Let's Take It From The Top, Chapter 19: The End of All Songs
A young man ran like his life depended on it... which, given the demeanor and powers of the black-clad nemesis on his heels at that moment, it well might have.
"I am most pleased that you appeared and challenged me, whelp!" taunted the villain. "It saved me the trouble of hunting you down."
"I don't mean to sound rude," Chat Noir called over his shoulder, maintaining his current pace, "but you seem awfully tense. Anything I can do to help you relax a little bit?"
"Stop, and surrender!" answered Black Raven. "Give me what I want, and I might leave you able to walk away afterwards."
"My, what a tempting offer," Chat smirked. "What is it that you want? An autograph, perhaps? I hadn't scheduled any fan club meetings this week... mostly because I don't have a fan club yet, but that's just details, right?"
I'm whistling in the dark, he thought. I'm stalling for time until Ladybug gets here, but even if I DID turn around and fight her now, I don't know how to beat her! She's only caught me with one or two of those charged-up feathers, but they sting like the dickens; I don't want to know what a handful at once would do to me. She's almost as fast as I am, and while I can run and jump, she can FLY! Sooner or later, she's going to corner me, and then...
"You, in and of yourself, are inconsequential. But I will have that ring on your finger," Black Raven replied, "Even if I must take your whole hand with it."
Despite his better instincts, Chat turned and faced her, gambling that he had enough room to maneuver and to dodge her assault. "Lady, you've never even met me," he insisted. "How do you even know what this ring is, let alone that you want it so badly?"
"Papillon told me more than he should have about you," she grinned. "As did your lady friend! My powers in this form are far greater than Nightingale ever possessed... yet, they are finite, ephemeral, like whispers on the wind. But a Miraculous... that is an unending source of power! With it, I could maintain this form indefinitely, and combine that might with its own power... I could subject this entire world to terrors undreamed of."
"Oh, yeah. That's definitely how you get me to cooperate with you," snapped Chat Noir, thoroughly appalled. "You're nuttier than a fruitcake, lady."
"So it's the hard way, then?" Black Raven replied. "GOOD."
Her sinister grin sent a chill down Chat's spine, right before a barrage of feathers nearly dislodged it. With a mighty leap, he was on the run again, with a newfound sense of panic. This is no game, he thought. She's playing for keeps!
Across town, Ladybug was moving just as fast, with a dozen nightmares taking turns flashing through her head.
What if I can't find him in time? What if this Black Raven is more than he can handle? What if she blasts him and undoes everything she'd done as Nightingale to heal him? Or WORSE? Or...
Steady, she reminded herself. You've seen Chat in action, and just how hard he is to catch. He's smart enough not to get baited into a mistake, and once I find him, we can work together. And together, nobody's going to beat us.
So why can't I shake this feeling that something dreadful's about to happen?
Gabriel Agreste sat on the floor next to the fallen Nathalie, still in shock. He held Nathalie's right hand lightly with one of his own, trying to ignore the jolts of pain he felt as the swirling energy around her contacted him at random intervals.
At some point, it will be too much for me to withstand, and I will either be forced to pull away or fall unconscious. Or be consumed entirely, he mused. But I do not care right now what happens to me. If my life energy can be beneficial to her in any way, so be it.
He looked over at the phone in his other hand. I suppose that I should face the music and acknowledge my failure fully, he thought, as he redialed Fu Wang's number.
Fu picked up nearly instantly. "Gabriel? Are you all right? What of Nathalie? What has happened?" the old man panted.
"Your warning was most prescient! And just a few moments too late," sighed Gabriel. "I felt that I had the situation under control, and that I did not need to consult you before conducting my little experiment. And the world may pay the price for my folly."
"Gabriel... listen to me, very carefully," Fu stated. "What has happened, has happened, and there is no getting around that. But we cannot stand by and let everything else happen! More than you know rides on what comes next. Please, what do I need to know?"
Quickly, Gabriel described the mystical explosion and what had followed it, confirming Fu's grim assumptions and then some.
"We face a dual crisis," Fu replied, "and the second depends greatly on how our young heroes handle the first. So much rests on Ladybug's small shoulders! Should things go badly with Black Raven, the potential is..."
"I am well aware of the danger my son is in," interjected Gabriel. "And Nathalie, as well. I need no reminder of that."
"You have assumed that you know more than you do once today, and it has cost us all dearly," chided Fu. "Let us not repeat that. Yes, his life is in danger... and hers... and yours and mine... and millions of others."
"Millions?" Gabriel gasped. When he could speak again, his voice was noticeably more subdued, with an unusual humility to it. "Please," he asked, softly. "Tell me what I can do."
"We are two of the few who can do anything at all. And we have empowered, inadvertently or otherwise, the two who may act on our behalf and perhaps save us all," said Fu. "Allow me to explain..."
