Chapter Text
A faint, muffled voice seeped through the wall:
“The joint manhunt between Interpol and team Miraculous in search of the terrorist super villain known as ‘Purple Sapphire’ continues. Currently she is the primary suspect for the murder of fashion designer Gabriel Agreste, and the disappearance of Parisian superhero Ladybug, now publicly known as Lycee student Marinette Dupain-Cheng...”
Sapphire overheard the broadcast from one of the rooms next to hers, and her heart shattered, because in just two weeks she had lost everything.
It was cold in Tsurugi corp’s main office. Despite her magical suit, the freezing stillness bore through to Ladybug’s bones and threatened to smother the fiery determination that brought her there. But she couldn't let it freeze, not after what Kagami and Felix had revealed that night, not with that monster isolating Adrien further, Not with Chat Noir disappearing on what was likely the most important night of their mission, not with victory close enough to taste, not tonight. Ladybugs are a predatory insect, and she was ready to hunt down Gabriel Agreste.
The connection between the reconfigured Miraculous on Monarque’s hand and the alliance rings was amongst the first things that clicked for Marinette, so she used her first day of summer to do some investigation on the tech giant herself. She found that their head office along with their R&D department were located right there in Paris. She decided that tonight she’d pay them a visit. It was supposed to be a basic stealth mission: just look around and get info on where Agreste was hiding his stash of tiny gods; however, any hope of ease ended when she saw Gabriel's car drive right into the parking lot. At best the number one suspect for Mayura was on one of the floors below, at worst she was about to face Gabriel without Chat. Still, this might be her best chance, she had to go face her fate once and for all.
So there she wandered, the drywall seemingly closing in on her as she made her way to the stairs. She expected that a building this big would be packed. Chock full of overtime employees typing away in cubicles into the late hours, but the place seemed abandoned, not a shred of human life.
Maybe this is a trap. The traitorous thought nestled itself in the front of her mind, making her doubt every shadow she saw, but no matter what, she needed to get downstairs which made her only real choice the nearly pitch black stairwell.
She decided to just skip the stairs all together, using her yo-yo to rappel down the central chasm. The floors whooshed past her face with a sound that further resembled howling the more she fell. The spiral of the handrail like the throat of a serpent, ensnaring her. She was about to reach the bottom floor when the door below opened, a figure clad in white and silver stepped across the floor, a heavy box nestled like a book under his arm.
Marinette scrambled back up her wire. She was trying desperately not to scream and she could feel her pulse in her ears. Gabriel for his part just adjusted his cufflinks, patted the lock box in his arm, and walked through the door opposite to the one he entered. Marinette sighed in a futile attempt to settle her nerves and dropped to follow the villain through the door.
Sapphire collapsed on the dusty bed of the grimy motel. The news station continued with its nightly report, and Sapphire fought with all her heart to hold back the tears it pulled from the depths of her soul. “...Our current reports lead us to believe that the suspect is in possession of two miraculous jewels, so all civilians should consider her armed and extremely dangerous. She was last spotted on the outskirts of London, around Dartford, so we urge all residents of the area to be vigilant and stay safe.” Concluded the male newscaster, then a female voice replaced the silence:
“Our last story tonight involves the connected and ongoing search for Parisian Lycee student Marinette Dupain-Cheng, who authorities now confirm as the secret identity of the superheroine Ladybug. She was last spotted on the day before the Tsurugi tower attack. Although the situation seems grim, authorities urge the public to not lose hope, there is still a chance that Dupain-Cheng is still…”
Sapphire didn't let herself listen to the end of that sentence; because she knew what happened to Marinette, and she didn't want to think about that night for any longer than she absolutely needed to.
Ladybug stood at the edge of the stairs looking through the doorway, peering through to confirm in which direction the villain had headed. This hallway was much larger than the ones upstairs. A heavy plated door, slightly ajar, loomed at the end of the hall with a bright blue light flickering out. She snuck up to the chamber, fighting with all her might to keep her breaths steady. The smell of molten metal filled the air in bursts, joining the disorienting flicker as she put her hand on the door handle. In all of her stealth, she failed to notice the flash of purple from behind the door.
