The Closet

Chapter Three - Daylight

- Marinette/Ladybug's POV -

     I wanted to look at Chat, tell him that I didn't want him to know who I was, tell him that I needed him to just be okay with just not knowing.

     We were standing now, and he circled around so I could see his chart.  I felt all the blood drain from my face and, though I tried hard not to pale, he was too close for me not to.  Too close for comfort.

     We circled enough so I could try to open the door, but it was useless.  It was locked.  I sighed and clamped my hand closer around the bobby pin in my hand.  

     The bobby pin!

     "Chat!  I know how we can get out!  I have a bobby pin from my Lucky Charm!  We can use it to pick the lock and get out!"  I practically screamed at him, I was so excited.  We'd been in here for more than an hour.

      "M'Lady, are you forgetting that, even if we get out of here, we don't know where we are.  We might be in a public place and, if you truly want our identities to be secrets, that will be a problem."

     I cocked my head.  "Are you like...important, or something?"

     He sighed.  "I wish you'd let me tell you.  It'd just make everything easier.  Much easier."

     "We're also still tied up...that's a problem.  Tikki?  Any ideas?"

     She thought for a second, then looked at Plagg.  He shrugged.  They both shrugged.

       I wanted to scream.  I wanted to run away from Chat Noir and never let him see my real face.  I would never let him see.  Never.  I felt tears coming again.  I tried to sniff them away, but it was no use.  I pulled Chat with me on to the ground and sobbed.

     Chat said nothing.  He was still.  I could only hope to know what he was thinking.

     "Ladybug...I think it would be easier just to...just to tell each other."

     I sighed.  He might think that way.  He might think it's just that easy.  That nothing will change.  That nothing will be different.  But he would no longer see me as a strong, independent Ladybug.  He would just see me as a clumsy, boring Marinette.  Marinette.  That's what I was right now, yet I felt Ladybug's blood in my veins.  I felt more powerful.  Like I actually could get us out of here, mask or not.

     "Also, don't forget that bobby pins can't be used to pick locks."  He added.  I wanted to facepalm, but my hands were kind of tied up.  So I just sighed.  Suddenly, for the first time in my life, my hair bands felt out of place.  Tikki, without a word, flew up and took my hair out of its pigtails.  It fell to my shoulders and no farther.

     "Did you just let your hair down?  You never do that!  Actually, I know a girl in my school who never does that, either."  Chat mused.

     I laughed.  "What's this girl's name?"

     "Marinette.  She's really nice and she's really good at drawing and designing and sewing and her parents own the best bakery in the world, in my opinion.  She's so amazing at everything, but I get the feeling she doesn't really like Adrien too much.  She can never form full sentences around him, kinda like you.  And she has probably about the same color hair and eyes as...you...do..."  Chat stopped.  I couldn't see his face, but I knew he was beginning to connect the dots.  I needed to get out of there.

     "Chat, because you didn't use Cataclysm, would you still be able to transform and break the lock?"

     Chat laughed.  "I would break the whole door down if you asked me to, M'Lady."  Chat went to high-kick the door off its hinges, but something pulled him back.  Something pulled us tighter together.  The string around us was getting tighter and tighter, until I felt it pressing into my skin, starting to cause irritation.

     "Shoot.  We'd better get out of this string...fast!"  I said, but there was no need for that to be said.  We both knew it.

     It compressed rapidly, and soon my arms were pasted to my sides and I couldn't breathe well.  I wriggled and struggled, but it only made the sting cut my arm.  Blood came and clotted, but I continued to struggle.

     "I think Manipulator is close,"  Chat observed.  The closet door swung open and we squinted as daylight poured in.  I looked at the other wall and realized my satchel in the shadow.  I hoped Chat wouldn't notice.

     "The cat is correct,"  Manipulator said, tightening the string so that it cut our arms further.  "If you two weren't so tied up in each other, I would like to think I would've been defeated by now."  He walked over to Chat and took his ring.

     "No!"  Plagg shouted, getting drawn back inside.

     I shook my head violently, rapidly, until Manipulator used my hair ties to wrap around my neck and choke me until I stopped fighting.  I needed to get blood and air to my face, so I stopped.  I closed my eyes and strained away from him, but I felt his cold hands reach up and unclip one earring, then the other.

     "TIKKI!"  I screamed, watching her disappear into the Miraculous.  I started crying, but the ties were still around my neck.

     "What do you want now?!"  Chat Noir demanded of Manipulator.  Manipulator just laughed as I struggled.  

     Darkness began to seep into my field of view, clouding my vision.  Dizziness began to overcome me.  I closed my eyes, but before I blacked out, I head Manipulator answer Chat.

     "I want to be more powerful and loved than Hawk Moth."

     My breathing slowed.  My body attempted to slump over, but I couldn't stand anymore.

     "Chat...get us...out..." my voice was weak and strained, and that was the last thing I said before the darkness caught up.  It clouded my vision and closed in, surrounding me with its bloody cold.