Flashback Cutscene: Akuma

The night of Ivan's bachelor party…

"Falsifier, I am giving you the ability to separate what is real from what is lies. All I ask in return is for Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculous."

Adrien felt the Akuma smoothly coating him; a warm blanket of immortality and power overtaking his body as he gave in to the powers of the Akuma. The voice of his father rang in his ears, the demands to grab ultimate power and bring his mother back to life. The bubbling magic of the purple butterfly inverting his wedding tuxedo from black to pure white, his face transforming into a black half mask.

"Adrien, please, I didn't mean for this to get this far. I'm sorry." Marinette's voice was hoarse and emotional, yet he couldn't think of anything more than the pain settling in his chest. "I should have been honest from the beginning."

"Sorry?!" he spat out. "Sorry for what Marinette? Leading me on or breaking my heart?" He stepped forward. Closer and closer. Until they were level. His hand reached up to stroke a stray hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear and running his fingers over the flower hair band she was wearing.

"I didn't mean it. I should have stopped the wedding sooner."

He dragged a gloved finger down her cheek, before cupping her chin and tilting her face up to meet his eyes. She flinched. Her eyes closed and head tilted aggressively away. His anger boiled at the movement, reaching out to her and grabbing her once more.

"Look at me," he hissed. "Look at me and explain why you love him more than me?"

Marinette sniffed, her whole body crumbling under his grip. "You're hurting me!"

"Not as much as you hurt me! Now tell me… why him?"

He glared into her sparkling blue eyes, the glistening a tell tale sign of crocodile tears.

"Adrien, please. This is not you."

"No, it's not! I'm bigger and stronger than that weakling ever was. I'm a real man now, Marinette, isn't that what you want?"

Wrapping an arm around her waist, Marinette was pulled into his body. His nose went down to the base of her neck and caused her to whimper in fear. He dragged it along her skin, before pressing a quick kiss just under her lobe.

"Tell me, Marinette, was he better than me? Did he do things to you which I couldn't? Or is it because I'm only half real." He whispered in her ear before quickly spinning her around, grabbing her and pulling her back into his chest.

One hand slid around her waist as the other one cupped under her chin. The congregation stared back at them, Tom and Sabine clutched tightly together on one side of the front row, as Monarch stood proudly on the other.

"Tell them all, Marinette, tell them why you want to call off the wedding? Tell them who you are calling the wedding off for!"

She whimpered again, her body frozen to the spot with no will to move as he began to stroke over her body. He bent his head lower, dropping kiss after kiss along her bare neckline.

"Did he do this to you, Marinette? Did he do the things to you that I do? Or was he better? Come on, Princess, speak now or forever hold… your… peace!"

Grabbing her neck again, he forced her head to the side and kissed her roughly on the mouth, forcing himself on her and taking everything without consent. She started to cry, the taste of salty tears running down and into their mouths as he continued to claim her.

She broke away, her glistening eyes blinking quickly to remove the condensed moisture.

"N-nothing h-h-happened Adrien, I swear. Just come back to me please, we can talk about it. It's not about you, or anyone else. I've lied to you, Adrien, and I can't start this marriage on a lie."

"And that, Ladies and Gentleman, is a lie!" Falsifier lifted his arm where lights had progressed up towards his shoulder. His arm had become a real life lie detector. Changing the position of his hands, he threw Marinette down to the floor, before turning his attention to the congregation and finally lifting them out of the dark.

"Now, you all must be wondering what this is about? My father, Monarch, has finally put on his big daddy pants and allowed me to see the truth before I made the biggest mistake of my life. You see, this woman, the woman I have loved for almost an entire decade has been seeing someone behind my back."

The sounds of gasps rang through the room, Luka running forward from where he was to grab Marinette and help her back onto her feet.

"Take your damn hands off her," Falsifier said, grabbing Luka by the neck and lifting him off his feet. He launched the musician across the room, watching as he hit against a pillar before he collapsed onto the ground.

"So," Falsifier exclaimed, walking forward and bending down to look at Marinette. "What makes him so much better than me?"