Chat Noir kept on the move, calculating his remaining options on the fly. I need to keep her away from other people, if I can, he reasoned. She's already shown that she's willing to hurt whoever crosses her path, so I need to keep her focused on me, and ONLY me.
The park? he thought. That's probably going to be my best bet. People can flee in all directions when they see us coming, and it shouldn't be crowded right now.
He veered in that general direction, trying not to look too obvious about it. "What's the matter, birdbrain?" he quipped in Black Raven's direction. "Cat got your tongue?"
"If that is what you desire, my tongue you shall have," she sneered. "Though I suspect you will change your tune quickly..."
She began to recite a stanza, her voice returning to its full reverberating timbre, not slowing her pursuit for an instant:
"I had a dream, which was not all a dream.
The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars
Did wander darkling in the eternal space,
Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth
Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air..."
"AUUUUUGH!" cried Chat, stumbling briefly. That VOICE! he gasped, internally, in considerable agony. It's like it's clawing at my brain, even from several meters away!
He staggered a bit, leaned up against a nearby building wall for stability's sake, and quickly realized his error. Black Raven hovered across from him, floating several feet off the ground, glaring down at him. This is REALLY bad, Chat thought. She's got me cut off; I can't go through her, she can hit me if I go left or right, and I'm too fuzzy from that attack to leap up and over!
"Oh, do you like Lord Byron's poetry?" Black Raven mocked him. "Then I've got just the thing for you. Another poem of his... called And Thou Art Dead, As Young And Fair."
She drew in a deep breath, and Chat covered up, futilely...
...when, suddenly, he saw a red-and-black yo-yo flash down in front of him! He blinked, then grabbed it, waved at Black Raven, and was lifted up and away to the roof in an instant.
"Somehow you didn't look like you were having much fun there, Ch-" Ladybug began.
"RUUUUUN!"
Hearing it shouted that vehemently, Ladybug didn't need to hear it twice. The two bolted away, as Chat managed to gasp out, "And thank you, my lady."
"Any time, honey," she replied, not slowing down. "Okay... what do I need to know about her?"
"She flies, obviously. She blasts feathers charged with energy, and they hurt, but that's not the worst part! Her voice is like a tornado of pain, and she doesn't have to get up close with it. She can maim you with poetry; she's like a Vogon, or something," panted Chat.
"What's a Vogon?" Ladybug asked.
Despite the peril, Chat grinned. "Oh, you are so borrowing a book of mine later," he laughed, "or we're going to have a movie night at your place BUT ANYWAY! What happened at my house?"
"Nightingale tried to cure Nathalie, but it backfired. Your dad is okay. Nathalie's pulsing, but not as badly as before," explained Ladybug. "They're not in immediate danger. We need to stop Black Raven first, and we'll worry about the rest later."
"Got it. Now how do we do that?" asked Chat, looking back nervously at the rapidly approaching villain. "My plan was 'run until Ladybug arrives.' Your turn."
"I think the Akuma is hiding in jewelry that she's wearing. Your dad thought that that's what the butterfly touched," she pondered. "So... a necklace? Earrings? Any hint of anything that doesn't fit her dark color scheme."
"That means getting in close, and inside that cloak..." groaned Chat. "Not going to be easy."
"I'm thinking!" Ladybug grumbled. "It's hard to think and sprint at the same time."
"To start with, let's draw her away from anywhere crowded. We need to get her away from people she could hurt," Chat suggested, and at Ladybug's nod, the pair took a sharp right turn...
"Children!" Black Raven called, tauntingly. "Choose our place of battle well. It will be the last choice you will make."
"Well, she's just all sunshine and flowers, isn't she?" glared Ladybug, still not slowing down.
"Cheerful as a car crash," agreed Chat.
They settled on a wooded area of a local park, seemingly devoid of people, with trees and foliage aplenty. "We're here," hissed Chat, quietly. "So what's the plan?"
"Her mobility is hampered here," reasoned Ladybug. "The more that we can control her movement, the better chance we have of getting in close and grabbing jewelry."
"Yeah, but so is ours," countered Chat. "We can't go full speed while we're dodging trees and underbrush, and her voice carries. And, trust me, it hurts even from a distance."
"Let's see what I can do about that, if you're ready." At Chat's nod, she threw her hand skyward and called, "LUCKY... CHARM!"
Scarlet energy formed above her head, coalescing into physical objects, which fell into Ladybug's waiting hands...
"Soundproof earmuffs?" wondered Ladybug. "I mean, maybe they'll help block her voice somewhat, but..."
"Yours are cute," smiled Chat. "Red and fuzzy!"
The heroes slipped them on quickly, then spun around to face Black Raven, now hovering above them menacingly.
"Shall we begin?" called the villain. "Here's something appropriate..."
"Three times I had the lust to kill,
To clutch a throat so young and fair,
And squeeze with all my might until
No breath of being lingered there..."
