"Uhhh" "Huhhh" "Huhh" "Uhhh" She was unable to catch her breath as she laid on the dock trying to cough up the water that she inhaled. 'Breath!' 'Breath!' she ordered as she gasped for air.
"GIVE ME YOUR MIRACULOUS!" A voice like thunder demanded. His dark shadow slowly looming over her.
Her bluebell iris glared desperately up at him as she clawed at her throat. She did not know if it was her fears keeping her from taking a breath. She and her partner, ChatNoir, had been thrown into the Seine river along with various debris of the environment. The two had become separated and despite her efforts it was impossible to find him in the murky water. Helpless. "Huhhh" "Uhhh"
She always knew that she had to fight her enemies alongside ChatNoir despite the Hell he put her through. "Stronger together!" A motto hammered into her head by her predecessor. 'Why?' She asked herself as she attempted to loosen the neck of her suit. Mix of asphyxiation and panic liquifying and draining out the corner of her eyes.
The revered villain's wings of darkness engulfed the streetlights of Paris. He stepped in front of the wriggly bug. A specimen he had so much contention towards. Nothing but a tag on a garment that he needed to cut off as he found it exceptionally annoying. He should have cut it off five long years ago, as the longer it stayed the faster it grew into a thorn.
"Come here little bug." He called as she turned on her back and tried her hardest, her darndest to get away from him. She was Paris's ONLY hope.
She found her optimistic spirit abandon her in her time of need. If it wasn't for the threat on France she would still be curled up wishing that she never let HIM in. She knew it wasn't far to let Paris suffer as she went through this insufferable turmoil. To ride the wave. But when was the storm going to calm down?
"Where do you think you're going?" He grabbed her face, her hands pressing into her ears. Attempting to protect the only thing standing in his way.
"MERCY!" She exhaled. She thought she could reach for some possible inkling of humanity he might have left. She had nothing less to lose. Not even her dignity. ChatNoir had stolen that. Her yo-yo out of reach.
"KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF OF HER!" ChatNoir yelled as he tackled Hawkmoth.
Ladybug took a few much needed breaths as she did not know who she was more repelled by. Hawkmoth who was hellbent on taking down Paris or ChatNoir who broke her trust; who broke her? She stood up and headed for her yo-yo, she needed a lucky charm. Or at least luck of some kind as she could not trust her partner not anymore.
'CLASH!' 'CLASH!' 'CLASH!' The sound of HawkMoth's cane and ChatNoir's baton.
"You don't want to do this." ChatNoir was struggling to keep his energy as the fall had taken most of his energy. His voice filled with pain and agony. "I don't want to do this." He knew who HawkMoth was and despite his father's short-givings he did not want to fight his father. He did not want to have to choose. The love of his life or his only surviving parent?
"Then foolish child just give me your MIRACULOUS!"
ChatNoir shook his head. His once perfect face now battered and bruised. His most treasured asset was temporarily destroyed by the very person who raised him on the notion: "Appearance matters."
"I can't! You can't bring her back. Not like this."
HawkMoth moved his body weight forward trying to get an upper hand. ChatNoir found himself stuck with HawkMoth's cane nearing his throat. Only thing preventing harm to him was his baton. HawkMoth thought ChatNoir was growing into a strong opponent but today he seemed off his game. As if he did not actually want to hurt Hawkmoth.
Hawkmoth paused as ChatNoir knew about Emilie. 'But how?' Only a few people knew. Nathalie, Placide, and….. Adrien. He did not take it as well as he had hoped. He had thought with maturity that Adrien would be more understanding. "You can't be." He loosened his grip as he came to the realization of who the black clad hero was under the mask.
"Father.." He exasperated.
Confirming Hawkmoth's current suspicions. That his son, his son, HIS SON was CHATNOIR. A person he swore to protect as soon as he entered the world. It was a father's promise. A promise to Emilie and yet he failed. "NO!" He refused to believe this costume crusader, this LIAR that he was his precious son. "Just cheap tricks."
"Father…" He called hoping to side with Hawkmoth's paternal instincts. Even if they were deep deep down. Pass the influence of wielding the butterfly Miraculous, pass the influence of the Akuma. "Dad."
A title that Gabriel had lost long ago as he had no drive to be a Dad nor a father as it hurt to see his son. He looked so much like Emilie, optimist green eyes paired with a smile that could light up a room, it was painful. But it would have been a crime to hide such a treasure as beauty was hard to come by. To hide the fruits of his and Emilie's labor? That would be unnecessarily cruel. Perhaps, this was part of what fanned the flame.
