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leswansong · 5 years ago

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(Late) Ladynoir July: When Tomorrow Comes

Day Six: Lost

[ A03 ]

Word Count: 7K+

Adrien watched the sun slowly rise from his vantage point, the cold morning air ate away at his skin as he shivered in place, he silently mourned the loss of his newfound home as he watched the people walk in and out of the building. Two large guards were standing at the front door, their hands were clenched tightly around the hilt of their swords, he knew that wasn’t going to last forever but he had been hoping to get a few more weeks there before he had to find somewhere else to stay, it was only a small matter of time before the looters found out about the supposedly empty house, it was just a shame that it was so soon. With a deep sigh, he looked over at Plagg, the Kwami gave him a small nod and he called for his transformation, he had no idea where he could go or would go, slowly he started towards his unknown destination, he had only just managed to make it out of the small townhouse with a small bag of his possessions which was mainly Plagg’s cheese and a small strip of a lightweight fabric he had started to use as a blanket; unfortunately he forgot to grab the rapier from atop the fireplace, he had quickly learned that a sword was a valuable thing to own but there was no way he could return for it now.

Reluctantly he picked up his pace and pulled his baton off his back to propel him faster across the rooftops, his mind wandered towards his partner, he wondered if he should ask Lady… No, he couldn’t bother her with his problems, he was only just starting to get to know her and he didn’t want to dampen the beautiful ray of sunlight she was with his problems especially not when she was currently his only source of food; the thought of food at that moment caused his stomach, a groan escaped his lips and he found himself heading towards the meeting spot. He knew there wouldn’t be any food waiting for him there nor would Ladybug but maybe on some off chance she would see him there waiting and lift his spirits with her presence.

He extended his baton and prepared to leap across the large angry crowd of protesters below only for him to recognize the area he was in, he gawked at the tall proud standing homes that he never thought he would see again; his heart start started to race as he started to panic. Nobody could see him, they were too busy yelling at the houses to notice that one of their new heroes of the revolution was standing frozen atop a nearby rooftop.

The urge to return to his home overwhelmed him, he carefully clambered down from the roof to a small empty road that had been squeezed in between two large houses and their sandstone walls. He landed almost silently on the cobbled floor, small puddles remained from the small rain cloud that had dumped its contents across Paris the night before. With a frown, he quickly muttered his detransformation phrase and started to walk towards the large crowd, their screams encompassed him, he could barely hear himself think over them and walking in a straight line proved impossible as he was pushed and pulled in so many different directions, he soon lost count of how many times his toes had been stepped on and how often he was almost pushed to the ground.

He started to regret not using the rooftops to get closer towards the large house he once called home, it would have saved his poor toes a lot of pain but there was no turning back now, he had to continue on his chosen path. He started to see the light of the tunnel as he got closer to a less crowded road that would lead him towards home, he picked up his pace as much as he could and pushed his way through the rest of the people.

Once free of the crowd he made a B-line towards his old home, he tried his best to stay as close as he could to the large sandstone walls, they were tall and covered him in dark shadows as the morning sun struggled to rise into the blue skies, he wanted nothing more than to walk straight up to the large iron gates that kept him away from the prying eyes of the world outside his windows but the fear of being recognised still kept him from approaching the house, so he waited in the small side street beside the mansion; he caught glimpses of it over the walls every so often and the sight of it only pushed him to walk up to the gates sooner but he forced himself to stay put until he was sure that he wouldn’t be noticed walking up to them.

Adrien let out a sigh and looked up at the sky, the sun had risen even higher and was halfway from reaching its peak, he peered around the corner before he stepped out of the alleyway, he carefully and slowly approached the mansion he once called home, the large iron gates were bent and warped from where they had been battered in, he stared at them in shock and he couldn’t stop himself from reaching out to touch them. They were still cold from the early morning frost but not too cold, they creaked when he pushed against them slightly, a first for him, his father would never have let that happen, he was far too proud for that.

He took one last look around at the empty street before he pushed his way further inside them, they creaked a little but it still didn’t draw anyone's attention to him. He quickly walked across the small courtyard towards the large wooden front doors, it was a mess, leaves were everywhere as well as loose pieces of hay, he looked towards the barn doors and a small wave of sadness washed over him, the horses they stabled there were gone, they were the only thing that brought him happiness.

Choking back a wave of tears that threatened to come to the surface, he pushed himself to walk away from the barn doors and up towards the house. His footsteps echoed on the concrete steps and he started up towards the remnants of the heavy oak wood door. Pieces of it lay scattered around on the floor outside, he carefully looked inside to find more of it laid on the black and white marble floors, the pieces still left attached to the frame had massive dents from where it had been hit by the ram, he pushed on it and it easily swung open. The entry hall was flooded with light revealing the horrible state it was in, plants had been torn from their pots, the large painting of him and his father had been torn and partially set on fire, the iron and crystal candle chandelier had fallen and shattered on the floor leaving long cracks in the marble floor.

Carefully he pushed his way inside, small crystals crunched under his bare feet causing him a small amount of pain but he was able to ignore it long enough to close the large oak door plunging the entry hall back into darkness, the smell of metal hung in the stale air. He paused with his back against the damaged door while his eyes took a moment to adjust to the room, he found it oddly disturbing at how quiet it was, the only time he could remember it ever being anywhere close to being this quite was when everyone had gone to sleep but even then there was normally some kind of sound to remind him that the house was full of life, here there was nothing.

Plagg took the chance to wiggle his way out of Adrien’s coat and explore the large house that he called home, he followed the Kwami with his eyes until Plagg phased through a wall and with that he let out a deep breath and tipped-toed around the fallen chandler, it was once a grand piece that would draw a guests eyes upwards with the elegant and now it was a broken mess that was only worth the price they could get for the iron frame.

With a disappointed sigh, he moved past the broken frame and headed towards his father's office where the door was stuck slightly ajar. He poked his head in to find that it too was a mess, books had been pulled from the shelves and scattered across the floor, some had the pages torn from their binds, it was impossible to walk across the room without standing on at least one of them. The chandler in this room had also fallen, wax candles were scattered and crushed across the floor, he tried to avoid them but that only caused him to step on the crystals that made a horrible crunch under his feet as he inched closer to the large untouched portrait of his mother. He ignored the pain and blood coming from his feet in favour of pushing himself to walk over to painting, he had only ever seen it briefly from the doorway on the few times he was permitted to enter his father's office and those few times had never done the artist justice. Although it had been years since he had last seen her, he felt like she was smiling down upon him and the feeling of hope reignited within him, it was only small though but he could live off a small amount of hope.

He ran his fingers over the painting, he could feel the small bumps left by the paintbrush beneath them. He turned and looked around at the room, it was disheartening to see and made the fact that his old life was lost more real to him, he fought back the wave of tears as much as he could and quickly headed towards the door before he collapsed to the floor. The tears flowed freely, he had no idea where his father was and normally he wouldn’t care but with the house being so empty… He wanted to see the cold tall man appear from the darkened hall and yell at him for crying like a little boy, the house would magically be fixed and everything would be a horrible dream but alas that would not happen. He quickly wiped away the fallen tears and pulled himself together, he forced himself to stand so he could continue to search the house.

He walked towards the large dining room, its beautiful ornate doors were missing from there frames, pieces that had been turned into a pile of splinters and firewood now laid strewn across the floor leading into the enormous room. Carefully he peered into the room and just as he expected it too was a mess, the long, heavy oak dining table had been flipped onto his side, scratch marks had been dug into the floor from where the table had been pushed in an attempt to make the room larger but the table had been too heavy and was left abandoned only a few inches from where it once sat; some of its matching chairs had their ornate legs broken, a sight he hoped his mother would never see for she loved those chairs more than she loved his father but other than those few chairs, the rest were neatly set against the opposite wall. He took a hesitant step into the room, the floorboard creaked slightly from his weight, he smiled at the sound as it reminded him of his father constantly reminding himself that it needed to be replaced but he was getting distracted.

He headed further into the room to find that hidden behind the table was a trail of blood, it had long since dried but it didn’t stop the panic that started to rise through him, it led towards the other end of the table where it turned and led towards the doors to the kitchen. Cautiously he followed the trail into the kitchen where it was worse, the air smelled even more metallic than before and it felt like it was compressing his lungs, pots, pans, silverware and several broken dishes were all on the floor. His heart started to race as his eyes searched the room but the trail didn’t stop there, it continued on but it wasn’t exactly a trail, it was smaller and didn’t look like someone had been dragged but rather someone had gotten up and tried to walk away from something, he continued to follow it towards the servants staircase.

The steps were considerably more worn than the main staircase, the fact that they were wood only added to it; they were narrow and steep, he had to use the wall to help him climb in some places because of the blood, but steadily he climbed and he almost reached the top when he kicked something made of steel. He let out a pain-filled yelp in response and backed down the steps away from it, he muttered out a few choice words as he inspected the damage to his poor toes reminding him that he needed to find a pair of shoes to wear. After he found no cuts or damage to his foot he glanced up the steps to find out what had caused him so much pain, there wasn’t much light in the small inclosed staircase but the very little that did bounce off of the metal thing. He reached down and picked it up expecting it to be a candelabra only for it to be his father's rapier, it had been discarded and was left uncared for, its blade was still covered in dried blood from its last attack; he moved out of the stairwell and towards a window so he could inspect the blade in the light while completely forgetting about the blood he was following, the blade was a family heirloom and was much more important to him in that small moment in time.

The bright emeralds embedded in the sliver guard shone under the early morning sunlight, he could hardly see any of the small imperfections in the green stones his father constantly complained about every time he cleaned it but it was definitely his father’s sword, the family crest had been engraved on the base of the blade although he could hardly see it; he pulled on a nearby curtain and wiped the blade on it to try and clean some of the dried blood on it but it didn’t really do much, he turned away from the window and returned to his original task, he could always clean the blade later. The trail slowly grew smaller and smaller until it ended in one rather large pool of blood at the centre of the grand staircase and someone’s extremely poor attempt to clean it up, a wave of disappointment washed over him, he wasn’t sure what he was expecting to find after all it had been weeks since the house had been stormed, any bodies would have been taken away days after the front doors had been busted down. His eyes stayed on the wide scrub marks as if it would will the trail back into existence but nothing happened, nothing would happen but reluctantly he pulled his eyes away before he could start wondering what had happened to the person that had left the trail and they landed on his old bedroom door and for the first time since entering the house, memories of that night came flooding back.

At first, it was the screams outside the iron gates, they had been getting increasingly louder over the past few weeks but his father wouldn’t tell him why and he wouldn’t find out why until he was forced out the servant's entrance. He let out a sigh and walked over to it, he was unsure on whether or not if he wanted to see what was on the other side of the wooden door, the rest of the house was torn apart and his room was most likely the same but the temptation to see was almost too much for him, his hand rested on the cold iron doorknob for a moment and he closed his eyes so he could mentally prepare himself before he turned it but nothing he pictured could prepare him for the feeling of loss. The large bed was cut up into pieces, its blankets ripped and torn, the large array of instruments he had committed himself to try and master were snapped and broken, their strings severed and the books he had spent hours reading and re-reading had their pages ripped from their spines and were now scattered around the room, he was heartbroken.

Plagg hovered over his shoulder for a moment and entered the room, he floated over several objects to inspect the damage but Adrien couldn’t, it was too much, he slowly turned away from the room and headed down the steps, he couldn’t stand to be in that house anymore, he needed fresh air, he needed to be anywhere but there. His Kwami called for him to come back but he ignored him, he reached the bottom of the steps and headed straight for the front door, the broken crystals hurt his feet and he did everything he could to hold back the tears of pain as he pulled the door open and exited the building. The screams of the angry crowd once again reached his ears, it was strangely comforting to hear the thing that had taken his home from him, he should never have gone back to this place, there were too many wounds that were too fresh and all he had done was rub salt into them.

