Keep the Mask, It Goes With Your Costume

~Chapter Seventeen: The Offer~

The hero awoke, starstruck. The last thing she could remember was Cat Noir pulling her close and then plunging something into her back, then evening went dark.  She looked around, she had no idea where it was but it was.....beautiful. There were lush green bushes and trees, with a fluorescent vanilla colored light surrounding her, but especially coming from a white glass case in front of her, unfortunately from the angle she was positioned it was difficult to see what was inside.

She tried to take a step closer to it but as she moved her foot there was a clatter near the ground. She looked down to see she was chained up at her feet, and only took at second after that to realize her hands were chained together behind her back as well.

Her eyes shifted direction when there was a bustle coming from a group of bushes a few yards away from her, and hundreds of gorgeous white butterflies flew out and circled the air. Her eyes widened in awe as she looked up to watch them fill the ceiling of the room above her. She was so distracted she didn't even realize why they flew up, and who was coming.

But then it hit her.

She knew exactly where she was.

And by the time she looked back down, a figure of Hawkmoth was pacing slowly down the long walkway straight in front of her.

Ladybug realized in that moment what happened, Cat Noir betrayed her. He gave her away to Hawkmoth.

She was so angry with Cat Noir, but that wouldn't solve anything now. Since Hawkmoth didn't look very hostile, she decided to not get angry at him lest he attack, after all he had a weapon and she was chained up. As he nearly approached her, she spoke calmly. 

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised" she said with almost a hint of a smirk, knowing she should have seen the coming. "So what did you offer him in return?"

Hawkmoth chuckled seeing that Ladybug seemed to be in relatively good light about the situation.

"Something I clearly didn't have, but he was too desperate to realize his fault."

"And what is that?" she asked with one raised eyebrow.

"I offered him the one and only Marinette Dupain-Cheng" he told her, looking right into her eyes to see her reaction, then he continued, "but you know probably better than anyone that I don't have her." He smirked then let out another snicker, "actually, I guess I do now" he motioned with his arm toward the chains tying up Ladybug.

The reaction was better than he expected, her breath froze and she stared dead at him, eyes wide, she opened her mouth to speak but she couldn't utter a single word. Hawkmoth laughed at her, she shook her head to process his words and catch herself to speak again.

She didn't even want to bother trying to change his mind or convince him that she wasn't Marinette. He knew.

"H...how did you find out?" she scarcely managed to verbalize.

Hawkmoth took a breath in "Marinette, aren't you wondering why I haven't taken your miraculous yet?!"

She nodded her head, not because she had been wondering that, she actually hadn't, but because she wanted him to finish his statement.

"Your miraculous is broken." He spoke sharply "only you can take it off."

He was silent for a moment.

"And once you take it off, you can't be Ladybug again for at least a year looking at the size of that crack. Obviously, you would have no choice but to stay transformed with akumas still being released, without Ladybug the city would be in peril. Wouldn't it?"

She nodded again, this time in agreement with what he said.

"And so for Ladybug to stay a hero, the girl underneath would have to disappear........ Marinette there's only one girl in Paris who recently disappeared, and that would be you."

Neither of them spoke. Ladybug felt guilty because she was really, really glad that someone finally understood her. It had been a long time since a person completely comprehended her situation, and it felt so good to not have to hide anything. Even if Hawkmoth was her greatest enemy, she was secretly kind of glad he knew. She blinked and a single tear fell. She decided to try to change the subject.

"So Cat Noir just agreed? Does he hate me that much?" She said, holding back more tears.

"Well..you know me Ladybug, I pulled a few strings, I told a few fibs. But yes, he agreed without much hesitation." Hawkmoth was almost starting to have a tiny bit of sympathy for Marinette. Not only was she a struggling teenager who gave up her entire life for this city, but she was friends with his own son. He wanted to be nice because he truly didn't want to force Marinette to give him her miraculous, he wanted her to give it up easily so she wouldn't have to live miserably. And he knew how much Adrien missed Marinette, he'd hate to hurt her, Gabriel just wanted Marinette to live a normal life again, Adrien would be so excited if she returned.

"Hawkmoth I-" Ladybug stuttered and sighed, letting a couple more tears fall "you know I can't give you my miraculous."

"Why not Marinette?" He said compassionately "I will let you go, no harm done. Please Marinette I don't want to hurt you, think of your old life, think of your friends and how they miss you, think of how lonely you've been ever since you were trapped, I know you told your parents, but do they really understand? Let's face it Ladybug, no one misses you, no one in this city still cares for you, not even Cat Noir. But everyone, everyone misses Marinette, be that person that brings light to people's faces again when you walk by."

Marinette looked away, she didn't want him to realize she was crying because his offer was so tempting. She wanted to live a normal life again so badly.

But she couldn't. There would always be a price. She already agreed long ago to give up her old life to be a hero, and she wouldn't go back to it until Hawkmoth was gone.

Hawkmoth sighed at her hesitance to reply, so he offered even more.

"Ladybug I-.....this isn't the first time I've dealt with a broken miraculous. The peacock miraculous was broken too. Since that miraculous is much less powerful than the Ladybug one, Mayura was still able to transform, but it was draining her, and I believe slowly killing her. After the guardian left, Mayura managed to steal his tablet which had instructions to fix the miraculous. Now Mayura is able to transform without any problem." He told her.

"Why are you telling me this?" Ladybug asked.

"Because Ladybug, I can fix your miraculous. If you give it to me, I will fix it, make my wish, and return it to you. No strings attached." He told her completely honestly.

For some reason Ladybug really believed him. Just a couple minutes ago Hawkmoth admitted to lying to Cat Noir, but this time he seemed really honest.

"What are you going to wish for? How do I know you're not going to wish for ultimate power or to take over Paris?" She asked him. He sighed, Ladybug could tell it made him uncomfortable and he didn't want to answer, but she had to know if she was even going to consider his offer. He took a moment and didn't answer immediately.

"I miss someone very much Ladybug. All I wish is for her to be here, then I won't need any power, I'll even give you back my miraculous. You won't need to worry about lost miraculous or akumas or being a superhero ever again Marinette, please consider. I don't want to cause you any harm I believe this is the easiest way for us to both get what we want." He convinced her, hoping she would agree and he could let her go unharmed. Ladybug was still hesitant.

"I.....I'll think about it." She told him, and with that he nodded and walk back down the long hallway, and up the elevator.

The white butterflies slowly stopped their flapping and gathered back into the bushes.

And they were still.

And the quiet sound of sniffles and falling tears was all that could be heard.