Ladybug held her yo-yo in her hands and debated whether to assist ChatNoir or not.
As what he did to her was so fresh in her mind. It seemed fitting if she left him to rot. She fiddled with a seemingly useless item in her hand, an egg timer. 'What am I supposed to do with this daft thing?' She shook it knowing that it was not a solution.
She looked at ChatNoir and Hawkmoth who were several yards away. Hawkmoth's hands clawing at his silver mask. ChatNoir panicked as he was not expecting the reaction of Hawkmoth as his swarm of Akumas let out a collective cry. Flashes of violet and periwinkle throughout the sky as Hawkmoth fought with his internal anguish.
'Now's my chance.' She fastened the lucky charm onto her waist. She never knew how these seemingly impractical charms fit in until every last shred of hope was gone. She used her yo-yo to swing over feet first targeting Hawkmoth. Before she made contact with Hawkmoth, ChatNoir grabbed her ankles. She could have sworn that he muttered an attempt at an apology.
"Sorry" He had it handled and would explain it all later. Tell her EVERYTHING. But first he had to avoid the two people he cared most about from destroying each other. Knowing leaving Ladybug in the vicinity of his father was not an option. He threw the woman he claimed to love back into the river she crawled out of. Not the best solution to a problem but a solution nonetheless.
'FWOOSH!' 'FWOOSH!' The sound of a news helicopter hovering by. "Don't Be Amused, its just the news! In an astonishing revaluation ChatNoir just betrayed Ladybug! Is the world coming to an end?"
He knew he would have to get on his hands and knees for Ladybug to forgive his rash behavior. He thought about going after her but he had to sort out his personal problems. 'Father first.' He thought that if he solved the Hawkmoth and Akuma storm first, it would be far easier to ask for her forgiveness. 'Will she be relieved?'
Hawkmoth was confused on why his son would make such a stupid choice as why would he willingly choose someone who betrayed him over his lady love? For redemption? Heaven only knows that Hawkmoth was well past that. To pick blood over love? It was obvious at this moment that Gabriel Agreste failed as a father. He thought he would be thrilled to have his son by his side, to have the same motivation in bringing her back. But it was backfiring at an alarming rate.
"Father?" ChatNoir questioned as his target moved when he turned his back. A cyclone of Akumas spiraling in one spot behind a boat. "Did I screw up?" He asked not knowing if he made the problem much worse as he had just tossed Paris's Heroine in the Seine River like she was a crate of tea. An equally political statement as the previous predicament.
He watched as the sky turned from the dreary dark into a bright blue sky. 'Is he solving himself out?' He always thought he would have to rip off the Butterfly Miraculous not have him coincide. Not this easily at least. But it was the end of a tyrant's reign. It did not matter how, it just mattered that it happened.
"Ladybug?" He cuffed his hands. "Ladybug?" "LADYBUG?" Each one of his calls became progressively louder. He wanted to explain to her the situation. Tell her everything and apologize to her as he did not mean to hurt her. She was supposed to repair the damages and make everything like it was. A fix-it-all.
His slanted eyes grew wide as he realized that it was a possibility she did not come out of the water as there was no way that she would leave Paris in such a desolate state. "SHIT!"
He quickly grabbed his baton and used it as a breathing mechanism. He dived down expecting to see something, anything. He expected some type of evidence that she had been there but it was impossible as he kept bumping into debris. Debris that was never ending as pieces of boats, bridges, and buildings kept falling in. One piece nearly injured him as he attempted to look for her.
He felt as if he was swimming around for hours and hours. Not wanting their story to be cut so short. Defeating Hawkmoth was always supposed to be the beginning of ChatNoir and Ladybug's story. Never the end. 'Maybe She's not down here? And this is just a waste of time?'
He then caught a glimpse of something red underneath a piece of debris. Debris which was no doubt part of some sort of vehicle. He took his baton off and used it to pry the debris as it was far faster to use the baton for leverage then to push it over.
All this effort only revealed Ladybug's Lucky Charm. 'Did she just drop this when she fell in?' He asked as he swam to the surface needing to reevaluate and get some much needed oxygen. Trying to listen for her sweet voice. To hear her call for him. 'This isn't like her!'
ChatNoir clenched his fist, his black ears flickering, focusing on the sounds of the helicopter blades and the blabbering of the news reporter. Armed with nothing but his impulsive decision he lunged himself into the sky with a quick 'Click' of his baton.
"CATACLYSM!"
He missed. He revered the titles that he would have been called. Murder? Was he not responsible for the loss of Ladybug. His Ladybug? Was that not cruel enough?