He came to the large iron gates and he squeezed himself through the narrow opening, they squeaked and groaned loudly at the movement drawing some attention of a few passersby to him causing his already racing heart to race even faster; he expected them to run to the nearest guard, yell stop and chase after him or even confront him but they didn’t, sure some hurried their pace a little and the fact he had been in that house would make its way to an officer’s ears but none of them really seemed to care, they just carried on on their way. Adrien took the opportunity to make a speedy escape down several alleyways, he knew where he was going… at first… it was a small garden, he could always see from his bedroom window but then all the walls and streets started to look the same and somewhere along the way he had taken a wrong turn and he grew increasingly more lost with each step. Eventually, he gave up on trying to find his way back to Plagg, the Kwami knew that he could navigate the rooftops not the streets and it would probably be easier on the small creature if he sat still and waited for him to find him, he let out a sigh and walked the short distance to the closest wall, his back slid down it and he met the floor. He pulled his new sword up onto his lap, he wasn’t expecting to come across a blade so quickly and not one as nice as this one, it, of course, needed sharpening as well as a good clean; he dug around in his bag and pulled out his blanket, slowly he started to wear away at the dried on blood, the silver shine of the blade gradually started to show through the dark coating.

He had no idea how long he had sat there for when Plagg had found him but the Kwami dove headfirst into the bag for a slice of his cheese, he gulped it down in one bite as usual before turning back towards Adrien.

“Kid…” the Kwami huffed, he was trying to force as much air as he could into his tiny lungs, “Please…” he took another breath, “don’t ever do that again if I call your name you stop.”

He nodded and returned to the blade, “Sorry Plagg.”

“You better be…” his voice trailed off.

-x-

Adrien didn’t know how he hadn’t heard about the small celebration, he had spent his days wandering the streets and not a peep about it. He couldn’t keep his eyes focused on one thing, candles flickered and filled the street with a warm orange glow, the scent of fresh bread filled the air causing his mouth to water at the prospect of food. People were still moving around trying to light the last few candles before the sun fully set behind the tall houses, he could feel the rain in the air and he looked up to find dark clouds had gathered above him, it wouldn’t be long before the rain would fall but nobody seemed to care, the market around him was still buzzing, people were chattering happily around him as they inspected the goods of the market stores, masks covered their faces and he only saw a few without one. He politely pushed his way through the crowd, it was a little hard to even move at times but the feeling of the streets of being alive drew him in.

He didn’t have enough money to buy most of the lovely handcrafted items on display but that didn’t stop him from looking. they displayed the theme of the fair, the new heroes, many had put a lot of effort into the small trinkets, Adrien walked over to one and picked up a small wooden statue of his lady, the detail wasn’t incredible as they had only given the people a little glimpse of what they looked like a with the mask and the amateur drawings that appeared in the newspaper hadn’t exactly done his lady justice, they hadn’t captured her beauty. He put the statue down and moved on to the next store where they were selling some kind of food, he scrunched his nose up at it as it didn’t look appetizing to him but if it was offered he wouldn’t turn it down. The next store sold more food, vegetables to be specific, a few people were crowded around the poor owner, the old man struggled to keep up with his customer's questions.

Adrien slowly made his way down the street, occasionally he stopped by a store if they interested him enough but that was rare. He played with the small leather coin purse in his pocket, the two to three coins bounced off of each other making small clinking noises. His eyes searched the last few stalls for something before he turned back, a table full of masks.

He walked confidently towards the table, masks sat atop it, they were all different but he had his eyes on one, a black one, he hated what he was about to but he had no money and for one night he would like to fit in. The shop owner turned his head to talk to a new customer, Adrien didn’t stop, he stuck his hand out and plucked the mask from its spot on the table, he slid it into his pocket as he walked passed, his heart raced but he kept his calm and continued. Once again he expected someone to yell stop, for someone to notice that he had taken something from the table but they didn’t, it was odd. He, like everyone, had been taught that stealing was bad but he hadn’t expected that it would be so easy.

Filled with confidence, he continued towards the next stall where several hoods and other clothing items hung proudly, but unfortunately, no shoes were included within the shops wears. The shopkeeper was still distracted with helping fit a young girl into a new coat when he walked past, Adrien reached up and pulled a dark hood from its hook, he had been hoping for a new coat but the hood was alright as well; he walked a few steps before he raised the rain hood over his head and quickly buckled the clasp around his neck.

He carried on further into the crowd, the smell of food surrounded him, he knew he was hungry but his stomach didn’t let out a growl or even hurt from the lack of food. He was starting to regret turning down Ladybug’s extraordinary soup when he felt horrible about her having to bring it each day and he was starting to realise just how much it was going to cost her over time; she was going to be upset when she found out that he was once again not eating but that was a problem that future Adrien could deal with.

He walked past another stall full of food when Plagg poked his head from out of his shirt pocket to look around, “Kid? I thought we were going to look for food?”

“There weren't any…” he replied, “and we have hardly any money left so if you want to eat cheese…” he trailed off.

The Kwami let out a sigh and retreated into his shirt, “Doesn’t mean you have to go hungry kid.”

A frown spread across his face as he continued, the loud and happy laughter coming from the bar further down the street drew him closer, the smell of alcohol and food only made him walk closer to the building. He carefully peered inside, everyone he saw was wearing a mask, a person standing on a table near the bar said something and the entire crowd erupted into laughter bringing a smile to his face, a waitress made her way from table to table, a large tray with bowls and cups piled high sat in her hands, she walked past the doorway he was standing in and he caught sight of some of the food. He looked down at the mask in his hands then back at the people back inside, slowly he raised the black mask to his face and pressed it around his eyes; it took a little but he managed to mould the stiff fabric so it would stay in place before he headed inside.

Nobody noticed him enter or him sneak a cup off of the waitresses tray while she was distracted by another customer that was trying to flirt with her, he headed past them and the couples dancing towards a darkened corner where an empty chair and table was waiting for him. He sat down and immediately pulled out his small coin purse and started counting the last few coins he had to his name, it was only enough to cover another drink, with a sigh he put the small leather-bound purse away and scanned the bar patrons not expecting someone to catch his eye but someone had, he had to make sure he wasn’t seeing things at first but no he wasn’t, Adrien leaned back in his chair, his eyes watched her carefully as she laughed with her friends before she was led to the dance floor by a tall dark-haired man; her soft pink mask hid her identity well, he certainly wouldn’t have recognized her if he hadn’t spent almost every moment with her memorising her voice, the way her smile tugged at her lips when she was happy and on the odd occasion, her laughter.

The man she was with spun her around quickly causing her to let out another excited giggle bringing music to his ears and to those around them but a twinge of jealousy started to bubble away at his insides and it was slowly leading to anger, there was nothing he could do but watch as his partner had the time of her life. As he watched them dance he started to wonder who the guy was, they didn’t look like they were related in any way and the way he was looking at her… It reminded him too much of the way he looked at her, he couldn’t help but conclude that he was in some way her lover. The possibility of her possibility being married to someone had never crossed his mind, he was so stupid for to believe that she was unmarried, a lady like her would have had hundreds of suitors lining up at her door, he never had a shot to begin with but somehow the guy with her did, he had been all the odds and ended up with her, the most amazing girl in the world.

The musicians drew the song they were playing to its close and the crowd erupted into a round of applause, he clapped as well but with less enthusiasm as the rest while his vibrant green eyes followed her back to her group of her friends from the safety of the shadows. He wanted to approach her but there were too many people around her and there was no certainty that she would recognize him as him. He continued to watch as her friends smiled and laughed along with her, he was too far away for him to hear any of the words but she seemed to be happy. One of her friends passed her a wooden cup and she quickly downed the harsh liquid in a few small gulps before slamming it back down on the wooden table, a smile tugged at his lips at the sight before he had pulled His eyes flickered away from her down to his own cup, time had passed quickly as he watched her dance, he couldn’t exactly remember how much time had actually passed but it was at the same height it had been nearly an hour ago… full.

He let out a sigh and reluctantly picked it up, the liquid was as bitter as he remembered and once again he swore to never drink it again but he knew he was going to anyways. It was cheap and the only thing he could drink but he still longed for the sweet summer wines his father constantly had stocked in the cellar. Adrien quickly swallowed the rest of the horrible liquid before placing the wooden cup back on the small round table and pushing it towards the centre of the table. The passing barmaid tried to refill his now empty cup but he quickly waved her away after she had filled his cup with more of the brown liquid. His hands found the cup and he felt oddly comforted by it, it helped him blend in with the other dark and mysterious drinkers in the bar, he looked up from his cup and his eyes instantly found her. She was once again on the small dance floor and in her lover's arms, she was giggling as she was twirled around by him, her faded pink skirt lifted slightly from the motion revealing her stockings, he averted his eyes for a brief moment so that her skirt could return to her original position.

He watched her laugh and smile and it started to bring back memories of his mother from a time lost so very long ago, they were happy memories, his mother’s smile, a smile that a dark-haired, blue-eyed girl he was chasing also shared; he saw his mother in her, they were both kind and smart, they both cared more about those around them than themselves at times, maybe that was what had drawn him to her, he was like a moth to a flame around her. The music once again slowed down to a halt and Ladybug was left alone on the dance floor as her lover returned to the group of girls, her friends. He quickly unclasped the cape around his neck and stood up, his heart raced and he swore that his feet wobbled slightly at each step. He squeezed his way through the crowd towards her, he knew he looked horrible and that there was a slight chance that she wouldn’t recognize him but he didn’t want to pass up this opportunity. He recited what he was going to say over and over again until he was standing almost directly behind her, even now she was beautiful, he cleared his throat to catch her attention, she slowly turned to face him and he lowered his voice, he didn’t want anyone but her to her what he was about to say next.

“Excuse me, My Lady. May I have this dance?”

-x-

Marinette stared wide-eyed at the tall blond-haired boy in the mask, his words echoed back to her and she realised who he was, she tried to hide her shock as she took in his appearance, he looked scruffy, his clothes looked like they hadn’t seen a wash bin in quite a while and he was missing shoes. She was horrified at how he looked, she knew the revolution had been horrible for most and she was somewhat well off considering that fact that there would always be a demand for bread while the drought was still going on and no one would try to mess with her father but she had never seen someone look as rough as he did. He hid it well while he was in the suit, the only thing that gave it away was how he was always hungry, she kept an eye on him though, and she did try to offer him food once he had told her not to bother any more but he was a stubborn kitty and wouldn’t take any more food from her.

She was pulled back to the world around her when the musicians raised their bows to their violins and Marinette had to quickly make up her mind; she took a deep breath knowing that she would probably regret this and nodded her head. A small smile spread across his lips and he let out a breath that she didn’t realize he was holding, he looked around the room for something before pulling her in close, she fumbled for a second, dancing was not something she was used to but Chat seemed to not be phased by her little mistake. The song started and he led her through the dance, his arms were strong and firm as was his grip, she felt extremely comfortable within them and she tried her best to stop herself from stepping on his toes but that proved fruitless; she found herself constantly apologising in the awkward air between them, he laughed it off and told her not to worry but that didn’t stop her.

She wondered why he was there, it was, of course, a public bar but didn’t stop her, he didn’t seem like the type to visit such establishments, he always, she bit back her question until they were further into the dance, a dance that Chat seemed to know quite well, even better than the people around them, she struggled to keep up at times, he adjusted his grip on her waist before preparing to spin her again; he let out a small hiss of pain as her heel dug into his toes but continued with the dance.

“I’m sorry,” she apologised as she was pulled back into his grasp.

A smile spread across his lips and he quickly changed the subject so she wouldn’t feel so bad about hurting his toes, “You look rather lovely Bugaboo.”

