A/N: This is now officially going off-canon.
I mean, I kind of knew that already, but now it's official. Just so that you know.
I'm sure that I'm one of the many writers whose story was completely destroyed by the origins episodes. Oh well, it's not like this is going to stop me in any case.
Enjoy!

When your worst fear presents itself right in front of you, it is only human to feel the temptation to run away from it. Hiding yourself, faking to forget about it in the hope that it might one day disappear on its own... Those were all normal state of beings, and yet they became all pathetic to Marinette when it came to actually feel any of them.

There had been many times during one of her innumerable battles when fear had almost taken over, making her legs seem heavy with each step and shorten her breath at the point that she stopped breathing altogether, but she had always pushed forward, her own mask giving her strength that she didn't know she had.

After all, those acts of self-preservation aren't allowed when you are a hero; your feelings are not of any importance when someone else's sake is at stake.

She couldn't turn around now. She couldn't close her eyes and pretend that that video wasn't there, that Alya had never come to her house and let someone else handle the terrible truth. It was tempting, but extremely wrong.

There was no 'someone else'. She was Ladybug, she was the one who handled things when others could not and the one who needed her the most right now was the boy she loved.

Hesitating was not an option.

She didn't look up another time to meet Alya's eyes; she was too afraid of breaking down because of her friend's sadness. It didn't matter what happened, seeing her so worried and scared was something that she was never going to get used to or allow ever again. She tapped the screen again, watching carefully as each frame gave life to what Marinette could have described as her living nightmare.

The room of the recording was dark, bland; nothing could be seen in the background apart from a black wall, and the only source of lighting seemed to come from the unseen ceiling. The artificial light fell awkwardly on the two figures present in the shot, making their skin look white as a sheet. Despite her efforts, Marinette couldn't make out the details of the two males, as they were too far away from the camera, but her instincts screamed at her that the golden-haired figure sitting on the right had to be Adrien. He looked as if his shoulders had been covered by a sort of red cloth, long enough to reach the ground and hide his torso and his hands, which were probably tied together behind the chair's back.

She allowed herself to focus on who she believed to be Adrien only for a little amount of time however, as her attention was caught again by a figure entering from the left, where the man dressed in black was seated.

The tall man advanced slowly, making his way towards the centre of the shot with his purple cane, which matched the colour of his suit. Once he had made it to the mean point between the two hostages, he started to advance towards the camera, revealing a pair of oppressive blue eyes and a confident smirk. Marinette studied carefully the butterfly-shaped design of the mask which covered his entire face, leaving only his mouth free from the shiny fabric. She had only seen something like that once, and doubted that someone else could have had something similar to it. That was Hawkmoth, the one and only person that her and Chat Noir were after, the man who was responsible for all the akuma attacks.

He stopped walking when he was not so far away from the camera, his hands resting on the cane in front of him, his head high. His gaze briefly landed on the figures beside him, and Marinette noticed with disgust how his grin grew wider.

He was proud.

"There comes a time," he finally started with a slow, dramatic tone, "when heroes are bound to fail. Today, it was as such for one of the greatest heroes that Paris ever had."

His right hand left his purple cane, pointing at Marinette's left.

"Chat Noir."

Every muscle in Marinette's body tensed up, and time seemed to stop. Her eyes darted to the restrained motionless figure, to her partner. Hawkmoth had gotten Chat Noir, her other half, the one who had been willing so many times to take a bullet for her. He had always protected her when she had needed him.

She hadn't done the same for him.

Guilt and anger overwhelmed her, the small screen shaking because of how strongly her hands were pressing at the edges of the small device. A small crack reminded her of the strength she possessed as a result as her training as Ladybug, and forced herself to calm down. Alya was still looking at her, giving herself away right now was not the best option. She didn't need any more problems. Her teeth slowly sunk on the insides of her cheeks, the progressive pain helping her to calm down and stop the trembling of her lips. She had her tricks to relax, she had had to find them, as there was no one else who she could confide with.

The only person she could openly talk to had been taken away from her.

Hawkmoth could have been lying, she had considered that. Everyone could be hidden underneath that black bag, she had no proof that that was actually Chat. Unfortunately, it wasn't like this made her feel any better.

As if in an attempt to clear her doubts, the video cut to another scene, this time focused on the assumed Chat Noir. Hawkmoth was standing behind him, both his hands resting on his shoulders, almost as if they were claiming him as his own. The light reflected on the silver scissors that he was holding with his right hand, the bright spark of the metal contrasting against the emptiness of the dark fabric.

"A real shame," Hawkmoth continued. "He fought bravely, but his kindness was what betrayed him at the end." His free hand moved to his head, slowly caressing him. His head was limp, hanged forward. He was unconscious.

"You would have been proud of him, Ladybug: he fought with everything he had." The pair of scissors got closer to one of the edges of the bag, cutting it open to reveal messy, thick blond hair. The villain's free hand now allowed itself to explore it, curling golden locks around its fingers and pushing forward, stroking what was still hidden by the rest of the sack.

