Chapter 9: The Sad truth

Please play the music as you read this chapter.

Damian groaned as he lifted his head up swearing as it pounded. The sunlight from the window seeped in temporarily blinding him like it did every other day. Wait, window? He shot up and took in his surroundings. He was in his bedroom. How the hell had he gotten there! He grumbled under his breath as he fought his legs onto the ground; they were like jelly. A sharp pain caught his attention and as if by instinct, he reached down to feel the bandage wrapped around his stomach.

Why was he in his room? He wracked his brain for an answer. The last thing he remembered was Marinette. Shit! Marinette! He ran to his door flying it open and made his way down the steps to the living room where his brothers were sat.

"You really do look like you crawled out a cave now Demon Spa-" Jason began only to be cut off.

"Where's Marinette?" The other brothers shifted in their seat clearly uncomfortable with the question.

"Where is Marinette." he repeated. Dick opened his mouth as if to answer but then closed it.

"Where the hell is MARINETTE!"

"She-" he turned to meet his father's deep voice in the doorway. "She died a hero."

"No." Damian whispered. "NO!" he screamed out, "You're lying!"

The look his father gave him only confirmed the truth.

"NO!" he screamed. Tim winced as Damian's fist connected with the table. If the legs weren't made of pure steel, he was sure they would've broken.

"NO!" he screamed again. "S-She. She can't. She can't be DEAD! There-There's no fucking way Marinette Dupain FUCKING Cheng can be DEAD!"

Bruce caught him as he fell and for the first time in probably ever, pulled his son into a tight hug. For the first time, his son, Damian Wayne, was breaking apart. And it was before his very eyes. His heart broke.

"She-She can't-She can't-" he hiccuped, spit flying out of his mouth as he sobbed and cried for the young woman he could've saved.

"FUCK!" he screamed, "If only. If only I got her further away! I could've actually- I could've- SHIT!"

"It's not your fault." Tim was now next to the weeping boy stroking his back.

"YES IT IS!" he screamed out shaking violently.

"No it is not." he turned to the unfamiliar voice. An old man in a Hawaii shirt stood by the table placing what seemed to be the miraculous jewels in a black box.

Damian gave him a questioning gaze.

"I am Master Fu. The Guardian of the miraculous." he answered the unspoken question. He stared at the last jewel, the black ring, before placing it back in the box. It had been over 5 years since he'd placed the ring back in the box. It was almost complete, just the peacock, butterfly and ladybug jewel were missing. He knew where the peacock and butterfly were, in the hands of Paris's villains Mayura and Hawkmoth. However, what worried him was that he had no idea where the ladybug was. If the black cat went too long without his other half, he would soon run mad.

"It is not your fault child. Even if you took her over the sea, she would've found her way back."

"How are you so sure of that?" Damian spat out. This was the man who'd given Marinette her Miraculous when she was just an inexperienced teenager. If she hadn't received that jewel those years ago, none of this would've happened. She would be alive and living a healthy, happy and most importantly, normal, life.

Master Fu closed the box and with a sigh said, "She broke into my shop very early in the morning and stole the miraculous jewels. All of them." he paused for effect, "You underestimate Marinette's level of stubbornness. She was a very brave girl. Too brave." The old man looked as though he would cry. "And the best Ladybug - no, hero I've ever come across in my time as Guardian. She was so good that it killed her."

"Don't talk about her in past tense." Damian spat out.

He was waiting for them to tell him off for being rude. The silence dragged out. Normally, Dick would've hit him on the head for being so rude, however now, he just sat there. He understood Damian's pain and anger. He let him lash out.

Bruce let go of the boy and instead made his way over to Alfred who looked as though he would fall at the slightest push. For the first time, Alfred looked old. The wrinkles were evident on his face and the grey hairs on his (almost bald) head seemed to stick out more.