She rolled her eyes and turned her head so he couldn’t see the heat rising over in her cheeks as they turned a soft pink, she thought that she would be used to his silly flirting by now but that didn’t seem to be the case; she looked towards her friends to find that they were cheering her on, she groaned internally and turned back to her dance partner.

“I-” she swallowed her nervousness, “I didn’t expect to see you here,” she told him before they went into a spin.

“Neither did I, My Lady. May I ask what you are doing here?”

“My…” she trailed off, she wasn’t sure that she should be telling him this. A small argument transpired within her head and one side ultimately won, “My friend… She’s… The guards, they want to arrest her,” she indicated to Alya over her shoulder as the turned once again. “I’ve been looking after her sisters while she tries to find a way out of Paris with them. Tonight is the first night in about a week that she’s been able to make it out for a harmless night of fun,” a smile had slowly started to spread across her lips as she explained the situation to him.

Chat nodded his head, “Sounds rather lovely.”

She nodded, “Yeah, How about you?” she asked.

A hint of sadness washed over his face for a split second but the smile returned, “I’m just passing through Bugaboo.”

She narrowed her eyes slightly to try and figure out if he was lying to her. “Chat? You know you can tell me, we may not be able to tell each other who we are but that shouldn’t stop you from telling me something.”

He nodded his head and twirled her around one last time as the song grew to a close, the people around them clapped and quickly returned to their conversations.

Chat bowed slightly before her, it wasn’t enough to draw attention to them but enough to show respect, “Thank you, My Lady, I quite enjoyed our dance but I believe your friends are trying to get your attention.”

She frowned slightly and turned around to where they were sitting.

Alya was smiling brightly and was clearly trying to grab her attention by her frantic waving, Mylen and Rose were trying to calm her best friend while Alix was doing the same thing as Alya. She let out a groan and turned back to Chat, only for him to no longer be standing in front of her frantically she glanced around the bar.

“Where did that cat boy go?” she muttered under her breath before turning back to the group of overly excited girls.

Alya didn’t hold back her lines of questioning, Marinette hadn’t even sat down yet when the words came flying out of her mouth, words that Marinette didn’t quite know how to answer, ‘Who was that?’ Marinette didn’t exactly know, she was his partner, they fought Akuma’s together and she once brought him food just before their patrol when she was concerned about him but she didn’t know who he was. She knew he was a flirt, he was roughly the same age as her but nothing else, she had enforced the ‘we mustn't know who the other is’ rule but Chat had still managed to weasel out little bits of information out of her with a few innocent questions here and there, where she, on the other hand, knew nothing about him.

Her eyes scanned the bar once more, she hated how well that boy could blend in, it was difficult to see him across the rooftops when the sun slowly dipped under the horizon but it seemed even more difficult in the small bar, his messy blond hair and his black clothes, stained with dried mud helped blend him into the murky black shadowed filled bar.

“Marinette?”

“Hmm?” she asked at the sound of her name, she turned slowly towards her best friend.

“You didn’t answer my question…” Alya replied, “So? Who was that?”

“I- We didn’t exactly exchange names…” she admitted

Her friend let out a defeated sigh, “So… Let me get this straight, you danced with the guy even though you kinda promised Luka the next dance and didn’t even get his name.”

She winced at her friend's words, she had completely forgotten that she had agreed to another dance, she knew that she needed to make it up to Luka. She looked around the bar, this time for the black-haired boy she had been originally dancing with; she found him on the small dance floor, a short orange-haired girl was in his arms and he seemed to be quite interested in the small girl. She smiled when she saw him look up towards her, he smiled back and returned to the girl that had caught his attention, she was happy for him, he seemed to like the girl in front of him.

She averted her eyes and returned to the cup that had been pushed in front of her, her friends continued in their conversation, they tried to add her to it but she wasn’t exactly in the mood. Marinette found herself once again searching the bar for her cat-eared partner, her eyes studied the faces of the people there, looking for the one she recognized. Brown masks, dull blues and green ones littered the crowds, there was the occasional pink or yellow but not the black one she was seeking, not even the brown coat that she knew had once been a lighter shade stood out to her, it was like he had vanished from the small room but she knew he hadn’t, the odd sensation at the back of her neck told her he was still there.

“Marinette?” Alya called once again, she had been trying to get her attention for a while and she was concerned, Marinette could hear it in her voice, her friend followed her gaze to try and find out what had distracted her from the conversation, “Are you looking for the blond?”

She nodded, she was ashamed to admit it but she would much rather spend her time with him at that moment, she had never put much thought into getting to know him but right then… Right then she wanted to know everything, his hopes and dreams before the droughts and constant fighting and what they were now, she wanted to know if he had lost people as she had or if he hadn’t, what trade he had taken up. There were so many questions she wanted the answer to but she knew that once the small amount of wine that she had drunk had worn off, she would chicken out of asking.

Her best friend took pity on her and started to help her look, it only took a few moments but her friend managed to find him for her.

“Right corner,” she murmured so the rest of their friends wouldn’t hear the conversation, “he extinguished the candle so you wouldn’t be able to see him.”

Slowly her eyes tracked their way over to him, a black hood had been pulled up around his head to hide his blond locks, she could only just see his green eyes from underneath the hood, they were focused on something on the table in front of him and not on her. Slowly Marinette rose from her seat, she muttered a few words to her friends before heading up to the bar, she threw a few coins atop the bar and ordered another cup of wine as well as a bowl of their unknown soup. The bartender scooped up the coins and quickly poured the drink for her and then dunked his spoon into a large pot drawing out a large spoon full of the liquid they called soup for her before he dropped it into a small wooden bowl, she whispered a thank you and picked them up. Carefully she walked over to the small round table hidden in shadows, she didn’t want to spill any of the horribly expensive bar food she had just bought; her partner's eyes stayed fixated on something in his hands and he still hadn’t noticed her when she was standing a few centimetres away from him, she smiled and gently placed the bowl down before she placed the cup down heavily causing him to jump slightly out of his seat.

“Bug?” he questioned.

She nodded, “I didn’t seem like you had eaten yet so I thought…”

A small smile spread across his lips and he slowly pulled the bowl towards him, “Thank you.”

He dipped the spoon into the brown soup and inspected the substance, slowly he brought the spoon to his lips in an attempt to brace himself but that did nothing as she watched him physically cringe at the taste, she tried to bite back her laugh but that was a failed attempt.

He dropped the spoon back in the bowl and sighed, “I have no idea what I was expecting.”

She replied with more laughter, “Sorry…”

He sighed again, “What are you doing here Bug?”

She giggled a little bit more before she answered his question, “I- I realised that I don’t actually know that much about you, so…”

“There isn’t much to tell, My Lady, I’m pretty sure you have a better story.”

She groaned, she knew what he was trying to do, “Chat, stop trying to change the subject,” she whined, “Please, just… tell me something.”

His eyes flickered down to the table and she waited patiently, she knew that she had crossed into a touchy subject. His hands started to fiddle with a small silver pocket watch, it caught her eye when the soft orange glow of a candle bounced off of it, it was quiet in their corner so her ears picked up on the soft ticking of the mechanism. His fingers wiped down the watch face before he stuffed the watch back into his coat, he returned to the soup and stirred the spoon in it while trying to kill time so he wouldn’t have to answer her question.

Marinette slowly inched her hand towards his and wrapped it around his, his head turned towards her and she gave him a small but comforting smile.

“I- I don’t know where to start bug…”

“Where ever you feel like it,” she replied, pulling the cup towards her.

He once again let out a sigh as he prepared to tell her his story, “Well…”

Made for @ladynoirjuly2019

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leswansong · 5 years ago

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Protecting Ladybug

[ A03 ]

Word Count: 1K+

Summary: He had been fighting her for years but he couldn't stand by and watch this happen. Not this time...

Adrien watched in fear as her legs were pulled together by Akuma's whip-like arms and was dragged across the stones. She cried out in fear and partially in pain, he also saw it appear across her face. She struggled to pull and kick at the strong binds at her legs and he started to realise that she was starting to give up. His own heart raced and he felt his blood boil. She couldn’t give up. She had never given up before.

He jumped down from his tall perch and towards his father's Akuma. He saw red and he swung his baton at the whips and the Akuma let out a confused cry in pain. A growl slowly rumbled its way to the surface from the back of his throat. He knew that he was poking the wasp's nest with what he was about to do. He had never stood up to his father’s Akuma before. At Least not when it came to her. His eyes narrowed and he raised his baton, ready to swing it like a bat if it came near him or her.

The Akuma took a hesitant step towards her and the growl became louder causing it to back off. The Akuma got down on all fours dragging its long whip arms behind them. It was like a hungry Lion stalking a wounded prey.

“No!” he yelled through his growl as the Akuma tried to get closer to her again.

The familiar purple mask appeared over the tall Akuma face. He felt his heart race slightly from fear but he stood his ground, he needed to protect her. He tightened his grip on his baton and braced himself for the Akuma to attack him. The purple mask flickered for a second before it disappeared. The Akuma slowly back away before disappearing down the streets. He still stayed in place until he saw the purple butterfly fly up into the slowly darkening sky.

He turned back to her. She was crumpled into a ball, her shoulders shook slightly but he didn’t hear any sobbing from her. Maybe it was from the pain from being hit from the Akuma. The Akuma his father had created had been particularly brutal. He could only imagine the amount of pain she was in. He had tried to get his father to get the Akuma to stop as he winced each and every time he heard the sharp crack from those arms. It had to have hurt just for it to have slightly touched.

Carefully he unravelled her limbs from each other and lifted her from the cold floor and pulled her into his arms. Her arms slowly wormed their way around his neck before they settled into place. He smiled slightly before extending his baton up to the roof.

He knew immediately that he needed to make her feel as safe as possible and the cold Parisian air brushing against her back wasn’t helping. He quickly scooped her up into his arms and spun her around so her back was against the wall. It helped as the dam that had been holding back her fear broke. He held her in place as she cried into his shoulder, her arms wrapped tighter and tighter around him. He started to feel her nails start to dig in through his tough suit.

His grip on her tightened and he pushed his head into the crook of her neck.

“You’re okay,” he whispered softly, “You’re okay bug.”

She cried slightly harder and her grip grew tighter.

“You’re okay, I promise. You’re okay Bug. I promise I won’t let anything happen to you. I’ll make sure that it doesn’t. I promise.”

Steadily her tears started to slow and her grip started to loosen as she started to regain her composure. Her hand slowly moved down to his chest where she gently pushed against him. He did as she asked and unravelled his arms from around her waist and hips while her other arm finally found its way off of his neck. She pushed against him again and he raised his hands up and slowly backed away.

She wanted away from him as quickly as possible. He understood that. They had been fighting for several years now. Years of beating each other with whatever they could get their hands on. He normally came out worse but he knew that he had given her quite a few cuts and bruises a fact that he hated but it had happened.

She walked away from him and approached the end of the roof. Her hands were on her hips and she was ready to pull her yo-yo from it when something within her had changed.

He watched her slowly turn back towards him, her eyes were his main focus. Those bright bluebell eyes. He felt her hand cup his cheek, he resisted his cat instincts to lean into it. His eyes flicked down to her red glove before returning to her bright blue eyes that would win over his heart if he wasn’t fighting her. She stared into his and for a split second he thought he saw her eyes flicker down to his lips but he quickly dismissed this.

“Thank you…” her voice was barely over a whispered, “I- I don’t know why-” she cut herself off.

Then everything happened too quickly. Her eyes flickered shut. Then he felt her lips pressed against his. His eyes shot open for a second before he shut them and leaned into the kiss. He was surprised at how soft they were, granted he hadn’t exactly kissed anyone but… Slowly she started to pull away from him and he tried to continue it but he didn’t want to pressure her.

