Flashback Cutscene: Adoring Fans

9 years and 5 months...

Adrien looked at Marinette, a strange stirring in his gut as they walked side by side. She'd barely spoken since he met up with her outside the boulangerie, their usual hand holding exchanged for silence without any small talk.

"So, how was your day? Any news from universities?" In all fairness, he was dreading that conversation. The last thing he wanted was to seem unsupportive of her, to make out like he wasn't happy that she was living her dream, when he knew that was all he wanted for her. But he also knew that, as soon as she told him she was leaving he would break down and cry. Plagg had told him to just wait and see. But his nightmares were fully in the realms of losing his one and only true love. He moved his hand, allowing his fingers to brush over hers. They were cold. So cold.

"Oh!" Her startled cry was proof she wasn't listening and lost somewhere in her own thoughts. Never a good sign when it came to his girlfriend. "Um — no. Nothing yet."

They continued in silence, his hand itching to take hers in his own as his fingers brushed against hers every time they passed. To feel that connection which had been missing since they started this outing. He tried a couple more times; her hand seemed to move out the way in an almost choreographed routine.

Marinette hadn't asked him. The lack of interest was odd for someone who was always so kind and caring. Her head was down and his own purely focused on her. She looked as though she hadn't slept in days. Dark circles cradled her eyes and she looked paler than usual — almost a ghostly white.

As they continued down the street, Adrien shoved his hands into his pockets, his shoulders rising thanks to the tension he was holding in his body. He kicked a lone stone in front of him, watching it as it danced along the pavement and hit the shoe of the person in front.

The woman was slightly older than them, Adrien guessing around 25, and her face, as she turned around, was a clear indication she was not impressed by the disorderly act behind her — that was until she noticed it was him.

"Oh my god!" she screeched. "It's Adrien Agreste."

As though his name was a red traffic signal, everyone around them stopped, turning around to face them and focusing not only their attention, but also their phones on him and Marinette. Just another day where he'd have to run from his adoring fans. Even with his lack of modelling, Adrien was still a popular face and pulled a lot of unwanted attention, especially when he wanted just a normal day out with his girlfriend.

Shock coursed through his veins as finally Marinette's hand joined his. With a swift movement, the anxiety built in his chest as she pulled him down an alleyway away from many of his 'adoring fans'. How he wished he could go back in time and not have this added pressure on his shoulders! What most people craved for, he wished to live without.

Finally, they reached the gardens, Marinette suddenly dropping his hands and stopping. She was shaking from head to toe as her hands came to cover her eyes.

"I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry," she whimpered.

"About saving us?" he chuckled. "Don't be. You know as well as I do, my fans can be wild."

She shook her head again, keeping her attention down on her shoes. She wasn't laughing with him. She wasn't laughing at all.

Moving towards her, Adrien stood in front and placed both his hands on her upper arms lowering himself down to look into her eyes.

"Sorry for what, Marinette? You're not making any sense?"

"I can't be with you anymore." The way she blurted it out had him laughing out loud.

"That's a good one, Marinette. Now, come on let's —" Adrien turned to walk away, only to have Marinette reach out and grab his hand. The quick tug turned him back around to face his tear streaked girlfriend.

Her face was etched with pain, her cheeks streaked with mascara and wet patches, as he saw the buildup of more tears crowd her eyes.

"I'm being serious. We can't be together anymore."

Pulling his arm from Marinette's grasp, he placed his hand over his chest. He must be dreaming, this couldn't be real. An intense pain shooting through his chest, almost caused his heart to stop as he stood still staring at her.

"W-w-what? I - I don't —"

"Things have changed between us—"

"Is this about university? I'm sorry for asking you to stay. I should have been more considerate to what you wanted, I shouldn't have tried to trap you."

"You haven't trapped me, Adrien. It's nothing like that," Marinette said exasperatedly. "There's — there's just things I can't tell you. As much as I want to, I can't." The tears were rolling down her cheeks as she let out her frustrations, only to add them onto his.

He was choking. The air was growing thinner around him and restricting him from breathing. The pain. The loss of oxygen. He swore he was going to die. If she left him, he didn't want to be here any more. There was nothing for him to live for. "Is it someone else? Is there somebody else?"

