Thief | Lukadrien

Part 29 - Save Me

Content warning: mental breakdown

Luka's POV

The elevator came to a stop and let me out onto a floor so cold I could feel it through my shoes. 

"I don't like this," Plagg said, his eyes wide at our surroundings. I had completely forgotten that he was still here; he'd been so quiet until now. 

"Me neither," I replied.

I spotted Adrien on his knees in front of a strange container. His arms were wrapped around his abdomen as he hunched over himself. I ran over and slid onto all fours beside him, then lifted his chin to see his eyes. I recognized this expression; he was on the verge of a breakdown. 

"Hey, take a deep breath with me, okay? In, one, two three. Out, one, two, three." 

He didn't mimic me. He stopped breathing all together. 

"Adrien? Chaton, look at me. Look at me. Come on, I'm right here." 

He heaved, then covered his mouth with his hand to stop himself from hurling. I looked around for a bucket or something, and sure enough, there was a pail near a bush, likely used for watering the greenery. 

As soon as I placed the bucket in front of him, Adrien threw up into it. I rubbed his back gently, then wiped his mouth with my sleeve when he sat back onto his heels. Now looking at him, I could see something was very wrong; he looked so... lifeless. 

"What happened?" I asked him, brushing a strand of his hair back. 

He couldn't answer. Instead, he moved his eyes towards the container we were sitting beside. I stood up to see what was inside. 

A person. 

There was a person inside that thing. 

But what was Emilie doing in... 

Oh. 

This is why Gabriel was obsessed with the Ladybug's earrings and Chat's ring. He wanted his wife back, and the single wish granted from the miraculouses would have done that. All of his madness was fuelled by grief. 

"Help," Adrien gasped, pulling at his hair. "Make it go away."

"Make what go away?"

He started hitting the sides of his head with his fists. "Go away!" 

I grabbed his wrists to stop him from hurting himself. The tears had finally started, but he still wouldn't follow me with the breathing techniques. It was like he'd lost all sense of the present.

"Save me," he whimpered. 

Now I was close to tears. 

"I think he's in shock," I told Plagg, who was patting Adrien's arm comfortingly. 

"No sh*t, Sherlock. It's not every day you find your dead mom in a secret room of your basement."

Adrien hiccuped. It almost sounded like a laugh--I think he registered the joke. 

While Plagg did his best to make Adrien smile with some of his infamous sarcastic comments, my attention was caught by a splash of colour underneath Emilie's tank. I reached out and pulled the tiny, baby blue box from the small space it was wedged between. Inside, there was a brooch in the shape of a peacock. Although the accessory was in perfect condition, its box was covered in scratches, as if it had been moved and returned several times from where I found it. 

I may not have recognized the brooch, but it seemed Adrien did. As soon as he noticed it, he stopped trembling and his eyes went wide.  

"That's... M-Monarch, he..." 

"Monarch?"

In a panic, Adrien stood up and frantically looked for the exit. 

"Hey, what's going on? What's wrong?" 

"Keep that thing away from me!" 

Third Person 

In the future, the same time where Adrien had visited, Team Miraculous was battling Monarch for what seemed to be the millionth time. It normally took several of Chat Féroce's cataclysms to fully destroy a sentimonster, but so far he'd only landed one blow. They were now trying out a new strategy; Carapace kept Monarch immobilized midair, while Ryuko cycled through various elements from the inside.

"Let her out!" Ladybug ordered, once Ryuko was pinned to the edge of the shelter. "Everyone, fall back."

The others retreated to an alleyway while Rena kept Monarch distracted with an illusion of the team. Ladybug pulled a miraculous out of her yo-yo and handed it to Kagami, who had already detransformed. 

"We need backup; go find Violet Tigress."

With a nod, Kagami disappeared out the other end of the alley in search of Juleka. 

"I take it Bunnix still hasn't fixed the past," Féroce said. "Has she contacted you?"

"Not yet. She's probably waiting to see how everything plays out."

"What happens if she can't prevent all this?" Carapace asked. 

"I don't know," Ladybug sighed. "We might have to consider something... less humane." 

"No!" Féroce exclaimed. 

Ladybug and Carapace turned to him. 

"We can't just kill him; he was just a kid, and I--"

Féroce's face went pale. 

"What? Féroce, what is it?" Ladybug asked, waving her hand in front of his face. 

"I... I was there..."

"Huh?"

"I was there when he... no, that can't be right..."

"Something's changed," Carapace realized. "Bunnix changed the timeline, but... not in the way we wanted."

Ladybug frowned. "Wait, Féroce, you were there when Félix became Monarch?" 

He shook his head, as he peered out of the alleyway. 

"That's not Félix."