#((In which Jagged Stone ''kidnaps'' Marinette))

[princess-of-the-corner]

how many dads is that now? 4?

Marinette's grandpa (racist, did he even apologize? i can't remember).

Jagged Stone (i know he might be trying but he's still not spending time with Juleka if he was going to Brazil with his son who he paid more attention to anyways)

André Bourgeois (neglect, child abandonment, child kidnapping, abuse enabler)

Gabriel Agreste (abuser, terrorist, MAIN VILLAIN OF THE SHOW)

Like Rolland and Jagged at least owned up to their fuckups and are trying to be better.

The Brazil thing is debatable becuase tbh like. Jagged /did/ actually pay equal attention to Juleka previously in Crocoduel(which is really the only episode the three of them share after the dad reveal in Truth)

And that was circumstantial because they needed to get Luka out of Paris. Maybe they should've offered to let Juleka come along too, but I can't see her leaving either so I just assume it was an off-screen conversation.

But yeah Andre and Gabriel fucking GOD thogu

[miraculouscontent]

A silly divergence of the “Ladybug” episode that I realized I never posted:

Marinette tried not to let the disgust show on her face as Lila babbled to Mister Damocles about some sort of lying "disease" that she had. Regardless of whether or it got the expulsion revoked, it was beyond infuriating to see Lila lie her way through everything she did, and Marinette herself could do nothing but sit there and take it. Virtually everyone had taken Lila's side, whether voluntarily or through lack of decisiveness, and for once, Marinette just wished that there was someone fully on her side rather than just her and her alone.

Then, Jagged Stone burst through the door. "MARINETTE, WHO EXPELLED YOU?!"

Marinette jumped, surprised by both the voice and the sound of the door against the wall, then turned in her seat to face Jagged. A million thoughts raced through her head, most of them confused, though part of her couldn't help being happy to see him when she was at such a low moment.

Lila, on the other hand, looked entirely dumbfounded by Jagged's appearance, and Mister Damocles had been angry at first - like he'd expected Jagged to be some student intruding on a crucial discussion - but blanked as he realized that wasn't the case.

Jagged didn't wait for a response and tromped right into the room, giving the surroundings a critical eye that he hadn't back when he was fleeing from Pixelator. Glaring at both nothing and everything, he explained, "Penny was looking in to see if we could borrow our little designer from school for a bit, and then we heard that she got kicked out?"

That was too much for Marinette to immediately process. They wanted another design from her, and Jagged even had Penny call the school? Well, she supposed that Jagged wasn’t really the type to wait around. Given the way Mister Damocles' face slowly paled at Jagged's explanation, it seemed like he really had been called, but probably dismissed the voice on the other end as someone Marinette was related to who hadn't heard the news.

At the very least, Marinette could take some joy in the horror overtaking Lila's face. Lila could adapt, but something so sudden like this must've been hard to work with.

"Uh, well, you see—" Mister Damocles began, drawing all of Jagged's attention.

"YOU," Jagged spoke, storming up to the desk and pointing an accusatory finger at him, "You think my designer isn't good enough for your school?!"

"Ah—sir—"

"Jagged Stone." He slammed his hand on the desk. "Get it right, old man."

Mister Damocles cleared his throat, clearly trying to maintain some sense of dignity. "W-well, Mister Stone, Marinette here was accused of cheating, then harming and also stealing from one of our students."

Jagged bristled. "And you believed it?!"

"It's all worked out now!" Mister Damocles hurried to say, as if he expected Jagged to pull out a guitar to hit him with. "It turned out to be false, so she'll be admitted back into—"

"Oh, no. Absolutely not!" Jagged's other hand hit the desk as well. "You think you can expel my designer and expect her to just come back? You think your school's worthy of this—" He gestured to Marinette. "—kind of rock n' roll?!"

Mister Damocles could only protest weakly."I-I don't know what that means."

Jagged scoffed and stood straight. "Of course you don't." Dusting his hands off, as if the desk had been dirty, he then turned towards Marinette. "Let's get you to a place where you can have your own spotlight, frockstar."

Marinette blinked as he approached. "Frockwha—aaAA—!"

She yelped as Jagged hoisted her over his shoulder, and he kept her balanced there as he headed for the door. He only turned back to Lila and Mister Damocles to give them an aggressive "I'm watching you" signal with his free hand, then continued to march out. Marinette caught a glimpse of the two gaping at them before Jagged shut the door behind him.

She hadn't expected a lot of things in the past days: being accused of things she didn't do, getting expelled, an akuma almost taking over her, being forced to work at the bakery with her parents despite the shock of the expulsion, then getting called back into school as if the whole thing was just going to be brushed away just like that. She had no idea what to expect out of Jagged, only knowing that he seemed to genuinely care about what happened and was determined to give her whatever the "spotlight" he was talking about was.

Out of all the things she didn't expect, it would be the one thing that actually worked out well for her.

[arty-shadow-morningstar]

Graveyard Siblings (7)

[Masterlist]

(Part 1)(Part 6)

Gina found out about Marinette about a year later.

Jason and Marinette were chilling and binging shows. Gina showed up unannounced to surprise Jason.

She nearly had a heart attack when she saw her supposedly dead ‘Little Fairy’ in the middle of a pillow fight with Jason.

“Uh...Surprise?”

Needless to say, Jason and Marinette had the lecture of their life after they sat her down and told her about Ladybug. (She already knew about Red Hood.)

“I am not mad at you, My Little Fairy. But why didn’t you tell me you were alive?”

“I.. er..forgot?” Maria tried hard not to wince.

“Well, at least I am the only one else who knows about you.”

“Yeah, About that…”

Good thing that they were in Gotham and Hawkmoth was out of commission.

Gina agreed to not let Tom and Sabine know about Marinette although she was mad that Marinette was actually killed and it was framed as suicide.

“It’s okay, Nonna. There are magic laws to deal out suitable punishments. They are paying for it.”

Jason looked at Maria with an incredulous look. Magic laws, my ass. (Technically, there are Miraculous laws and curses to deal out divine punishment on those who abuse the Miraculouses. Maria was just taking more creative liberties with Hawkmoth and everyone else involved.)

------

Never Have I Ever (Takes place a few weeks after Jason’s and Marinette’s trip from Paris)

“Never have I ever had to dig out of my own grave.” Tim said, pointedly looking at Jason.

“Damn you.” Jason took a shot nonetheless. He shot a look at Marinette. “You too.”

Marinette grumbled a bit but also took a shot.(I know that the American age limit is 21.)

“Wait, I thought you faked your death.”

“No. Not really. I actually did die. I went into that mansion, knowing it was a trap and that it was my one chance to get close to Hawkmoth and cast a spell that took away his miraculous. I am only here because there was a resurrection spell in the grimoire which I used as a back-up plan. Jason kidnapping me after I dug out of my own grave derailed it a bit.”

“The moment she crawled out of the dirt, I knew that I had to adopt her like B did for me. Best decision of my life.”

“That’s not what you said last week.”

“That was because you ate the last cookie.” “Well, I made them so I have the right to have the last cookie.”

Duke cut in, “Okay, okay. Stop, it’s my turn. Never have I ever met a rockstar.”

A few of them took a shot.

Marinette took a shot too, “I swear you guys are trying to get me drunk.”

“How?!”

“School stuff and we had jobs working at Chloe’s hotel. I was Jagged Stone’s gopher. I made him glasses shaped like the Eiffel Tower. Later, an album cover. Long story short, I became his personal designer/ honorary niece. Oh shit. I forgot to tell him. I knew I forgot something.”

TIm shouted in excitement after getting over his shock “Jagged Stone?! The rockstar, Jagged Stone?! The one with a pet crocodile, Jagged Stone?!. Oh Please, please, I have to meet him. So wait. Wait. That means that you are MDC. I mean was, since technically MDC is dead now. But it’s you. Wow.”

Tim had stars in his eyes or maybe it’s the alcohol.

“I am thinking of starting over with a new name. How does MT sound?”

“I will help. I mean, can I help? Your designs for his tours were amazing. Can I commission you? Then, I will be your first customer.” “Sure. But I will need some equipment. My parents took mine away and I will also need some materials and your measurements. Oh, where can I get some paper and a pencil?” Marinette rambled as she got up. The alcohol kicked in and she fell down.

Jason hugged her. “Easy. Easy. You can do it in the morning.”

“But I have some ideas. And I need to shop for stuff tomorrow. Can you drive me to the shopping district tomorrow?”

“Sure, Pixie. Come on. Let’s get you to bed.” Jason carried the now sleepy Marinette to her room.

“But what about the game?”

“You guys finish without us.” Jason replied as he left the living room they were playing in.

“She was a designer?”

“Yup. MDC. A pretty good one too. The jacket for Jagged’s last tour was awesome. He claims her as his honorary ‘niece’. They were pretty close too by the looks of it. Jagged even went on a break due to personal reasons. I bet that’s why.”

“Rockstar designer and superhero. Our new sister keeps surprising us more and more everyday.”

-----

There is of course temptation to use the Miraculous to help with crime and cases.

Bruce shut down the idea pretty early on and Maria agreed with his decision, stating that Miraculous are dangerous to be out in the open. Especially in a crime-ridden city and it would be best if no one knew that they were in Gotham.

The Kwamis were free to roam the manor and allowed to go with any of the Batfam as long as they informed Maria who they were going with. Alfred was happy to have some being as company and occasional help while the Waynes go about their day.

The Miraculous were used a total of 16 times in the past 3 years under special circumstances, including the Joker incident and rules were established after one memorable Easter.

They can only be used in life and death situations, mostly when facing new adversaries and threats.

Must have special approval of both Bruce and Maria to use one. (Behind Bruce’s back, the Miraculous are handed out like candy when the Bats want to play pranks on their fellow heroes. Bruce did use the Fox one time when Clark pissed him off and made the reporter think he had gone batty. And no one, except the Bats and maybe John Constantine, figured out the identity of the Tiger-themed costumed person who punched Superman out of the Solar System which took weeks for the Man of Steel to fly back and never to be seen again and why Batman looked too pleased with himself afterwards.)

Maria had threatened everyone to not lose them when the Miraculous were in their care and they know she has every intention of following through. Family or not.

Damian once went through every single trap Maria had set for the Miracle Box so he could wear every Miraculous after Maria told him about Kwami Buster.

He managed to wear 14 of them before he passed out and was later found by Dick, who was alerted by Wyazz about what Robin was up to.

Needless to say, Maria was not happy.

She and Lucius set better security for the Box and asked other magic users for help with the magic side of the security. The Batfam had a few fun attempts breaking into it. (Tim did not use the blueprints to the safe the Miracle box is in to better hide his coffee. And definitely not because Maria had given Alfred the key to originally hers his coffee box and he had been using it to empty out Tim’s stash every week.)

Bruce didn’t give any punishment to Damian, seeing as the boy wonder was sore and in pain all over from trying to wield all of the Miraculous was punishment enough and effectively benched until he recovered.

-----

(Possible OOC Bruce ahead. I hope I did him justice as fanon Bruce. This is set a few months after Maria starts living in the Manor. P.S: It’s a little angsty with some Tom and Sabine salt.)

Despite what everyone thinks, Bruce doesn’t hate magic. He just didn’t like magic. Like he keeps telling everyone, there’s a difference. He found its lack of logic and own set of warped rules unsettling. He knows when it is beyond his capabilities and calls in experts like John Constantine or Zatanna for help to deal with the arcane. But mostly, he didn’t want to deal with it.

The newest addition to the family, courtesy of Jason, was heavily involved in it which prompted everyone else, mostly Jason, to make sure he doesn’t drive the girl away. It did annoy him a little bit. Honestly, Duke was proof that he can make exceptions to his rules and he tolerates the other magic users of the Justice League. That however doesn’t satisfy his second son enough who had pulled his guns out and threatened him to not kick his ‘baby sister’ out of Gotham.

But that’s not what is important right now. He had gotten a not very severe injury with his last bout with Bane and it was thanks to Nightwing and Red Robin that he didn’t get anything worse. However, he was benched by Alfred and everyone else agreed so he was providing support and solving cases in the Batcave while Dick went out as Batman for the night. Babara was out with her father tonight so for the first time since her arrival, he was alone with Delphi aka Maria in the Batcave with Alfred periodically checking on him.

She was quiet, occasionally humming songs or muttering curses under her breath as she hacked into corporations to relay needed information. He has to admit that she was a fast learner, managing to decently hack past firewalls after a few months of tutoring from Oracle and Red Robin. He did have to help out a few times on particularly difficult companies with high security. It was a normal night in Gotham with a few lulls in activity. It was during one of those lulls that he first broke their comfortable silence.

“Are those your parents?” he asked, when he saw CCTV footage of a bakery she pulled up on one of the monitors. It was morning already in Paris with a couple bustling about and serving customers.

“Not anymore.” Her voice was thick as they watched the Asian woman at the register give a bright smile to the customer. A man as big as Bane carried a new batch of macarons to the front, cheer on his face. Perhaps it was looking at the happy couple that it struck him that the battle-hardened girl in front of him, had lived a normal life. An innocent bystander, painfully normal being a daughter of bakers, oblivious to a world of monsters, aliens and magic before being dragged into it by some madman hungry for power.

“You know, I thought that they would have cared more... After I...died. I mean they did raise me for 15 years and they should have... known me better. It hurts that...they had so little...faith in me.” Her voice was soft, nearly inaudible. Bruce wasn’t sure if she was talking to him or to herself.

She didn’t look away from the footage but he saw a tear made its way down her cheek.

“They did support me at first,.... did their best to help me but the…. rumours and the lies got too much and they started to doubt me. It didn’t help that I kept disappearing a lot and I was never where I said I was. I supposed that it was a little bit my fault that I was...too scared of the consequences of telling them that I was Ladybug. Soon, they saw me as the villain that Lila painted me as.”

Bruce was surprised at the amount of hatred at the name. He mentally noted the name to find out if it was related to what caused Maria to be this jaded. He had turned off the comms, in case she didn’t want the others, especially Jason being an overprotective big brother who would kill Bruce if he thought he made her cry, hear her long-overdue breakdown.

“I didn’t believe it when Chloe said that they didn’t even come to…. my funeral…. or visit my grave. Jason told me…. that they were going to…. sell all of my things…. if Nonna ….didn’t take them…. and put them…. in storage. The….worst thing... is that…. I still love them.... After all…. the terrible things….they said to me, I…. still love them and…. it... hurts so much to see… their looks towards me ….before I...left.”

She tried to hold in her tears and control her sobs but they escaped. Bruce felt awkward with what to do. He put his hand on her back and rubbed in gentle circles.

“Hey, it’s okay. You can let it all out. It’s okay to be sad. Um…Shoot. Dick is usually the one doing the comforting.” She lets out a small laugh.

He turned her chair around so their eyes met, her blue eyes gleaming from unshed tears. He put a hand on her shoulder, rubbing it, trying to give some sort of comfort.

“You did what you thought was best with a lot of responsibilities on your shoulders. You did your best to protect them. Sometimes, trying to protect the people you love can end up hurting them whether you meant to or not.”

She leaned towards him, careful of his wound and cried. It was like a dam had broken down. All the emotions that she had repressed for so long bursted out of her. Bruce hugged her and whispered words of comfort, things Alfred had told him after another nightmare as a child, until her sobs calmed down. He wasn’t an entirely emotionless man like so many had believed. He was just bad at showing them.

Comfortable silence settled between them, the bats above them squeaking and the sounds of the others talking over the comms, coming from the Bat-computer.

After a while, Bruce spoke.

“I lost my parents to a man desperate for money. I spent a lot of time raging at the world. I felt the same thing again when I lost Jason. I became Batman to fight against crime so no one else can feel what I felt that night in the alley, so no one has to hold their child in their arms, bloody and broken. It’s okay to feel mad at the world after you lost everything you love and care about. And I can promise you that it will get better. It might take a long time before the pain is gone. Some days, it’s a dull ache. Some days, it would be so hard to breathe. Just remember that it will get better and we will be here to help you get there. Jason definitely will. Dick too. The others will probably be as bad as comforting as me but they will still do it. Except maybe Damian. But the point is, we are here for you. Okay?”

He felt her nod. They stayed like that with Bruce occasionally reporting to the others when something was happening. Maria later joined in and thankfully, they didn’t comment on the occasional crack in her voice although Jason sounded like he wanted to know what had happened.

“So...It’s okay if you don’t want to answer now but why couldn’t you tell anyone about your identity? Wouldn’t it have been better if someone knew your identity and provided support? I had Alfred when I started out and the kids had me.” Bruce asked as he looked through CCTV footage of a break-in.

She lets out a small tired sigh, a sound not meant to come from a teenage girl, “It started with the previous Guardian, Master Fu. He made the rule of not telling anyone. It was later because Hawkmoth could akumatized anyone and anyone who knew could lead him to us directly and he might threaten our friends and family for the Miraculous. He already did it to someone who ‘claimed’ to be Ladybug. Then, there was an alternate timeline where Chat Noir, my partner, found out my identity and dated my civilian self to get close to me. It nearly ended in the destruction of the entire world.”

Bruce scowled at what Maria had been through. Jason had told them about Hawkmoth, the betrayal of her partner and how she died. But today proved that they had barely scratched the surface of her tragic past.

“Why did Hawkmoth want the Miraculous so bad?” He said it, partly to change the subject and partly to get more information on what happened in Paris.

“He wanted the Ladybug and the Black Cat. Combining the two of them would grant him a wish, one that could alter reality as he sees fit. There is a catch though because the universe demands balance, something equally devastating would occur to counteract it. From what the Kwamis told me, Atlantis sinking was one of the results of a wish made by the Miraculous.”

“It doesn’t look like he is paying for it.”

“Oh he will.” Her tone made it sound like a fact.

“How are you so certain?” “Because the universe is all about balance and I have been tasked to right the scales.” The sharp grin she wore mildly worried Bruce. Her previous statements of not killing anyone echoed in his head and he wondered if she was going to hold to that promise.

-----

(I actually suck at writing angst.)

(Part 8)

Taglist: @local-witch-of-mn, @ladyqnoirr, @lolieg, @istoleyourcookies, @pale-lady-dreamer, @ichigorose,

[iwasbored777]

Marinette having Adrien's photos is like those kpop stans who collects photocards. People forget Adrien is a celebrity, a model who's photos he consent to take.

Yes. If Marinette was actually following Adrien and taking pictures of him, in his house or anywhere while he eats, getting dressed, takes a shower, spy on him, THAT would be creepy. She found these photos in magazines and anyone can take them.

That's why I don't get it when people compare her to Vincent and say that she's a hypocrite for calling Vincent creepy. He was following Jagged Stone everywhere and took pictures of him, invading his personal space and taking pictures with him without his consent. He even wore a fan t-shirt (which doesn't make it creepy, this is just a comparison), Marinette has never changed her appearance for Adrien nor got akumatized and tried to kidnap him.

[paintball169]

Day 3 - Identities

Day1 - Day2 - Day3 - Day4

Marinette had been living with the waynes for over a month now. The reason? Tom and Sabine sent her away to her biological father. Apparently To Dupain was not her biological, but Bruce Wayne was.

Marinette had a sliver of hope, A really, really thin one. Which had faltered by the month.

Marinette had defeated Hawk Moth with Chat Noir. Apparently Plagg found the brooches along with two sleeping kwamis accidentally. At night when Gabriel and Natalie were asleep, He had stolen the miraculous. On the patrol that night, Chat had told her that the miraculous were right under their noses. He gave her the two brooches and told her that Plagg had found the brooches in his father’s study. He told her that Gabriel was Hawk moth and Natalie was Mayura. Then he de-transformed and handed her the ring saying that he wanted to continue his life as a civilian.

Later that week it was announced that Chat noir found out who Hawk Moth was and he had stolen the miraculous at night. He then said that Gabriel and Natalie were the Villians. He then revealed himself saying that he was innocent, and he had no idea that his father was Hawk moth. Marinette had thought that with Hawkmoth gone she could beat Lila, But no, it Backfired. That was the reason she was Shipped off. Like an object. She was replaced just like an object.

Her only wish was to die. But she had tried to do that multiple times. Someone always managed to save her. So no, that option was unavailable. She had thought that she would finally be able to die in Gotham by sucide, But no, Selina, Cassandra or Jason always managed to save her.

By now she had started to see the woman as a mother figure. The Waynes hated her. They didn’t even listen to her side of the story. Only Cass and Jason had seen that there was more to the story. Selina and Alfred too, of course. The waynes saw her with disgust. They laid out certain rules.

And of course she figured out they were Bat family. She may not be from Gotham, but she wasn’t certainly stupid. She had to admit, The Waynes were really good at hiding the Batfam thingy. But what gave them away? Misplaced Batarangs by Tim. Then Tikki had also found the cave. She wasn’t stupid, Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne were good friends and certainly Batman and Superman. The people of Justice league stopped by often at the Manor too.

Speaking of the Justice League, They had given her an offer to join the League, but she declined. They had given her a satellite phone for emergencies to contact the league. They had praised her high and low. Batman was even Concerned for her when he found out her age range. Concerned! If they knew that Ladybug was their new sibling who was claimed to be a bully, she’d be declared a threat and her take Miraculous away.

Her routine was the same. Wake up. Eat breakfast in silence as she was being glared at. Study something. Do commissions while talking to her boyfriend, Luka and the others. Eat Lunch while being glared at. Study the Grimoire with Alfred. Sketch some designs while talking to Selina and Cass. Draw illustrations while Jason talks. Eat dinner in Silence. Stay up till 3 am doing commissions. Sleep.

Last week she had introduced Luka to Cass, Selina, Jason and Alfred. It went really well. Especially when Jason found out he was Jagged Stone’s son.

She was thinking how she could step up her game with the Waynes. In her thoughts she didn’t see Selina coming in.

“What are you thinking about Kitten ?” Selina asks, seeing the half sketched dress.

“Gah! Selina don’t scare me like that! Anyway I was thinking, ``What do I do to annoy the waynes?” Marinette asks the Master of scheming Cat-woman.

“Hmm, what about going to your true self? Being in headphones, ignoring them, Snide answers, and stuff like that?” Selina says thoughtfully.

“Selina, that's brilliant! You’re the best Mom!” Marinette says. She covers her mouth with her hand realizing what she said.

“Aww, Com’ere Kit. I love you.” Selina says softly.

“You’re not mad?” Marinette hesitantly asks.

“Of course not!” She says.

“You’ll be more of a mother than Sabine will ever be to me.” Marinette says with a small voice and hugs the older woman.

Then the Chaos was unleashed. Whenever the Waynes wanted to ask her something she’d ignore them and she always had her headphones on.

- - - - - - - -

“Marinette, tell me why did you hurt the poor girl?” Bruce asks in a stern voice. Of course Mari didn’t hear him because of the blaring music.

“Marinette, Why did you hurt the poor girl?” Bruce asks again, obviously annoyed.

“MARINETTE-” He was cut off from Alfred of course.

“If I may Master Bruce,” he says, earning a nod. He gently taps the girl’s shoulder. Marinette moves her hair away and removes her Airpod. The music is loud enough for everybody to hear.Meanwhile Bruce flushes in embarrassment. “Miss, Your father wants to ask you something.” Marinette nods. She turns to her Father.

“What?” She asks.

“I asked, Why did you hurt the poor girl marinette, around two months ago?” He asks, patience bearing thin.

“Oh? I didn’t know that I could make a clone of myself and Send one to the fencing class and the other to beat her up at the Seine?” She says in a bored tone. Jason and Cass, not being able to hold their laughter any longer, burst out laughing.

Later that night they checked her attendance, sure enough she was in the fencing class.

- - - - - -

One day Marinette got a call from the Justice league, Stating an emergency. She quickly transformed to Ladybug and Portalled to the Watchtower.

“Ladybug, welcome to the Watchtower,” Wonder Woman welcomed, standing at the head of a group of heroes. Interestingly enough, Batman and all of his brood were among them. Nightwing, Red Robin, Black Bat, and Robin and the others.

“Wonder Woman,” she greeted back. “What’s the problem?”

“Your former partner has been kidnapped.”

Ladybug’s face turned pale, but she took a deep breath instead of panicking. “What do we know?”

“Ra’s al Ghul has taken the former Chat Noir in an attempt to convince the Guardian of the Miraculous to turn over the jewels to him,” Batman reported.

Her face turned up into a snarl. “The League of Assassins,” she spat.

