Chapter Text
Pain. everything around her was full of nothing but pain and agony. Her eyes refused to open, refused to take in the scene she had been privy to only moments before
Another kick found its home in the bruise blooming over her left side, sending white hot barbs of pain shooting through her system like a jolt of lightning. Lips parted as air was forced out of her lungs, only to be sucked back in as her consciousness rushed back into her tired limbs.
A flash of pink light blinds her already damaged vision, tearing from her the only warmth she had left as the harsh cold rushed in to fill the void. Mari’s body wrenched at the sudden loss of connection, eyes splitting open to stare in half lidded horror as she uses what little strength she has to turn her head to see the shadow that loomed over her. She can barely make out the figure of the man that brought her and her beloved partner so low as to lay upon the cold harsh ground of an observatory they barely knew in an old home in the back corner of paris they had only just learned about.
They had gotten a tip off finally, Alya’s astute observations finally catching a butterfly leaving the lair of the notorious Hawkmoth. It was supposed to be a great day, Ladybug and Chat Noir finally had the lead they needed to go after hawkmoth, his akuma already on the move meant he was stuck in his lair trying to control his new toy till Ladybug broke it. They couldn’t think of a better time to go after him, thinking after three long years of preparation was all they needed to take him on.
Now laying sprawled out on the concrete floor, Marinette- His Lady wrenching up blood as Adrien watched in mute horror, they realized unanimously they were woefully unprepared for the fight. It had been so fast, Adrien could hardly believe it. He had followed his Lady into the building, watching as she skillfully smashed through the open iris of the window to land together inside a room cloaked in shadows and bright white butterflies. It wasn’t quite what Chat would have expected of a supervillain, given all the comics, shonen, and cartoons he’d watched. He was expecting a grandiose lair filled with all the hallmarks of evil as Hawkmoth sat in a black chair facing away with a pet in his lap. Sadly, none of that was present. Just an old empty room, filled with the fluttering of a hundred white serene butterflies as their master turned from the shadows to gaze upon the dynamic duo.
Ladybug had a whole speech set up for this day, she’d memorised it every time she felt the smallest doubt in her goal of defeating the man before her. Strangely now that she stood across the room from the purple and silver villain, she couldn’t recall a word of it. Still feeling the power of her suit Marinette launched into a half-baked speech of how they were going to end Hawkmoth once and for all, trying to keep up the bravado.
Hawkmoth just laughed, gave some philosophical retort about balance and power, then drew from his cane a sword hidden at its core. He wasted no effort in crossing the room, closing in on Ladybug before Chat could throw himself between the two to defend his Lady. first mistake: thinking he could out-fence Hawkmoth with just an extendable staff. He could certainly move, wrapping the blade around Chat’s staff to land three clear blows on his chest before the cat could bounce back. Panic settled into Ladybug’s bosom and before she could stop herself to think clearly, she’d thrown herself at Hawkmoth like a wild animal. To Adrien who watched in pain as he held his hand over the deep stab wound in his shoulder, it was the most mesmerizing display of love he’d ever seen. He could see it play out, Ladybug’s unbridled rage for her partner’s wounds gave her the power to overcome evil and triumph! It was such a beautiful thought, it would have been perfect except for one tiny problem: reality. Ladybug’s haste cost her dearly as her carelessness earned her two slashes to the legs and a cut above her right eye. Blood quickly seeped, blinding her from seeing the sweep to her legs. The only thing she felt was the sudden crack of her skull hitting the harsh concrete before a sharp pain dug under her ribcage. Apparently Hawkmoth wasn’t content to just humiliate them and take her miraculous, he wanted to vent his aggression out on the girl who had thwarted so many plans.
She looked up once again at her foe through all the pain, the pair of red earrings in one hand and a black ring in another as he gleefully gloated before the broken duo. “Finally! After three years of planning, waiting, and watching, i have the power to become a god! To rend the rules of life and death itself!” he paid no mind to the duo, no interest in the broken body of Marinette or the mournful whispers of Adrien as he struggled through the burning and blood loss to crawl to his partner.
He had one thing in mind, and they rested in the palms of his hands. Raising them high to the sky above the atrium, he called out to the Kwami within the stones with his silver voice. “oh god of Creation, oh god of Destruction, you serve me now! I call upon you, give me the power of the gods!” To Marinette’s and Adrien’s horror, a vortex of power began to envelope Hawkmoth. Tears began to well up into Marinette’s eyes, forcing her to look away as Adrien weakly held onto her with the last bit of his life, trying to shield her one last time. “it will be alright my Lady… it’s going to be fine Mari.” he forced the words and false comfort out as all hell broke loose around them.
Hawkmoth won, Ladybug and Chat Noir lay broken and dying before him, and they had lost their Miraculous…