A Miraculous Tale

Chapter 10

Ladybug leapt into action, fighting viciously. It probably looked ridiculous, fighting four little butterflies with a yoyo, but that didn't matter. Her yoyo spun through the air, and the agile butterflies dodged speedily. Finally, Ladybug managed to neutralize one of them. The other three zoomed out the window and into the night.

Ladybug collapsed onto the ground, crushed with stress, exhaustion, and despair. What could she do now? She and Chat Noir now had three villains to fight, plus Hawkmoth himself. The heroine sobbed hopelessly, her breathing frenzied.

After a few minutes, Chat Noir ran into the room. He stopped when he saw the room was empty, then ran toward Ladybug.

"Ladybug!" his voice was filled with pure, unadulterated panic. "Are you okay? Where's Hawkmoth? What happened?" Chat knelt in front of his partner. He lifted her head and gently shook her shoulders. "Talk to me!" he wailed. He hugged her close, and she held him tightly, her head against his shoulder as she cried. Almost instantly, she began to calm down. Chat may have been goofy and unfocused at times, but at least he was there. And, when he needed to be, he could handle a situation really well. And in that moment, Ladybug was infinitely glad that he was there. Finally, after a couple of minutes, they broke their embrace.

Ladybug shuddered, wiping her tears. Chat pulled her to her feet. "We're too late." She struggled to stop herself from crying again. "He disappeared. He left four akumas. I managed to purify one, but the other three are still out there," she whispered, frightened. "I... I don't know what to do."

Chat grabbed Ladybug's hands. "It's going to be okay. We can fix this." He smiled reassuringly, and looked straight into his partner's bluebell eyes. "Let's start by going outside and checking to make sure there aren't any obvious villains running amok."

Ladybug nodded and wiped her eyes again. "Okay. That's a good plan. We should probably-"

Her sentence was cut short by a flickering of the lights. All of a sudden, it was pitch black, all except for a dim light in one spot. Ladybug eyed it suspiciously. When the lights turned back on, nothing seemed different. That is, until they saw the translucent blue box that had formed around them. They didn't realize it until it was too late, but they were trapped.