They were surprised that she knew Ra’s. But they hid it well.

“I take it you understand why we cannot allow the Miraculous to be surrendered to his control,” Batman continued.

Wonder Woman stepped in before Ladybug could reply. “Ladybug, we need you to tell us who the Guardian is so that we may protect them.”

Ladybug let out a cold laugh. Shivers ran down everyone’s spine. “Wonder Woman, you misunderstand. The Order of the Miraculous is all but dead. I’m all that’s left. You want the Grand Guardian of the Miraculous?” She spread her arms wide. “You’re looking at her. And Ra’s al Ghul can have them over my dead body. ”

The gathered heroes looked stunned. “Now where is Adrien?”

Red robin started, recovering first. “You’re not going alone.”

“You’re right,” Ladybug cut in. “I’m not. I’m gathering my team.”

“What Red Robin meant to say is that Batman and his assembled partners are going with you,” Wonder Woman soothed. “They have experience dealing with Ra’s and would be a great asset.”

“I’ll be back in ten minutes, at the most.” She said. Everyone nodded. She portalled away to gather her team.

Five minutes later a portal opened and stepped out Honey bee, Dragoness and Cobra in the Glory. The portal snapped shut when Ladybug entered.

“This is not enough! We’re dealing with Ra’s al Ghul and the league here!” Ladybug said. “We need her. She’s the last resort if we lose!” Dragoness exclaimed. The Justice league was confused. Who were they talking about?

“You’re right. Bee, you’re the only one who knows where she is. You’re her best friend. I can't find her in all of paris!” Ladybug asks, turning to Honey bee.

“You’re right, I do. It’ll be easy to find her. She’ll be in her room. She’s always Isolated, so don’t worry about getting caught.” Honey Bee answers.

“Isolation! I thought I told her to Socialize!” Ladybug exclaims.

“Yeah, but her family treats her like a pariah except some people. But Ladybug I don’t know if she’ll be able to fight.” Honey bee says.

“Rossi?”

“Rossi.”

“Now location please.” Ladybug says.

“Right. Wayne Manor, Gotham, New Jersey.” Honeybee whispers. Earning surprised looks from Ladybug and the Supers.

“Alright.” Ladybug portals away. This was all staged of course. She had recently found a spell to make a clone of herself.

“Why won't the hero be able to fight? She’s a hero!” Batman exclaims.

“Depression, you overgrown furry, Depression. She’s tried committing sucide several times. We saved her.” This earns many shocked looks.

Cue opening a portal. All of the Paris heroes Gasps. All in glory Multimouse is standing there.

When Honey Bee saw Multimouse, she gasped and enveloped her in a hug, muttering French endearments and saying how much she’d missed her. Dragoness stole Multimouse for a hug next before passing her on to Viperion who also received an extra peck on the lips in return, while Ladybug watched with a soft smile.

With Kaalki involved, it was child’s play to get into the assassin stronghold. Team Miraculous filled the gaps and worked seamlessly in their own right, simply a step away from Gotham’s Bats. They beat assassins on their own. The Bats just watched in awe.

It didn’t take them long to make their way to Ra’s.

The man wore a self-satisfied smirk on his face as he greeted him from his throne. A bruised and bloodied but otherwise intact Adrien was being restrained on the dias a few feet away.

“Well, well, if it isn’t Team Miraculous,” Ra’s mused, looking down the line. His eyes paused on Multimouse and his expression shifted to intense amusement. “And if it isn’t the latest in the Detective’s brood. I suppose heroics truly do run in the family after all.”

A number of shocked and confused gazes snapped to Multimouse, who simply stared at him down with cold eyes growling quietly.

“And yet she isn’t why we’re here,” Ladybug cut in coldly, shoving that problem in a box for later.

Ra’s shifted his oily attention to her. “Yes, I believe I requested the Guardian, young Bug.”

“And here I am,” Ladybug said simply. “But I will never cede the Miraculous to you.”

“Well, then I suppose the Blonde Cat dies.” The assassin near Adrien tried to kill him only to turn to orange smoke. Ra’s growls when he realizes he was tricked.

“Your reign is over. Your crimes won’t continue much longer. Tell me, just how long have you been using the Pits to keep yourself alive?”

“Goodbye, Ra’s al Ghul,” Ladybug intoned. “We’ll leave you to what remains of your empire.” She turned and motioned for the Fox to open the portal to the Watchtower. The Bats followed behind.

Adrien was at the fringes, attempting to escape a hero that was trying to get him to the Medbay for medical attention. He only had eyes for Multimouse.

“Marinette!” he called.

The Bats were shocked at both the name and the blatant outing of a secret identity.

Adrien broke free from his wounds. “Marinette, I’m so sorry,” he said brokenly.

It was quiet for a moment. “I take it they told you why I left, then,” Multimouse said, carefully devoid of emotion.

“I never thought-”

“Don’t, Adrien,” Queen Bee snapped.

Adrien gaped at his friend, shocked at the venom her words carried against him.

“But her Lies, they weren't hurting anyone!”

“How?” Multimouse snapped, her voice cracking. She took a deep breath. “How was it different? Because you told me I had to ‘take the high road?’ Because her lies would unravel themselves? Because she wasn’t hurting anyone? Bullshit, Adrien! They were hurting me!”

“She followed your advice at first,” Queen Bee said sharply. “She shouldn’t have, but you were her friend and she trusted you. By the time she realized that it had been a mistake, it was too late. Everyone else was in too deep and you did nothing . When Mari tried to tell everyone that they were being lied to, she was made to look like a liar. A bully.”

“Do you realize that the rest of us had people on watchlists?” Ryuko said bluntly. “People at risk of Akumatization that could bring the city to its knees. Aurore, because of Stormy Weather II. Ondine, because of Syren. But do you know who was on top?” She let the silence sit. “Marinette. Marinette was on top of that list. The only reason she was above Ladybug was because Marinette was drowning. But any time she tried to get through to the others, Lila hit back harder and you would ask Mari to back down. Because we don’t want to upset Lila, right? We don’t want her to become an akuma. Again.”

“My parents believed her, Adrien,” Multimouse said quietly. “They sent me away because I was ‘out of control’. I’m treated like a criminal where I am now! So I’m sorry, Adrien, but I can’t forgive you. You said you didn’t want to live with more lies, but then you stopped telling the truth when it threatened your ‘peace’. Even when that ‘peace’ might have ruined my life.” She took a deep, steadying breath. “But you know what they say, right? Never meet your heroes.” She turned and looked straight at Batman. “They’ll always just disappoint you.”

- - - - - - - -

The next week was tense at the Wayne manor. But eventually they apologised to marinette. She became close with them. She and her family then sent lawsuits to the Akuma class.

The saying is true then. “All’s well that ends well.”

@maribat-bdbwm

[murderrobins]

Surprise?

I decided to try writing a small notefic for the au prompt I posted the other day! I may end up writing the actual fic later, but here we go!

A secret relationship au where Talia kidnaps Damian and Mari to get them married to merge the order and the league, but they’re just like “we’re already married though?” And Mari just really wants to punch his mom and finally has the chance

·         Marinette is the guardian in training under her grandpa Fu

·         Her parents think that she visits him often to help him around the house and do tai chi together

·         Marinette meets Damian when he is injured on a mission

·         Marinette heals him

·         Damian is shocked by her kindness

·         The two bond over their mutual stresses as heirs to ancient organizations

·         The two meet whenever he has a mission in Paris

·         The League falls and Damian is sent to Gotham

·         Damian immediately contacts Marinette, but hides her from his family

·         Marinette helps him transition to living outside of the League

·         When they turn 13 Hawkmoth strikes

·         Marinette is a true ladybug and knows Damian is her soulmate and black cat

·         She uses Kaalki to give him the ring while Master Fu chooses other wielders to help her in battle

·         Bee!Chloe! is Golden Stinger

·         She and Marinette are friends because she saw the same scared kid as Damian in Chloe as kids and knew how to reach out

·         They have been inseparable ever since

·         Fox!Adrien is Swiper, because he’s going to swipe Hawkmoth’s miraculous!

·         This name is promptly vetoed by the rest of the team

·         Adrien then goes with Kitsune because he is our smol weeb boy

·         They all immediately know who each other is because they are true wielders, making them platonic soulmates

·         The team is brutal and efficient with Shadow monitoring the battle and running their coms from Gotham

·         Lila still happens, but is more effective in icing Marinette out because she is friends with Chloe

·         Marinette doesn’t care as much as she does in the show because she’s not as close with them

·         Adrien doesn’t bother with trying to appease Lila, he will not abandon Mari or Chloe

·         Lila doesn’t like this and turns her parents against her, so they begin neglecting her

·         Marinette is disappointed, but not surprised since they didn’t spend a lot of time with her anyways

·         Miracle Queen happens, but with Alya instead of Chloe

·         Marinette starts to crack when she is handed guardianship

·         She moves in with Chloe at Le Grand Paris

·         They start building a fashion brand together, Mari as designer and Chloe on the business side

·         Honey Blossom Designs quickly gains traction internationally due to the one and only Jagged Stone promoting “his rockin’ nieces!” every chance he can get

·         Chloe and Adrien are also main models, but wear masks to remain anonymous and to keep off of Gabriel’s radar

·         Hawkmoth is defeated when they are 16

·         Damian and Marinette officially start dating

·         He’s gotten this far without his family finding out about Marinette

·         He finally feels comfortable enough with them to trust them, but at the same time he wants to see how long he can keep the secrecy up

·         There was a close call when the trio portaled over to the manor for a movie night and got a bit too rambunctious

·         Damian proposes during one of their date nights in Paris when they are 17

·         She says yes!

·         The class wins the Wayne Enterprises trip and comes to Gotham during their senior year

·         The miraculous squad are all 18

·         The class tends to ignore them, so it was easy enough for them to slip away for an evening

·         Damian and Mari elope with Adrien and Chloe as their witnesses and the blessing of the kwamis

·         A week passes

·         Somehow with only three rogue attacks, which is truly shocking considering Lila is on the trip

·         Mari and Damian feel something is off and are both on high alert

·         Suddenly they feel a sting on their necks and then nothing

·         They wake up in a League of Assassins base in wedding robes

·         Damian looks around scowling until he notices their clothes

·         Marinette immediately notices their outfits and looks up at him confused

·         “Well it looks like mother approves of us”

·         Marinette just laughs upon realizing what is happening

·         She is unsure whether to be more incredulous or amused

·         Damian just raises his eyebrows, he has decided to be amused

·         Talia comes in with a speech prepared about how they must marry for the good of both of their organizations, she will kill their families if they don’t comply, etc.

·         She is surprised at what she sees when she actually looks at them

·         “Do you two know each other?”

·         “We got married last week.”

·         Now Talia is incredulous

·         Marinette sees her opening and takes it

·         She breaks Talia’s nose

·         “That’s for everything you did to him as a child!”

·         Talia is shocked and angry and is about to lunge until Damian steps between them

·         “So can we go now that we’ve cleared up the fact that we are already married?”

·         Talia just glares at them and leaves them there for the Bats to find later

·         A few hours later

·         The bats burst into the room and are relieved to find both Damian and the missing girl from the Paris class

·         Jason just stares at them until blurting out “Why the fuck are you dressed for a wedding?!”

·         “We will explain later, can we go now?”

·         The bats reluctantly agree to wait until they’re on the batplane to ask about what happened

·         The plane is filled with tense silence until Batman takes a deep breath

·         Lord give him the strength to deal with whatever bullshit Talia just pulled

·         “Talk.”

·         ”Father, meet my wife, Marinette Wayne. Marinette, this is my father Bruce Wayne, and these are my… brothers, Grayson, Todd, and Drake.”

·         “It’s so wonderful to finally meet you all! Dami has told me so much about you!”

·         The entire family just bluescreens

·         Jason is the first one to snap out of it

·         “TALIA MADE YOU GET MARRIED?”

·         “Tt. She tried, but we’ve already been married for a whole week.”

·         “Surprise?”

·         Jason, Dick and Tim are now yelling over each other and rapidly asking questions

·         Bruce may be broken

·         Damian and Marinette just enjoy the chaos

[soulmate-game]

Can you do a prompt of Marinette being the daughter of the Joker and Harley but Harley left him before Marinette was born and when Joker found out about his daughter He decided to kidnap Marinette so she can become like him (Ace chemicals) (Daminette)

Woot, my first ask in a while! Let’s see how I can do this oddly specific ask that reminds me of a fic that might actually exist but tbh I’ve read so many fanfics idk if my brain is remembering right

—*—*—*—*—*

Marinette knew Sabine and Tom weren’t her biological parents. She had known ever since she was eight, when her mother by blood visited her for the first time, sat her down, and explained everything. Including, but not limited to, her disastrously toxic past relationship, her new girlfriend, and her recent success with long term rehab (unofficial rehab that mostly consisted of illegal anti-hero actions, but hey if it worked it worked).

Marinette understood. Well no, she really didn’t since she was only eight, but she understood that her mom— that Harley— was genuine. She had always had a knack for emotions and telling when people were sincere or not. And Harley really was regretful about not being in her life beforehand, and was serious about wanting to be part of her life now that her own was mostly sorted out.

So Marinette was not surprised when Harley really did stick it out. When Harley cooed over Marinette copying her hairstyle to show her support of her biological mom, when Harley never failed to call at least once a week even if she was in jail for punching some asshole or another. Harley never stayed arrested long anymore, she was usually found to be on the right side of the moral scale more and more often so the police didn’t bother keeping her locked up anymore. Through the years, Marinette always looked forward to her mom’s calls. Looked forward to being lulled to sleep by one crazy story or another from her mother’s past. Everything was nice. Perfect, even, for a while.

A thump sounded from her balcony, one late night when Marinette was thirteen. Blinking, the dark haired girl furrowed her brows. Who would be on her balcony? Cautiously walking towards the trap door leading to it, grasping her metal pencil holder as a weapon (she remembered all of her Mom’s stories about break-ins and random attacks back in Gotham), the teen strained her ears. Akuma attacks were only a few months old now, but she had already become in high alert for any sign of Hawkmoth or his victims. As per usual, Marinette’s paranoia began to kick in. Did Hawkmoth already figure her out? Was he here for her earrings? Would she be able to fight him?

She gently pushed up the trap door, catching a glimpse of black leather. Huh? Marinette narrowed her eyes, confused. Was it Chat? He should have been on patrol, on the other side of the city. What was he doing visiting her?

Suddenly the trap door yanked the rest of the way open, making Marinette yelp as the handle for it rugged away from her fingers. And there, backlit by the pure blue-white moonlight, was Not Chat Noir. It was Catwoman, in all her skintight black leather glory, grinning at her before pushing her cat-eye goggles up to the top of her head and crouching down by the trap door’s entrance, balancing only on the pads of her feet.

“Well hello there~” the woman purred. “So you’re the cute little kitten Harley is so secretive about. Nice to finally meet you,” the woman held out a hand, sending Marinette a sweet, if mysterious, smile. For a while, the pigtailed girl only stared before a squeal of excitement left her throat, leaving very little room for any doubt as to her bloodline. A large smile curled over Marinette’s lips, leaving her beaming widely at the catlike woman on her balcony.

“Auntie Selina! Mom’s told me so much about you! Come in, come in, come in! I’ll sneak some macaroons up for you. Or do you prefer croissants? What’s your favorite flavor? Are you really dating Batman? Oh my goodness, that necklace is so lovely! Did you steal it?”

Selina could only chuckle fondly at the word vomit, letting the smaller girl drag her down the trap door and into her very… pink room. Looking around, Selina was once again slapped with just how similar this kid was to her outgoing friend. Marinette clearly had no shame in indulging in the things she liked, such as the color pink and anything regarding fashion. But there were other things amongst the girliness of the room, like the posters of Jagged Stone and the training dummy half-sticking out of her closet door. There were a few ornamental knives hung up behind her computer, seemingly just for decoration although Selina could see that they were definitely battle ready and sharpened. A small mallet, clearly a miniature replica of her mother’s own signature weapon, leaned up against the side of the girl’s laundry basket. But then there was Marinette’s mannequin, which was surrounded by meticulously cut pieces of cloth and had other pieces pinned to it strategically. Marinette clearly had the same professionalism and love for her chosen career that had so completely defined Harley in the Time Before Joker. The same genius intellect hiding in those deceptively cheerful bluebell eyes. And for the first time, though not for the last to be sure, Selina found herself thoroughly relieved that it seemed Marinette had inherited very little from her father.

Except, as she would learn from stories Harley told her later, an apparent affinity for chaos.

“I’m not that picky, kitten. But I’m not that hungry, so don’t go too out of your way,” Selina decided to just react the same way she did with Harley’s rambles, and answer one question at a time. “Also, I am actually dating Bruce Wayne. But, if you promise not to tell anyone—“ she waited for Marinette’s eager nod before continuing casually, “— the two are maybe not as mutually exclusive as many think,” Selina finished with a conspiratorial wink. “No, I actually did not steal this necklace. Bruce has been adamant in trying to curb me of my thieving habit by buying me almost everything I so much as glance at sideways. It’s sweet. Naive, because I like stealing for the fun of it, but sweet.”

Marinette giggled, bouncing in place happily. She loved a bit of innocent gossip like this. “Is Momma Ivy ever gonna visit? I don’t think Mom told her much about me yet, and I still gotta give her the shovel talk!” the fierce look that overcame Marinette’s face made Selina laugh again. Oh yes, definitely her mother’s daughter.

“Pam has been trying to sneak over, but the laws regarding Metahumans in Paris suddenly got much stricter a few months back and have caused some problems. You wouldn’t happen to know what happened, would you?” Selina did not miss when her seemingly innocent question caused her niece to close off almost instantly. Bluebell eyes took on a familiar guardedness, and scanned her with the same soul-searching intensity that Harley had when she was channeling her Psychiatrist side. Selina found herself in a slightly concerning spot though—

Because she couldn’t predict Marinette at all. She was left to simply stand there as Marinette searched for some unidentifiable thing in her eyes, completely unable to read the younger girl’s face and with no idea of what to expect. The side effect of having chaos so thoroughly entwined in both of her biological parents, she supposed.

“Nope, no idea.”

Selina knew that was a lie, but knew equally as well that she would not be getting a better answer anytime soon. So, she let it go and the two of them once again dipped into innocent chatter.

Later that night, when Selina left and the sun threatened to rise at any minute, Tikki flew up from her hiding spot under Marinette’s pillow to land on her holder’s shoulder. Marinette giggled and looked over at her little friend.

“Tikki?”

“Yes, Mari?”

“Why was I chosen to be your holder?” She asked suddenly, flopping back into her bed and staring at her ceiling. The little goddess hummed, smiling knowingly before flying down to cuddle in the crook of Marinette’s neck.

“Because you are born from luck itself. Even when bad things happen, you have the luck and determination to get out just fine, and stronger than before. And despite the destruction and anarchy in your blood, you have the willpower to reign it in and keep control of yourself. That’s all order really is, Marinette. The decision to take all the chaos and madness around us, and make it make sense. Make it do something good. And that’s a large part of who you are, I could feel it in your soul the moment we first met.”

Marinette closed her eyes, biting the inside of her cheek. “What if I lose control?”

“... You’ll just have to get it back. It’ll be hard, but as long as you have people to support you, you will be able to do it. You aren’t evil, Marinette,” the small God seemed to sense the true question her holder was asking, and did her best to soothe the doubt the girl felt. “Just remember the reasons you fight against chaos. Remember everyone you love, and you’ll be okay. And you have me, I’ll always help you.”

“... thank you, Tikki.”

—*—*—*—*—*

“He’s going to find out, Mom.”

“No he won’t, don’t be silly! I’ve been very careful about hiding you from him, Nettie-pie.”

“Mom… I just have a bad feeling. I don’t think we can hide who I am from him. If he sees me, I think he’ll know.”

The phone went silent.

“If he hurts you, I’ll kill him. If I was crazy about him, Sugar, then I’m head over heels for you. Not even he can stop me from caving his skull in if he tries his usual tricks with you.”

“... My plane leaves soon, I’ll talk to you when I land. And mom?”

“Yeah, honeycake?”

“I love you.”

—*—*—*—*—*

It was uncanny just how often Marinette’s hunches were right. Her intuition was something to behold, truly, because it only took three days in Gotham before Joker snatched her right out of her room at Harley and Ivy’s apartment. At least Marinette had sixteen by then, so she had had enough experience as a hero in Paris and with generally unpredictable situations and people who were absolutely nuts for her to not immediately panic. Too much, anyway.

Because there was definitely a little panic there.

See, Marinette knew herself inside out by then. After her own battle with her toxic feelings towards Adrien and doing her best to heal from those before she turned out like her mom, she knew she was by no means mentally indestructible. Mental illness ran the high risk of being inherited, and Marinette was well aware that her own personality was scarily similar to her mother’s at times. She got attached quickly, felt affection and love for others very strongly and, as she found with Adrien, could easily become obsessive if she didn’t watch herself. At least Harley was the perfect person to help with that, and Marinette was serious about helping herself too. She did everything she could to keep an eye on her mental health and keep her behavior in check so she didn’t do anything too unhealthy with her relationships again.

But she knew, she knew she had a soft spot for family. She got attached too easily. And being in the same room as her biological father, despite being tied up by her hands and feet and knowing just how many unforgivable things he had done in his life, Marinette felt vulnerable. She didn’t want to hurt him, despite everything. She still loved him, despite every reason not to, despite her first meeting with him being with him shoving chloroform over her face and hogtying her to a metal chain dangling over a vat of acid.

Geez, she’d need more than just her mom as a therapist after this for sure. Even if her mom had a PH.D, Marinette felt like she’d need several psychiatrists to sort through her emotional turmoil right then and make sense of any of it.

Marinette licked her lips, aware that the only kindness that Joker gave his daughter was sparing her from the discomfort of being gagged.

“Don’t,” Marinette said, surprising herself with the amount of steel she was able to put into her voice. Somehow, she managed to make the single word sound more like an order than a plead. “Joker, put me—“

“Ah-Ah-Ah!” The clown walked over, tutting and waving his finger in the air in almost playful admonishment. He gave her a dramatically fake pout. “Don’t you know it’s disrespectful to refer to your father by his first name?” Neither of them mentioned that Joker was definitely not his real name. They both knew the point was moot. “Say it with me now— ‘Daddy dearest, I am more than willing to be dunked in acid for you,’ go ahead, say it.”

Marinette’s jaw clenched. Familial love or not, she would not tolerate being ridiculed like that. She dealt with enough ridicule when she was fourteen and fifteen during school, before she put Liar Rossi in her place. She had spent the past three years as a hero in charge of the war against Hawkmoth, in charge of protecting all of Paris from an emotional terrorist.

And gee, wasn’t that what Joker was, too? Sure, he was a terrorist in the classic meaning of the word as well, but he was nothing if not a skilled manipulator. He knew the human mind just as well as Harley or any other psychiatrist did, he just used his knowledge for different means. He had emotionally abused Harley for years, he emotionally abused and manipulated people all across gotham on a daily basis. He was just another Hawkmoth, but with more physical violence in place of magic.

With these thoughts strengthening her resolve, Marinette narrowed her eyes at the man who donated half of her DNA. She let her anger boil into her irises, hitting him with one of the few traits she knew she inherited from him.

Her ability to intimidate others on the tip of a hat.

“No,” she growled back at him. She took a deep breath. It had taken her a while, but she refused to be ashamed of who she was regardless of her blood relation. She would have no problem using the very things she inherited from Joker against him. She might have gotten most of Harley’s personality, she might have inherited her mother’s habit of falling in love hard, fast, and obsessively, but she also had Joker’s defiance. His bone-deep inability to be stopped from doing exactly whatever the fuck he wanted.

And then, there were Marinette’s own traits. The ones that were completely her own, developed over her life organically. Like her refusal to bow down to bullies, her creativity, her ability to take even the most chaotic situation and see some sort of balance and sanity in it that she could use to her advantage.

That she WOULD use to her advantage. The shadows she saw move out of the corner of her eye gave her the chance to do exactly that, she just needed to buy a few more seconds. Just a few more seconds.

