VV Chapter 23

Adrien felt like he was going to explode. He wanted to leap into the air and scream for joy, to drop to the cold stone floor and roll around giggling maniacally, to run around in circles until this volatile energy that crackled within him was expunged.

He had kissed Ladybug! …He had kissed MARINETTE! He had finally told her he was in love with her, and she had KISSED him!

He felt like he was vibrating, buzzing. Although he was acutely aware that the smile on his face was the "wrong" one, the one Vincent called "childish," he was unable to dial it back to his perfect, practiced grin. It had been years since he had felt such absolute, all-encompassing joy. So he smiled.

Marinette stared, taking a mental snapshot of the blond boy, feeling as if she was seeing him in all his true perfection for the first time. If she'd had her phone, she would unabashedly pull it out and snap a photo of him. He was practically glowing… and it was because of her. She wanted to live in this moment forever. She sighed dreamily, finally releasing the breath she had been holding since the kiss. She could taste him on the hot air as it passed her lips, causing her heart to pound harder. Can teenagers die of heart attacks? She wondered. 'Cause if so… it was absolutely worth it.

"I thought cats were supposed to like eating mice!" Alya taunted, waggling one of the makeshift skewers in Plagg's direction.

"Ugh, gross!" the kwami replied, pinching his nose and retreating back toward Adrien's shoulder. Seeing the boy's love-struck expression as he approached, he stuttered to a stop mid-air. "Ugh, gross!" he repeated, more emphatically.

Tikki giggled, the mirthful sound like softly chiming bells. "I think it's cute!"

"I think it's about time!" Nino offered, shooting a wink in Alya's direction. She grinned, nodding in agreement.

"I agree with Plagg," Max mumbled. Nino and Alya regarded him with surprise. "I mean about the rats!" the sorcerer amended after only the briefest hesitation. "These are plague rats, remember? Eating them might not be wise."

"Can you catch plague by eating a plague rat?" Tikki asked.

"Uncertain," Max replied. "Nobody has suggested eating them in one of my campaigns before. If they had, I would certainly consider contracting the disease a possibility. However, the specific probability of such an event would ultimately fall to the judgement of the Vault Master." His voice had an edge of annoyance that finally drew Adrien's attention.

"Is everything OK, Max? You seem… upset." In truth, Adrien had an idea of what had soured the gnome's mood. He hadn't missed the stolen glances at his beautiful, scantily clad partner Max had cast since they had been traveling together.

Max shook his head, his expression softening a bit. "I apologize, I just feel that a…. romantic relationship between you two may compromise our ability to fight effectively as a team. I fear that your prudence regarding the best action for the group as a whole may be outweighed by your concern for each other, and we simply cannot afford to lose any more members."

Adrien winced at the reminder of Kim's sacrifice, feeling guilty that he was blissfully happy when their friend had so recently given his life for their benefit.

"The fact that they finally fessed up to their feelings doesn't change anything," Alya pointed out. "Marinette has been head over heels for Adrien for-EVER. She-" Alya recognized the familiar flush that bloomed on her friend's cheeks. "Sorry girl, but he knows now!" she interjected dismissively. "Anyway, all I'm saying is she would have him first in her thoughts regardless. Trust me, that boy is like her raison d'etre."

Marinette and Adrien exchanged a glance, their thoughts so identical they could read it in each others' eyes. Max is right: I would never let anything happen to you. No matter what the cost. The heroes knew there was danger in that statement as sure as they knew it was true. Ladybug had warned Chat of this risk in the past. A sharp sliver a fear pierced their perfect world, embedding itself like a shard of glass. They could each see it glint in the others' eyes. The fear of losing each other. The fear of causing harm to the others in their selfish refusal to sacrifice the other. But still, they knew it was true. No matter what the cost.

An awkward silence settled, Max pretending to meditate while Adrien and Marinette tried not to stare at each other for fear of making the others uncomfortable. They mostly failed.

Several minutes later, Alya scrunched her nose at Nino indicating she'd had enough and flicked her eyes toward the door.

"Right then!" Nino said, taking the cue. "Shall we, uh, soldier forth then?"

Marinette tried to ignore the stains of Adrien's blood on the wall as they ascended the spiraling staircase again, Max lighting the way with a flame hovering a safe distance from the wooden planks that formed the stairs. A short distance after they picked their way past the remnants of the rats' nest, the group came upon a narrow doorway opening into a hallway lit with torchlight. Although the staircase continued upward, the wooden planks were appearing increasingly rotted, as if care was taken to preserve only the lower levels in the dark, dank space. The plink, plink of invisible water droplets was barely audible now, as if being swallowed by the darkness above.

