Chapter Text
Adrian lay on the ground in Agreste's Manor. Marinette held him close as she felt his body lose it's warm feeling by the minute.
Marinette could no longer feel her breath as panic gripped her. Marinette's sobs get louder and louder and her chest hurts a lot.
Why? Why did that idiot have to die for her? Why did that idiot have to go and take that hit for her? WHY?
"Adri, come on, you can do it! Stay alive! Stay alive PLEASE!! I'm begging you Adrien! DON"T DO THIS!!"
Marinette's voice comes out in broken sobs. Her sobs reach wrenching notes. Adrien manages a weak smile, raising his hand slowly... as if to touch her face. "Don't cry Mari, please be strong! Finish this for me. For us!" Adrien's eyes slowly close.
"Adri... please.. you can do it. Stay alive for me, you hear me!" His body soon grows limp. "No, nonono this can't be happening. You are not dying on me Adrien! You are not dying on me!! Can you hear me!! ADRIEN!!!"
As Marinette cried and wailed to the gods as if they would hear her... Adrien just died. In her arms. She felt a hand on her shoulder. She hiccuped as she hesitantly looked up at Alya's mourning face... a look of tears running down her friend's face. Marinette couldn't help but start to cry again as Alya fell to her knees and brought her arms around Marinette. "Make him come back, Als... please..." Marinette whimpered softly as she held Adrian's cool body.
Tears ran down Alya's face. "I'm sorry Mari," Alya croaks out. Marinette shuts her eyes. Her thoughts were in shambles. She tries to think, but she can't. Nothing was coming to her mind. He had died... right here... in her arms, "Als... please tell me this is one horrible, nightmarish nightmare.." She looked down at Adrian before squeezing him slightly and letting go. She inhaled the cold air of the manor. What was she even good for?
Marinette needed to get up. She had a duty. To the people. To Paris. Her other half wants her to be strong even till the end. Marinette turned to gaze at Gabriel's cooling body with a look of indifferent sadness. She was unsure when she had killed him. She turned around and slipped her mask of Ladybug back on. She was a hero. The people's hero, she will mourn properly when this is over. "Let's go, Rena." Marinette, no... Ladybug spoke with resolution.
"People of Paris... my team and I come before you as one to speak the news we have been waiting for since the beginning. Four years ago, almost five; Hawkmoth showed and begin to terrorize the people of Paris." Ladybug looked beyond Paris... feeling that last remaining hope despite the passing of her other half. "The four years of endless battles and sacrifices. Our terror, discomfort, and fear of not freely expressing ourselves. Hawkmoth's reign had finally ended!"
She smiled slightly for their people before it fell from her face. She held up a hand before anyone could began to cheer, "Unfortunately, we have lost one of our own. Chat Nior has perished in the final battle against Hawkmoth. Adrian Agreste has passed protecting us! A moment of silence, please." Ladybug could feel the crowd of Paris' despair for a child, a teenager... probably realizing they had left children to this war.
She closed her eyes as she steady herself. Her breathing was light, yet powerful as she opened her eyes. She wouldn't let anyone dishonor Adrian, her black cat. She took another deep breath before she exhaled, "Gabriel Agreste is no longer among us. As Hawkmoth he has done terrible things." She expected the anger, the anguish, the hate, and screams as Paris finally realize they could express their emotions. She watched as her people finally cried. Something hawkmoth robbed them of.
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Marinette walks in through her parents' bakery door completely soaking from the rain. She had detransformed earlier and took a walk to clear her mind when she had been caught by the rain. The moment Marinette saw her mother behind the bakery's counter, tears began to gather in her eyes.
Honestly, she probably looked crazy to all the customers present who hadn't heard the news yet, but Marinette didn't care. She really needed her mother. Marinette was seventeen. She just watched the love of her life die. She was unable to hold the repressed emotions as she began to cry.
Her mother immediately went to her and waved at the customers as she quickly apologized to them before taking her daughter upstairs to their apartment. Marinette wailed as she leaned into her mother's warm hug, "Maman!" Sabine's heart breaks for her baby, "What's the matter, my sweet baby?" She led her daughter to the living room as she had Tom close the bakery while she tended to Marinette.
Sabine quickly gathered warm clothes and towels for her daughter who was sobbing her heart out. "Maman... they're burying him tomorrow!" Marinette cried harder as she held herself. Her mother walked in front of her and reached out to wipe her tears from her face.
She has no clue when she fell asleep. No clue when she woke up. She pretends she can't see Tikki's worried gaze on her. Her whole body hurts and she's sure that her eyes are swollen from how painful they are. She reaches for her phone, seeing the endless missed calls and long texts, she takes a deep breath, blinking away the tears. She would have to attend Adrien's funeral the next day. She had to attend, even though the thought of attending Adrien's funeral physically pained her. She had no clue, not one, how she was going to continue living.