Something in Marinette snapped. Her boyfriend was bleeding to death on to pof her, his kwami desperately trying to stop the bleeding. Her kidnapper was rifling through his drawers, muttering about lack of ammo. And she battered, bruised, and shaking violently. Tikki was not with her and she was left to her own devices. But she was done being a victim. This man, no, this pathetic, disgusting excuse for a human being had tried to make her his victim.

And nobody made Marinette Dupain-Cheng a victim.

Then and there she vowed that no one would ever hurt her again, that no one would dare harm her or her loved ones if they knew what was good for them.

A primal, throat-shredding battle cry ripped out of her throat as her fingers grabbed Adrien's knife and dove for Jérémy. Silver sliced into cotton and flesh, blood spurting from wounds. Marinette vaguely realized she was screaming and sobbing as she stabbed Jérémy. One, two, five, nine stab wounds. She dug the knife wherever she could. In his throat, in his heart, in his eyes, through his cheek. Blood leaked and streamed out of his injuries, his body shuddering under hers.

It was as if she was watching the scene as a spectator. She watched herself stab Jérémy to death. She watched as the police swarmed the apartment and dragged her off of him. Medics rushed in and hauled Adrien away, Plagg hiding in the T-shirt Adrien had brought for her. They took her to a hospital, giving her emergency contraception and testing her for any STIs before the police asked her for details. Numbly, she told them everything that had happened. She left out the part about Adrien coming as Chat Noir; she still had to protect his identity.

The reunions she had with her family, Alya, and Tikki had all been tearful. None of them pushed for details and for that Marinette was thankful. Even telling the story, especially the rape, just once was painful enough. She was glad they didn't force her to tell them all of the details. Maybe someday she'd tell them, but right now the wound was still too fresh.

Six days after her kidnapping, Marinette went back to the hospital to take a pregnancy test, Tikki and Plagg carefully stowed away in her purse. Nerves crashed against her stomach as she sat patiently in one of the small offices. It wasn't just her fear of a positive result that brought on her nausea. For the past six days she'd desperately tried to get information on Adrien. Whether he was okay, whether he was still in the hospital, whether or not he'd had surgery. But no word. Nathalie wouldn't return her calls and the news wasn't saying anything about it either, only that she and Adrien had subdued the Model Killer, as they were now calling Jérémy.

"Tikki, can you do me a favor?" Marinette asked her kwami, opening her purse just a smidge. Tikki poked her head out, a few cookie crumbs on her mouth. Poor thing had been starving by the time Alya brought her purse back to her and it seemed Tikki was still feeling the repercussions by eating as much as possible. "Can you figure out what room Adrien is in?"

"Can do!" Without another word, Tikki flew out of the purse and phased through the ceiling.

"Great news, Mlle. Dupain-Cheng! The pregnancy test came back negative!" A cheery nurse said, entering the room with a huge smile on her face. A shaky sigh of relief left Marinette. No STIs and no pregnancy. "You're free to go! And get some good food in you now that you aren't fasting for a blood test."

"That I can do," Marinette replied, getting up off the stiff leather bench and heading for the door. I'll get food once I see Adrien, she thought. Ducking into an isolated corridor, she waited impatiently for Tikki to return. A minute later, a small red blur came barreling down from the ceiling.

"Fourth floor, room seventeen," Tikki reported.

"Is he okay?" Marinette demanded as she ran for the elevators.

"He's okay." He was okay. He was okay. A weight lifted from her shoulders and although she had reassurance from Tikki, she still sprinted to Adrien's room. He was okay but she needed to see him for herself.

Surprise surprise, it was a private room and Adrien's chauffeur was parked outside. I wonder how much media attention Adrien's gotten now that everyone knows he went up against Jérémy, she wondered vaguely. The bodyguard let her through into Adrien's room and allowed the door to shut behind her.

Adrien was sporting a black eye, his body was spotted with ugly yellow bruises, and he looked worse for wear, but he was alive. A sob climbed up Marinette's throat as she ran to his bed, hugging his good side and nuzzling his neck.

