Chapter Text
Marinette pauses at the edge of the Métro station and leans on the wrought iron railings as she slips her black stilettos onto her feet. The imposing Agreste mansion looms before her, its wide windows curtained to keep prying eyes out. Marinette feels like a fraud as she makes her way to the front gates, buzzing the intercom with one shaking manicured finger.
“Name?”
“Marinette Dupain-Cheng,” she says. The wait feels like an eternity.
“Come in.”
The gate clicks and the hinges hum to life, letting her in for the second time that day. She texts Adrien that she’s here and keeps her mobile in her palm as the doorman lets her into Gabriel’s grandiose foyer, tastefully decorated with white flowers in onyx vases. A violin quartet plays music somewhere within the mansion's walls, though Marinette can’t quite recognize the tune.
“Dinner begins in twenty minutes.” A maid appears to her left and Marinette nearly leaps out of her skin. “Guests are invited to mingle in the great hall to your right.”
“Th-thanks!” She barely manages to squeak, shuffling away from the maid’s look of disdain. It seems everyone in this place only knows how to frown and appear constantly inconvenienced, except Adrien of course.
“Marinette! You’re just the person I wanted to see!”
As always, Adrien continues to surprise her. “Hey! I’m glad I found you! You didn’t answer my message.”
“Sorry.” Adrien grimaces, glancing downwards. “Well, it doesn’t matter now. Let me make it up to you.”
“Oh?” Marinette dips her chin and tries not to overflow with excitement as Adrien grabs her by the hand.
“I have to tell you something. Something important. Will you come with me?”
“Sh-sure!” Marinette feels her entire soul bubble like Champagne in flute glasses. “But isn’t dinner in twenty minutes? Shouldn’t we wait until after?”
“It won’t take long,” Adrien assures her, looking back over his shoulder with a wink as he tugs her along a corridor away from the party. “It’s nice out here. It was my mother’s favourite place on the property.”
Marinette tries to keep up but he’s moving as if he’s floating on air, his steps long and purposeful as they reach the glass door. He pushes it open and Marinette is immediately ensconced in the scent of red roses and gardenias. Perfectly cropped shrubs stand out against the pink and purple skies of the Parisian sunset, drawing Marinette into a labyrinth of cobblestone paths and twining trellises overgrown with vines.
“There’s a lot riding on this party.” Adrien leads her through a set of columns and pauses, standing at the brink of a small glass dome sheathed in concrete. “I have a favour to ask of you.”
A little out of breath, Marinette glances down through the dome and sees absolutely nothing. “How can I help?”
“I know I can always count on you.” Adrien smiles, repeating his words from earlier. In fact, it begins to occur to Marinette that he’s been repeating himself a lot lately…
“Adrien?” Marinette asks, her voice belying her sudden unease. “Why aren’t you dressed for the party?”
“It’s around here somewhere.” Adrien bends down and brushes away the dirt and debris with his fingers. He finds what he’s looking for a moment later and tugs, revealing the latch of a trapdoor just large enough for a human to slip through. “Come on.”
“Come on where?” Marinette balks as Adrien lowers himself down through the trapdoor and descends down the ladder. “Adrien!”
He doesn’t respond. Marinette realizes she only has one choice to make.
Leaving her stilettos on the concrete, Marinette follows him down on bare feet until she makes it to the bottom of the cavernous space. The metal floor echoes with every step as she approaches a beam of light created by a much larger window, illuminating a garden of butterflies fluttering in the din.
White butterflies.
“I think Father found out I was keeping a secret from him and I don’t think he’s happy with me.” Adrien’s voice reverberates against the pools of water surrounding the entire patch of greenery, drawing her attention away from the very insects that have been making her life a living hell for the past five years. Adrien stands motionless at the end of the gangway, impeding her view of whatever he’s standing in front of. It doesn’t take long for her to see over his shoulders; two stark white caskets sparkle in the warmth of the setting sun through the painted glass window, the faces of their occupants as pallid as the sarcophagi in which they sleep.
Marinette’s heart stops in her chest for one sickening moment, the floor rushing up to meet her.
“No!” she cries out, terror-stricken and petrified as her palms strike the transparent glass of Adrien’s coffin, his expression lifeless and sunken against the cushion supporting his head. “No! You can’t—Adrien, tell me—” She spins around, spotting the spirit of her friend looking just as crushed. “—you can’t be—no! I can’t—I won’t—”
Marinette beats her fists against the casket but it doesn’t so much as budge, filling the yawning chasm with the dull thuds of her efforts. Soundlessly, Adrien stands beside her and gently grasps her wrists to stop her from bruising herself any further.
“I don’t know what happened,” he whispers, his voice catching in his throat.
“Did he—” Marinette whips around in his arms. “Did he kill you? Your father?”
“I…” Adrien shrugs, his stare growing more and more distant. “I think Father found out…”
“About what?” Marinette shakes him, desperate to get his attention back. “About who?”
“...my secret.”
“What secret?”
“I…” Adrien blinks, the light in his green eyes slowly fading. “I suppose it doesn’t matter now.”
“Yes it does! If I’m going to solve your—” Marinette can’t bring herself to say it. “If I’m going to bring you back, I need to know why! Adrien!”
