Psycho

Miracle

  I was exhausted. We hadn't even been fighting for very long, and still it was taking longer than I thought it would. I wished I had Tikki more than once, but there was nothing to do about it. If I asked Chat Noir where she was, Hawk Moth would also know, and then we'd definitely be in trouble. 

  "Princess, look out!" Chat knocked me out of the way as Hawk Moth lunged for me. We rolled to a stop and both of us got up quickly, not wanting to waste another second. Apparently tired of this hit-and-run tactic, Hawk Moth changed his advances.

  "If only you hadn't been so selfish, Miss Dupain-Cheng." I froze, leaving Chat Noir to knock me out of the way of his flying cane. Regaining my senses, I avoided his grab and used my jump rope whip to swing out of the way.

  "Don't listen to him, Princess!"

  "If you hadn't selfishly kept my son in the dark, you two might have been able to beat me faster!"

  "She did it to protect out identities! She did it to protect us! She's the Guardian now!" Chat retorted, extending his stick, knocking Hawk Moth back. 

  "Think of how much better you two could have fought if you knew each other's identities! Look how much better you're fighting now!" Hawk Moth continued, rising up out of the rubble. His words were getting into my head, even without the akuma.

  "We don't need to share everything with each other! As long as we trust each other, everything will be alright!" Chat shouted, throwing his baton at Hawk Moth. It sailed through the air, hitting Hawk Moth sqaure in the chest, knocking him backwards. "Do you hear me, Marinette?"

  I turned to look at Chat Noir, stopping on my way to Hawk Moth. Chat walked over to me and took my hands in his, giving them a tight squeeze. He looked down at me and we locked eyes. He smiled that soft smile I loved seeing and gave me a quick kiss on the head.

  "No matter what, we're a team. We can do this. Don't listen to him. After all, it's-"

  "You and me against the world, right?" He grinned.

  "As always."

  "How touching." An angry voice said, and we turned to find Hawk Moth walking towards us with his cane in hand, his fists clenched. "I once loved someone as much as you two care for each other, yet neither of you will allow me to wish for her back."

  "It wouldn't be the same!" I shouted. "Nothing would be the same! In order for the wish to come true, reality must be rewritten! If you wish for your wife back, you might lose someone or something else in return!"

  "Nothing matters more than bringing her back to me!" Hawk Moth roared, chucking his cane towards me. I flipped backwards to avoid it, but Chat stayed where he was. I landed just as his hand darted out, grabbing the cane.

  "Cataclysm!" He cried, the cane dissolving into thin air. If I had been watching, I'd have seen Hawk Moth's eyes go wide, but everything else was unimportant compared to the expression Chat was making just then.

  It was as if the dam holding back all of his emotions crumbled, getting washed away with the overflow of water coming out. I saw his ring flash, indicating his time was almost up, but he began stalked towards his father.

  "Nothing else matters, huh, father?" He asked in a low tone, his voice barely more than a growl. I took a step forward but stopped, unable to move. Hawk Moth, to his credit, still didn't back down, but I could have sworn I saw sweat glisten on his forehead.

  "Don't you want your mother back, Adrien? I'm doing this for us, son!"

  "WHAT IF I WAS THE PRICE YOU PAID?!" Adrien shouted, and I heard the tears. "HAS THAT EVER CROSSED YOUR MIND?!" Hawk Moth's face twisted into something quite horrifying.

  "Are you saying you're more important than your mother? You are selfish." I saw Adrien stumble back at a step at that and I still couldn't move.

  How could he say that? Especially directly to his face? Adrien was his son.

  "I'm-... I'm not..." Adrien stammered. He looked down, so he couldn't see the look on Hawk Moth's face when he snapped his fingers. I knew I had no time to waste when I saw the akuma flying towards him and started running. 

  So many thoughts were running through my mind when I intercepted the akuma, letting it slip into necklace instead of anywhere on Adrien. I lost my footing at the sudden onslaught of sounds running through my head and fell to the ground, not even having enough time to stick out my hands to break my fall.

  "Marinette!" Adrien cried, picking me up and cradling me in his arms. "You'll pay for this!" I heard him say, but I grabbed his sleeve.

  "Don't hate him, Adrien. I know he's done terrible things but... he's your father." I looked up, finding his face. A drop of water hit my cheek and I blinked, taking in the fact that he was crying.

  "Fight it, Marinette! Don't let it overtake you." He begged, holding me close. "I couldn't bear to fight you. You're... you're all I have left." Adrien started taking in deep, choking breaths as his tears continued to fall.

  The voices kept harassing me, relentless. I wanted them out of my head, but I didn't know how to get rid of them. I've prevented akumas from taking control of me before, multiple times actually. 

  It wasn't easy staying positive all the time.

  "What's your favorite color?"

  "What?" Adrien looked up, his beautiful face not beautiful for once. 

  "Just tell me anything. Keep me distracted, please."

  "Okay. Well, my favorite color is green, but not any color green. The color of my mother's eyes. I got my hair and eyes from her. She was amazing. We used to hang out all the time before she... before she disappeared. We'd sneak down to the kitchen and make food together and play in the garden while my father was on business trips."

  I cried out in pain at the mention of Gabriel, the winner of worst father of the year, and quite possibly the history of the world. Adrien hugged me tighter and started stroking my hair.

  "Sorry. You know, the first time I saw you, I thought mother had sent me an angel to look after me. I had been praying for one by my bedside each night after she went away, and I liked to think she sent me you. When I didn't know you and Ladybug were the same person, I thought she had sent me two. One to watch over me while I was at school, the other to keep watch when I wasn't. Now, I know I just have one perfect angel keeping an eye out for me, and I couldn't be happier."

  I smiled, wrapping my arms around his middle. My feelings started getting lighter and not so pressing. For the first time since I received the Ladybug Miraculous, I felt like the weight of the world wasn't on my shoulders.

  It was... liberating.

  "Who would have thought the two girls I was in love with ended up being the same person?" Adrien murmured softly, his lips pressed against the top of my head. The light feeling got even better and I felt like I was floating. When I heard Adrien gasp, I looked up, wondering what happened.

  My head followed his line of sight and I gazed in wonder at the pretty, white butterfly flying away from us, flapping its wings. We sat in silence, watching until it was out of sight. When it finally vanished, we continued sitting there, arms around each other as if we'd never let go.