"AUUUGH!" cried Chat, cringing. "These earmuffs might take the edge off a little, but not much! That still hurts, badly! Ladybug, what do we do?"
She narrowed her eyes and scanned the vicinity. A nearby thicket caught her attention, then Black Raven's mouth, then a flash of gold around her neck.
The thicket makes sense, I guess - maybe try to trap her in it, get her cloak caught in the brambles? And it must be a necklace we're going after. Why her mouth in particular, though? I shouldn't need a hint to know to keep away from that. Am I supposed to throw her face-first into the thorns?
"It is a necklace!" she said, then mimed something around a neck, then a yanking gesture for Chat's benefit. He nodded, miming snagging it with his extended baton in return. Cautiously, the pair separated slightly, then moved forwards...
Nathalie opened her eyes, groggily. To tell the truth, she was starting to be a little bit surprised that she could open them at all.
"G-Gabriel?" she whispered, seeing him next to her. She looked down, saw him holding her hand, and tried to pull it away. "D-don't," she gasped. "I'm too dangerous."
Gabriel's eyes were kind, but his face betrayed just a hint of the jolts of pain he was feeling. "Nonsense, I will not leave you. Not like this," he insisted.
"I don't w-want you to leave..." Nathalie managed, "but let go. Just sit with m-me. You don't need to suffer. None of this is your f-fault."
"You are wrong about that, Nathalie," Gabriel replied, "but you are in no condition for an argument. Rest for me, now. What can be done is being done."
"What's t-that?" she asked.
"Ladybug and Chat Noir are trying to bring down the villain who attacked you, the transformed Nightingale. If they can, Ladybug might be able to reverse what happened, at least up to before what happened today."
"T-tell them not to," Nathalie whispered.
"What?" Gabriel looked completely stunned. "Why on earth not?"
"You told me that Nightingale had c-cured Adrien. As much as he can be. That Adrien was out of d-danger," she replied. "Would it reverse that, too?"
"I don't know," he said, quietly. "But I will not sacrifice one of you for the other."
"He's your son, Gabriel!" Nathalie pleaded. "That's m-more important!"
Important? Gabriel winced, internally. After what I just heard from Mr. Wang, I may be the last man on Earth who should be weighing the importance of anything. My selfish actions may cost...
No, he insisted. I must have faith, and keep up a brave face, for her sake.
"It is out of our hands for now, Nathalie," he soothed. "Is there anything I can do to ease your suffering?"
"L-let go of my hand, so I won't see you hurting too?" she replied.
"Out of the question," Gabriel insisted. "What else?"
"Just s-stay with me, for now. Talk to me. Take my mind off of this," Nathalie sighed. "And if it gets out of control, b-back away, please. Adrien can't lose you."
"I'm right here," smiled Gabriel. "Tell me what you want to do once this is all over with, and you are healed?"
"Well..."
Chat Noir lunged forward, feinting in Black Raven's direction, looking for an opening. "Cat vs. Bird! Who do you think wins this fight?", he taunted her.
"Bird," she retorted. "The Cat has a claw that he dares not use. But my weapons are endless! The tongue like a sharp knife, kills without drawing blood. And that is only part of my arsenal."
With a wave of her arm, she sent a barrage of charged feathers in the heroes' direction, which they barely managed to dodge.
"We're not trying to kill you or hurt you. But we will stop you, however we have to," declared Ladybug.
"Come, then," the villain beckoned. "Learn what defiance will earn you. Don't think of it as dying... just think of it as leaving early to avoid the rush."
As Chat charged at her, she laughed out loud. "The pen is mightier than the sword, they say. Let's see a sword do this!"
Black Raven shouted out a couplet in a language Ladybug didn't recognize - is that Latin? she wondered, briefly. Purely on instinct, Ladybug lashed out with her yo-yo and yanked Chat backwards. The sonic assault passed through where Chat had been a moment before, hit a sturdy tree behind that spot, and smashed right through it!
"Be CAREFUL, Chat!" she shouted as he regained his footing.
"We are running out of time, Bugaboo," Chat shouted back, anxiously pointing to his covered ears. He lunged forward, a bit more cautiously, with a baton strike that Black Raven fended off with a sweep of her cloak.
Maybe another angle? thought Ladybug. And he's right... I used my power, and I CAN'T leave him alone against her. I have to take a chance!
She leapt up onto a nearby tree limb, readied her yo-yo, and waited for an opportune moment to hurl it and try to snag the necklace...
Without even looking in that direction, Black Raven pointed an arm behind her, sending a large stream of feathers squarely at Ladybug!
"GAAAAH!" she grunted, stunned by the unexpected blast. It was all she could manage to not fall to the ground; she collapsed onto the tree limb, limply.
"Hah!" Black Raven cackled, triumphantly. She turned her back on Chat and began floating higher, approaching the helpless Ladybug. "Death will be peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome," she intoned, readying a fatal couplet.
