Chapter Ten: Nemesis

Ladybug left a note on the door to her room for her parents. Now they would think that she had left the house out the front door instead of the bakery, and had gone to hang out with Alya for the evening. She hoped that she would be back in time for dinner, but if not, that should keep them from worrying about her.

She easily climbed onto the balcony and threw her yo-yo, wrapping it around the nearest pillar. The prison was a ways away, but hopefully Chat Noir would get there in time. If he was still transformed, that is.

Chat Noir landed at the prison, his eyes roving the scene. Cars had been thrown to the side, and everyone seemed to be in some state of shock. Nemesis was farther down, objects flying around her. From his vantage, he couldn't see exactly what she was doing. He started walking towards her but was stopped when someone grabbed his arm tightly.

"Don't go over there, Chat Noir," a prison guard begged. He had staggered to his feet, standing unsteadily next to him.

Gently shaking his hand free, Chat looked over to the haggard-looking guard. The man looked like he had been through a lot in the past few minutes. His eyes were wide and slightly red, with bags underneath. His black hair had been lightened by dust and ash. "Why shouldn't I go over there?" he asked.

The guard looked over at Nemesis, taking a step back in reflex. "You don't want to deal with her alone," he said, his voice shaking.

"What does she do?" he asked, trying to see what Nemesis was doing in the distance, but her body blocked it.

"She can fill you with so much pain… As if you lost the person you were closest to," the guard said. "I saw her come in to question one of the prisoners. She forced him to tell her the truth about if he committed the crime. When he said he did, she flipped. Things started flying, and the lights shattered. She went around the entire prison causing pandemonium everywhere she went. You can't face her, Chat Noir. Not without Ladybug. You won't make it without her."

Chat was about to respond when the guard was shoved away by an invisible force. He snapped his head forward to see Nemesis approaching.

"Hello, Chat Noir," she said angrily. Her red eyes pierced his green ones, sending a wave of emotional pain crashing through him. Images of his mother flashed in his mind, along with the devastation her loss had brought to his family.

Nemesis lifted a hand and pointed at him. "Tell me, where is Ladybug?"

It was as if a hand suddenly had a grip on his throat. He reached a hand up but felt only the top of his suit and the bell. But the crushing force remained. Chat struggled to take a breath, but nothing came. Despite this, however, he found words coming out of his mouth.

"I don't know."

A purple butterfly appeared in front of her face, but she kept the truth inducement focused on him.

"Yes, Hawk Moth. Chat Noir, who are you outside of your mask?" she demanded, the image fading away.

Chat's eyes widened, and he took a few steps back, hoping that some distance would stop this effect. No. I can't say it. I can't let her make me say it! But he could already feel the words coming out, no matter how much he tried to fight it. "M-my name is -"

A red yo-yo flew through the sky, wrapping around Nemesis's hand, and yanking it off course. Chat Noir sucked in a large breath, gulping desperately for air. His trusty partner landed next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her and nodded to her unspoken question about if he was okay. Catching his breath would take a moment, but he was fine nonetheless.

"Never thought I'd wish I was lion so much, Milady," Chat said breathlessly.

Ladybug didn't even bother to roll her eyes at the comment, instead focusing on Nemesis.

"Don't look her in the eyes," Chat grunted, standing next to her at the ready. She nodded, changing her eyes so they didn't match the akuma's gaze.

"Stop terrorizing these people, Nemesis!" Ladybug said, swinging her yo-yo as she watched her. If they weren't in imminent danger, Chat would have stopped to admire her posture. She was so serious and confident when facing an akuma.

Nemesis glared, her anger clearly intensifying. The butterfly appeared again, and she said something quietly to Hawk Moth. When it vanished, she was smiling evilly. "I'll stop with these ones, but you won't stop me. Only I can enact the judgment Paris needs, even for you," she said in a poisonously sweet voice.

"I will get your Miraculouses, but for now," her smile grew, "you are going to be a little busy."

Chat Noir shared a look with Ladybug, but before either could say a thing objects were flying at them. At first, it was mostly bricks, which they deflected with their weapons. Then, they started coming faster and faster, making it difficult to block them all.

