Working for Hawkmoth

18-You Came Back For Me

So, as we begin I wanted to draw your attention to my BRAND NEW COVER. The last one was so plain and then I tried to do this collage that just didn't turn out.

Like... look at it. What. A. Mess.

It was a long process and honestly very annoying, but I finally made one I like! Let me know what you think! Did I leave you at a cliffhanger?... oh that's too bad..

Okay here we go!

Marinette

"Adrien?" I say almost inaudibly. I don't want to draw attention to myself as I see him staring down his dad.

"I wasn't going to let you kill Marinette.. now I'm the most recent Ladybug... so now you have to choose between me and mom."

I gasped, ducking behind one of the large pillars in the entryway. Neither of them had noticed me, and now I needed to collect my thoughts. If Adrien got his mom back I could of died? And now he was endangered? Obviously Hawkmoth was Gabrielle Agreste, that much was clear once Adrien said 'mom' so easily. Was this heartless man cruel enough to kill his own son?

My eyes darted around the side, knowing that I needed to keep an eye on what was going on. Adrien's ears were bleeding from what appeared to be a self ear piercing. I winced at the possibility of a disgusting ear infection. I honestly couldn't remember cleaning the earrings since I got them. Sorry.

Adrien changed back to normal and I saw my kwami appear. I needed to talk to her.

"So, I'm finally going to take your miraculous and rid the city of your treachery!" Adrien announced, putting on his ring and throwing the earrings to the side. As the green light distracted the older man, I ran and collected my earrings.

There was still blood on them and so I did my best to wipe it off, gagging slightly and absentmindedly using my white shirt as a rag. I put them in my ears and Tikki appeared, gasping when she saw that it was me.

"Marinette!" she exclaimed, extremely excited that it was me.

"Shh," I insisted, still happy to see her but needing her to be quiet. "I missed you, Tikki," I admitted.

"I missed you! Here's the thing... if you transform into Ladybug, you'll be at risk again. If you think that you can beat Hawkmoth than go for it, but if you can't then he'll mercilessly trade your life for his wife's."

I looked at the two Agreste men as they fought each other. Adrien betrayed me as Chat Noir this entire time, but when he found out that I was Ladybug he put his motives aside because it was me. I sighed and thought about the blood dripping from his ears as he immediately stabbed himself with the dull earrings in order to keep me out of harm's way.

"It doesn't matter if Chat Noir betrayed Ladybug, Adrien genuinely cares about me and I'm not going to let him fight alone. We're partners after all."

Tikki nodded at me and dove into my purse to grab a quick bite of the various pastries I stashed for her.

"Tikki, spots on!" I announced, the red light completely covering my body as I transformed into my alter ego.

I climbed up the column and used my yo-yo to stop one of Gabrielle's punches that were directed at Adrien. The teen punched back rather weakly as he was in a slight shock, his eyes heading in my direction as I flew into the fight, pulling Hawkmoth slightly towards me and punching him midair.

"You- you came back for me?" Adrien asked, completely awestruck when I landed next to him.

"A hero never stops doing what's right," I stated, knowing that now wasn't the time to have a long and deep conversation.

Gabrielle tried to use that moment to gain the upper hand, but I deflected his attack and tried to tie him up with my yo-yo. Chat Noir followed my lead and used various furniture items to cause harm to his dad. This isn't an akuma attack, I wonder if any of this will actually clean up?

I continued fighting with my partner, knowing that it was slowing down Gabrielle. We stopped to catch our breaths and he threw his cane up towards the skylight, it shattering above us and revealing a massive swarm of butterflies. So that's where all of the akumas are housed.

We dodged the falling pieces of glass and waited for Gabrielle to come out of the wreckage to ambush us, but he didn't. The swarm of white butterflies made a circle around us and one black one started to float down.

"Marinette..." Adrien's stressed voice started. It felt weird to hear him call me by my name in this form, but Hawkmoth already knew. "You didn't by any chance cleanse your own akuma before you lost your miraculous, did you?"

I shook my head no and started to swing my yo-yo to get in my usual form, but that's when Gabrielle jumped through the wall of butterflies and stopped me. My yo-yo went straight up but wasn't prompted to capture the akuma. Instead, the akuma touched it immediately and my thoughts stopped being my own.