Maribug Split

Chapter 31: The Essence of a Hero

The police dispersed the crowd, turning back anyone who tried to get past the first row of buildings. They evacuated the buildings themselves long before Chat Noir arrived at the scene. The fight between Chat Noir and The Protestor damaged them, littering the streets with glass, bricks, and metal. By the end of the fight, the place was deserted. 

One of the two remaining people was a young red-haired reporter, too worried about her heroes to worry about her own wellbeing. Alya got to the river before Chat arrived. When cars began flying, sanity kicked in and she hid under the bridge. She heard the constant fighting above, but could not see it. Curiosity drove her up a few steps, only to rush back down at the sound of destruction above. She could hear Nino’s voice in her head telling her to stay put and out of the line of fire.

The fight between Chat and The Protestor was noisy, so Alya looked up in surprise when everything went deathly quiet. After a minute of bouncing on her toes, Alya ran up the stairs, her phone leading the way as usual. She ducked behind the wall when she spotted someone on the other side of the river. She peeked over the side and gasped at watching Hawkmoth stand within Chat’s personal space. Chat looking down, cowered before the villain. The akuma watched from the side, tense as a spring. No stranger to filming Ladybug and Chat, Alya had a zoom lens attached to her phone. Hawkmoth’s face filled the frame of her phone, his stern expression obvious, even with the gray mask hiding most of his face. Hawkmoth did the talking while Chat looked abased.

Before she could move, a light passed along Chat’s body, replacing Chat with a young blond with a familiar profile. Alya panicked when he grabbed his own ring. She was running onto the bridge when Adrien pulled off his Miraculous.

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“Goodbye Plagg. I’m going home.” Adrien pulled the ring off and Plagg ceased to exist.

The silver ring hovered an inch from the end of his finger. Adrien stared at the spot where Plagg floated a second before. The sudden disappearance of his close friend gave Adrien pause. He will miss him. He has been his friend and companion for many years and losing him was already forming a hole in his heart. His hand closed over the ring, clasping it safely in his palm. What was he -

“Adrien.”

Adrien looked up at his father. His blue eyes pale, almost gray. Adrien has rarely looked his father in the eyes, lowering his own gaze during most of their conversations. He could not recall if the eyes were as pale in his father’s civilian form or was it the Miraculous that took away the color. Was the Miraculous controlling his father as it did Marinette? 

“Adrien,” his father repeated. “I am waiting for you to join me and be a useful part of the family.”

His father will fill the hole forming in his heart. His father will reward him and shower him with love. Adrien will be the perfect son and will not fail.

Adrien moved the hand clasping the ring above his father’s open palm.  

“Adrien, no!” a female shout broke through his daze.

He pulled his hand back and looked for the source of the shout. To his amazement, it came from a young woman dressed in her distinctive red and black outfit. The sight of Ladybug running toward them took his breath away. She came. She came! 

“Don’t do this,” Ladybug called as she ran from one car to another, keeping a car between herself and Hawkmoth. “You are Chat Noir, the hero. You are Paris’s last hope. Don’t give up, fight him.”