“I’m…” Adrien tips his head to the side and smiles, reaching up to brush a dried leaf from her shoulder. “I was Chat Noir. But not anymore.”
“What?!” Marinette’s blood turns cold in her veins. “You’re...no. It’s not possible, it’s not—oh god.” Marinette steps away from him in horror, her back hitting the side of her friend—no, her partner’s coffin. “He knows. Oh my god, he knows. That’s why he invited me here, that’s why he made a comment about my earrings, that’s why—” Marinette tugs at her bangs and shrieks with frustration. “I thought he was trying to help me! I thought he was—he told me you had nothing but good things to say about me and this was going to be my opportunity—oh god, how long has he known?!”
“And he—he hurt you! He...did he kill you? Are you even alive?” Marinette grabs him by the biceps and grips him tightly, hoping against all hope as Adrien offers her a soft smile that breaks her heart into pieces. “And is that your mom? All this time he’s been keeping your mom down here, in a coma? Is she dead too? Why did he do this? Why would he do this to you?!”
“I don’t know.” Adrien breathes. “I don’t remember.”
“But you have to! You have to remember something!” She cups his face with her palms, tears coursing down her cheeks. “I thought I could—as Ladybug, I could protect you. I could protect anyone! But I—I couldn’t...I need to…”
“It’s okay,” Adrien assures her, wiping her tears away with his thumb. “It’s going to be okay.”
“How?! How is this going to be okay?!” Marinette breaks down, burying her face into his shirt and wailing, stuttering for air.
“I’m sorry, Marinette.” Adrien whispers, his grasp on her suddenly paper thin. “I can’t stay.”
“No!” She wraps her arms around his chest and panics, shaking her head furiously. “No! You can’t go! I need you! Stay!”
“It’ll be okay.” Adrien smiles one last time into the din. “I trust you. You’re my everyday Ladybug.”
Marinette blinks and there’s no one to be found standing before her any longer. The space is as devoid of life as Marinette is of hope, the walls of her control caving in all around her. It’s barely through her tears that she hears indistinct voices coming from the other side of the space and Marinette does the only thing she can think of.
“We’ve searched the entire garden area.” Nathalie’s voice rings against the clack of her heels. “There was no sign of her.”
“I should have known.” Gabriel growls, stomping down the gangway towards her hiding space behind the bushes. “How far ahead of me is she? Damnit!”
Something splashes into the water. Nathalie barks something into her mobile that she can’t quite make out. “Statistically, there’s no chance she made it down here. Your cover is still intact.”
“How can you be sure?!” he snaps. “She’s been thwarting me for years! I can’t underestimate her. She’s here somewhere. I know it!”
From her vantage point, Marinette can see the tension written in the way Nathalie holds her shoulders. “Your guests are waiting, Gabriel.”
“I’ll be there in a moment.” Gabriel waves dismissively and approaches the twin sarcophagi. “None of this would have happened if you hadn’t double-crossed me.” He sneers into the glass and inhales, tugging off his glasses. “And you, my love. I’m doing this all for you. Once I find out where the boy has hidden his Miraculous, I’ll hunt down that wretched insect myself and we can end this for good!”
“As for you, Adrien, I’ll keep you quiet for a few more days. And when I bring you out again, you will tell me exactly where your ring is hiding or I’ll put you back in that coffin for the rest of your days!” Gabriel’s temper engulfs him, his face roiling with rage. “I never should have let you out to begin with! And now, I’ll never let you out again!”
With one final snarl, Gabriel retreats back across the gangway and slams the door behind him.
Behind the bushes, Marinette seethes .
~
“Monsieur! There you are.” Marinette lifts the corners of her mouth pleasantly as Gabriel rounds the corner of the mansion’s gallery and stops short at the sight of her. “I was just admiring your collection of Cézanne paintings. Are they all originals?”
Gabriel pulls the edges of his jacket down, regaining his composure with practiced ease. “Of course. My buyer personally acquired these at an auction in Milan a few years ago.”
“I’ve always appreciated Cézanne as an artist.” Marinette hums, turning back towards the canvas. “I like the bright colours and the simplicity of his shapes. His art doesn’t lie or try to trick you into believing it’s something it’s not. I value honesty, especially in a person.”
Marinette finally turns to face him, a fire burning within every cell of her body as she closes the distance between them. “Monsieur, I accept your offer for internship, but on one condition.”
Gabriel realizes what’s happening a second too late. “And that is?”
“Your surrender.”
Marinette’s illusion dissolves into thin air as Ladybug drops from the ceiling, surprising the villain just long enough for her to clock him over the head with a sconce, leaving him unconscious on the ground. She’d search his body for his Miraculous later; there would be no way that the heavy thud would go unnoticed in a house full of guests.
“All this time…” Ladybug grits her teeth and hauls Gabriel up and over her shoulder, dashing towards the open window at the other side of the room. She slips through just as a security agent enters the space and glances around suspiciously, leaving as quickly as he came. “Trixx, time for another illusion.”
The mirage of Gabriel Agreste suddenly stands before her, looking as dour as ever. “Act like yourself and entertain your guests.” She instructs it right as it turns and re-enters the space. “As for you and I, Gabriel, well…” Ladybug smirks at her reflection in the glass.
Sometimes it’s best to leave some things unsaid.