I rewrote this three times and I'm still not thrilled with it, but I kept you guys waiting long enough. Hope you don't hate I!


The voice was squeaky and infuriating as nails on a chalkboard. Chat clawed at his ears, frantically trying to drown it out. But it was useless. It continued to sing, filling his mind with a repetitive chorus.

It's a sad, sad day when you can't go play because we took your soul away,

Blood and tears will be shed, but don't you worry, you'll be dead.

Once again, he saw the carousel horses. But they now ran free, a gaping, oozing wound where the carousel poles had once been. The ran around him in tireless circles, chasing and taunting him, daring him to flee. The horse that sang was bent and broken in a way he knew all too well. It pulled itself across the ground, head lolling to the side and nearly dragging on the bloodied dirt.

Chat's tail flicked and he growled in warning, fur spiking along his spine.

The horse came closer.

He backed away on all fours, claws digging into the ground. He growled again, fangs bared. He knew they planned to kill him. But he wouldn't attack first. That's not who he was.

Are you sure? A voice inside asked. It sounded painfully like Marinette. You've already ended one life, who's to say you can't take another?"

The cataclysm came rocketing through his body, coming to rest dormently in his paw. Go ahead. One touch. That's all it will take. You can end this. Save yourself.

Save her.

Adrien pounced.


"Are you certain this will work?" Marinette asked timidly. She hadn't been acquainted with the kwami long, but Plagg seemed a bit… impulsive.

He gave her an exasperated look.

"It will work, Mari," Tikki told her gently. "If we switch miraculous, just for a moment, it will set things back in balance and give you a chance to save Adrien. Can you do this?"

She nodded firmly. She would do anything. Even go up against Chat Noir with no mask.


Ladybug tried to fight the sting in her eyes. She would find him in time. She would not lose him.

Plagg was burrowed in her hair, eyes squinted shut in concentration. "Go left!"

Immediately, she obeyed.

Screams erupted from somewhere below her.

Ladybug wasn't sure what she expected when she glanced down, but she had certainly not be prepared for the icy grip that wrapped around her heart.

Destruction. Complete and utter destruction that could only be caused by one thing.

One man.


"I don't understand. How can the cataclysm work without you in it?" Ladybug asked as she flew through the city.

Plagg sighed, breaking his concentration to talk to her. "Kwami's are powerful. But the miraculous have great power all in their own right. We harness that power, and give it to our chosen, in normal circumstances. But when they become corrupted, the overrule us and give their power however they see fit."

"You act as if they're alive."

Plagg smirked at her. "What made you think they weren't? Has yours never spoke to you?"

Unthinkingly, her hand raced up to her earring.

"Eyes on the road, Bug. And shut up. I can't trace the ring if I can't concentrate." he closed his eyes. "Left again."

By the time they reached the outskirts of town, Ladybug was somewhat certain she knew where he had gone.

As the rickety Ferris Wheel came into sight, her suspicions were proven correct.

"Of course he went here." she muttered.

As quietly as possible, she crept through the crumbling entrance, Fun of the Americans the archway read in faded, red letters.

It seemed far more haunting that it had before, ghosts of the past creeping around her ankles like an affectionate cat. She swallowed.

"I'm gonna look around," Plagg whispered in her ear. "He's close."

Without another word, the kwami sped off.

The air suddenly seemed chillier. Even the light from the full moon seemed dim.

"Oh, Kitty. Where are you?"

She walked down the main path, checking every shadow for those familiar green eyes. But he continued to elude her.

She felt it before she heard it. A distinct rumbling that told her that she should not be here.

And then she heard it. A fierce growl that only increased in volume a until it reached a blood curdling screech.

She began to turn around, but didn't have a chance.

The beast pounced.

She felt razor sharp claws dig deep into her shoulder. She screamed in pain as her face hit the dirt.

"Chat!" she choked out. "It's me! It's me, Chat!"

The attack did not yield. Roughly, he smacked her with his paw, rolling her over onto her back.

