Blamed for Murder | finished

Ch. 17 Epilogue

Chat was standing right next to me, as it happened. I felt like I was lost in time, as everything was over quickly, but at the same time seemed to move in slow motion. The police officers rushed in and took Chloé away from this awful scene.

I heard the radio of a special forces officer near us. "Sniper Team 2 for operations control. The assailant is down. Repeat, the assailant is down."

They shot her. I couldn't believe the police actually shot her. She was an evil person, but still a human being. This was not right, there must have been another way. I took a short look at Bridgette's corpse but immediately regretted it. Never before was someone killed right in front of my eyes. Seeing all this blood and gore, looking at the dead body of the person I fought just a moment ago was too much for me to take. I clawed myself into Chat's suit, pushing my head against his chest as tears streamed down my face.

"I never wanted it to end this way. I hated her for killing Chloé's father, destroying our lives and torturing Alya. But I never thought it would end this way. I never wanted it to end like this! I wasn't strong enough! I should have pinned her down the second she detransfromed! It's all my fault!" My voice was muffled by Chat's suit and became unclear from my crying.

My partner pulled me into a tight hug and put one Hand on the back side of my head, as he tried to calm me down. "It's alright princess. It's over now. Everything will be okay. You are stronger than anyone else I know. If it wouldn't be for you, even more people would be dead by now. Bridgette brought all this upon herself. It was her decision to kill Monsieur Bourgeois, to take Chloé as a hostage and to not back down while she still had the chance. There was no other way."

I pulled away from Chat's hug and looked into his eyes. They were the warm, emerald green eyes I loved to see. His look helped me gain a little more stability. I turned around as I heard a familiar voice.

"Look at everyone who is here. The people from the hotel, the police officers, the helicopter crews. Every one of them is alive because of you." I couldn't believe my eyes, as Chloé somehow broke loose from the officers, just to cheer me up. She was on the brink of death just a few moments ago, but all she did was caring for me. She really changed.

Her words raised my mood, but I still felt miserable. "That's very nice of you to say, but..."

Chloe suddenly yelled at me. "No buts! When the whole city turned against you, you did not abandon us! You are more of a hero than everyone in Paris deserves!"

Her voice calmed down, as she continued. "You were strong when everyone doubted you...when I doubted you. For that, I am deeply sorry. You had every right to just disappear and leave all of us to our fate. But you decided to carry on and not take the easy way out. I am truly grateful for this."

I was baffled as she said this. Everyone was watching us. The bystanders, the policemen, even Alya, who - of course - was filming the whole scene. Chloé suddenly pulled us into a hug. Thank you Ladybug and Chat Noir."

Chat's ring beeped, signaling he only had a minute left before he would detransform, so we broke the hug. "I'm really sorry, but this cat and his lady need to go."

We made our escape from the scene. It felt wrong to leave, but I didn't have much time left either. The last weeks gave us enough experience in shaking off anyone who would try to pursue us and taking back alleys to dodge the police. But nobody even dared to follow us. I guessed that was a good sign. We detransformed near the bakery and silently made our way inside until we managed to get in my room without being seen by my parents.

I tried to calm myself down, but my hands were still shaking, with the images of the gruesome sight still present in my mind. "Adrien, do you really think there was no other way of solving this? I hated her guts, I crippled and tortured her. Not only to gather information but out of pure vengeance. Still, I never would have killed her. Nobody deserves death."