Evilustrator watched as they took his maid away. "Take him to the dungeon. Now get him out of my sight." Marinette said, teeth clenched, Before they could take him out door Evilustrator yelled, "ADRIEN IS CAT NOIR!"
Adrien, suddenly aware of the situation, looked at Marinette in fear. The one thing he was dreading, the one thing Master Fu said not to do, the one thing he had kept secret this whole time, his idenity. All eyes looked to him and the look on Marinette's face was something he never saw before and he hoped to never see again.
"You're- YOU'RE LYING! MY FUTURE FIANCÈ WOULD NEVER BETRAY ME LIKE THAT! GUARDS!" "I'm not lying! And even you know that. You're just denying it. I saw Adrien or Cat Noir jump from Adrien's room and escape the castle. I went back up to the room and Adrien was gone. Nowhere to be found. That was how he escaped the first time. Because he transformed and jumped out the window."
Marinette looked to her guards to get a second confirmation to make sure Evilustrator wasn't lying. The guards shook their heads confirming Evilustrator's claims. Tears started filling her eyes as she held her head low. "Marinette... I- please..." "You didn't love... me..." Marinette looked at him tears slowly filling her eyes.
"No I do, I love you with all my heart. But I love my Marinette, I love my... Ladybug." At this Marinette was shocked. "Y-Y-You know my identity." "Yes. But now you understand that why I have to get you back. The world needs you I need you. I want the old you to come back."
"NO! YOU JUST WANT LADYBUG TO COME BACK! YOU ONLY LOVE HER! YOU DON'T LOVE ME!" "But I do, Marinette. I love how you're always so sweet, kind to others, how you're never afraid to speak your mind. I love everything about you." "You certainly didn't love me when you rejected me."
This stabbed Adrien in the heart, because he knew... she was right. "But I did in a way, I just never had time to fully develop my feelings for you, because I was blinded by my love for Ladybug." "Y-YOU'RE LYING!" "Please, Marinette you have to believe me. This power you have, isn't you. It's going to slowly destroy you until there's nothing left. Let me help you!"
"I think you've done enough." Marinette created used the ladybugs to take Evilustrator's power away turning him back into Nathaniel. The GUARDS ARREST THEM BOTH!" Adrien looked at Marinette slightly betrayed, but he couldn't blame her. Why should she trust him, how could she believe that Adrien loved her in the first place and he was the one that broke her.
The whole world see to go into slow motion as the guards began to handcuff him and take him away. He looked back and saw Abbie running to him with tears, screaming "Mr. Adrien!". The last thing he saw was Marinette's eyes void of any emotion, no longer did they hold the sparkles of happiness he thought made her so beautiful before and the pupils in her red eyes turning to slits. Then the door closed.
In that moment his opportunity to save Marinette, to save the world all went up in flames. And now all he could do was sit back and watch the world burn as he slowly lost the only thing he loved in this world...
Marinette.
Crack
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Adrien was led down a dark hall leading to a large metal door. The guards covered Adrien's so they he see the code on the pad. Nathaniel was unconscious so they didn't have to cover his eyes. The large door opened and their eyes were uncovered. The door led to a large dark room. A panel slowly came out of the side of the wall making a bridge.
Nothing was below them, just an empty space of black nothingness. The was was for above. Nothing was there except the scattered bubbles with the people inside. Two of the clear spheres came to them . The guards pushed them inside and pushed the bubbles to the far back side of the void.
Adrien watched from the sky as he saw the guards walk away and the bridge disappear. Then large metal door close taking away their only source of light. Adrien looked at Nathaniel, finally awake. "We're in the void... aren't we?" "What?"
"The void. It's what this place is. I designed it myself when I was.... you know. It's a completely impenetrable dungeon. Using Bubbler's powers I made it so people could never escape. They would have to stay in these bubbles forever." "So there's no way out or in." "Besides the door, no. And don't even try to Cataclysm your way out of here you'll only be falling to your death."
"What's at the bottom anyway?" "Nothing. You just keep falling forever until you die. Your powers won't work in here. Not even your staff, we're too far for that anyway." "So what are we supposed to do?! YOU CAUSED THIS MESS!" "I know. It's all my fault. And now I have to live with myself because of it."
Nathaniel stayed silent after that. While he wallowed in his despair. Adrien tried to see who all was there. It was a bit too dark, but Adrien could make out a few people. He saw Juleka, Ivan, Kim, Alix, Max, Mylene and someone else... maybe- "Ugh! I can't believe she put us in here, if I was akumatized or whatever I would have treated you all like guests."
That's Lila alright.
"Lila can you please shut up for a second! We're all in here and there's nothing we can do about it. You've been doing this since we first got here!" Alix yelled. "How long have we been in here anyway?" Kim asked. "Approximately 6 days, 18 hours, 13 minutes, and 26 seconds. 27, 28, 29..." "Ok, we get the point."
"Wait, we got some new people in here. Who's there?" Ivan asked. "It's me, Adrien. And Nathaniel too." "Adrien, honey! I'm so glad your ok." Lila said with a shrill voice. "What is the queen's pet doing in here?" Alix asked. " "Don't worry he's not Evilustrator anymore. Marinette threw him in here along with me."
"What did you guys do anyway?" Ivan asked. "Well there was a big dinner party and Nathaniel or... Evilustrator tried to put a love potion in her drink. Luckily, I stopped her from drinking the drink and Evilustrator was about to get arrested but he shouted my identity before he was taken away so now we're both in here."
"Your... identity?" "He's Cat Noir." Nathaniel said. "Can you PLEASE STOP DOING THAT?!" Adrien yelled out of frustration. "It's true. Isn't it?" "Yeah , can you least let me be the one to tell them? Your blabbermouth is what got us here in the first place." "I know." "Wait, he remembers everything he did?" Kim asked.
I never realized that. Usually when someone gets their powers taken away or purified then they don't remember what they did. How does he remember? "Yes, I do. Unlike Nino, she took away his memories and replaced them with different ones when she took his powers away. But she just took my powers away." "Leaving you with your memories." Adrien finished.
"Even as Evilustrator, It was pretty much the same as being akumatized. I somewhat had free will but I was led by my desires. That being that I wanted to be my Marinette's side. And since I was under her control I just had to do whatever she said."
"Why did you yell out my identity?" "I guess it was a last act of desperation and revenge. If I couldn't be by her side, then I wouldn't you be either. And you also had Hana taken away." "Oh." "Who's Hana?" Mylene asked. "She... she was no one. " Nathaniel said. "Where was she being taken anyway. All Marinette said was you know where."
Nathaniel stayed quiet, "Come on, you started all this so you might as well answer our questions." Adrien pressed. "It's the Dump, ok. She's being taken to the Dump." "What do you mean?" "The Dump is exactly that, it's a place where we take people that break the rules or step out of line."
"I understand that but what do they do to them there." "THEY'RE GOING TO EXCUTE HER OKAY! They take the serves and burn them until it's just ashes and throw them into a pile of the rest of the ashes. That's why it's called the Dump." His voice started getting shaky midway.
"Nathaniel..." "And I was the one who made it." Nathaniel sobbed. "They're going to kill her and it's all my fault. All because she risked her life for mine." As much as they despised him, they knew he was just under Marinette's control. And they couldn't help but pity the poor redhead.
While Adrien was concerned for Nathaniel's wellbeing. He was more concerned with the fact that they might not have long before Marinette is gone, permanently. And he was now stuck in an impenetrable prison. Marinette was a time ticking bomb , and they were all sitting ducks.