The Dawn of the Last Battle

The Moment of Truth

Marinette looked at Tikki flying away and then glanced at the door with growing concern. She didn't think that anyone would come through it — after all, Chat was on his own now and the other men had all gotten different beds. She was definitely sure that the two she and Plagg had scared away wouldn't come back. At least, if they valued their life. So the only person who could really come in was the lady at Reception, but she must have other things to worry about than to look after a sick teenager. Yet, Marinette kept looking at the door from time to time.

"Do you want me to keep guard at the door to ensure the woman doesn't come back?" said Plagg after Marinette looked at the door for the umpteenth time.

"That would be helpful. If you see her coming, come back in and we'll transform and get out of the window." She saw Plagg nodding and starting to move towards the door. "And Plagg?" The little God of Destruction stopped and turned to look at her. "Thank you. Thank you for looking after Chat Noir and for coming to look for me."

The little black cat nodded and eyed her with relief as he passed through the door and disappeared.

Marinette sighed and clenched her fists on her thighs, grabbing the material of her pink pyjama bottoms. Bits of the events that had happened since she awoke came back to her mind as she kept eyeing the blond mop of hair of her sick partner.

'Isn't he the one on all those billboards around town?' one of the two men had asked the other. The one on all those billboards. She had heard it and she couldn't unhear it, and now that her thoughts had gone back to it, her heart started racing madly in her chest. Whoever Chat was, his face must have been plastered on billboards all over Paris, so much so that those two men had easily recognised him.

Her gaze went back to his hair. Blond. Teenager. 'He's so pretty', the man had said.

Marinette brought a hand to her mouth. That shirt. The one she had gotten wet to put on Chat's head. That shirt that had looked familiar... and to be honest, if the one hanging on his backpack was his coat, Marinette thought she recognised the coat. And wasn't that the hint of a blue scarf that she could make out underneath his coat?

"Plagg?" called Marinette suddenly. The God of Destruction emerged from the door and looked at her expectantly. "I-I d-do know him, d-don't I? I m-mean in real life, out of the m-mask."

The little black cat didn't say anything, but smirked, causing Marinette's heart to nearly come out of her throat. She panicked and moved her hand to grab whatever was on her left and felt that she had grabbed his leg from over the blankets, giving it a big squeeze.

"MY LADY!" shouted Chat Noir suddenly, jumping up in a sitting position, his face nearly colliding with that of Marinette. The girl had no choice other than to be left staring into two grass green orbs that she knew way too well. Her heart stopped as the last of the blood drained from her face.

"Adrien?" she whispered holding her breath. Her eyes were as big as saucers as she looked at the boy collapsing into bed, this time on his back, his eyes again closed. Even if he had jumped up and had opened his eyes, he hadn't been awake. His sleep was becoming very restless, though.

Shoot.

Adrenaline was pumping into Marinette's brain and preventing her from going crazy, or she would be freaking out big time from what she had just discovered. But her Ladybug head was forcing her not to panic because there was something even more crucial than the fact that the boy she loved and the partner she had grown to love were one and the same. If Adrien was Chat Noir it meant that Hawkmoth was... "Gabriel Agreste," she hissed, pursing her lips, her fists shaking in anger. "We once suspected him and he managed to take us off his scent by akumatising himself!"