Marinette shivered with a sudden chill as she gazed upward into the blackness, and Adrien's arms were around her instantly. His bare skin radiated heat into hers, and she leaned slightly into the embrace.

"Did it just get colder in here?" the blond fencer asked, also noticing the chill. He delighting in the opportunity to hold her again, and resisted the urge to nuzzle her hair. Focus, he chided himself. He had been looking forward to this moment for so long he was finding it difficult to concentrate on anything else besides her.

Alya was just about to weigh in when an unmistakable frosty waft descended on them, then abated as quickly as it had come. The room was growing colder still.

"I think it's coming from above," she noted, teeth chattering. Heightened senses were usually a good thing, but elves were not built for extreme temperatures.

"And it's coming closer," Nino added.

Another gust blew by, the flurries of ice crystals it carried sparkling like diamonds before melting away in Max's magical flame, which danced slightly in the breeze.

"Well whatever it is, it's probably bigger than a rat and we all know how well that went. I vote hallway!" Alya declared, inclining her head toward the open door.

Max nodded in agreement. "I can think of only two explanations for sudden drafts: breath, from something very large, or wings. I don't believe we're prepared for either."

Taking one last moment to enjoy the security of Adrien's arms, Marinette took a steadying breath. "Hallway it is then," she said, stepping into the dimly lit corridor.

While the entryway was generously lit, the uneven torchlight spattering the hall made the shadows beyond behave like living creatures, advancing and retreating, shifting and moving. As the group filed in behind the cleric, she brought up her shield, sensing danger in the place.

"There's…. something not right here," Alya said from Marinette's left, squinting her keen eyes to maximize her enhanced elvish vision. "Something about the lights."

Max allowed his fireball to evaporate, conserving energy and allowing the group to better assess the room in its natural state. "You're right… " the gnome mage trailed off. Fire was his specialty, and there was something disconcerting about these torches. It was almost as if the flames were imitation lights. They looked real, and Max could feel the heat they produced, but they were too dim for their size.

Adrien's trap detection senses were barraging him with warnings. The hair on his arms stood on end as he scanned the room for any hidden doors, switches, or trap mechanisms. He eyed the sconces closely, but could detect nothing sinister about the ornamental iron adornments. They were of different sizes, and set at irregular intervals, meant more for function than fashion in what appeared to be a tunnel. None of them stood out as odd, but still he couldn't shake the feeling that something was poised there, waiting for them to make some innocent-seeming move that would lead to their annihilation. "Nobody move," he warned the others, wishing he had more to offer.

As Alya's vision adjusted, she could make out objects in the darkness. Several piles of rags… clothing?... discarded in heaps. An abandoned sword lying next to a few loose pieces of armor. There, a leather satchel peeking out from underneath an ornate cloak.

Then she saw it. A tiny mouse popped out of a hole in the wall, making a beeline for the cloak. It was only a few steps away from the wall when, in a flicker of torchlight, it was engulfed in shadows and was gone. The form of the mouse, cast into shade, had just melted into the ground. She gasped.

Reorienting herself, it became clear. "It's not the torches!" the archer announced, her voice hissing as she tried to whisper with too much force. "It's the shadows! The shadows are… are a thing!"

Now they could all see it. There was nothing wrong with the torches; the glow they emanated was being consumed by too-dark shadows. The flames did not flicker strangely, the shadows were advancing on them, driven away at the last possible moment only to press forward again.

"I saw it just eat a mouse!" she continued, shifting her weight from foot to foot, suddenly uncomfortable touching the ground. "And there's clothing and weapons out there. I think if we touch it, it will eat us too!"

"Good eye, Alya," Max complimented. He had read of shadow demons, and Alya was very likely correct.

Nino eyed the shadows warily. "How are we supposed to fight it without touching it? 'Shadows, shadows, go away, come again another day?'"

His tone was brazenly prideful as Max declared, "I got this one… Lucky I chose to be a fire mage!" while gathering his power into a steadily-expanding ball of flame. As his conjured 'sun' grew, the shadows were pressed against the walls and toward the back of the hall, the darkness condensing into an inky black ooze.

