Chapter Forty-Three:

Adrien walked inside the Agreste Mansion, his shoulders sagging and his head hanging low. His limbs were screaming at him to stop moving and to rest, even if it was just for a minute. Closing the giant doors behind him, Adrien slumped against them and slid to the floor.

She was nowhere.

He and the Charms had searched the entire city and yet, somehow, Marinette had been able to get away. He thought he would have been able to catch her, but apparently, she had even gotten away from the reporters.

The headlines they had posted broke Adrien's heart right in half, but not as much as the pictures they featured. The headlines either read, "Ladybug Missing?" or "Ladybug Escapes After Showdown!" or "Gabriel Agreste: Murderer and Kidnaper?". It depended on the site or news station. But the pictures...

Adrien squeezed his eyes closed. They were burned into his memory. He couldn't imagine why the reporters and press thought it would be perfectly fine to take pictures of a broken girl. He could see it in his mind's eye as clear as day; blueish black hair sprawled across the marble steps, a blue peacock dress ripped at the bottom and across the shoulder, a bloody and bleeding chin, and - to top it off - a trembling body curled up into a ball.

"Did you find her?"

Adrien snapped out of his trance and opened his eyes. Standing at the top of the stairs, Nino was looking down at his friend, his eyes full of worry.

Adrien dropped his gaze again. "No... There hasn't been any sign of her."

Nino sighed. "Well, the press has been trying to get into the mansion for the past couple hours searching for answers. We've been barely able to keep them at bay. I'm surprised you were able to get inside."

He shrugged. "It took a lot of pushing and shoving, but still, here I am." Adrien yawned and rubbed his eyes. "What time is it?"

Nino pulled out his phone. "It's almost ten in the morning." His eyes widened. "Bro, did you stay up all night?"

Adrien didn't respond to the question. He merely dropped his head and rested it between his legs, his blond hair hanging down across his face.

"Dude, you need to get to bed," Nino insisted, coming down the stairs and kneeling next to his friend. "You can't keep functioning like a machine."

"But I need to find her," he said with a forlorn expression. "I... I can't give up."

"You won't be giving up on her, I promise, buddy." He placed a hand on Adrien's shoulder. "If anything, getting some much-needed rest will help rejuvenate you. You can go searching for her tonight."

After a long moment, Adrien nodded. With some effort, Nino was able to get his friend to his feet. He patted him on the back reassuringly, and was about to lead him up the stairs when someone said:

"Nino, can I talk to Adrien for a minute, please?"

Both boys looked over toward Gabriel's office doors. Adrien's mother was standing in the doorway, giving Adrien a loving smile. Nino immediately unhooked his arm from his friend's shoulders and nodded.

"Of course, Mrs. Agreste."

Adrien watched his friend walk away before sighing and hanging his head. "I know, Mom... I was out for too long and I didn't come home when I told you..."

His mother walked up to him and, unlike what he was used to, she enveloped him in a hug. He stood there in shock for a moment, then he finally melted. Before he could do or say anything, his mother spoke.

"It doesn't matter that you came home late right now. I'm just relieved that you're home safe. I know you've been really worried recently, and it isn't my place to judge your choices." She pulled away just enough to cup his cheek in her hand. "I trust your judgment."

The overwhelming love finally hit him and Adrien started to cry. He threw his arms around his mother and bawled into her shoulder. It had been forever since he had received that kind of support before. And with Marinette missing...

"Shh... It's going to be okay, Adrien. I promise." She ran her fingers through his hair, taking out the cat ears that were still lodged in his hair.

"But she's gone, Mom. I couldn't find her anywhere, no one could!"

"It might take some time for her to come out, honey. I know it's hard, but I think that if you give her some space, she'll come out eventually."

Adrien shook his head and pulled away. "No, no I can't just leave her. You waited for dad to change, but he didn't. You had to step in before anyone got hurt." He straightened his shoulders and wiped his nose on his sleeve. "I'm going to find her before she gets hurt. The news is already taking this too far... I..." He started to tremble, choking on a sob. "I brought this upon her, all of this stress... I have to be the one to fix it."

His mother put her hands on his shoulders. "Adrien, as much as I believe you, you need to get some sleep before you're completely overwhelmed. You can continue your search after you get some much-needed rest, okay?"

He shut his eyes tightly and turned away. "Marinette is worth more to me than sleep."

"But your body needs it. It can't keep functioning like this." She sighed. "It's not that I don't want you to leave, you just need to be in the proper shape. Get some rest. I'll inform Master Fu that you're home safe."

She turned to walk away, but Adrien looked back at her. "Mom?"

She looked back, her green eyes soft. "Yes?"

"Do you know what's going to happen once we do find her?"

His mom paused, her gaze shifting to the floor as she thought. "I don't know, sweetheart. I wish I could tell you, but with all of the tension surrounding your father, I don't know."

Adrien rubbed his arm. "Is... is Father going to be okay?"

Another long pause rested between the two of them. When he figured his mother wouldn't answer, Adrien turned away. He was about to leave, but Renee's words echoed around the room.

"No, honey... I can't hide the truth from you."

Furrowing his eyebrows, Adrien turned. His mother was looking up at the painting that hung above the stairs - the one of Gabriel and Adrien. Her voice wobbled as she spoke.

