Chapter Text
It all started at the end of a very tough battle against one of the worst akumas they had ever encountered and required a full recharge by both Ladybug and Chat Noir, twice. After calling the first Lucky Charm, which took the shape of the Miracle Box, an unwilling Ladybug had been forced to give back a temporary Miraculous to Rena and Ryūko.
“I don’t want to put our friends in danger, but there’s no way I can find new holders on such short notice!” Ladybug had said, as she asked Chat Noir to cover her for a few minutes, while she looked for help. And it had been the right decision; it was only with Rena and Ryūko’s help that they finally managed to win.
"Miraculous Ladybug!"
Chat Noir watched as Ladybug threw the red and black trumpet in the air and released the magical ladybugs, which brought everything back to how it was before the fight. As the four heroes bumped fists at the sound of ‘Pound it!’, the crouched figures of Mlle. Mendeleiev and Mlle. Bustier appeared in place of the akuma and Ladybug moved towards them.
"What… happened to me?" The women sounded very confused. They were all standing atop the first level of the Eiffel tower, not exactly where the two teachers had been when they got controlled by Hawkmoth, at the school.
Ladybug smiled warmly. "You were akumatised. Are you feeling okay?”
“Oh my God, I’m so sorry, Ladybug…” said Mlle. Bustier. “All I remember was Mr. Damocles calling us in his office and showing us Lila’s…”
Mlle. Mendeleiev grabbed Mlle. Bustier’s hand and squeezed it. “Caline. It’s confidential information.” Mlle. Bustier blushed and lowered her gaze.
Ladybug gave a determined look to the teachers, clenching her fists and shaking with what Chat supposed was sheer anger. He knew why she looked so furious. It was no secret that his Lady didn’t like Lila. And to be completely honest, when her name was mentioned even he felt his blood boil at the thought that his favourite teachers got akumatised because of something that she had done — or said. He wished there was a way to expose her lies and to finally get rid of her dangerous presence in their classroom.
But suddenly, his ears perked up. His gaze darted around. His heart raced.
Danger .
There was danger.
He could feel it. He could smell it. He could taste it.
How? Where from? His eyes darted around, his confident smile dying on his face.
There. A shadow. Towards…
His heart stopped.
“Watch out!” he shouted as he threw himself towards his Lady, slamming her on the ground with so much strength that she rolled off quite a distance. He saw Ladybug lay limp where she had landed, but Rena ran hastily towards her.
Chat Noir forced himself to take his mind off his Lady to concentrate on the shadow. He took the hit and fell right on his face, flying into the side of the tower from the force of the impact. He staggered back up and jerked around, heart racing.
Another hit made him fly the opposite way. He coughed. He couldn’t see his opponent, even with the added senses of the cat.
“All a blur. ”
A black shadow sped around, hitting him in the groin. He coughed and rolled off as he finally grabbed the foot that hit him. Her face flashed in full view for just a second.
“Mayura .”
“What the…” He barely stood and she hit him again. A few seconds. The fight with Mayura had lasted only a few seconds. And he was already on his knees. A coppery taste filled his mouth. His ring beeped its first warning sound. Four pads left. Amazing to think that only one minute had passed since he used his cataclysm during the akuma attack. He cleaned his lips and saw traces of blood. His ears perked. She was charging at him again.
She was fast.
Too fast.
Another hit. He couldn’t see her. His eyesight blurred as a sharp pain spread all over his stomach and ribs. He closed his eyes shut anticipating a hit that never came.
CLANG!
He opened his eyes. Ryūko’s bokken shielded him.
“I’ve got you,” she said as they exchanged looks.
Gratitude overwhelmed him. He tried to stand but just barely managed to, as his legs felt like jelly and his throbbing head made the world spin all around him. But he hadn’t even been standing for a second before he was brought back to the ground, as Mayura’s next move swiped the two heroes off their feet. He rolled on the metallic floor of the tower with her, ending up on top of Ryūko. She stood much faster than he did and threw herself screaming towards the black shadow. He stood up. He needed to help her.
His ears perked up again. His gaze blurred. His head spun as something hit him in the back. A sharp pain spread across the whole left side of his body. His suit felt damp. Was that blood staining the metallic floor underneath him? Weren’t they almost invulnerable in their suits? His side started feeling numb. What… he could barely move.
A hand grabbed him by his suit collar and lifted him just enough to keep him off balance, bringing him face to face with... Hawkmoth . “Magic poison breaks through magic suits.” The older man smirked. “Did you know that there are poisonous moths?”
“It’s a bluff.” Chat coughed and stared in bewilderment at the blood that stained his own gloved hand.
Hawkmoth’s smirk widened. “Pitiful nuisance. I will take your Miraculous off your dead body.” As he said it, he threw Chat with all his strength, off the side of the Eiffel Tower. The world spun around Chat Noir as he fell. His eyes locked for a painful instant into the terrified ones of the girl he loved. All became black; the last thing he could consciously hear was the wailing scream of his Lady.
“ CHAAAAAT!! ”
oOo
She opened her eyes, woken up by the warning beep from her earrings. Four minutes left, she thought and then her eyes focused on Alya’s — Rena’s — face.
“Are you all right, Ladybug? Chat was a bit rough,” she said, but as Marinette regained complete consciousness, she suddenly realised where she was. The first level of the Eiffel Tower. And she remembered what had happened. She’d been comforting her teachers for having been akumatised… and Chat had thrown her out of the way. Quickly, her gaze darted around looking for her partner.
