Chapter Text
Ladybug didn’t remember how it had begun. Chat Noir had said something, probably one of his annoying puns, and she snapped. Her day wasn’t going as smoothly as she wished it had and having to listen to Chat Noir making jokes about a risky situation really got on her nerves. Collège Françoise Dupont had been invited along with four other high schools to the annual Paris school fair. It was supposed to be a fun day, looking at different job careers, spending time with friends, hanging out with Adrien... But as always, luck wasn’t on her side and Hawk Moth decided that it would be a great day to akumatize a man who was not having the time of his life at the fair. So now, she was fighting a crazy dude with the power to explode anything he touched and, to make it better, Chat Noir had decided that it was also a great day to list all the puns he had ever said.
“Watch out M’lady!” Chat Noir screamed from the other side of the corridor.
Ladybug dodged one of the akumatized man’s rays just in time and was thrown against the opposite wall by the explosion.
“Stop bossing me around. I know what I’m doing!” she angrily said while struggling to get up.
The space was filled up with a thick black smoke from the numerous fires the villain had caused. Ladybug had no idea where he nor Chat Noir stood, although she could hear the distinctive swing of her partner's baton above the crackle of the flames.
“I’m not bossing you around, I am just trying to warn you.” Chat Noir blurted out, now closer to where she was standing.
“Well, I don’t need you to warn me. I can-” she felt a gloved hand covering her mouth.
What was Chat Noir doing? She didn’t have time for his games, there was an akumatized guy trying to burn down the building they were trapped inside along with about 5000 other students. Their lives were in their hands and the heroes had to be quick if they wanted to save everyone before both of them passed out from either carbon monoxide poisoning or third-degree burns.
“Stop talking. He is just as blind as we are right now; if we don’t make noise, maybe we can ambush him.” he whispered.
Chat Noir was right. They outnumbered him buy one. It wasn’t a lot but it might be enough to defeat the guy. Ladybug nodded and slowly they made their ways to opposite sides of the hallway. If the heroes were lucky, the villain was still looking for them somewhere amidst those four walls. And, if they were even luckier, they had just trapped him between them.
She stopped, listening. The screams of the terrorized students could still be heard far away, although close by all she could hear was the sound of a burning building. No rays, no explosions, no footsteps. Weird, she thought. Where was he?
That was when it all went to hell. Literally. Her back felt hot. Boiling perhaps was the better word for what she was feeling. The suit was supposed to give her some protection, but maybe it was shot from a short distance or maybe it was too intense for the magic, and the ray ripped through the fabric and stroke her skin. It was as if a thousand blades had pierced through her all at once. At first, it didn’t feel very serious. Ladybug fell face first into the ashy ground with a loud ringing in her ears. Her whole body was aching, but she managed to get up. And that was when the pain really hit her.
The ceiling looked distorted, like the room was inclining to one side and she was falling with it. All the blood drew from her head down to her burning back. Dizzy, light headed, in excruciating pain.
A fist collided with her left arm, two hands grabbed her and she was thrown across a different hallway.
Ladybug couldn’t think, couldn’t speak. Everything looked like it was spinning. Smoke began infiltrating her lungs and she tried to cough only to wince in pain.
Oh no. Chat Noir was still in that hallway. Ladybug had no way of warning him about the akumatized guy. Hawkmoth’s victims were beginning to look stronger, fight harder and possess more powerful weapons. It was like he had lost his patience and was decided to get their miraculouses no matter what. Usually, akuma victims never truly hurt them. Apart from a few bruises from being tossed into buildings and concrete, Ladybug had never sustained serious injuries like the one she could feel getting worse and worse on her back. They had never faced someone so harmful. She needed to warn Chat Noir about the lengths Hawkmoth was willing to go. Knowing him, he was going to get severely hurt if he didn’t take this one seriously.
Another explosion and the whole floor shock beneath her. There was a loud bang, as if a wall or something equally big had come crashing down. Groaning, Ladybug tried to get up. Although the corridor was still blurry, some of the smoke had finally cleared and she could see two steps ahead of her.
She had to find Chat Noir before it was too late.
And then the screaming stopped. The fire grew quiet, the ringing in her ears felt distant and, as she turned the corner to where Chat Noir was supposed to be fighting the akuma victim, it all went dark.