Till the End of the Line ~ A Miraculous Short Story

Adrien

We practically flew together over the streets of Paris. I couldn't bring myself to let go of her hand. If it was true, if my dad really was Shadowmoth, I didn't know what I'd do. So I pushed it away. If he really had hurt all of these people, he wasn't my dad anymore. I had to let go of him if I was going to be able to fight him.

My house came into view, and I took a deep breath. It was going to be okay. I had Ladybug by my side, how could anything bad happen?

Together we snuck into the house, peering around corners, looking into closets. My dad wasn't anywhere. Eventually, we had covered every piece of the house except for his office. It looked the same as always. His computer, pictures of me and his designs, the big painting of my mother on the back wall. The big painting that Ladybug was now running her hands over. I hadn't noticed, but as I'd been staring blankly at the room, she'd been turning it upside down, checking everywhere for some kind of secret compartment. Now she was pressing down on random triangles on the painting.

"Uh, what are you doing?"

"Looking for some kind of secret door or something!" She blushed. "I saw it in a movie."

Then, just as she pressed against four triangles, they actually went down under her fingers. All of a sudden, the floor beneath her began to move down in a neat circle. She'd found it.

I jumped over next to her as we were lowered into what had to be my dad's, Shadowmoth's lair. Ladybug had already ripped out her yoyo and was calling Rena Rouge. She picked up immediately.

"Al- er, Rena, I need you and Carapace here now. Either Gabriel is Shadowmoth, or he has a random secret entrance to a lair." She explained how to get in before Rena nodded and hung up. I could see a green flash fighting a villain on the side of the screen just before the image disappeared.

"Now what?"

"Now we face him once and for all." Just as the words left her mouth, our tiny circle of floor arrived in a circular room with a big, fancy window in the front. Butterflies fluttered around the room aimlessly, and in the center a figure in a purple suit stood. Shadowmoth.

"It's over," Ladybug said, her low, but loud enough to make him turn to us. There was a flash of shock, anger, and something else before he regained his composure.

"Found me at last, have you? I've been waiting for this. You've delivered exactly what I need."

"You'll have to get through us before you get anywhere near our miraculouses." I snarled at him.

"That shouldn't be a problem." He lunged at us, cane ready to strike. I held my stick out in front of me like a sword, ready to fend him off. I could see Ladybug with her yoyo at the ready next to me. It was time to end this.

The next few minutes were a blur of striking and dodging, jumping and running. Everything moved at the speed of light, just hit after hit from both sides. It felt almost like playing a video game. Just mindless fighting.

Until Shadowmoth grabbed me by the neck, pinning me to the wall. Everything became suddenly real. I clawed at his hands, but he was too strong. I could see Ladybug trying to pry him off me, but it didn't do any good. We were stuck.

That is, right up to the moment Rena Rouge and Carapace jumped in. Carapace threw his shell into Shadowmoth's back, making him drop me to bend over in pain. I probably should have felt conflicted about hurting my dad, but at this point I was numb. He was just another bad guy. Someone else I needed to protect people from.

"Came just in time did we?" Rena grinned at Ladybug, and she smiled back.

"Thank you," she said, sounding more relieved than I'd ever heard her.

Unfortunately, at this point Shadowmoth had gotten back up, this time with something clutched in his fist. He gave us a smirk as he let it go, releasing a black feather into the air.

No.

Where the feather had been, a giant moth monster formed. An amok. Yep, this could end poorly.