Lovebug

Part 22

Ladybug stands looking out of the window of Adrien's apartment. In front of her, the work of Gustave Eiffel stands proudly, breaking hrough the skyline. Underneath this beautiful icon of Paris, the stage is set for the wedding of Ladybug and Cat Noir. The celebrities of Paris have taken their seats facing a grand arch of red and black flowers and the fake Cat Noir stands in front of them.

Marc Anciel made much more of a convincing Cat Noir than anyone could have ever expected with the help of a blonde wig and some fake cat ears and a tail. His suit is a classic black and white three piece with a dark green tie, so ambiguous that it is hard to tell at some angles whether it is black or indeed green.

Behind the celebrity seating, barriers were holding back practically the entire rest of the city who stood in anticipation of what was told to be the wedding of the milenium. Cat Noir, the real one that is, swung through the window on the opposite side of the building and dusted his hands dramatically. 

"Everything seems set to begin and the streets are empty." he says "any word from Max as to where the signal came from yet?"

"No, no signal." Ladybug tells him far too quickly. "He said it was restricted or something so he couldn't get in no matter how hard he tried."

"Well, at least he tried, that was good of him." he smiles 

Ladybug takes a walkie talkie from the table beside her and holds down a button. "release the fly" she cryptically says. At that moment, a small man waddles down the aisle in an overszed cerimonal robe. He reaches the end of the aisle and nods, the wedding music begins and the crowd of seated guests stand and turn to see the bride walk down the aisle.

That little man, was master Fu. He smiles knowingly as he steps onto a box behind the altar, the miracle box, 

Ladybug and Cat Noir watch as Rose struts down the aisle disguised as Ladybug. Her dress, expertly designed by Marinette, was red with black spots, mimiking her suit's design, with a black ribbon tied around the waist into a bow on the back.

She reaches her fake counterpart at the end of the aisle and the "ceremony" begins. Master Fu does an amazing job at drawing the ceremony out to leave plenty of time for Hawkmoth to appear. 

"You don't think he knows it's a trap, do you?" Ladybug asks

"If I know Hawkmoth, he'll pick the most dramatic moment possible to show up." Cat Noir reassures her. He was right.

"If anyone has a reason why this couple should not be wed, speak now or forever hold your peace" Master Fu asks the crowd below. 

"I object!" a voice booms from three hundred metres above them. The crowd looks up just as Hawkmoth's image is projected on the Eiffel Tower. The crowd gasps and talks among themselves.

"I hate to ruin the celebration but I've come for my wedding present: Your miraculous'!" Hawkmoth exclaims.

At that moment, two large tree beasts emerge, seemingly from nowhere, and  grab hold of the fake Ladybug and Cat Noir, restrianing them as they kick and squirm.

"My sentimonsters have you in their grasp and none of your little friends can save you. If they transform, they risk being found out, I have eyes everywhere." Hawkmoth laughs manaically. "Now, if you both give over your miraculous' peacefully, I can let you go and you can get back to your little wedding. "

Rose looks at Marc, both about to follow the strict instructions set out by Ladybug earlier that week. "May we detransform privately? And you pomise you won't hurt anyone here" she says, trying to sound as much like Ladybug as possible.

"A fair request." he considers. "You may. I will bring out back to my lair, just to make sure you don't pull any funny business." The crowd is blinded in a puff of smoke, so they would not follow behind them, but luckily Ladybug and Cat Noir are not affected because of their position in Adrien's apartment.

After a quick chase, the tree-beasts drop Rose and Marc in front of the gates of the Agreste mansion, just as Ladybug expected. They then lost their humanity and regained their place as trees outside the gates. Hawkmoth and Mayura grab them and drag the two fake hero's inside the house.

Cat Noir and Ladybug watch from the staircase to a nearby metro station. "Why... why is Hawkmoth's lair in my house? This must... this must be some kind of trick, that's not my house." he rambles. Ladybug begins to question if she should tell him the truth, but before she can decide, they make their break for the Agreste house.

Inside, the house is empty, it looks the same as it usually does, nothing out of the ordinary. "See, I knew this was all some trick, let's get out of here and find the real lair." Adrien says, starting for the front door.

Just then, a sound comes from Gabriel's office. The pair run into a, once again empty, room and begin to search around. At the head of the room is a curious, celing to floor length picture, it is very abstract with the exception of his late wife Emilie prominent in the middle. Ladybug approaches and studies it, something is off about the picture.

Suddenly it hits her. "Cat Noir!" she exclaims, "This picture is a door!" He joins her at the painting and pushes it slightly, watching it move inwards to reveal a dark, metalic lined corridor.

Ladybug runs down the corridor but Cat Noir still stands in the doorway. "This confirms the theory" he sighs "I... I didn't want to believe it, but I guess it's always been there" He follows along behind Ladybug, trying to keep it all together.

They reach the end of the corridor and watch as Hawkmoth and Mayura remove the fake miraculous' from the fake Ladybug and Cat Noir.

"Aren't they supposed to transform back into their human selves?" Mayrua asks once the jewelry is removed.

Hawkmoth looks to the heroes, then to the jewelry, then back to the heroes. "Damn it! Either these aren't the real Miraculous' or these two are not Ladybug and Cat Noir."

"Two out of Two!" Ladybug excalims, swinging her yoyo as she enters the room. Hawkmoth flings the fake earrings and ring across the room and begins to rage. He lunges forward towards Ladybug but she quickly leaps out of the way. 

The pair engage in a full on confrontational fight; Hawkmoth determined to get the miraculous' that he has been hunting for four years, Ladybug determined to do everything in her power to prevent that.

Cat Noir dejectedly enters the room, unaware of the fight until now. "Cat Noir! Get Rose and Marc untied and out of here now!" Ladybug shouts to him. He does as she asks then immediately springs into action, trying to pry Hawkmoth off of Ladybug. Suprisingly, there is little resistance from Mayura, even thought she is involved in the struggle.

Ladybug wriggles from Hawkmoth's grasp and escapes to the other side of the room, this is when Hawkmoth sets his sights on Cat Noir. The two hash it out for a while, brutally attacking each other. In a moment of brilliance, Cat Noir decides to disarm Hawkmoth by taking his miraculous, the purple broach in the middle of his butterfly shaped tie. Unfortunetly, Hawkmoth decided to apply this same strategy.

In an amazing coincidence, both Hawkmoth and Cat Noir reached for each other's Miraculous' at the same time. Before anyone could stop it, Hawkmoth had possesion of Cat Noir's ring and Cat Noir held in his hand Hawkmoth's broach. Both watched as the other  transformed into someone familliar.

"Adrien?..."

"Father!..."