Shadow of Noir

Chapter 9- Lost and Found

Ladybug perched on the glass sky-light looking into the warehouse. Antique wood panels were stacked against the walls of the glass-roofed warehouse just as Nathalie said. Removing a loose panel from the glass frame, Ladybug slowly grappled down into the warehouse. The floor was ice cold, and a thick fog of dust filled the air making it almost impossible to breath. 

Taking it slow was Ladybug's best bet  to avoid informing anyone to her presence. As she snuck around the warehouse, faint sounds and whispers echoed around the building. Some of them could have passed as human, others were distorted and... un-natural. Chains clang together like she was in a medieval prison; each time getting louder and louder. Could it be Adrien? Was he here this whole time? Had he been chained up while akumatized with no help?

One final turn revealed Adrien's fate. 

Bright beams of sunlight seeped through the glass panes and hollow frames in the sky-light, illuminating Chat Noir. He dawn a snow white, skin-tight leather suit with a matching belt for a tail (even his bell and cat ears were white). But there was also Adrien... the person in the suit. Ladybug approached closer, hesitant despite the fact he was chained down. Adrien's hair had also turned as white as a marshmallow fresh out the packet. His skin was pale and deathly cold to the touch Ladybug found out as she stroked the poor Kitty's face. 

"Kitty, I'm here" Ladybug whispered as she pressed her forehead against his. 

He growled, a deep, aggressive growl like a wild animal defending its territory. "DON'T CALL ME THAT!" he paused, "The name is Chat Blanc."

Chat Blanc viciously tugged on the chains keeping him bound. Ladybug fell backwards all while Chat Blanc raised his head and stared deeply at her with his eyes. No more were the warm forest green eyes she'd gotten used to. In there place were eyes as blue and sharp as an icicle hanging from the corner of a building's roof; at risk of falling at any moment and impaling anyone unlucky enough to be beneath it. The akuma appeared stronger than any Ladybug and Chat Noir had battled before. With so much hate, anger, and despair combined with the power of the miraculous, Chat Blanc's power and strength was far superior. Ladybug raised to her feet and walked back towards Chat Blanc. The closer she got the more he resisted the chains. Once again Ladybug knelt down and placed her forehead against his, this time also placing both her hands on his cheeks. Her warm touch a blessing after being left, forgotten and abandoned. Calm, comfortable, cosy, Chat Blanc began to settle down. Ladybug carefully lowered one of her hands towards the bell around his neck hoping it was where the akuma was contained.  As Ladybug's fingertips touched the bell, Chat Blanc snapped back into his regular violent state. 

*Tssk* *tssk* *tssk* "looks like your kitty no longer likes you Ladybug." bellowed a figure in the shadows. 

He needn't emerge for Ladybug to know exactly who it was. "Hawkmoth!"

Ladybug wasn't fearful, she was vengeful. Chat Noir had been taken away from her and now was her chance to fight to get him back!

"What have you done to him!?", she got no reply, "Let him go!" 

Hawkmoth, now fully visible in the light, began to chuckle before blowing into full on laughter. 

"My dearest Ladybug... I can't", "You see, the akumatization occurred mid-miraculous transformation, meaning without his miraculous poor sweet Kitty will remain in a... sorta purgatory state forever."

Ladybug knew what had to be done and was prepared to face the challenge; Hawkmoth could see that. So, to increase the risk factor, he upped the ante. The purple silhouette of a butterfly shrouded the face of both Hawkmoth and Chat Blanc. Hawkmoth was regaining control over the defenceless anti-hero. 

"Chat Blanc I give you the infinite power of destruction." 

Growls, pants, and whimpers intensified as Chat Blanc endured his new found power. With his mega cataclysm fully charged the chains keeping the beast at bay screeched and groaned until they finally rusted away. Chat Blanc has been freed. Hawkmoth vanished through the skylight, therefore leaving Chat Blanc to finish the job. Now he was going to make Ladybug suffer for all the pain and suffering he went through. A burning desire to inflict his emotional torment onto Ladybug was killing him on the inside like a knife slowly being dragged up his spine until he was left completely paralysed and with no way to protect himself anymore. He couldn't accept that. He needed redemption.