Her lips disappeared and then her hand. She gave him one last look and turned away from him. Her yo-yo let out its familiar sound as it extended across the Parisian roofs. She didn’t say anything as she left. Left him standing there mourning the loss of her lips. Somehow he had allowed her to take his breath away. He watched her retreating form across the rooftops. His back met the brick wall behind him and he let out a lovesick sigh. He knew that he was in trouble not just with her but with the stone-cold man waiting for him back home.

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leswansong · 5 years ago

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Letters To You - A Royal AU

Summary: A story of a Knight and a Princess told through a selection of Letters.

[ A03 ]

To My Loyal Knight,

October, 23rd, XX43

My love, I worry for you, I hear the war is getting worse, I wish there was something I could do to help you, but there is nothing I could do from the confines of my white cage, the lords and ladies of the court are growing frustratingly annoying none of them seem to care about the war down south, they continue to worry over petty little things, I've never considered how sharp the stake knives actually are.

There are some days in which I wish I wasn't who I was, I wonder if you and I would have met, would we have had enough time to form the bond that we did or would we have fallen in love with someone else, these questions plague my mind, more often of late.

I long for the day your able to come home so I could kiss those red lips of yours, the days we spend running through the forest without the weight of the world on us.

But I must confess that I'm writing to you for another reason, one that I hate to tell you in this trying time.

My Father, The king, and lord of the land we call home has started the search for my husband, He didn't even tell me until one of them had arrived, but I must inform you that I put up quite a fight at the dinner table right in front of my intended, I'm glad to say that they retracted their proposal soon afterwards. I won't be able to stave off all of them, I wish this war would end, I wish it would end so that there will be no more bloodshed, I wish it would end so children could have their fathers back, mothers their sons and you, I wish it would end so I could hold you in my arms, I dare not care who sees, I want it to end for you.

I wish I could end this letter on a better note.

Your Princess, Marinette.

-x-

My Dearest Lady,

October, 31st, XX43

Those stake knives have been known to have protected your family from many murders, whether or not they are apart of the same set I do not know but please don't kill them, members of the court, until I return, I wish to see you fight. But if you find that you can not hold yourself back, I know that you want to make them suffer but please make the kill quick.

I wish I could come running home to your loving arms and whisk you off your feet, but I must confirm that the war is growing worse, we lost 24 men from blood fever last night, I've lost count of how many on the battlefield all for a measly 10 feet. This war will need a resolution soon I fear that I will soon join the many numbers of the dead, but I don't wish to talk of war, your letters although short and so far between are my only glimpse of the world outside this war that I now call home.

Your Father searching for your husband is not a bad thing, I made peace with the fact that you will never truly be mine no matter how high up the social ladder I climb, my only wish is that your husband treats you like the Queen you are, but I'm sure your wonderful parents wouldn't let you marry someone you weren't happy with, if they don't I know of a small farmhouse up north were no one would look for you. I'd hate to suggest that you leave your duty to the county but if you feel the need, My Lady.

I passed by a small village today, I've been moved further west closer to bigger fight, we claimed the lands to our north, they seemed to have retreated, I sense a trap being set and I'm the lamb being sent to the slaughterhouse I plan to double back for a few days although I doubt my Sargent will allow me, he will most likely have me shot for cowardness, but maybe I'll fame sickness he might send me back south.

Hoping to hear your voice soon.

Your loyal Knight, Adrien

-x-

My Loyal Knight,

8th November, XX43

I write this letter to you urgently as I need your council, I write this as I myself am still processing this revelation.

You, my Love, came to me in a trying time, My older Brother, named after my father, had passed from a riding accident, his body was never recovered, our enemy to the west claims that he is alive and well, they say that he has married their daughter, the weight of what they say has been backed up by a letter written in his hand and a photo of him and his wife and child, their request is that I give up the right to the crown among many other requests, I wish to surrender to that request but I'm still unsure something seems wrong, if they already had the key to the thone why start a war, I know my parents would have accepted the marriage and gladly called her family but this war, this war has made my once soft parents into people I hardly recognize.

I wish that I could tell you all of their demands it might help you council me better, but I dare not risk it.

I will most likely write another letter before I receive yours.

Waiting for your response.

Marinette

-x-

My Dearest,

11th November, XX43

If you feel as If something is wrong please trust your gut, we know where its lead us before and it had yet to fail us, but I do think it is od that they started a war, I suggest that you do some digging but please My Lady be discreet, I don't want to have to storm a castle for you.

I wish I could come home, it sounds like you need me there.

Currently pretending to be a sick soldier.

Your Loyal Knight, Adrien.

-x-

My Knight,

13th November, XX43

Please don't return home just yet, you may just be my only hope of answers, I need you to stay on the front lines, I may just have a plan, I cannot explain it now i need to iron out the details, I want there to be the least amount of risk involved for you.

Still trying not to kill the members of the royal court.

Your Princess, Marinette.

-x-

Princess,

15th November, XX43

Please tell me that the task you have in mind will be an easy one?

Have you noticed our letters are taking a shorter amount of time to arrive?

Hoping that the quest you plan to send me on will be a short one.

-Adrien.

-x-

Adrien,

17th November, XX43

Do you doubt my abilities?

It certainly seems like it, but I must inform you that is task will be long, it will keep you away from me for many moons.

If you don't want to do it, I'm okay with that, I could always find someone else.

I'm having our letters fast-tracked through the ranks, turns out being the Princess gets you special privileges.

Dreading the thought of attending a ball.

Your Lady, Marinette.

-x-

My Love,

20th November, XX43

I knew that your title would come in handy somewhere.

I do not doubt your brilliant mind, I know that if you were to put your plan into action you would have plan A though to Z.

I am disappointed that the cost of this mission may take me away from you for longer, but if it ends this war I shall do so, No price is too steep to pay for you.

Please tell me that you are going to wear a bright red dress for the ball.

Waiting eagerly for your reply, Adrien.

-x-

My Knight,

25th November, XX43

Just for you I shall wear a red dress, I hope that there will be at least some talk of the war, I can't stand to be in a room of rich pompous fools talking about nothing but the latest fashion, on any other occasion I would love it but not in this dark time, I would much rather talk about the ways to stop this horrendous war.

My plan is almost complete.

I hate to ask you but is there someone you trust, someone who would be willing to put their life on the line. I tried my best to make this a one-person job but it would put too many variables into play, a second person would eliminate so many risks. I need to know soon as it is of great importance.

My handmaiden is growing suspicious of my letters I may grow quiet for a few days, please don't worry about me, I don't want to arouse suspicion from my parents, they seem to suspect that someone holds my heart. Maybe they would approve of us?

I still have so many thoughts that I have no idea how to put to paper.

Currently wondering how to hide these letters.

Your Princess in a tower, Marinette.

-x-

My Love,

28th November, XX43

To hear that you'll be wearing red has me smiling, if it is still fashionable please wear the one that stopped my beating heart, I sadly must inform you that my sister is currently married to one of those pompous fools, but please continue to insult them as my sister is currently too chicken to do it herself she doesn't know the power that she now wields, please remind her that she is now a member of the royal court, not a frightened goat and shouldn't be concerned with what she says unless it is ill against you and your family.

But yes My Lady I do have someone I trust here on the front lines with me; I still consider you my most trusted, but Nino is a close second.

He is still considering the risks as he is the only provider for his younger brothers and sisters, although I believe that he will agree.

There is little to no action here now, it's starting to worry me, others have noticed as well. We can tell something is happening, maybe our enemy is waiting for a reply?

I grow wary every day, I fear sleeping, the silence is deafening. There were days in which I wished that the firing would stop now all I wish for is their return.

I'm going to see if I can return home for a day, I need to return to normalcy for a day.

Maybe I'll see you soon.

Your tired Knight, Adrien.

-x-

Dearest Adrien,

3rd December, XX43

It saddens me to hear how this war is affecting you, the sweet shy loyal knight that danced with a princess and won her heart within a single song now sounds broken and extremely saddened. I wish I could wave a magic wand and bring you home to me but not even my reach extends that far, the best I can do is fill you with hope and my love from afar.

I do hope that you could return home but I know how hard it will be, maybe it will be easier if I go to the frontlines. Do you think other soldiers would be happy to see me? I could disguise it as a morale boost, how well my parents believe that is currently unknown, but I highly doubt we would be able to be alone together, my parents would be concerned about my safety over anything else, I fear that I would cause more trouble than help.

My Parents have considered the deal our enemy has brought of the table immensely as of late, I fear my plan may come too late, I'd hate to stall the resolution of this war but I need time. What shall I do? My heart is torn between a rock and a hard place. What this deal means to our people, I can not begin to describe, it would restore peace for a time but the impact it would have on the poor... it's hard to explain in one letter but I have read and reread the terms, so once again I seek your counsel.

Please see the attached document.

I ask what kind of impact this would have on our people. I also ask that you keep this letter hidden from all eyes, even friends, I cannot express the importance of this letter staying hidden.

I've been inquiring into the lives of, I must express that there is no easy way to say this, My brother's in-laws, I've been stonewalled at every turn. I wish things could be easy for once.

Your friend Nino wouldn't be Nino Layfayette would he?

Patiently waiting for your response.

You Lady, Marinette.

-x-

Mari,

5th December, XX43

It's hard to say how this war is affecting me, I too fear for my health, I'm afraid that this war has already changed me and I don't know how to feel. My Grandfather spoke often of how war changed him I never truly knew how much.

I feel many men here would appreciate your visit, but I too fear for your safety, there are so many horrors that I've witnessed in these trenches, I wish to never expose you to them, but I believe that your parents need to see the effect of this war.

I find it hard to find time to write, we've been under constant fire for the past 3 days, I fear that you may have rattled the right cages, I have a feeling they may be trying to stop you, Just promise me that you'll be careful.

My Lady, please don't sign that contract, the conditions of the contract would destroy this peaceful country, but I'm sure you already knew that. I too find it hard to describe the effects in a single letter.

Yes, My friend would be Nino Layfayette,

I Await your response

Your ever-loyal knight Adrien.

-x-

My Love,

7th December, XX43

Another suiter has come to ask for my hand in marriage, I dread having to meet them. Maybe once this war is done I could present you to my parents as a war hero.

Has Nino considered your offer?

Your Princess, Marinette

-x-

My Dear,

9th December, XX43

He has, he's making some preparations before he officially says yes.

- Adrien.

-x-

My dearest,

14th December, XX43

Please, Mari, tell me the roomers aren't true, Please tell you didn't renounce your claim to the throne.

-Your Loyal Knight

-x-

Princess Marinette,

18th December, XX43

I write to you to ask if the roomers in Paris are true. A simple yes or no answer will suffice.

I only wish to know to quell the uncertainty of my fellow soldiers, not much news reaches us here on the front lines.

I await your response,

Your loyal subject and servant, Lord Adrien of the house Agreste.

-x-

My Love,

21st December, XX43

I write to you on the road to the frontlines, I fear the roomers you've heard a partly true and more complex than you could imagine.

I'm sorry that I left you in the dark for so long, I barely caught your letters before they reached the castle. It has grown extremely dangerous in the capital. I didn't give up my right to the crown, my parents stripped me of it, I fear they are being influenced by someone, so I fled the capital, I'm sure you can understand where exactly I'm headed.

you are the only person I trust in the world.

Please don't worry about me I'm not travelling down the main road, I'm disguised as a nurse.

I'll soon be with you - Your Princess, Marinette

A serious tone doesn't suit you.

-x-

Mari,

23rd December, XX43

You know how I feel about you coming to the front lines, I know I can't stop you but I can urge you to be careful, the roads are dangerous. I hate to think of something bad happening to you.

Please be safe - Adrien.

and yes I know a serious tone doesn't suit me, I was worried.

-x-

24th December, XX43

Adrien, I ask that you turn around.