"NO!" shouted Chat, and thought became motion; Ladybug saw him leap into the air and instantly realized what he was doing.
"No, Chat!" she cried, weakly. "You CAN'T! Not NOW!"
"CATACLYSM!" bellowed Chat Noir, and his right hand burst forth with energy...
In Gabriel's mansion, a sudden gasp from Nathalie made him back off, involuntarily.
He watched, wide-eyed, as a pulse of black energy swept over her... and remained there.
Chat Noir stretched out with every ounce of his strength. Please let me NOT miss this... he begged whoever might be hearing his thoughts.
His hand contacted Black Raven's cloak, then grabbed it firmly... and, in a shimmering burst, the cloak dissolved all at once!
"Hey, what are you... Aaaaaagh!" the villain cried out. Without its steadying influence, she lost control of her flight and tumbled downwards, straight into a thick bramble bush, scratched and tangled beyond recognition by its thorns. Chat fell hard as well, hitting the ground with a loud thud.
Tears later, thought Ladybug, rising to her feet and lunging at the fallen villain. I have to act, NOW!
In mid-air, she thought, She may be pinned down, but her voice is still deadly... wait! Of course!
Black Raven flinched at her approach, expecting a punch... but, instead, Ladybug whipped the earmuffs off of her head and stuffed one side of them squarely into the villain's astonished mouth!
"HGGGGHHH... MMMMRRPH GNNNNF!" Black Raven grunted, helplessly.
"Silence is golden, Black Raven. And so is this necklace." With a quick yank, Ladybug snapped the thin gold chain from around the villain's neck. As it came loose and broke apart, a purple butterfly appeared and fluttered away from it, aimlessly.
"Oh, no, you don't," Ladybug muttered, sending her yo-yo flying. A moment later, it snapped shut around the butterfly, a white flash was seen, and a purified version wafted out aimlessly.
"Bye-bye, little butterfly," smiled Ladybug... then she gasped with astonishment, as Black Raven was covered with a swirling energy effect and transformed back into her teacher!
"Oh, my gosh! Ms. Bustier! I'm so sorry! Are you all right?" Ladybug called to her, as the young teacher started coming to terms with waking up, thoroughly entrenched in a thorn bush, in an unknown woods.
"Do I... even want to know?" she muttered. "Ow!"
"I'll be right there! Try not to move," directed Ladybug. "I'll help you out of that, I just need to check on..."
Her words trailed off as she turned in Chat's direction... and saw a pulsing aura of thick black energy surrounding him.
Master Fu watched Wayzz's reactions carefully, and sighed. "You don't even have to say it, Wayzz," he muttered.
"We are not quite at the moment of complete catastrophe," the Kwami worried, "but we are very close."
Now to do this how Tikki told me to, thought Ladybug. And QUICKLY!
She grabbed her set of earmuffs from near Ms. Bustier, retrieved Chat's from next to his fallen form, and tossed both skyward with a little prayer...
"MIRACULOUS... LADYBUG!"
A cyclone of scarlet energy burst forth from the vanishing Lucky Charm objects... and, swiftly, it swept forth over the scene of the fight, repairing everything that it could. Marinette watched with considerable wonder, goggle-eyed, seeing the other hidden power of the Ladybug Miraculous at work for the first time.
She watched, anxiously, as Chat Noir transformed involuntarily back to Adrien. Plagg hovered over him, worriedly, as her own transformation ran out. "Marinette, can you get that lady out of that bush? I'll see what I can figure out here," Plagg asked her, and Marinette agreed with some reluctance.
Very gingerly, she bent twigs and branches out of the way and got Caline out of the thorn bush reasonably unharmed. "Thank you, Marin..." her teacher began, then stopped with a startled look on her face. "I knew that I recognized you two," she said. "Marinette, how did this happen?"
"Do you remember being Nightingale, Ms. Bustier?" asked Marinette, carefully.
"Yes... Yes, I was at the Agreste mansion, trying to - and then something happened to me - I don't - no, I mean, how did all THIS happen?" she replied, a bit flustered, waving her arms at Marinette and Adrien. "I had a feeling that it was going to be a unique school year, but now two of my students are superheroes, out here risking their lives?"
"We'll have to talk about that later, okay? Things are really complicated right now," evaded Marinette. "Though... now that you've been introduced to all of this the hard way, can I count on you for a couple of things?"
"Of course!" her teacher declared, regaining her composure. "What are they?"
"One is that you don't tell a soul about us, obviously. We're... not very good at keeping our secrets, but we're trying, okay? I don't want my family, or Adrien's, or people we know caught up in this if they don't have to be," pleaded Marinette.
"Can you tell me who else knows? That you know of, just so that I can keep my stories straight?" asked Caline.
"Each other. My parents. Adrien's father, and his assistant, Nathalie. Mylène Haprèle figured it out. And now, you," Marinette counted off. "That's everyone I know of." Whom I can mention, anyway.