The sound of metal moving caught his attention, and Chat looked up. His eyes widened at what he saw. Without even thinking, he knocked Ladybug to the ground, staying over her like a shield. The cars collided with one another. One knocked Chat Noir over, giving him a solid knock to the head with a mirror. His staff fell out of his hand as he lie under the ever-piling rubble, dazed.

Both cars were wedged at odd angles, propped against each other. Bricks and other items from the scene continued to fly towards them, blocking them under a pile. His mind struggled to process this at first, and his ears rang like they never had before. He could tell, however, that he and Ladybug seemed somewhat safe underneath the two vehicles.

"Chat Noir! Chat Noir, can you hear me?!" Ladybug's distant voice finally became audible amongst the high-pitched ringing. Chat turned his head to the right and saw his partner staring at him with eyes wide and filled with worry.

"Are you all right, Milady?" he asked, the processes of his brain starting to return to normal speed.

She sighed, closing her eyes for just a moment before looking down at her leg. "A brick hit me, but I'll be okay. What about you- Chat, you're bleeding!"

"What? How can I be bleeding?" Chat reached a hand up to his head where the car had struck him. Indeed, there was a trickle of something warm and wet in his hair. He pulled his hand away, staring at the red on his fingers in shock. After fighting akumas at least twice a week for almost a year, he had never been hurt like this before. He'd been hit by things how many times, and not a mark? Now that it had been pointed it out, the pain was obvious.

Ladybug moved a little bit closer, propping herself up on her elbows to examine his wound. She parted his hair, gingerly touching a spot on his head. Chat took a hissing intake of breath, jerking away. Her touch had sent a fresh stab of pain from the wound.

"That doesn't look so good, Chat Noir. We need to get out of here so we can take care of it," she said.

He shook his head, wincing slightly. "No, I'm fine. We've got to deal with Nemesis before she hurts everyone else. Is there a way out of here?"

She gave him an uncertain look but started looking for a way out anyway. It seemed that Nemesis had packed the rubble around them to purposefully trap them in a dome. The thumping outside had stopped, so they could only guess that Nemesis had left the premises.

Chat groaned, flipping over so he could help her look, grabbing his staff as he did so. There was a drop of blood on the ground, but it seemed that his wound wasn't bleeding very much. At least some of his indestructible nature seemed to be intact.

The two of them searched amongst the bricks to look for a hole they could crawl through. They moved bricks and tried to look around the cars, but there was just too much. Every time they moved a brick, two more fell around them. Occasionally, they would move one that made a portion of the makeshift ceiling shift. There would be no digging their way out of here.

"Do you think my Cataclysm would work on this?" Chat asked, looking at the collection of rubble from the prison.

Ladybug sighed, maneuvering herself so she could look at him again. "I think it's our only chance. Who knows what Nemesis is doing?"

He nodded, lifted his right hand. "Cataclysm!" A wave of destructive energy washed through him, then concentrated into his hand. Chat lifted it and brushed it along the bricks, going in an arc as far as he could reach. All of the debris turned black, then faded away into dust.

Chat stood up, Ladybug next to him. No one was around them in a 25 feet radius. They had taken a step towards the nearest person when Ladybug gasped sharply and stopped. He looked to the side to see his beautiful partner bent over and rubbing her shin.

"Ladybug?" he asked worriedly.

"I guess that brick got me harder than I thought…" Ladybug said, frowning.

She put her foot back on the ground, attempting to take another step. When that matched the effectiveness of the last step, Chat looped his arm around her. Her's went around his shoulders and he half-carried her in their desired direction. They talked to the first person they came to and found out which direction Nemesis had gone.

Ladybug moved her arm so she had a grip on him. He adjusted his own hold so that when she swung her yo-yo they were both taken up into the sky.

They caught up with Nemesis near the Eiffel Tower. She was approaching a crowd of people, several of which were already fleeing. Ladybug stopped on the ground not far from her. Chat immediately moved to support her and they started walking forward.

"Hey, Nemesis!" she called.