"No, not at all."

She sounded so sincere, but he wasn't sure he could trust her. This was completely out of the blue. Only a day ago they were cuddling on his bed discussing the next level of their relationship. Had he scared her away? If she wasn't ready for more, that was fine. He'd wait forever for her!

"Then tell me! You can tell me anything, Marinette. You know that."

She shook her head. "No, I can't. Adrien, and it's hurting me too. But breaking up now, it'll be the least painful it can be. I love you. I will always love you and I will probably – actually no, I know I will never love anyone like I love you, but Adrien, we can't be together anymore. Each day is killing me more and more knowing I'm hiding things from you and lying to you. You deserve the truth. You deserved to be loved without all this... this... baggage I have."

He collapsed down against the nearest wall, eyes glaring forward, heart crying and screaming at her to take it all back – to tell him it's a lie. His father had always told him love hurts, that the deeper you fall the harder the landing — and, damn, this fall right now was close to murdering him.

In his peripheral vision he saw her crouch beside him, his eyes too glazed to take any notice of her. He didn't know what he was looking at, all he knew was he'd forgotten how to blink. His eyes dry even whilst filling with tears.

"If we don't do this now, Adrien, it'll only hurt worse when the time comes."

He was emotionless. He didn't know what to do or feel, but what he did know was that he was in pain, pain he'd never felt before and he didn't have any idea how to express it. Adrien knew his mouth was slightly open, words unable to escape; unable to fight to keep her the way his heart was begging. He moved his hands and began to twirl the ring on his finger, his amok, willinging himself to speak. Commanding him to speak, yet it was futile. No words left his mouth, as Marinette cupped his hands in her own and knelt down before him. She placed her forehead on them, stuttered breaths coming from them both.

"You are and always will be my one true love, Adrien." She lifted her head and kissed their joined hands, before moving and kissing his cheek. "I love you Adrien Agreste," she sniffed. "I always have and I always will."

Still unable to speak, he watched her turn and run away. Out into the distance and away from him — away from them.

He had no idea how long he sat there for. All he knew was the cool night air had crept in before he had a chance to warm up from his shock. How did he carry on? She was his life. He wanted to be with her. Marry her. Have children with her. He just wanted her...

And now, he had nothing.

Pushing himself up onto his feet. Adrien stumbled as he tried to get his legs to work. This couldn't be happening. He'd go to the bakery now and speak to her and... the sound of the tires screeching assaulted his ears, as he looked into the bright lights of an oncoming car.

"Adrien!?" A voice screamed, his feet finally working and pulling himself back onto the pavement, his body spinning as he tried to find the owner of the voice.

"Marine—"

The name died on his tongue as he came face to face with a girl in red and black. He laughed to himself before turning back and pressing the button at the crosswalk. He didn't want to talk to her at the moment, he didn't want to talk to anyone. He was too wound up in hurt and pain, he just needed to get away.

"Adrien?" she tried again. "Please, Adrien, stop!"

"I'm sorry but I'm not in the mood for conversation. I've just had my heart ripped out and shredded into a million pieces." He continued to walk, quite sure the heroine in red was walking not too far behind.

"Are you okay?"

He laughed so hard he thought for a moment that he had gone insane.

"Adrien, please. Talk to me."

He stopped and turned around. "Do I really look like I want to talk right now? That I'm in the mood for pointless conversation? Marinette just ended things with me for no real reason. Do you have any idea what it's like to lose someone who made you whole? That made you the best you can be? I can't live without her! I can't!"

"Come with me." Ladybug stepped forward to grab a hold of him.

"No!"

"Adrien please, speak to me and I'll tell you about my day, because as awful as yours was, I had to break up with my boyfriend today. I hate secrets and I hate that I have to give up my happiness for this." She presented herself to him and he knew exactly what she meant. "I hurt the one person I love more than anything just because..." Her voice trailed off and she bit down hard on her bottom lip.

He crossed his arms and looked around. He felt bad for leaving her, especially when she needed to talk. "Fine."

"Fine?"

He nodded. "I'm not feeling like going home yet, anyway."

