Control // miraculous ladybug

Chapter Eight

A/N: I edited this chapter quite a bit (05 Aug 2018)

"Okay, so let's talk strategy." Adrien declares as they walk through the trap door to Marinette's bed room.

They hadn't managed to get past Marinette's parents without a full-on interrogation going on. Marinette's mother, Sabine, was a short bundle of tears the entire time as she latched onto her daughter for dear life while her father, Tom, was firing questions left and right with the occasional narrowing of the eyes in Adrien's direction. He had de-transformed before they started their trek to the ravenette's home.

Marinette nods in agreement as they seat themselves in the pink-painted room. Adrien sits on the edge of her equally-as-pink chaise while Marinette swivels around in her desk chair.

"Hey, Adrien?" Marinette speaks up and the blonde looks up at her. "Did we capture that Akuma?"

Adrien's eyes widen as the words leave her mouth. He curses under his breath and runs his hands through his hair. "Uh, I don't think so." He scratches the back of his neck. "I can't cleanse them."

"Shit." She curses and lets out a groan. "I completely forgot only ladybug can cleanse akumas." She lets out another long groan as she leans back in her chair and smacks herself in the face with both hands.

"Hey, no. This isn't your fault. You were completely exhausted and I never even thought about it." Adrien protests but Marinette sinks into her seat. "And there's, uh...also that...small detail that, um...Tikki's whereabouts is...unknown."

Marinette squeezes her eyes shut as the thought of something bad happening to her kwami friend invades her mind. The two teenagers fall silent as Marinette tries her hardest not to break down crying. A whole range of different emotions surge through Marinette as she curls herself up on the office chair. Adrien looks away from her, not being able to watch her crumble right in front of him. He wants so badly to just reach over and soothe her, to calm her down. He wants so badly for her to feel the love that she deserves, to get the reassurance that she needs, to be promised that Hawk Moth will be destroyed and have that promise mean the world. She needs the truth.

Marinette sniffles, removing her hands from her face as she sits up in her seat. "We need to do something and we need to do it fast."

"Yeah, we do. But how do we find Tikki?" He asks. "That's what we're going to do, right..? Because we can't exactly go and kick Hawk Moth's butt as Ladybug and Chat Noir with the Ladybug part." Marinette nods slowly after Adrien quiets down. "Okay, good."

"I could always try to transform..." Marinette trails off, tapping her chin lightly.

"But you might risk harming Tikki."

"True."

"What if-"

"Wait - how do you expect me to try and find her when I have no idea what happened to her?" Marinette suddenly snaps, her emotions getting the better of her. Adrien's eyes widen as he looks up at her.

The blonde immediately leans forward in his seat as Marinette stands up urgently. He holds his hands out, trying to calm the unstable girl down. "Shh, shh. You don't want Hawkmoth coming after you agai-"

"Oh, come on. He'll come after me either way. You know what happens when we don't cleanse an Akuma. He infects innocent civilians and waits for the original to go back into a depressed state again." He frowns at her words. She begins to pace the room, pulling at her hair as her breathing intensifies. "He's just going to keep coming back and I can't fend him off without Tikki! Adrien, what if she's badly hurt? What if her connection with the miraculous is broken? The only way that they disappear is if we want them to. I don't want Tikki to disappear!"

Adrien immediately stands from his seat and lunges forward, wrapping his arms around the petite girl protectively in an attempt to calm her down. "And that's exactly why you need to relax," the model whispers to his lady soothingly.

Marinette attempts to push Adrien away, pressing her small hands against his muscled chest and pushing as much as her weak-willed arms would allow her. But to no veil, Adrien remains wrapped around the smaller hero comfortingly.

"You need to let me go," Marinette's speaks in a small but alarming tone, her voice sounding almost broken yet still majestic. "We need to fix this mess and that won't get done by you hugging me."

Adrien slowly lets go of the small girl before scratching the back of his neck. He chuckles as his nerves rise. Marinette sighs, walking out of her room with the blonde model following suit. The sound of feet against wood captures the attention of Marinette's parents.

"Marinette, honey, you're going somewhere?" Sabine speaks from the living room. She twists her short figure around to face her daughter, a concerned look upon her features.

"Yeah, we have to deal with something." Marinette states, her face uncharacteristically serious and hard.

"But you just got back," Marinette's mother stands up from the couch as Tom pauses the television and turns in his seat to face the scene. "What if something bad happens again?"

The daughter shakes her head, "It won't." She sighs. "Uh... mom? I've been keeping something from you. Something important."

"What is it?" Sabine frowns. Marinette steps towards her mother and lifts herself on to her tippy toes, cupping Sabine's ear with her hand.

"I'm Ladybug." Sabine's automatic reaction is to gasp, pulling away from her beloved daughter as she clasps her hands over her mouth. Marinette frowns at her wonderful parents before she waves and grabs ahold of Adrien's hand, running out of the building.

"Did you tell her?" Adrien speaks softly and it takes Marinette a few moments before she finally nods in reply.

"Yes."

Adrien sighs softly, "So where are we going?"

"We need to go to Master Fu."

"Master Fu?" Adrien questions. The ravenette looks up at him and nods. "Who's he?"

"He's the reason you're Chat Noir."