“Excuse me?” Joker growled right back, his own intimidation, honed over more years than Marinette had been alive and thus much more potent than her own, reading its ugly head as he stalked towards her. His face was pulled down into an ugly snarl, his shoulders tensed and back straight as he glared right at her. From his spot on the metal walkway, he was easily able to reach over the railing and grab her chin in one pale, viciously strong hand. “I think you’re misunderstanding something here, little Marionette. I’m your father. Half of your life came directly from ME. That makes you my puppet. You exist to follow my orders,” his right grip suddenly let go, leaving behind the beginnings of a bruise as his entire demeanor changed from angry to cheerful. He spread his arms as if gesturing to the whole chemical plant victoriously, and an unnaturally large smile curved over his lips and bared yellowing teeth at her. “But that’s okay. I’ll forgive you this time, you haven’t learned any better yet. That’s why we’re here. We need to cleanse you of all those icky bad habits you’ve learned up until now, all you need is a little,” he bounced in place with a wicked smirk to illustrate his next words— “jumpstart. A little acid goes a long way to enlightenment you know, you’ll see my side of things in no time. And with my blood in you, you’ll make a better sidekick than that idiot Harley ever did. I can sense it, you’ve got a real talent for Chaos in you, it’s exciting, Heheeeheheee! Now then, we should probably speed things along before our family reunion is cut short. Hang in there, my little Marionette,” the man actually had the gall to spin in place while humming a tune cheerfully before all but dancing over to the lever that held Marinette’s length of chain in the air over the vat of chemicals below her. “Everything will clear up in that little head of yours in just a second!”

There! Right as Joker pulled the switch to lower her into the bubbling vat underneath her, Marinette was able to finish untying her hands. She couldn’t contain a small yelp as gravity flung her body forward, leaving her upside down on the chain for a brief moment. That was when the chain started lowering rapidly, and Marinette was barely able to rip the rope off of her ankles in time to swing off of it and onto the metal walkway that came up right next to the giant metal container of liquid death and insanity. Joker had barely enough time to shout in rage before the windows near the ceiling shattered, admitting the city’s vigilantes themselves. Batman, Nightwing, Red Robin, Red Hood, Robin, and evening Black Bat all landed on the same metal platform above Marinette’s head that Joker was still on, buying the teen time to start running. But she didn’t go towards the exit right away, instead heading right up the stairs into the thick of the fight. Robin briefly separated from where Joker was managing to hold his own, goons flooding from side doors to inhibit the heroes in their attempt to bring their boss down.

The katana-using vigilante kept one eye on Marinette the whole time, suspicious of why the girl would come back up if not to help her father. But that wasn’t what she did, instead she flipped and kicked and punched her way through the quickly growing sea of Joker thugs until she reached a small pink purse that had been abandoned near the lever that had nearly sent her into liquid insanity. Three thugs surrounded her right as she snatched the purse up and slung it over her shoulder, but Robin barely had the chance to head over before she was heaving the men, who were all easily three times her size, over her shoulder and was slamming elbows into soft spots and the side of her hand into pressure points. By the time Robin got to her side, all three men were unconscious and bound to wake up in utter agony.

Marinette glanced up, getting ready to haul Robin over her shoulder as well before she realized who he was. She let her shoulders relax just a tick, sighing in relief before returning her eyes to scanning their surroundings. She shot him a brief grin.

“Good thing my adoptive mother, Mom, Momma Ivy, and Auntie Selina all made sure I knew how to take down a small army on my own, huh?” She asked rhetorically before they were both unceremoniously dragged back into the giant brawl.

—*—*—*—*—*

“Nettie-pie!”

“Marigold!”

Harley and Pamela Quinzel-Isley shoved down anyone and everyone who dared block their direct path to their daughter. The girl of the hour stood next to the bat clan, a shock blanket held tightly around her shoulders as she did her best to finish her statement to both the vigilantes and Commissioner Gordon.

“You untied yourself… from a ship-grade knot in high quality rope… with a phone charm?” They heard Gordon ask incredulously, to which Marinette could only give a lopsided smile. That was when her mom and stepmom crashed into her, enveloping her in a nearly suffocating hug.

“Gah— mom— momma Ivy—“ Marinette flailed in their arms for a bit before finally getting her head free and continuing her statement as if she didn’t have two of the most dangerous women in the city still giving her a bone crushing hug. “That’s better. Yes, Commissioner. You see, I realized when I was in the car with Joker, while I was pretending to still be unconscious, that one of the charms on my phone had pretty sharp corners that I could use like a serrated edge if I had enough time. So I carefully detached it from my phone, and held it in my palm. It took almost an hour, but once Joker noticed I was awake I kept him talking so that he didn’t notice what I was doing even as he tied me up to that chain. Really, it’s just lucky that I was able to get it worn down in time,” Marinette rubbed the back of her neck with a nervous chuckle. “But regardless, I think Batman and his partners,” she nodded to the listening vigilantes just to the side of her. “Were close enough that I would have been caught anyway, I just wanted to make sure they had less work to do. The sooner I freed myself, the sooner ‘Daddy Dearest,’” she grimaced as she mockingly used the same term Joker had tried to get her to say earlier that night. “Could go back behind bars where he belongs.”

“Oh my little Nettie-cake,” Harley cried, finally pulling back from the hug long enough to wipe her cheeks. It was clear that she had been crying for a while, and her colorful pigtails were mussed and tangled from where she must have been tugging on them in worry. “You were right. I’m so sorry, I never should have let you come to Gotham when I knew he was out of Arkham.”

Marinette was quick to shake her head frantically, pulling her arms out of Ivy’s hold so she could grasp Harley’s shoulders firmly. “No. No, Mom, I’m fine! And besides, we knew I couldn’t stay secret forever. I really like staying with you and Momma Ivy! Everything turned out fine though, and he’s headed back to Arkham. It’s okay.”

“It’s not okay, Nettle,” Pam argued, distracting herself by running her hands through Marinette’s bangs. She had only known the girl for two years, but that was more than long enough for her to consider the teenager as her own. “He took you right out from under our noses. You were supposed to be safe in our home, and he still got to you. That’s not okay. We weren’t able to protect you like we should have been. Maybe you should go back to Paris early.”

“What?! No way!” Marinette argued, eyes wide. “This is the first time I’ve been able to ever visit you guys in Gotham, I’m not letting some psycho sperm donor keep me from enjoying time with my family! I came here knowing full well that it was dangerous. I’m not gonna just run away after one bad experience.”

Harley snorted, and then devolved into uncontrollable giggles. “Heh— psycho sperm donor. Good one, sugar!”

Marinette smiled and rolled her eyes good naturedly at her mom’s usual immature antics. Seeing as Gordon had walked away muttering to himself a short while ago, Marinette pulled herself the rest of the way away from her moms and turned to the vigilantes. Without a second’s pause, she bowed to them just like her Maman Sabine taught her.

“Thank you for helping save me. I know it’s probably a shock that I’ve been kept secret from you guys all this time, but I hope you don’t lump me in with the likes of the green-haired half of my DNA. I’m staying with my Moms in their apartment, if you guys decide to patrol by our place like I suspect, I’ll leave some baked goods and coffee out for you on our patio. It’s the least I can do for you all after tonight. And don’t be too hard on Auntie Selina. Me and Mom swore her to secrecy, even from you guys.”

Batman jerked a little at the mention of Catwoman’s real name, jaw twitching for a second. Behind his cowl, his eyes narrowed. Marinette laughed, easily reading his body language and expression.

“She never told me who you are, but she didn’t exactly hide it either. It was easy to put the last pieces together on my own. But don’t worry, SHE swore me to secrecy too. I won’t tell anyone.

“How the hell are you related to the Laughing Asswipe from Hell?” Red Hood blurted out, his confusion clear even from behind his hideous helmet. Marinette burst into giggles, and both Pamela and Harley smiled knowingly.

“Mom gave me up for adoption when I was born, so I spent my whole life in Paris up until now,” she admitted. “Mom didn’t visit me for the first time until I was eight, and she and my adoptive parents are so awesome that it must’ve suffocated the worst traits from his DNA before they had a chance to develop,” she guessed out loud with a good natured smile.

Batman grunted. Marinette knew that one run-in wasn’t enough for them to trust her. After all, she was still the biological daughter of their arch enemy. But she didn’t mind, she understood the caution even if she didn’t fully agree with it. They weren’t outright hostile, despite the fact that Robin had never stopped glaring at her since they fought back-to-back against the mob of thugs earlier. She could live with their suspicion, as long as they continued to not be outright rude or mean to her.

At least she could empathize with Adrien now, whenever she figured out how to break it to him that Hawkmoth was definitely Gabriel and couldn’t be anyone else. Hopefully she could help soften the blow for him a little.

Harley and Ivy were starting to herd Marinette towards their car and take her back home, where they could continue to smother her in care and make sure she didn’t have even a scratch on her, when Robin’s voice stopped them all in their tracks.

“You are a surprisingly capable combatant.”

Marinette froze, blinking in surprise for a second before turning to stare at Robin in shock. The rest of the Bat Clam was doing the same, nobody expecting Robin of all people to be the first to directly complement Marinette. He tutted, crossing his arms, but never moved his gaze away from Marinette’s eyes.

“But your form could use some work. Most of your style is incredibly improvised, which I can appreciate since you do it well, but you would benefit from more structure in your fighting. I will set up a time and place for us to spar. We start in two days, if you think you can handle it.”

It took a while for what Robin said to sink in, and another few seconds for Marinette to decipher what his semi-aggressive, order-phrased proposal really meant. And she smiled.

“It’s a date.”

—*—*—*—*—*

Woo! This started off a little rough, but I really like how it ended up! Thank you, Anon!

[sassyduckqueen]

Miraculous: Rise of Anatis 53

Whooo! that's Big Momma and Little Sister down, the Oni-chan inspired chapter. Next up is Startrain! Hope you guys like this. Also @naruwitch helped with this chapter and came up with the nickname treasure for Luka. It was fun to write but I am now tired and need rest! Enjoy the chapter!!

Edit: Forgot to do this last night because I was knackered when I uploaded this but trigger warning for scenes of violence, attempted kidnap and attempted sexual assault.

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Chapter Fifty-Three: Big Momma and Little Sister (2/2)

"Mr Couffaine!! What's like having the rock giant, Jagged as a father?!" A reporter shouted as he stepped in front of him and shoved a microphone in his face. Luka groaned in annoyance before pushing it away. He was going to school and was about come to the stairs when this guy appeared out of no where. This wasn't the first time a reporter had turned up since Bob Roth had let slip that he was Jagged's son. A number of reporters had tried to get an interview with him. It had forced Anarka to move the Liberty three times but that didn't seem to stop them. It was only when she threatened to run them through or force them to walk the plank that they had backed off from the Liberty but they had came up with different ways to try and get an interview with them. A couple of them gatecrashed his time when he was hanging out with Marinette, another had actually sneaked into the Grand Paris hotel and managed to get some photos of him having dinner with Jagged before Chloe and Fang had chased them out and a couple of them had taken to turning up on his shifts at work. Luckily, none of them had found him while he was Anatis but he was taking extra precaution with that side of his life. Instead of detransforming in alleyways, he was transforming on rooftops and just climbing down from them. After he checked to see if anyone was around of course. He was knocked out of his trail of thought as the reporter shoved the microphone back into his face. "Did you always know he was your father?! Did he abandon you when you were born?!"

 "Leave me alone," He stated, pushing it away again and trying to walk around him but the reporter moved back in front of him, making Luka sigh in annoyance. "Could you move please? I need to get to my lessons,"

 "Is it true that you were almost akumatized after accusing XY of stealing your work? Do you think that's why Bob Roth released the information of Jagged been your father? As revenge?" The reporter continued, completely ignoring Luka's request. He groaned and pinched his nose before moving again but once again, he stepped along with him. "My sources say that you're also friends with Adrien Agreste, Chloe Bourgeois and a close friend of Paris' very own hero, Anatis? Rumor is you're also very close to the young lady who designed the album artwork for Jagged's latest album Rock Giant? Do you intent to use your connections to jump start a career in the music industry? Is that why you accused XY of stealing your idea? To make your rival look bad while you rise to stardom?"

 "No! I would never do that!" Luka gasped before shaking his head as the reporter smirked. A trick question designed to make him answer. He took a deep breathe and looked at the reporter. "Look, I'm not interested in answering your questions. I just want to go to school and have a normal day so no comment for any of your questions. Now have a good day and leave me alone,"

 Before the reporter could even stop him, Luka moved around him and jumped over the edge of the stairs, rushing up them and through the front doors of the school. He let out a sigh before walking into the locker room. He glanced around and frowned a little as Marinette wasn't there yet but he imagined she was probably just having a hard time waking up again. He smiled a little before shaking his head and moving over to his locker, opening it as he put his bag in. He frowned and looked behind him as he felt like people were watching him. To his surprise, he wasn't wrong. A number of students who he hadn't really paid attention before were looking at him. He let out a sigh and continued to take out his books. Someone cleared their throat, making him look at them. A girl was stood in front of him, making him frown. She had black wavy hair and was wearing a pink long sleeved top, a dark purple skirt, black leggings and trainers. He kind of recognized her as he had seen her around the school but she had never actually tried to talk to him before.

 "Hi, you're Luka Couffaine right?" She smiled, pushing her hair behind her ear. "I'm Renée Marcel. I'm the class representative of Mr Beauregard,"

 "Um... hi?" Luka replied, confused. She giggled to herself as she continued to play with her hair.

 "So I was wondering if you wanted to sit with me and my friends at Lunch," She smiled, making him look at her in surprise and confusion. She literally had never noticed him before and while he had seen her around, he had never talked to her before today. "It would be so cool to have you sit at us with lunch,"

 "Um... Why?" He asked, making her giggle.

 "Oh, you are so funny," She replied, making him blink. She looked at him and frowned as he didn't laugh. "Wait... were you been serious?"

 "Yeah..."

 "Oh," She replied, surprised. "I thought you were just joking, like how your father does,"

 "Ah right," He replied, closing and locking his locker. So that's why she suddenly paid attention to him. It's because he's Jagged Stone's son. He let out a sigh before looking at it. "It's nice for you to invite me to join your table at lunch but I'm quite happy with the friends I usually sit with,"

 "But that's the akuma class," She gasped, causing him to look at her in surprise and annoyance. "And you're like way too cool to sit with them,"

 "Like I said thanks but no thanks," He replied, walking past her as he shook his head. Renee frowned as he walked away. He left the locker room and headed up the stairs to Mrs Mendeleiev's class. As soon as he walked in, the students that were already there kind of just stared at him, making him sigh as he walked to his usual seat. To his surprise, he noticed Marc was sat at his table, hunched over his note pad. He put down his bag and sat next to him, making Marc jump and look at him with big eyes. "Hey, Marc,"

 "O-oh, hey Luka," He muttered quietly. "I didn't realize this was your table. I can move if you want,"

 "I don't mind you sitting here," He replied, smiling. Marc gave him a shy smile back. "But I thought you were in a different class,"

 "I was," He muttered, closing his notepad before he glanced to the side. "I wasn't exactly getting on with my classmates. Like they weren't bullying me but they didn't exactly talking to me either so I asked to switch classes..."

 "I get you," Luka nodded before sighing as he noticed a lot of students were still staring. Only Aurora, Jean, Mirelle, Kagami and Felix weren't staring. Luka wasn't surprised by that. Aurora, Mirelle, Kagami and Jean were his friends in the class so they wouldn't react the same way as everyone else and Felix was... well Felix. Marc frowned and looked around before looking back at Luka.

 "Why is everyone staring at you?" He asked, making Luka hide his face in his arms and groan. "Everything ok?"

 "Honestly, it could be better," He replied, looking up at Marc. "They're staring because they learnt who my father is,"

 "Oh," Marc replied, making Luka nod. "That's true?"

 "Yeah," He sighed, sitting up. "And because of it, I'm suddenly in the spotlight,"

 "Wow. I kind of just thought it was gossip," Marc admitted, making Luka chuckle. "Why did Bob Roth reveal it? Did Jagged ask him to?"

 "No. While Jagged wanted to shout to the world that I'm his son, we both decided it would be better if we waited til we were both ready," He sighed, making Marc frown. "But apparently, Bob Roth decided to release it regardless of what we wanted. Dad... I mean Jagged... thinks that it's revenge against him for leaving Roth's label and against me for calling XY and Roth out on stealing mine and Marinette's work,"

 "Are you taking legal action?" Marc asked, concerned.

 "Yeah, we are but we haven't gone much of a case against him yet," He admitted, frowning. "Since the information isn't really harmful and we can't prove he did it on purpose yet, it's gonna be super hard to go against him,"

 "That sucks," Marc frowned, making Luka sigh as Mrs Mendeleiev walked into the class. "I hope you get it sorted out soon,"

 "Thanks, Marc," He smiled, causing Marc to give him a small smile back as she clapped her hands.

 "Ok, students, today we will be starting a home work project in pairs. You will choose a project to study and create a presentation on in two weeks time. Now when I call your names, come up to the desk and take a work sheet then sit next to your partner," She declared, making everyone groan a little. She began to call the students, causing them to grab their worksheets with their project partner. "Felix Graham de Vanilie and Luka Couffaine,"

 A number of the students stared at him again, making him groan and get up as he walked up. A couple of the other students whispered, making Mrs Mendeleiev to tell them off as he grabbed a work sheet and took a seat next to Felix as she called up Marc and Aurora next. With the pairings sorted out, Mrs Mendeleiev began to teach the class and tell them about their project.

~Lunch Time~

 "I would recommend we go to my house," Felix suggested as he, Kagami and Luka walked into the canteen. Marc was trailing behind them, hugging his note book. Aurora had gone home for lunch so had Mirelle and Jean but Nathaniel would be joining them soon. "I've have a lot of books on physics after all, which I think would help,"

 "Yeah sure," Luka nodded as Felix grabbed a tray. He sighed as he noticed a number of students staring at him again. Felix nodded and frowned as Luka took a tray for himself and began to put some food on it.

 "Is there a reason why everyone is staring at you?" He asked, making Luka sigh again. "Is that because the rumor of Jagged Stone been your father?"

 "Yes," He replied, paying for his food as Felix did the same before the two of them walked to their usual table, just as the others came in. Marinette waved at him as she walked over, causing him to wave back but she could even sit down, Lila pushed her out of the way.

 "Luka!! Hi!!" She gasped, making him frown as she sat down and latched onto his arm tightly. "I can't believe that my uncle Jagged is your father. Isn't it crazy how much we have in common?"

 "Lila, let go," He growled as he tried to pull away from her but she tightened her grip, digging her fingers into his arm. He hissed in pain a little and tried to shake her off. "Let go of my arm,"

 "Oh but Luka, I'm just trying to talk to you," She gasped, making him frown as she leaned closer. "I would hate for something to happen to Mar-"

 "Don't even finish that sentence," He growled as he finally pushed her off, causing her to gasp. "I will say this one more time, Rossi. I am not interested in been your friend. Now leave me alone and get out of Marinette's seat,"

 Lila gritted her teeth and went to say something but Felix and Kagami both glared at her, making her frown before she got up and walked away, causing Luka let out a shaky breathe as Marinette, Juleka and Rose rushed over to him. Since he had his hoodie around his waist, he could always see the marks where Lila had dug her nails in. Juleka looked at them and mumbled angrily as Marinette and Rose frowned. There were small specs of blood, showing how deep they were.

 "Are you ok?" Kagami asked, making him look at her as Marinette took out a tissue and a bottle of water from her bag. She undid the bottle and used it wet the tissue a little before gently dabbed his arm with it. He nodded, making Felix frown.

 "Does she do that often?" He asked, crossing his arms.

 "A fair bit," Luka replied, making him frown. "But I think she does it more to Adrien then me,"

 "She liked to try and leech herself onto me in class," Adrien admitted, frowning. "Though since Miss Bustier put her in the back, she can't do it and Nino stays pretty close to me as well. She won't try it around Kagami because she's scared of her. I think she thinks that Kagami will slice her in half,"

 "I will if she goes near you," She growled, making Adrien swoon.

 "I love it when you get protective other me," He grinned, making her blush a little. "But seriously, Lila doesn't know the meaning of personal space. She claims it's how Italians are,"

 "You should sue her for sexual harassment," Felix mused, making Luka sigh.

 "I don't know..." He stated, making the others frown before he turned to Marinette. "Thank you,"

 "Don't worry about it, Luka," She smiled, making him smile a little before frowning a little. "But maybe you should try and sue her. I'm sure Penny will be able to help with it,"

 "I don't want to bother her," He admitted, making her frown. "She's really busy with the whole... you know..."

 "I get it," Marinette sighed, understanding where he was coming from. Penny was doing a lot overtime to try and help him and Jagged deal the fallout of Bob Roth's interview. "But I still think you should consider it, especially if she gets worst. I'm worried,"

 "Alright... I'll look into it," He nodded, making her smile as Lila glared towards them. "But could we change the subject?"

 "Sure,"

 ~At Felix's House after School~

 "And this is where I've been staying since moving to Paris," Felix explained as he welcomed Luka to his home. It wasn't what Luka had expected at all. He had expected it to be very similar to Agreste manor but it was actually much homely then it was. He noticed some photos on the walls, causing him to look at them. One was of Felix, his mother and who Luka assumed was his father. Another showed his father again with another blonde man who resembled Felix. The last photo shown the Felix lookalike with a woman who was dressed in summer shorts and red top. She was pulling a silly face but the Felix lookalike looked very serious but he had a small smile on his face. "That's my uncle Felix senior and my aunt Bridgette and that's my father with my mother,"

 "They look happy," Luka muttered, making Felix sigh. "Sorry,"

 "No need to apologize, Couffaine," He replied, making Luka frown. "You're right. They were happy but things happen and nothing can ever last forever,"

 "You know you can call me Luka right?" He asked as they walked into the kitchen area where Felix Senior was sat in front of a laptop. He glanced up at them with a cold expression.

 "Uncle, this is my lab partner Luka Couffaine," Felix stated, gesturing towards Luka, who waved a little as Felix Senior rose an eyebrow. "We're going to be working on a science project together,"

 "Aren't you the boy in the news?" He asked, making Luka frown a little as he nodded. "Hmm. I hope you didn't bring any press with you,"

 "No, sir," Luka replied, making Felix Senior raise an eyebrow. "We didn't come across any on our way here,"

 "Good," He replied, nodding as he got up and walked over to the coffee pot. He took out a mug and poured out another drink. "Will you be staying for dinner?"

 "Um... no?" Luka asked, unsure what to say. He got the impression that the older man didn't want him to stay.  Felix Jr rolled his eyes and glared at the older man.

 "Stop questioning him, uncle," He stated before pulling Luka away from the kitchen and into his room. "Sorry about Uncle. He doesn't get out much and hates anyone that isn't his family or a cat,"

 "Oh," Luka nodded as he glanced around the room. To his surprise, Felix did have a poster of Jagged on the wall. He also had a lot of science posters and magic shows posters. "So what's our project going to be?"

 "I thought we could study Water Electrolysis," Felix suggested, making Luka nod. "No suggestions?"

 "I'm not very good with science," Luka admitted, making Felix frown. "I'm more into art and music,"

 "That seems logical given your taste in fashion," Felix replied, making Luka frown. "Not that it's a bad taste. It's just obvious that you're not into maths or science from it,"

 Luka frowned, making Felix frown as well before he sighed.

 "I'm sorry," He stated, looking at him. "I'm not very good with people or interacting with them,"

 "I get it," Luka nodded, surprising Felix. "I've only just learnt how to really interact with people without music. I still find it hard to talk to people properly,"

 "Really?" Felix mused, eyeing up as Luka nodded. "I would have never have realized. What do you mean to talk with them without music?"

 "Um... I usually have a guitar with me and if I don't know what to say I play it instead," Luka admitted, making Felix chuckle. "I hate not been allow it in school. Maybe they'll let me bring my violin?"

 "You play violin too?" Felix asked as Luka nodded.

 "I also play bass guitar, drums, a bit of the flute. I can sing a little and I can write and compose music," He muttered, making Felix look at him in surprise. "It's like the only thing I'm good at but I like drawing as well. Admittedly I can't draw to save my life but I enjoy trying,"

 "Well, you certainly seem creative," Felix replied as he picked out a book from his book shelf. "Maybe we can work that into our science project. You know what soundwaves are, right?"

