^ This is amazing !!!!

[Marinette's POV]

I'm sitting atop the Eifel tower. I have been for hours. Cat Noir and I were supposed to do patrol together tonight...is he mad about what happened last night?

I feel a sudden pang to my chest. I can't explain it, a wave of sadness just rushed by me. Angry shouts begin erupting from the city. I stand up and survey the landscape worriedly.

"I don't know why you bother to defend this cruel, dark world." Says a cold voice.

I whip round to face where the voice had come from. My heart lurches. I feel something cold trickle down my cheek. I reach up to touch it... A single teardrop.

"How are you doing that?" I ask. "What have you done to them?"

The voice laughs. "I haven't done anything. I've simply unleashed their demons. It is their own darkness that is swallowing their hearts."

I take a step towards the shadows and am instantly met with a pain in my chest, as if my heart has been pierced. It's agonising—like all the heartbreak I have ever experienced.

"Everyone has darkness in them..." Says the voice. "Even you, Ladybug."

Something shifts in the shadows. A silhouette. The dark figure is coming closer. Closer. He steps out into the light. My eyes travel up the figure. He is wearing a black suit with a dark purple cape that resembles peacock feathers. I am suddenly met with a pair of bright green orbs. My eyes widen in horror.

"Adrien...?"

"You've barely even dipped a toe in my misery." Adrien says. "Once I poison your heart, everything that once brought you warmth, light or hope will crumble. Only then will you understand my loss."

I'm frozen in place. Suddenly, I'm not a hero anymore. I'm scared and I'm helpless. My hands are trembling. My legs feel weak. I'm vulnerable and terrified.

"Adrien..." I say, my voice quivering. "This isn't right. You don't really believe that. You're good, Adrien."

"There is no such thing as good!" Adrien shouts.

His anger lashes out at me. He raises a hand and backslaps me, so forceful and sudden that it sends me toppling onto the ground.

"Don't tell me what I do and don't believe in!" Adrien screams as he launches a foot into my stomach. "Everything I believe in has been a lie!" Tears well up in his eyes and begin to overflow. He smiles, his voice suddenly calm. "Not that you care, right?"

"Adrien..."

I try to lift myself up but he kicks me back down again.

"You know, I once believed in you too." Adrien says. "But you too, took everything I had."

I shake my head, tears blurring my vision. Adrien grabs me by the hair and throws me across the floor.

"Yes! YOU DID!" He yells. "I gave you everything I had and you left me feeling empty!"

Adrien gives me another kick. I should be moving...I should be defending myself...but I can't. My muscles have gone weak. My mind is drained with sorrow.

"No more...please, don't make me fight you." I beg, tears streaming down my cheeks. "I can't...I can't fight you..."

My hand shakes violently as I reach for my yoyo. Adrien kicks it out of my hand and pins me to the ground.

"Where's your justice now, Ladybug?"

I can't fight him...I can't...

"I'm going to infect your heart with every ounce of pain that you have caused me." He whispers. Adrien raises a hand; black essence is glowing around his fingertips. "And then, I'm going to find your family and I'm going to take them from you just as this world has done to me. Maybe then, justice will finally exist...after I destroy everything you love."

"This isn't you, Adrien." I say desperately. "Don't let Hawkmoth take control."

"You don't know me!" Adrien replies angrily. "I've never meant anything to you."

"You do..." I say weakly. "You always have..."

I can't do this...If I have to fight against him then I don't want to be a superhero anymore.

I reach up my trembling hands and remove my earrings. Adrien's eyes widen as my disguise slowly crumbles away.

"It's me, Adrien..." I say softly. "I'm here...I've always been here...no matter what time of day, remember?"

Adrien's expression looks pained. His hand falters.

I look him deep in the eyes, searching for the Adrien I know. "How could you possibly say that there is no good in the world? Don't you think I'm good, Adrien? Don't you remember the warmth of our hugs? Sweet and cosy— like hot chocolate, remember? And don't you remember the beautiful light of the sunrise we watched together, and how we fell asleep on the summer beach?"

The black essence slowly fades from Adrien's hand. His breathing slows.

"Marinette...?"

"Yes," I smile weakly. "I'm here with you, as always. See? You'll never be deprived of everything because no one could ever take me from you."

Tears spill from Adrien's eyes and sputter on my cheeks. I reach up and place a hand on the side of his face, wiping away the teardrops with my thumb.

"Let go, Adrien..." I say. "As long as you're here with me, how could you possibly destroy everything I love?"

Adrien shifts back so that I can sit up. He suddenly lets out a pained howl. Adrien throws back his head and grips his hair. He screams and cries into the night.

I want to help, but I don't know what is happening. Is he fighting back? Is Hawkmoth torturing him? Adrien...

As I watch him pull at his hair in agony, I notice that his ring is glowing black. Something is emerging from it. My eyes widen in shock. I've...never seen anything like this. The akuma is being ripped from him. I fumble for my earrings, but the black moth barely flies an inch before it slowly starts to dissolve away in the wind. It has incinerated like ash. Adrien's villain costume has crumbled away as well. He is back to normal self. He fought the akuma, and he destroyed it... I didn't even know that was possible.

Adrien's hands drop to his side. He looks at me and blinks slowly.

"Adrien!" I say fearfully as I scramble to his side.

"Marinette?" Concern fills Adrien's eyes. "You're crying...and you're bruised...Did I do this to you? Did I...hurt you?"

Adrien's voice trails off. He sways uneasily before passing out. I catch him and pull him into my arms worriedly.

Thank goodness... He's still breathing.

I rest my head on his chest and listen to his steady heartbeat, allowing it to calm me down. I've just revealed my secret identity to Adrien...but, it was worth saving him. Even if it will leave me in anticipation, what he needs now is rest.

I transform back into Ladybug and deliver Adrien home safely.

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