Now, she could finally see him. And the face of the creature he'd become was something she'd see vividly until the day she died. Her first thought was that of a black panther, but the look in his acidic green eyes was much more toxic. His back was hunched in way that reminded her of a werewolf in an old cartoon. His teeth were so long it made closing his mouth completely impossible. His solid black coat was spiked and coarse. His tail whipped about behind him.

She could no longer see Adrien, no matter how deeply she looked.

But one thing she knew. He was scared. Deathly so.

"Marinette!" Plagg yelled. "We have to get to his ring!"

"Tikki! Spots off!"

The red kwami burst out from the earrings, startling the feral Chat Noir off of her. He backed up, growling angrily.

"Where is the ring?" she asked urgently.

"I think it's on his-,"

He pounced again, teeth cruely sinking into her shoulder.

She saw stars. "It's on his paw!" she sobbed. "His paw!"

Tikki didn't waste a moment, disappearing into a ball of light as she dove toward the creature. He froze as soon as she'd entered his miraculous. "Touch the ring, Marinette!" Plagg yelled as he charged for the side of her head, crashing into her ear lobe in a brilliant , Marinette reached for the paw Tikki had disappeared into, her hand finding something icy cold and smooth. Her fingers latched onto it.

And everything went black.

Her eyes fluttered open moments later. She was still at the carnival. But it was different now. It was alive, the lights gleamed brightly through broken glass. Music drifted through the air, twisted and foreboding. She stood up on shaking legs. Adrien was nowhere in sight. "Plagg?" she called, her voice bouncing off invisible walls and coming back to her like a timid child, soft and uncertain. "Tikki? Plagg?"

With a slight panic, she noted she no longer wore her earrings. She was alone.

She no longer wore her usual outfit, but instead a pale pink, tattered dress adorned her shivering body. It took her a moment to realize that was strange. Nothing around her normal, she'd realise later. It was hazy and dim, much like a barely remembered dream.

Was she inside the miraculous? Inside Adrien's mind?

She took a few hesitate steps forward, trying not to let her mind drift. She was here for a reason, she had a mission. She wasn't breathing, she didn't need to. There was no air in this realm. There was a strange calmness to it, but it wasn't peaceful. It was the kind of calm that brought anxiety. The kind of calm that should not exist.

The carnival music rose in volume, drawing Marinette's eyes from the ground. A man stood in front of her, expression unreadable under his clownish face paint.

Somehow, she'd expected him.

He said nothing, and neither did she. He held out his hand invitingly. With slight hesitation, she took it. Maybe he knows where Adrien is.

His fingers tightened around hers, and suddenly she felt as if she'd always been here. Suddenly, it didn't seem so strange. It felt as though she was floating. He lead her to a familiar tent, and without question, she followed him inside. She was at a carnival, shouldn't she have a little fun?

The man dropped her hand as soon as they'd crossed the threshold, and the entrance behind them sealed shut with a bang. Marinette tilted her head. Was this the house of mirrors?

The man lifted his hands upwards and clapped twice, the distorted mirrors around her burst to life and in turn, he disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Curiously, Marinette peered into the mirror beside her. A soundless scene played within it. The story it told seemed to be that of a blonde woman. She looked kind and gentle, and someone Marinette had seen somewhere before. Suddenly, her kind demeanor turned to anger directed at something outside of the mirror. Marinette whirled around, finding a man in the mirror across the makeshift hallway. His anger matched the woman's, fierce and unyielding. He punch the glass, cracks webbing through it. She backed up in fear.

The glass shattered and fell away, the shouts now escaping their soundproof prisons at deafening volumes. A door slammed.

Marinette ran, a persistent ache in her chest.

The next mirror seemed more like a window to a room. A boy sat alone on his bed, back turned to her.

Suddenly, it all came back. She knew why she was here. "Adrien!" she called hoarsely, running up to the mirror, her hand pressed over his hunched form. "Adrien, can you hear me?"

The boy did not respond, but once again the mirror began to crack, prompting her to yank her hand away.