 "Yes, it's the energy generated by sound," Luka frowned, making Felix chuckle. "I'm not completely dumb, you know,"

 "Never said you were," He replied, making Luka roll his eyes. "I'm thinking we create a thesis about using sound waves as a source of energy and power. Like wind power,"

 "But with sound," Luka nodded, thinking. "Well, Mrs Mendeleiev did say to think outside the box,"

 "Exactly," Felix grinned before the two of them began to discuss how it would be possible to use sound as a power source. Luka took some notes as they continued to plan and discuss but before he knew it, Felix Senior had called that dinner was ready, causing the two of them to go downstairs. This time Felix's Aunt was in the kitchen. She looked up as they walked in.

 "Hello," She smiled, making them stop. "Are you one of Felix's friends from school?"

 "We're lab partners," Felix answered. "Luka Couffaine, this is my aunt Bridgette,"

 "Hi," Luka smiled before looking at his phone as it vibrated. It was his mother asking him when he would be home. Normally, she wouldn't ask but since the whole dad reveal and the press stalking him, she had taken to doing so. He texted back at that he was just leaving Felix's and would be home soon before looking up. "Sorry, I need to get going home. See you at school, Felix?"

 "Yes," He replied, nodding as Luka waved to his family and left the house, causing Felix to lock up after him. Felix Senior looked up from the book he had started to read and glanced at him. "Something wrong, Uncle?"

 "Not at all," He replied, sipping his coffee. "I approve of your friend,"

 "What?!" Both Bridgette and Felix shouted in surprise as he went back to his book. 

 ~Meanwhile~

 Luka hummed to himself as he walked through the streets towards the metro from Felix's house. He turned down the street before stopping as he felt like he was been watched. He glanced around but saw nothing. He frowned as he turned back round and continued walking, feeling uneasy as he did. He glanced back and frowned even more as he noticed a man dressed in dark clothing stepping out from the shadows and following him at a steady pace. He didn't think it was the press as they usually didn't turn up on the night. One or two of them had but most of the time they tried during the day. He figured it was because it was easier to get a photo or to film during the day plus it was technically safer. He crossed the street and began to walk over to the entrance to the metro as Tikki poked her head out.

 "Are you ok?" She asked, making him frown.

 "Someone is following me," He replied quietly as he noticed the guy following him cross over the road towards the same metro station. He sped up a little and quickly went down the stairs. Glancing up at the time table, he bit his lip as he saw the train he needed to get was 12 minutes away. He frowned as he noticed the man walking down the stairs with his phone out as he messaged someone. He briefly looked up at Luka, making him feel even more uneasy before he began to walk over to the exit that would take him out of the metro. It was only a 30 minute walk to where the Liberty was docked and he would rather walk through the well lit city that had some tourists out and about then wait in a practically empty metro station with a guy who had followed him since he left Felix's. He also knew he was about a five minute walk from Marinette's home, which made him feel slightly better. He took out his phone and checked the time as he climbed the stairs. It had just gone 7pm meaning the bakery would still be open so if he needed to, he could go there. He locked his screen and switched it off before using it as a mirror. The man now was now on the phone and staring at him while talking to someone. Luka quickly put away his phone before climbing up the stairs and out of the metro. He pulled his hoodie up as he did and headed down the street towards the school speed walking as he did, speeding up as he heard footsteps behind him. He wanted to break into a run and was about to when he saw someone he hoped never to see again walking towards him, causing him to freeze in fear. Issac smirked as he walked over to him.

 "Hello, Luka," He stated, smirking before he roughly grabbed his shoulder. "I think it's time for me and you to have a talk, don't you?"

 "N-No," He gasped as his eyes widen in fear. When ever Issac said he wanted to talk, it never ended well for Luka. A black car suddenly pulled up, making him glance at it with fear as well. Issac smirked at his expression before grabbing his arm and pulling him towards the car as the guy who had followed Luka opened the passenger's door. Reality suddenly caught up with Luka, causing him rip his arm from Issac and run as fast as he could away from him. Issac growled and chased after him, grabbing him and trying to pull him back to the car as he struggled and fought against him. "Let me go!!"

 "Shut up, you brat!" He gasped, punching him before he grabbed him around the waist, dragging him towards the car. Luka struggled and tried to call out for help s Issac pulled him towards the car, causing him cover his mouth with his other hand. The other guy grabbed his legs to help Issac get him in the car, causing him to try and kick him. His eyes started to turn silver as he panicked. He could feel his chest tightened as a panic attack began to set it but Tikki began to hum against his chest, helping him calm down enough to try and escape. She couldn't directly help him as it would reveal his identity to Issac and his goon but she could calm him down. He suddenly sunk his teeth into Issac's hand, causing him to scream in pain before Luka managed to kick the other guy in the face, busting his nose and causing him to drop his legs. He slammed his head into Issac's face as the other guy held his nose before freeing himself again and running away as fast as he could. Issac growled and gave chase again. 

 "Luka!! The bakery!!" Tikki gasped, pointing to it. He rushed over to the door and managed to get inside, just as Issac caught up with him. Issac tried to open the door, causing Luka to grab the handle and pulling it shut, quickly turning the lock on it. Issac screamed angrily and punched the door as Luka sunk down to the floor as Sabine looked up.

 "Luka?!" She gasped as she rushed over to him. Issac growled and began to kick in the door, screaming abuse towards Luka as he did. "Tom!! Call the police!!"

 Luka curled up on himself as he began to shake and sob, covering his ears as Issac continued to scream and try to break into the bakery. Sabine kneel down next to him and held him as Tom rushed in. As soon as Issac saw Tom, he began to stop kicking the door and screaming before glaring at them and rushing off. 

 "What happened?" He gasped, causing Sabine to look up. Luka was still crying and shaking. Tom frowned as he saw him, causing him to kneel down and gently place his hand on Luka's shoulder but he flinched, causing Tom to remove it. "Son, are you ok?"

 Luka just shook his head as he tried to calm down, causing Sabine to help him to his feet.

 "Tom, watch the bakery and wait for the police," She ordered, getting a nod of him before she brought Luka through the back and up the stairs. She led him into the living room and made him sit on the sofa. He was shaking and staring at the ground with an expression of pure terror on his face. His lip was busted and a bruise was starting to form on his jaw. "Luka?"

 He flinched, making her frown as she heard the sirens of the police. 

 "Ok, I need to go talk to the police to tell them what happened so I'm gonna go and get Marinette to sit with you ok?" She stated, making him nod. She nodded back and rushed up to Marinette's room, knocking on the door before entering. She noticed that her skylight was open and Marinette wasn't in her room. "Marinette?"

 "Mama," She gasped as she climbed through the window and slid down to her. "What's going on? Why are the police here?"

 "Something just happened," She replied calmly. "Your friend Luka-"

 "Is he ok?!" She gasped, worry and panic filled her eyes.

 "He's downstairs," Sabine replied calmly. "He's pretty shaken up and scared. I was going to ask you to sit with him while I talk to the police,"

 Marinette was already grabbing a blanket from her chaise and walking towards the trap door as Sabine spoke. She smiled a little as she climbed down, following Marinette down downstairs before heading back to the bakery to talk to the police. Marinette rushed down the stairs and into the living room, stopping when she saw Luka. He was sat on the sofa, hugging his knees and had his head in them as he shook. By the sound of it, he was crying. Her heart shattered at the sound, causing her to walk over. She sat next to him and gently place her hand on his arm, making him flinch a little before he peeked up at her. She put the blanket around his shoulders and wrapped her arms around his torso as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed his face into her shoulder as he shook and cried. 

 "It's ok," She whispered, stroking his hair as Sabine came back up with Office Roger and another cop who was holding a camera. Officer Roger cleared his throat. Luka slowly looked up, causing Marinette to frown as he sat up and moved his arms around his waist. Sabine instantly went over to the phone and called the Captain.

 "I need to ask you what happened," Office Roger stated, trying to keep his voice calm as he could. He could see Luka was spooked and he had a rough idea who the man was. He had dealt with a number of domestic disturbances at the Couffaines back when Anarka was married to Issac's. He was a nasty bastard back then and if it was him behind tonight's events then it was clear, he hadn't changed. Sabine walked back over and sat down next to Luka as he slowly stopped, shaking as he thought about what had happened. Sabine gently took his hand, making him look at her.

 "Your mother is on her way," She stated, making Luka nod.

 "We can wait until she's here if you want," Officer Roger suggested but Luka shook his head. He just wanted to get it over with. "Alright then.... can you tell me what happened before you came into the bakery tonight?"

 "I w-was going h-home from Fe-Felix's," He muttered in a quiet voice that wasn't normal for him. "I w-went to g-get the metro but I realized I was been followed and the s-station was r-really empty. I d-didn't feel s-safe so I left and speed up when I realized I was still been followed. I was gonna run from them but... then he blocked my path..."

 "Was it who I think it was?" Officer Roger asked, making Luka nod as he looked up at him.

 "I-Issac Fa-Farrow... m-my s-step f-father," He muttered, making Marinette cover her mouth and Officer Roger to frown. "H-He said t-that it wa-was time we talked a-and then a black car pulled up. He tried to pull me towards it but I pulled away. H-he then tried a-again and when I tried to b-break away and tell him to let go, he punched me and grabbed me ar-around my waist. W-When I tried to call for help, he covered my mouth a-and his friend grabbed m-my legs t-to h-help him g-get me into the car,"

 "He tried to kidnap you?" Officer Roger asked, frowning deeply as Luka nodded. "Can you tell me how you escape?"

 "I b-bit his hand a-and kic-kick the other guy in his face before I managed to br-break f-free then I r-ran a-and s-saw the b-bakery so I c-came inside," He replied before looking at Sabine. "I'm s-sorry. I d-didn't m-mean-"

 "It's ok, Luka," Sabine stated, frown as he wiped his eyes. He was clearly trying not to cry or freak out again. Marinette wrapped her arm around him, causing him to rest his head against her shoulder as Officer Roger spoke into his radio, ordering his men to arrest Issac if they saw him on sight before he turned to Luka. "Are you ok if my colleague take a couple of photos of your injuries?"

 He nodded, allowing the other cop to take some of his face.

 "Do you need anything else?" Sabine asked, causing Officer Roger to turn to him.

 "I'll need to take a witness statement from you and Tom,"

 "Of course," Sabine nodded, getting up before looking at Luka. "I'll send your mother up when she arrives,"

 He nodded in reply before Sabine and Officer Roger left the room. Marinette gently moved and walked into the kitchen, taking out their first aid kit before walking back over and sitting down on the sofa, next to him. She took out a bottle of Antiseptic Liquid and a cotton wall bud before putting a bit of the liquid on the cotton wall bud and gently dabbing Luka's lip, making him flinch a little at the pain.

 "Sorry," She whispered, making him shake his head.

 "It's fi-fine," He whispered, making her frown. His voice was still shaky and he still looked frightened. She finished up cleaning his lip before throwing away the cotton wall ball before checking the bruise on his face.

 "Do you want some pain killers for that?" She asked, making him nod before she took some out of the kit and got him a glass of water. He took them and drank the water as she put the kit away before she sat back on the sofa, causing him to move so he was resting his head on her shoulder. "I'm sorry that he tried to hurt you and kidnap you,"

 "It's not your fault, melody," He muttered as she played with his hair. "I'm sorry I got your family involved,"

 "It's not your fault, Lu," She repeated, making him nod. "He made his choice and if he so much as breathes near you, my parents, the bakery or me, I beat the crap out of him with a rolling pin... but I'm honored that you see us as a safe place so don't ever feel like you can't come here if you need help ok?"

 He nodded as they heard someone come up the stairs. A few seconds later, Anarka burst through the door and rushed over to him, pulling him into a hug before he could even argue. Not that he did. Instead, he hugged her back for a good few minutes before she pulled away and turned to Marinette.

 "Thank you," She whispered before turning back to Luka. She frowned deeply as she noticed the bruise and cut on his lip. "What did that bastard do to you?!"

 ~Friday Lunchtime, Two Days Later~

 Marinette walked over to Juleka as soon as the bell rang to call for lunchtime. She wanted to check in on how Luka was doing after the other night. She ignored Lila's glare as she moved past her and walked over to the model. She glanced up from her bag as Marinette stopped in front of her.

 "Hey, Marinette," She muttered, putting her book away. She knew what Marinette wanted to ask. The two of them began to walk to the canteen. "He's ok. A bit shaken up still but Ma thought it would be best for him to stay home from school for a couple of days. He'll be back in school on Monday,"

 "Oh, good. I was worried when I saw you come in alone," She smiled, glad that Luka was as ok as he could be but she also wanted to check on Juleka. "Are you ok though?"

 "Me? Yeah, I'm alright," Juleka replied, nodding as she closed her bag. "Issac was never like that with me. The most he would do is shout and scream if he actually noticed me but it was rare that he did. I was basically invisible to him but Luka... he took the brunt of it. I guess it's why I'm so quiet. I realized it was better to be quiet and invisible then get hurt. I just wish I could have protected Luka like how he protected me,"

 "Juleka," Marinette muttered before suddenly hugging her, making Juleka jump a little before she returned the hug. "I'm sorry you both had to go through that,"

 "It's the past," Juleka muttered, shrugging before frowning as they took a seat at their usual table. "Or for me it is. I highly doubt Issac actually remembers me,"

 "Normally, I would say that it would be sad but I think it's probably better that he doesn't remember you," Marinette mumbled, making Juleka nod.

 "You know we're doing a movie night tonight," She mumbled, making Marinette raise an eyebrow. "I'm sure it would cheer Luka up if you came to it and stayed over,"

 "Are you sure?" Marinette gasped as Lila sat near them. "I wouldn't want to intrude,"

 "You wouldn't be intruding," Juleka mumbled as she poked at her food. "You're our friend and Ma loves you. If it helps, Rose will be there too,"

 "Really?" Marinette asked, making Juleka nod. "But I thought it would be just you, Luka and the Captain,"

 "It use to be," Juleka mumbled before she smiled a little. "But Ma basically adopted Rose as her future daughter in law and invited her to join us for it when we began dating. She pretty much has adopted you as her other future daughter in law,"

 Marinette squeaked and blushed as Juleka smirk, covering her face as she did. Neither of them had realized Lila had overheard a small part of the conversation and was gripping her plastic fork before she took a deep breathe and moved over to Alya, who was sat with Nino. Alya smiled and greeted her as Nino gave her a dirty look. Apparently, she had interrupted their lunch date. Normally they went outside for dinner or to Alya's but today they wanted to mix it up and have dinner at the school. 

 "Oh, Nino, would you mind if I borrowed Alya for a second?" She asked in her fake voice before pulling the girl up and away from him, making Alya ask her if she was ok. "I'm ok. I was just concerned about Luka. I know he's a bit shy but isn't it odd that he isn't in school?"

 "Oh, I think he must have called in sick," Alya replied, shrugging. Lila frowned a little before smiling falsely.

 "Oh poor thing," She gasped as Alya nodded. "I hate been sick but my mama makes a wonderful chicken soup that makes me feel better every time. Oh, I wish I could give his mother the recipe. I'm sure it would make him feel better but I have no idea how to send it to her,"

 "Well, you could go old school and post her a copy," Alya suggested, making Lila smile.

 "Oh, my gosh! That is a wonderful idea," She gasped, holding her hands together before she frowned. "But I don't know where they live,"

 "Oh, well... maybe you could ask pass it to Juleka then?" Alya suggested, making Lila mentally growl so she put on the waterworks. It usually worked with Alya.

 "Oh but I don't want to bother her or for her to get the wrong idea," Lila muttered, making Alya frown a little. "I know how overprotective siblings can be of each other. I don't want her to think I'm trying to steal him away from her when I just want to be his friend. Maybe I should just forget it. It was a bad idea,"

 "Oh, no. It was a really good idea," Alya reassured her but then she frowned. "But I can't give you their address. I know they're having some trouble recently with the press so I have to respect that,"

 "Oh, don't worry, Alya, I understand," Lila gasped as she hugged her. Alya smiled as she hugged back, failing to notice Lila slipping her phone out of her pocket and into hers. "You're such a sweetheart. I'm so lucky to have a friend like you,"

 "Ah don't sweat it, girl," She smiled as Lila pulled away. "You need anything else?"

 "Oh, no," She smiled, shaking her head. "Enjoy the rest of your date with Nino,"

 "I will," Alya smiled as she headed back over to him. Lila grabbed her bag before heading out of the canteen and into the Library, sitting in a corner that was the most quiet. She took out Alya phone and entered in the pass-code, smirking as she did, giving her access to her phone. Alya was so predictable. She was tempted to post a nasty message about Anatis on the Ladyblog but decided against it before she opened Alya's messages. She scrolled past Marinette's and Nino's, resisting temptation to send Marinette a very nasty message before she finally came to the message she was looking for. It was a message between Juleka and Alya. She opened it and found the part with Juleka's address on it. She took out her own phone and saved the address in her own phone before going through Alya's contacts. She saved a number of them, including Marinette's to her own phone before locking Alya's phone. Now all she had to do was pretend she found Alya's phone. She could use the library as they had been in there earlier that morning. She smirked to herself and got up, heading back to the canteen. She also needed to make sure Juleka or Marinette did leave the school on time.

 ~After School~

 Lila walked as quickly as she could, following the directions on her phone as she smirked to herself. Alya completely believed she had found her phone in the library and she had managed to delay Juleka by about fifteen minutes by using gum on her locker, causing it to get stuck. Since Marinette was going to be walking out with her, she and Rose were also delayed, trying to help her. She stopped when she came to a houseboat and heard guitar been played. She walked over and smirked as she saw Luka playing his guitar on the deck. He didn't look ill so she crossed the gangplank.

 "Luka! Hey!" She called, making him jump as he stopped playing. He quickly got up as she walked over.

 "Lila?!" He gasped, not happy to see her. "Why the hell are you here?! How do you know where I live?!"

 "Oh, I have my ways of finding out," She smiled, making him frown. "I noticed you weren't in school today or yesterday so I thought I'd come by and see if you were ok,"

 "Leave now!" He gasped, pointing to the gang plank but she didn't move. "I don't want you here so leave! You're trespassing!"

 "But Luka, I was just concerned," She gasped before taking off her bag. "I even brought you your homework. Marc was suppose to give it to you but he was too busy so I said I would bring it,"

 "You mean you stole it off him," He growled as she took it out.

 "Well, he was too busy to notice," She replied slyly before smiling falsely. "I thought we could do it together. I'm so behind on my own work I could do with the help! Oh, is that your guitar? I heard you play. You're really gifted but I guess with a father like Jagged that can be expected. Did you know I use to play guitar as well? I was considered the best of my age but had to stop playing because of my arthritis. Isn't it amazing how much we have in common?"

 "No because you're lying as usual," He stated, making her frown. "Now for the last time, get off my home!" 

 "Alright," She replied as he turned to look at her in genuine surprise. He was glad she was going to go but he didn't expect her to agree so quickly. "But how about a little souvenir photo?"

 "What?" He asked as she suddenly grabbed his arm and pulled him close to her, taking her phone out as she did. He tried to pull back from her but before he could, she kissed his cheek and took a photo. His eyes widen in shock as she did before he quickly regained his senses and shoved her away harshly. "What the hell, Lila?!"

 She didn't answer. Instead, she went to touch him but he stepped back, flinching a little as she did. She had to admit she enjoyed seeing the horror and fear in his eyes. She smirked and took another step forward, trapping him between the edge and her. She stood up on her tiptoes, moving her face closer to his again to kiss him again but this time she was aiming for his lips, causing him to try and push her away again but she grabbed his arms, pinning them with surprising strength.

 "Lila, stop it!" He gasped, trying to free his arms from her. However, she didn't listen and leaned closer, causing him to panic and try to pull away from her. "I said stop!"

 "Get the hell away from my brother!!" Juleka's voice suddenly filled the area as she rushed over and grabbed Lila by her hair, causing her to cry out as Juleka literally dragged her away from him and pushed her to the floor. Lila got up and saw Juleka standing protectively in front of Luka as he sunk to the ground, trying not to have a panic attack. "I suggest you get the hell of our ship before I run you through!"

 "Oh no," She gasped, covering her mouth as Juleka growl. "I read the situation wrong, didn't I?"

 "Read it wrong?!" Juleka screamed, surprising Lila. She had no idea the girl could shout. "He told you to stop and you ignored him!! You just tried to assault him!"

 "I should go..." Lila gasped, backing away as she heard someone running up the stairs. "I hope you both feel better soon,"

 "Get off!!" Juleka screamed, causing her to rush off the boat, just as the captain came up and frowned as she saw her leave before she turned to Luka and Juleka, panicking as she saw him in clear distress and Juleka raging. Lila smirked to herself and took out her phone, opening the photo she had taken and sending it to everyone on her contact list including Marinette.

 ~Back to the Liberty~

 "Lad?" Anarka gasped as she saw Luka shaking. He looked like he was about to have a panic attack. She glanced up at Juleka, who was trying to calm him down. "What's wrong?!"

 "Lila," She growled, making her frown. She had remembered him briefly mentioning her and she was aware that the girl had it in for Marinette but that was all she really knew. "She just tried to forcefully kiss him!"

 "What?!" She growled angrily as Juleka's phone pinged. She ignored it as she got Luka to calm down and breathe before taking it out and checking the phone, making her let out a deep growl, causing Anarka to look over her sword. Her eyes narrowed in anger as she saw this Lila girl kissing Luka on the cheek despite the clear look of disgust and shock in his eyes. "I'm going to run her through,"

 "I'm gonna help," Juleka declared as Anarka grabbed one of the swords that she kept near the door. Juleka followed her over as Luka shook his head.

 "No," He gasped, making them look at him. "She's not worth the prison sentence,"

 "We can't just do nothing, Lad!" Anarka declared loudly, making him flinch as she brandished the sword about but he nodded in agreement. 

 "I know," He replied as Juleka placed her hand on her mother's to get her to lower the blade. None of them noticed the akuma or amok heading towards them. The akuma landed in the sword and the amok, landing in the ship necklace around Anarka's neck, causing them to go really quiet as they listened to Hawkmoth's voice. "I want to file a report for- Ma? Juleka?"

 He looked up to see why they had gone quiet, gasping as he noticed the butterfly mask over their eyes. He jumped up and rushed over to them.

 "Ma! Jewel!" He gasped as they listened to Hawkmoth. "Please don't listen to him!"

 "Hawkmoth, Mayura, you can count on us," They both said in union as Luka backed away from them. "We'll do everything to protect our treasure," 

 Purple smog surrounded them before a dark blue cloud appeared in the air. Luka rushed over to the stairs that led below deck but before he could get down there, an eerie green smog surrounded him and the rest of the boat, causing him to cough as he breathed in it. He rushed down the stairs but began to feel dizzy as he got to the bottom. He tried to fight it, managing to get into the living room and tried to head to his room to get Tikki. She had stayed in his room as he just wanted to play guitar alone.

 "T-Tikki!" He gasped as the room began to spin. He shook his head and pushed forward, despite his vision beginning to turn blurry. He tried to grab onto the sofa as he succumbed to whatever the green mist was, falling onto the floor. "T-Tikki..."

 His eyes dropped and his head fell to the side as he fell unconscious.

 ~Hawkmoth's Lair~

 "My, my. Such a rare emotion," Hawkmoth muttered as he felt Juleka's rage at Lila's actions against Luka and Anarka's fear about not been able to protect him. Sure, she was just as mad at Lila for hurting her son and Juleka was just as fearful for her brother. Both felt like they couldn't protect him and were righteously enraged on his behalf. Hawkmoth couldn't help but grin evilly. He had felt negative feelings coming from the Couffaine's home for the last few days but this incident had caused them to tip over the edge. "A sister angered by the mistreatment of her older brother and a mother fearful that she can't protect her son from the real horrors of the world,"

 He held out his hand, causing a white butterfly to land on it.

 "What perfect prey for my akuma," He mused before looking up. "Nathalie, I think Mayura can give this negative emotion a new dimension,"

 She smiled and walked over to him as she fixed the brooch onto her jumper before taking off her glasses as Dusuu manifested from the brooch

 "Dusuu, spread my feathers," Nathalie declared, casting her glasses aside and causing Dusuu to get sucked into the brooch. She transformed into Mayura and walked next to him as he put his hand under his arm and place his now free hand over the butterfly, turning it into an akuma before moving his hand and letting it fly off towards the window. He took his cane out from under his arm and spun it around before slamming it onto the ground.