"Got it. I promise that I will keep both of your secrets safe, Marinette," she replied.
"Two... is that you're not all wrong to worry. There are scary things going on in Paris right now. A few minutes ago, you were one of them," Marinette added... then quickly shifted to a more comforting tone, as she saw Caline's startled expression. "And that was not at all your fault!", she insisted. "I don't think that you hurt anyone, and Ladybug's magic reversed whatever you did when you were possessed! You weren't in your right mind! We all know that..."
Marinette continued, hesitantly, "But, anyway... there might be times that I could use... well, someone who isn't one of my parents to talk these kinds of things out. And you are exactly the type of kind and thoughtful person who could do that."
"Marinette," Caline replied, "I tell all my students that my door is always open. Your... after-school activities won't change that at all, okay?"
"And..." winced Marinette, "I don't know that they'll always be after school. If weird things happen and all of a sudden Adrien and I need a bathroom break that instant..."
"I think that I'll understand why," smiled Caline. "Come here, Marinette."
She reached out and pulled Marinette in for a hug. "Thank you for saving me, Ladybug," she whispered. "People like you are so important to this world, because they have so much love to give. I'm proud of you, and I'll help you however I can."
"Thank you, Ms. Bustier. That means so much to me," Marinette whispered back. "Can you sit tight for a little while, and then one of us will get you home?"
A moment later, Marinette ran back to Adrien's side, seeing that the huge energy aura had dissipated from around him, and knelt down next to him with her nerves screaming at her. "Plagg, how is he?" she breathed.
"Better than he was... but look," Plagg said, glumly.
She looked down and saw a steady black pulse of energy around Adrien's right hand, showing no signs of lessening.
Gabriel's phone rang, as he had expected that it would at any moment, and he answered it immediately.
"One crisis down, one to go. How is Nathalie?" Master Fu asked, with urgency in his voice.
"I am not sure," Gabriel answered. "She had a sudden burst of the black energy, as bad as I have ever seen it! A minute later, some kind of reddish light swept through the room, and it lessened again... but it is building again as I speak, fairly rapidly! I had been holding her hand to lend her my own strength, but now, do I dare touch her again?"
"NO," exclaimed Fu. "Your survival is more important than your compassion right now! I fear the worst, and I will need your strength."
"What can we do?" asked Gabriel, in a quavering voice.
"Watch her carefully," Fu ordered him. "If she remains lying there, quietly, we stand a chance. If her condition worsens, contact me immediately! I must ascertain what happened with Ladybug and your son just now, and then..." he trailed off.
"Then?"
"Then we may require truly drastic measures."
"That was supposed to work," Marinette whimpered. "Why didn't it work? Tikki, Plagg, why didn't Miraculous Ladybug work on him? How is he worse now?"
"I'm not entirely sure," admitted Tikki. "It fixed the things that Black Raven did, the damage that she caused... but Adrien's problem happened long before she came along. Using Cataclysm tore open Nightingale's temporary fix, and the villain didn't do that... he did that on his own! But he did it while fighting the Akuma, so Miraculous Ladybug should have fixed that... But did it also undo the temporary fix itself?"
Plagg hung his head. "I can't say, either. The magics were messed up before all of this happened, and if there's one Miraculous that is powerful enough to mess with the Ladybug's magic, it's mine." Flying in little circles, he looked as worried as Marinette had ever seen him.
"He did it to save my life," Marinette gasped, holding it all in by a thread. "Please tell me that he hasn't just thrown his own away!"
"He's PULSING," moped Plagg. "If Nathalie is the same way, and I can't imagine that she isn't... we are all in it deep."
"Should I-" began Marinette.
"Yes. CALL MASTER FU NOW," Plagg interrupted her. "And I need to be in the conversation. He can't see or hear me on a cell phone camera, just like Tikki, so you'll be my voice. And there's something else that I really, really need."
"What's that?" Marinette asked, pulling out her phone.
"FOOD! Tikki and I both need to eat something if we're going to be of any use to anyone."
"I have some macarons in my purse," offered Marinette. "That's Tikki's favorite, but I don't know what you like..."
"That's fine! Gimme," blurted Plagg. "Please."
Tikki watched, with an astonished look on her face. "...What is it?" Marinette asked her.
"Plagg, not holding out for stinky cheese... and saying 'please?'" gasped Tikki. "This IS a desperate situation!"
"This is no time for jokes!" demanded Plagg. "And I know how strange that sounds, coming from me!"
"C'mere, you two. I'm calling now. Let's find out what's going on while you two recharge," she said, taking a few steps away while watching Adrien carefully.
"Ladybug is calling," Fu told Gabriel. "Be strong. Be watchful," he added, and switched over to Marinette's call.
"We've won the battle," an unsteady voice said to him, "...but we may have lost the war."
