Marinette had been confined to her chambers under orders of her uncle. She tried to escape several times but the door to her room was locked and there were guards posted at every potential exit. At long last her door was opened by Theo.

"What do you want?" She asked with disdain in her voice.

"I have something to show you my lady."

He ushered her out of the room and toward the balcony of the castle allowing her to see all the prisoners his men had captured.

"Your uncle has ordered them to be hanged but I might be able to persuade him to spare their lives as a wedding gift."

Marinette looked at with fear and disgust.

"And just who am I supposed to marry?"

"Your uncle has ordered that you become my wife. You cannot defy him or you shall be severely punished."

"I would rather be finished off by the executioner's axe than become your wife!"

"And what of your lady in waiting? And the others we captured? One of which happens to be a young boy, a child. Would you allow them to die?

She looked down at Nino, Alya, and Plagg who stood in shackles their eyes filled with intense fear and uncertainty for their lives. Poor Marinette was trapped. She couldn't let those innocent people die but to marry Theo? Could she really bring herself to spend the rest of her life as that vile man's wife?

"Oh and just in case you were thinking that maybe your precious Adrien would come rescue the prisoners so you could call off our wedding, you should know that he's dead."

Marinette flet her heart stop.

"You... You're lying!" She snapped.

But he held up in his hand convinced her otherwise. It was her lucky bracelet, the one she had given Adrien at the archery tournament.

"I ripped it right off of his dead corpse." Theo lied with a sneer. "You should've seen the look on his face when I told him that we were to wed. He looked so pathetic and broken, the fool actually thought that he had a chance with you!"

Theo threw the bracelet on to the floor. Marinette dropped to her knees, picked up the bracelet, and clutched it to her chest while fighting the tears that were threatening to form. After a long moment of silence she spoke without facing the evil man.

"Give me your word that they all will be spared and I..." She choked. "I will become your wife."

"You have my word, my bride to be."

He escorted her back to her chambers. Finally alone again, Marinette threw herself on to her bed and started to cry. This was the worst day of her life. Her friends had been captured, her uncle was going to become king, her true love was dead, and she was going to be married to the man she hated most. This was a nightmare. Oh how she prayed that this was all just some horrible nightmare and that she would wake up soon but it wasn't. It was all real. All terribly real.

"Oh Father!" She wept. "What am I to do?"

...

When Adrien woke up he hurt all over. His side, his legs, his head, it was all just so painful. He tried to move but when he did he felt like his entire body had been set on fire.

"Take it easy my boy you had quite a fall." A voice said.

Adrien opened his eyes and saw that he was laying at the side of a river with Friar Fu tending to his wounds.

"What happened?" He asked.

"You fell from a high cliff and landed in the river, you would have been washed away if I hadn't of found you."

As Adrien became more awake he started to remember what happened before he blacked out.

"Oh no! Nino! Nathaniel! Everyone! Were they captured?! Did they get away?!"

A melancholic looked crossed Fu's features.

"Nathaniel and Jagged managed to save the women, the children, and a few men but many others were captured including Nino, Alya, and that boy Plagg."

"Oh no."

"They're to be hanged tomorrow."

"No! Oh God!"

"I'm afraid it gets worse."

"What could possibly be worse than that?!"

"Tomorrow also marks the day Prince Xavier will be crowned king of all France and his first decree will be to raise taxes higher than they've ever been. And tomorrow will also be the wedding of Sheriff Theo and Maid Marinette."

"What?! No way! There's no way in hell she would marry him!"

"I'm afraid this marriage is not her choice. The sheriff plans to make her his wife by force."

"Oh this can't be happening!"

"How I pray to our good Lord that it wasn't."

Adrien hung his head in misery and regret.

"This is all my fault." He sighed. "What was I thinking? Going up against the prince and the sheriff, trying to make a difference, all I did was make things worse."

"No Adrien, you don't ever be sorry for doing the right thing. You were only trying to help those who were suffering under Xavier's rule."

"I guess."

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe I didn't do it just to help the people. Maybe I only did it because I wanted to prove to the world... Because I wanted to prove to myself that I'm not like my father. But the truth is I'm just like him! I ruined everyone's lives."

"No Adrien. You aren't like your father, your father took and took and took from everyone. Just like what Xavier and Theo do but you...You give and give and give. You understand that there's much more valuable things than gold and power. You put others before yourself and that makes you an incredible human being."

Adrien listened to Fu's words and he started to feel better. He realized that Fu was right. He was a good person and he had people who depended on him so he wouldn't give up now.

"I can't let this happen!" He declared.  "I have to stop this!"

"Now wait a minute you can't just go charging into the castle especially not with the injuries you've received."

"I don't have time to heal, the execution,
the coronation, and the wedding are tomorrow. I have to act now!"

"Very well but at least think this through. If the royal guards see that you're still alive they'll kill you on sight."

"Hang on they think I'm dead?"

"Yes, you're supposed death was announced this morning."

"Hmmm...Maybe I can use this to my advantage."

"How so?"

"Well they think I'm dead right?"

"Right."

"So what if persay...I came back to the palace as a ghost?"

"I don't understand."

"Find Nathaniel and Jagged and bring them here. I have a plan but for this to work we're going to need plenty of weapons and flour."