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leswansong · 5 years ago

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(Late) Ladynoir July: When Tomorrow Comes

Day Eight: Bad Luck Charm

[ A03 ]

Word Count: 2K+

Adrien understood now, he looked around at the streets around him as people went about their business, bakers, tailors, monks, farmers from the fields and paper workers; he watched as they walked in harmony with the few around them that still had money although they didn’t flaunt it too much but they were all fighting for one cause, for change. He knew now why his father had done what he had done, he was trying to cling to the little bit of power he had left in the world; the man valued loyalty to the crown more than anything else in the world even when the revolutionists were at their door with their wooden rams and- Adrien shook his head, he admitted to himself that he hated his father because he had hidden this world from him, he knew if he had seen this, he definitely would have gone against his father's wishes and joined in the fight and maybe… maybe he would have met Ladybug sooner and there were a few more things that he wanted to change and stop but he couldn’t dwell on that, he knew what he was going to do… Fight.

Although he hated the thought of it, he needed someone that knew his family, someone who still had power, finding them, on the other hand, was a completely different task, he was only just starting to navigate the rooftops from memory, streets were a lot harder but he was starting to learn what streets lead where and what streets were shortcuts to others; a few places came flooding back to him from memory when he passed by them, he knew who lived in those houses vaguely but he didn’t quite remember who they were and even if they actually lived there to begin with. Slowly he pulled the torn piece of paper from his pocket, his eyes read the names almost instantly, they were the only names he could remember even though he knew he could remember more if he searched his terrible memory for them but the small list he had was a decent start.

He wondered if he could talk to Ladybug about it, he wouldn’t be able to tell her everything about his major plan, after all, she had made her thoughts about them knowing each other's identities clear but she did know the streets better than him and probably knew some of the names on the list and even better, if they were still alive. It would help him a lot if she did but he highly doubted his luck, he was prepared for nothing to be easy and there was most likely a long and rocky path ahead of him.

He sighed and stuffed the names back in his pocket, he already had a direction, patrol would start in a few minutes and he needed to locate the building before she arrived, if she arrived he didn’t expect her to after the day they had but it was still nice to hope. He tried to remember where they said they were going to be meeting, they had to choose a new spot to meet for their patrol when people started to learn their schedule, a shame really, he quite enjoyed meeting on that tall rooftop and watching the water flow down the seine. Adrien tugged up his raincoat hood over his soot-covered hair and headed down the long street towards a small market stall, he could already see what he wanted to swipe and as he passed it he plucked a small apple off of the edge of the table as well as a few other which he stuffed into his pockets. Nobody noticed him do it or noticed the fruit was gone until he disappeared down a small nearby street, he smirked as the sounds of the shop owner yelled and screamed about his missing fruit, he raised the red apple to his lips and bit into the sweet fruit before he raised it to his Kwami to take a bit out of; it wasn’t the cheese the Kwami craved but it was food and even that wasn’t a luxury they could actually afford just yet… but maybe one day they could.

He headed a little further into the alley before he ducked into a hidden doorway and called for his transformation. Plagg, of course, protested a little as the first few words floated past his lips that the Kwami quickly hushed but even the small creature knew that going on patrol was a necessary thing that had to be done because they weren’t doing it for fun. They ran across the rooftops to keep the morale of the extremely tired and frustrated people that roamed the streets below and not to keep an eye out for any signs of trouble like everyone believed. Hawkmoth had chosen the perfect time to emerge and wreak havoc, many people were angry and upset, the villain's preferred victims and Hawkmoth had hundreds, thousands of people to choose from, Adrien knew that anyone and everyone around him could be the next person to try and kill him.

Adrien waited a moment before he uttered his transformation words again, Plagg compiled this time and Adrien felt the magic wash over him; he loved the feeling, it felt freeing and he was leaving the thoughts, hopes, dreams and fears behind in favour for the mind of someone who had no worries, who had no fears and nobody, apart from Ladybug, would know his past. He felt like he could do anything in the suit, it made him feel like he wasn’t lost without a home and he wasn’t desperately trying to outrun the feeling of hopelessness that never seemed to leave him alone when he wasn’t in the midnight black suit. Another sigh escaped his lips and he carefully peaked out into the small street before stepping out with his baton and escaping to the rooftops to meet his lady.

His feet fell and hit the rooftops, the tiles clinked and chattered against each other as he ran across them, his baton was at his back, he didn’t need it for the short distance he was travelling in. The Panthéon, grand in every word with its large dome and the walls grand pilers that reminded him of the paintings of the greeks at their buildings was his destination. Adrien had only heard rumours about its grand inside but he hoped it was just as grand as he thought the outside was even though it was covered in the scaffolding they were using to… he didn’t know what, it was something he would have to ask Ladybug what they were doing to the great building. His list of places and events he was curious about had quickly grown from a few small things in the hour and a half since he had left his lady’s side to one rather long one, places and people had changed a lot in the years he had been locked away from the world and he was eager to re-learn the world he had found himself in.

He ignored the people on the streets below as he passed, a few of them noticed him, most of them didn’t, a small blessing, he didn’t exactly want to cause a panic among the crowds without his Lady around, she knew how to handle them better than he did, reminding him that he needed to work on his people skills.

The large round dome slowly came closer, he couldn’t see the familiar dull red suit but he didn’t lose hope yet, maybe she would show, he wished she would, she would brighten his already bright day even more. He pulled his baton from his back and prepared to make the massive bound across to the large slightly angled rooftop, it extended quickly below him sending him sailing over the gap, his stomach leapt and felt weightless as he crossed the gap, time seemed to slow around him as he slowly crossed the gap when in reality it was mere seconds. He landed horribly and his legs buckled underneath him as soon as they made contact with the masonry, he didn’t have any time to tuck his legs in and he rolled atop the tiles, their sharp and rocky corners dug in and tore and sliced at his skin causing small cuts to form across his skin. He felt a few more tiles dig into his arms and chest before he slowed to a harsh stop.

Adrien let out a painful groan, his eyes found the sky above him bright orange hues danced across the sky as the sun dipped below the horizon, the evening would soon be upon him and the cold as well.

“Need some help?” her heavenly voice asked.

He turned his head towards her. A small, kind smile was etched into her pale face and he could still see the sleep in her tired eyes, she was swaying slightly from side to side in an attempt to ward off her well-deserved slumber. His eyes drifted down to her open palm outstretched towards him, he wanted to place his own had within it but he didn’t want to drain her of any more of her strength.

He shook his head, “I’m fine Bug, just- I just need a moment.” Her face told him that she didn’t believe him, “I promise bug,” he told her trying to reassure her, he bit back the wave of pain that washed over him as he tried to sit up to look at her better.

He noticed that her lip curled up for a moment before it returned to her normal smile. “Okay then…” she replied shrugging her shoulders, she pulled her yo-yo from her waist and headed towards an unknown destination he couldn’t see from his position.

He let out a groan as he realised his mistake, he tried to call her back but she let out a giggle in response, he chuckled a little, the pain in his chest followed but it was worth it. Slowly Adrien crawled over towards the nearby bricked wall before forcing his back against it and steadily, through gritted teeth and the pain in his chest from landing on the tiles he steadily and carefully sat up. He let out a final strained groan as his back made contact with the cold sandstone and he physically shivered at the sudden temperature change. His eyes scanned the rooftop for his baton that he had lost in the fall.

“Are you okay?” she asked, he could hear the concern behind the wall of stone she portrayed when civilians were around alerting him that they were no longer alone.

Slowly he nodded his head, “Yeah, I landed wrong,” he explained.

“That's unusual for you…”

He nodded again, “Must be some bad luck floating around…”

She nodded, “Indeed... I seem to have a bad luck charm floating around me today…”

He frowned, “What do you mean?” he asked.

She sighed and walked over to him, she removed her yo-yo from her waist before sitting down next to him. “There’s this… guy… Not the one at the bar, another one. He’s been trying to get my parents to say yes to a marriage, he shows up every few days but today…”

“He was very forward?” he quired.

Ladybug nodded, “He’s always very forward. It’s just today he was extremely forward and normally I don’t run into him but after the Akuma, I wasn’t paying attention and I ran right into him.” Her head slumped forward and she let out a frustrated groan, “He put me on the spot and I tried to leave but turned and ran into an old woman and I caused a scene,” her voice slowly grew quieter with each word until it was barely above a whisper.

He frowned, “You okay?”

“Just a few cuts and bruises and my damaged pride,” she replied in a half-joking tone, her light-hearted nature had returned slightly.

He smiled, “Should we start our Patrol?”

She nodded, “If you’re ready?”

The pain in his chest told him to say no but he ignored it, “Sure.”

She smiled and stood up, her hand outstretched down towards him. This time he didn’t pass up her offer of help as he placed his arm in her palm. She pulled and he followed, it hurt but he pushed himself to stand, to follow her.

“Hopefully this bad luck will pass us,” he joked as he clutched his side. It urged him to sit back down against the cold bricks but he pushed on.

“Hopefully,” she echoed but softer.

Made for @ladynoirjuly2019

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leswansong · 5 years ago

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(Late) Ladynoir July: When Tomorrow Comes

Day Ten

[ A03 ]

Word Count: 5K+

AN: I wrote an entire chapter without using the prompt cause I completely forgot about it... WHOOPS.

Adrien stared up at the medium-sized four-story house. He had faint but distant memories of it. They were all happy ones, he knew that because they filled him with warmth and caused his lips to form into a smile. He couldn’t remember who lived there but he recalled having been there with Chloè and with a boy around his age. He couldn’t have been any older than six when this memory occurred and yet he could remember running around in a large room filled with books. The boy had short shaggy hair and amber eyes and when he listened to his mother's wishes, he wore the glass frames he needed to see.

The house before him hadn’t been apart of his list, a list that had ultimately been useless as everyone had either turned him away or not answered his call. He didn’t blame them but it was disappointing. He let out the breath he didn’t know he was holding and swallowed the fear that was rising in his chest. He took a strong and confident step towards the house and the large wooden door. He shakily raised his knuckles to it and knocked.

He heard it echoed throughout the house on the other side as he waited for someone to answer his call. There was some shouting from one of the floors above him before he heard the fast and heavy footsteps of someone running down the steps of a tall staircase. His heart started to race as the person got closer and closer to opening the door. He anxiously looked back at the street he had come from then back at the door. The temptation to leave started to overwhelm him. He took one step away from the door when it opened. Slowly he turned back towards the door. He couldn’t leave now.

“Adrien?” the voice of a young man asked. Adrien recognised that voice. “Is that you?” he asked, squinting his eyes a little.

Adrien’s eyes widened as he realised who it was. “Nino?”

He hadn’t realised that the small boy from his memories was the same one that had been his best friend for many long and boring nights at several royal parties. He had been twelve the last time he had seen him at one of his mothers extravagant and rare parties. He remembered it well. The bouncing of his leg as he waited for the party to start, for guests to arrive so he could greet half of them before he disappeared back to his room and back to his books until his few friends arrived.

He couldn’t remember the last time he saw Nino. He guessed it had happened slowly. Maybe one less party until they stopped. Maybe life got in the way, his schedule also amped up when he was twelve meaning he had less time to spend with friends.

The sudden feeling of a firm hand on his shoulder distracted him from his thoughts. “Quick!” Nino exclaimed, “Before the guards see you.”

He let out a yelp as he was sharply pulled into a darkened room. His back hit the wall and his shoulder cried out in pain. The door he had entered through was slammed shut and his ears picked up on the sound of several locks being clicked into place among the sound of his racing heartbeat.

Slowly his green eyes adjusted to the dark. He took in the sight of the room he was in. Hardly any light was pouring into the room from the heavily curtained windows. The sight reminded him of his own home where they too always had the curtains drawn when the crowds came knocking. The walls from what he could see were a soft beige colour with dark wall panelling giving the house an err of warmth. He continued searching his surroundings as Nino peered through the window.

“How??” Nino asked. “How did you escape an angry mob?”