Nemesis turned her head around, her eyes filled with malice from being distracted from her victims. She swept away from them, facing the two heroes head on. Chat Noir looked down quickly, but before Ladybug could do the same, their eyes locked.

A sadness unlike anything she had felt before hit her. The strength of the emotion physically made her chest hurt. Images of her parents disappearing filled her mind. There was an akuma while she was at school, and she had no idea. She came home and they were gone. Then she and Chat fought the akuma and her powers didn't bring them back. They were gone. She'd lost them forever and - Tears started to prickle in her eyes.

Ladybug's grip slackened around Chat Noir and she slipped from his grasp, falling to her knees. The second the eye contact broke, the fake memories faded.

Chat lifted her up carefully, placing her arm around his shoulders. "I told you not to look in her eyes," he whispered into her ear. She nodded.

"No kidding."

They looked back at Nemesis, careful to avoid looking directly into her eyes. The fact that she lost eye contact seemed to make her even angrier. Her hair started moving to a nonexistent windstorm, and objects around the tower started flying in random directions. They weren't aimed at them this time, but several came very close to hitting them.

"Ladybug and Chat Noir," Nemesis spat. "You two are pests who know nothing of true justice. You are not the heroes that Paris truly needs."

This time, something did come directly at them, or rather, directly at her. Ladybug didn't see the trashcan until it would have been too late. Chat Noir's hearing, however, saved her once more. Chat pushed her to the ground, where she landed on her hands. He extended his staff and knocked it out of the way right as something else flew at him.

"Chat Noir!" Ladybug called. She reached out and pulled his leg, knocking him to the ground. He yelped, almost hitting his head on the ground. Luckily, he caught himself just in time.

Nemesis chuckled. "How cute! The heroes both take risks to save the other one. But let's see how both of you truly feel." She lifted a hand and pointed it at Chat Noir, who had just stood up. He now looked like he had when she had shown up - like he was choking.

"Tell me, Chat Noir, how do you feel about Ladybug?"

His eyes widened, almost in fear. "I-I… I love her with everything I have," he finally said.

This time, Ladybug was the one whose eyes widened. "I-I'm what?!" No, he can't actually love me. Why does he have to actually love me?!

Chat took a deep breath as the hand moved from him to Ladybug.

Ladybug reached her left hand to her throat, suddenly feeling as if someone was pressing a boot down on it even though she was sitting up. She couldn't breathe, couldn't speak, no matter how desperately she tried. This must have been what she was doing to him when she arrived, and what she had done just now. That meant - Oh no.

"And now for Ladybug," Nemesis said, "How do you feel about Chat Noir? Do you return his undying love?"

She fought it. She fought it with everything she had, but the more she did, the worse it got. Her lungs were starting to scream at her for oxygen, and her body was betraying her. No matter what she did, her body wanted to speak.

"He's a great partner, and one of my best friends. But I do not love him like that."

After what happened to his mother, Chat had never thought a simple sentence could shatter his heart like that ever again. He was wrong. He had known Ladybug didn't love him like he did her, but somehow he'd deluded himself into thinking that on some level she did love him. Hearing that she didn't when she couldn't lie… Nemesis might as well have just ripped his heart out herself.

A couple feet from him, Ladybug tried to stand up but faltered. "Chat Noir… Chat Noir, please, it's not what it seems like-"

Each word was like a dagger in his heart. He looked over at Nemesis, a fury of his own mixing with his sadness as his ring beeped. There were only a few minutes left, if they didn't find the akuma now he'd have to abandon Ladybug. A handcuff bracelet caught his attention.

Chat walked over to Ladybug and helped her up. "The akuma is in a bracelet on her arm," he said, doing his best to outwardly seem like nothing had happened.

She looked over and nodded. Ladybug grabbed her yo-yo and tossed it into the air, shouting her normal, "Lucky Charm!"

Ladybug-themed duct tape fell into her hand. They both stared at it incredulously for a second before she started looking around. Her eyes focused first on Nemesis, then on Chat's face.

"We have to cover our mouths. She can't make us reveal our identities," she said as Nemesis started approaching them.

