Miraculous: Tales of Ms. Ladybug and Tom Cat

Part 58: The Black Cat Rises

Thomas grasped his ribs in pain as he tried to stand up.

What happened? He thought. This isn't the alleyway.

It then came to him. "Oh no," he said, realization washing over him like a tidal wave of guilt. He looked over and saw the damage he'd done. The debris stretched for up to a kilometer in every direction and the Eiffel Tower was reduced to rubble. He put his hands to his forehead and lamented as he thought about all he had done. He shed tear after tear as memories slowly came back to him. He remembered Chloe, and how he'd turned her to ash. And Lila, who was probably dead along with the innocent people he'd killed when he'd brought down the building and the Eiffel Tower. It was all his fault. He was as bad as the villains that had terrorized Paris since before he was born. He was evil. He was, a villain.

As he cried over the guilt of his sins, he suddenly heard a voice in front of him. "Thomas?"

He looked over his folded arms to see his sister, a worried expression on her face. He quickly looked away. "Just go away Emilie," he said. "You were right, I was too immature for a Miraculous and I ended up hurting a lot of people. And now people are gone because of me and I can't fix it no matter what I say or do."

Upon hearing this, Micromouse knew what she needed to do. She turned off the Mouse Miraculous and grabbed his shoulder.

"Thomas, listen to me. I know you're blaming yourself right now for all of this, but it's not your fault."

"You're only saying that because you don't know what this feels like," he said. "I've hurt, so many people. People are dead now because I got akumatized. How is this not my fault?"

"Because it's mine," she said. "I'm the one who made you feel like you weren't ready for the Miraculous, and that's why you got akumatized."

She went over and hugged him. "I'm so sorry," she began to cry. "I was so focused on getting our mission taken care of and getting home that I never considered your thoughts and feelings. And when you screwed up I thought it was the end and I was so scared we'd never get to go home. I messed up. But you, you have been better here than I could have ever been. You're so smart and kind and understanding and I devalued that. I'm sorry, I made you feel worthless and because of that, you got akumatized."

Thomas looked up and hugged his sister back. "I'm sorry too," he said. "I blamed you for leaving. And I thought things could just go back to the way they were. I just wanted our family back together and when you came back and wanted to leave again, I was upset. I miss you, more than you know. And now, I'm so happy we could come back here together."

The siblings sat there for a moment, just releasing the emotions they'd built up for the past few days. After a few minutes, Ladybug arrived and grabbed Emilie's shoulder.

"I hate to break this up," she said. 

The two of them dried their tears and looked up at her. "It's ok," Emilie said, "What's wrong?"

"The heroes are in trouble and they need you right now." She then held out the black cat ring to Thomas. "Both of you."

Thomas was surprised. "You mean, I get it back? Even after I lost it? Even after everything I did?"

"It wasn't your fault," she said. "Hawk Moth was the one who did this. It may be bad now, but we can fix it. But to do that, we'll need you, Cat Noir."

Thomas was reluctant. "I shouldn't do this. I'll just mess it up again and then I could hurt you and Emilie and everyone else, and,"

Ladybug sat on the ground and placed her hands on Thomas's shoulders, looking at him with a kind expression.

"Listen to me, Thomas." Ladybug said. "What does Hawk Moth feed off?"
"What?" he asked

"What does Hawk Moth feed off of?" she repeated. "What does he use to akumatize people?"

"Uh, their negative emotions?" he said

"If all he does is feed off of negative emotions then why doesn't he just akumatize everyone?"
"I, uh, never really thought about it," he responded

She grasped his hand. "It's because he can only take over people who let their emotions control them," she said. "And it happens to everyone sometimes. You get sad or angry or disappointed and you let it define everything you do. And it can lead you to do some pretty bad things or say some things that you might not mean."

She then touched his cheek. "But as long as we do our best to try and fix our mistakes then we can begin to make things right."

She then stood up. "I'm not going to force you to wear it," she said. "You could easily just hold onto it until Hawk Moth is defeated and then Emilie and I can come and get you. But I wasn't lying when I said that I needed you out there."

Thomas took the ring. As he did, Plagg came out, and upon seeing Thomas, flew to him in tears and hugged him.

"Thomas!" he cried. "It was awful doing all those things! I'm so sorry I let him do that, if I had just used my powers then I could've stopped him and,"

Thomas hugged the Kwami. "It's alright Plagg. It's gonna be alright."

"I'll leave you guys here." Ladybug said, prepping her yo-yo. "I need to find my Lucky Charm and fix everything, Bug Out!"

As she swung away, Thomas looked at Plagg. "I know it's probably the last thing you want right now, but should we,"

"Be safe Thomas," Emilie said. "No matter what you choose, it'll be ok."

As she swung away, Thomas looked at Plagg. "Should we go? I know you've had a rough go of it."

"Do it, Thomas," Plagg said. "We need to get in there and help our friends! And no matter what we need to save Tikki from Hawk Moth!"

"If I didn't know better, Plagg," he said. "I'd say you've got a crush."

Plagg made a gagging sound. "Puleease, Kwami's aren't into that mushy garbage," his expression turned serious. "But Tikki is my friend, and I'll do anything to get her back."

Thomas looked at the ring. "But, can we really be Chat Noir? Can we really be just like him?"

"Don't be!" Plagg said enthusiastically. "You're not your old man and he's not you. You don't need to be Chat Noir. You just need to be you!"

Thomas finally put on the ring. As he did, it morphed into a dark gray ring with a cat symbol on the ring face. "Then I guess it's time for us to be our own hero." he took a deep breath and then muttered the words he'd heard a thousand times before. "Plagg, Claws Out!"