"You're okay, you're okay," she sniffled, words sputtering out of her mouth. His lips peppered kisses everywhere, on her face, in her hair, along the silvery trail tears left on her cheeks.

"And you're okay. I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you," he said, tears welling up in his eyes.

"You did everything you could, Adrien," she reassured him. "How are you feeling?"

"Upset that I wasn't able to save you and really sore," he replied.

"Yeah, he probably can't feel real pain since he's been doped up on painkillers since he got here," Plagg added from his spot on Adrien's bedside table. He was sitting on top of a pile of candy. "He was in surgery for four hours."

"Four hours?!" Marinette bolted up, looking at her boyfriend incredulously.

"I'm fine," Adrien insisted, pulling her back into him. "They got the bullet out and patched me up. I still have to recover and I'm not going to be released soon, but I'm alive and I'm going to live, my lady."

"I'm so gla - wait, what did you just call me?!" Adrien gave her a mischievous grin and planted a wet kiss on her cheek.

"Your kwami isn't as stealthy as she thinks she is," he murmured. Marinette's head whipped to her purse. Tikki popped out of the bag, a nervous grimace on her face.

"At least you don't have to tell him?" she offered. Marinette groaned and fell back on the pillows, hands covering her face.

"I know you didn't want our reveal to be like this, but I just want you to know I love all sides of you no matter what," Adrien told her. She breathed out slowly, counting her breath. He loved her still. He loved Marinette and he loved Ladybug. He was okay with her being Ladybug. She was going to be okay.

"And I love all sides of you," she replied quietly, leaning back into him. "I have to say, I'm going to miss you on patrols."

"I promise I'll get better as soon as possible," he smiled at her.

"Yeah, about that . . ." The two looked over to Plagg. The kwami was sitting up, tiny arm rubbing the back of his head.

"Plagg?"

"You can't use the Miraculous to seriously harm people, especially people who don't have powers," Plagg said.

"Yeah, you told me as much after you ended the transformation and let me fight that monster on my own," Adrien replied with a hint of snarkiness in his voice.

"I can't deny that he deserved it, but I can't let you do things like that," Plagg answered with just as much snark. "It was self-preservation on my part."

"What are you talking about?"

"If the Miraculous are used for evil, they eventually become corrupted," Tikki said. "They were only meant for good. Even though part of what Adrien did was in self-defense, the fact he abused his power and tortured someone puts the Cat Miraculous at risk. There were non-lethal ways to take him out and you went with what was the most painful."

"But Jérémy had it coming!" Marinette argued as Adrien's face fell, the reality of his actions slowly coming to him.

"He did, but I can't allow the Miraculous to be corrupted. You don't understand what kind of catastrophe that would cause," Plagg said.

"So you have to find a new holder?" Adrien's voice was barely above a whisper.

"I'm sorry, Adrien. But I have a duty to Master Fu and my Miraculous above my holder."

"I won't do it again, I promise!" Adrien cried, hands reaching out for his kwami. Marinette herself felt like she was hit by a train. Plagg's taking Adrien's Miraculous away? "I'll never attack someone like that again! I can't lose you, Plagg! I can't stop being Chat Noir!"

"That's not your decision to make," Plagg said. "Do you think this is easy for me to to? Do you think I want to leave you?!"

"If you want to stay, stay!" Adrien pleaded. Tears were brimming in his eyes and falling in rivulets down his cheeks.

"I can't. I can't risk you losing control again. I'm sorry, Adrien." The boy broke, falling back onto his pillows and his hands covered his face as he sobbed. Marinette stared blankly at Plagg, but his remorseful yet stern look didn't - couldn't - register with her.

Why was this happening? Sure, Adrien had been rough with Jérémy, but the man had had it coming and in that situation, there wasn't much else Adrien could do. And what about fighting akumas instead of people? What if this had been an akuma fight instead? What if they had a sadistic akuma and Adrien had to give them the same treatment he gave Jérémy? How could Plagg expect Adrien to hold back when he had a job to do?