Chat nodded, accepting the first portion of tape she tore off. He placed it over his lips, almost glad that the two of them would not be able to talk. There was no way he wanted to hear the words she would inevitably think would comfort him.

She placed a piece over her own mouth, then secured the roll on her hip. Together, they prepared to up against Nemesis. Ladybug held her yo-yo in her free hand, and Chat gripped his staff in his. Being so close to her made him feel worse, but he knew that right now, there was nothing he could do about it.

A butterfly appeared in front of Nemesis's face once more. "I am going to get them, Hawk Moth," she said furiously. The form vanished, and she pointed her hands at both of them. The choke hold resumed, but both of them tried their best to ignore it.

"Tell me who you are!" she shouted.

Both of them mumbled something completely incoherent through the tape, still approaching her. Her hands closed into fists, and Chat stopped walking. The invisible grip on his throat had tightened, and he felt his entire body screaming for air. He forced himself to resume walking, though it was harder to keep his thoughts on something other than the crushing force. Glancing to his left, Ladybug seemed to be having just as hard a time.

They locked eyes for just a moment, and an understanding passed between them.

Chat Noir picked her up, jumping over Nemesis and landing behind her. He let her down, grabbing the akuma victim's arms and holding them tightly behind her. They were suddenly able to breathe, but she started to struggle instantly. Ladybug had the duct tape in hand, already wrapping her hands in it.

"Let me go!" she screamed. Items flew at them, but Chat easily deflected them with his staff. Ladybug grabbed the bracelet on her arm, ripping it in half. It clattered to the ground, and an akuma wriggled out of it.

Both Chat and Ladybug tore off the duct tape. She slid her finger straight down her yo-yo and it opened up to reveal glowing whiteness. "Time to de-evilize!" she said, catching the akuma inside it.

"Bye-bye little butterfly." She tapped the side of it, releasing the purified butterfly. Then, she tossed the duct tape into the air. "Miraculous Ladybug!"

The wave of magic swept around, putting everything back into its place, then surrounded the two of them last. The pain in Chat's head lessened, but it wasn't fully gone like it should have been. That thought didn't matter now, though. He was too distracted by what Ladybug had said to obliterate his heart. Logically, he knew he shouldn't be mad. It wasn't her fault if she didn't feel the same way right now.

Ladybug crouched next to the latest victim as the purple mass disappeared around her. Her hair was brown instead of bronze, and her eyes blue instead of red. She looked down at the ground, apparently shocked.

"Are you okay?" Ladybug asked.

"M-my best friend was arrested for a string of bank robberies… I vouched for him. He let me believe he was innocent. But… but I was wrong. He lied to me, he did do it," she said, her voice shaking.

The red hero sighed, searching for the words of comfort she could give this girl. "Sometimes bad things happen to good people," she said. Her gaze moved from the woman, who was still staring at the ground. Instead, she was looking at Chat Noir.

"And sometimes good people do bad things. But you can't let the actions of someone else ruin your life."

Chat stared into her eyes and saw sadness and worry there. He shook his head, looking towards home. His ring beeped again. One minute. "I have to go, LB. I'll see you next patrol."

In the next minute, he got as far away from the Eiffel Tower as he could. He had to stop not far from his house, but he couldn't make it all the way before his transformation fell. He stopped behind a tree, sitting and leaning his back against it. Plagg flew out of the ring. He wasted no time in complaining.

"Aahh, why do we have to do that so often? First, you had to talk to Marinette, then fight an akuma? That was way too draining. I need some camem-" Plagg stopped talking when he noticed Adrien's expression.

His eyes were closed, and he was fighting so many emotions. Anger, sorrow, confusion. The sound of Ladybug's words echoed through his head.

"Come on, Adrien. Just because she doesn't love you now doesn't mean that she won't ever," Plagg tried to console him.

Adrien sighed, resting his head against the tree. He was about to respond when his phone started ringing in his pocket. Pulling it out, he saw a phone call from Nathalie. His eyes widened and he stood up immediately.

"I'm late. I'm so so late. Father is going to kill me!" he opened his jacket for Plagg, then started running towards his house.