Beads of sweat formed at Marinette's hairline, one tickling the back of her neck as it fell. Even though it produced no smoke (as he wasn't actually burning anything), Max's fire was hot, even from where she was standing. She took a step backward and bumped right into Adrien, who perked an eyebrow at her. Although they were retreating, the shadows had not vanished: they continually pressed as near as they dared to Max's glowing sun, and Adrien doubted the group would be able to stay close enough to it to guarantee safety without being seriously burned.

Marinette had had the same thought, until a drop of sweat snaked down Adrien's toned torso, drawing her eyes downward as she watched its descent. By the time it pooled on the waistband of his leather pants, she was thinking something else entirely.

He ran a hand through his hair, futilely attempting to tame it in the damp heat. "Sorry I'm gross, even shirtless, leather doesn't breathe well," he whispered, feeling self-conscious. He liked being clean. "I'll bathe as soon as I get the chance, promise. Don't hold this against me!"

"Hold… what… against you?" she replied in a throaty whisper, finally looking up at him from under dark lashes. The look in her deep blue eyes made his heart leap to his throat. A wave of desire overwhelmed him, dragging his thoughts away from the dangers that lie ahead to something more carnal. He wanted her, needed her, desperately, in that moment. Then she blinked and it was gone. Her cheeks flushed and she broke his gaze, but his heart still thumped achingly in his chest. Heat did funny things to a man in love.

"Max, it's not working!" Alya said. The tiny powerhouse was beginning to tremble from the effort of channeling such a large spell, and it didn't appear that the shadows would retreat further. "It's too hot!" she added. "Save your power!"

With a sigh, Max dropped his outstretched hands. The fiery orb curled into spiraling tendrils before disappearing. The condensed shadows poured away from the walls, splashing up into the air as they reclaimed their domain before settling into the slightly-off pattern that mimicked natural torchlight. He shook his head. "Sorry everyone… I guess my aptitude with fire has not yet reached an adequate proficiency to control a spell of that size. I'll keep working."

The group knew Max's tendency to use needlessly complicated vocabulary when he was uncomfortable and could hear the masked shame in the grandiose verbiage.

Nino slapped a hand on his back, causing the short-statured gnome to pitch forward a bit with the impact. "For the record," the bard said with a grin, "I'm downright impressed! That was crazy powerful! You just made a freaking sun! We're proud of you, man."

The rest of the group nodded in agreement, and Max smiled. "Thanks you guys. But still… what do we do now? If I can't…."

In one fluid motion, Alya drew an arrow, notched it, drew back, and sent it flying into the darkness. It notched itself into a far wall with a Thuck! A beat passed as the group waited.

"Well, I'm out," she said with a shrug.

Max laughed, the tension he had been holding since interrupting Marinette and Adrien's private moment finally easing away as it struck him that these people were his friends. He didn't have to impress them. They were just playing a game together and, inexplicably, he was enjoying himself. Kim would be proud.

"Well…." Nino drawled. "I think it might be time for some professional hero help, and unless Chat Noir wants to risk being eaten by shadows by touching them in hopes of getting off a Cataclysm in time…."

All eyes shifted to Marinette. Nino's were encouraging, Max's hopeful, Alya's glittered with excitement, and Adrien's… Adrien's were full of unspoken declarations of adoration, of partnership, of unyielding loyalty… and that now-familiar glint. The shard of I cannot… I will not lose you. A promise and a danger. She only realized now that the same glimmer had always shone in Chat's eyes when he looked at Ladybug. Alya had been right: she and her Chaton had always loved each other. Erecting false walls between them in the forms of masks and professionalism hadn't prevented Chat from acting on his love for Ladybug, even when it would potentially cost him his life. She wondered if, subconsciously, she had always recognized it, and that's why she had been so fervently insistent on keeping things platonic between the heroes (knowing full well it could never be) but pining over Adrien (the 'safer' version of the love she, deep down, recognized as her hero)? Had she been in denial?

"Well?" Alya encouraged.

"Huh?" Marinette's thoughts were in a jumbled knot of Adrien, love, Chat, danger, responsibility, and destiny.

"Will you transform with Tikki?! C'mon I've been dying to see it!" her best friend asked eagerly.

Marinette smiled. Typical Alya. Some things are the same no matter what world you put them in.

"I guess it's really our only choice. Tikki, spots on!"

A/N: It's tiiiime! The moment you've all been waiting for: Ladybug revealed! But you know I can't resist the urge to fluff :3