Muffled sobs floated from the room, his shoulders shook.

She had to get out of here. She had to find him.

She ran along, not bothering to glance in the mirrors as she passed, covering her ears as they broke and shattered around her, paving her way in broken glass and the bloody prints from her bare feet.

She had to be close to the exit. She had to. She would get to him in time, she would pull him from this.

Finally, the hall of mirrors came to an end. There was one mirror left. One more obstacle to her escape. Straightening her shoulders, she approached it. Whatever skeleton he had left in his closet, Marinette was ready. There was nothing these mirrors could show her that would make her love him any less.

"Show me."

The mirror faded on like an old projector heating up. Not wasting any time, she slammed her fist into the glass, allowing the shards to rain down on her, ignoring how they cut and burned.

Adrien stared back at her. But not the Adrien stared back at her, but not the Adrien she knew, the Adrien Paris knew. The flawless model, the harolled son of Gabriel Agreste. This is who you are. His own voice hissed with a venom she didn't recognize. This is all you'll ever be! All you'll ever be good for! You should have stuck with it. But no. You just had to be the hero.

"Stop it!" Marinette found herself speaking. "That isn't who you are, Adrien! You get to decide that. Who do you want to be?"

The scene in the mirror froze.

"You deserve your title as hero! You have such a good, wonderful heart. You care about others more than yourself. There is so much good in you!"

She stared the mirror down defiantly. It faded to show her broken reflection.

"I love you."

Slowly, the mirror teetered back and forth.

And back and forth…

Marinette gave it a firm shove, and it tumbled over, disappearing in a cloud of smoke as it hit the ground.

The exit was revealed to her and she charged through it, the blinding lights of a carousel rushing up to greet her.

The horses that galloped around it were very much alive, and agonised shrieks poured from their mouths. The lights around them flickered as if they were about to go out, as if the life around her was fading. She froze in her tracks.

The horses followed suit, heads swiveling around on their necks to look at her with grotesques crackin.

Her hand jumped to her own throat in terror, fear pooling in her stomach uncomfortably.

This isn't real. Something told her. Don't be afraid.

"Where is Adrien?" she asked them, locking her fear out of her voice.

They winnyed in a way that sounded like a cruel laugh. The carousel spun, revealing a limp and broken horse suspended on a pole. It sneered at her weakly. On its back, was the lifeless body of Adrien.

Marinette cried out in horror.

His form was broken and bloodied much like the horse he rested on. Marinette rushed forward, stopping just inches shy of the carousel.

"Oh, Adrien," she whimpered. "What did you do to him?"

The horse laughed again, a weak, wheezing sound, but triumphant all the same. Blood oozed from its mouth."Everything he deserved."

Adrien slid from the horse's back. "Go ahead. Take him. It won't make any difference. He is lost to you."

Marinette rushed up to catch him, trying not to flinch at the icy cold of his skin. She pulled him to her chest and fell to her knees. "I've got him, Plagg!" She shouted. "I have him!"

The horses began their frenzied charge again. Around and around and around without end. Mariette held the lifeless boy closer to her.

"I'm here, Adrien. I'm right here. Don't worry. I've got you."

The horses ran faster, their screeching nar unbearable. Marinette squinted her eyes shut. "You'll never have to be alone again."

Her voice could no longer be heard over the thundering stomps of the carousel horses, but it didn't stop Marinette from calling for the kwamis. She would never give up.


Her eyelids were sticky with tears when she opened them. She gasped for breath.

"Well done, Marinette."

She struggled to focus on the red shape hovering in front of her. "Tikki?"

"Yes. It's me."

They were still at the carnival, and it sat abandon and broken around her in stark contrast to the nightmare she'd just escaped from.

Dawn was breaking.

"Where's Plagg?"

Tikki smiled lightly and pointed downwards. The girl's gaze followed. She gasped.

The black kwami was sound asleep, nestled in the bright gold hair of Adrien Agreste.

His ring laid dormant on the ground beside them.