going down swinging

Only you could die like that

It was all over the news: the worst Akuma attack in history. Nobody knew how it happened, but there were 20 Akumas and 20 Sentimonsters. What's worse, they didn't have any temporary heroes or Ladybug; they only had Scarabella and Chat Noir. And you wouldn't believe this, it was also the same day that Shadowmoth attacked himself. This seemed like the day Ladybug and Chat Noir would finally lose, especially since Chat could only handle 10 Akumas and 10 Sentimonsters. I mean, how do you lose half of the monsters you're supposed to fight? Hawkmoth himself was there, and Chat had another fifteen minutes until he could return. He was both mentally and physically exhausted, and there had never been more damage to Paris than ever before. It looked like an apocalyptic hellscape from a movie.

It wasn't until twenty minutes later that he learned that all the Akumas and Sentimonsters were already taken out, including Shadowmoth, who apparently was his father. All of this was done by a normal human girl, Marinette Dupain-Chang, who, after the cure, was expected to come back to life. The worst, or perhaps the best part, was that she died standing; she didn't stop swinging until she died, apparently from Plagg. She died of exhaustion, which was a natural cause, so she couldn't be brought back. When the public learned this, they cried for the 16-year-old girl who died fighting for their lives.

When Chat broke the news to her parents about how she died, they cried and yelled at him, asking why he couldn't save their little girl. He didn't blame Sabine or Tom, but what was worse was the footage of Marinette's last stand that came to light. It left so many people breathless, like how could anyone do that? Marinette fought through ten Sentimonsters and Akumas by herself, breaking their objects before knocking out the victims so they couldn't be reakumatized. When they recovered the audio logs from the match between her and Shadowmoth, it made most of Paris cry.

Marinette is M, and Shadowmoth is Sh.

M: "Sup, Mothy? It's your favorite person to attempt to akumatize. I mean, 743 attempts over 4 years; you probably should've stopped. I don't want people assuming things, and not one succeeded. It must hurt your ego," Marinette said, exhausted.

Sh: "Well, it appears you would probably be one of my best Akumas, Marinette, if only you didn't fight so much," said Shadowmoth, who's in peak condition.

M: "Well, Shadowmoth, I'm tired, really tired, and you know what? I'm done. Either I'm going to die here or die trying."

Sh: "Well, at least you know how this is going to end, with you dead and me with Ladybug and Chat Noir's miraculous, and nobody can stop me at this point. I'm at my peak, barely broke a sweat. On the other hand, you are exhausted and don't have a miraculous."

M: With a calm expression, "Well, let's see who wins, me at my worst or you at your best."

The kicks, punches, and use of anything in your area as a weapon would have won Marinette a fight with a regular human, but Marinette was fighting with a miraculous user, and he was landing just as many punches. No matter how many hits he got or how many times he tried to send her flying, Marinette never stopped fighting. She continued fighting for 45 minutes.

And it was a horrific sight. No matter how many times he knocked her down and broke her bones, Marinette got up and continued fighting until finally she managed to rip off both of his miraculous and knocked him out. Only two minutes later, still standing, she died; her heart gave out from exhaustion. Three minutes later, Chat found her standing, holding both miraculous in her hands.

How did Adrian feel? Well, tired, really tired. The girl he loved had died, his dad was arrested, and he was now the guardian of the miraculous box. How he wished he could cry right now, but he didn't have time to mourn.

Later, he saw an article that detailed her heroic deeds and the honors she received after the battle, with a brief description of her:

- The One-Woman Army
- The Woman Who Stood Before death
- The Unakumatizable
- The Guardian of Paris
- The One Who Died Standing

Marinette Dupain-Chang is a person who, it seems, only knew one way—how to go down swinging or like a hero. Nobody could tell you which, but Marinette Dupain-Chang should know one thing: she died a hero.