Then she saw him. Her heart froze as blood drained completely from her face.
Hawkmoth had grabbed Chat Noir by the collar. And before she could do anything, she watched as their nemesis said something and then pushed Chat away with immense strength. For the briefest second, all she saw was the piercing green of his eyes widening as they caught hers. Her whole attention, her whole soul, every nerve of her very being was focused on the horrific sight of Chat Noir falling off the side of the Eiffel Tower.
“ CHAAAAAT!! ” she heard herself screaming.
“Go after him, Ladybug. I’ll deal with the bastard!” Rena’s voice seemed to come from a far away land. From a different world. Marinette didn’t even acknowledge her friend, or the fact that Hawkmoth stood right there, ready to attack. She grabbed her yoyo and zoomed her way to the side of the platform, just in time to see the limp body of Chat Noir collapse with a sickening ‘Crunch!’ against the roof of the information kiosk underneath the tower. The impact destroyed it and Chat Noir disappeared underneath the ruins.
“ NOO!! ” Her heart stopped. Literally stopped. She didn’t care about someone seeing her tears, or hearing her screams. All she cared about was that Chat was buried under that pile of rubble. And there was no way she was going to leave him there. She wrapped her yoyo around the metallic structure of the tower and used it to lower herself onto the destroyed top of the collapsed building.
“Chat? Can you hear me? Don’t you dare give up on me! CHAT? ANSWER ME! CHAT!” She couldn’t see a thing, her eyes were full of tears and the dust that surrounded the destroyed building blurred her vision. She started picking up pieces of concrete and metal, trying to dig her way inside the ruins to look for her partner in a mad frenzy of pure panic.
“Ladybug? Can you tell the press what happened to Chat Noir?” Marinette froze. Who on Earth… she wiped her tears from her eyes with a dirty gloved hand and looked around, blinking out the mixture of tears, sweat and dirt to figure out that the person talking to her was Nadja Chamack. She stood at the bottom of the collapsed kiosk, looking up at the heroine with a frown on her face. A couple of cameramen were next to her, filming intently.
“Chat’s life is in danger, Nadja! Who cares about the press! You need to help me, we need to dig him out of here before he dies!” New tears rolled out of her eyes as she once again began her mad dash to search for her partner, hoping that the miracle suit had cushioned all the damage.
A terrified look spread across Nadja’s face as she put down her microphone and gestured to the cameramen to put down their cameras. She gestured for the whole troupe to come and help. Ladybug kept digging madly with her bare hands, trying to break through enough to find his body. As she was doing that, more and more people started joining the TV crew that was helping her.
BEEP!
Her earrings didn’t make any sound. “You must be close, mon minou… I can hear your ring beeping…DON'T GIVE UP, Chaton. Please! BE ALIVE! Please! Me and you against the world! Don’t leave me alone!” Her own Miraculous beeped now. She had three minutes. “ Be alive! ” She whimpered loudly, growled in frustration and didn’t even try to hold her sobs. "Don't leave me, PLEASE!" Three minutes to find him and to bring him to safety before her transformation would drop.
And so would his… who knows what condition he’s in? The miracle suit would be protecting him right now, but once the power dissipates… No. She needed to find him before—. Bring him to safety before—. She redoubled her efforts, grateful that her hands were covered by the magical gloves of her suit. As she pulled up a rather big piece of laminate, which she would never have been able to lift herself if she hadn’t been transformed, she saw fragments of mortar fall off and reveal a big void underneath. And that’s when she saw him. Lying limp at the bottom of that horrible mess.
“CHAT!” She jumped into the void created by Chat's collapse, completely oblivious to the risks that the building could finish collapsing on her. Carefully she picked up his body bridal style, staring in pure horror at the blood staining the left shoulder and chest side of his suit, and the side of his head.
Marinette suppressed a choked sob that threatened to leave her lips on seeing her kitty in such a broken state. He was so pale, so limp, and full of dirt. But he breathed. She looked on with immense relief at the regular rise and fall of his chest.
“Oh goodness, Minou. Keep hanging on, please! For Paris, for Plagg... for-for me ! Don’t give up on us, Chaton, just hang on! I will get you to safety soon.”
She resisted the urge to hug him tightly, knowing that her comfort-seeking gesture could cause more harm than good to her already injured kitty. She jumped out of the building carrying him in her arms and landed on the pavement next to the metallic structure. Nadja ran over to her and picked up the microphone from the ground.
“Is he…” she heard Nadja say, but the woman went quiet when Ladybug shot her a death glare.
“The nearest hospital. Where is it?” She hissed.
Nadja paled. “Is he alive, Ladybug? What happened? Have you got any word for the press?”
“DAMN THE PRESS! I ONLY HAVE THREE MINUTES, NADJA! THREE. BLOODY. MINUTES. WHERE’S THE NEAREST P.U. (1)? PLEASE!” She crouched a little more protectively, noticing that the cameramen had returned to their cameras and were now filming the scene and that Nadja had picked up her phone and was messing with it madly.
“Hôpital Necker,” she eventually whispered. “Go towards the Ministère de la Santé, pass the Esplanade Jacques Chaban-Delmas and carry on straight.”
“That way, Ladybug!” one of the cameramen said, pointing to the right. “Maybe a couple of kilometres!”
She gave both a grateful look. “Thank you!” she whispered and jumped off.
To Be Continued...