Persona

What She Did Part. 4

Chat Noir

The battle went like any other battle.

We fought, we were hit, we were bruised, we made the Akuma weaker.

But this time, I knew that something was wrong.

And I wasn't thinking it was the Akuma or its strength.

It was Ladybug.

The way she fought was off, just like the looks she kept giving me.

Her eyes looked like she had been traveling through smoke for weeks, and she fought weakly.

She'd make a hit or a dodge every now and again, but the way she was taking a beating just hurt me inside.

She had never really been one to take the blow, she was always the one who could figure things out and leave with nothing but a scratch.

But that day was different.

People were still running and trying to get away from the Eiffel Tower as we were battling The Mercenary, making it harder for us to get the job done quickly.

The people would push, trample and trip Ladybug and me while we were trying to save them from being potentially crushed to death.

But we were able to handle it enough to where we could attack, just not as well as we usually did.

Yet again, Ladybug was taking the fall from this.

She was stumbling and falling and not even hitting him with that much impact.

I ultimately gave up fighting him and just grabbed at anything that could potentially hold the Akuma and broke things.

The Mercenary fought back hard though.

I hold managed to grab his sheath for his sword and his helmet, both of which didn't contain his Akuma.

After a good solid hour of this, I became frustrated and so did Ladybug.

But she was so much more frustrated than I was.

She started pushing people to get back to fight, and didn't even bother to warn me before hitting him.

I could see actual bruises forming  on The Mercenary's bare arms as he swung back at her, making me concerned for both of them.

Something just wasn't right with her, and I couldn't figure it out for the life of me.

We fought strong for a good 5 more minutes, when I fell for the millionth time.

This time was different though, for The Mercenary had thrown me a good 100 yards away from where Ladybug was fighting him.

I stood up, only to be surrounded by a huge mob of people.

I looked around, trying to spot out where Ladybug and The Mercenary where.

I ran past people, some of them grabbing at me for help or asking me questions I couldn't make out from the screaming in the background.

When my eyes did finally find where they were, I was horrified at what was taking place.

And yes, Ladybug was angry, but also didn't look like she had any emotion from the 100 yards I stood from her.

The Mercenary was on his knees in front of her, his head down and hair dripping with swear.

Ladybug stood in front of him, The Mercenary's sword in her hands.

For a while, she just stood there while I ran to her, known that when I reached her she would break the sword and purify the Akuma.

At least, that's what I thought she was going to do.

She didn't even hesitate after she saw me running towards her.

She looked at me, her eyes white and her face expressionless.

She turned back to the Mercenary, and penetrated the sword into his armored chest.

My eyes widened and timed seemed to slow she pulled it back, the weapon dripping with the blood of the man falling to the ground before Ladybug.

I ran as fast as I could, screaming over and over again, "NO!! NO NO NO NO!!"

An Akuma flew out indeed, and she purified it, but she still had no emotion.

When I finally reached her, she looked at me for a second.

"LADYBUG?! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!!" I screamed, shaking her shoulders.

She didn't say anything, she just stared at me.

 "ANSWER ME!!" I demanded, tears streaming down as people ran around us.

Ladybug's eyes rolled to the back of her head and she passed out in my arms, while cop cars pulled up and reporters came running with camera crews.

I held her tight and jumped to the rooftops, dropping her off near our patrol spot and looking at he closed eyes and the trickle of blood coming out from her lips.

I wiped it off her chin, shaking my head and crying till I had a headache.

At some points, I screamed and cried so much I threw up.

I screamed at the top of my lungs, trying hard to breathe, but couldn't.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?!" I yelled to all of Paris, punching the ground and looking at her unconscious body.

She was breathing, but I wasn't.

It took a while, but I called down and just stared at her until my miraculous beeped, forcing me to leave her.

Ladybug wasn't herself...

Marinette wasn't herself...

And she looked at me...

She looked at me after listening to what had happened only days ago...

She looked at me like that person she wasn't...