She looked away from him and Falsifier couldn't help but wonder what she was going to do; if she tried to run, she wouldn't get very far. But her next words caught him completely off guard, giving her the opportunity to kick him and cause him to stumble backwards.

No longer was she Marinette…

He couldn't keep his eyes on her, the blurry vision of himself fighting against his father was knocking him in and out of consciousness. His hands flew to his head as he attempted to break out of it.

"Adrien! Do it! She lied to you! She cheated on you!"

"She hasn't!" Adrien cried, himself reappearing from behind the Akuma's mask. "She hasn't cheated on me! It was with me!"

Pulling hard on his hair, he fought against the voice of his father in his head. The words vibrated against him again and again and again. "She's been seeing Chat Noir behind your back, Adrien. She wants to be with her partner. You're never going to compete against their bond!"

The feeling of a pair of hands grabbed onto his arms and tried to pull them from his head. "I don't want to be with Chat Noir, Adrien, I want to be with you. I just feel guilty for keeping all this a secret."

His fiancée's words rang true in his ears. She never seemed to want Chat Noir, she had always been in love with another guy, with Buttercup, with him.

"Adrien, please. Come back to me. You're strong enough to break the link! You can break it!"

His eyes opened and met with Ladybug's red mask. Red.

Passion.

Love.

Danger.

"I'm sorry." In one swift movement he ripped the earrings from her ears. Blood staining her perfect white, Princess dress and landing in tiny puddles on the floor.

"Good boy!" Monarch said in his ear. "Now, toss them to me."

Falsifier looked down at the earrings in his hands before placing them in his own ears.

"Plagg, claws out!"

In a flash of green, Chat Blanc stood before Marinette. "Plagg, Tikki, Unify!"

The colours combined, flashing over his eyes and causing him to be blinded by white, until everything turned black.

Shooting up in bed, he began to gasp. Sweat running down his back as he tried to figure out where he was. It was dark, really dark. He looked around thinking about what he needed to do to calm down his panic attack.

Look around the room and name things…

A wooden slat shutters.

A lamp.

A cupboard.

A wardrobe.

He looked down to the side of him.

Marinette.

His fiancée stirred in bed, his heart calming as her eyes fluttered open and he could see she was real. She was there. She was —

His breath hitched again. She couldn't be? Could she? If she was Ladybug, what would he do? How would he survive? His breathing became staggered again. He couldn't control it. It wouldn't stop.

Frozen to the spot, Adrien just stared at her. Unable to move.

"Adrien?" Marinette said with a husky, sleep filled voice. She shuffled a little in the bed, rubbing her eyes to look at him again. "Adrien? Are you okay?"

He continued to stare, almost unable to blink. Ladybug. Marinette. Maribug?

"Honey? Adrien?" She shuffled around and he couldn't do anything apart from wait in anticipation for her to calm him the way she always did.

The sheet fell from her bare, naked body. Her arms wrapped around him and a hand threading itself through his hair. The smell of her floral perfume bringing his senses back around.

"It's okay," she said, her voice calm and soothing as she continued her pawing. "I'm here. I'm not leaving. You're just having a panic attack. Focus, honey, and breathe. Tell me what you can see."

Every muscle in his body ached with the tension he'd been holding. Keeping himself so still had clenched everything inside him to within an inch of his life.

As she continued talking to him, helping him name things in the room he began to relax, his body loosening and feeling as though he'd gone through 10 rounds with Tyson.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, his mouth feeling like he'd filled it with cotton balls. "I'm sorry," he repeated.

"It's okay," she responded, kissing him on the cheek; the nose; the temple. "I'm here. Would you like me to get you some water?"

He nodded, allowing her to kiss him on the lips before she left for the kitchen.

"I'll be back as quickly as I can."

Watching her go, Adrien let out a deep breath and pulled open his side drawer, digging around and grabbing the black ring buried at the back. In practised movements, he pushed it on. Only to be met with a soft, gentle purr on his shoulder.

"Nightmare again?" Plagg asked. It was a cycle they'd been through many times over the years. Whenever Adrien had 'The Nightmare' he would put on his ring, seeking comfort from his kwami, the only being he could talk to about his Chat Noir experiences. He would wear his Miraculous for a few days, then renounce it once more.