“It’s a long story and one day I promise to tell you but-” his stomach answered him for him as it growled and called for food. His shot open wide and his cheeks grew bright red from embarrassment.

Nino stared at him before bursting out in bouts of laughter. The sounds of joy eased his anxiety and he soon found himself laughing along with him.

“I think we should get you something to eat first, then maybe some new clothes,” he said pulling at the lapel of the torn and dirty coat he was wearing. “We have got to fix this.”

Adrien smiled and nodded, he really wasn’t paying attention to what he was saying, he was just excited about the prospect of something other than horrible bar soup. As that had been his dinner for the past few nights after finding a purse left beside him on his rooftop bed. He didn’t question where it had come from, he just knew not to spend as much as possible in a short time span.

He followed Nino into the kitchen where he was promptly forced to sit down and food was placed in front of him until he could no longer eat any more.

-x-

A smile spread across her lips at the sight of her best friend walking calmly across the streets below. She bit back the urge to yell down to her friend although she really what she wanted to. She quickly turned back to her trapdoor and descended to her room below and then down the steps towards the ground floor. She threw open the door just as her friend reached it and she wrapped her arms around her much to Alya’s surprise.

“You’re back!” she exclaimed attracting a few passerbys. “When did you get back?”

Alya wrapped her arms around Marinette before pulling back, “Last night,” she replied. “My aunt and my sisters are on their way up north, they’re safe.”

Marinette let out a deep breath. It was good to hear that they were safe.

“We best head inside,” she quickly said as she noticed that several guards were starting to take notice of them.

She pushed open the bakery doors and pulled her inside and away from prying eyes so she could ask more questions.

-x-

Adrien did as he was told and stepped up to the pedestal. Adrien knew this tailor. His skills were extraordinary and that meant expensive. He reluctantly stood still as his measurements were taken.

He had no idea how he was supposed to pay Nino. This was too much but nothing he said made him change his mind. He was stuck with his generosity with no escape. A thought he didn’t like. He hated being in debt to someone that he had no way to repay. First with Ladybug and her amazing bowls of soup. Then Marinette and how she had aided him in his escape and now Nino.

The tailor took his final measurements before returning to his sketchbook to enter them in. He caught a glimpse of the jacket Nino had planned for him, it was good, really good. He could see the fine details and he could almost picture what he would look like with it but it didn’t stop a thought from entering his mind. He couldn’t replay Nino just yet but maybe he could repay her.

“Are-” He started before rewording his sentence, “I know of someone you might be interested in, her skills are quite extraordinary,” he said with a smirk.

-x-

Her mind was in the clouds above her head, her sketchbook lay open beside her and she softly hummed a quiet tune. Her eyes stared across the city, it was becoming a regular occurrence for her. Being Ladybug had slowly allowed her to fall back in love with the view. It used to fill her with hate, disgust and resentment but now… She gradually started to see the beauty in mud streets, the cheerful sounds of music and the soft laughter from people walking past. Hope seemed to be on the rise and the fighting in the streets seemed to be coming to an end. She let out a sigh and gripped the warm cup of tea tighter in her cold hands, she didn’t quite like the taste but it was better than constantly drinking the wine they stored in the cellar.

Sunset was close by, she could tell by the soft breeze that washed its way over her causing her skin to prickle from the cold. The air smelled of rain indicating that it would soon rain. It was nice to spend time on her balcony after an Akuma attack because it was nice and calm and she didn’t have to worry about another one to ruin her peace and quiet time where she liked to design but… Nothing had come to mind. Her brain was normally extremely active and teaming with ideas but today… Nothing. It was a little frustrating but it did ruin her plans slightly.

She exhaled and pulled the letter out. A tailor was interested in her skills, her heart leapt as she reread the letter. His small little shop had been one she had spent hours staring into just to get a peek into the mind behind the amazing designs in the windows. He had set her a task, one that should be easy for her. Design a hat. A Tricorne to be exact. Seems simple enough but it was impossible. She had hundreds of designs for other hats but not that one.

She reluctantly picked up her sketchbook and pencil beside her and headed down to her room where she scooped up her bag. The book and several other art supplies were quickly dumped into it before she headed down the steep steps to the ground floor. She yelled her goodbyes to her parents on her way out the door.

She had no destination in mind, she planned on wandering around until she found somewhere that inspired her.

-x-

Adrien inspected the jacket carefully. After two days of waiting it was finally here. He pulled the coat on atop his new clothes, his arm protested slightly but it was doing better than it had been a few days prior. Rest and food had made sure of that as well as improving his mood. He had yet to return to the small bakery to thank Marinette for her aid but she was atop his list of people to thank.

He ran his fingers along with it. The fabric was soft and had been dyed a deep and vibrant blue, not unlike the ones the soldiers wore but slightly lighter. There was no way he was going to let this one get to the state his other one had been left in. That poor coat had to be thrown out.

He tugged on the coat again before he lifted his head up and into the small mirror hanging on the wall. He stared into it and at himself. In the months he had spent on the streets he had forgotten what he looked like. He knew what Chat Noir looked like, he saw that version of himself almost every day but- he had forgotten what Adrien looked like. His hair was lighter than he remembered, it was more of a soft blond and not the brighter and more golden hair he had as his hero half. His eyes… he knew they had been brighter but they had certainly dulled in those months and large black circles had appeared under his eyes. He looked tired and older than what he had been months ago.

Plagg floated up beside him and inspected his chosen’s new outfit. “You’re looking better, Kid, it won’t be long before you’re one hundred percent again,” he said, a small smile was plastered on his face causing Adrien to smile slightly as well.

He nodded his head in response before he scooped up the small coin purse he had discarded on his nightstand the night before after Nino had insisted on taking him drinking the night before.

His head still pounded slightly from the night's events and he had found it incredibly hard to even make it down the many steps to the dining room for breakfast at Nino’s instance once again but breakfast was nice. He got to meet the rest of the Lahiffe family. Nino’s mother and brother were sweet and kind. They kept piling food onto his plate until he was certain that he would explode from the large amount of food.

Nino’s father on the other hand… Adrien got the impression that he wasn’t welcome when he was around. He was the strong silent type just like his own father. Adrien kept his head down and tried his best to be respectful whenever the older man was around. He didn’t want to push his luck and end up on the street again so soon.

With a sigh, Adrien inspected himself in the mirror one last time before he opened his bedroom door and silently made his way down the steps. As he descended he picked up on the sound of concerned voices in the seating room. He slowed his steps so he could hear them better.

“….No, I’m…. He’s not…” He heard Nino argue before being cut off by his father.

“Nino… We can’t…. Guards…. Already...”

Adrien quickly descended the steps so he could hear the conversation better.

“Please papa, he won’t demand stuff from us.”

“Nino, I-”

Adrien missed his step and landed on a creaky one. He winced but the conversation seemed to continue although much quieter than before. He continued down the rest of the steps and he paused outside the door tried to listen to the rest of the conversation but it was already over when he arrived.

Nino quickly exited the room, his father yelled for him to come back but the older man was ignored. He grabbed ahold of Adrien’s right arm and pulled him down the rest of the steps.

“What was-” he tried to ask through the pain searing through his arm from the cut.

Nino shook his head and waved his free hand in front of his face. “It’s nothing to worry about, I’ve got it sorted out,” he quickly said pulling Adrien with him out the front door.

Helplessly he followed his friend out onto the street where he immediately felt eyes on him. He instantly wanted to turn back to the safety of the house. He hadn’t thought about how much his coat would make him stand out. He wanted to retreat into the shadows but Nino wouldn’t let him, he kept Adrien walking straight and he refused to head down any alleys. He wondered how he was able to do this so confidently. How he was able to ignore the eyes that followed them. Maybe he’d get used to it in time? He didn’t know but he hoped it would be the case.

They continued walking towards the Seine, he started to hear the sound of the more busy parts of Paris. Sounds that made Adrien feel at ease.

He thought now would be a good time to ask about the question that had been burning inside his head since the moment he arrived but he knew he couldn’t just ask out of nowhere so Adrien waited until they had been walking for a while before he asked. “My father…” he whispered. He didn’t dare speak his name too loudly, he knew that even a whisper could cause someone's death and he didn’t want to do that to Nino. “He’s dead… isn’t he?”

Nino’s head dropped slightly before he exhaled. “No one’s seen him. None of his associates. None of the guards. I’ve kept an ear out for the both of you but…”

Adrien’s eyes meet the floor and he nodded. He had guessed that but he still needed it to be confirmed by someone.

“I’m sorry…” Nino offered and Adrien struggled to fight back they few tears that threatened to roll their way down his cheek.

“It’s- It’s okay. I just needed to hear it,” he explained quickly pulling himself together and wiping away any signs of tears. “So?” he asked quickly changing the subject, “Where are we going?”

-x-

She sat down on the harsh ground and stared out across the stone square. This was where a king had lost his head as well as many other people but today… It was relatively empty. A few people still wandered across the cobblestones on their way to somewhere else but there was no massive crowds, no loud cries calling for justice just… the soft sound of some nearby trees and the loud coos of the pigeons the tall thin man was feeding.

A smile spread across her lips as a thought came to mind from the sight. She felt Tikki sneak up her arm so she could watch the drawing unfold atop the page. Neither of them said anything as her pencil danced its way across the page. A squiggly line became the brim of a hat and a straight one became a long and tall feather.

She placed her pencil down and lifted the book into the light so she could get a better look at it. She loved it, it was perfect.

-x-

Her needle slid into the stiff fabric with every little ease. The thimble on her finger did very little to stop it from it falling prey to the sharp each off the small piece of metal. She let out a yelp in surprise as the needle missed its mark and poked its way into her finger.

She placed the hat down to inspect her fresh wound before letting out a deep breath and resuming her work and sewing in the finer details of her design. It wouldn’t be long before it was finished and she wanted it to be finished as quickly as possible so she could show off her hard work to the tailor.

“Marinette?” her Kwami asked drawing her attention away from the hat allowing her to once again prick her finger.

“Yes?” she replied hiding the pain currently shooting through her pinky.

“Don’t you have training with Chat in five minutes?”

She frowned and quickly buried her hand into her pocket to fish out her watch. She groaned as she realised the time. How could she forget? She quickly placed the half-finished hat on her desk. Her fingers hurt from all the misplaced needles that had punctured her skin and she really wasn’t looking forward to holding a sword with the tiny holes in her fingers but it had to be done.

-x-

Left, right, lunge, block. The moves repeated in her head. She swung the heavy wooden sword and tried to land a strike on her partner but of course, he was more experienced and was able to predict her attack. She lunged forward and he sidestepped her causing her to run past him. She let out a yelp as his own sword hit the back of her leg. She quickly recovered and re-entered her stance and prepared to lunge again but of course, he blocked her attack, she let out a frustrated groan and tried again only to get the same result. She swallowed her anger, it wouldn’t help her win this fight as Chat constantly reminded her, it would only add to her predictability. Marinette took a deep breath and prepared for him to attack, it was her turn to defend.

His strikes were slow at first, he was making sure that her blocks were correct but soon they were sped up. He constantly reminded her to lift her shoulder and to adjust her stance, this was all very confusing and she struggled to keep up with them all the time. Lift your right arm. Don’t forget to watch for anyone that might sneak up on you. Continually check for opening in your opponent, the quicker you can end a fight, the better. She was starting to grow tired and her partner started to realise that but he didn’t let up his attack as her opponent wouldn’t if it were a real fight. She pushed herself to continue but it proved too much for her. She was about to ask him to stop when l she saw a break in one of his attacks. She took the opportunity and countered his attack, she cheered internally as she landed her first-ever strike on him. Her blade made contact with his right arm and also his sword hand, it let out a loud and sharp whack that bounced slightly off the empty rooftops around them.

