WARNING! THIS CHAPTER DOES CONTAIN SOME VIOLENCE! I MAY BE OVERREACTING, BUT YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Adrien raced down the street, his feet pounding into the ground. His breath became more labored with each step. He wanted to slow for a single moment to rest but couldn't. He had been spotted. And she was gaining on him.

As he turned a corner, his destination within sight, his foot slipped out from under him. His descent to the ground was quick, his left knee slammed against it. A scream was perched on the edge of his throat, desperate to escape. But he didn't want to alert any more akumas that might have been in the area. One akuma was already too much for him to handle.

As he attempted to stand, a sharp pain shot through his leg, bringing him back down. Realizing he couldn't get up, he crawled into an alleyway. He did his best to hide amongst the trash littered in the alley, hoping the shadows would help conceal him. All he could really do was pray that she wouldn't notice him.

He froze as a bright, pale face appeared at the entranceway. When Refleckta walked into the alley, Adrien held his breath. The sound of her red heels tapping against the ground rang in his ears. It bounced off the walls and took over the silence that had once ruled. He could feel his nerves on edge, the sweat dripping down his face. Of all the days he could have been caught, this was by far the worst yet.

"Whatever," Reflectka scoffed. She turned and left, giving up her pursuit of the boy.

Even as she grew further away, he still couldn't be sure she had indeed left. When her shadow hadn't reappeared in the last few moments, the blonde finally moved. His body quivered, adrenaline still rushing through his veins. A sigh escaped from his lungs, he wasn't out of the clear yet. He needed to get back to his friends.

Using the wall as support, he got off the ground and hobbled out of the alleyway. While the walk would only take a few minutes, it felt like an eternity due to his knee. He had never felt a pain more excruciating in his civilian form. With each slight step came the thousand needles jabbing into his leg. He could hardly bear it. But he had to press on. He couldn't allow Marinette to suffer any longer.

Eventually, he reached the school and was making his way up to the second floor. However, he hadn't even made it halfway up the stairs before his left knee caved in. He rolled down the stairs, the booms from his crashing body filled the courtyard. His back hit the floor in an unceremonious bump. He was just lucky that his head hadn't bashed into one of the steps.

It was ironic that the akuma battle hadn't even begun, yet Adrien's body already felt too battered to continue. He could feel his muscles starting to go numb. He didn't even attempt to get up this time. Instead, he continued to lie on the cold, stone floor.

Plagg zoomed out of the boy's shirt, a worried expression controlling his face. The cat spoke, "Adrien?" his voice dripped with panic, "Adrien!?". He wanted to respond, to calm the kwami down, but the aching of his body silenced him. The agony was sucking up all his energy, leaving only the shell of the boy for all to see.

Just as his eyes were shutting, the kwami zoomed to the next floor and into the locker room. It wasn't long before he could hear the opening of a door, quickly followed by the hushed tones from several voices. Then came the shuffling of feet as they descended the stairs. As someone started to call out his name, the last of his consciousness began to drift away. He didn't fight it, allowing the world to go dark.

—

Chat Noir strolled through the city, the streets void of any life. There was not a sound to be heard, his own footsteps noiseless as he moved. There were no gusts of wind nor a single cloud in the sky. The world was all grey or white, not a single vibrant color within sight. A sense of isolation crept throughout his body, one he had felt many times before. However, this time was different. When Paris was barren of all its attributes, the joyful city became an eerie desert.

Where was everyone? The boy questioned. Then, in the distance, he saw Ladybug. She stood in the middle of the street, a drop of color in the achromatic sea of the city. Her sparkling blue eyes stared into his own, brimming with confidence. The sight eased his mind, knowing that he wasn't alone anymore.

Before he could call out to her, she ran down the street. Using her yoyo to propel herself, she jumped off the ground and landed on a nearby lamppost.

