Miraculous Team ✔️

1

Paris was a dream.

Cobbled streets under bicycle tires, every pedal guiding you further into the city of love. Where watercolor strokes of an artist's dream sprawled across every flat surface— every structure. Where dozens of bridges leap from one quay to the next. It was marveling, truly. The air lingered with the aroma of pastries.

Marinette was used to the homeliness, used to the childish freedom and the playful skip in each step.

However, dark events have turned the city on its head. Cold hearts tormented the Parisians like puppets and prey. Day after week after month.

Today was undoubtedly the worst.

Battles weren't victory after victory. It was merely a gamble. How long can you stay on your feet before the wind is knocked out of you? How much blood till you're nauseous? How many sleepless nights till the prospect of giving up devoured you?

Marinette watched as Hawk Moth closed up on her. A lump rose in her airway and her heart pounded against her ribcage.

Tikki laid shivering in her palms.

This is how it ends.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng. I never thought it would have been you," Hawkmoth noted snidely.

Marinette gulped down every sob that bubbled up her throat, using all the strength she had left to push herself away from Hawkmoth.

"Get away from her!" Alya screamed, "Marinette!"

Nino seized his girlfriend by the arm, tears threatening to fall. Chloe was a few feet away, unconscious, her chest heaving up and down slowly.

Adrien crouched next to her, at a loss for words, trying to stomach the realization that all this time it was his classmates he was fighting alongside.

"Give me your earrings," Hawkmoth demanded, thrusting his staff at her.

"No..." Marinette could barely speak.

"Fine. I guess we'll do it the hard way." Hawkmoth grabbed hold of Marinette's neck and pinned her to the ground. In the struggle, Hawkmoth managed to take off her earrings, tearing at the cartilage in the process.

Tikki disappeared from her hands.

As Hawkmoth stood up, someone launched himself at him from the side and they collapsed onto the ground.

Adrien...

Hawkmoth gave his son a powerful shove until he realized he needed his ring. He gripped his delicate wrist and paused when he saw that there wasn't a silver of a ring to be found.

"I hid it," Adrien raged before pulling away from Hawkmoth's grasp, "You'll never find it. Never get your absolute power. Give me back the earrings!"

"I need it," Hawkmoth answered lamely, taking a step back before the boy could plan another attack, "Till next time... Cat Noir."

Son.

He tapped his staff against the cement ground and a cloud of butterflies performed his escape.

With his lungs contracting painfully, Adrien willed his eyes to focus. A majority of Paris was in shambles after the attack, chunks of debris covering the streets and damaging shops.

And Ladybug isn't there to fix it. The ladybug miraculous was gone.

Ladybug!

Adrien quickly whipped around to face Marinette. Confusion swarmed in his head, but he forced his priorities in order and held his hand out for her to use as leverage. She shook her head in response and shakily rose to her feet herself.

"M'la— I mean, Mari." Adrien mentally slapped himself. "Let me help you."

Marinette couldn't bring herself to even look at him. Way too many secrets were out— they weren't supposed to find out this way.

Alya sprinted towards them, Nino a few feet behind with Chloe in his arms.

"Girl... oh my god, girl." Alya tried hugging her best friend without adding pressure to her wounds.

"We have to go..." Marinette winced, "the press would be here soon."

Nino shook his head. "Forget about the press. I bet fifty people have already seen us detransform."

His sentence was confirmed as the group heard a gasp from a woman who was hiding behind a tipped-over truck.

"Adrien!" Plagg called.

The kwamis flew out of hiding.

Adrien quickly reached into his bag and took out the lunch box that was originally meant for school. "I don't have cheese," Adrien said apologetically, "but eat up."

They needed to regroup, to get to safety.

Carapace held Chloe in his arms as he moved through Paris with Rena next to him. Chat was a bit further up ahead, carrying his lady in his arms.

Marinette was slipping in and out of consciousness, groaning softly in frustration. Her civilian form was not used to the wind whipping against her face and the velocity of their movements.

"Relax Mari," She heard Chat whisper as he leaped from roof to roof.

When Marinette woke up, she found herself lying on a mat on the floor. The pillow she was rested on was stained with the blood from her torn earlobe.

The room was empty except for a high chair in the corner and a few framed photos of a baby with blonde hair and green eyes. Her brain was foggy, but Marinette's eyes widened nonetheless when she recognized that the baby was Adrien.

Her hands curled into fists, remorse seeping into her bones.

How could she possibly face him again? After rejecting Chat and failing to protect her miraculous? She lost at a cost far more intimidating than death and she wasn't ready to face the consequences.

Marinette carefully picked herself up, flinching slightly and testing out which foot she was better off putting her weight on.

Where was she? Where was everyone?