrien." She pulled on the chains, causing pain to seer in Marinette's wrists, "why do you get to have them all to yourself huh?" She stood up, pulling Marinette with her, and threw her into the moonlight, showing Marinette her face.

With what looked like dark blonde hair framing her face, the woman had a small button nose and a delicate jaw. Her almond shaped eyes narrowed at Marinette lying at her feet. Crouching down the woman pulled out a flip knife from her back pocket and dragged it along Marinette's cheek.

"Do you think your Chat will come if he hears you scream?" She asked in a sickly sweet voice. "Do you think Chat and Adrien will still want you if you're damaged?"

Marinette felt a ring being put on her finger, and she realised Plagg was the Kwami with her. Waiting for the right time to give her the Miraculous that would help her escape this situation.

Marinette needed to distract this person before she could transform, she had to wait for the right moment before exposing herself to this psychopathic ticking time bomb.

"Who are you?" Marinette asked with a shaky breath as she looked up to the crouching woman.

"See, he doesn't even talk about pathetic little Agnès." She snarled and stood up taking a few paces away from Marinette

"He does!" Marinette told her, hoping it would help. "He notices you, he notices you visiting Gabriel, he knows that you are study-"

"HA!" Agnès let out a cold cackle, "I'm not studying, I've been working with Gabriel, I've been working to get the Ladybug Miraculous!" She aggressively turned to face Marinette, "he wants it, HE NEEDS IT! And once he's used it with Chat Noir's miraculous," she crouched over Marinette again evilly snarling through a smirk, "I will be Ladybug, and Adrien will love ME!"