"Hurry up! You don't want to fall too far behind, kitty!" She shouted, taking off again. The boy followed after her, a smile forming on his face. The pair leaped across the Paris skyline as he continually chased after his lady. He tried to catch up to her, moving the fastest he could. However, the distance between them only seemed to grow wider. But that wasn't the only thing he noticed.

The longer the chase went on, the more of the world would be restored. With each rooftop Ladybug landed on, the color would be returned, dripping down the building's exterior. The higher she would jump in the sky, a cloud would form in as she fell back to earth. Every avenue she passed over, the cheers of people could be heard once more. Only her presence could restore the city from its dreadful state. And Chat Noir was amazed by it.

Eventually, Ladybug climbed to the top of the Eiffel Tower. When she reached the top of the tower, she didn't take off again. Instead, she stood on the small platform and waited for him. He was glad that the chase was over so that he could finally talk to her. When he reached the platform, he didn't find the superheroine he always adored. Instead, there only stood the girl who had become one of his very first friends.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

She leaned her forearms against the railing, her profile facing his way. Her pigtails moved with the breeze. Her figure was framed by the sky, painted pink with the dwindling sunset. Her position was relaxed, at peace with the world around them. It was a sight that made the blonde's heart pound wildly against his chest. The scene was so simple. Yet, he couldn't have thought of anything more stunning.

Ladybug and Marinette indeed were one and the same. There was no arguing otherwise. Even if he had only recently discovered the truth, deep down, his heart had always known.

Having caught him in her peripheral, she turned to face him. When her azure eyes stared into his own, a wave of emotions rolled over his entire being. Then she gave him one of her kind, gentle smiles, one that always managed to ease his feelings. He wasn't able to handle the space between them anymore.

Taking two long strides, he walked towards the girl and wrapped her into a hug. Her hands clutched onto the front of his suit, not returning his gesture. He couldn't see her face, but he didn't care.

A few moments of silence passed before Chat Noir could speak. "I am so glad that you're alright, Marinette."

"Why didn't you do anything?" Her response was immediate, her tone laced with the malice. He didn't blame her for being mad.

"There was nothing I could do."

She scoffed, "Nothing you could do?! You knew just as well as I who Lila truly was! And yet you couldn't have done anything to stop her!" She shoved him away, and he finally caught sight of her face. With the heated way she had spoken, he expected to find her consumed with anger. What he didn't expect was for her face to be blank. It was neither calm nor cold, but bare of all emotions. And it was the most frightening thing that he had ever seen.

Before she could move too far away, he stretched his right hand out and grabbed her left.

"I didn't know that she was capable of doing that. I didn't know how much damage she was going to cause. If I had known, then I would have stopped her before she had even started. Please… I'm so sorry."

The boy closed his eyes, unable to look at her. Sadness burned his soul, tears threatened to spill out of his eyes. He wanted to make things right between them, but he didn't know-how.

"Adrien," Marinette whispered, leaning in so that their foreheads touched. She placed one hand on top of his heart, its heat spreading across his chest. Her other hand held his own, fingers fiddling with his ring. If she were doing this at any other time, he might have felt more serene. Instead, a tight knot formed in his gut.

"You couldn't stop Lila." She spoke abruptly, cutting through his thoughts. Then, her warm hand was replaced with a cold blade that punctured his stomach. "And you couldn't save me."

A gasp escaped the blonde's throat, too shocked to speak. He stumbled backwards, falling to the floor. When he looked up, he could no longer see Marinette nor Ladybug. The being that stood before him was merely a shell of who they were. Princess Justice.

Her appearance hadn't changed from their first encounter. The violet dress still adorned her figure. The white sash hung off her shoulder and down to her hip, stained with drops of his blood. Her thoughts were obscured from the world by the blindfold that covered her eyes. There was something different, though. Since the sword she carried was pierced through his body, she now held a black ring in her left hand. His miraculous. In all the chaos, he hadn't noticed his forced de-transformation. She must have pulled the ring off his finger when he had backed away.

Chat Noir was gone, leaving Adrien Agreste in his wake. Utterly powerless against her.