In the same instant that she gripped the handle the door was flung open from in front of her. She lost her balance as the source of the impact revealed himself, Monarque, with the blunt end of his cane held high above his head. She didn't have enough time to react before he swung down with all of his force. The hit sent Ladybug directly to the floor where she could feel the impact resonate through her head.
She could barely focus her sight before he started taunting. “Aww, did that miserable stray finally leave you?”- he kicked her in the ribs as she tried to push herself back up- “Poor. Little. Pest. You should be more careful chasing someone like me, little girl. I can hear your fear from across the city.” At that moment Marinette sawn through hazy eyes as the super villain reached for the stone on his chest. His eyes glowed, and Marinette knew he was trying to read her thoughts, to pry and prod for an emotion on which to sick his akumas. She hated to admit it, but all that lay in her mind in that moment was fear.
“FLY MY TERRIBLE AKUMA!” Roared the man in purple, sending a dark electric butterfly soaring from the end of his cane. It set itself on the very bridge of Ladybug’s nose, before dissolving into her mask. In an instant her mind was flooded with pain, all of her worst moments bubbling up like boiling acid. Monarque smirked as he saw the hero fighting to maintain control of her own mind. “I’ll let you simmer for a bit, Insect,” his voice ricocheted through her skull as though he was speaking into megaphones on both of her ears.
“Isn't it beautiful?” He said, turning to the machine that was producing those bright blue sparks. It was massive, clearly built into the structure of the building, beams of light igniting a heavy metallic powder which collected in a fluid tank below.
“A Tsurugi brand development fabricator,” monlogued the villain, “With plasma beams that reach three million degrees per millimeter, it’s the only non magical method capable of reforging miraculous,” he fidgeted with one of the completed rings in his hand before setting it back on the table. “Or in this case… upgrading them. As it turns out, when a brat with magic tries to disintegrate you, it takes magic to keep you together,” he sneered at the teen clutching her head on the floor. She knew he was treasuring this, he was torturing her for fun. “But I imagine you understand what burning from the inside feels like,” he grinned.
She tried to open her mouth to snap back but she didn't have the wherewithal to quip. “Don't bother, I’d be amazed if you had half the mental fortitude of that Bourgeois girl.” For a second the memory of Queen Bee returned to her. Those wonderful months when she thought Chloe could be saved, and for those fleeting seconds the pain of akumatization was eased; before the akuma doubled down with the memory of Chloe’s betrayal. Did Chloe have to go through this too? Were all akumatizations this terrifying? Doubt and guilt shielded the wretched butterfly feeding on Marinette’s soul.
“N-NO!” she managed to shriek, gasping for breath as tears flooded her vision. “I. Won't. Let. You. Win.” At that moment Marinette knew she could fight the akuma, the hope had weakened it. She needed to latch onto all of her positive emotions. Her mind raced for motivation. If he wins then the Kwamis stay in the wrong hands. The wave of determination shook the akuma’s hold and Marinette felt strength return to her hands, clutching her yo-yo string. If I let him control me then Chaton would have to fight me like I fought Chat Blanc. The fear in her melted into the force that dragged her back onto her feet.
“That’s enough!” The sigil of the butterfly re-appeared on Marinette and Monarque’s face. His voice rang louder than it had before. “Lost-Cause, I am Monarque and-” then Marinette flooded the link with an overwhelming feeling, because her thoughts zeroed in on one person. One desire. Her wish to save Adrien Agreste. She winced but stood tall against Monarque.
“It's over Monarque! Lucky charm!” She launched her yo-yo at the supervillain, hoping that the motion would direct the lucky charm at him. The shower of pink and red sparks trailed until the furthest reach of the line, where they erupted into a sphere of red and black crystal. The baseball sized projectile bounced off the now bloodied nose of the villain and fell within the array of the fabricator.
In a split second three things happened: firstly the disoriented supervillain toppled to the ground, releasing his grip on Marinette just long enough that she managed to fully eject the akuma. She rested her hands on her knees as the breath returned to her, and the second event occurred. The crystal sphere refracted the lasers from the fabricator, engulfing the chamber in a luminous deathtrap of flashing beams emitted from what was in essence a disco ball. Lastly in that same second, one of the red death beams fully vaporized the akuma, further dazing the villain on the floor. Ladybug crawled her way to the injured villain as the machine malfunctioned and set off the alarms.