He'd underestimated her. The first time they'd met, he looked at her frail figure and immediately assumed that even the slightest of breezes could topple her over. He'd judged her by her exterior appearances and not even thought about how mentally strong she was. He'd never taken much notice of the fire blazing proud and high in her eyes. He'd failed to protect her. He broke his promise.

The air grew heavy as the silence dragged on for what seemed to be hours. It was the ringing of the doorbell that broke it.

"I'll get it."Jason jumped out of his seat desperate to escape.

When he opened the door, he was not expecting the rough blonde hair and sad green eyes of Adrien Agreste to be what he saw.

"What are you doing here?" his voice showed no trace of bitterness towards the young man standing on his doorstep. That is until he whispered the words, "I-I'm here to see Marinette."

Adrien had heard it all when Robin had called for her name and had figured it out from there. It was funny really how he hadn't realised that his Lady had always been right behind him in Dupont the whole time. It hurt even more when he'd woken up in his apartment in Gotham to remember the night's events. What hurt the most though, was that this whole time, he'd been hurting his dear friend Marinette. This whole fucking time, she'd been the one behind the mask who he caused to scream. He'd figured out who Robin and the rest of the Bats were when the pieces started to piece together, why Robin and Ladybug seemed to always patrol together and why he'd known who she was beneath the mask.

"What business do you have with her?" Jason replied, the suspicion evident in his voice.

"I-I want to apologise for hurting her. I want to apologise to all of you as well. I-I caused so much trouble."

"So you're the mangy cat." Jason relied coldly.

Adrien practically shivered at the bitterness in his voice.

"She's gone."

"What?"

"I said she's gone."

"What do you mean she's gone?"

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng is DEAD."

Adrien broke. Dead? How could she be dead?

"You're lying." he answered.

"Come in and see for yourself." Jason answered as he stepped aside.

He closed the door behind the boy and led him to the living room where the other men in the room looked up to see who the guest was.

Damian was the first to speak, "What's he doing here?"

"I-I came to apologise."

Then it clicked.

"You're the mangy cat!"

That's exactly what his brother had said.

Adrien didn't have time to respond before he was punched in the face and pushed to the wall.

"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!" Damian screamed at the man in his arms. "IF-IF ONLY YOU-IF ONLY YOU'D CONTROLLED YOUR FUCKING EMOTIONS YOU WOULDN'T HAVE TURNED INTO A PAWN AND WOULD'VE ACTUALLY BEEN USEFUL! YOU COULD'VE HELPED HER!" he screamed as he lunged at the man.

Adrien caught his fist.

"Listen, I know that what I did was out of hand but if you were in my shoes, you would've done the same thing! So don't go pointing fingers. And if you want to blame anyone, blame yourself for not taking better care of her!" he spat out.

Damian screamed as he pushed the man to the floor.

"ENOUGH!" Bruce shouted. They didn't stop.

It took the combined strength of both Dick and Tim to pull the men off each other and onto separate sides of the room. When they'd seemed to calm down, Master Fu spoke.

"Greetings black cat." Adrien looked at the old man in the Hawaii shirt. "I am Master Fu, Guardian of the Miraculous."

So this was the man that Marinette had always refused to let him meet.

"Greetings Master." he responded.

He held out his hand to shake the man's hand but instead of his hand, Fu placed the black ring in between his fingers.

Adrien's eyes opened wide. How could he trust himself with Plagg after all that he'd done. He stared at the man who stared back. They had a silent conversation. Adrien nodded.

"Adrien Agreste. I am giving you the black cat miraculous for the second time to wield with honour and to protect. You must promise me to never again let your emotions get out of hand and abuse your powers. Do you swear this?"

Adrien nodded.

"Then I bestow unto the the miraculous of the black cat."

Adrien smiled sadly as he slipped the ring on. The other men in the room watched as it glowed and a black cat flew out from it.

"Plagg!" Adrien sighed in relief at seeing him friend. The kwami remained silent.