Marinette panned the camera over to show him the unconscious Adrien, so that Master Fu could see the energy around his arm, and she heard a sharp intake of breath on the line. "That didn't sound good," she noted, quietly.
"It is not good, Marinette. Nathalie is in a similar state, somewhat worse off, and I fear that a chain reaction has begun."
"Master? Plagg needs to speak with you, urgently. I will be his voice," replied Marinette. "He's here, Plagg."
The Kwami flew up to the phone at Marinette's prompt and began rattling off details rapid-fire, with Marinette barely able to keep up. At one point, he tried shifting to Cantonese for easier comprehension... only for Marinette to snap at him, "You know I can't pronounce that!", drawing a growl from him.
Once both fell silent, Ladybug asked, "Master Fu... what should we do? How can we fix this mess and SAVE them?"
A long pause followed.
Finally, a tired voice, sounding like his one hundred and eighty-seven years had caught up with him all at once replied, "Marinette... I have no idea."
"WHAT?" Marinette shrieked.
"I am truly sorry, Marinette," Master Fu sighed. "I am flying blind here, even with the book! The last time that I know that this happened was hundreds of years ago, and the answer to 'how did they fix it that time?' is 'they didn't.' I am finding some pieces of a ritual that could possibly have an effect... but, as Plagg said he has told you, it is risky when the energies are dormant. It is suicidal when they're not. Gabriel's experiment, well-meaning as it was, blew that possibility out of the water."
He watched her face fall as he spoke. "I... do not know how to save Nathalie. I will keep trying, of course. If I can stabilize Adrien, I will! You have my word. But I need time to think of... SOMETHING else! I don't know what yet. And time may be precisely what we do not have."
"So what can we do?" asked Marinette, holding tears back.
"We save as many people as we can, for as long as we can. We evacuate everyone who needs it, if that becomes necessary. And we do anything necessary to keep Nathalie and Adrien apart," insisted Master Fu. "Which will not be easy, because if they're both pulsing with runaway Cataclysm energy, they will be drawn to each other. Like human magnets. I will direct Papillon as to what he can do, as well; we will need more than every little bit of help we can get."
Tikki asked and Marinette repeated to him, "Could touching a powered-up person dissipate their energies? Like what happened with Dreadnaught?"
"If you wish to risk their lives! What happened to Dreadnaught, where Mylène wasn't hurt badly, was very, very lucky. At an advanced state, it might work, or they might scatter the victim to the four winds and just keep walking," Fu replied, matter-of-factly. "And we MAY need to attempt that if we reach a critical point."
He slumped down in his chair. "I am sworn to protect life at all costs, Marinette. A belief that I know that you share... but I must prepare you for what may follow. If sacrificing one or a handful will save millions of others, it will haunt me for the rest of my life... but it will happen."
"Isn't there... one other option?" asked Marinette, hesitantly. "A last resort?"
"There is. And it is part of my calculus regarding sacrifice, and it is highly unpredictable. It remains our absolute last resort."
A groan from Adrien, lying close to them, announced that he was waking up. Seeing Marinette's agonized face, Fu directed her, "Go to him, now. I would speak with him, please."
Adrien focused his eyes and saw two familiar pools of blue staring down at him. I could still get used to always waking up to those eyes, he thought. Though maybe not quite like this.
"You're all right," he managed. "It worked."
"It did," Marinette replied, "And I owe you so much, and I am so sorry that you had to do that! I was careless."
"No, you weren't, but we'll talk that out later." He stretched, then grabbed at his right arm. "Ow! I must've landed on... oh."
"About that," said Marinette, still barely holding it in, "someone needs to speak with you."
Adrien looked over at her phone, expecting to see the face of his father... and being visibly surprised, instead.
"Hello, Adrien," said Master Fu. "We have much that we need to discuss."
"I'll bet," mumbled Adrien, trying to focus. "Sir, are you the 'Guardian' that Marinette and Plagg were talking about?"
"I am," admitted Fu. He frowned for a moment, putting some mental puzzle pieces together... "Has Marinette..."
"...told me who she is?" finished Adrien. "She hadn't then, but yes, we had a moment this morning after I was healed. Or thought that I was healed, anyway."
"That is good for me to know. It simplifies what I can say in front of either of you," Fu smiled. "I have been watching over the Miraculous and their users since I was just over your age. I already know much of your story, from what both Marinette and your father have told me. I am pleased by what I have seen from you, and will help you as much as I can, but I will not sugarcoat it; we are all in terrible trouble right now."
"I understand that, and I'll take the blame," Adrien gulped. He held up his right arm and added, "And I am prepared to do whatever is necessary about... this. What should I do?"
"I am trying to figure that out," Master Fu replied, "without much success. Some of it is obvious, of course; I need you to stay away from Nathalie at all costs, no matter how strongly the energy wants to pull you there. I expect that Nathalie will be overwhelmed first and come straight for you; you will have to play keepaway when every cell in your body is screaming not to. Plagg has told you the consequences if you do not, yes?"
