Marinette's brain exploded. Ander and hatred bled through every word and gesture as she stared at her two friends. The whirlwind of emotions in her stomach stopped almost instantaneously and she spit out every word through gritted teeth. Not that Shadow Moth let her speak before he did.

"Who would have thought? The mighty Ladybug was brought to her knees by a simple word." His words were meant to do one thing. Break her. Marinette noticed him calling her Ladybug, not particularly caring how he figured out.

"What do you want Gabriel?" she could feel blood pool up in her mouth. "Great" she let her teeth loosen up a little.

"Firstly, I would like you to adress me as Shadow moth." Marinette could have sworn that Gabriel gritted his teeth. "And second, I want to help you protect your little Kitten." Now he clearly mocked her. Shadow Moth clearly had a plan on how to get Marinette to succumb.

She looked up to see Luka leaving and Alya making her way toward her. She needed a plan and quickly. If and when she fell under the spell the earrings couldn't be with her. Alya kneeled down not saying a word as Marinette removed her earrings while answering Gabriel her words still dripping with hostility.

"What makes you think I will help you Shadow moth?" She knew whatever the man said next would get her to lose herself. As she listened intently, she hid the earrings in Alya's hand and mouthed 'run'.

"Because I still have the peacock miraculous." Simple words that didn't need further explanation. With Alya nowhere in sight, she let out a sigh of defeat.

"What powers can you give me?"

"The ability to manipulate how fortunate others are." the victorious grin was apparent even in the mind speech. "And all I ask in exchange is..."

"Mine and Chat noir's miraculous," Marinette yelled into the void in front of her.

"Good girl" the transformation began.

Standing up, Marinette thought about her options. She didn't tell Alya what to do but after Chat her friend was the second to figure her thoughts out. Her apartment would e a dead end by now. She didn't particularly care, the jewels she needed were not at her apartment anyway. One was still with Adrien and the other...

"Thank you Alya" a small voice whispered in her mind. She was refusing to give it over completely. She wasn't going to be Princess Justice. She trusted her friends and so this was only temporary until they got Shado Moth's Miraculouses.

She walked out from her earlier hiding place and looked around only to catch a glimpse of Chat Noir. They locked eyes and her feelings re-surfaced. She gave a shaky smile as the cat looked at her with longing eyes. She wanted to protect him. That was the sole reason for her behavior. She shook her head as Alya dragged him through what looked like a time portal.

"I'm so sorry Chat"

"Don't forget what happens if you don't bring me the Miraculouses" Shadow moth said just as Mari felt her strength return. Chat was always there for her, being her strength when she was weak.

"I didn't" she shook her head to forget about her love for her partner. "But I can't follow them into the burrow. We'll have to wait them out," she said looking at the spot where the three disappeared.

"Then let's wait."

Her brain became more and more consumed with rage. The akuma, despite her best efforts, was warping her perception o reality. It latched onto her fear and anger and slowly but surely it was clouding her thoughts. It was a losing battle. She was becoming Princess Justice faster than she could have ever anticipated.

"Sweet little princess." Shadow moth was clearly aware of the fight within Marinette. he grinned as the dark powers pushed Marinette over the brink and blinded her completely to rationality. Ladybug lost the battle against her own mind.

***

Alya gripped the earring close to her chest and did as requested. She ran towards Luka and Chat not particularly caring if the letter was transformed or not. As she ran Chat had to catch and break her speed. Not waiting to catch her breath fully, she spoke as soon as she saw the two boys.

"We have to go. Right now!" Looking over her shoulder she stood up. "She gave in to Shadow moth." She grabbed the hands of the still shocked boys and dragged them to shore and toward a white circle.

Chat looked back, not knowing how his father managed to akumatize the strongest person he knew. He wanted to stay and talk to Marinette. He caught a glimpse of her and they locked eyes. Her once ocean blue eyes were now golden brown, radiating with regret. She wore a black, butterfly-shaped mask with white edges and white around the eyes. Her midnight hair was longer and instead of the usual pigtails, it was in a braid coming down her left shoulder. She gave a shaky smile before Chat was pulled into the burrow.

"We need a plan" Alya stated as all of them arrived in the Bunny's burrow.

"She fought hard. What happened?" Luka asked. Chat's attention was now fully on the conversation.

"I'm not sure" Alya looked at Chat with a thinking expression. "Tikki said something about her wanting to protect you Chat. What could that be about?" In the meantime, the red creature appeared to the relief of both Chat Noir and Luka.

"I..." Chat sighed. "We found out something about me that..." He didn't know how to say it. His head was still at a loss for words for what he felt and he had no idea how his friends would react. "And if they react similarly to Ladybug, I'll be all alone to save her," he thought.

"You might be wrong Chat noir" Tikki's high-pitched voice interrupted the cat's thoughts. "She..." Chat only now started wondering why the Ladybug earrings were with Alya, although he didn't ask.

"It doesn't really matter," He said finally finding his voice. "She won't let go until we take the peacock away from my father. You see, I'm a sentimonster" he said looking at his friends trying to explain what he meant. "Marinette wouldn't give in to Shadow moth unless he threatened my life."

"So we need to take Gabriel on if we want to free her," Luka said closing his eyes.

"Wait, Woah... backtrack please," Alya said looking between the two boys. "You're father?!" Chat was tired of the situation and tired of lies. He trusted his friends fully and they needed to know. He closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh. He whispered 'Claws in' and let his transformation fade away.

"Seriously?" Alya walked up to him grinning with a devilish smirk. "All this time, it was you under the mask?" Adrien nodded, taking a step backward. "I am going to kill you after we're done here. You and Ladybug too." She looked around. "We better resolve this before Marinette finds out who you are."

"About that," Adrien took one more step backward as he fidgeted with his father's ring.

"Well, that explains her breakdown" Alya rolled her eyes.

"Shouldn't we focus on making a plan?" Alix interrupted the two. "After all, that's why we came here."

"Don't worry. We have all the time in the world. Literally" Plagg chimed in, earning a smack from Tikki.

"Alix is right," Alya said. "Why can't we go back to before she got akumatized?" she asked, looking at Alix who was about to transform.

"It's risky. We could make things worse. Plus, as long as Shadow moth has the Peackok miraculous he will keep trying." Alix replied, followed by the fast nods of Fluff.

"So our best shot is to get to his lair." Luka drew the conclusion

"Yeah, but someone has to keep Marinette away from the fight. If she's there, we have no chance" Adrien said, knowing full well how strong and capable his friend was. And she had a motivator not many akumatized villains did.

"None of us can take her one-on-one" Luka stated.

"Adrien might be able to" Bunnyx looked towards a time window further away from them.

"Maybe, And I stand the best chance at talking her down too," he said knowing that she still just wanted to keep him safe.

"Okay, but we need all the power we can get for this mission." Luka looked around. "Plus it would be better if someone else went with you," he said resting his eyes on Adrien.

They started planning out an attack, while Bunnyx gathered all the Miraculous holders. No one seemed to state the obvious and so Adrien didn't realize the truth until it was too late. He later realized that he should have connected the dots on his own right then and there, but maybe it was better that he didn't.

He was already reckless because his Princess was hurt, and it was all because of him. He figured that much out. In his mind, Ladybug probably told her out of courtesy or because they were friends. Some part of him knew it wasn't true but his heart was content for now. Because if what his rationality said was true, he was doomed.