Her partner let out pain-filled yowl in response and she quickly turned into, as Alya referred to it as, momma Marinette mode when she noticed that he was clutching his arm and his eyes started to water from the pain. He dropped his wooden sword and crumpled to the floor still whimpering slightly. Her knees met the sharp masonry tiled rooftop beside him and she immediately tried to find out what was wrong. She couldn’t see anything wrong as he was clutching his shoulder and his black suit didn’t help as any blood would blend seamlessly into the leather-like fabric He hissed out something under his breath and beyond her range of hearing.

“Chat?” she asked concerned, “Are you okay? I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“It- It’s okay, bug,” he whispered through the pain. “It’s not your fault, I picked a fight with the wrong cat and you just managed to hit me in the right spot.”

“You should have said something about that,” she replied lightly hitting his shoulder with her palm causing him to once again hiss out in pain. “If you had I wouldn’t have hit you there.”

Sheepishly he nodded his head as he rubbed the spot she had slightly hit him. He seemed to slowly recover from the pain she had inflicted upon his shoulder a good sign in her eyes. It meant that she hadn’t broken anything.

“Okay...” he said, his voice was small and quiet.

A small but sad smile spread across her lip, just as he normally did, he tried to hide just how much pain he was in. She was starting to pick up on the fact that he quite often would get injured during an Akuma attack while trying to protect her and wouldn’t tell her until long after they had defeated the villain in favour of not letting her down when she needed him. A selfless act and if it weren’t for the events of recent weeks, an act that would make her blush but now she saw it as plan stupid and there was probably not going to be a way to stop him.

She let out a sigh, she could think about it later right now she needed to help her partner. Carefully she grabbed a hold of his other arm, pulling him and herself to their feet. She was seriously deciding whether or not to continue on with their training. She didn’t want to hurt him any further but she also knew that he would be extremely stubborn about her not finishing her training for that night. She believed that she could maybe talk him into allowing it slide just this once although it would be hard. He put a lot of focus on her succeeding in this training. She could tell that he was enjoying teaching her a skill he had probably possessed for most of his life as he was taking great pride into making sure that she was actually picking up what he was trying to teach her.

She headed towards a nearby wall indenting to lean her partner against it while he continued to recover from what seemed to be an extremely well placed hit on his shoulder. She intended to interrogate him about it as there had been no signs that he was hurt. She wondered how long he had been hiding the wound from her, it had to be a while as they had been training for several weeks with wooden swords. She was slow to pick up on the things he was teaching meaning it took a while before they were able to move on from him calling out where his attacks were going to be just so she could defend herself from his slow attacks but she surely would have noticed that he was favouring his right arm, after all, it was the arm that he wielded his sword with.

She let out another soft sigh as she lent her partner against the wall. He let out a yelp as his right arm touched the uneven wall of the slightly taller four-story house.

“How?” was all she said. She wanted to know how it had happened and how he had hidden it.

“Sorry?” he replied.

“How? How did it happen,” she asked again.

“I- I told you…” he stuttered, “I picked a fight with-”

She raised her hand cutting him off, “How did it happen,” she reaffirmed.

He let out a sigh and sent her one last pleading look before he did as she asked. “I met the wrong person on the wrong street at the wrong time. He managed to land a strike on me but I’m pretty sure I left him worse off,” he reluctantly explained.

She nodded her head, “Why hide it?”

“I didn’t want you to worry Bug.”

Her mouth opened slightly before she quickly shut it as she processed how to respond to him.

The loud echoing screams pulled her attention away from the conversation. She knew those screams, they were the leading sign of an Akuma attack. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she mentally prepared for what was about to happen. She opened her eyes and quickly scooped up the two wooden swords; her balcony was on the way to the Akuma. She sent a look to Chat, he nodded, he knew what she wanted him to do. He pulled his baton from his back and took off running towards the Akuma. She believed that it was going to be a long day.

-x-

The wind blew through his hair as he raced towards the attack. Nothing seemed out of order apart from the fact he had to constantly avoid the high amount of birds as his nose constantly twitches. His allergies were starting to play up as he passed them, he hadn’t even seen the Akuma yet and he was starting to despise it. He continued on, his eyes were on the roof tiles and the streets below him and not the skies above as he grew closer to where the screams had originally come from.

He propelled himself a little further until he was sure he was where the screams had originated from. He searched the almost empty streets below indicating that he was in the right place but he could see no sign or indication that there had been an Akuma in the area. Maybe a false alarm? He thought, there had been a few of those but this didn’t seem like one so he continued to search.

He went street by street looking for what his gut was telling him was there and for a brief second his eyes flickered up to the blue almost cloudless skies above. He stopped in his tracks and watched in awe and confusion of the things he was witnessing. Huge flocks of birds were circling the skies above them. They weren’t random and were circling the skies as if they were patrolling them. A large flock of birds swooped down and picked up a group of soldiers, their blue coats were only just visible through the grey feathers. Another flock swooped down to pick up the three left behind by the first lot as they tried to run away but to his surprise, they left the civilians, alone.

He pulled his baton from his back and tried to chase after the birds. He propelled himself faster and faster in an attempt to catch up to the fast birds but it was no use. The birds proved too much for his sensitive nose. Slowly he came to a stop and watched helplessly as the men were carried off to an unknown destination, their distant yells became quieter and quieter with each flap of the bird's wings until they were no more.

His turned his head slightly to his right where another large ball of birds were carrying off another poor blue coat soldier. He frowned bat that quickly changed when he caught sight of the red-spotted suit. Her focus was also on the large ball of birds slowly passing over his head.

Carefully he crept up behind her, a small smile had spread its way across his lips. “It seems birds of a feather flock together,” he said announcing his presence to her before all of his focus on not sneezing dissipated. He sneezed and lost his footing on the uneven roof. He rolled down it before catching himself before he fell off of it. “Sorry,” he said, “I’m allergic to feathers.”

Ladybug rolled her eyes and shook her head. “That’s helpful,” she muttered, her mind clearly had already gone through all the possibilities on where today could go wrong.

He felt another sneeze coming on but managed to catch himself before he did.

“I know…” he replied in a sarcastic tone, “but that’s not our only problem. The birds seem to only be targeting the soldiers.”

She nodded, “We best find this Akuma and fast.”

There was no telling how much damage could be done without the peacekeepers. He watched patiently as a plan formed within his partners head before she threw her yo-yo off towards their destination indicating that she wanted him to follow. He bit back another sneeze before pulling his baton from his resting place on his back, ready to follow her into battle.

Made for @ladynoirjuly2019

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#Miraculous Ladybug #Ladynoir July #Miraculous #Miraculous Ladybug Fanfiction #Adrien Agreste #Chat Noir #Marinette Dupain Cheng #Ladybug #Writing Prompt #Prompt #SwanSongWrites #When Tomorrow Comes #I Keep Drabbling on #Maybe one day I'll have this finished

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leswansong · 6 years ago

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Ladynoir July 2019: When Tomorrow Comes

Day Two: Miraculouses

[ A03 ]

Adrien clutched his stomach tightly, his hunger pains grew worse and worse. Through the whispers on the streets he had made it there, the court of miracles; Chloe had referred to as the worst place on earth and constantly complained about how it was far too close for her liking, he laughed internally at the sight, it was far better than where he had been spending the past few nights. Carefully his feet edged into the slums, he knew that he would be calling its streets home for the next few nights until he found Chloe.

He plucked the apple he had snagged from a cart when the person wasn’t looking and took a rather large bite into it, it wasn’t exactly fresh but in his hunger-ravaged mind he really couldn’t care, one bite turned into two and then four until he had nothing but a very thin core in his hands. The apple did very little to quell his demanding stomach but it bought him some time until he found Chloe. He couldn’t wait until that day, he was looking forward to eating his weight in food and the feeling of a warm bath.

Adrien snuck around the court to get his bearings before he stumbled his way around looking for something he remembered, he noted a few places where he could find make his bed for the night and a few area’s where he would have to avoid. He wandered out of the encampment and back out into the streets, he was sure that he would find his way back, the small chalk marks on buildings (that if you looked close enough you would see that they were actually arrows) had led him to the court in the first place were always there to guide him back to it.

He headed west from the court first back towards the River Seine and back towards Notre Dame, he remembered travelling along it when he went to visit Chloe on the rare occurrence his father allowed it, he was starting to regret not asking to visit her more often at that moment.

People didn’t notice him anymore, they paid him no attention in his new set of clothes, he blended in extremely well and nobody seemed to know who he was, it was a relief for him more than he knew. He passed by several market stalls, most of them had different vegetables but one had fruit, he walked past it and quickly reached up to swipe whatever he could, he grabbed hold of an apple and stuffed it into his pocket, he reached up for seconds and grabbed hold of another apple and that one joined the first, he decided that two was enough for now and continued on his way.

His ears picked up on every little sound around him making him hyper-aware of what was going on around him, the clattering of the brooms people were using as weapons against the cobblestones, the torches burning bright in red, yellow and orange as they were waved back and forth, the screams of the angry crowd when the called for someone’s head even if there wasn’t a guillotine in sight. He could hear everything, the singing and dancing that was going on in the bar to his left and the girl selling the newspaper to his right, they all heightened his already heightened senses.

-x-

She pushed herself to walk faster, her legs were tired and they demanded that she sit down but in usual fashion she ignored it; she needed to get home to help her parents and she needed to complete the last half of her deliveries before the sun rose higher in the sky.

The cries of the revolutionaries echoed all around her, she had grown used to them over the many years the revolution had raged, all the cheers were roughly the same and varied only slightly from time to time. The singing of songs that lasted into the late hours was something she swore she would never forget because of how often they were sung, she could recite them all by heart even if she herself had only sung them enough times to count them on one hand.

Her trusty basket was once again at her side, this time it was empty, a good sign, nobody she knew had met Madame Guillotine that week and she hoped that they would never meet her.

She paused just before crossing a wide stretch of street, she could hear the thundering of hooves hurtling towards her, she turned her head and Marinette watched the small carriage quickly turn into a larger one as it quickly approached, the horses were moving too quickly for them to stop, their blinkers stopped them from noticing the small old Chinese man crossing the road and the men driving the carriage were too wrapped up in their own conversation notice the man either.

She sighed and placed her empty basket down, she bundled up her skirts a little then raced across the street and took hold of the old man's arm, she dragged him across the muddy street to the safety of the walkways, she lost her balance and crumbled to the floor but her attention was on the old man, she was more concerned about his well being than her own even she felt her scraped knees start to slowly bleed and her palms follow suit.

“Are you okay?” she immediately asked, the horse's hooves clattered loudly behind her and the loud sloshing of wet mud being moved by the large round wheel’s followed it. The man ignored her and continued to stare back where he had once been standing, she followed his gaze and felt sad when she noticed the broken cane lying on the road. “I’m sorry,” she apologised, “I don’t have any money on me but my parents and I run a bakery, I’m sure they-”

“It’s fine, Mademoiselle, I should be the one apologising, your dress.”

She looked down, noticing that it was covered in a thick layer of mud and had been torn in quite a few places, she sighed in disappointment, it looked really bad but she didn’t tell the man that.

“It doesn’t matter,” she assured him, “I can fix it,” although it wouldn’t be as simple as fixing it.

Shakily she rose to her feet, she hadn’t noticed that her heart had been running as fast as those horses but it was, she looked after the carriage to see that it had already disappeared from sight. She brushed off some of the mud, it got stuck to her hands and she wiped them on her skirt completely forgetting the point of trying to get it off in the first point.

“Where too?” she asked holding out her hand.

“A house just a few houses down,” he instructed.

“But you were-”

He cut her off, “just to the house,” he repeated.

She nodded and started to escort him towards his destination when suddenly she remembered her basket, her eyes grew wide at the realisation, she dropped his hand and turned immediately around to race back across the street to collect her discarded basket, She scooped it up from the grown, mud covered an entire side of it, her hand reached down to get rid of it only she stopped halfway, she shook it instead and some of the mud fell off of it but not all of it. She hooked it back on her arm and returned to the old man's side.