"Plagg?" he tried again.

"I told you to ignore it Adrien." he responded. His voice almost a whisper.

"Plagg I-"

"I TOLD you to ignore it! I TOLD you that you were only making it worse Adrien!"

Adrien remained silent.

"She-" Plagg's voice wavered, "She-" it cracked, "She merged all of the miraculi together. She-" he paused, "She battled that thing for you Adrien! All of you!" he indicated to the rest of the world. "And look where that got her."

A tear rolled down Plagg's cheek. Adrien was surprised, he didn't think they were able to cry. He reached out for his kwami and pulled him in close hugging the crying mini-god. "I'm so glad you're all right kid! I-I-"

Adrien shushed him. All this time, he didn't know just how much Plagg loved him. He thought he was just using him and his money for cheese. He didn't know that Plagg actually enjoyed the times they spent together.

A beep went off bringing the two back to the room they were stood in where a few other eyes were fixed on them.

"It's the Justice League." Bruce's deep voice hit the walls. "They're calling."

"What the hell do those pieces of shit want." Tim muttered.

-&-

"We want to apologise. We thought you were joking around when Ladybug mentioned about magical jewels and Gods." Superman spoke from the other side of the screen, "We didn't know until we felt the earth quake. My son has filled me in with everything." Jon waved from the back of the group, a cheeky grin printed on his face.

Superman looked around. Where was the woman in question? He opened his mouth to ask but his son beat him to it.

"Where's Marinette?" he asked. The cheeky grin still written on his face. But it soon disappeared when no reply came. "Did something happen to her? Is she okay? I woke up this morning to see the streets completely fixed and knew immediately that her miraculous must've cured everything. Is it okay if I come over and see her? I hope she's not sleeping."

The bat boys remained silent. As if the gloomy looks on their faces weren't enough to answer his questions, he continued, "H-Hey where is she!"

"She's gone Jon." Damian replied. His voice barely a whisper.

Jon looked over at his friend. "N-No way. She can't-she. I'm coming over!" Superman didn't have enough time to stop his son before he was out the house and heading for the Wayne Manor.

Damian plopped into his seat and dug his hands into his hair. He still couldn't wrack his brain around the fact that the only woman he'd ever loved (and would probably ever love) was dead. He didn't even get to tell her that he loved her. It was too late.

-&-

"Marinette, wake up." Marinette groaned, "5 more minutes Maman."

The voicevoice giggled, "Marinette, I'm not your mother."

"Huh?" she moaned.

"Wake up Marinette." she was nudged even harder. Her eyes shot open.

Her eyes widened as she was met with the unfamiliar face of a woman who looked to be in her 40s. "W-Who are you?" she asked.

"My name is Christine, but everyone calls me Chris." the woman's warm voice made her smile, "I'm the previous Ladybug wielder."

"W-What?" Master Fu had told her that all the previous wielders were dead.

"But aren't you-"

"Dead?" she finished the sentence, "Yeah."

"Then how-"

"Marinette, Sweetie, you're going to have to stay calm when I tell you this okay."

Marinette nodded but still felt that knot of fear form in her stomach. Her fears were confirmed when Christine spoke again.

"You died saving the world from the Grim Reaper but I'm more than ecstatic to tell you that you succeeded. You did it Mari! You saved the world." The woman beamed.

Saved the world? She did? She was dead? There was no way. Maybe she'd fainted and was dreaming. Or maybe this woman was an actress hired by the boys to scare her. There was no way she was actually dead right?

"I know it's hard to believe, but this is the end Mari. This is your new home now." Chris looked down at the girl then smiled and held her hand out.

Marinette stared deep into the woman's eyes. Although she didn't want to admit it, she knew that those golden gems held the truth. There was no going back. Her fate had been sealed. So she did the only thing she knew was right at the moment. She put her hands in Chris' and let her lift her up.

"C'mon. It's time for you to meet the others."