The blaring alarm noise replaced the slowing whir of the machine as it shut down, and the emergency lights replaced the lasers that triggered them. Ladybug stood over the near unconscious form of Monarque and lunged for the brooch. He barely got one syllable out before the magic of the suit flew off him, leaving Gabriel for the first time in three years fully disconnected from any magic to ease his curse. Marinette huffed for breath before attaching the butterfly Miraculous to her own neckline and unifying the two miraculous.
Then she felt fear, Gabriels fear. She turned back to him in horror as she watched the blackened ashy marks of the cataclysm climb up the man's neck and engulf his face, the pools of black ichor which must have once been blood oozed from the cloth of his suit.
She tried to reach for her lucky charm, but the array had molten it to a magicless blob of darkened glass, once again she was unable to heal him. Then she heard the door slam open. Mme. Tsurugi stood over the scene and screamed in rage and fear. She didn't know what overcame her but in that instance Marinette panicked and called upon a power she had never used before. She barely even saw the butterfly leave the cane.
In a split second the two women’s consciousnesses linked. Marinette’s headache only got worse when Tsurugi started mentally screaming at her. “Please!” begged Marinette. “This is not what it looks-”
“Get away from me Monarque! You dishonorable killer! You would dare to intrude in my mind!?”
Rage. Marinette could feel the rage flowing off of the business woman in front of her. And in that moment she knew she needed to get away. Could I use that rage? Maybe it was a little underhanded, but at that point Marinette just wanted to survive; so she flooded the link herself.
“Ragestorm I am Purple Sapphire, here to relieve you of your anger,'' the words felt so natural, Marinette felt sick even saying them. “Accept my gift and you can be free of your rage.” Tsurugi clutched her head, resisting for a couple of seconds before…
“I… I accept, Purple Sapphire..” a shimmer of purple bubbles encased Mme. Tsurugi. In her place stood a woman seemingly made of red metal, her hands replaced by cannons.
“I’m sorry,” said Sapphire before turning to a wall beside them and pointing. As if rehearsed, Ragestorm aimed her cannon at the wall and screamed in fury. The wall, and all the walls behind it, were carved out by the blast. Carved until Marinette could see the sky outside. She turned back to Gabriel, now fully lifeless in a pool of rot, and felt a misery she could not understand. Pity perhaps? But before she could dwell, the newly named Purple Sapphire fled the scene, recalling her akuma once she was a safe distance from what had just happened.
She crashed onto the roof of another office building, gasping for breath as the adrenaline began to fade. And just as she crashed, so too did what just happened crash on her.
Gabriel Agreste is dead. Monarque is dead and I just killed him. I killed him. Her mind fogged as the single idea overtook her. Gabriel’s grayed and disintegrating face staring at her as she fled. Coward! She screamed in her head. I should have been smarter with the lucky charm, I should have grabbed another ring, I-
Marinette wailed incomprehensibly, in her guilt she felt more like a ravenous wolf howling at the moon than a person. What have I done?! Why?! How could I run away?! Her thoughts sped so fast but there was no way to make them into words. The guilt burnt through her veins, more excruciating than the akuma that she fought just a few minutes ago…was it still minutes? It felt like she’d been weeping for hours or even days, but every time she felt like she might stop new thoughts crowded her mind. He was Adrien's dad. Adrien’s an orphan because of me. He will never look at me the same way again. I can never look at him again.
Marinette was still hurt from her fight with Monarque, and though her suit made sure she could recover eventually, the headache tore through her endurance. The world started to fade around her. Pain and exhaustion conspiring to bring her down. Still sobbing, Marinette only had one thought before collapsing.
In the decrepit motel room Marinette sighed with a weight that should have never been set upon her. “Reverse morphosis.” Muttered the villainess. And the transformation fell away from her, revealing a girl presumed dead, looking not too far from it. She let herself relax onto the bed, her eyelids weighing more and more by the second. As she surrendered to the dark she shared one last thought with that sobbing girl, on that terrible night, on that cold Parisian roof:
Where are you Minou?