"He has," agreed Adrien, grimly. "Can't I, like, get on a plane or something? Or pick a direction and just keep moving until I'm three countries away?"
"A good idea, but you would find that very hard on your mind and body," answered Fu. "With you and Nathalie each in an advanced state of this, your energies are feeding off of each other, basically. If you get too close, it will multiply out of control; but, if you get too far away, the withdrawal symptoms will be agonizing. It could kill you, her, or both! You will need to figure out a distance that feels decent and maintain it, transformed or not, even while you and she may both be on the move."
"So what other options do we have? How do we save Paris... or Nathalie?" Adrien asked.
Master Fu was silent for a moment.
Gabriel Agreste, glaring at his phone and mentally willing his Chinese acquaintance to call back, was distracted by a very loud moan from Nathalie. Turning to her, he saw that she was sitting up now, and struggling to return to her feet.
"Nathalie?" he called, wanting to help her but unable to touch her. The energy aura is getting worse QUICKLY!, he thought. "What is it that is happening?"
"He h-has awakened," she said, simply.
"Adrien is awake? He was sleeping? How would you know that?"
"He has awakened," Nathalie repeated, with emphasis. "J-just as I have."
I do not like the sound of that one bit, thought Gabriel. "What does that mean?"
"Gabriel..." she began, and one look at her told Gabriel that she was barely hanging on to herself. "I'm a-almost out of time. I can feel it."
"That energy wave that passed through here... I suspect it had something to do with Ladybug, and with Black Raven's defeat. What did it do to you?" he persisted. "What can I do to help?"
Nathalie shuddered as she pulled herself to a standing position. Gabriel reached out to help her up, to give her something to brace against, but jerked back involuntarily.
"It helped... I think it d-did," she groaned. "That woman's powers helped me, but they also blocked me up somehow... and that wave reversed that. But n-now I'm where I was before, going out of control. And i-it's right on the edge!"
"Adrien, I am in contact with your father. He's... he's texting me right now, it looks like. He will keep me updated on Nathalie's condition, and that will help me determine the right action. For now, could you get our Nightingale home, now that her feathers have left her?" directed Master Fu.
"We can do that. We'll be in touch." Adrien turned in her direction, and did a double-take when he saw her face. "Whoa! M-Ms. Bustier! I... uh... presume that you were Nightingale?" he asked.
"The one and only. Hello, Adrien," Caline smiled. "We all have our own little secrets to keep now, don't we?" Her expression darkened when she saw the condition of Adrien's arm. "What in the world is THAT?"
"It's a lot of things, Ms. Bustier," Adrien explained. "It's what's kept me away from school and away from my home. It's what's hurt a lot of people - what's left of my family, my friends. Even the girl who saved me, kept me sane, rescued me more than once and looked out for me when I wouldn't do it myself, for no good reason other than that she is absolutely amazing."
Caline watched Marinette turn into a big-eyed, wobbly puddle as Adrien spoke, and suppressed a tiny laugh.
"Somehow that last part doesn't surprise me in the slightest," she said, directing a small smile at Marinette.
"Okay, so... let's figure out how we're going to do this, before Master Fu calls back," blushed Marinette. "Adrien, I don't know that you can carry Ms. Bustier right now with your arm like that... but I don't want to leave you alone, either. Tikki, Plagg, are you two okay to transform?"
The Kwamis both gave a thumbs-up, Plagg dribbling some macaron crumbs down his chest as he did.
"Oh, my!" Caline exclaimed, not having noticed the tiny pair before. "I'm... not imagining this, am I?"
"Oh! Hi, there!" smirked Plagg, shooting her a wave and a wink. Even in this desperate time, it was a complete moral imperative for him to enjoy the look on her face at that moment.
Master Fu stared at the new text message on his phone for a moment:
[Gabriel Agreste] Nathalie worsening rapidly. Says she and Adrien have "awakened." Close to lack of control. What CAN we do?
Ancestors, forgive me, he thought, for what I must do now. This goes against every fiber of my being... but what choice do I have?
Wayzz looked on with confusion as Master Fu became a blur, moving as quickly as a 187-year-old-man could possibly go. "Master? What is going on? I can feel the disruptions - wow, that's not good!" he noted as he peeked at Fu's phone, "But what is it that you are..."
"I am going to save whoever I can. Any way that I can," Master Fu called from a back room, emerging with a look of complete determination on his face. "Let me be damned for what I do, not for what I do not. It is time to act."
"Haven't you already? You have sent out Ladybug to protect this city, this world! She has done a superb job so far of protecting Chat Noir-"
"She has! And even she is not enough to save Paris," interrupted the old man. "I must do two things now."
Gabriel watched in horror as Nathalie stumbled forward, walking slowly, with the energy aura around her pulsing fiercely. He lunged for the door to the room, closing and locking it. "Nathalie, please!" he begged her. "Do not leave! It is not safe for you out there!"