 "Fly away, Little Akuma and evilize them!" He declared as it fluttered out of the window. Mayura plucked a feather from her fan before holding it in her hand and charging it up, transforming it into an amok before lightly blowing it off her hand. It floated towards the window as she moved her fan to the side and looked up at it.

 "Fly away, beautiful amok," She declared as it reached the window. "And enhance and hone that frustration!"

 A few minutes after they had sent them out, the connection between them and their victims opened, causing the purple mask to appear around Hawkmoth's eyes and the blue mask to appear around Mayura's.

 "Captain Hardrock, you want to protect your son hmm? And you, my dear Reflekta, want to avenge your older brother? Well, I can help you with that with some new powers," He stated, talking to the two of them. "Big Momma and Little Sister, I'm giving you both the power to track Lila Rossi and make sure she never gets closed to your loved one ever again. Young Mr Couffaine is too gentle and innocent for this cruel world and the clutches of Lila Rossi,"

 Mayura smirked as Hawkmoth finished his speech. 

 "Big Momma and Little Sister, I am Mayura," She stated as they listened. "To help you succeed in protecting your family, you will be assisted by Guard-O-War. It will be completely under your control,"

 "But of course, Lila use her silver tongue to convince Anatis and Lady Noir to stop from accomplishing your duty and protecting your family," Hawkmoth stated, smirking as the two victims got angrier. "Therefore, you must bring me their miraculous to punish them for their naivete! Do we have a deal?"

 "Hawkmoth, Mayura, you can count on us," They both said in union, causing the two super villains to smirk. "We'll do everything to protect our treasure," 

 ~At The Place des Vosges Park~

 "So when you gonna ask Luka on a real date?" Alya grinned as she walked with Marinette through the park. She had a couple of hours before the Couffaine's movie night actually started so she had decided to spend sometime with Alya. However, Alya's question caused her to blush. She went to open her mouth but both of their phones vibrated, causing her to take out hers and unlock it. She frowned as it was from a number she didn't recognize. She opened it and gasped in horror as she saw the photo of Lila kissing Luka on the cheek. She didn't feel heartbroken, like Lila wanted but she felt rage. To her, it was clear he was trying to pull away from her and looked extremely uncomfortable. "Wow, I didn't think Luka liked Lila,"

 "He doesn't," Marinette declared, making Alya look at her. "He hates her and there's no way he would let her kiss him, even on the cheek. She must off caught him off guard!"

 "You mean she forcefully kissed him?" Alya asked, frowning before looking at the photo again and stared at it. Now that she looked properly, Luka looked shocked and really uncomfortable. She felt sick that she didn't realize straight away but surely, it was a misunderstanding. Then again, how did Lila get his address? And Marinette's number? She knew for a fact Marinette herself wouldn't give it to her. She frowned and looked up at Marinette. "But... Lila wouldn't do that... right? I mean that's assault so she wouldn't do it... right?"

 "Oh god!" Marinette gasped as she realized what Alya said. She took out her phone and quickly dialed Luka's number but it went straight to voicemail. "Luka! Please call me back ASAP!"

 She hung up and jumped up, making Alya look at her.

 "I'm going to the Liberty," She gasped, causing Alya to get up as well. "What are you doing?"

 "I'm going with you," She stated before Marinette nodded and the two of them ran out of the park, heading towards the Seine. When they got there, they found the gangplank open and the Liberty hadn't been locked up. Luka's guitar was on the deck as was his amp but there was no way he would have left either of them out on their own. Marinette unplugged the amp and grabbed the guitar, going over to the stairs. She frowned as the door to them was also opened. She headed down into the living area and glanced around, frowning even more as it was eerily quiet. The quietness made alarm bells ring in her head. The Liberty was never quiet, even if it was just Luka home. He usually played his guitar or watching something on YouTube. Hell, he'll even put on the radio and when the captain was home, it was full of sound. Juleka was the quietest of the family but even she would hum when doing things. Marinette couldn't help but feel panic as her mind jumped to the worst case scenario. Issac may have kidnapped all of them.

 "Luka!!" She shouted, rushing over to his room and burst in. She hoped that he would just be in there, listening to music with his headphones on but to her horror, he wasn't. She rushed back out. "Luka! Juleka!! Captain!!"

 "Marinette!" Alya shouted, causing her to rush up the stairs as Alya stared at the sky. "What is that?!"

 "What?" Marinette gasped, looking at what she was looking at. To her surprise, high up in the sky, there was a huge, flying ship that resembled a haunted, pirate ship. It had black tattered sails and was mostly brown with purple flames painted on it and a huge creepy grin it on. It's portals and windows were glowing an eerie green and it had side sails, a tail sail and a fan, helping it fly. It had glowing green lanterns on it as well and it had a green smog around it. It's jolly roger had the skull and cross bones that Captain Hardrock wore on her scarf and it was flying towards them, making Marinette gasp. Someone climbed up the rigging before jumping down and landing in front of them, causing both Alya and Marinette to look over at her. Marinette gasped again as she realized it was Juleka but she was dressed like a pirate. Her hair was purple that faded into pink and she was wearing a corset over a loose shirt and brown leather pants. She had dark brown Cavalier boots on and a black belt with a silver buckle. Her ears had golden hoops in and her corset and boots had a gold trim. Around her neck was a jewel that resembled the one that was on her dress when she was Reflekta but it was part of a choker and her eye makeup resembled the eye jewel that contained her akuma as Reflekta. "Juleka?!"

 "I'm not Juleka anymore," She growled, making them both jump as she took out a sword and pointed at them. "I'm Little Sister and I will do anything to protect the treasure!"

 "The treasure?" Marinette asked before she shook her head. "Juleka, where is Luka and the Captain?! Are they safe?!"

 'Little Sister' suddenly glared at her, making her gulp. She thought for a second that she was about to slice her but she didn't.

 "Big Momma is fine. She is guarding the treasure," She replied before lowered her sword away and went to move past them. Alya grabbed her wrist but Little Sister suddenly threw her over his shoulder and pressed her sword to Alya's neck. She looked like she was about to stab her.

 "Juleka!" Marinette gasped but Juleka ignored her, making her panic. "Um... Parley!"

 She stopped and turned to Marinette, pointing her sword at her as she narrowed her eyes. Alya looked terrified as she looked between them.

 "Name your terms, Lass," She declared, making both Marinette and Alya to let out a sigh of relief.

 "Um... Let Alya go?" Marinette gasped, making Little Sister glance at Alya.

 "Done," She declared, turning to her. "But if you get in my way again, land lubber, I'll run you through! Savvy?"

 "Y-Yes," Alya gasped. Little Sister let her up before she walked away from them. "B-But where are you going?"

 "To find that silver tongued siren so I can run her through with my sword," She growled before jumping up to the main street and away from them.

 "Who's the silver tongued siren?" Alya asked, confused before she gasped and looked at the photo. "You don't think..."

 "She's going after Lila," Marinette replied but she didn't sound too disappointed, making Alya frown before she turned to her. "I'm going to go see if I can signal Lady Noir or Anatis!"

 "Marinette!" Alya shouted as she ran off. "I have the app on here?"

 ~Somewhere near Rue Gotlib~

 Lila smirked to herself as she walked down the street. She was certain that Marinette would be crying her eyes out at the photo of her kissing Luka. However, her smirk didn't last long as she heard a girly but creepy laugh, making her stop and look around but there wasn't anyone around. She frowned and continued to walk, moving her hands up to her chest as she glanced around nervously. She speed up and hid behind a small wall as she thought she heard someone calling her name but when she looked around, she couldn't see anyone there. She frowned and stepped out, failing to notice as Little Sister slipped down behind her. Seeing no one there, she turned around and jumped, letting out a scream as she came face to face with her before she took out her sword and pointed it at her.

 "I forbid you to go near the treasure ever again!" She growled, making Lila gasp as she realized it was Juleka. "Stay away from him and I run you through!"

 "Treasure?!" She gasped, confused. She figured Juleka was talking about Luka but she wasn't stupid enough to try and confirm it. "I don't know any treasure!"

 "Don't lie to me!" Little Sister growled as she grabbed her arm roughly, surprising Lila. She was never like this as a normal person. She was always so quiet.

 "I'm really sorry but I always get what I want," She gasped, looking at her. "It's not my fault,"

 "Well, this time you're gonna have to give in," She smirked, lifting her sword. "Otherwise, you'll really get it wherever you like it or not,"

 "Now that's not very nice," Lady Noir stated, making Little Sister glare at her. "I'm mean I get that Miss Rossi is annoying-"

 "Hey!"

 "But threatened her isn't going to make it better," She explained, making Little Sister suddenly attack her. She used her baton to block her sword as the two of them fought against each other. Seeing her chance, Lila made a run for it. Little Sister went to follow her but Lady Noir dived at her, causing her to block her attack before the two of them clashed. Lady Noir managed to get the upper hand and knock her sword out of her hand before knocking Little Sister down, smirking as she did. "I guess it's time to surrender for you,"

 "Think again, Kitty cat," She growled, causing Lady Noir to frown as she smirked.

 "Why are you smiling?" She asked, frowning.

 "Because unlike you, I didn't come alone," She replied, making Lady Noir frown before she looked over her shoulder. Lady Noir glanced behind herself and gasped as she saw the creepy looking pirate ship, flying towards her. However, she noticed a second figured standing on the hull of the ship. They pointed their own sword towards her as the ship's canons were pointed at her.

 "Oh no,"

 "Fire!!" They shouted, causing the canons to fire. Lady Noir jumped out of the way, allowing Little Sister to get up as she dropped her sword before she jumped up and climbed on board the ship as it fired more canons, creating a green smoke screen. Lady Noir covered her mouth as she cough before waving her hand to clear the air. Once she did, the ship was gone. She took out her baton and opened it, dialing Anatis' number. It went straight to voicemail.

 "Annie, where are you? We have two akumas and a sentimonster. They're after Lila Rossi," She gasped before hanging up and checking the news feed. The ship had been spotted at the Place des Vosges Park. She jumped onto the rooftops and headed there. She jumped and landed in the park, just as Little Sister roughly grabbed Lila's hand. "Hey! Pirate! Back off!!"

 She threw her baton, causing Little Sister to jump back away from Lila as she smirked. Lila ran off again as Lady Noir caught her baton.

 "Look, if Lila is involved then I get why you're angry but this is not-" She stopped as Little Sister was looking up at the sky. She glanced back up but the ship wasn't around. However, the eye jewel on her neck suddenly glowed before she disappeared in a purple glow, causing Officer Roger to take her place. Lady Noir blinked as she looked at him. "Where did she go?!"

 "Huh? How did I get here?" He asked, glancing around. "Lady Noir?"

 "Officer Roger, what happened?"

 "Well, I was just in my car, helping out a teenager who was been chased by a villain when I suddenly got a weird message and then I appeared here," He explained, making her look at him with confusion before shaking her head.

 "Ok, stay here. I'm gonna go find your car," She gasped before jumping onto a building and heading there. When she got there, she saw Little Sister was sat in the car, smirking before she suddenly disappeared again, replacing her with her mother. Lady Noir frowned and jumped across to the bakery, landing down in front of Lila as soon as she got there.

 "Oh, Lady Noir! Please help me!" She gasped, suddenly hugging her. "You're the only person who can!"

 "Um what?" She gasped before her baton vibrated, causing her to open it. It showed a skull and cross bones before it sudden began to glow before it engulfed her. She covered her face but blinked as she appeared in the bakery. "How did I get here?"

 "Lady Noire!" Tom gasped, making her rush over to him and help him up. "How did you get there?"

 "I'm not sure," She admitted before looking at her baton. The message was gone. "Your wife somehow ended up in a police car. Did she get a message before she got there?"

 "Yes!" He gasped, making her nod. "She looked at her phone then disappeared and that pirate girl replaced her but then she disappeared and you replaced her,"

 Lady Noir frowned and looked out the window, seeing Little Sister smirking but Lila was no where to be see. Literally seconds later, Little Sister glowed pink and then disappeared, replacing her with a confused person. Lady Noir gasped as she saw the man looking at his phone with confusion.

 "That's how she does it!" She gasped, making Tom look at her confused. "Sorry got to go!"

 She rushed out of the shop and down the street, leaving Tom confused.

 ~On The Guard-O-War~

 Luka groaned as he slowly waked up. Slowly, he opened his eyes and blinked as his vision was blurry. He slowly sat up as his vision cleared. The last thing he remembered was trying to get to Tikki then just darkness. He frowned and touched his head as he had quite the headache before glancing around the place that he was in. Immediately, he realized it wasn't his room or anywhere familiar. It appeared to be some kind of bedroom but it was themed around pirates. In fact, it resembled a captain's cabin. He jumped as someone came in, making him glance over at the woman. She had long red hair and was dressed as a pirate. She wore a baggy shirt, a black belt with a silver buckle and brown leather pants that had spikes on. She had black Cavalier boots with red flames on them and a golden trim. She was also wearing a red coat that had a gold trim and a black bandana over her head with a black choker around her neck. Her eyes were exactly the same as Captain Hardrock's.

 "M-Ma?" He asked, frowning. "What's going on?"

 "We're keeping you safe, Lad," She replied, making him frown. "That silver tongued siren or that scurvy dog won't ever hurt you again,"

 "Ma, where are we?" He asked, looking around as she glanced up before she turned back to him. "Ma?"

 "We're in the Guard-o-War, where you'll be safe," She replied, making him frown before turning on her heel and walked over to the wall, causing it to open out. "This is where you'll be safe. No one will ever hurt you again, Treasure,"

 "T-Treasure?" He asked as the wall opened, allowing her to walk through before it closed, making him pale as he realized there was no door in it. He tried to take a deep breathe and keep calm as he looked around. He would just transform and escape that way. "TIkki! Spots on!"

 He closed his eyes as he said the transformation words but snapped them open when nothing happened. He opened his hoodie and looked inside the pocket Tikki was usually in but she wasn't there.

 "Tikki?" He gasped, looking around. She didn't fly out when he called her name. "Tikki?! Where are you?!"

 Again, no answer. He quickly moved his hands to ears, still feeling the miraculous in place but without Tikki, he couldn't transform and escape. That meant he was trapped. Panic began to fill his mind as he realized he was trapped in this room with no way out. His mind briefly flashed back to when Issac forcefully locked in him a cupboard after a beating, making him feel sick. He rushed over to the wall that his mother had walked through. Maybe she would let him out of the room and he could climb off the ship that way. "Ma?!"

 She didn't answer, making him panic even more. His mother had been akumatized, he was trapped inside a sentimonster and he had no way of transforming into Anatis. He banged against the wall.

 "Ma?!" He shouted again, hitting it. "Ma!! Let me out!!"

 Again, no answer, causing him to panic even more.

 "Please! Let me out!!" He shouted, hitting the wall repeatedly until his hand began to hurt. He looked down as tears filled his eyes as he fully realized he was trapped before sinking down on the ground. "Let me out... please..."

 He curled up against the wall, hugging himself as he tried to calm himself down. Slowly, he heard other voices, making him look up. He pulled himself up and banged on the wall.

 "Hey!!" He shouted, hoping to get their attention. "Hello?!"

 "Luka?!" A voice that he recognized as Adrien answered. "Where are you?!"

 "Adrien!?" He gasped. "I'm in the cabin!"

 "There's no door!" He answered, making Luka frown. "You're not hurt, are you?"

 "No, I'm fine," He lied, not wanting to panic Adrien. "What are you doing on here?"

 "I have no idea. I was just walking home when I ran into Lila. She seemed frightened and then my phone rang and suddenly I was on here. Big Momma then pushed me down here," 

 "Big Momma?"

 "It's what the akuma is calling herself," He replied as Luka looked around. 

 "I have to get out of here," He muttered to himself before looking around the room. He noticed the window and rushed over as Adrien called out to him. He ignored him and looked out the window, making him gasp as he saw Tikki trying to keep up with the Sentimonster. "Hang on, Tikki,"

 He examined the window and smiled when he found a latch. He moved it and slammed his shoulder against the window, forcing it open. 

 "Luka?!" Adrien's voice called out, making him look back. "Are you ok? I heard a crash?"

 "I'm fine. I just found a way out!" He replied before climbing through the window and on to the window seal as he held onto the edge, looking down. They were literally hundreds of miles above Paris. In fact, all he could see were clouds. Tikki gasped as she saw him and tried to fly over to him but for some reason, she couldn't reach him. He tried to reach out to her as he did but once again, she couldn't get to him.

 "Something is stopping me from getting to you!" She gasped, making him frown. "I think it's a magical barrier,"

 "Tikki! Spots on!!" He shouted but the barrier from the ship still kept her from him. "Tikki, I need to get off the ship otherwise we can't transform!"

 "Luka, no! You'll have to jump!" She gasped as he moved against the edge and looked up at her. "Luka! Don't!!"

 "I know!" He replied, looking up at her. "Fly to me!"

 Before she could answer, he jumped off the edge, causing her to gasp and rush down towards him as he plummeted down to the earth. He carefully took out a purple macaron as he fell before throwing it to her. She dived towards it and ate it.

 "Tikki! Power up!!" He shouted as they continued to fall, causing her to glow and spin as she transformed, gaining blue wings and blue spots. She also got a little glowing star in the middle of her chest and her two antennae had two small balls on that glowed as well.

 "Star Tikki!" She declared as Luka swiped his earrings.

 "Star Tikki! Spots on!!" He declared, causing her to get absorbed into the miraculous. He transformed but like his other power ups, he had a new form. His basic suit was the same as was his hair but he had a new belt that was blue and red with a ladybug embalm as the belt buckle. His spots were glowing blue and he had a jet pack on his back. His gloves and boots resembled a galaxy and had blue trims. His mask was had blue spots instead of black and he had a helmet over his face as well that was red and blue. He continued to fall before blue beetle wings burst from his jet back. He flew straight up through the clouds, spinning as he did before glancing over to the ship. His yoyo vibrated, causing him to open it and see a message from Lady Noir. He phoned her back, causing her to answer it.

 "Anatis! Thank goodness!" She gasped before noticing his outfit. "Are you flying?"

 "Yes. Space power up," He replied, making her nod. "I'm going after the akuma and sentimonster. Want to join me?"

 "Wait, Little Sister is on there already?" She asked, making him frown. "She must have swapped with someone,"

 "I thought the akuma was called Big Momma?" He asked, making her frown before she gasped. "What is it?"

 "That must be the other pirate who attacked me early!" She gasped, making him frown. "Oh no... It's both of them!"

 "Lady Noir?"

 "The akumas! There's more then one!" She gasped, making him frown. "There's Little Sister who has been chasing and tormenting Lila Rossi through Paris. She uses people's phones to send them messages that then swaps her with them...  and there is Big Momma who must be manning the Sentimonster and helping her track Rossi. Little Sister kept on referring to a treasure though..."

 "Treasure?" He muttered, thinking back.

 "Yeah," She gasped, nodding. "I'm guessing it has something to do with them and Lila but I know who Little sister is. It's Juleka, which means Big Momma must be the captain. I think they got akumatized because of a photo Lila took. It showed her kissing Luka but he didn't comfortable at all but I don't know where he is. i checked the Liberty,"

 "Luka is the treasure," Anatis replied, making her frown. "That's what Little Sister must mean,"

 "But that means he's on the ship!" She gasped. "I'm coming to help you,"

 "No, I'll rescue Luka," He replied, making her nod. "See if you can capture Little Sister while I deal with Big Momma. Normally I'd be against but I think It will be easier to fight them separately,"

 "Alright!" She nodded. "Be safe,"

 "You too, Kitten," He replied before hanging up and flying towards the ship.

 ~Back to Paris~

 Lila ran as fast as she could do the street but Little Sister kept on replacing the people she went near. She had managed to find Adrien and tried to cling onto him but Little Sister replaced him as well. She ran past a man who was suddenly replaced with Little Sister, causing her to jump over and land in front of her as she pointed her sword at her.

 "Do you get it now?!" She growled, making Lila tremble. "I'll hunt you down wherever you go! Just give up on the treasure and I'll let you go!"

 "I don't know what the treasure is!" She gasped, making Little Sister growl and swipe her sword upwards, using it to knock back a car. 

 "My brother!" She growled, making Lila gasp. "Never go near him again and I'll stop tracking your every move!"

 "Alright," She gasped, looking down. "I'll never go near Luka again. You have my word,"

 She expected Little Sister to lower her sword and let her go but then she noticed a small black spot on her hand. It glowed and tripped in size, making her gasp as Little Sister roughly grabbed her arm.

 "The Black Spot betrays you," She smirked, pressing the sword to her neck. "Every time you lie, the black spot will grow. It will only disappear once you sincerely give up on the treasure and leave him alone!"

 "B-But how could I leave him alone? I just want to be his friend! I never meant to hurt him!" She gasped, hiding her hand behind her back as the spot grew. Little Sister growled and lifted her sword but Lila gasped and held up her hands. "Wait! There is something that might persuade me to leave him alone would be..."

 She moved closer to Little Sister.

 "If you got rid of Anatis for me," She whispered in her ear, making Little Sister looking at her with a small smirk. "Do that and I'll never go near the 'treasure' ever again,"

 "Lila!" Lady Noir gasped as she jumped down. "Are you alright?"

 "If that's what it will take to get you to leave the treasure alone then I'll do it," Little Sister declared, causing Lady Noir to give her a confused look. "But first... It's time to skin a cat,"

 "What?!" Lady Noir gasped as Little Sister charged at her, causing her to block her sword with her baton. However, Little Sister was going full force, managing to knock Lady Noir's baton out of her hand. She jumped out the way and grabbed her baton again but Little Sister knocked her back again as they battled down the street and landed on a fire truck. She ripped the hose pipe out of the engine and tried to hit Lady Noir with it like a whip. She jumped back and hit the hose with her baton, knocking it back. Little Sister growled and when to hit her again with the hose. This time Lady Noir caught it but before she could anything, Lila cried out.

 "My leg!!" She gasped, causing Lady Noir to look in her direction for a second but it was a second long enough for Little Sister to take advantage of it. She yanked the hose from Lady Noir's grip and threw it back, wrapping it around and pulling her towards her before slamming her into a lamp post and tying her to it with the hose. Lady Noir struggled against the hose as Little Sister glared at her. Lila couldn't hold back the smirk as she got up, showing her leg was clearly fine.

 "You little con artist!" She gasped, trying to get free as Little Sister turned to leave. Hawkmoth's mask appeared over her eyes as she did.

 "Relax, Hawkmoth, she's trapped and not going anywhere," She replied, jumping up in the sky as Lila stalked over to Lady Noir.

 "You! You helped her!" She gasped, struggling against that. "Why would you do that?!"

 "Me? Of course not," Lila gasped, causing the black spot on her hand to grow even bigger, making sigh. "Well, I guess that means I'm lying again,"

 "I knew it!" She gasped, struggling against the hose. "Why did you help her?!"

 "Well, I may have made a little deal with her," She smirked, making Lady Noir growl. "I'll leave alone her treasure, if she gets rid of Anatis for me."

 "You hate him that much?!" She gasped, making Lila laugh.

 "Of course, I do," She laughed, walked closer to her. "And now that you're tied up here, you can't help him... so I think I'll take that ring of yours since you won't be needing it anymore,"

 "I have one word for you," Lady Noir stated, narrowing her eyes as Lila reached for her hand.

 "Oh and what's that?" She laughed, making Lady Noir narrow her eyes.

 "Cataclysm!" She declared, charging her hand with the dark energy. Lila gasped and stepped back as Lady Noir manage to tap the hose, turning it to dust. She looked at Lila angrily, making her gulp as she stalked forward.

 "N-Now we can talk about this, Lady Noir," She gasped, holding her hand out as she saw how angry she was. "I was just trying to protect myself,"

 "By placing Annie in danger and helping Little Sister capture me so he's facing them alone?!" She growled before lifting her fist and slamming it into Lila's face, causing her to stumble back as she held her nose. "Now if you excuse me, I have spend enough time with you then I care too,"

 She jumped up, using her baton to lunch herself up to a building as her ring beeped. She hid behind the chimney before dropping her transformation and catching Plagg. She gave him a chunk of cheese before looking from behind it.

 "What's wrong, dollface?"

 "Lila tricked Little Sister into a deal. She'll leave the treasure who is Luka alone if Little Sister takes care of Anatis for her," She explained, making him almost choke as he ate his cheese. Marinette gasped and looked at him. "Are you ok?"

