IF ONLY. marichat | ✔️

onze

Chapter Eleven: Adrien?

Hawkmoth's face is plastered on every screen in Paris. Chat Noir's tied to rope, dangling at the top of the Eiffel Tower. He can hear the villain taunt Ladybug with his safety. How's he going to get himself out of this mess?

"Come here, Ladybug, ready to release your miraculous. If you try any tricks, you can say goodbye to your sidekick."

"Actually, we're partners!" Chat Noir objects. 

"Turn it off, Volpina." Hawkmoth tells her. 

She's the reason he's here! Luring her here, pretending to be Ladybug. Leading him to his undoing. Oh, how he wished he'd noticed an irregularities. Anything that could've said him from this fate. Poor Marinette probably saw him like this. He hopes she's not freaking out...too much.

Don't worry, Ladybug will save me, he wants to tell her.

Hawkmoth stands up, looking down over the city with a smug look on his face.

"Why don't you take Chat Noir's miraculous now?" Volpina is by Hawkmoth. "Ladybug has seen him, we're set to go."

Hawkmoth rolls his eyes. "Recall and trap," the akuma that'd created Volpina is called back to his cane. 

Volpina vanquishes, leaving Lila behind. 

"Go home."

She does but with a sour expression on her face.

When she's out of sight, Hawkmoth turns to Chat Noir. Chat panics. He's going to take his miraculous! He needed to think fast before this disaster escalates. And that's when it hits him. Oh, why didn't he think of this earlier?

"Cataclysm," he calls, touching the rope.

The rope turns black, deteriorating to the ground. Chat Noir jumps up a few seconds before Hawkmoth could reach him. They stand across from each other, ready to take the other out. Hawkmoth runs toward him, sending a kick to his stomach. Chat manages to sustain the blow, but takes a moment to catch his breath. Hawkmoth comes at him again with more force. He blocks these attacks, holding him off best he can.

"You think you can win this?"

"We've done pretty well so far."

Hawkmoth lets out a primal growl, lunges at Chat once again. His miraculous beeps at him and hope starts to dwindle away. How can he wart of this threat and not detransform? If he leaves then so will Hawkmoth, making it impossible for Ladybug to capture him. If he stays, his identity is revealed. What's the right decision in this case? 

"Adrien?"

Adrien blinks, had time truly screwed him over. Where to run? What to do?

"Oh, my son."

Wait, what the fuck?!

"What? Why would you...why would you say that?"

"It's me."

Adrien looks at Hawkmoth for a moment and then it hits him. Yeah, this is his father because of course it is. He never went on some fancy business trip, he's been cozy at Hawkmoth. Everytime his father would suspiciously disappear, this is what he was doing. Oh, this is ridiculous. So crazy. Let this be a nightmare. 

The two stare at each other, wondering what to do. To fight or to reason?

What would you do? Adrien's blood starts to boil to hell with reason. His father has been lying to him. Off roleplaying, attacking all who live here for what? Why?

"Father, why are you doing this?"

"For you, for us."

"I-I don't understand."

Hawkmoth takes a step toward Adrien.

"With both miraculouses, I can bring Emilie back."

"Mom," his bottom lip quivers.

Everything had changed after she left. With her back, they'd be a family again. Hawkmoth would cease to exist. Paris would be safe. His father wouldn't be a villain. He would be free of Chat Noir's responsibilities, Ladybug would be free. Peace would be in Paris once again. Tears well up in his eyes.

Adrien pulls his ring off, extending his hand to Hawkmoth. 

Ladybug flies in, using her yoyo as support, and snatches Adrien up. She looks at the ring in his hand and wonders why he'd have Chat Noir's miraculous. And where is Chat Noir, shouldn't he be tied in rope somewhere? 

"Chat Noir? Chat Noir?"

Hawkmoth chuckles, the upper hand on Ladybug too good not to relish in. "You're holding him."

Adrien won't look at Ladybug, he's too ashamed at what he was about to do much less what he's already done. Allowing his ability to be exposed to the number one person who can't know is too big a disgrace to wrap his head around. 

"Adrien," her voice is nothing like he's ever heard,"is this true?"

He looks up and sees tears pouring out of her. Has her actions really led her to tears? He's horrible. He should've ran away to transform again, but no he had to weigh his options. 

He nods his head. It's all over now, he can accept that. 

Ladybug shakes her head, not wanting to believe this. She sets him down, at the bottom of the Eiffel Tower. 

"Feed your kwami and come back. I'm going to end this for good," Ladybug instructs to him before disappearing.

Adrien runs off, finding a place to hide. His heart is beating rapidly. Plagg helps himself to a piece of camembert, he'd left for him. 

"What am I going to do?"

"Adrien, your dad is hawkmoth. You're the new age Luke Skywalker. What did he do?"

"I don't have time for a trivia question. Hurry up."

"Okay, okay," he throws the remains into his mouth.

"Plagg, claws out."

Chat Noir appears at the top of the tower, but decides not to make his appearance known. He surveys the area. Ladybug and Hawkmoth were in hand to hand combat, each move more brutal than the last. Ladybug seems to determined to knock his father's lights out. Does he want that? Whose side is he on? 

On the one hand, his father has done nothing but wreak havoc on his home while him and Ladybug have thwarted off his dangerous plots. However, on the other hand, he's been doing this for his mom. His mom! He missed her so much and he'd never thought to use the miraculous for such a purpose. He wanted it too. He wanted it a lot. 

But what would Ladybug say? What would she think?

She's always telling him how irresponsible it would be for the both of them to combine their miraculousess to wish that Hawkmoth be defeated, so how could he use it for himself? And he still needs Ladybug's for this to work.

Marinette, what do you think I should do? I can't figure this out alone.