It was true, though not wholly. The true reason; he was going to transform into his alter ego and go visit Marinette as Chat Noir. He was ashamed to say he'd been visiting her often over the past couple of months, mainly to talk about her with... well... her. He knew it was immoral, but he just couldn't help himself. As open as she was with Adrien, she gave more to Chat Noir, an insight he couldn't help but become addicted to.

Ladybug stepped forward and wrapped an arm around his waist before preparing to launch them into the sky.

"We better go before any of your fans stop us?"

For the first time in god knows how many hours, Adrien smiled. "You can talk!"

They looked at each other and smiled, Adrien's heart feeling whole for a fraction of a second before she launched them into the sky, for he knew as soon as they landed he would have to talk.

*****

Level 12: Learning the Score

Present Day...

Adrien couldn't sleep the previous night. His body felt high on adrenaline and he didn't know what to do with it. She'd explained the fundamentals to him, and even though the reason was there, it still felt like she was only skimming the surface and doing damage control. He was almost certain there was more to this, more he didn't know yet.

'I'm sorry, Kitty. But I promised not to tell Adrien, and if he didn't know, no one else should either.'

She'd fumbled her way through some of the answers, giving him brief descriptions and outlines. Telling him what she could but still holding back key information. He didn't know what to say. Flashbacks to conversations of an uncertain past played in his mind. How many times did he tell Ladybug he didn't want to know? How many times had she questioned him about a secret? How many times had he refused to let her speak?

He was meant to have had a conversation with his wife, however, when she'd returned just after him she'd gone straight to bed, looking both physically and emotionally drained. How he wished he could turn back time to the days of their honeymoon! Hours spent together without a care — or worry — in the world.

A knock echoed through the hallways of Adrien's apartment, causing him to scramble in need of the nearest dish towel and pull himself from thoughts of the night before.

Finally grabbing hold of one, Adrien made his way to the door, wiping the damp from his hands as he went. He checked his watch, 11 o'clock on the dot, which meant it could only be one person. Opening the door, Adrien's face stretched up into a wide smile.

"Hey dude!" Swinging the towel over one shoulder, he held a hand out to greet Luka, welcoming him into the apartment and closing the door behind. "I'm just getting some snacks together then we'll be ready to start. Do you want a drink?"

"A water, please," Luka said, placing down his guitar and amp before shrugging off his jacket, hanging his jacket on the rack and looking at the photograph on the table. He gave it a quick smile before following Adrien into the kitchen. "Any news on Nino? I've messaged Alya, but I'm guessing she's not really in the mood for conversation."

Adrien stilled as he reached for a glass, closing his eyes and shaking his head before continuing. Every time Nino's name was mentioned all he could think about was melting flesh on his friends skin, decorated with burn marks and blistering.

"There's no change." Adrien's voice was small, the churning in his gut bringing bile to his throat as he poured himself a glass of water and took a couple of tiny sips.

"Listen, I know you probably don't want to talk about it, but I'm here if you need someone."

A twitch pulled the side of Adrien's mouth, of course Luka would be there to listen, he always was.

"Thanks man, it means a lot." A flash of inspiration suddenly hit Adrien. "Hey, you work at your father's record company, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"It's just, Alya said that's who Nino was contacted by. Do you think maybe you could help us out by finding out about the address Nino was sent? Alya will know, maybe she can forward you any details from Nino's emails too."

Luka nodded. "Sure, anything to help. I'll try messaging her again later."

He poured Luka's glass before taking them to the lounge and placing them down on the table in front of the sofas. Luka was wandering around the room, every now and then stopping to touch the equipment laying in wait.

"This is really high end recording equipment, Adrien. I hope you didn't buy it just for this."

"I live on tight budgets now, man. Actually, this is Nino's rig. I asked to borrow it just before...before..."

"Yeah," Luka finished for him.

"Yeah," Adrien confirmed, his voice thick with emotion.

"I really am sorry. It must be really hard. Doubly so for you, since you were the one who found him." Luka gave him a sympathetic look as he moved to the table and picked up his glass, taking a sip of water and studying Adrien's face. "I suppose it would be like me finding Marinette. Someone you care so much about laying there lifeless on the floor. I'm quite surprised he survived, hearing how badly he was affected."