 "Fine!" He gasped before coughing. "We better hurry up and save bug boy then,"

 "I know," She replied, checking her phone for the location of the sentimonster. It was last spotted high above the arc de triomphe. She put her phone away before taking out a purple piece of cheese, making Plagg groan as he took it and ate it. "Plagg! Power up!"

 He spun around and glowed as he transformed before revealing himself. It wasn't much different to his usual form but he had a glowing ball on his antennae, a glowing star in the middle of his forehead and he had small bat wings that were green in color. He had a little green trim on his ears and his body looked like it was made from deep space. It was more of a very dark blue then black and it appeared he had stars all over himself. 

 "Plaggstroid!" He declared as Lady Noir held out her hand.

 "Plaggstroid! Claws out!" She declared, causing him to be sucked into her ring before she transformed into her new form. In general , her suit was the same as her normal form but instead of it been black, it resembled deep space like how Plagg looked. She had green detail across her gloves and boots and she wore a black belt with a green trim. Her belt buckle was a black circle with a green trim and a green paw print in it. On her back was a green and black jet pack with green straps. She had a helmet over her face that was green and black. Her mask and eyes were the same as were her ears but her hair had gone through the most drastic change. It was still the same style and length but instead of it been black, it was a bright but icy blue color. She ran to the edge of the building and dived off, causing green bat wings to burst from her jet pack before she flew up in the air, spinning around as she did. She stopped in the sky and looked around before taking out her baton and opening it. It showed Anatis was nearby so she flew in that direction, catching up with the Guard-O-War as she did. Just as she got there, she saw Big Momma and Little Sister had trapped Anatis with his lucky charm, which was a hose, similar to how Little Sister had trapped her but he was tied to the mast instead of a lamp post. He was trying his best to fight them off, kicking them back. Lady Noir narrowed her eyes before diving downwards back towards the earth. She flew back to where Lila had been and suddenly grabbed her, making her scream as she flew back into the sky and back to the ship. Lila screamed as she threw on the ship, just as Little Sister was about to reach for Anatis' earrings. His yoyo began to ring, causing her to stop and look at him. Big Momma rushed over to him then but Lady Noir flew over and slammed into her, knocking her to the edge. "Annie, answer it!!"

 "What?" He gasped, kicking Little Sister back before answering it, showing a skull and crossbones symbol on it. "What is with that symbol?"

 "No!" Little Sister shouted, going to reach him but he answered the phone, causing her to swap places with him. He smirked as she struggled but jumped back when Big Momma attacked him. Lady Noir flew over to Little Sister and grabbed her sword as Anatis blocked Big Momma's sword with his yoyo.

 "Annie! Catch!!" She gasped, tossing it towards him as Big Momma threw him to the ground. She rose her sword as to hit him but he caught the sword and blocked it, knocking her back as his luck vision lit up the two swords and her necklace. He kicked her back and held the sword out, causing her to grow because she charged at him, causing him to clash swords with her as Lady Noir landed on the ship. He spun around, moving his feet with skill as he blocked Big Momma's sword with his, causing Lady Noir to look on in amazement as he met her blade. In the corner of her eye, she saw Lila getting up and moving towards Anatis but she quickly grabbed some rope and threw it around, trapping her to the stairs as Anatis disarmed the captain and grabbed her necklace.

 "Lady Noir! Destroy the swords!" He shouted, tossing Little Sister's as well. She grabbed both swords before summoning her cataclysm, destroying them both. The akuma fluttered out as Little Sister and Big Momma turned back to Juleka and Anarka, causing them to look around as Anatis caught the akuma before running up to the wheel, just as Adrien came out of the lower deck. Lady Noir gave him a puzzling look before rushing over to Anatis, who looked at Adrien. "Adrien! Help the captain free Miss Couffaine!"

 "Aye, aye, Captain Anatis!" He grinned before rushing over to her and beginning to help.

 "What's the plan?" She asked as he held the necklace.

 "We need to land this thing before we catch the amok," He replied, spinning the wheel. The ship jolted forward and began to move as Anatis steered it, driving it down to the Seine. "Hold on!!"

 Everyone grabbed onto something as it crashed into the water, destroying a bridge before Anatis steered the wheel. Finally it came to a stop and a plank appeared from it, allowing everyone to climb off. Anatis ran his hand over the side of the ship, smiling a little as Lady Noir dragged Lila off the ship before she looked around.

 "Where's Luka?!" She gasped as Lila tried to get out of her grip. However, she ran straight over to Juleka, who pulled back her fist and punched her, making Lila fall to the ground as she glared at her as her nose bleed.

 "That's for my brother," She stated before looking to Anatis. "Is he safe?"

 "Yes. I got him off the ship beforehand," He replied before looking to the Sentimonster ship. He gently placed his hand on it before crushing the necklace in his hand, releasing the amok. He caught it in his yoyo before catching the lucky charm as it fell towards him. He released the butterfly and feather before throwing the hose up in the air. "Miraculous Ladybugs!"

 It burst into the cure and moved around them, fixing all the damage that been done and returning them to the Liberty before disappearing once everything was back to normal. Anatis turned to Lila, who's nose was still bleeding.

 "Why didn't your cure fix me?!" She screamed. "I was punched twice! Once by that mangy cat and then by her! The cure should have fixed it!"

 "Well, it's quite simple, Miss Rossi," He stated, making everyone turn to him. "That wasn't caused by the akuma so the cure won't fix it. Besides, you're lucky that's all they did to you. If I had Lady Noir's power, I wouldn't have hesitated to cataclysm you,"

 "I am the victim here!" She screeched, making him shake his head.

 "No, the victims here is Luka and his family," He stated, making her look at him. "That's right, Miss Rossi. I saw that picture and Luka told me about how to tried to forcefully kiss him. I advised him to take legal action against you as that is attempted assault,"

 "Not to mention that you made a deal with Little Sister to leave Luka alone if she tried to get rid of Anatis for you!" Lady Noir shouted, making everyone glare at her. 

 "I... I was afraid!" She gasped with tears in her eyes before she pointed at Juleka, who let out a little growl. "She was stalking me all over Paris! I was terrified for my life!"

 "So you sold me out?" Anatis growled, making her gulp. "I know you hate me but that's low. Even for you, Lila,"

 "I don't have to listen to this!" She gasped, turning on her heel but before she could even get off the ship, Officer Roger turned up and took her by the arm. "Hey! Get of me!!"

 "I just got a phone call that you assaulted a young man," He stated, taking her away from the ship as Anatis and Lady Noir's earrings beeped. She tried to pull away but soon she was in his car and driving off. Anatis turned to the others and gave them a salute before jumping off as Lady Noir said goodbye to everyone else. Once he found an alleyway, he detransformed and caught Tikki, handing her a cookie before helping her into his pocket and running back over to the Liberty, just as Marinette also ran towards there. 

 "Luka!" She gasped, rushing over to him and pulling him into a hug. "Oh my god! I was so worried! Are you ok?! Oh!"

 She quickly pulled away.

 "I'm so sorry!" She gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. "I should have asked if I can hug you!"

 "Marinette, I don't mind you hugging me," He mumbled, making her blush. "I know your intentions are not bad,"

 "Of course not," She gasped. "You're my friend,"

 "And you're mine," He smiled, opening his arms. She smiled and hugged him before they pulled away from each other. "I should get back to the Liberty..."

 She nodded and the two of them walked over. Almost instantly, Juleka rushed over to him and hugged him as soon as she saw him, crying as she did. Luka hugged her back before Anarka joined in with the hug. 

 "I'm glad you're ok, Lad,"

 "I'm fine," He smiled before looking at them. "But please never get akumatized like that again,"

 "We'll try," Juleka muttered, making him nod. "But what should we do about Lila?"

 "Well... I heard you punched her..." Luka grinned, making them look at him as he shrugged. "Anatis told me when he came to let me know it was safe to come home,"

 ~The Police Station~

 "You're lucky that they're only giving you a warning, Lila!" Her mother gasped as they walked out. "That poor boy and his family must have been so upset!"

 "I didn't realize that it was unwelcome, Mama!" She gasped as they walked over to the car but to their surprise, Nathalie was waiting by it. 

 "Can we help you?" Mrs Rossi asked, looking at her.

 "I'm Nathalie Sancoeur. I work for Mr Agreste," She explained, making both of them. "He's been looking for a new model to work with his new clothing line for teenagers and he was sent your daughter's portfolio from Vincent Aza,"

 "Oh yes I remember Vincent," Mrs Rossi stated, nodding. He had worked with Lila a couple of times in Italy.

 "Mr Agreste feels Lila has exactly what he is looking for in a model and wishes to hire her,"

 "Really?" Lila gasped, surprised. "Oh that is wonderful! Mama! Please can I do it?"

 "Well..." She frowned. "What about school?"

 "It won't interfere with her school and we are willing to paid for her time," Nathalie explained, pushing up her glares. "It would be excellent for her career too,"

 "Please Mama!!"

 "Well... ok,"

 ~Back at the Couffaine's Boat~

 "Dad, I'm fine," Luka sighed as he sat on the phone to Jagged, who was panicking about him. Penny was trying to calm him down but it wasn't helping. "Dad, calm down.,"

 "You were nearly kidnapped!" He gasped, making Luka. "I'm getting you a bodyguard,"

 "Dad, I don't need one," He gasped, shaking his head. "Issac hasn't turned back up and the press are finally leaving me alone. Giving me a bodyguard will draw more attention,"

 "But that Lila girl..."

 "Will have to go through Juleka to get to me,"

 "At least have a taser!" Jagged gasped, making Luka sigh. "Or a crocodile!"

 "Dad, I don't need a crocodile or a taser," He gasped, pinching his nose before shaking his head. "But if it makes you stop going on about it, I'll invest in some pepper spray and bring that with me wherever I go ok?"

 "Alright," Jagged sighed. "But we're adding endangerment to the case again Bob Roth,"

 "Fine by me," Luka replied before looking as Juleka popped her through. "I have to go. Movie night is about to begin,"

 "Alright," Jagged replied. "Be careful,"

 "I will," Luka replied, smiling a little. "Good night, Dad,"

 "Good night, Luka,"

----------------------------------------------------

Next Chapter: Coming Soon

[nobodyfamousposts]

Welcome the Demon School, Marinette!

Because I’m bored and you’re here. Presenting a Miraculous take on Iruma-kun.

_____________________

It was shaping up to be the worst day of Marinette's life. 

She woke up late. Again.

This only happened because her alarm didn’t go off. Which was because said alarm was in her phone, and the battery had died. And she had no time to charge it.

The small lizard that she had been taking care of the past couple weeks had disappeared that morning with no sign of where it had gone. She was worried her parents may have found it or that it could have gotten lost somewhere. 

She got to school just on time, only to be tripped and have her belongings scattered across the floor (much to the snickers and commentary of certain observers who of course did nothing to help), forcing her to take time to collect them all and resulting in her actually being late to class.

Lila was regaling the class with some new and most likely completely made up story as everyone seemed to gather around her and stare at her in wonder like she had hung the stars (and given their gullibility, Marinette couldn't put it past them to not fall for that if Lila HAD claimed it). Marinette quietly shuffled past them and slipped into her seat in the back, feeling the weight of their cruel glares and mocking smirks. All in all, an indicator that Lila's takeover of the class and even the school was still in effect. The only thing that saved her from any biting or passive aggressive comment was the teacher starting the lesson.

Except then she learned that her homework had been one of the things to fall out of her bag, but one of the items she had failed to recollect afterwards. The fact that Lila presented a project that just "happened" to look exactly like hers and even had the name smudged out and replaced with her own clearly meant nothing as far as the teacher was concerned.

This resulted in a failing grade for Marinette, and any attempt that she made to argue were quickly shot down as Lila pretended to cry at the "horrible accusation" and the teacher proceeded to lecture Marinette in front of the class for trying to steal credit for another student's work. Marinette's evidence (which included pictures and video of herself making the project at multiple stages of the process, pointing out the smudged name, or her own scraped knees from when she fell earlier and the project went missing from her bag) meant nothing and was disregarded as the teacher forced Marinette to apologize for something she hadn't done before sending her off to the principal's office.

Which resulted in her being suspended for "continued bullying" and sent home to her no doubt ready to be disappointed parents, who seemed all too willing to believe the worst in their daughter based off a liar they barely knew. Not that Marinette was bitter about that or anything. (Lie. She totally was.)

She trudged home in dismay. And as she made the walk of shame from her school to her home, much to the snickers and cruel comments of her former friends, the upturned noses of her teachers who once believed in her, and Lila's own smirk at yet again getting another win over the poor girl, Marinette could only ask herself:

"Can my life get any worse?"

Which clearly turned out to be the exact wrong thing to say, because yes, in fact, it could.

As Marinette soon discovered when she was kidnapped by a demon.

"Wait—WHAT?!"

Introducing one Jagged Stone. A Demon Lord of the Demon Realm. Well known for his wild appearance and unusual style, even among demons. He was popular. He was eccentric.

And he was apparently Marinette’s new guardian as of today.

“Wait, wait! I’m sorry—WHAT?!”

“Just call me Dad. Or Uncle Jagged! Oo, I like the sound of that. Uncle Jagged! Yeah, call me that!” He told her, not really seeming concerned with why she would have reservations about this entire thing, how sudden it was, or the fact that she was a human who was not only being faced with the prospect that demons exist, but that one had officially claimed her as a ward.

“No wait, can we back up to the part where I’m adopted now?” Marinette questioned, confused and frustrated and just shy of freaking out.

“I thought that was rather clear.” Jagged stated, grinning widely and outright spinning with glee. “I’ve always wanted a kid! And now I have one! Thank you, Fang!” He turned to the crocodile-looking creature hovering nearby.

“Of course.” It replied—and okay, the thing could talk.

Jagged stared at it teary-eyed before hugging it—him? “You’re the best familiar, Fang. Finding me the perfect child to spoil and eventually become my heir.”

O…kay…

“But…I have parents?” She tried to interject weakly, still confused about all of this.

“Oh, we’ve taken care of that.” Jagged explained vaguely, waving it off.

Marinette’s eye twitched. “Meaning…?”

Please don’t say they’re dead. Please don’t say they’re dead. They may not have trusted her and she may be unhappy that they believed Lila over her, but she didn’t want them hurt. His other demonic assistant, apparently named Penny, answered. “You are now officially the ward of Jagged Stone.”

“Isn’t it great?” Jagged grinned.

Well, that was…not completely horrible, at least.

Still, it begged a question.

“I’m a ward of a demon? HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?”

“Well, if you remember…” Fang started.

Marinette sighed pitifully as she stared out a window.

“Oh, how my life is horrible and filled with pain and sadness! If only there was a magical demon familiar to rescue me and take me somewhere rock and roll.”

With a poof, a much bigger and scarier looking Fang appeared and grinned down at her.

“How fortunate for you, for I happen to be a magical demon familiar!”

“Le gasp!” Marinette exclaimed in shock.

“And as I am very grateful to you for taking care of me, I shall happily take you with me to a better place and destroy your enemies. Not necessarily in that order.”

Marinette clapped gleefully.

“Yay! Do that! Blow up that evil institute of learning and fry everyone inside! And then eat my parents because they're jerks who tried to smack you with a broom and flush you down a sewer drain.”

Fang smirked.

“Certainly!”

And thus Fang flew off to destroy the school and devour everyone inside—

“Okay, I’m pretty sure that’s not how it happened.” Marinette exclaimed dryly, interrupting the amusing and clearly wish-fulfilling fantasy.

“Well, it could.” Fang replied. “If you want me to, I can.”

“NO THANK YOU.” She exclaimed with a shriek before getting her emotions under control. “Just…why? Why me?”

The demonic crocodile-like familiar floated in a circle around her. “Well, it made sense. Jagged wished for a child to become his heir. You wished for an escape from your life. And you were quite helpful to me when I had been injured, proving yourself to be a human of kindness and honor. If anyone was to be worthy of being taken in as my master’s fledgling, you seemed most deserving.”

Well, that made her blush.

Wait…

“The lizard that I’d been caring for? That was you?”

Fang smiled and nodded.

Jagged rested a hand on the creature’s head and smiled at Marinette. “I have to thank you for looking out for my little Fangy. Who knows what could have happened to him all alone in the human world. Isn’t that right?” He spoke to Fang directly in a rather baby-ish voice as he nuzzled the creature.

Fang nuzzled Jagged back. And…okay, this was kind of cute—crazy situation aside.

“I’m…honored.” Because she was, strangely enough. Craziness and kidnapping aside. “But I already have parents. And a life.”

“Not a good one.” Fang growled out in irritation.

Jagged nodded solemnly. “Right. Fang told me all about it. Your school sucks. Your classmates suck. Your parents…” Seeing her unhappy expression, he coughed. “Well, they’re taking a liar’s word over yours. All in all, it’s been incredibly un-rock and roll. You definitely deserve better.”

“Well…” She trailed off because yeah, they weren’t wrong.

The demon smiled. “Which is why we’ve erased their memories.”

“WHAT?”

“This way, no one will question your disappearance!”

“WHAT?!”

“So this way you can stay here without having to worry about anyone trying to find you! Isn’t it great?”

…

“WHAT?!”

______________

Things that would follow may include but are in no way limited to:

Demon Miracuclass. (Meaning Alya, Nino, all of them are demons in the demon world Marinette will be befriending and not Marinette’s former human friends whom shall remain nameless extras).

Otaku Adrien (aka: a secret human fanboy because of course he would be).

Flower demon Rose.

Mermaid Juleka.

Siren Luka.

Kwamis as teachers.

Plagg as Fluff Fluff. And abusing it to get out of work. (Tikki: DAMMIT PLAGG!)

Gabriel still being horrible.

Lila exiting the story after chapter 1.

And more!

[princess-of-the-corner]

Ladyluck au:

Anarka to her children when she sees chloe and adrien again: Why haven't yall kidnapped them into the family yet?

Juleka: We've tried Ma! But everytime we find the prefect chance to snatch them up, they dissappear! It's like the have a 6th sense for danger!

Juleka: Plus! Plus! We're not the only ones trying to get a hold on them! Marinette's parents are trying to grab them too and with what they bake its not the hard! And apparently Marinette's friends with chloe which makes it 10x harder to grab Chloe because the dupain-cheng's already got their claws on her!

Juleka: I don't know when or how Alya decided that she was going to steal Chloe but she did! And it's not helping the our case! And mylene is also trying to grab the blonde bimbo! And tdont get me started on kagami! That fencer has her talons sink in deep into the blonde twins!

Luka: Also, apparently Jagged Stone not only successfully made Marinette his "Honorary niece" but his in the process of making Chloe is legal child...no idea how he got the mayor to agree to that but just wanted to put that on the table.

Anarka: Well if Jagged succeeds then that'll rid us from one blonde to kidnap into the family :D

Juleka: Excuse me-

Luka: Why would that be a good thing?

Anarka: Oh...yeah his your father? Didn't you know that?

Luka: Excuse me?!

Juleka: I'm related to a rock star legend?!

And that was how Luka found out his father was Jagged Stone

Whoops!

[lady-charinette]

The Revealing Confession - Adrienette Fluff

A/N: This came as a lovely prompt from the amazing @ghostlyhamburger which I unfortunately couldn't do it justice. Hope you still like it a little my friend :3

Warnings: None (maybe cringe? I didnt write in a while)

Pairing: Adrienette

Genres: Fluff, Humor, Reveal

————————————————————————

Plagg lounged on his holder's bed, surrounded by camembert in a circle with a blissed expression.

Adrien rested his chin on his hand, next to him on the bed. "I can't believe this worked."

Plagg rolled over, bits and pieces of cheese rolling off his body in the process. "Huh?"

The model couldn't help but smile at his kwami's drunken expression, already high on cheese. "I can't believe I made a summoning circle with cheese and you fell for it. You're so greedy, Plagg."

The kwami gave a loud yawn. "Me? What can I do when you buy so much cheese? Don't you know how fast it can go bad?"

A deadpan expression greeted him. "...You eat smelly, spoiled cheese Plagg."

Plagg stuck his nose in the air, gingerly cradling his beloved camembert against his body. "Its not spoiled, its exquisite."

Shaking his head, Adrien rolled over onto his back and crossed his arms behind his head, absently daydreaming.

Plagg chose to fill the silence then. "You don't understand Adrien, camembert is the love of my life!"

Adrien snickered when his kwami levitated in the air, dramatically holding a piece of camembert in the air. "It's the first thing I think of when I wake up in the morning, the last thing on my mind before I go to sleep in the evening!" Plagg floated left and right as he did his monologue, unaware of his holder chuckling at him. 

"It occupies my thought every minute of the day and as soon as we're apart, I miss my precious camembert so much! We've had so many moments together! We went through thick and thin! It was camembert and I! Us against the world!" Plagg raised his paw in the air, the other holding the piece of diary tucked into his side.

Just then, something clicked in Adrien's brain.

'You and me against the world m'lady!' 

'Ladybug and Chat Noir are always a team!'

Moments he spent with Ladybug resurfaced in Adrien's mind like a movie, a movie he never grew tired of watching. 

One scene that stuck out to him since months ago was when he once stuck around longer than usual at his and Ladybug's meeting spot.

It was right after patrol, he had time to kill, he didn't think he would've seen what he had that night.

When he as Chat Noir had stretched after a playful rooftop chase with his lady, he spotted something flashing from the alleyway between the two buildings he stood on.

Taking out his baton and moving low to the roof in case it was a villain, he sneaked close to the edge of the roof to investigate, but what he found instead surprised him in a different way.

It was Marinette.

Talking to Tikki.

If there hadn't been that incident where Ladybug and him both had switched their Miraculous, he was sure he wouldn't even know it was Tikki Marinette was talking to. But the least he could've been sure of was that was a kwami and Marinette was talking to Ladybug's kwami-

"Good job today Tikki." He watched as Marinette retrieved a cookie from the purse she always carried around and fed it to the little goddess, scratching her cheek gently.

Tikki giggled, entirely too comfortable with the interaction to be their first time meeting. "You did a good job too Marinette! You should get home and rest."

Marinette had laughed and slowly moved out of the alley. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Chat Noir is bound to be home already and lounging somewhere on a bookshelf." 

He huffed in indignation, he did not normally 'lounge around' on shelves. That had been once and Ladybug never stopped teasing him for it.

Wait.

Ladybug!

Marinette was-

He had hidden behind a chimney and had slapped his mouth closed in case he would scream or squeal, whichever came first. He couldn't believe it.

His lady was his princess!

Ladybug was Marinette!

Marinette was Ladybug! The love of his life! Both loves of his life!

It had been at that point that made Adrien think. 

And Plagg's words struck a chord.

The kwami continued his monologue, oblivious to his holder's inner musings. "The pain I feel of being apart can't be described, no matter how many languages you humans invent, you can never invent a language for love! That's how important cheese is to me Adrien, but I don't expect you to understand." Plagg sniffed dramatically, sobbing into his cheese while he discreetly munched on it. 

Adrien shot up in bed, startling Plagg causing him to fall on the soft bedding. "Hey!"

"I...love her."

Plagg looked up from inspecting his cheese for scratches. "What?"

"I love her."

Plagg rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I know loverboy. You love Ladybug, the love of your life." 

Adrien suddenly grabbed Plagg in his hands and stared into his soul. "Marinette! I love Marinette! I love Ladybug! Them both! Because they're the same! Marinette is the girl behind the mask that I love Plagg!"

His kwami's eyes widened in fear. "No wait, Adrien, what we saw on the rooftop that one night, that was- Tikki was- Tikki talks to a lot of humans, you know?"

His kwami's poor attempt was dwarfed by Adrien's unadulterated glee. "It's alright Plagg! I know, you don't have to lie to me. I know!"

Plagg yelped when he was flung in the air and caught again by Adrien, clinging onto the boy's hand in fear of being thrown into the air again.

"I can't believe it! Ladybug, m'lady and Marinette, my princess - they're the same! Plagg, do you know what this means?!"

"...Err...that uh, Ladybug's your classmate?"

Adrien shook his head, green eyes sparkling. "No! It means I have to tell Marinette how I feel!"

Plagg was unceremoniously dumped back on the bed, rolling around until a big block of cheese stopped his descent. "Adrien! Where are you going?"

Adrien was already running for the door. "I have to con-" he froze just as his hand landed on the doorknob. "-confess...to Marinette..." he glanced at his kwami. "Plagg?"

"What?"