"Adrien, your father is facing death for his crimes... It's unlikely, if even possible at all, that he'll be coming home. As much as I love him and want us to have a normal life, it's not going to happen." She bit her lip and looked away from the dark wash painting. "He's either going to spend the rest of his life in prison or be executed."

The weight of her confession hung on Adrien's chest like a sack of bricks. Was his father going to die? As much as he disliked with how his father treated him, Ladybug, and the rest of the Charms, did he really deserve to die?

"Thanks, Mom... you know, for telling me."

She nodded, but before she could say anything, Nathalie stepped out of the office. "Renee, the mayor from district two is on the phone for you."

His mother waved her hand dismissively. "I'll be there in a minute, thank you."

The secretary nodded, then closed the door to the office. Adrien didn't even turn back, he just continued on his walk up the stairs.

"Adrien?"

He stopped, then glanced over his shoulder. His mom was standing in the office's doorway, giving him a small smile.

"I love you, sweetheart. Get some sleep, okay?"

After a moment, he nodded, then trudged toward his room. As he walked up the second flight of stairs, he heard the door to the office close. A silence settled into the empty room, but it didn't give Adrien any sense of peace. His mind was running a thousand miles an hour. He felt so awake mentally, but his body was desperately pleading with him to rest. He knew it would be a longshot, but he was going to obey.

Maybe some sleep would do him some good.

* * *

"Ladybug?"

Silence.

"Marinette, can you hear me?"

No response.

"Please, Marinette! Where are you?"

Adrien stumbled through the darkness, searching in all directions. She had to be here somewhere. It wasn't like she had disappeared like a magician. He scanned the horizon, desperately trying to spot anything that would be remotely appeared to be her. There was nothing.

"Mari!" he shouted into the empty blackness. The only response he received was a harsh, cold breeze.

Then, his surroundings began to change. The darkness slowly faded away, turning into color - almost like a watercolor painting was dribbling into existence. Tall trees of green stretched into the sky and the light green and yellow grass under his orange sneakers came to life. The cold wind blew the tall meadow grass, causing it to wave from side to side. With wide eyes, Adrien took in the scenery.

He knew this place.

"Mari!" he shouted again, this time scanning the trees at the edge of the meadow.

He closed his eyes as he strained his ears to listen, gritting his teeth to see if he could hear anything but chirping birds. Something was there, he could hear it... Sniffling? His eyes shot open and he spun around.

In front of him, a giant silver structure stood in the center of the field. The Cataclysmacopia, the building that he now knew by heart. How he didn't notice it before, he didn't know. He cautiously made his way toward the gaping mouth of the cat.

"Marinette? Are you in here?"

He gently peeked inside, looking around one of the sharp, pointed metal teeth. There, on the ground at the very back of the open maw of the cat, was Marinette. Her knees were curled up into her chest, her arms wrapping around them as she sobbed. Her face was buried somewhere in her ripped peacock dress. Her once perfectly curled hair was unruly and full of knots.

"Ladybug?" Adrien said, though it was almost as though he were asking himself the question.

He stepped inside the cat's open mouth, making his way over to her when the whole floor started to move. From the center of the room, a lump in the metal floor rose up like a weird bubble. Adrien grabbed onto one of the metal teeth, but the next thing he knew, the metal teeth chomped down. He cried out in surprise, then tripped on the writhing lump. It wasn't until it lifted off the floor did Adrien realize what it was.

A tongue.

The silver structure tilted, which made Adrien stumble and he screamed. The tongue wrapped around him and sent him flying into the air for a few seconds. He landed on the metal lump, causing the whole thing start oozing slime. At the back of the room, next to Ladybug, the wall opened up. It looked like a throat, uvula and all, ready to swallow Adrien whole.

"Marinette!" he shouted, hoping to get her attention, but he didn't. It was as if she was in an entirely different universe than him, unaware that the Cataclysmacopia was alive. His hands were slipping on the bizarre slime so he couldn't firmly grip anything. The metal tongue tipped up, and Adrien started to slide.

He gritted his teeth and tried to dig his fingers into the metal. It didn't work, he merely kept on slipping. With a terrified scream, Adrien lost his grip and slid straight down the monster's throat. His whole world turned dark. 

---

Phew! Another chapter down!

Right off the bat, I want to introduce the brand new MLB fanfiction that's up and ready to read... 

MiraculousTale!

Since most of you voted for another Miraculous Ladybug fanfic in the poll that I took, I decided I would announce it here! By the time this chapter is posted, MiraculousTale should already be posted. If you visit it, there is another great tidbit of news there. I'm not going to say a word about it in this book, so you're going to have to check it out to see the news. *wink*

What is MiraculousTale? It's a Miraculous Ladybug/Undertale AU! Cool, huh? I figured I would mix another type of media (Plus, Undertale is amazing. I love it and when I came up with the AU idea, I just had to do it). Find it at this link:

https://www.wattpad.com/story/102710413-miraculoustale

And now, with that new out of the way, let's go to my favorite comment!

Favorite Comment:

By: Emerald_Heart12

EmeraldHeart12 sighed. "He wakes up, and the first thing he does is smirk. What are we to do with this kid?"

Same, girl, same... 

And, as always, have a Miraculous day! 

I do not own the gif/artwork. All credit goes to hchano.tumblr.com