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Adrien sat in the grass cross-legged, hands balled into fists clutching at the grass in front of him, tears cascading down his cheeks. In front of him was a bouquet of red roses, next to the gravestone of his late wife, Marinette. It wasn't the anniversary of her death, but simply a day where he woke up from a nightmare, and felt worse when he reached to the other side of the bed, only to find it empty, a reminder that his wonderful wife had passed half a year prior.
His nightmare had been horrifying, playing out a scene in his mind that had been plaguing him for years. Ever since he'd found out who Ladybug was, which had been when they were seventeen, he had had that dream over and over again.
He would be fighting Hawk Moth, when the villain's staff would smack him away and against a wall, then he'd advance on Ladybug and take her earrings away. He would then take Chat Noir's ring, and put it with the earrings, making a wish so horrible, the end of the world would come with it.
Of course, when the final battle did come, it wasn't like that. Adrien remembered every detail of the fight, down to the moment he panicked as Ladybug had crumpled to the ground. Through his teary eyes, Adrien stared at the gravestone ahead of him. It said she died when a gang member beat her to death. It wasn't too far off.
The memories then came flooding back to Adrien, as they had throughout the day.
Hawk Moth was Gabriel Agreste, Adrien's father, and there he was, fighting him without knowing that the young man he was cursing at was his own son. Not that it mattered, it only fueled Adrien to fight harder.
Marinette, transformed, crashed through the glass keeping Hawk Moth's lair from the world, rolling to a crouch once she landed. Mayura met her there, fighting her for a few minutes before she was able to push the villain away and left Mayura clutching her arm as she slid down the opposite wall. Then Marinette turned her attention to Adrien and Hawk Moth. Adrien glanced at her for a second too long, and was slammed against the stomach, flying in the air until he crashed against a wall, the air getting knocked out of his and his vision becoming fuzzy.
Mayura snapped out of her pain, rushing to him and grabbing something to tie his hands together. With his darkening vision and the room spinning around him, he wasn't able to do much other than swat at her aimlessly before his arms were bound. He struggled against the tight bounds to no avail.
"Chat--!" Marinette called out to him.
But she was distracted, and Hawk Moth took the chance to beat her with his staff. She cried out in pain, turning around to shield herself with her yoyo. However, as she did so, Hawk Moth grabbed her yoyo and yanked it out of her grasp, sending her flying across the lair with it.
She landed on the ground with a thud, yelping, her yoyo out of reach. Despite his hazy vision, Adrien saw something dark flash across Hawk Moth's eyes. Something took hold of him, and he let it control him, raising his staff above his head and letting it come down full force on Marinette. Over and over again. Even with the super suit, the staff caused damage.
Marinette's cries and screams slowly subsided to whimpers, then finally, silence. It was then that the struggle against whatever bound him together was less futile, for he gathered his bearings enough to call out for his Cataclysm, freeing himself. He ran toward Hawk Moth before he could grab the ladybug miraculous, tackling him.
It was then that authorities and the Ladyblog caught up with what was happening. Before Adrien did anything rash or out of anger. Before he could make Gabriel Agreste regret what he did.
The butterfly and peacock miraculous had been given to Adrien, who took them before disappearing into the night. His father and Nathalie were arrested that night, and not long after, charges for all sorts of crimes were proven guilty in court. Finding his mother, Emelie Agreste, in a glass coffin in a basement garden didn't help the criminals at all. The two adults would be in jail for the rest of their lives.
Adrien snapped out of it, trying to shake away the echo of Marinette's wails and whimpers in his mind. He tried to forget the diary he'd found, the one that had pages written to him at the end, writing that he read aloud that made him the new guardian. It had hit him like a truck full of bricks, knowing that he would take on Marinette's job because she was dead because of him. He knew he wasn't worthy, but he took on the responsibility.
It was all his fault. Her death was all, completely, utterly, his fault. If he hadn't gotten distracted, if he had acted faster, if his damn mind wouldn't have gotten so foggy, he could have saved her. Or he could have at least been the one dying instead. He was the one with the bad luck, he was the one meant to protect her, and he was the one who should have died.
As endless tears streamed down his cheeks, he felt something light flutter against the hands balled into fists in the grass. Sniffling, he opened his glistening eyes, using a hand to wipe his tears away to see more clearly. On his other hand was a butterfly, the same color as Marinette's eyes. An unexplainable feeling ran through him, his heart pounding in his chest as he thought to himself that the butterfly on his hand, was communication from Marinette.
There was no way to explain it. He just knew, from looking at the blue butterfly, glancing at the gravestone, and staring at the sky, that this was Marinette reassuring him of something. He knew in his heart, from that, that she was somewhere, letting him know that she didn't blame him.
As the butterfly flew away, a small weight was lifted off his chest. He knew in his very soul that Marinette didn't blame him for her death. And even if he still blamed himself, he would keep reminding himself that she didn't, and that was what mattered.