"....What if she rejects me?"

The kwami's eyes nearly fell out of his sockets. "Are you serious?"

Adrien fidgeted nervously with his hands, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's just-I didn't- I never confessed to a girl before and- I never confessed to someone as amazing as Marinette! What if she doesn't like me back? Ladybug said she loves another boy! What if she's dating Luka? She never said anything but I saw her at their band practice and the way he smiles at her is the way I want to smile at her and she blushes when she's with him and they ice skate together and how could someone as awesome as Marinette like someone like-"

Plagg flew up to his holder's face and smashed Adrien's cheeks together. "Breathe!"

Adrien froze, lips squished like a fish. "Pwapfh?"

The kwami sighed. Kids these days. "I'm pretty sure bakery girl isn't dating anyone. And I really doubt she doesn't feel the same, Adrien."

Nervous green eyes bore into Plagg's ancient soul. "How can you be so sure Plagg?"

Plagg refrained from counting all the moments he witnessed, while transformed and as a kwami, of pigtails girl breaking her back to act normal around her very obvious crush on his owner. "...Kwami's intuition. Anyway, why don't you uh...practice?"

Adrien tilted his head to the side. "...Practice?"

Plagg slapped his face. "The confession."

"Plagg, you're a genius!" Adrien scratched under the cat god's chin and received an appreciative purr in return. "But not here, Nathalie or father might overhear me."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I can do this." Adrien paced back and forth, taking deep breaths. "I can do this. I saw this in movies. I can do this."

Adrien exhaled loudly and then dropped onto one knee, red rose poised in the air. "My lady, my princess, if I could I would take the stars from the skies and gift them to you, not that you would need them, because the whole galaxy is in your eyes already." 

"No, no, no, that's too cheesy!" Adrien stood up and tapped his knuckles against the side of his head. "Technically, I could do that as Astrocat, but I'm not sure how well Ladybug-Marinette would take that, would that be abusing my powers?" 

