𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧. | 𝐚𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧 𝐱 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞.

1 | selfish

"No," Chat Noir whispers, looking up at Hawkmoth. The rain pelts down; the harsh pitter patter is almost deafening to him. "Please, no." 

The villain smirks, and Chat Noir knows he is done for. He cradles Marinette's lifeless body in his arms, muttering under his breath. "Please, no." He doesn't know who he is begging. She is already dead, he knows that, so why is he still pleading? What does he think is going to happen? 

He realizes that all of Paris is watching, that his friends are hoping, praying, that Ladybug and Chat Noir will prevail, and end the havoc that Hawkmoth had wreaked upon this city. Everyone. But Ladybug is dead, and here Chat Noir is, on his knees and praying for a miracle that he knows could never happen. A sob resounds in the empty Champs-Élysées, and it is not Hawkmoth's. 

"She's already gone, Adrien," Hawkmoth snarls without an ounce of remorse. "Just give me your miraculous."

Chat Noir is not surprised to hear his civilian name come out of the villain's mouth. After all, Hawkmoth is his father, and he is his son. He knows that now, and he feels stupid to not have noticed that before. He lays his lady down carefully, and then calmly walks towards the villain. "Cataclysm!" He calls out, and he can hear Plagg's voice in his head, begging him not to do this, trying to convince him that this will only make it worse, and that he'd become exactly like him. Plagg's cries fell on deaf ears. Chat Noir only has one objective now, and that is to destroy his father, Hawkmoth. Strangely enough, his head is clear. He feels no remorse or guilt about what he is about to do. In fact, the clarity of the situation overwhelms him to the point where he is sure that nothing in his life had ever been clearer.

"Really, Adrien? You want to kill your father?" the villain chuckles, unaware of just how serious he is.

Hawkmoth doesn't even have time to think. One moment, Chat Noir is walking towards him, a scarily concentrated look on his face, and the next, there is a blur of black and purple as the two of them fight, father against son and villain against hero. They have done this many times before - the only difference is now Adrien knows he is fighting his father, and he is fighting with the intention to kill.

Now that he can use cataclysm without detransforming minutes later, Chat Noir is unstoppable, and Hawkmoth's blood stains the streets of the Champs-Élysées. It takes a second for the superhero to realize that his father is indeed dead, that the people of Paris are surrounding him, thanking him, coming out of their hiding places. The city is half-destroyed, and the paramedics are taking Hawkmoth into an ambulance (despite knowing he is dead). They also take his lady out of his arms, and they promise they will try to help her as much as possible, but they all know it is too late.

He extends his staff, and high tails it out of there, dropping onto his house's balcony with ease, detransforming in the process.

"Adrien—"

"Not now, Plagg," he says, his voice hoarse and his eyes red.

Now that all of Paris knows he is Chat Noir, and that his father is Hawkmoth, whom he just killed, he knows he will never rest again. He opens his hand, revealing the two earrings of the ladybug miraculous. Plagg's eyes widen as Adrien stares at the ring on his finger.

"Adrien, I know what you're thinking and I'm begging you, please, you can't. There's a price to pay for using that wish. Your friends could die, you could die!" 

"I'm not going to bring them together," Adrien deadpans, still staring at Ladybug's miraculous. "I'm not my father."

But he is, he is, because he's selfish and mean and he wants his lady back and he doesn't care who dies in the process. He doesn't say any of this to his kwami, because despite Plagg's nature, Adrien considers him a good friend, and he doesn't want him to worry.

So whilst Plagg is eating his cheese out of sorrow, Adrien slips his ring off. He is left alone, silence overwhelming.

He knows that fate is cruel, and that he will probably be the victim of his own wish, but he is satisfied. Content to die so his lady can live. Will she suffer if she returns only to find him gone? Yes she will. But he'd rather make her feel his absence than he feel hers.

Because he is just that selfish.