Flashback Cutscene: Passionate Declaration

9 years and 5 months ago...

Adrien pushed open the trapdoor and climbed the ladder up onto Marinette's balcony. She was still asleep, curled up in a ball on her bed, a bare space remaining where he was lying. He walked to the railing and placed his hands on it, gripping tightly and looking out at Notre Dame — and Paris.

He lifted his thumb, leisurely trailing it over his lower lip and feeling the soreness of his skin. His lips were 'kiss' bruised and he couldn't help smiling. His future lay beneath his feet, and although there was still a lot of talking to do and arguments to be had, they had both committed to the long run. To try and get past what had happened and see if they could get somewhere — together.

Adrien wasn't sure who'd cried the most — himself or Marinette. It was a long road they were starting on, but with time he was sure they could go back to what they were, especially with Marinette not having to hold such secrets anymore.

He looked down at his ring, his Miraculous, his key to freedom – but did it really represent that anymore. His magical artefact had turned so many lives upside down. His mothers, his fathers, Félix's, his, Ladybug's, Marinette's. It wasn't freedom at all, just another added burden.

"I know what you're thinking," Plagg flew from where he was hiding inside Adrien's shirt; a small, understanding smile on his face. "I get it Adrien, I do."

"I'm so sorry, Plagg, I shouldn't put you in this sort of position." Adrien shook his head. "It's just going to be a small break, right. Just time for me to gather my thoughts and think about what I want to do."

He looked behind him at the trapdoor again, his heart fluttering when he thought about the woman currently sleeping off their escapades. Marks of his love scattered over her body, claiming her in the most territorial way.

"She's good for you, you know. She loves you: heart, mind and soul, and I know she always has your best interests at heart, even if the way she goes about them is a little questionable."

Adrien turned back to Plagg and smiled. "She's amazing, and I will make sure I tell her that, every single day."

"Just remember this feeling, this overwhelming love, you might need it one day." Plagg flew forward and embraced his holder, Adrien stroking the kwami's back before grabbing a hold of his ring. "And promise me one thing, you'll keep the ring. I belong with you."

"Of course," Adrien replied. "Plus, it's not going to be too long, okay?"

Plagg smiled back, an understanding in his eyes that Adrien couldn't guarantee how long it was going to be. "Okay."

Adrien wiggled the ring once more, before grabbing Plagg and pulling him into another tight hug. "Goodbye, my friend."

"Goodbye, my kitten."

With one hard pull, the ring came off into his hand, Adrien renouncing Plagg and watching as the shining silver turned into a dull black; Plagg returned to his home within the ring. He took the Kwagatama from around his neck and slipped his ring beside it, ready for if or when he would wear it once more.

He felt the build up behind his eyes, his heart already suffering from the loss of his closest friend. But it wouldn't be forever, at least he hoped. Controlling himself, Adrien wiped over his eyes and grabbed his phone from his back pocket.

Selecting Nino's number, he placed it to his ear and waited for his friend to answer.

'Adrien? Thank god! Where the fuck are you?'

"I'm at Marinette's. She's asleep, I'm up on the balcony."

Silence took over the phone followed by whispering and chattering in the background.

'Is everything okay?'

"Yeah, I'm as good as I can be. Listen, I haven't got much time to talk. Is Alya there with you?"

'Yeah! Yeah! I'll put her on the line. But Adrien, listen, I'm glad you've worked it out. You two are good for each other.'

Adrien couldn't help but smile. "I think so too."

A shuffling was heard on the other side of the line, Adrien guessing his friend was handing the phone over to his girlfriend.

'Hi Buttercup, what can I do for you?'

Biting his lower lip, Adrien calmed himself before he spoke. "I need you to do me a favour. To get a letter to Ladybug from me."

'Sure, do you want me to come to you to get it?'

"No, I'll email it over if that's okay?"

They agreed on the terms of the email and Alya promised to forward it without reading.

Now, he just needed to decide what to write.

*****

Intermission Cutscene: While You Were Sleeping

Present Day...