Rubbing his chin, Adrien cleared his throat. "My sweet Marinette, from the day we shared that umbrella under the rain in front of school, you made me realize what romance was like in real life, but more importantly, you made me realize the importance of having a good friend." Adrien stood frozen in the park, sighing heavily. "That's not good either!"

~~~~~~~

"I don't really know Tikki, do you think Adrien might like it?" the girl clutched the new, yet to be released, song of Jagged Stone in her hands, personally signed by the musician. She knew Adrien liked him too, but would he think she was weird for gifting him this? 

Tikki smiled encouragingly at her owner. "I'm sure he will love it Marinette! Then you can finally ask him to eat ice-cream with you!"

The girl sighed, staring up at the sky in defeat as she walked. "I don't know Tikki, I doubt Adrien would notice me that way. Besides, I think Kagami and him are an I-wuah!" Marinette's foot slammed against the little protruding rock, probably kicked away from the park onto the sidewalk and fell over on her knees. "Ouch!" 

Tikki quickly flew down to inspect her friend. "Marinette, are you okay?"

Marinette winced. "I'm fine Tikki-"

"Argh! No! That's terrible! She'll think I want to kidnap her!" a very familiar voice echoed from the park, one that automatically made Marinette's heart skip a beat.

"W-Wait, is that- am I dreaming again?" forgetting about her fall, Marinette speedcrawled into the nearest bush, bluebell eyes scanning the entirety of the park before they landed on one figure.

It was Adrien.

Tikki hovered near her holder, also watching Adrien. "Look, its Adrien."

"Yeah, but what is he doing out here?" if she recalled correctly, he was supposed to be studying in his room by now for the chemistry test next week.

"Shh." Tikki ushered her to hide deeper in the bush, keenly watching the way Adrien's arms flailed about and he paced back and forth.

"Let's try this. My dearest lady and princess, as your humble knight and number one fan, it is with great honor that I gift you my heart."

Marinette's mouth opened in a scream but Tikki quickly snapped it shut. "Marinette, shh!"

"Mffphh!" Marinette's eyes grew as wide as dinner plates, moving back and forth between Adrien and Tikki.

"No! That's not good either! I'm not giving her an award!" The teen model sighed heavily, moving to sit down on the nearest bench. "I'll never be able to confess to her like this. She's so brave and strong, she can do anything. She's so amazing, what are the chances of her even liking me back?"

Marinette's expression softened. "He must be talking about Kagami..." Tikki nearly dislocated her head when she turned around to look at the girl.

"But Mari-"

A sigh. "I should've known, I guess his encounters with Chat Noir might've rubbed off on him and now he's calling Kagami princess too." 

Tikki flew in front of Marinette's field of vision. "No wait, Marinette, that's not what he-!"

Marinette smiled sadly, slowly standing up. "I think Adrien might need help with confessing his feelings for Kagami."

Just before her head peaked over the cover of the bushes, the name that fell from Adrien's lips froze Marinette to the spot. 

"Marinette..." his gaze was sad as it looked over the trees and into the sky. "You're so amazing, you're the strongest, smartest, bravest person I know, you're everyday Ladybug even when you aren't transformed, how could I hope for you to love me like I love you?" 

Tikki watched the way Marinette remained very still, her eyes unmoving as they locked on Adrien in the distance.

It was now or never.

Gathering all the strength she had, Tikki rammed into Marinette's side, pushing the startled girl out in the open.

With a surprised yelp, Marinette fell out of the bushes and onto her butt.

Her graceful landing made Adrien jump and his eyes widened when he saw her. "M-Marinette!?"

She felt heat rush to her cheeks at being caught spying on him, even more when he jogged to her side and helped her to her feet.

Why was Adrien so nice to her even after she spied on him confessing to her-

"Marinette? Marinette are you alright?" He waved a hand in front of the dazed girl's face, watching the way her eyes came back into focus and stared up into him. "Did you hurt yourself when you fell?"

The warmth from his hands on her shoulders made her squeak, she didn't even notice Adrien's blush at the sound before she took off in the opposite direction.

"Wh- wait Marinette! Where-where are you going!?" Adrien watched the girl sprint out of the park and in the direction of the Seine.

Had she heard him? Had she heard his lousy confessions?

With his heart in his throat and his blood rushing a mile a minute, Adrien uttered two words that never made him tongue tied. "Claws out!" 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No, no, no, no, no, no!

She had to have heard wrong! 

Adrien? Liking her back? No, no, no, no!

"Marinette, wait!" Tikki flew faster to keep up with the girl, she was a fast runner when she set her mind to it. "Why are you running away from Adrien? He was about to-"

Marinette violently shook her head, jumping over a trash can. "No, no, no Tikki, I heard it all wrong. Adrien didn't say my name, maybe he got confused and wanted to say 'Kagami' right? Ka-ga-mi. I mean, our names are kinda similar aren't they?" 

"Marinette!"

Marinette nearly tripped again when she heard another familiar voice yell at the top of his lungs her name.

Wait, was that-?

"Chat Noir?!" 

Sure enough, the black clad figure was jumping away from street to street, following her direction on his baton.

"Marinette!" He yelled again, waving his free arm frantically to catch her attention.

Had there been an akuma? Her akuma alert app didn't ring! Why was Chat Noir looking for her? Could he need something? Did he need love advice for Ladybug?

Marinette continued running, now close to the bridge where Andre always sold his ice cream at. "Sorry kitty! I dont have time to play with you today!"

She couldn't hear Chat Noir's muttered frustrated curses, nor did she see him speed up and take a giant leap, before he landed on the ground and took off running on all fours after her. 

Tikki hid back inside Marinette's purse, hanging on for dear life.  

It wasn't until Chat Noir's next yell made her stop in her tracks. "My lady wait!"

Standing frozen on the bridge, Marinett heartily turned around, just in time to watch Chat Noir try to catch his breath. 

He looked....angry? 

The cat stalked towards her with purpose in his steps before his placed his hands on her shoulders like Adrien did before and- "Why did you run away from me, m'lady?!"

Questions swam in Marinette's mind, questions that made her think she wasn't as sane as she thought she was.

Wait.

"Run away? From you? M'lady? Chat Noir, did you hit your head somewhere?" Marinette blinked up at him quizzically, sweating at Chat Noir possibly knowing her identity.

But how? She was always so careful! He never could've figured it out! 

The grip on her shoulders tightened. "Marinette!" He bared his teeth, and in a delirious moment, Marinette almost wished he would bite her.

To snap her out of her daydream!

"Eep!" 

"Claws in!"

"Claws in? What are you- A-A-" Marinette's breath caught in her throat and she was face to face with a displeased Adrien Agreste. 

His blonde hair which was normally perfectly combed was now messy and disheveled and Marinette could actually see the resemblance between Adrien and Chat Noir who stood in front of her two seconds ago!

"Wait, Adrien, what are- why are-? Chat Noir was here and you- you are now here!" 

She was going insane. Tikki should send her help.

Marinette.exe stopped working.

Adrien's expression softened and he sighed heavily. "Marinette," he gazed at her with such fondness and exasperation that she almost felt it was too intimate. "I know."

He didn't even have to elaborate. She was figured out. He knew her identity.

Her shoulder slumped. "But-But how? I was always so careful and- ugh! This isn't right! Now we have to give up our miraculous! Do you have any idea what Master Fu would think if he still had his memories? But I'm the guardian now! Does that mean I take both our miraculous? Would I just keep mine then? Where would I put them? Do I give us different miraculous? Will we still be heroes? What about Hawkmoth-"

Two warm hands found her cheeks and her attention immediately shifted to the forest green of Adrien's lovely eyes, which stared at nothing but at her. "Marinette, please listen to me m'lady." The sound of her nickname strangely calmed her and she exhaled the breath she'd been holding, some of the tension leaving her body.

Adrien took a deep breath, fingers flexing on her shoulders from frayed nerves before he finally looked at the girl of his dreams in determination. "I love you, Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

"I had these feelings for you ever since I gave you my umbrella and you were the first person to make me laugh again after mom disappeared. You were the one who was always so kind to me and did her best to help everyone all the time. What I told you at the picnic was nothing but the truth: you are our everyday Ladybug, you always were to me. And I'm so happy to know that the hero and the girl I fell in love with were one and the same! I know I made a lot of mistakes as Adrien and Chat Noir, and that I disappointed you often, but I want to make up for it in any way I can and be a better partner for you as Ladybug. My only question is if you would let me be a better partner for you as Marinette, too?" 

The sincerity in his gaze stole the breath from her lungs and Marinette couldn't help but tear up at the heartfelt confession that was meant for her. 

"Y-Yes! A thousand times yes kitty, my prince!" She fell into his arms with a cry of joy and Adrien fell to the ground from the force of her hug. Despite the small wince of pain, they both laughed in joy, cradling each-other's faces tenderly.

Adrien rubbed his nose against his lady's and smiled. "I love you Marinette."

The smile on Marinette's face was the warmest Adrien ever had ever seen. "I love you too Adrien."

[taliaquinn]

Why Me!? Chapter 13

s-“Wait a minute. You guys have an almost-deathiversary?” Marinette asked slightly puzzled.

Dick took Marinette to see Jason on his “almost-Deathiversary”. Jason was kidnapped and nearly killed by the Joker when he was younger but they had to stage his death to deter any further attempts on his life.

“Yup, Jason is not in the happiest person on this day for obvious reasons, right now he’s probably somewhere in Gotham getting Drunk” Dick replied, “I'll go look for him later of course but right now I’m here to drop off food from Alfred and your sweets” Dick was most likely gonna spend tonight hunting for a drunk Redhood. What he didn’t tell Marinette was that he was also going to leave a note for him.

“Don't make eye-contact with anyone and stick close, I’ll keep ya safe” 

Safe!? She was currently standing outside an old run-down apartment building in Crime Alley. Everything around her looked dark and scary. The people were constantly scurrying around. Heck, even the rats look sleazy. She's pretty sure she saw a mugging a few blocks back. 

Was the boarding school alternative still available?

Some people just flat out stopped and stared at them. Marinette and Dick did their best trying to dress normal-ish. Unfortunately, that was sort of difficult to do when you're the son and daughter of a billionaire and you're a fashion designer. 

However, they stuck it through since they’ve been itching to check up on him since he hadn’t been around the manor in two weeks. What Marinette didn’t realize that Red Hood was in the Batcave last night nursing a few bruises. 

She caught one guy staring at them for one second too long she inched closer to Dick. Dick quickly wrapped an arm around her shoulder while glaring at the guy. Hey, you can never be too safe. All of the Wayne kids have been kidnapped at least once before. Maybe that explains why Marinette gets constantly targeted by akumas? Scratch that, it’s probably just her luck working against her. 

Speaking of Luck, Tikki demanded to stay behind with the rest of the Kwamis. They claimed to have some shows to catch up on. Marinette left them in her enormous closet with her new tablet and some food. 

Her parents had left to go back to Paris yesterday, of course, there were tears and of course, most of them were from her dad. Dick was sniffling in the background “What I’m a sucker for family moments, bite me” Marinette already missed them but luckily technology existed. 

Her parents were going to send Bruce her transcripts so she could enroll in a school in Gotham. Marinette was regretting agreeing to it. She’s going to be the new girl halfway through the year, bleugh. She tried advocating for homeschooling but she was overruled by all three parents. Apparently, she needed “human-interaction”, pfffttt.

Dick quickly opened the apartment building door to let Marinette in. They went to the highest floor. Once they were in front of Jason's apartment door, Dick was able to quickly pick the lock and disable the security. Marinette placed her platter of baked sweets on the counter while Dick went over to the fridge to restock, taking a glance to make sure Marinette wasn’t watching he slipped in a scotch, the good scotch along with his note. He had to steal that from Bruce's alcohol cabinet. The man has so many kids he needs to drink every now and then.

Marinette thought Jason's apartment looked nice. Which was confusing since the outside looked like a mess. 

“Come on Maribug let's get out before we’re caught by a pissed off grouch” Dick knew that he wouldn’t come home for a few more minutes but he wanted to keep Marinette from exploring and noticing a few interesting things. “We gotta go shopping!!!” 

At that Marinette immediately bolted out. It’s been a few days since she's gotten her hands on a sewing machine or new fabric. Most of the Fabric she brought with her is gonna end up being used on a new dress for Bruces “Girlfriend’ Selina Kyle.  

Her commissions were stacking up and she had ended up filling up her current sketchbook. Hawkmoth has been behaving himself so she hasn't had a good excuse to teleport to Paris and pick up a few of her supplies. Which sucks. Seriously, the one time she needed an Akuma and Hawkmoth decides to be decent. 

She jumped into Dick's car parked a few blocks away in a garage. Dick slides in and off they went to the mall. Marinette couldn’t wait!!! She was gonna be surrounded by fabrics and they’re gonna eat at a cafe with Tim afterward to actually make sure the Dude actually eats.

Marinette took her sketchbook and quickly started flipping through and checking what designs she wanted to create. She jotted down what materials she’s gonna need. 

Dicks’ phone suddenly started blaring to girls just wanna have fun. Uh-oh, it's Jason. Quickly he put it on speaker

“Yello, Cute one speaking”

“YOU FRIGGIN TRESPASSER!!!”

“Hiya Jaybird, Ya like your gifts?”

“Tell Mari thanks for the sweets, she's a gift to humanity YOU, ON THE OTHER HAND, CAN GO FU-” Marinette decided that this was the perfect time to intervene.

“Hi Jay!” she chirped.

“UGGER OFF, Hi Mari, your sweets were great!? I can wait to eat all 20 of these macaroons” he said softly. Jason was pretty sure that Marinette was the most sweetest child in the world. And that she must be defended at all costs. Plus it was nice to have a civilian sibling for once.

20!! Marinette knows for sure she made 22, she quickly gave a glare at Dick, who was focusing a bit too intently on the road in front of him. The nerve. 

College Francis Dupont                                                                              Paris, France                                                                                                11:00 am

All of the kids in Francis Dupont were happily eating their lunch in the courtyard. Unfortunately that happiness was soon going to come to an end. Alya was standing up and was busy trying to get everyone's attention, most of the students were ignoring her. 

Once Alya felt that she had the necessary attention she started “HELLOOO everyone, As you all know a spot for the planning committee for the spring dance was suddenly uh vacated,” At that, a lot of people turned to glare at Alya, they all knew good and well that she was the reason why Marinette had to drop out of the planning committee. “which is why I want to recommend that we move ahead without them and ensure that this dance is awesome” Alya finished. 

The only reason she was making this announcement was because Alya realized that any plans they had written up back when Marinette was on the committee were suddenly missing. She needed the rest of the committee to get those plans back. Marinette's original plans had Jagged Stone as a guest performer. The Grand Hotel catering for food and desserts being given by her parents bakery. None of those things can happen without Marinette. And Alya does not want to beg her. 

Chloe Bourgeois wanted revenge. Chloe along with Kagami and Aurores made sure to get rid of all the previous dance plans. She couldn’t possibly let Rossi and Cesaire get away with what they did to Marinette. She wants to watch them flounder. It would be unfair to make the whole school suffer, so they were going to help a bit with the planning for the school dance. But everything else she’s going to make life difficult for Bustiers class. They can say adios to their fun field trips.

Chloe, Kagami, and Aurore stayed up all night plotting their revenge, unfortunately, they had to wait a few weeks to set their plans into motion. Marinette won’t know about anything only until they figure out what she can do to get her revenge. 

They're going to call her tomorrow to give her status updates. Revenge is going to be sweet.

Taglist:

@another-fan-of-anotherplan @damianette-is-life @amayakans @parallelparabox @miukiiu @valeks-princess @toodaloo-kangaroo @vixen-uchiha @thezestywalru @dreamykitty25 @pirats-pizzacanninibles @mochinek0 @shamefullove @mochegato @souleateralicestein @thestressmademedoit @throneoffirebreathingbitchqueen

A/N:

Ha sorry i’m a bit late “celebrating” Jason's’ Deathaversary >.< Also I forgot to announce that I have uploaded my first chapter in my one-shot series. I am creating a seperate tag list for that series :). Stay safe and healthy my peeps :)

[sincerelymarinette]

A Recorded Life (50/50) - Miraculous Ladybug

Words: 1839 Chapter Summary: After defeating Hawkmoth, there are still a few things Team Miraculous has to round up. A month later, everyone is still coping, but there are things to look forward to. Author's Note: oh my gosh...the last chapter of this story! I've been writing this for over a year and I love it so much. Thank you so much for sticking around and reading, I appreciate it more than you know! Make sure to check back in a few weeks for the mini sequel!!

Prev / Mini Sequel part 1 / Masterlist

Epilogue

---

One Month Later

"Don't be bemused, it's just the news," Nadja Chamack's voice rang through the TV, much less energetic than usual.

The five heroes sat on Marinette's couch, dressed in black, and emotionally exhausted. Everyone had tear-stained faces, and no one was saying anything, just sitting and coping.

"Just two hours after Emilie Agreste's proper burial, Gabriel Agreste has been found guilty for multiple counts of public endangerment, and multiple counts of kidnapping. We have reporters on the field seeing him being taken away," She reported, and the video turned to an overhead view of Gabriel Agreste in handcuffs, leaving the courthouse in the back of a police car. Adrien shut his eyes for a few seconds until the screen changed again.

Nadja continued. "His assistant, Nathalie Sancoeur, has also been charged with multiple counts of complicity but could be released early because she claims she was forced to help him. That is currently being investigated. We want to send a heartfelt message to our heroes to say thank you for keeping Paris safe and continuing to do so. The public will always support you, and we hope to see you at the statue ceremony in a few days."

Marinette squeezed Adrien's hand to remind him that she's there for him, and they would get through this together. All five of them were a mess, and just glad it was all over.

"This broadcast is dedicated to Emilie Agreste, may she finally rest in peace," Nadja said, and the TV went to commercial.

Adrien started crying again, not sure how much more he could cry before he ran out of tears. They all looked down, and Marinette shut the TV off, still holding Adrien.

---

Marinette focused her camera on her friends and pressed record, then took her seat. They definitely weren't ready to be on camera all the time, but they knew this video had to be made.

"Hi, I'm Marinette," She began the video, less energetic than her videos were used to. "And I've got my team with me. Today we're doing a final Q&A about being superheroes," Marinette said. "Like before, we will choose the questions to answer, as we still have to protect some things. But most questions will come from Twitter and YouTube," She clarified.

The team was still going through a lot, emotionally and psychically. Initially, they weren't going to make any videos until they were back to normal, or as normal as they could be, but once they all agreed to take a step back, a final Miraculous video needed to be made.

"There are still some sensitive topics," Alya piped up. "So Marinette and I have already chosen the ones we will be answering, and not all of us may answer every question," She explained, hoping it would keep people from commenting anything rude.

"Are we all ready to begin?" Marinette asked the group with a soft smile, and with a round of yes, she asked the first question. "Thank you guys so much. How are you doing? We care about you and value you more than you know," She read. "I'll start. I think it's safe to say we're still kind of a mess, but we're getting better every day. It feels like one weight is off my shoulders, for now, at least," Marinette said.

There were a few nods around her, agreeing. "My head is still a mess from everything. But we've been working through it together," Alya added. "It helps that we're all together, definitely."

Adrien cleared his throat. "Marinette said it straight. I'm a mess, and I can't be any more clear than that. But having a new schedule and helping around The Bakery keeps my mind busy, but there is a new stress of starting school," He said, forcing a chuckle at the end.

"Very true!" Chloé echoed. "At least then we'll all be focusing on something to keep us busy!" She said.

Nino didn't answer as most of the emotions were covered. "Speaking of school," Alya said. "Our next question asks what's next for you guys now that the Akuma threat is gone?" Alya asked.

"I guess this is as good a time as any to announce some updates for all of us!" Marinette said and took a deep breath. I'm sure you've all noticed my lack of uploads, for obvious reasons, and they will not be going back to how they used to be. That's because I will be busy studying at my top school for design!" She said, excitedly. "I do want to get back into uploading more fashion videos, and I hope I'll be able to incorporate stuff from school into them, so keep an eye out," She winked.

Marinette looked to Adrien to let him talk about his plans. "I am going to school to study business, so I can fully take over Agreste Fashion in a few years. Right now, it is being run by the CFO, and I will be working with him and his team to help me prepare for that responsibility. In a few years, the Agreste Fashion, you know now, will be completely different, and I hope the best designer out there will be willing to tag along," Adrien nudged Marinette with a smile.

She brushed it off with an eye roll and looked to Alya next. "The Ladyblog really took off with everything going on, and I have taken a job as a full-time reporter as well as going to school for writing!" Alya said. "It will be a change of pace, but I'm really excited. Chloé?" She directed.

"Plain and simple, I'm going to study politics," She said, not elaborating anymore.

"And possibly our most exciting one...Nino?" Marinette smiled wide and turned to him.

Nino jumped when he heard his name. "Oh yeah!" He said. "I'm going to be taking a year off because I'm going on tour with Jagged Stone!" Nino said and put his fist in the air in excitement.

Jagged Stone made the offer to Nino only a few days before, and everyone was excited for him, though sad he was going to be gone for so long. The questions continued on, asking about favorite things to do as heroes, what changes they would make to their costumes, if they could switch their Miraculous for another which one would it be, and some that weren't related to superheroes at all.

They talked about how their relationships with each other have changed, and also what they wish they could have done in high school.

"Now for what I'm sure you've all been wondering, why is this the last Miraculous superhero-related video?" Marinette said, and everyone's mood changed from having fun to being somber. "We, as a group, have decided to take a step back. At least for a little bit," She said. "Hawkmoth and the Akumas are over, and crime rates are very low. Plus, it gives us a chance to focus on something different," Marinette explained.

"We love being superheroes, but it's time," Adrien added, followed with nods form the team.

Marinette took a deep breath. "But! We do have an exciting announcement. This Saturday, we will be doing a stream with Jagged Stone to finally listen to his album and talk about all the work!" Marinette said, and everyone else murmured things about it. "Check the information below to be sure to listen with us!" She said. "But I think that's it for today. Thank you all so much for watching, and I hope you'll check out our social media," Marinette took a deep breath. "Bug out."

Marinette had the video out as fast as she could, and the comments flew in.

oh man, catch me crying right now i love you guys so much

i know this is an important step for them but im still sad that its the end of an era

BUG OUT BUG OUT BUG OUT

she said BUG OUT this cant be the end of ladybug and chat noir

I hope you guys know how much we love and value you! I hope you guys are feeling better and keep getting better. Excited for everything in the future!!

OMG CONGRATS GUYS on all your achievements! Can't wait to see what you all do! ESPECIALLY YOU mari and i cant wait to see what adrien does with Agreste Fashion!!

ugh i love you guys SO MUCH

i love that mari would choose to be chat like,,, can i see that please?

I'm so buying tickets to Jagged mostly for Nino !!

thank you guys so much <3

To say they were pleasantly surprised with the comments was an understatement.

---

Right after the video was uploaded and the team read through the comments, they sat in Marinette's home, waiting for their visitor. There were mixed feelings, and no one knew what to say. When there was a knock on the door, the air in the room grew thick.

"Hello, Master," Marinette said as she welcomed Master Fu into the home. The Kwamis floated behind their holders, clearly sad to be leaving, and not saying anything.

"Are you all ready?" He asked.

No one spoke, just looked at each other. "Well, that's good, because I would like to say something," Master Fu said. "You five are the best Miraculous holders. I am very proud of all of you for what you've accomplished while also having the stress of life," He said, and grabbed the Miracle Box out of his bag. "Which is why I want to pass this onto you, Marinette."

All five gasped, and Marinette was shocked. "W-what?" She asked, her jaw on the floor.

“My time as guardian of the Miraculous is up. I have been guarding these since I was just a boy, and Marinette and Adrien, you two were easily the best Ladybug and Black Cat there has ever been. You work well together and are true leaders. All five of you have the best teamwork I could have ever imagined, and after all you have been through with Hawkmoth, it is clear that it is time for a change," Master Fu said and handed the Miracle Box to Marinette, which she hesitantly grabbed. "Marinette, you were made to be Ladybug. You were made to be a Guardian."

Her friends began celebrating with wide smiles, clearly excited for Marinette. The Kwamis were exchanging confused looks as to what this meant, and Pollen was the one to speak up.

“Does this mean we can stay with our owners?” Pollen asked.

Marinette turned around, holding onto the Miracle Box tight. She took a deep breath and formed a smile. “You know, it’s probably a better idea to not have them all in one place. Who knows, maybe the world will need us again," She said, and everyone joined in a group hug. After all this stress, emotional and physical pain, it was time for them to live their lives, with their best friends (humans and Kwamis alike) by their side.

THE END

edit: (except now there’s a sequel)

---

@lady-of-the-roses-and-lilies @bookishserendipity03 @avatheexceed @gkz10 @coccinellegirl @kat-thatoneweirdo @strawberryblondish @snow-swordswoman @lilgaga98 @evufries  @toodaloo-kangaroo 

[rita2lucky]

Kidnapped by the Bats (A Daminette fanfic)-Chapter 2- Gotham Academy

Marinette's POV

Aunt Selina drops me off at the school. I'm so grateful. When I told her about Uncle Jagged and Auntie Penny, she let me contact them and tell them everything. They already know I'm Ladybug, and they were beyond pissed. They decided to adopt me. I happily obliged, so now I am legally Marinette Stone. I think of everything that's happened yesterday. I try to calm myself down, with no avail. Tikki and Plagg are in my school uniform blazer, trying to calm me down.

My uniform...

(Like this, except with blue GA logo on blazer)

The uniform's actually not half bad. I have to say, I'm impressed. Which is saying something, since I'm MDC, the world-famous fashion designer. Pushing my thoughts aside, I make my way to the front office. I see students staring at me and whispering. If I wasn't giving myself a good talking to, I would've paid attention.

"Whoa, she's so hot-"

"Is she a new Wayne?"

"Do you think I can get her number?"

"Oh god, now I'm wishing I was lesbian!"

"She's going to take my boyfriend away from me!"

"We should definitely invite her to sit at our table!"

"Let's invite her to our frequent parties!"

"She could be a CCP(Cute, Cool, & Popular. I got it from Dork Diaries) with how gorgeous she looks!" Stuff like that. 

At last, I find the front office and see a lady. She looks up at me and greets me with a warm smile. "Hello, how can I help you?"

"Um, hi! I'm a new student here and I was hoping for a time-table, please?" The woman nodded. She scrolled down the screen. "Right. Marinette Stone, correct?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Alright, here's your timetable."

"Thanks, miss!"

"No problem, dear."I make my way to my assigned class, my homeroom class. The people in my class stare at me and whisper. The class' teacher, Ms.Lena, claps her hands. She has a no-nonsense look on her face. Hopefully, she's better than Mlle. Bustier, I thought. 

"Alright class, we have a new student. Please introduce yourself."

 "Hello, my name is Marinette Stone, and I moved here from Paris. I hope to get well-acquainted with you all," I say, putting on a formal smile. The teacher nods approvingly.

"Well then, Miss Stone, please take a seat next to Damian Wayne over there. Damian, please raise your hand," A boy with gorgeous jade green eyes and short, swoopy pitch-black hair raises his hand with a never-ending glare. Another pair of green eyes wormed their way into my mind. He definitely doesn't want to interact. 

I sit next to him casually. Out of the corner of my eye, I can still see him glare at me through the corner of his eye. Oh h*ll naw. I glare back. He seemed surprised for a moment but continued glaring at me. The teacher started the lesson. This was going to be a long day…

[whitetigerdemoness]

*update* There’s more! Master post of all chapters

I had an idea about Lila telling one lie too many to the wrong person.

She sits next to Nathaniel now right? Introvert Nath, who is probably a very good listener because he doesn’t want to talk. So Lila can happily chatter away in this one sided conversation about what ever she wants without feedback. Feedback which she uses to gauge how well her lies are working. So without this she just rambles along about anything.

It takes a couple weeks, but Lila finally says something that Nathaniel isn’t sure about. He doesn’t want to start drama, and he can’t actually prove what she said is false, so he doesn’t call her out on it. Once you’ve noticed something wrong though you start paying more attention whether you like it or not. He notices Lila makes a lot of little claims that don’t really add up, but once again he doesn’t want to start a fight and he can’t really prove anything. 

Then Lila messes up big time. She’s constantly trying to get Nath to draw her into ‘his’ Ladybug comic and use her ideas (to which he politely tries to tell her Marc is his writer, and if she wants to collab they can’t leave him out) until one day she claims that the reason she didn’t start school at the beginning of the year with everyone else, why she went with her mother on a diplomatic trip out of the country instead, was because this creepy old man had been stalking her, inspired by her beauty, and had been akumatized because of it, leading to her kidnapping.

The Akuma’s name? The Evillustrator. I would like to think that (especially for minors) an akumatized person’s identity is kept secret if possible after they’re cured. People may know what the akuma did and maybe the reasons, but not WHO they were. The classmates know because they were there, but it’s not really something people talk about so Lila doesn’t know who he was either. Just that he kidnapped a girl for a ‘date’ and Ladybug and Chatnoir had to save her. Lila naturally assumes that since akuma identities are not public knowledge there is no way her shy, quiet classmate would be able to contradict her, right?

Nathaniel is stunned into silence, staring at her in disbelief, which Lila takes as interest and digs herself deeper. She goes on and on about how this middle aged man was stalking her, drawing creepy pictures of her, trying to ask her out ect. and how unsafe and traumatized she felt. She even had to get a restraining order against him, which is what triggered the Akumatization! It’s actually how she first met Ladybug, she saved Lila from Evillustrator! Then she took a trip with her mother to get some space, but returned to France to stay in school or something.

In the end Nath is equal parts too shocked at her claims and too wary of confrontation to call her out on it, but from then on he notices how absurd and outlandish some of Lila’s tales are. All the while dodging her efforts to get into his comic (and asking now and then about the manga publishers she promised to introduce him to? Not like he expects that to ever happen) and just trying to get through the day.

I think the boiling point would be when Lila claims to the whole class that she designed Jagged Stone’s iconic Eiffel Tower sunglasses, and the class just wow’s and ah’s. (Marinette and Adrien are not there, as well as a handful of others because this is lunch break, but most of the class is there)

“Are you serious?” Nathaniel asked in disbelief. 

“Of course!” Lila preened, not catching his tone. “Uncle Jagged and I are so close, he really values my fashion input! Why just the other day-”

“No,” Nathaniel cut her off with a sharp motion. “Are YOU serious? You guys believe this? Out of every lie she’s forced you to swallow, you believe THIS one?” He gestured to the rest of the class, incredulous. 

“Nathaniel! How could you say something like that about Lila? Don’t tell me Marinette has gotten to you.” Gasped Alya.

“Alya...You do remember that Marinette is the one who designed those glasses right? You were there. You claim to be her best friend, how can you constantly take Lila’s side over hers? This entire semester Marinette has been the only one brave enough to call out Lila’s BULLSHIT and you constantly shut her down!” He steamed. Nathaniel may not have romantic feelings for the bluenette anymore, but she was still his friend and he was tired of seeing her hurt by someone who claimed to care for her. For whatever credit you want to give her, Alya did pale as she realized the red head was right.

“W-what? What do you mean, M-Maritnette designed those glasses? Did she tell you that?” Lila sniffled, turning on the water works. “I can’ believe she would take credit for something she didn’t do, I thought she was a nice person and I w-wanted to give her another chance but to lie like that...to convince you that it was all her idea for attention...” She sobbed, hiding her face. The class, which had looked hesitant at the new information at first, quickly rallied behind the crying girl, glaring at Nathaniel. 

“Seriously? SERIOUSLY?!” He shouted, getting angrier by the minute. “You all believe that Marinette, sweet, helpful, kind Marinette, would LIE about something for attention? NONE of you think it’s odd that Marinette, who gives EVERYONE a chance can’t stand Lila says something about her?!”

“Yeah, it says she’s jealous to have her spot as class sweet heart usurped. We all know Marinette is only mean to Lila because Adrien is more interested in Lila than her. Just like you’re being blinded by your own crush on her. Come on dude, you’re smarter than this.” Quipped Kim. 

Nathaniel thought his hair had fallen into his face (well, more than usual) he was seeing so much red. The final straw though was seeing Maritnette and Adrien standing in the door way, realization on Adrien’s face and horror on Marrinette’s, that made his next heart beat take the shape of butterfly wings. He barely heard Hawkmoth’s usual spiel about Ladybug and Chatnoir’s miraculous as he bent over Lila, her face stained with crocodile tears that were quickly becoming real.

“Lets see how well that restraining order is working.” Purred the Evillustrator, smirk absolutely feral.

[flightfoot]

The reason of the so many Adrien salt fic is because while Mari need to face a consequence of her wrong doing (akumatizing Lila, chat blanc, animaesteo, miracle Queen) Adrien could scoot free with no consequence copycat is harmless and not counted.

...Huh? Wait, what? How does “facing an akuma that was partially due to Adrien’s actions” not count as a consequence for Adrien, but DOES count for Marinette? Also Marinette had her own issues in that episode - breaking into your crush’s locker in order to break into his phone and delete an embarrassing voice mail? Not cool. And Marinette actually came out on top that episode - she got to go to the movies at Adrien - though granted, not alone - like she’d wanted.

Marinette sometimes gets hit with “consequences” for silly things - what she did in Chris Master was FINE Tikki, just because it was tangentially related to the story Marinette told Chris didn’t mean he did anything wrong - I’ll agree with that. And she’s gotta be feeling like if she slips up at all, even for a minute, like things can go catastrophically wrong, after what happened in Miracle Queen.

Something to note even about those, though; while bad things may happen as a result, it’s never treated as a “she deserves to suffer” kind of thing, and no one tries to punish Marinette. Nor is there ever a long-term consequence, except in Miracle Queen - and you notice what happens when she breaks down in that episode? She gets hugs and comfort. Chat doesn’t scream at her about messing up. NO ONE gets upset at her for making a mistake. Everyone just tries to help her deal with the situation as best they can, try to get it to the best outcome, and try to reassure her. (Well, everyone mostly meaning Chat and Fu here). 

AT WORST, she might receive a mild scolding, usually from Tikki, very occasionally from Adrien. But neither of them ever do more than that, or seem to even think badly of her - just that she didn’t make the best choice right in that moment, or that she made an honest mistake. They don’t yell and scream at her or try to get her Miraculous taken away or really do more than say “hey, that wasn’t cool.” 

And Adrien DOES sometimes face consequences - Reflekdoll’s a decent example, where he’d been kinda obnoxious earlier in that episode about making jokes with bad timing, since Ladybug had needed him to focus right then. And later, when he had the Miraculous, he experienced why sometimes she didn’t have as much time for jokes since it requires more concentration than the Black Cat to use well, and he recognized that at the end and told her he understood. Then they all got to have a fun time finishing up the photoshoot.

That’s another important thing; whenever someone faces a consequence, like with Marinette, they’re always fine at the end. Life goes on, they still have people and friends to rely on, and generally the episodes end on a positive note. She gets to hang out with her friends, go to a movie, eat some ice cream, etc. She isn’t treated as deserving to suffer.

Also, Animaestro REALLY isn’t a great example of Marinette facing consequences. What she did there was pretty damn bad, and she never really faced consequences due to THAT exactly - the akuma was partially due to the plan going awry and Thomas getting caught up in it, but... not so much because of the awful things she tried to do to Kagami.

I’ll go over the episode a bit, because honestly? I think it should be talked about more.

Chloé: If we get rid of Kagami before the movie starts, there'll be an extra seat for you. Marinette: We can't do that! Chloé: Remember what you said to me once, Marinette? All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing. (Marinette gasps) Well today, the evil is her and the good people are us! Marinette: I'm not too sure about this. Chloé: Fine! Keep on not being sure about it and tomorrow, Adrien and Kagami will be on a plane headed for Japan! Marinette: Adrien? Japan? There's no way! Chloé: You think? They're already going to the movies together, their parents are signing papers together. (camera zooms in on Mrs. Tsurugi in the background, stamping a document with her signature) Marinette: (imagines Adrien and Kagami on a plane and dancing with kimonos on) We can't let her do that!

To Marinette’s credit, she DOES at least have reservations about doing something to Kagami... but she still agrees to it, because she doesn’t want Adrien and Kagami to get together... and Adrien to potentially leave. She still decides that it’s ok for her to interfere and to purposely try to “get rid of” Kagami.

Scene: Under the serving table. Marinette is gathering items needed for their plan.

Tikki: Marinette! Surely you're not gonna team up with Chloé?! Marinette: I'm just stopping Kagami from kidnapping Adrien and taking him off to Japan. He's too nice to see what she's really up to! (Tikki looks at her judgingly and sighs)

Marinette’s in full anxiety mode here and has persuaded herself that Kagami is this awful person who deserves this, and that she’s ‘saving’ Adrien somehow - that she’s in the right.

Adrien: Well I'm more of a dog person... (camera zooms further out to show Chloé and Marinette) Chloé: Alright. (she looks at what Marinette has gathered) Garbage bag, ladle and what? (she holds up a spool of string) I asked you to get some rope! Marinette: All I could find was this cooking string. You know, for tying up roasts. Chloé: Do I look like someone who knows anything about cooking roasts? (she grabs Marinette's arm and starts pulling her along) Marinette: Hey, wait! (Chloé finds a plate of macarons and pours them into the garbage bag. She ties up the bag and begins smashing it with the ladle.) Marinette: Chloé! We can't do this! Chloé: Listen, Marinette! If we don't sacrifice a few macarons now Adrien is going to be eating sushi for the rest of his life! (Chloé blows a bubble with her gum before spitting the gum into the ladle.) Chloé: You better not screw this up, Dupain-Cheng. Marinette: (picks up the gum warily) I'm doing this for you, Adrien.

She does at least voice some reluctance about the plan again - but she still goes through with it. Still thinks that she and Chloe have the right to try to do things to Kagami to ‘protect’ Adrien for his own sake, but not say, talk to HIM about it and see what he thinks - heck, earlier she was saying that he was too nice to see what Kagami was really up to! And then saying it’s for HIS sake - which no, it really isn’t. Even in her imaginings of him going away to Japan, he doesn’t look unhappy or miserable or anything, she just - doesn’t want him to potentially leave her, and has persuaded herself it’s for his sake for her own sanity.

Chloé: (to Jagged) Hold this for me. (Marinette is being helped up by Adrien) Marinette: Thank you, Adrien! (The gum sits on the ground next to Kagami's foot) (Marinette takes the special macaron out of her pocket.) Marinette: Here, Adrien. This is, uh, your favorite flavored macaron. Er, of course I'm just guessing. I mean, how would I know, right? (nervous giggle) But people do sometimes prefer some things to other things so... Here! Adrien: Uh… thanks, Marinette!

Here, Marinette purposely drops a tray of her parents’ macarons which they made for this big event, in order to provide cover for planting gum on Kagami’s shoe. It’s a good thing her parents made extra. This is a big event, and it wouldn’t look great on them professionally if they hadn’t brought a sufficient amount of treats, or if one of their servers had dropped so many of them that THAT’S why they ran out. She didn’t drop them by accident at least, like her parents thought might happen - she did so purposely as part of a plan to ruin Kagami’s clothes. Which I’m pretty sure makes it worse.

(Marinette smiles at Adrien briefly before Chloé whisks her away) Chloé: What were you doing with that macaron? That was not part of the plan! Adrien: Kagami is something wrong? (Chloé and Marinette peek over a counter to see what Adrien is talking about. Kagami is holding up her shoe with gum on it.) Kagami: These shoes belonged to my grandmother. Chloé: Hah! This is a part of the plan. (Adrien puts down the special macaron and goes to get a chair) Adrien: Sit down. I'll help you. (Kagami and Adrien spot the crushed macarons that Chloé had put on the seat) Chloé: Phase two, Dupain-Cheng. (Chloé crawls across the floor and pulls out the spool of string and Marinette grabs a poster of Jagged Stone. Adrien looks all over the event for another chair but all the chairs have crushed macarons on them.) Marinette: Can you please autograph this for me, Jagged? (Marinette holds up the poster of Jagged Stone) (Jagged gets a pen out and puts the cake on a chair. Adrien finally finds a chair that doesn't have macarons on it. Just before Kagami sits down Chloé pulls the string which is attached to the cake chair. The video goes into slow motion as Kagami goes to sit down.) Mrs. Tsurugi: Kagami! (Kagami straightens up and doesn't sit on the cake)

The plan here, which Marinette was privy to and is a part of, was to have Kagami sit on that chocolate cake, staining that kimono. Considering that the overall goal is to drive her off, at the VERY least, they’re intending her to need to go to somewhere to change and not getting back in time to see the movie. Considering that it seems like she could at least get a change of clothes and come back in time to catch part of the movie - getting around ML Paris doesn’t seem to take all that long - I’m guessing part of what’s intended to keep her away is the whole “getting really upset at having something humiliating and awful happen to her so publicly at such a major event, with lots of press and one of the few people she’s friends with there to see it”. This isn’t some unintended, not thought about consequence - it’s PART of it. It’s intentional and premeditated. The only reason it DIDN’T work isn’t due to say, Marinette having a change of heart and trying to change the plan - it’s ONLY due to the dumb luck of Mrs. Tomoe calling out at precisely the right moment to stop Kagami from sitting on that cake. I actually wrote a fic based on what I think may feasibly have happened if she HADN’T called out right then actually, and HAD sat on that cake.

(Adrien helps Kagami hop towards Mrs. Tsurugi as the children and Thomas go near the cake chair) Child: But if you didn't make the story or the drawings, then you didn't do anything. (Thomas sits down and sighs. He spots the special macaron on the table where Adrien left it. He takes it out and eats it. His face becomes worried as red boils pop up all over it.) Thomas: What's happening? Children: Eww! (Thomas takes out his phone and looks at himself in the camera before sniffing the macaron packet.) Thomas: This macaron contains almonds! (runs over to Tom and Sabine) I specifically told you that I'm allergic to almonds! Tom: We were so careful about that. All the macarons are made from coconut. Marinette: Uh, oh. All but one! (The children laugh at Thomas) Thomas: What? What in the- Who put this cake on this seat!? (The children run away from the angry Thomas) Marinette: I should have known! How could one of Chloé's plans end in anything but disaster? Thomas: I spent three years of my life working day in day out for this! What was meant to be my night is ruined! (looks sadly at the floor)

Notice that Marinette’s upset here that Chloe’s plan ended in ‘disaster’ - which it was always intended to, just as a disaster for Thomas rather than Kagami, who was the intended target.

Also, bringing that macaron to an event where that type was specifically barred due to allergies could also have gotten her parents in serious trouble. Though admittedly, there’s a decent chance that she didn’t know that macarons with almonds were barred, and with how she’d planned to hand it over, the risk was minimal.

Mrs. Tsurugi: Now I understand why Kagami speaks so much about you. Your father has raised you to be a refined young man! (Adrien blushes at the comment) Marinette: The plan is a total disaster! Adrien and Kagami are even closer now than they were before. Chloé: You ruined EVERYTHING, Dupain-Cheng. What was it with that macaron, anyway? Marinette: Er. It was a special passion fruit macaron. Chloé: But that's the favorite of... No. Don't tell me that! (laughs and points finger at Marinette) You've got a crush on ADRIEN! (laughs and wipes eyes) That is ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous. You're a nobody in his eyes and you'll always be a nobody. Watch, I'll prove it. (walks over to Adrien) Adrikins! Doorman: (offscreen) Who are you? You can't come- wah! (the doorman is thrown from the door and Animaestro is there instead) Animaestro: So you really think a director does nothing? Let me show you exactly what I'm capable of. Chloé: Come on! Get a grip! Hey, Adrikins. You'll never guess- (sees Adrien gone) (Civilians start screaming and running away) Animaestro: Oh, come on! Don't leave! The show's just getting started! (Animaestro transforms into a large green cartoon dinosaur in a puff of pink smoke) Animaestro: Roar! (spits a lasers out of his mouth that hit buildings) Marinette: I promise I'll never take Chloé's advice again!

Notice here that Marinette does NOT realize that trying to ruin Kagami’s clothes and sabotage Adrien and Kagami’s time together was wrong in its own sake - she’s only upset that things didn’t go to plan, and especially that it’s had the OPPOSITE effect of bringing Adrien and Kagami closer together. The lesson she learns is “Chloe’s plans don’t work and tend to backfire, so don’t participate in them if you want the intended outcome to actually happen”, not “trying to purposely sabotage other people’s time together, even trying to get their property ruined to do so and be publicly humiliated, is a bad thing to do”.

Then the akuma happens. Partly as a consequence of some of her actions, but no one blames her for it or even have a clue she was partly involved. And at the end?

Marinette: Chloé! Please don't tell Adrien I have a crush on him! Chloé: (takes a macaron) In this world, there are those who work and those who shine. Forever there will be this division between us, Dupain-Cheng. (pokes Marinette on the nose) Which is why you and I will never be a team. I'm not going to tell him. You're not worth the extra attention. (enters the theater) Thomas: (after seeing the conversation) You know what. Take my seat and enjoy the movie. I've seen it ten times or more. What matters the most for the movie is to be seen by people who really want to see it right? Marinette: I-I but.. Thomas: Sorry, I guess you don't know who I am either Marinette: Of course do. You're Thomas Astruc the movie director! (hugs him) Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! Thomas: She recognized me. Somebody actually recognized me! (wipes away tears) This is the best day of my life! (eats a macaron)

She still gets to go to the movies with Adrien, though he spends time with Kagami as well. Nothing bad happens to Marinette, and she gets what she wanted in the beginning, why she came in the first place - to spend time with Adrien.

Look. If the places were reversed, Adrien salters would NEVER EVER EVER STOP SCREAMING ABOUT IT. If Adrien had teamed up with someone - probably still Chloe - to try to sabotage Marinette and Luka spending time together because he’d convinced himself that she’d get together with Luka and he’d whisk her away to somewhere outside of Paris so he wouldn’t get to see her again, and had as a consequence knowingly participated in a plan to ruin Luka’s property at some huge public event in order to get him to separate from Marinette, and to take Luka’s place and spend time with her in his stead, because he was convinced that he knew what was better for her than she did, that she just couldn’t see that Luka was bad for her? And then only learned that those kinds of plans backfire, getting upset that they became closer instead, and getting to still spend time with Marinette afterwards? Somehow I don’t think Adrien salters would accept that as Adrien facing consequences just because an akuma happened.

And that’s part of my problem with Adrien saltfics, and most saltfics in general; they’re not generally about ‘consequences happening’ so much as ‘punishing the characters and wanting to make them suffer horribly and telling the characters that they DESERVE that suffering’, which is NOT a thing in canon.