"I don't think I've ever seen anyone put up such a fight, I will give him that merit. However, he did commit a grave mistake, something that costed him his ring."

The camera was moved again, and in a quick cut Hawkmoth had now appeared on the other side of the room, next to the other golden-haired boy, her friend.

"He fell for my trap."

Marinette gaped. That was Adrien, but at the same time, that wasn't him.
The boy was awake, black eyes staring back at the camera in distress, thick marks of the same colour following the shape of his eyes in a wave-like manner. His usual tanned skin had turned to an awfully pale shade, his rosy lips mostly hidden by the cloth that had been stuffed in his mouth and prevented him from speaking. Marinette spotted a pair of black, circular earrings behind the golden locks, and wondered if his hair had gotten longer: there was no way that Adrien's hair could reach that length if pulled back. She could see Hawkmoth's hands playing with it, obtaining with satisfaction every now and then small twitches from the boy that caused his blood-red cloak to fall to the side, revealing a black collar tightly hugging his neck. Her eyes fell on the small heart-shaped jewel at its base that functioned as a button, noticing that it was identical to the one that seemed to hold the cloak together, and almost missed the white lace that barely escaped the grasp of the collar.

"When this boy, Adrien, became one of my akumas I was quite disappointed. He is harmless and not willing to fight, an useless pawn for my schemes. He didn't have the slightest chance to take on one of you two, so I decided to try something else with him."

With a quick motion, the man's hand circled the boy's throat, firmly grasping his cheeks and chin. Adrien's neck was forced to stretch as Hawkmoth decided to bring his gaze in line with his own, tilting his head backwards. The boy's throat twitched, little gasps coming out of his silenced mouth.

Hawkmoth was hurting him.

"I used him as a hostage. I lured Chat Noir in here by threatening to hurt the boy, and he came to me alone, afraid that I might kill him." He chuckled. "Luck was on my side, of course. Capturing him was much easier without Ladybug getting in the way."

Capturing him had been easier without Ladybug getting in the way. Capturing him had been easier without her coming to Chat's aid.
No matter how she looked at the situation, her absence had been the key element to Hawkmoth's success. It was all her fault.

"Now, my dear Ladybug, I think it is time for you to join this stray cat and this rejected prince, don't you agree?" His hands left Adrien's face, allowing him to snap his head as far away as he could from the man. This only humored Hawkmoth, who smirked in return. "Your cat especially misses his owner. He's incredibly loyal to you, you trained him well."

Marinette cringed. She felt the urge to grab Tikki and jump out of her window to teach that monster a lesson, to get her beloved friend and her lover back, but stopped herself. Anger was just what that bastard wanted her to feel. She couldn't play this game according to Hawkmoth's rules when she knew that they had specifically been set to destroy her. She had to find a way to cheat over his corrupted system.

"They will be waiting for you in the abandoned storehouse of Rue de St. Hélène. Please take your time, we are all available just until midnight."

His fingers approached again Adrien's throat, and the teen gasped at his cold touch. The gloved fingers traced a horizontal line along the pale skin, slowly enough for the boy to start moaning. His black eyes were shut, probably trying to hide the terror that was running through him, and his breath was alarmingly fastening. Short, fragile sounds escaped from his mouth, all incomprehensible to Marinette's years.

"We both know what will happen after that time. Don't we, Adrien?"

The screen blackened, the image of Adrien's distressed face hidden now behind the white "play" button, and Marinette found herself staring at him for quite some time. The silence that had abruptly fallen in the room was not at all awkward; it seemed natural to the two teens. There were no words, after all, that could describe or relieve them from their inner torment.

Breaking it, however, was a necessity.

"Alya," Marinette started, eyes still fixed on the screen. "How did you get this?"

The brown-haired girl almost shivered at the steadiness of her voice. The change of character in his best friend troubled her at the point that it became even harder for her to speak.

"Ladyblog," she said. "Someone posted it on the Ladyblog."

Blue eyes met brown, both searching for one another with the same, simple question.

The blue sapphire hold the answer with secrecy, careful not to reveal it to the closeby friend, looking at how the hazel's sparkle died behind the realization of impotency.

What was left to do?

A/N: This... this was a roller-coaster. An hilarious one.

You can see how I actually tried at the beginning to write something decent and how the quality of the work just slowly worsened, arriving at the point that I just decided to end the chapter.
Pfffffft.
Listen, I'm actually impressed that I uploaded this, all right? I thought it was going to take more time than it did. I guess I just got tired of seeing this "piece of art" on my google docs dashboard or whatever you call that thing.

Thank you all for the lovely comments, they really touched my cold heart and they really motivated me.
Also, thank you for putting up with my bad grammar and spelling mistakes. You people are honestly so nice ( T w T )

Thank you again and see you soon!