"If I hadn't pushed past the firefighters and kicked down the door when I did, he would have been dead." Huffing out a laugh, Adrien closed his eyes. "I'm just glad... you know what it doesn't matter."

He was about to tell Luka that it could have been worse, that he could have been Ladybug. Falling beside him and having to keep talking to him as the paramedics hoisted him into the van seemed nothing short of hell.

It was the longest they'd touched since being acquainted again. Chat Noir holding her hand as she walked out beside the gurney talking randomly to Nino – about the floors, the stars, the moon. They'd stayed that way for a while after the ambulance had left, a touch that lingered far too long.

"Honestly, if it wasn't for my wife, I wouldn't be holding it together," his smile grew a little brighter as he sat himself down in front of his piano, lifting the cover and preparing to play.

"You're a lucky man to have found such a wonderful woman," Luka commented. "Speaking of, where is she today?"

"She's meeting with Ivan to go over the plans for the interior of Félix's building."

Adrien couldn't help the glow of pride as he spoke about his wife's work. In his eyes, her talents were endless and unrivalled. There wasn't anything she couldn't do, and no one who could do it better. To him, she was perfect.

Grabbing his guitar and adjusting the tuning, Luka allowed a soft smile to take over his own face. "That's great, she certainly earned it. Although, designing an entire building's interior, that must take a lot of time." Luka threw a questioning look to Adrien.

"It seems so. She has been hard at it since we got back from our honeymoon," Adrien confirmed.

"At least you two get to spend your evenings together," Luka said as he focused on adjusting the equipment around him.

Adrien frowned, "Actually, we haven't shared dinner in almost a week. With everything going on, I hadn't even noticed."

Now that it had been brought to his attention, Adrien realised that the last time he and his wife had sat down for dinner together was the night after Aurore was found. And thinking back, even then she was late home. Had she messaged him? He couldn't recall. Maybe it was a phone call? But the only reason they'd shared dinner was due to his own late arrival.

Adrien knew that some of the nights were because of his newly resurfaced hero duties, the previous night a prime example; but the rest of the times were because she was running late. Even to the point where he was in bed already. This new realisation didn't sit well with him. But he knew his wife. He knew how fully absorbed she could get in her work. It wasn't uncommon for her to work through a whole night without even realising. Adrien understood her artistic ways. When inspiration struck, sometimes you just had to run with it.

Shaking off the uneasiness, Adrien looked at Luka. Luka was giving him a curious glance, so Adrien answered with a reassuring smile. "So, what are you needing help with today?"

"Are you sure you still want to do this?"

"Of course. I said I would help and... well... you know I'm kind of involved in the case now, so looking at the scenes on a screen will pale in comparison to seeing them in real life." Adrien grimaced at what he just said, glad that his friend understood the coping mechanism he relied on a little too often. "That was insensitive of me, sorry."

"Are you familiar with the game yet?" Luka asked.

"Yeah, I am. Max sent me a copy the other day. I've managed to get through the first two levels so far," Adrien replied. "And Max said he'll send me the next later."

"Okay, that's great. Well I'll give you a brief description of the next scene and we can get to it. I can show you what I've got so far."

"Alright, let's get to it."

Closing the door behind Luka, Adrien moved over and sat himself down on the couch. The silence was unnerving after such a noisy few hours, and worst of all it once again gave him time to think.

He moved to his laptop, too anxious to just sit around and do nothing. Maybe Max would have updated the next level by now and sent it over to him? He could check it out and make a plan on how himself and Ladybug could keep an eye out. Maybe even consider bringing in the other heroes to start multiple patrols? The police seemed to want to catch the perpetrator in mid strike. Catching him, or her, at the scene of the crime just before they hit.

As the screen loaded up, his email shone in pride of place. He prayed that the next murder scene wasn't in Paris and that it didn't involve any of his friends. But he knew that was wishful thinking when it was based on past akumas.

A quick look told him the game update was already there waiting for him, and as apprehensive as he was, he needed to do this.

He clicked on the icon. Sent 1 hour ago.

Loading up the game menu, the familiar 8-bit title page opened, his saved game ready to be commenced. Taking a deep breath, Plagg flew beside him and nuzzled into his cheek.