Time seemed to have stopped, well at least for Sabrina it had. She sat back in her chair and looked at her desk, oblivious to the bustle around her, as she contained herself within her office. Papers upon papers lay on her desk, her head pounding from the time she'd spent pouring over all the evidence.

The media had picked up the story now, calling the murderer the 'Akuma Killer,' giving it attention they didn't want. The sudden push into the limelight only increased their need to find the killer; sadly there wasn't much evidence to find, and what little there was pointed to a sickening conclusion.

Sabrina stood and walked over to the board which was swamped with pictures and notes. She looked to the evidence list first trying to talk herself away from her key suspect — though she knew the act was futile.

She turned her attention to the first murder scene and compared it to the multi shots of frames from the game. The first anomaly was the umbrella. The umbrella which she recognised, adorned with copies of Ladybug's magical charms. An indication they originally thought linked the murder to Ladybug. Each and every charm hanging like a threat. There was also the words 'truth or dare' painted inside it... but the truth for what? What possible dare?

Sabrina turned to the evidence from the next scene. The dozens of pictures found with Nino, images of Ladybug and Chat Noir, plus all of the past heroes, herself included. Added to them was an old blue scarf that belonged to Adrien. Once again taunting its finders that they knew all, and that it was to be revealed.

Truth.

Lies.

Murder.

In all the time she'd been a detective in the force, she'd never seen anything like this. It was something of a well thought out tv show, or an Agatha Christie type tale. She never expected to be pulled into such a high profile case.

Continuing her search of the board, her eyes landed on the crime scenes from Max's game, a clear link despite the different character appearances. It was apparent that the killer had some type of connection to the game, as well as the heroes themselves. There was even a possibility the killer had access to Max's work servers.

What was playing in the back of her mind though, was the missing pieces. The pieces of the puzzle which weren't yet connected.

As far as she could see there was no clear motive. No possible tears in decade long friendships. No love lost and no rivals, and this stumped her more than anything.

The heroes were even planning a sting operation based on intel gleaned from the development team. The police were assisting them, placing a number of undercover officers around the markets.

They all knew the next hit would be planned to happen tomorrow. They knew who to suspect the victim would be and they had planned ways to trap them, her officers taking the first line of defence.

The hope was that they could identify the killer and alert the heroes before the homicide occurred, but first they needed to know who to look for.

Sabrina looked over to the other pile she had on her desk, a red folder catching her eye with the knowledge of its contents teasing her. Plaguing her. It sat amongst the other evidence retrieved from the collapsed building. Some of it being nothing more than floor plans and order forms, however within the scraps lay something more sinister – photos of all the heroes, but this time in their civilian forms. All had masks drawn on, making it easy to match each person to their hero persona. The fact that it was basically her entire collège class didn't surprise her, now that she knew the truth.

Sabrina began shifting through the photos, Adrien, Marinette, Nino, Alya, Zoe, Luka... placing them to one side until she was left with the crushed card that had been clutched tightly in Ivan's fist. Heart shaped and pink. A Valentine's Day card complete with a poem written on it, a poem that was known by all in her old class.

Beside the folders lay a small polythene bag. One containing the last piece of evidence. A string of red cord. Yards of it had been found attached to some of the collapsed wall. A section no one else had seen apart from her and her lead forensic was contained in the bag. Twisting it between her hands, she watched as some of the beads turned over, homemade charms that Sabrina recognised all too well.

The evidence was obvious, instantly telling her two things: the killer knew who both Ladybug and Chat Noir were as civilians, and the killer wanted Ladybug and Chat Noir to know too.

Sabrina huffed, Truth or dare indeed, she thought. The killer was giving them the truth, daring them to ask the right question. What it didn't tell her, was who or why?

She groaned, her head falling back as she swivelled side to side on her chair. Why couldn't it have been someone like Lila, or even Chloé? It always made sense for the bullies to be the bad guys, but this was a thousand times more difficult.

The most obvious course of action now was to talk with Adrien and Marinette and ask them for a list of people who knew their identities. But of course, neither of them knew of the other's secret yet. So until she knew for certain that they had shared with each other, that wasn't an option. She had made that promise to Adrien.

