15. Remember Me?

A/N: I typed this SUPER fast for you guys, so please excuse typos. I'm a day late with this chapter, so I wanted to make it up to ya'll. Thanks for reading and reviewing, enjoy!

Chapter 15: Remember Me?

Adrenaline fueling his every move, Chat cut to the chase and smashed his lips onto Ladybug's.

It was really just a quick brush of his lips on hers, because she instantly reeled backwards, floundering about and leaving to him to stumble and fall at her feet.

"Ladybug, end him!" he heard Ms. Amnesia scream in the background as he bit the dust. Ladybug's hand was already on her yoyo, mid-process of taking it out. "End this and you'll be safe!"

Chat looked up, fully prepared to watch her whip out her yoyo and aim it at his head. Instead, both of Ladybug's hands flew to her lips. She backed up a few steps, walking stiffly like she was a robot. Her hands twitched and her body jerked, like she was fighting for control of herself.

"Ch-chat?" she stammered, eyes widening. He let himself get hopeful for a second as she turned to Ms. Amnesia, but then her eyes narrowed again and she whipped around, ready to break his skull with her yoyo. Her hand flew up into the air, ready to deliver the blow.

But then her arm spazzed and she dropped the yoyo, falling to her knees.

"Lady...bug..." Chat groaned. As she looked up, her eyes were as blue as ever, and they looked upon him with horror at what she had almost done.

"No! Ladybug, it's the earrings! Pull them off quickly!" Ms. Amnesia called. Ladybug's eyes narrowed and turned red before she reclaimed her yoyo and stood.

"Marinette, remember who you are! She's lying to you!" the voice again came into Ladybug's mind. She stopped short.

And so it continued for several minutes. Tikki would yell at Ladybug, and she would stop. Ms. Amnesia would throw out empty promises and she continued towards Chat. Her body jerked around awkwardly, torn between two masters. Her eyes flickered back and forth between red and blue.

Chat Noir felt the drowsiness try to reclaim him, but he fought to stay awake. He had no idea what to do now. Ladybug didn't seem to be regaining any ground, and Ms. Amnesia just got angrier and angrier at her failed attempts to control the girl.

"Ladybug, darling. Try and resist! Take off the earrings and this will all stop!" Ms. Amnesia called. Ladybug nodded jerkily and reached up with shaking hands to pull of her earrings.

"NO!" Tikki shrieked.

"NO!" Chat Noir gasped. "Ladybug, stop!"

The red and black spotted girl froze again. Chat realized that talking to her helped, so he continued.

"Ladybug, you shouldn't do that! Those earrings give you the power to save people! You love Paris and you love helping the people in it! Remember?"

Ladybug looked paralyzed. She didn't move a muscle from where she had frozen. Her eyes stared straight ahead into the night, void of any emotion. But they were more blue than red. That was the only sign he had that this might work.

"Remember the last patrol we went on a few weeks ago before this mess happened? We saved a little girl from being mugged! She hugged you, Ladybug. She loved you! And so many people in Paris love you too! You keep them safe. You've earned everyone's respect! Don't give them a reason to doubt you!"

She stood stock still, as if she was a statue.

"How about Alya, that crazy reporter girl? I can't believe the amount of times we've had to save her, because she came too close to the akuma. She came so close and risked her life to see you! To try and let the world see you! You were her idol!"

Chat Noir didn't notice Alya, her phone camera on night-vision mode, standing a couple hundred feet away from the scene. The reporter wiped her eyes on her sleeve, brushing a few stray tears away.

"And how about Chloe? Even the most rude, self-centered, cold hearted creature on the planet couldn't help but admire you!" Chat kept at it. Ladybug's right hand twitched.

"Ladybug, Paris needs you! And...I need you!" he didn't care about the tears. He didn't even try to hold them back. They were streaming down his face. "I need you back! You are the only one who can save the day! You're the only one who can purify the akuma! You're the hero, Ladybug. You're Paris' hero. You're my hero."

Ladybug's mouth opened, as if she was trying to say something, but then it snapped shut again.