"What if I open it up and it's Alya, or Luka, or maybe Marinette? I can't see them lying on the ground with those glassy eyes, Plagg. I don't know if I can do this. It's all getting too much. We're superheroes... we deal with magic and supervillains, not murder and death. There's no Miraculous Ladybug's here."

"Well, I know it's not a lot, but we know it won't be Marinette. She's never been akumatised." Plagg flew down onto the table and seated himself to look at the screen alongside Adrien; the small kwami once again being his undeniable source of encouragement and support.

Instead of one level, Adrien noticed Max had sent him four more — taking the total from two to six. Selecting level three, Adrien watched as the screen showed the loading icon. He couldn't stop watching the timer moving, each second a small pixel spot appeared on the ladybug in the centre of the screen.

1...

2...

3...

Adrien almost had a cardiac arrest as his phone buzzed in his pocket alerting him to a call. With shaking hands and a pounding heart, he reached behind him and slipped it from its confines, reading the name praying it wasn't a call of something bad – his eyes fixating back on the screen.

"Hey Beautiful, what's up?"

"Hey Handsome, I'm just calling to see how you are doing. Are.. are you running?"

Adrien suddenly realised his breathing was laboured and erratic. "I'm ok, how about you? How's your day been?"

"As good as it can be. The office was crazy this morning, one disaster after another. I finally got it all sorted, but now I'm running late for my meeting with Ivan."

Adrien had to chuckle at this. "Seems like you're the one running then, not me."

His wife had never been the most punctual person. She would have even been late for their wedding if he hadn't conspired with the Maid of Honor to set all of her clocks forward an hour. Apparently, being so caught up in the wedding, it was easy to persuade her daylight savings had been moved to earlier this year.

"Okay, I can see the building now. I'm almost there. How did things go with Luka this morning?" she asked between taking steadying breaths.

"Really well, I think we got a solid sound for the level. He just left to put some finishing touches on it. I'm just trying to load it up now. Actually Luka gave me a quick run down of the level, but he said there's a chance Max will have changed it."

"That's wonderful. I have to go. See you tonight?"

"Can't wait, I'll cook your favourite," Adrien said with a smile.

"Uhg, please don't. I love you, but whenever you cook it, it comes out nasty. Just make something simple, okay? Or call Kagami." Her reply made his smile even bigger.

"Okay. I love you, too. Good luck."

"Thanks, bye."

Adrien leaned his head back, closing his eyes and enjoying the feeling of love he always got from his wife. Everything she did made him feel this way. From a most passionate kiss, to a lingering touch on his cheek.

After a minute, with a deep sigh, Adrien opened his eyes, and looked at the Ladybug. 95%. How big had Max made this file? Nothing Adrien had ever loaded took this long.

Finally, the main screen behind the loading bug had started to appear from the bottom upwards, and with every new section a strong sense of unease constrained him.

It was a simple Parisian building, but something about it began to set off alarm bells in the back of his mind. He was sure he recognized it, but for the life of him he couldn't think of where he'd seen it before. The fine details, the almost British looking interior, the sash original windows, the...

Grabbing his phone once again, his blood pulsated loud and hard in his ears. Slamming his finger against the screen, Adrien stood and paced the room, Plagg flying alongside him trying to understand what was happening.

'Hello?' Max's greeting came in the form of a yawn.

"Why is Félix's building in the game?"

'Good morning to you too, Adrien. He's paying for it, so he wanted a little bit of promotion. Why, what's wrong?'

"Shut the game down now!" Adrien barked into the phone, heading back to the game and scouring the screen for the latest victim.

'Adrien, it's not that simple.'

"Yes, it is! Shut the fucking game down!" This was anger he'd never felt before, anger mixing its way with fear and making him feel sick. Rage was ready to erupt. A fiery inferno ready to unleash.

'It's already been sent out to one hundred people, I can't —"

The phone call was forgotten as Adrien saw the crushed body on the ground, rubble surrounding someone who was a friend — even if their build and face were different — it was undeniably Stone-Heart. Stone-Heart lying dead in the building where his wife was working. Right now!

Without a moment's hesitation, Adrien was already leaping from the balcony before his transformation was even called.