He scooted away from the akuma. It wasn't until his back bumped against the railing that he realized how trapped he was. However, she hadn't moved. She was a statue, completely still as she waited. But for what was she waiting for?

Then, the dark, criminal figure of Hawkmoth stepped out of the shadows and stood behind his akuma. He plucked the ring out of her hand, letting loose a maniacal laugh.

"Excellent work, Princess," The older man said, "You are the best akuma I have ever created." The words caused Adrien to stiffen. It disgusted him to hear the villain use the very same nickname he had given to Marinette. And how the villain had said she was his best akuma, when they had been trying so hard to defeat him, it didn't sit right in his stomach.

Princess Justice slightly turned her head towards the man before replying. "I live to serve you, Hawkmoth."

"Mari… Lady…" The boy grunted out. He thought that saying one of her names could possibly free her from the akuma, but he couldn't even muster up the energy to finish either.

However, he was able to catch her attention. She strolled over to him, each step more menacing than the last. When she reached his location, she seized onto her sword and twisted it deeper into his gut. A scream of pain forced it's way past his lips, loud enough for all of Paris to hear. But no one could save him.

Princess Justice got down on her knees so she was level with him. She leaned close, feeling her breath fan across his cheek. Her hands held onto the sides of his face, forcing him to look directly at her. The ties of her blindfold came undone, falling down to the ground. His eyes widened as he looked into her own as they were no longer blue, filled with the energy of life. Now they were grey, without a soul in sight.

She whispered, so low that he could barely hear, "I told you before, there is no more Marinette or Ladybug. There is only Princess Justice."

Then, the railing behind his back vanished, causing him to fall off the Eiffel Tower. He reached his hand out, hoping that Princess Justice wouldn't let him plummet to the ground. Yet all she did was stand and wrenched her sword out of his stomach. She didn't care whether he lived or died.

As Adrien descended to the ground, he took one last glimpse of Paris. The clouds that had started to float in the sky had once again disappeared. The cheers of people were now replaced with the lifeless streets. The color that painted the buildings was now draining down into the sewer. There was truly nothing to behold about the city.

The isolation crept back into the body. The demon had never left, only tamed by the girl he loved.

Just as his boy crashed into the cement, Adrien awoke with a shout. "NOOOOOO!" He sat up to discover he was no longer at the Eiffel Tower, but in the school's locker room instead. He grabbed his heart, a vain attempt to slow it's pace down. He could feel the sweat dripping down his face.

He was made aware of the other occupants in the room as one spoke up. "Adrikins… are you alright?" It was Chloe, startled by his yell.

Without looking, he replied, "Yeah… yeah, I'm fine."

It was just a dream. A terrible nightmare.

Hey guys! I know it's been awhile since I've updated this story. To be honest, I didn't know what to do with this chapter at all. Like, everything that was written down was not in the game plan. But I figure it had been a while since we've seen Princess Justice herself, so why not make Adrien angst about it. Also, I wanted to get this out before my birthday, but with all the craziness in the world right now, I frankly lost the time. So I'm uploading minutes before the end of March, lol.

Also, I would like to address something. So I post this story on AO3 as well and I've gotten some comments about Adrien knowing some of the miraculous users. To be honest, when I was writing this story, I kinda forgot he knew some of them. Like, I didn't know about Kagami since I hadn't seen Ikari Gozen until the rest of season 3 got upload onto Netflix. And I'm not sure if he knows about Kim. But I did know about Luka and Max. Sometimes I forget canonical order of the episodes when I'm writing this story, but it is a mistake on my part. However, even if I had remember, I don't think I would have included them. I don't want that many characters know Marinette's secret, I think the core four and Hawkmoth knowing is just enough. Also, I don't feel comfortable writing too many characters. Like, seven miraculous users is a lot and I just want to keep it more simple. But it is still a mistake nonetheless. I just wanted to clear up some confusion.

Anyway, I hope y'all enjoyed!