Work Text:
Adrien gasped for breath, sitting upright in his bed.
Wait, he hadn't been in bed before. He had been fighting an akuma with-
Ladybug.
Where was she?!
Before his short and rapid thoughts could get any further, he heard the cool and collected voice of his father, "Ahh, Adrien. You're awake."
His father was sitting next to his bed...wait, not his bed. This was a hospital room.
Instinctive and discreet, he fingered the ring on his hand. It was still there.
"What...happened? Urhhm." he groaned, hand clutching at his suddenly pounding head. The cold silver of his ring was the only thing that helped him reopen his eyes to take in his father, and Nathalie, who had just entered the room.
"You were in an accident, Adrien. Do you remember what happened?"
'Accident? Yes...yes I remember.'
"A fire."
That was all he physically managed to get out. It felt as though something was blocking his speech. His tongue felt heavy and dry in his mouth. While he could mostly think like normal, despite the sharp aching pain in his head, he was having insistent troubles to control his mouth and make the phonetic sounds he'd known from childhood.
"Yes," his father replied, "there was a fire. You were caught inside a fire, and an explosion knocked you out."
Yes, that too sounded familiar. He remembered going into the building, with Ladybug, and somehow the building had caught fire.
No. Hawkmoth had been there, he'd lit up the building.
Fire had consumed the structure, a clothing store, all around them as they'd fought. Ladybug had said that they needed to get out. He had used his Cataclysm to clear a path, and then he remembered nothing.
Adrien swallowed the growing lump in his throat, "Chat Noir, Ladybug...are they alright?"
He watched as his father raised an eyebrow, "Chat...Noir? Adrien I fail to see what a black cat has to do with a fire."
He tried again, with difficulty, "The akuma. Wha-mm...what happened?"
Nathalie spoke, questioning, "Aku-ma? What is that?"
Now it was Adrien who rose his eyebrows, but not without a fair degree of pain. Had she never heard what they'd been called? No, she'd used the word before...
Gabriel placed a hand on the bed, dark circles revealing themselves under his eyes, "Son, do you feel alright?"
He turned to his assistant, "Nathalie, go get the nurse."
Returning attention to his son, he asked him, "Adrien, you were caught in a fire. An explosion gave you a massive concussion. We-"
His father looked down, his voice a pitch lower this time, "I thought that I'd lost you."
After a quiet moment, Gabriel spoke again, "But I have no idea who these, Ladybug and Chat Noir people are."
Adrien was taken aback, eyes darting around the room,
"No idea?" he parroted back.
Gabriel looked at his son with concern, "Whomever you're talking about...they're not real, Adrien."
The nurse walked in, a woman he recognized actually. Just last week...plus however long he'd been unconscious, he'd watched as Ladybug swooped in to save her from a flying bus. The woman had been so grateful that she'd insisted they take pieces of her hobby, small paintings no bigger than a wallet photo. The detail in it had been so exquisite and fine, that he was surprised she wasn't painting professionally.
He smiled with the memory's warmth, "How's your painting going?"
Not a second later he realized his mistake. He was Adrien in that moment, only Chat Noir should have known that.
Without missing a beat though, she smiled fondly and replied, "Oh it's going great! I finished two new pieces since your friend saved me."
There it was, his proof that he wasn't crazy.
"Yes that's right," Gabriel said, "Adrien, wasn't it your friend, Miss Dupain-Cheng, that saved her from that bus?"
Adrien glared at his father with curiosity, "No, it was Ladybug."
Everyone in the room seemed to be surprised at his answer. He couldn't imagine why, it had even been in the news.
The nurse spoke, "Lady-who? It was Marinette who saved me."
Nathalie spoke to the nurse hurriedly, "Perhaps you should get the doctor."
Just as quickly, the nurse nodded and left the room.
Gabriel stood as the door opened, revealing a hospital corridor and staff moving this way and that, to wherever they were needed.
Once again, softer and more coddling than he'd ever heard his father, "Adrien, whatever fantasy this is that you've concocted, it's not real."
Not real? No that can't be...
Gabriel continued, "It was Marinette whom you went into that department store with, not this Ladybug character."
The doctor walked in, nurse following frantically. Adrien was feeling more and more like a cornered animal. Almost on instinct, he stood on the bed, pulling the IV tube out along with the heart monitor leads.