"And I don't care if you break free and then leave me. I don't care if you end this and then I never see you again! I just want you to be happy! You deserve nothing but the best, my lady. And you won't get it this way! You're better than this! You're the most kind, talented, amazing, generous, and loving person on the planet, and I-"

Chat choked on his own tears. Ladybug's whole body was now trembling. Her face twisting back and forth between emotions. Her hands were balled up into fists.

"Ladybug, I... I love you!" Chat called to her. But his speech had taken up what little energy he had left. His super suit was really the only thing keeping him alive at this point. When he moved to kiss Ladybug, it had taken whatever amount of physical strength he had left. His eyes slid shut again, head lolling back. His breaths came in short, infrequent gasps.

Chat Noir didn't see Ladybug's legs give out. He didn't see her collapse onto the ground, her eyes the pretty bluebell color he loved. He didn't see her reach for her yoyo. He didn't see Ms. Amnesia's mouth drop open in shock. Chat would have been proud of the way that Ladybug stood resolutely, ready to face the akumatized villain even after waging a mental war with herself.

Chat Noir also didn't hear the annoying beep, beep, beep that signaled he only had five more minutes to his transformation. Plagg couldn't hold out any longer.

Ladybug lunged towards Ms. Amnesia, who was forced to dodge. She whipped out her chains and spun them around, only to have both of them knocked from her hands by Ladybug's yoyo. She whipped around, but her reflexes weren't good enough to block the kick that Ladybug aimed at her chest.

Ms. Amnesia flew backwards, slamming against the wall. Ladybug walked up to her, her mouth set in a determined line, and grabbed the locket around Ms. Amnesia's neck, jerking backwards and snapping the chain in one pull.

Then Ladybug threw the locket onto the ground, smashing it with perhaps more force than necessary. The metal broke apart and the little black butterfly flew out and headed for the sky, determined to make its escape. Ladybug's yoyo caught it almost immediately.

"No more evil doing for you, little akuma." Ladybug's normally confident voice sounded weary. "I'm freeing you from evil!" She opened he yoyo and released the white butterfly into the air. "Bye bye, little butterfly," she called after it.

"Where am I?" Macy groaned and rubbed her head. Ladybug had to remind herself that this girl wasn't to blame for that fight, and she did not deserve to have her guts splattered against the wall. But by god, someone needed to pay! And that someone was Hawkmoth...

The sound of police sirens rang through the night. Looks like the police had finally decided to show up, an hour after they were most needed. Typical. Ladybug was snapped out of her thoughts as a flash of green pierced the air. Crap! Chat Noir!

Ladybug didn't care about their secret identities anymore. Her partner was about to die. There was no freaking way she was going to worry about anything right now other than keeping him alive! Miraculous Cleanse could wait. She spun around, ready to run to his side and get him help. But upon sight of his face, she froze.

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Alya had shown up at the fight just after Ladybug had been taken over by Ms. Amnesia. She lived a few blocks away from the building that had crumbled, so she had definitely heard it as it fell. She ran all the way there, even if it turned out to be nothing. What could she say, a journalist had to investigate everything!'

She was unable to work her way through the piles of rubble that completely covered the street, save for a few places,. She knelt down behind a sizable pile of rubble, so she would have a shield from whatever was on the other side (she was crazy brave, but not stupid brave).

Whipping out her phone, Alya switched it to night vision to get the best possible footage. Then, pushing the bridge of her glasses up her nose, she peeked over the top of her barricade. What she saw shocked her to pieces.

Ladybug was jerking around, looking like a confused zombie. A girl dressed in black and gold hovered over her, looking annoyed and smug all at the same time. But what really came as a shock was that a broken and bleeding Chat Noir was lying on the ground a few feet away from Ladybug. Where the heck did he come from?

She tried to ignore the pang of hate that rang through her. That dirty double crossing cat! But she was more focused on Ladybug than anything else. The superheroine's eyes kept changing color, from her normal blue to dark red. She was stumbling about, reaching for her yoyo and then dropping it. What was going on?