Adrien attempted to laugh, grateful for the little kwami's support. "Yeah, Marinette was Ladybug again."

"And?" Plagg asked.

Adrien stood from the bed and moved to the window and looked out over the twinkling lights of Paris. It had been a year or so since his last panic attack and he couldn't help but feel slightly ashamed for the breakdown in front of Marinette. He'd been doing fine, not a panic in sight, yet one conversation with his partner, and the uncertainty of Luka's actions and he was, once again, wound as tightly as a cord.

"I made the wish again."

"Any idea what it was?"

Adrien shook his head. "I woke up before I could enter the new world."

"Perhaps it's telling you, you don't want a new world. That this one is perfect for you, even if Marinette is Ladybug."

Water began to run in the kitchen, a cue that Marinette would be back very shortly.

"You need to go, Plagg."

"Sure, I'll just head to the cabinet and –"

Adrien shook his head. "No, Plagg. You need to go. I'm sorry." Messing with the ring on his finger, Adrien pulled it off and held it against his chest. "Just for now," he whispered to his kwami, doing his best to ignore the sorrowful look in Plagg's eyes.

The small kwami nodded. "Sure, but enjoy her, Kitten. This love is special. I'll see you soon."

As he renounced Plagg once again, sending him back into the ring, and he couldn't help but feel Plagg was right, of course, he was. But how could he handle his partner and love being the same woman? He supposed that would just be a question for another day.

"Here," Marinette appeared beside him, her face coated in love and worry. "Are you feeling better?"

Gently taking the water from Marinette's hand, he took a long swig before placing it down on a table. Reaching out, he placed his hands on her bare waist and pulled her towards him. He loved that she had no insecurities when it came to him; her naked body comfortably moulding into his.

Bending down, he threaded a hand around her neck before taking it up into her hair, pulling at the strands and tilting her head back. His lips connected with hers in the most delicious of ways; her own capturing his just as forcefully.

A short time later, as they lay with their limbs entwined, Adrien couldn't help but look at his fiancée.

What if?

Level 20: The Lair of the Beast

Present Day…

"Luka? What did you do?" Adrien asked, his eyes firmly placed on Luka as his friend wandered around the room, placing things into the central pocket.

Messing with the phone in his own pocket, Adrien prayed he'd tapped the right buttons, the ones which would connect to Alya, or at least anyone who could help.

A sudden thought struck him hard, a realisation which came far too late. "Shit! That's how you knew where we were! You put us there!"

Luka shrugged, grabbing item after item. Adrien noticed some were drugs, others looked like old artefacts from China.

"It was you? All this time… it was you!" Adrien could feel his temper simmering on boiling point. It couldn't be Luka, it just couldn't! "We trusted you Luka! We welcomed you back with open arms after everything that happened. After you turned on us!"

"Marinette wasn't meant to get hurt." His voice was cold and uncaring, the opposite to what they'd all known and loved.

"Hurting her wasn't part of my plan, Adrien. The plan was to separate you, to get you by yourself. But then finding out she was pregnant, well, I had no choice. I couldn't allow her to have that child, it goes against everything I've done. It was meant to end with you, you know. You started it so you end it. The final kill and the most exquisite! I had it all planned out. You would have loved it, Adrien. A death worthy of the hero that you are. You would have been unveiled and then mourned… until it came out you were the reason for all these terrible deaths. Aurore, Ivan, Nino —"

"What?!"

Luka tilted his head sending a cold shiver down Adrien's spine. "Oh, come on Adrien, you know as well as I do, when you offer yourself to a woman you can pretty much manipulate them to do whatever you want. There's a nurse at the hospital which is under my thumb. One call and Nino never wakes up."

He didn't know Nino was awake! Adrien could have celebrated, but the look in Luka's eyes placed the fear of God in him. Their friend was well and truly gone.

"Anyway, you should know what's it's like manipulating a woman, you fucking did it enough times with Marinette and Ladybug. If she had any sense she would have transferred guardianship the day she said she would, but once again, Adrien fucking Agreste came first. I had to turn up at the Temple without the one thing I promised them, the one thing that they requested."

"What does this have to do with Nino and Ivan? And even poor Aurore?"

