Chapter Text
“Look out!”
Those were Chat Noir’s last words before being whacked in the head with a newly drawn boxing glove that had appeared from thin air. Or rather, from Nathaniel’s—now the Evillustrator’s—pen. He fell to the ground, muttering something unintelligible.
Ladybug turned back to the akuma. She could hardly picture the same akuma who’d just gone on a very sweet date with her no more than an hour ago. Hell, she could hardly picture Nathaniel Kurtzberg’s kind visage. Now he was hardened with anger and hatred and Hawkmoth’s influence, all mixing together to form something much more twisted and evil than she’d expected could possibly have once been her sweet classmate.
His pen pressed against the tablet.
Unspoken words ran through Ladybug’s mind, demands and questions and even an apology for her justified actions she knew in her heart would take a while for Nathaniel—or the Evillustrator—to recover from. She’d betrayed him, and as much as it needed to happen, the guilt still remained.
But her words died on her lips as actual buzzsaw blades appeared right in front of him.
She dodged, twirling her yo-yo to bat the blades aside. Evillustrator grit his teeth, watching the blades bounce against the wall harmlessly. Ladybug turned back to him, staring him in the eye, ready for more projectiles until she could find a way to step closer to steal the akuma's pen—
And a sharp scream pierced the night.
Ladybug turned back to Chloe Bourgeois, only to double over in horror. Blood pooled on the floor around the body of the mayor’s daughter, the offending blade tossed aside carelessly. Blond hair stained with red . . .
A gash cut across her body, darker crimson than Ladybug had ever seen before.
Her stomach turned, breaths becoming rapid at the sight. Fury clouded her vision. She whipped back around to face the Evillustrator. To his credit, he seemed equally shocked by this outcome; his eyes widened, blinking a few times in rapid succession. But his confusion didn’t last long, fading into a sharp laugh. Not a pleasant one, one filled with shock and horror and relief all at once.
“Y-you—” Ladybug attempted, but her voice faltered when she stared right at the akuma standing a few feet in front of her. He’d hardly moved, but it was as if he was a completely different person. Someone who’d actually killed someone else. Violently.
A staff tossed through the air like a javelin whacked Evillustrator on the head. Reeling backwards, he fell against the wall, clutching his head. And within seconds, he crumpled to the ground, unconscious.
Chat Noir met Ladybug’s eyes. He’d just woken up. He hadn’t seen what happened.
Shaking with every step, Ladybug walked towards the front of the room and picked up the pen, which had dropped from the Evillustrator’s hand when the staff hit him. She snapped it in half, releasing the akuma. She caught it and purified it, releasing the white butterfly into the room, where it faded through the wall into the sky.
And now for the moment of truth, the moment where she was going to test if her powers could cure everything. It could fix injury. Could it fix death? Chloe’s blood still staining the floor brought her to hurry it up, just so she wouldn’t have to think about it any longer—
“Miraculous Ladybug!”
The swarm of red bugs engulfed the room, leaving behind no trace of the projectiles that had been drawn. Several clustered around the Evillustrator, and—finally—others clustered around Chloe’s body. And then they swept away to cure the rest of the city.
Ladybug took a deep breath, not daring to look, not wanting to see the scene that she’d failed to prevent. Her hands shook in fists. Her mask of professionalism started to slip away.
“What the hell?”
Never before had the sound of Chloe Bourgeois’ voice been so wonderful.
When Ladybug turned, she was met with the mayor’s daughter scrambling to her feet with her hands in fists, her expression twisted into a grimace, her cheeks bright red. Her clothes and the floor were clean, as if nothing had happened at all.
She marched right up to Ladybug, pointing a finger right at her face. “He killed me!”
“Chloe—”
“No, it’s my turn!” Chloe sniffed, and that was when Ladybug noticed that a couple tears were forming in the other’s girl’s eyes. She’d been crying? “I know you’re a superhero, but you just let him kill me? You didn’t try to stop him? He’s a monster and you let him do whatever he wanted!”
“M’lady—!”
Both girls turned at the sound of Chat Noir’s voice. And Ladybug’s heart dropped in her chest when she saw Chat’s arm around a shaking Nathaniel Kurtzberg, who’d just heard everything.
They didn’t usually like to tell akuma victims what they’d done under Hawkmoth’s influence. And the ones that had been akumatized so far seemed to find it better not knowing, besides the few news clips and articles on the Ladyblog and such. And maybe barring Timebreaker, none had really killed anyone before. Definitely not brutally like this.
And now that Chloe had ranted so openly, Nathaniel knew.
He knew everything.
And they had no idea what that would do to a person, but it couldn’t be good.
“You!” Chloe cried, brushing off her clothes and walking up to Nathaniel. Her face filled with fury and fire and an overbearing attitude that sent the artist backing up against the wall as her heels clicked on the floor. “You killed me!”
Now inches away from Chloe’s face, Nathaniel stammered, “I-I-I’m so sorry! I wasn’t tr—it was Hawkmoth—”
“No, you little piece of shit! You killed me!” She whipped out her phone, her breaths heavy and her eyes still filled with fire and tears. “I’m going to call Daddy and have him tell the whole city what you did! Then we’ll see how sorry you are!”
“No, please!” Nathaniel choked on a sob.
Ladybug stepped in with, “Chloe, hold on a second—”
The heiress whipped around, taking in a sharp breath when she saw the superheroine. “No, Ladybug! I’m done listening, I’m done putting up with this shit. You just let the akumas toss me around like nothing, huh? You let them kill me? No more, Ladybug. I’m getting Daddy involved.” And with that, the mayor answered the phone, she started to sob to her father how traumatized she was. Which may have been true, but Nathaniel—
“Is she telling the truth? I killed her?”
Nathaniel’s soft voice had jarred the two heroes out of their pseudo-trance. His eyes clouded with sorrow, his hands shook as he bent and cracked his knuckles as a sort of distraction. Even after the events that had transpired, he didn’t seem like a villain. Just hurt.
And Ladybug loathed it, but she wasn’t going to lie to him.
Fireflies, a million little pieces
Feeds the dying light, and brings me back to life
- Ignite (K-391 and Alan Walker)