If Marinette been in Adrien's place, seeing him tied up and naked in a serial killer's lair, she would have done everything she could to save him, just as he had done for her. Hell, if she found anyone like that, she would fight for them with everything she had and that included her powers.

But could she even promise Tikki she wouldn't snap? Never in a million years did she think she would stab a man to death, and yet here she was. As Ladybug, she'd have to either only fight akumas or hold back when she fought others and she didn't know whether that was a realistic option or not.

Akumas were a serious problem and she knew that, but what about those who were being threatened with rape like she had? She knew Tikki wouldn't mind her fighting both, but what if she snapped and put Tikki's Miraculous at risk? With akumas, there was always her Lucky Cure to fix everything. With rapists, there was no Lucky Cure. There was nothing to make it better besides the satisfaction they were off the streets and even at that, nothing could wipe away the trauma. Before this, Marinette thought akumas and Hawkmoth were the true evil. But after all she'd been through, she realized there were much worse things in the world and she wanted to do everything she could to protect others from going through the same nightmare she had.

"Tikki, I can't be Ladybug anymore." Adrien's voice rang in her ears but she couldn't hear the words he said. "After going through that, I can't fight akumas and criminals. I can't promise you I wouldn't abuse the power with rapists." She fought back a sob. "And besides, Ladybug and Chat Noir are two sides of a coin and I don't think I could work with a different Chat Noir."

"Marinette, are you sure?" Tikki asked, little arms reaching out and touching her holder's face.

"I'm sure, Tikki. I'm going to miss you, but I don't think I can do this anymore." Marinette placed a little kiss on Tikki's head.

"Marinette, no," Adrien choked as his hand gripped her shoulder. "Don't do this because of me."

"I'm not," she replied, leaning into him. "I'm doing this for me and others who need protection." She reached up and took her earrings out, placing them in Tikki's little arms. "I'm going to miss you so much, Tikki."

"I'm going to miss you too, Marinette." With one last embrace and peck, Tikki was off, followed by Plagg with Adrien's ring. The room fell silent. Tears pricked Marinette's eyes and she cuddles closer to Adrien's letting his arms wrap around her.

They held each other and cried.

Screams poured out of an alleyway, the sound of terror and ripping cloth filling the hot night air.

"Shut up!" A gruff voice growled. "Shut up, you little whore!"

"If you know what's good for you, you better get away from her," a masculine voice at the mouth of the alley said. The man and young girl turned to see two figures looming behind them. One a tall young man dressed in a white tracksuit with matching cat ears and a mask, the other a young woman in black and yellow workout clothes and a black mask on her face.

"Get the fuck away from us," the man threatened, pulling out a knife. The cat-like man snorted and rolled his bright green eyes.

"You think we're scared of a knife?" he teased maliciously.

"It's going to take more than that to scare Paris' best vigilantes," the woman replied confidently. The cat-like man pulled a long staff out from behind his back and offered it to woman.

"Would you like to take care of this scumbag rapist, my lovely Wasp?" She grinned, a smile that made the young girl's heart soar with hope, and took the staff from him.

"I'd love to. Chat Blanc, let's make sure this pathetic excuse for a person learns his lesson about attacking young girls."

I don't even really know where to begin on my final notes on this fic. I've written some dark shit but this is probably in the top five of my most fucked-up writing.

Two main inspirations for this fic were serial killer Bill Bradford and the video game Life is Strange. I watch a lot of murder documentaries and the one centered around Bradford talked about how he was a photographer that lured his victims from shoots and bars promising to take photos for their portfolios. And of course from LiS, the photographer drugging and taking photos of his victims.

To everyone who's been following this fic and supporting me through this emotional journey, thank you so much! This is the first time I've done a fic like this and all of the comments and kudos and just the love y'all gave me really helped me through writing this and GAH, just thank you guys 3