"I d-don't want to, Gabriel," she intoned, in a scared voice. "But I have to. I can feel him out there."
"Wait! Just a little longer! Fu will try to help you again. He will-"
"He will fail," Nathalie chided him. "The power is screaming in my mind, m-my willpower! I c-can't stop it now! Please move, Gabriel. I don't w-want to hurt you."
Gabriel remained between Nathalie and the door. "Then do not hurt me, or anyone else!" he pleaded. "Stay with me, please!"
"I can't st-stop myself, Gabriel," she said, mournfully. "My legs are moving on their own now. P-PLEASE do not throw your life away!"
Looking into her eyes, realizing that she was being completely honest, and that her control of her body had been lost... Gabriel stepped aside.
As she reached the door, Gabriel made one last attempt to reach her. "Nathalie... know that I will bend heaven and earth to save you! Every power I have, every action I can possibly take! Do not lose hope. I will not give up on you."
"G-Gabriel," Nathalie replied, pausing at his heartfelt words, struggling mightily with her own. "I-I know, Gabriel. I LO... lo... LLLLL... I'm so sorry."
With that, she opened the door... and she was gone.
It was probably a good thing that no one happened to be watching the patio door of Caline Bustier's apartment at that moment.
"This is it?" Ladybug asked, landing gently, with Caline's arm over her shoulder and one arm around Caline's waist. Chat Noir dropped down next to them, a little less gracefully, but still functional.
"Yes, this is my home. Please remember it; you now have a standing invitation to visit, any time that either of you need me," Caline replied. "I'm still trying to process all of this. This has been by far the most insane day of my life! But then I look at you two," she continued, "and I see two brave young people who, I'll wager, are dealing with this kind of craziness all the time."
Ladybug looked down, a little embarrassed. "We have our good days and our bad days," she said, and Chat nodded in agreement.
"Ladybug, Chat, listen to me, okay?" their teacher asked. "I really want you to know this. The responsibilities you have with these powers... I don't know how you got them, or who gave them to you, but I felt them for just a couple of hours and I was overwhelmed! And I'm a grown-up who's supposed to have some understanding of her own life. Marinette, you are an absolutely amazing young woman... and if I had to pick someone your age to be Ladybug, it would be you... but I feel so terrible for you, with all of this pressure on you."
"And you, Adrien..." she continued, turning his way. "I've known Marinette for a couple of years now, but I'm just starting to get to know you. And I can't pretend that I understand the full implications of... that," she said, pointing to his pulsing right arm. "But I've liked everything I've seen of you so far in my classroom. Now that I know why you've been so mysterious, a lot of things fell into place for me. From what I'm told, you made a huge personal sacrifice to save me, and I can never thank you enough for that!"
"And if Marinette vouches for you, and her bright red face as I say that tells me how much that she does, that's good enough for me," she added with a wink that made Ladybug even redder.
"Marinette was selected for this, and I can easily see why, even if she doesn't always believe it herself," Chat said to Caline. "I... shouldn't have this power. I took it without asking, I tried to do something foolish, and I caused this entire crisis. I've made mistake after mistake after mistake."
"Then why do you still have it? Why are you trying so hard to use it to fix the problem, to protect people?" asked Caline, pointedly.
"Because it's the right thing for me to do," Chat answered, softly. "The only thing."
"And that is why I think that it's in good hands," she smiled back. "Do me one favor, both of you? I'll sleep better knowing that the two of you are out there protecting Paris. But whatever you do... don't lose yourselves in these new roles of yours completely, okay? Remember to be yourselves, to be happy, to be young. This world needs a Marinette and an Adrien just as much."
With a monumental effort, Gabriel forced himself to answer his phone, which had been ringing repeatedly for the last five minutes.
"Gabriel? I need an update! How is-" Master Fu's voice insisted.
"Gone," said Gabriel, nearly inaudibly. "I couldn't stop her. She's moving slowly... but she's moving."
"And you, Gabriel?" Fu asked.
"...Broken."
Hearing the emotion in Gabriel's voice, Fu weighed his next sentence carefully. "Forgive me, my friend... but I have desperate need of your Miraculous right now. I have a makeshift plan to protect Paris for as long as I can, and I will need your help."
"...Agreed," Gabriel said, after a moment's reflection. "Too much is at stake. Tell me what I should do."
"I will need a very specific power set for your butterfly to carry forth. I do not know whom would be most suited for it, but I will trust your judgment in that," instructed Fu. "Can you attempt this for me? For Paris?"
"Nooroo, my little friend?" replied Gabriel, bringing his Kwami out into the open, obediently. "One last time, if you would, please... spread your wings."
Next time:
* Master Fu's master plan.
* "You did tell me that I could do that, remember?"
* "I... DON'T... CARE!"
* When all else fails... what then?
* One last time, indeed.