The piercing yell of the EKG machine filled the room, and multiple people began speaking just as loudly.
"Adrien, sit down!"
"Sir, calm down."
"Adrien!"
Hyperventilating, he realized he was, and yet he was unconcerned with it. This whole life that he knew, that he'd loved since the first moment it'd began, a lie?
Unacceptable. He wouldn't accept it. No, something was wrong here. An akuma?
"Nurse! Sedate him, now!"
A beat, as the entire world went quiet for but a second.
A second in which Adrien saw a small black flash run past his eyes.
A second in which every atom of his body screamed, and he knew the truth.
"Plagg! Claws out!"
He watched, during his transformation, as his father's eyes widened into a filthy scowl, and he heard the man, growling and dampened, yell out,
"NO!"
The green flash filled the room, and the entire room was on its heels. Adrien watched as his father fell backwards, two red dots tumbling out of the man’s pocket.
Whether by divine luck or charmed fate, he was on them in a second, making certain he felt the dual pricks of the two earrings in his left hand before taking another singular, lengthy stride, and being at the room's exit.
He peered down the hallway, only to see that the facade ended a mere 8 meters in either direction. Past that stood what appeared to be an empty warehouse. Everyone in the hallway stood stock-still, staring at him like dead fish.
Behind him, a purple flash. The hairs on his neck stood, as he saw Hawkmoth in the flesh for the second time.
Nathalie and the doctor stood in awe of the scene, and the nurse cowered in the corner, sobbing. His mind, now returned to its quick and decisive state via the transformation, saw the situation for what it was.
His father had manipulated him, and not only him, but all the people standing around him, and Paris itself.
Ladybug.
He had to find her.
Turning his back on the false scene, he sprinted to the large metal door, closed.
But not for long.
"Nathalie, now!"
"Yes sir."
Adrien looked back for a second, still running to the door, as the fake doctors and nurses scattered. A black blob was standing next to Hawkmoth.
A black blob he'd seen everytime an akuma detransformed.
The truth was solidified in his mind, and he gave it no time to process. He knew what would happen when it was processed.
"Cataclysm!" he called with more anger rising in him than he had ever felt. Not bothering to slow down, Adrien blasted a hole into iron door, and didn't miss a beat as he hooked around a corner, flying into the heart of Paris.
He relied on pure instinct, sprinting into the city. Somewhere. He was running somewhere, he knew not where..
And wherever that somewhere was, Ladybug was there.
Before he knew it, he had arrived, to the place which called out to him.
To the person, which called out to him.
Climbing in the familiar window, he heard her voice and knew who was there.
"Chat Noir!"
She embraced him, and he let himself enjoy the fraction of respite. He held her back tightly, committing every inch of the feeling to memory. Quickly though, he held her back by her shoulders, and looked her in the eyes.
He grinned, as he saw Marinette staring back at him.
The grin broadened, as he held out his left hand, balled into a fist. He took Marinette's hand, and placed it under the fist.
"A present for you, my lady." he said, and dropped the jeweled earrings into her palm, "One that you've always deserved."
She gasped, and brought them close to her face in disbelief. Without haste, she put them into her empty earlobes. A red bug-mouse zipped out, and yelled with as much enthusiasm as the two teens held, "Marinette!"
"Tikki!" she yelled back, before hugging the kwamii to her cheek. When they let go, Adrien felt a swell, a mix of love and pride, surge in his chest.
Marinette grinned, and Tikki grinned back.
"Spots on!"
A pink flash, and Ladybug was before him, as he'd always known her. Again, she wrapped her arms around his neck tightly, and his arms came up around her waist.
When she pulled back, it was just enough to kiss his cheek, and whisper in his ear,
"Thank you, chaton."
A thud landed on the balcony above, and the fight of their lives was at their doorstep.
They didn't move, letting the moment last for as long as they could.
"Anytime, my lady."
The rooftop hatch opened, and a vaguely familiar head peeked in, spider-like fangs on either side of her mouth. The akuma hissed at them,
"There you ar-ACK! No! What have you done?!"
Their foreheads pressed together, as they grinned at each other. A moment Adrien would never forget.
Just as quickly, the contact was lost, but her touch still burned on his skin. It gave him the strength he needed to face down his demons, the energy to fight off the enemy, and most out of all;
It gave him balance.