When Walls Crumble

Chapter 38: Pyra

When Marinette re-assumed the mantle of Ladybug, she moved back in with her parents. She set up her online fashion company in her attic room and any time she needed to slip out as Ladybug, she brought Little Luka down to her mother under the pretense of needing to do her work without a four-year-old chaos storm going through her work.

Two years ago, Marinette had taken off both rings and threaded them on the chain with the ruby ladybug. Her mother had told her that the vows were 'til death do us part' for a reason and that she was no longer married, but Marinette didn't want to accept that. She still went by Marinette Couffaine, even after she took off the wedding ring. She was his child's mother, after all.

Little Luka was an incredibly smart little boy. He managed to figure out that Auntie Alya was Rena Rouge with no effort. He simply recognized her. It kind of scared Marinette and she took tremendous efforts to not let him see her as Ladybug or Adrian as Cat Noir.

But even those efforts could only last so long.

Celene D'Accore, a six-year-old girl woke up one night to a bright, hot, raging fire. A gas line leak and a carelessly placed lamp resulted in a deadly fire that spread across the apartment complex quickly.

Celene couldn't get out the door and the window was locked. Her screams went unheard. The fire was starting to catch on the door. She collapsed in the far corner of the room, crying.

"Marinette! Marinette!" Tikki shrieked, waking her up.

"What? What is it?"

"Fire! Down the block! Ladybug is needed!"

Marinette slipped out of bed and kissed Little Luka before slipping out onto the balcony and transforming.

Ladybug was on the scene in an instant, helping evacuate the building while the fire department tried in vain to put it out.

"My daughter!" a woman screamed. "She's still in there!"

Cat Noir arrived, following Ladybug into the building.

Before they could find Celene, the whole building collapsed. Cat Noir pushed them out of a window just in time.

A small figure wreathed in flames floated from the wreckage. Celene had been akumatized in her fear of the fire.

She clutched her flaming teddy bear to her chest and glared at the neighboring building. Looks really can kill when one is akumatized into a supernatural pyromaniac. Twin pillars of fire shot from her eyes, lighting the target up.

Ladybug didn't waste a second. She threw her yo-yo at the brainwashed girl, who dodged. Pyra continued throwing shots at the red and black heroine. She was too focused on her defense that she didn't realize what had transpired behind her until Cat Noir grabbed her and retreated.

"Cat Noir? What are you..."

His whispered voice screamed urgency. "The bakery was hit. They're trapped."

It was a good thing he was guiding her. When he said that, Marinette lost the ability to think as panic for her four-year-old son seized her.

They burst in through the second-story window. Tom and Sabine were standing on the landing there, staring up to the top floor. The staircase had collapsed. Cat Noir lowered them to the ground floor and kicked down the blocked door, allowing them out.

"Ladybug!" Sabine cried. "My daughter and grandson are still up there!"

Marinette choked back a sob and a lung-full of smoke.

"Don't worry, we'll get them," Cat Noir promised, partially to the Dupain-Chengs, but mostly to Marinette. "We'll save him. You always do."

He gripped her tightly and extended his pole, bursting through the trapdoor. Right as they stepped on the floor, it broke in between them.

Cat Noir's baton fell out of his hands, but before he fell far, he was jolted to a stop, pain exploding in his wrist and shoulder. He looked up to see Ladybug's yo-yo wrapped around his wrist.

She couldn't see if she got him in time or not. The ceiling collapsed between them, right on top of the string.

"Chat? Chat!?"

"I'm fine, m'lady. You?"

"It's stuck! I can't pull you up!"

Behind Marinette came a shrill cry of pain. "Mommy!" Little Luka screamed. She whirled, seeing that his bed had tipped over and her son was sitting on the corroded floor. Flames flickered between them.

"Is he okay?" called Cat Noir.

Marinette was sobbing. "I can't reach him! And the floor's going to collapse!"

"Are you stuck?"

"No, but the yo-yo is."

"Let go of it and get him!"

"Chat, no! You'll die!"

"I'll be fine! Save your son!"

"Don't make this a choice! I can't let either of you die!"

Cat Noir glanced down. There was a slight ledge sticking out a floor down. He could catch it...maybe.

"I'll be fine!"

"Chat, it's a four-story fall!"

"Get Luka!" he shouted, yanking his wrist out of her yo-yo. He reached for the ledge as he fell, but it ripped away with his momentum.

Marinette didn't have time to figure out what happened. She jumped through the flame wall and scooped up Luka. She leaped over the wreckage, jumping after Chat and catching the other end of her yo-yo. It retracted as the fourth floor crumbled away and she threw it, coming to a swinging halt at the ground level.

Cat Noir was lying, spread-eagled on the floor. His breathing was shallow and blood trickled down his temple. His blonde hair was nearly black from soot and his face was streaked with ashes and sweat. His green eyes locked weakly onto Marinette's face. The second she saw him, she rushed to him, cradling his head in her lap.

"You stupid cat, why did you do that?"

He smiled. "You had to save Luka. And I'm going to be fine. It just knocked the wind out of me, is all. Besides, once you capture her Akuma, I'll go back to normal. You can do it, Ladybug. I trust you. Just like you trusted me when you were akumatized. Go."

He reached up, wiping the tears from her face.

Marinette gritted her teeth and stood up. Luka looked at her, confused. "Mommy, why is he dead?"

She shushed him. "He's not dead and I'm going to fix him. Now let's..." she looked up, right at her parents' shocked faces.

"Marinette?" Sabine breathed.

She sighed and handed Luka to her mother. "Yeah. Keep him safe. Please."