Alya almost dropped her phone when Chat Noir suddenly gathered his feet underneath him, and then lunged unsteadily at Ladybug, brushing his lips on hers before sinking to his knees. She almost forgot that Chat was the enemy as her mind screamed "OMIGOD LADYNOIR IS A REALITY!"

Ladybug jerked backwards and then completely froze. Chat was talking to her, but Alya was too far away to hear what he was saying. She crept a bit closer, listening intently.

"Remember the last patrol we went on a few weeks ago before this mess happened? We saved a little girl from being mugged! She hugged you, Ladybug. She loved you! And so many people in Paris love you too! You keep them safe. You've earned everyone's respect! Don't give them a reason to doubt you!"

Alya wrinkled her nose, zooming her camera in closer. Doubt Ladybug? Never!

"How about Alya, that crazy reporter girl? (Alya almost snorted there) I can't believe the amount of times we've had to save her, because she came too close to the akuma. She came so close and risked her life to see you! To try and let the world see you! You were her idol!"

Alya wiped away a few tears on her sleeve. Her phone lowered slightly. Ladybug...what was she doing? She glanced back up at the akuma, who seemed to be locked in deep concentration, staring at Ladybug, like she was trying to...control her? Everything finally clicked into place and Alya realized what was going on. Though while her mind was racing, she had missed Chat's next few sentences. She went back to paying attention.

"And I don't care if you break free and then leave me. I don't care if you end this and then I never see you again! I just want you to be happy! You deserve nothing but the best, my lady. And you won't get it this way! You're better than this! You're the most kind, talented, amazing, generous, and loving person on the planet, and I-"

Alya didn't fail to notice the tears streaming down Chat's face, and how Ladybug was shaking.

"Ladybug, I... I love you!"

And then Chat Noir went limp. And his ring beeped.

Alya dropped her phone as Ladybug collapsed. She stood up, ready to charge in and help if she had to! But Ladybug didn't need any help. To Alya's relief (and shock) Ladybug rose and then proceeded to kick the crap out of the akumatized girl, snatching away what must be the akmuatized object and breaking it.

The butterfly was caught, cleansed, and released. The girl returned to normal. The building didn't though, because Ladybug hadn't used Miraculous Cleanse yet. Alya stood and was about to run to Ladybug when there was a sudden, green flash of light. Alya immediately closed her eyes.

"Oh my god... oh my god the story I've been chasing for TWO YEARS is RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!" Alya screamed to herself in her head. She wanted so badly to open her eyes. To see who it was! This was what she had dreamed about for YEARS!

But she couldn't do it. She just couldn't bring herself to do it. Alya was frustrated. She had always wanted find out Ladybug and Chat Noir's identities. It had been her mission for so ridiculously long. So WHY couldn't she bring herself to OPEN HER EYES?

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Ladybug broke out of her trance and ran to her partner's side, flinging herself onto her knees and cradling his head in her lap. Chat-no-Adrien was hardly breathing. Ladybug took in a deep breath. No time to have a mental breakdown now!

"Adrien Agreste has been flirting with me for how long now?" NO! She couldn't allow herself to thing about that right now. She took in a sharp breath, stood, and tossed her yoyo in the air. "Lucky Charm!"

She had hoped for a first aid kit or some gauze or something. Anything to stop him from losing blood! What she got was a stretcher. Perfect! She could move him without hurting him now! Get him somewhere safe! She couldn't take him to the hospital, for fear his secret identity would no longer remain a secret. But wait, she couldn't take him anywhere without someone else to help her with the stretcher!

Ladybug looked up, and she thanked every god who would listen along with her amazing luck that Alya was standing a few yards away, eyes shut and camera on the ground.

"Alya!" she screamed. The red head's eyes snapped open. They widened at the sight of the boy in Ladybug's arms. "Please help me!"

Alya came to her senses and ran to Ladybug's side. The girls lifted Adrien into the stretcher, each taking an end. Now they just had to get him somewhere safe and stop him from dying. His life was in their hands.