Sabrina sat back and thought, swivelling the chair once more to face the evidence board.

Now, knowing who Ladybug and Chat Noir were, it shouldn't be too difficult to narrow down a list of possible suspects. As clever as they were in protecting their identities, there were bound to be a few people who would have found out over the years. And the first name on that list would be-

"Alya."

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

Alya's head shot up, sitting up in her chair after her nose, again, made contact with her phone screen. Shaking herself, she checked the time on the offending device. One a.m. She silently cursed to herself, then checked on the person in the bed next to her.

Nino was still wrapped head to toe in gauze and bandages, tubes poking out of every orifice and IVs in both arms. He was still unconscious. The last time he had been awake was when he first arrived in hospital, over a week ago now. The screams echoed through her mind every time she drifted off to sleep; the screams of pain matching the over exaggerated acting of a Blumhouse horror movie.

Initially placed in an induced coma, Dr. Guérison had been in that afternoon to begin bringing him out of it. They had begun reducing the medication each hour, slowly weaning Nino off them. Now, it was just a waiting game. There was no telling when, or if, he would wake up. And so, that's what she did. She waited.

Normally, Alya would have gone home hours ago. But after leaving Nino all morning to attend Ivan's funeral, she had already intended to stay late tonight to make up for it. Then when they started the waking process, she stubbornly refused to leave. If there was even the slightest chance that Nino could wake up, Alya was going to be there for him. He needed to know she would never leave him.

Seeing that nothing had changed since her last check a half hour ago, she turned her attention back to her phone, running her hand over her face to wake herself up some more. She refreshed the Ladyblog, hoping that something, anything, might change.

A sudden knock at the door was not the change she was expecting.

"Come in," she called quietly.

Expecting to see a nurse doing their rounds, Alya was surprised to see Sabrina walk in carrying two coffees, and a serious expression on her face.

"Hello Alya, I hope I didn't wake you?" Sabrina closed the door behind her, heading over to Alya and offering her one of the paper cups. She accepted it, smiling and shaking her head.

"Thanks. No, you didn't but I was starting to doze off, so good timing with the coffee." She took a sip, savouring the warmth and flavour. The coffee settled down into her stomach, bubbling in reminder that it had been hours since she'd eaten anything.

"How is he?" Sabrina asked. "No change, which is probably good," Alya replied. "They started weaning off his coma medication this afternoon, so he could wake up anytime now. But you already knew that, didn't you?" Alya directed a pointed look at her.

Sabrina smiled thinly. "I did. But even if I didn't, I still would have come. I actually wanted to speak with you. I've hit a wall in my investigation, and I was hoping you would be able to help me."

"Absolutely. What can I do?" Alya leaned forward.

"You can tell me who else knows."

"Knows... what?" Alya asked, unsure as to what Sabrina was referring to.

"That Marinette is Ladybug."

Sabrina's statement landed like a grenade in the room. For a few seconds, there was a deep silence between the two women. Then, everything exploded into chaos.

Every single Monitor attached to Nino started blaring an alarm. Nino himself gasped loudly, then unleashed a gurgling scream as he arched his back, fighting to breathe around the ventilator in his throat. Seconds later, the door slammed open, and what felt like every nurse in the hospital poured into the room.

Alya and Sabrina were forced into a corner as they watched, dumbfounded, at the tornado of activity. Alarms were silenced, tubes were removed and replaced with new ones, trolleys of equipment wheeled back and forth, and everyone speaking at once. A couple of doctors joined the fray, and the medical team started working on removing the ventilator.

Sabrina looked at Alya. Seeing the rising horror on her face, Sabrina threw her arms around her and dragged her towards the door. "Let's get out of the way. We can wait in the hallway."

Evacuating the room, Sabrina pulled Alya into a bear hug, rubbing her back with both hands. "Shhhhhhhh, it's okay, it's okay. Nino is okay," she reassured softly, Alya's shoulders bouncing as she wept openly.