When Walls Crumble

Chapter 4: Open Eyes

By the time she got there, Cat was screwed. His baton had been erased and he was near the edge, the ground steadily disappearing near his feet. Viperion was sneaking behind, but not sure what to do. She landed in a spot where Cat could see her but Evillustrator couldn't. Her eyes met his and she saw the worry melt off his face, replaced by his traditional cocky attitude.

"Any last words, kitty?" Evillustrator asked.

Cat looked up at her and winked. Then he replaced his gaze on Nathaniel. "Nah, I'm good. You?"

It took a few seconds for Nathaniel to process it. "What? You insufferable..." he trailed off muttering and erased the rest of the ground at Cat's feet. He free-fell towards the ground, but he wasn't panicked. He assumed a sky-diving position and angled himself so he fell towards the side where Ladybug stood. She launched her yo-yo and caught him, swinging him back up and setting him down right next to her.

"Whatever will you do without me, kitty?" she asked, a mock tone of exasperation lacing her voice.

He grinned. "What were you worried about, m'lady? A cat always lands on its feet!"

"Ladybug!" Nathaniel growled. "I should have known!" He turned down towards his wrist, no doubt to draw some new threat, but he hadn't counted on Viperion. His turn towards Ladybug had put him directly in front of the bush where Luka was hiding. The second he looked down, Luka, with the speed and agility of a snake (as was appropriate) snatched the pencil and broke it in half.

"What the..? No!!" he shouted as he morphed back into his civilian self. Ladybug immediately cleansed the Akuma, but without his powers, Nathaniel could no longer fly over the abyss he had made. He began to free fall.

"Lucky charm!" Ladybug cried, jumping down after him. As she dove down to him, she caught a stage flight harness from her magic creation supply. Quickly slipping it around Nathaniel, she took the support cable in one hand and used the other to throw her yo-yo around the nearest car of the Eiffel Tower, swinging their trajectory back up and landing on the remains of the top. Nathaniel fell to the floor on all fours. Ladybug gently undid the harness strap and helped him up. She tossed the harness into the sky with her trademark shout: "Miraculous Ladybug!"

"Pound it!" All three superheroes shouted in unison. Luka's bracelet flashed. He only had a minute left. Cat hadn't used his cataclysm, so he had all the time in the world. Ladybug had just used her lucky charm and still had five minutes.

Cat looked at Viperion. "We need to go now. I need the miraculous back."

Luka nodded made to jump down. Then his eyes fell on the rooftop where he had left Marinette. She wasn't there and there was no way down. Something must have happened to her. Anxiety closed his throat and he could barely breathe.

"N-no...she..."

"Viperion?" Cat asked, noticing the color drain from his face.

"Marinette. I left her right there and she's gone! There's no way for her to get down from there. She might have fallen! We have to go and..."

"Hey," Ladybug said in her best soothing voice. "My Miraculous Ladybug fixes things back to the way they were before. Maybe it put her back to where she was before."

He turned, still rather panicked towards Cat Noir. "Can I..." he stopped himself. Cat Noir had trusted him with the miraculous and he wasn't going to break the trust. He trusted Ladybug, but he wasn't sure her powers could fix irreversible things like death. "If she's dead then..."

Cat seemed to realize what he was worried about. "Oh don't worry! I've actually died a couple of times in the fight and Ladybug's power has always brought me back. The times with Timebreaker and Gamer 2.0...I'm sure if she did die, she'd be back now."