Luka shrugged. "The guys pissed me off with their 'Adrien adoration' club, and Aurore… well, I was gutted I had to kill her. She was a fireball in bed, especially when we were both high. Just a shame I needed a statement to start my campaign, and what was better than Stormy Weather."

Adrien felt his jaw clenched tightly. What the fuck?!

"And Marinette? She's been your best friend for years. Why would you do that to her?"

Luka huffed out a laugh which turned more and more menacing by the second. Adrien had no idea who this person was in front of him.

"I told you, Marinette wasn't part of the plan. You two had told me you weren't having children yet, that Marinette's rose bush was the only dependent thing in your life. But then she just had to let us all know she had your spawn growing inside her and, unfortunately, I couldn't let that happen. So once again it's your fault, you made me hurt my best friend. I don't know if I'll ever be able to forgive you for that. But then again, you'll be dead."

His demeanour was surprisingly calm as he crossed his arms and smiled at Adrien. A chill circulated around Adrien's body as he watched the terrifying smile of Luka suddenly begin to flash in his eyes. His friend had lost it. No longer the Luka they all knew and loved. His groomsman, his confidant and his wife's best friend. Adrien didn't know who this was anymore, but it wasn't Luka and he needed to get out. Now.

Adrien contemplated transforming and running, but he was aware Luka still had hold of his own Miraculous, and with the additional training Luka had received from the temple, there was a chance this would be clean cut for Luka to win.

"It's all quite funny actually because I was going to be that shoulder she cried on. You made me try to kill her, Adrien, you put that blade inside her," he declared, uncrossing his arms to reveal a long, wicked dagger that had been hidden in his hoodie "So funny really, Paris' saviour couldn't see this coming. So trusting and hopeful for friendship, he couldn't see himself being manipulated right in front of his eyes. 'Oh Adrien, please help me, Nathaniel has been pushing me to work harder'." The laugh coming from Luka's mouth wouldn't have been a miss in a Blumhouse Horror. "You almost went and took the guy out!"

Adrien's breath stuttered. "This is against what we stand for, Luka. You've killed people! You attempted to kill Marinette and my child, and unfortunately, I can't let that go!"

"Think what you want Adrien, but times up for Ladybug and Chat Noir. Paris needs to know the truth behind the pain, the suffering and murders. I'll be a martyr when they find out I am the reason for putting an end to all of this. That I 'put down' the reason for the Akuma's and the murders. Everyone will know Paris' sweetheart, Adrien Agreste, caused all these problems."

"I haven't done anything! And unveiling me as Chat Noir will only have the Parisian's stand beside me the way they always have. Just because you couldn't be with Marinette —"

"You really think this is about a silly teenage love story!" Luka interrupted. His voice was hard and threatening. "I couldn't give a shit about being with her anymore, though I wouldn't deny the chance to comfort her over your death, if it came to it."

"If you don't want Marinette, then what is this all about? Why go as far as killing people? As creating funhouses? What, was it just for sick enjoyment? Tell me Luka, why do it? Why cause so much pain to all your friends?"

"Because of You!" Luka shouted, stepping forward and almost into Adrien's personal space. "If it wasn't for you, none of this would have ever happened! Your mother and father messed with magic they never should have known about, all so they could have a perfect baby boy! The God's didn't want them to have a child, so why couldn't they just leave it alone!"

He stepped forward again, Adrien finding it hard to keep his cool as his heart ricocheted against his rib cage and he considered an escape plan. If he didn't leave he was almost certain he was going to die, and he couldn't afford that to happen at the moment.

"Do you have any idea what the training is like at the temple? Of course not, you're merely a holder — a sidekick! Do you know what it's like to have to relive the worst day of your life over and over again whilst being starved and tortured? It messes with your head Adrien and everything starts to become clear. You see things for what they truly are. I was tortured to the point of no return. Again, thanks to you! You had to be born and then I had to find out who you both were. My life was great, Adrien, but you had to just come along and spoil it!"

Standing firm, Adrien prayed that Alya or whoever was on the end of the call had heard and could help, because, right now, he was about to place his life on the line.

"Plagg! Claws out!"