Flashes: Miraculous Ladybug (complete)

An Avalanche

"Cat Noir, you are under arrest for the murder of the Patston family."

"What?!?" He yelped, staring in disbelief at his bound hands. Ladybug's head was reeling.

"Sir, I don't understand. Cat Noir is not a killer!"

Something like sympathy flickered across the officer's face. "I want to believe you, but visual evidence was turned in. Even if you're telling the truth, there's nothing I can do."

The two heroes followed his gaze to a large police-van-type thing, that looked as though it was designed for transporting dangerous criminals. The pit in Ladybug's stomach grew bigger.

"But..." Cat Noir protested weakly, sounding years younger than he was. "...I would never... hurt anyone..."

Sabrina's dad turned, and Cat Noir gave him a pleading look. "I don't have to go in there, do I?"

The sympathy returned for a brief moment. "I'm sorry son. It's out of my hands."

Ladybug winced, knowing that being called "son" was probably a direct attack to her partner, but the officer wouldn't know that.

A couple more police officers came up to them, leading Cat Noir towards the truck. Ladybug snapped out of her daze.

"Wait!" She called, darting forward. They turned to her. The girl threw her arms around her partner's neck, hugging him. The boy flinched. After a moment he returned the hug as best he could with bound hands, and she felt him shaking. Ladybug resisted the urge to cry.

Then he was being led away, trying desperately to keep her in view. She turned to Sabrina's dad.

"The truth will come forward, right?" She asked. He nodded.

"The boy will be treated fairly. If he's innocent, he'll be released in no time." She was quiet, watching the situation helplessly.

Wait. Maybe there was something she could do. Ladybug spun around. "I have a few urgent requests, can you pass them on?"

He was confused, but agreeable.

"This is important. Keep his hand-- the one with the ring-- where he can't reach anything."

"Why?"

She hesitated. "I don't want him to use Cataclysm on himself," she admitted in a low voice. The officer's eyes widened.

"...o-okay, is there anything else?"

Ladybug looked over to her partner again, racking her brain.

"Just... be good to my Kitty, okay? Do whatever you can. Right now, so many awful things are happening to him, he doesn't deserve this... I'm doing what I can, but I'm afraid."

She closed her eyes, trying not to rant. "Please, try to help however you're able. Any little thing makes a difference."

The officer gazed over at Cat Noir, a mixture of sad, guilty, and surprised. Ladybug could guess why. They were heroes, it was probably difficult to imagine a normal person under the mask. Even harder to imagine that the hero might be broken.

"...I'll do my best."

~*~

Marinette detransformed and ran downstairs. Her parents were in front of the TV. When they turned to her, she saw on their faces that they knew.

"How could this happen?" Sabine asked in a whisper.

Marinette shook her head mutely. Her eyes caught on the TV screen, where the news was being broadcast, and she couldn't tear them away. She was still trying to process what had happened. When she thought about Cat Noir's room being empty for who knows how long, or of her partner caged up somewhere, she felt it like a knife to her chest.