Miraculous Story

Part 28

Marinette couldn't possibly have heard Adrien correctly. It sounded like he said that he was going to... no, that couldn't be right.

"What did you just say?" she asked him.

He repeated himself. "I need to give the Miraculous to Hawkmoth."

Marinette shook her head, moving away from him. "Wh... what are you talking about? Why would you do that?"

Adrien tried to grab her hand but she pulled it away from him. "Marinette, please don't get upset. I'll explain..."

"Well then explain!" she yelled.

"This is the power that Hawkmoth has been after this whole time. We can make a deal with him. We can give him that Miraculous in exchange for the Butterfly Miraculous. Then this will all be over. He won't have to terrorize Paris anymore. Everyone will be safe!"

Marinette stared at him flabbergasted. "How do you know that's what he's after?"

Adrien tilted his head slightly as tears came to his eyes. "He told me," he said quietly.

She shook her head again. "And why are you talking to him?" she asked. Tears made their way to her eyes too.

Adrien tried to move closer to her but she backed away. He didn't say anything.

"Why are you talking to him?" Marinette asked again. "Are you working with him now?"

"No Marinette, of course not! I would never betray you like that. I just, I found out who he really is, and he told me why he was doing this."

"You know who he is?" she asked.

He nodded.

"And you didn't tell me?"

"I'm sorry," Adrien said, tears falling down his face. Once again he tried to get closer.

"Don't touch me," Marinette said, moving away and standing up. "I need to go," she said turning around.

"Marinette, don't go!" he pleaded, following her to the windows.

"Tikki, spots on!" She transformed into Ladybug and reached for her yo-yo. Adrien grabbed her hand and spun her around. She tried to pull away from him.

"He's my father," Adrien said.

Ladybug froze. After a moment she looked up at him. "What?" she whispered.

"My father. My father is Hawkmoth."

Ladybug shook her head. "No, it can't be."

"It's him. And Nathalie is Mayura. He told me Saturday night. That's why I was so upset."

"Adrien," Ladybug said. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry." She reached out and hugged him. "I'm so sorry."

They held each other until Adrien pulled back. "I'm sorry Marinette," he said.

"Don't be sorry. It's okay," she said, putting her hand to his cheek. Her eyes widened. "Does he know who you are?"

Adrien shook his head.

"Does he know who I am?"

He shook his head again.

Ladybug breathed a sigh of relief. "Spots off." She detransformed. "Okay, we can deal with this. Everything's going to be okay."

************************************

Marinette left for Rio de Janeiro that night. She knew the neighborhood where she would find the Guardian, but Rio was a crowded city and she didn't speak any Portguese.

It was still late afternoon when she arrived. Just as she expected, there were tons of people on the street where the monks told her to look.

"Oi moça!" a teenage boy yelled out at her as she walked by. "Você está perdida?" The boy ran up to her.

"Thaís?" Marinette asked. Thaís was the name of the person she was searching for. Hopefully this boy knew who she was.

"Thaís? Eu pareço Thaís para você?" He moved closer trying to put his arm around her shoulder.

Marinette moved out of his reach.

The boy smiled at her. "Qual é o problema, querida? Eu acho que você vai se divertir mais comigo do que com Thaís." He quickly moved towards her again and grabbed her by the waist.

She immediately grabbed his wrist and twisted his arm outwards and back, forcing him to yelp in pain. Marinette might not have been as strong or as fast as Ladybug, but she had learned a thing or two from her time being a superhero.

"Desculpa, desculpa!" the boy shouted as Marinette held onto his wrist. "Solte-me! Eu não vou mais incomodá-lo!"

"O que esta acontecendo aqui, Claudio?" a woman asked, walking up to the boy and Marinette.

"Thaís!" he responded, "Essa moça é maluca!"

Marinette spun around to look at the woman. "You're Thaís?" she asked.

The twenty-something brunette woman looked at her and smiled. "Ah, a foreigner," she said in perfect French.

"You speak French?" Marinette asked incredulously.

"It's one of my many talents. Now what's going on here?"

"Sorry, but he tried to grab me," Marinette explained, letting go of the boy's arm.

"I figured as much," Thaís said before turning back to Claudio. "Saia daqui! Antes de eu contar à sua mãe o que você tem feito!" The boy ran off.

"Thaís, you're the person I'm looking for. I need your help."

"You need my help?" she laughed. "It seems like you can handle yourself pretty well."

"I need to borrow something from you."

"And what exactly do you need to borrow?" Thaís asked, intrigued.

"Something... um, very special." Marinette paused, hoping that Thaís understood what she was talking about. She just stared at her, confused. Marinette continued "Something super important, something... miraculous?"

The brunette gasped. "Come with me," she said, turning and walking away.

Marinette followed her as she entered a house and walked up the stairs. Thaís led her into a room and closed the door behind them. "Okay, who are you and how do you know who I am?" she demanded.

"My real name isn't important. But I'm sure that you've heard of my alter-ego, Ladybug."

Her mouth dropped open. "You're Ladybug?" she asked excitedly. "The Ladybug? From Paris?"

"Yes," Marinette replied.

Thaís ran over and hugged her. "This is so amazing! I can't believe that I'm meeting the real Ladybug! The Guardian of the strongest Miracle Box in the world!" She moved back. "This is the greatest day of my life! Is your kwami here too?"

Tikki popped out of Marinette's bag. "Hello Thaís, I'm Tikki."

Thaís squealed. "This is Raana, of the Flamingo Miraculous." A bright pink kwami appeared by her side. The two kwamis embraced each other.

"Thaís, we're going to need your help," Marinette said.

"Yes, of course Ladybug. Whatever you need! Oh wait, you said that you needed to borrow a Miraculous? But why?"

"We need it to defeat Hawkmoth."

Thais's mouth dropped open again. "You need one of my Miraculouses to defeat Hawkmoth?" She started dancing around the room.

Marinette looked over at Tikki. "Well this is going better than I expected."