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The dull sound of footsteps echoing in the warehouse sounded in slow motion.
Screaming. Was that his name?
Why was there screaming?
He was used to screaming at this point. Something was off about these screams, though…
Pressure on his chest. Crying.
It was a struggle, but he got his eyes open, peering through bloody eyelashes at the curtain of dark hair blocking his view.
His hand dropped as he tried to brush it away, to see her face one last time.
“I-” He coughed, the thickness of blood in his throat exiting in red bubbles.
“Shh! It’s all going to be okay! You’ll be fine!”
“I-”
“Don’t speak,” she begged. “You can tell me later, when you’re better.”
He tasted salt.
He cracked open his eyelids again.
Oh .
Her hot tears dropped past his reddened teeth, open in a half-smile, half-grimace.
She was always so painfully optimistic.
He hated to be the one to break it to her, but this would be more than a miracle. Optimism only got you so far.
Look at him.
Actually, don’t; you’d throw up like the person who had just followed her in here.
“Stay with me,” she begged, her voice raspy from screaming his name.
I’d love to, but it’s not my call.
Her hair was so dark…
~~~~~
Her heart stopped when she felt his stop.
“No! No nonononono,” she pounded on his chest, attempting CPR.
Even as she did so, she knew it was pointless. She’d known that the moment she saw him there, broken and covered in blood.
“Please, please, please,” she whispered, pressing frantically on his still chest.
Warm arms wrapped around her, unlike his cold, bloody hands lying limply on the cold ground.
She barely registered moving except for his body getting smaller and smaller as she kicked and writhed to return to him.
There was a cold pinch in her neck and then darkness.
Her last thought was the hope that she would see him in the oblivion currently welcoming her.
~~~~~
“He’s not the monster you think he was,” she repeated stubbornly, setting her jaw so that the tears would not drop, though they shone brightly on the edge of spilling out.
There was a huff, then the steady, patient tones of someone who was explaining the ABCs to a toddler. “Mlle. Dupain-Cheng, Monsieur Agreste, Jr., was a villain, there is no doubt about it. He confessed to several severe crimes himself, and actively refused several outs Shen offered him.”
She huffed instead of sniffing back tears like she wanted to, and squared her shoulders. “Fine, then. If you won’t believe me, I’ll find someone who will.”
~~~~~
“Longg, bring the storm!”
Shen flew up from the alleyway and landed on the roof of a nearby building, clutching the brick chimney for support as she gazed over the city.
A couple minutes later, she had her bearings and started to jump roofs, starting slowly as she got used to the different style of architecture.
A rustling of heavy fabric sounded and she turned to her stalker.
“Just the person I was looking for!”
~~~~~
Shen looked around the Batcave curiously, swinging her dangling legs over the edge of the table she was perched on.
“You are one of the Miraculous team, correct?” Batman’s growly voice sounded close behind her.
She resisted the urge to jump and nodded. “That’s right. I was Ladybug, the leader of the team, along with my partner, Chat Noir.”
“And you are now going by…”
“Shen. I’m currently using the dragon Miraculous of Perfection.”
“And you are not Ladybug anymore, why?”
“I lost my Miraculous. My partner and I defeated our villain, Hawkmoth, and laid our Miraculous down, with relief, I might add.”
She swung off the table and started pacing as she told her story.
“I…took some time away for my mental and emotional health, after all of that. I left the Miraculous Box in the care of my partner. He had had the first shift of vacation for his health, because…certain aspects of what had happened were…quite hard on him.
“When I returned from my vacation –earlier than I expected because of an emergency– I discovered that the two top Miraculous had been stolen and the Box was in upheaval. A couple other lower-ranked Miraculous were also stolen. Honestly, it looked like a robbery, as the Miraculous stolen looked the most expensive, but something about the situation didn’t sit right with me.
“My partner was distraught at failing to protect the box and had another vacation. I eventually figured out that the Miraculous had been stolen by my partner, but when I tracked him down, he refused to explain anything and kept repeating that he was a villain now.” A tear escaped her eye and she angrily brushed it away.
“ Something happened after the villain’s defeat, and I want to know why. Everyone is saying he was a villain, but he wasn’t, and no one sees it.
“That’s why I came here; I need an objective detective to figure out what happened. I need to clear his name. Can you help?” Shen turned to Batman, her hands clasped tightly together while her fingers worried at the tips of her suit.
“I’ll see what I can do,” Batman growled. “I’m going to need your help, though. I need his name and more concrete details. Don’t censor it for your partner’s protection. I need to know everything to figure this out.”
“His name was Adrien Agreste, son of Gabriel Agreste, the fashion designer.”
Batman pulled up a new file and Shen began speaking.
~~~~~
“I’m sorry, Shen, but I could find nothing to determine why Adrien acted the way he did. If he was still alive, I could possibly have spoken to him and analysed him, but with it being this long after his death, there’s nothing I can do.” Batman sounded a lot softer, almost sad, she noticed almost absentmindedly.
“I understand. Thank you for trying, anyways. It means a lot to me,” she said. “No one else would even try. Even after he revealed his hero status to Paris after Hawkmoth–” she stopped bitterly.
“I owe you a call to utilize the Miraculous,” she said instead. “Please only call if it’s an emergency. I don’t like to use them.”
“I understand. I’m sorry there’s nothing else I could do, Shen.”
“I appreciate your effort.” She hung up.
Marinette’s Vespa sped towards the cemetery. It was a quiet ride to the plot where Adrien was buried. She had kept it quiet and unassuming, wanting to preserve Adrien’s peace in death, even if it didn’t work in life.
After all the hate he received when Hawkmoth was revealed, she made sure he was allowed to at least rest in peace.
“What happened, Adrien?” she whispered, resting her head on top of the cool granite headstone. “What was going on?”