“Sorry,” she apologised, “I needed this.”

He nodded and took her hand again. Slowly she walked him back to his house, the old man’s legs shook with each step and with each step she believed that his legs would give out but they didn’t, they eventually made it to the narrow two-story building despite the odd looks they got from the people around them.

“Thank you,” he said.

“It’s no problem Monsieur,” she replied with a smile on her lips, “I was already heading this way.”

He nodded, “Would you like some tea?” he offered.

She shook her head at his kind gesture but continued to smile, “No thank you Monsieur, I must get going, my parents are expecting me.”

He nodded again and she bowed her head in respect, she turned around and started towards home; she heard the man gently shut his door behind her. She let out a sigh and dragged her feet towards home, she kept her dress bundled up to try and hide the ripped fabric while she walked to preserve some of her modesty.

-x-

The roads all looked the same to Adrien, they were all mud filled and had very little of the paved cobblestones he was looking for, he had wandered back towards the court several times because of how lost he had become; he wanted to know how people were able to effectively navigate the long streets without getting lost.

He allowed his feet to direct him, his eyes focused on the people around him as they rushed about their daily lives with baskets of fruit or laundry. Slowly he was starting to feel like he was blending in, he was also starting to see all the things he had been missing because of his fathers overprotective and controlling nature. He followed someone for a little bit as they led him further away from the court and into an area he slightly recognised.

He followed the person a little further before he diverted towards the townhouse. He wanted to run, he wanted to jump for joy but he held back his impulsive side and walked the long distance. The tall building slowly came into view, his excitement and anticipation grew with each step he took towards the townhouse.

He pictured what Chloe would look now, would she have short blond hair or would she still have the long golden locks she had when they last saw each other? Or perhaps she had dyed it to try and hide her identity. Too many possibilities circled his head.

He paused in front of the house and prepared to walk up towards it, he was jittery and was bouncing on the spot, his excitement was bubbling over and he wanted to go it already. His eyes took in the people around him to make sure no one was paying any attention to him. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed an old man clutching for a cane that had been kicked just out of his reach. Nobody around the man did anything to help him, they continued on with their own business ignoring the helpless man on the cobblestones beside him.

He looked over at the townhouse than the man and he decided to help the man. He moved into a jog to get to the guy’s side quicker.

“Here, Monsieur,” he said pushing the cane towards the older Chinese man.

The man smiled and took the cane from him, he went to stand on his own but Adrien helped him to his feet. The man smiled at him and thanked him, “Thank you, you are very kind.”

“Its no problem,” he assured and he turned to head back to the townhouse.

“Monsieur!” the man called trying to draw Adrien’s attention back, the man was successful, he turned and faced him. “For you,” the man said. A small coin purse was thrown his way, Adrien’s eyes followed it and he caught it, he stared at the small brown bag for a seconded and when he looked up the old man was gone leaving Adrien confused at the slightly heavy gift.

He tossed the coin purse up in the air a couple of times before he pocketed it and he returned his position outside the tall townhouse. He couldn’t see any movement on any of the four floors but he stayed hopeful, he wondered what Chloe would look like; he was so wrapped up on getting to her that he had forgotten that it had been nearly four years since he had seen her, he couldn’t actually remember when he had last seen her. He knew it was for a birthday, he couldn’t remember if it was his own or hers, he doubted that it was hers it wasn’t grand enough but with the revolution, it was hard to tell any more.

Carefully he approached the door, he took a deep breath before he decided to knock. His knock echoed up throughout the house, it sounded like it bounced off of everything, he pressed his ear to the door hoping to hear something but he heard nothing. He tried not to let his self-doubt get the better of him yet, there was still some hope that Chloe was asleep upstairs and Sabrina had gone out to grab some food for dinner.

He pushed gently on the doors and the gradually swung open, the kitchen on the ground floor was neat, not a pot was out of place, he wandered further into the kitchen and straight towards the fireplace, his hand ran a few centimetres above the coals that had been neatly left behind, he felt no warmth from it and he felt his heart slowly sink into his stomach.

His feet stomped up the steps the floors above, all the rooms were empty, only a few pieces of Chloe’s furniture remained within the building. He headed up to the fourth and final floor, the only sign that his childhood friend had ever lived there were small hardly noticeable scratches on the herringbone wooden floors. Adrien slumped to his knees, the feeling of hopelessness and abandonment ran rampant through his mind, he had been so close to a home and now he… he was lost….

-x-

Marinette groaned as she dragged her feet up the steps towards her darkened room, the mud had already dried on the fabric causing it to weigh down the dress with every step. She threw open her trap door and dropped her basket on the floor while she continued towards her desk for the candlestick and a box of matches. She opened the box and quickly struck the match, lighting it. She raised the match to the candle and the soft light illuminated the darkened room when she was sure the flame had transferred, she removed the match and shook it to extinguish the original flame.

She dumped her match into a nearby jar and picked up her candlestick, she moved to her way around her room and started to draw the thin curtains open, the mid-day sun filled her room with a bright light and with a feeling of warmth. She placed her candle back on her desk and set about removing the mud covered dress.

First, she removed the grey apron that sat atop her dress then she removed the skirts and finally the tightly fitted coat, leaving her with her underskirt and corset, she dumped the dirtied outfit into her wash basket and quickly threw on her spare outfit she had kept for events like this. It was in better condition that her everyday clothes, she usually wore it when she was invited to a special event.

She picked up her basket and prepared to head back down the steps when she felt something move within it, at first she thought a stray cat had somehow snuck its way into it the basket but opening the flap she found nothing but a box.

Marinette stared at the small wooden box that was sitting at the bottom of her basket, she didn’t remember how it got in it there. Frowning, she pulled it from the basket and opened it, a bright ball of pink and red light blinded her, her left arm quickly tried to shield her from the light while she resisted the urge to drop the box.

The light slowly faded and her left arm inched down towards her slide, it took a few seconds for her eyes to recover but slowly her eyes adjusted to her dimly lit room and to the red floating in front of her. She saw blue eyes staring back at her and she froze.

“Hello! I’m Tikki!”

She screamed for a second the panicked by throwing the small leather-bound book, her diary, at the creature, it caught it and handed it back to her. Her eyes grew in size and she shakily took the book from the small red creature, she placed it back on her writing desk beside her.

“There’s no need to panic Marinette, I’m not going to hurt you.” Hesitantly Marinette nodded and cautiously waited for the creature to continue talking, “let’s start from the beginning, shall we?”

-x-

Adrien stared up at the ceiling, his head and back rested against the door frame. He reached up and wiped the last remaining tears from his hot and puffy cheeks, an unopened bottle of wine sat beside him on the floor, he hadn’t had the heart to open it yet but he knew that it would only be a few hours before it would be opened.

Adrien reached into his pocket for his last apple, he tried to ignore the loud sounds of his stomach growling for food, he was starting to get used to not eating as much as he liked and slowly but steadily his body was starting to get used to sudden adjustment all but his stomach, it was still rebelling against the change but it was slowly being bent to his will.

His hand felt an octagonal shape not the round one he had been expecting but he still pulled it from his jacket. He was greeted by a small wooden box with red characters painted across the top, it took him a second to translate it but the translation didn’t give him much information as to the box’s origins.

He shrugged and opened it, a green bright light enveloped his vision he used his arms to protect his eyes from it, the light dissipated and he slowly lowered his arms. His vision returned and he immediately noticed that a floating black kitten had appeared in front of him.

“Ahurissant...” he whispered, his finger inched out to touch the floating cat.

It yawned and blinked before it noticed that Adrien was reaching out to touch him, “Hey! What are you doing?” it asked in a slightly annoyed.

“Trying to see if I’ve imagined you…” He replied.

“Well I’m real,” it snapped, “Sorry,” it apologised, “And you are?”

“Adrien…” he whispered.

“Names Plagg, have you got anything to eat? I’m starving.”

He frowned and slowly shook his head, “sorry… I-” his stomach finished his sentence for him.

“Oh…” Plagg’s ears flattened against his tiny head, “this yours?” he asked, gesturing to the room around them.

Adrien shook his head again, “No, a friend’s but- but she’s not here anymore so I guess…”

He hadn’t planned on Chloe not being there, he looked at the empty room he was sitting in and the few furniture that remained. He could live there for a while without people noticing and he doubted that Chloe had sold the place, not after the hoops her father had jumped through to buy it for her so maybe he could get away with living there a lot longer than he thought. It was much better than the streets and he wouldn’t have to worry about the rain getting to him or people discovering him in the streets while he was trying to get to sleep

“You were saying, kid?”

“Hmmm?” he asked snapping back to the conversation, “Sorry I- I must have zoned out.”

“I can see that, Now what was it that I had to tell you... Oh yeah, the miraculous!” Adrien looked at Plagg in confusion but waited patiently for the small cat to explain.

-x-

Marinette stared at the… Kwami? She didn’t know if she had heard her right but here she was trusting the red thing called Tikki to pierce her sensitive ears for the small round earrings. Her knuckles had turned white from how tightly she was clutching her chair, the Kwami hadn’t even gone near her ears yet but she was still terrified. She tried to keep herself still in the wooden chair and out of the corner of her eye she watched the Kwami slowly hover closer and closer to her ears. She took a deep breath and waited for Tikki to do the deed.

“So… Marinette?” The Kwami asked, “What do you like to do in your spare time?”

She paused to think it though when she felt the sharp and painful prick at her ears, she let out an involuntary cry of pain and turned to send an angry scowl at the red ladybug.

“Sorry,” Tikki said apologetically, “You needed a distraction for the pain.”

Marinette nodded but it didn’t stop Tikki from receiving an upset glare out of the corner of Marinette’s eyes. Tikki sighed and slipped one of the earrings into the freshly pierced ear before she moved around to the next ear.

“You know my last chosen had her ears pierced when she was born.”

“Unfortunately mine wasn- Ouch!” she squeaked at the second sharp prick to her ears, Marinette reluctantly passed up the second earring and it too was slotted into its new home. “Couldn’t you have warned me?”

“Sorry but you would have tensed up,” she replied defending her choice as she floated down to sit on the wooden desk in front of Marinette.

Marinette’s ears felt heavy and bulky, her fingers slowly trailed up to them and she felt the round studs sitting firmly in place in her ears, a shiver ran up her spine at the odd sensation and she pulled her hand away from her ears before the feeling creeped her out too much.

“Are you okay Marinette?”

She nodded, “yeah… just- It’ll get some getting used to.” The Kwami nodded and waited patiently for Marinette to wrap her head around the new feeling on her ears before she continued explaining.

-x-

Adrien inspected the silver ring sitting snuggly on his left ring finger, he wiggled them a little bit before returning to Plagg.

“So there’s this threat… but you don’t know what this threat is... Just that I’ll know it when I see it?”

“Yep.”

“And there’s nothing else you can tell me?”

Plagg shook his head, “Sorry kid, I got the mission this morning and was told hardly anything.”

Adrien sighed, “Are you sure there isn’t anything you’ve forgotten?”

The Kwami paused to think the question over, “You might have a partner… I can’t remember anything on an empty stomach.”

Adrien groaned as the Kwami once again brought the conversation back to the topic of food. Adrien had been dancing around the subject of food, he wanted to make the coin purse last for at least several weeks and he definitely didn’t want to be spending the few francs he had been given on cheese but the Kwami wouldn’t settle on anything other than the prized camembert cheese.

The Kwami would not compromise on anything, not even promising to buy it once a week would suffice. What the Kwami wanted, Adrien was sure that the Kwami would eventually get and Adrien was already cracking under the small magical creatures demands.

Rolling his eyes Adrien pushed himself up from the floor. “Well come on then,” he said.

The Kwami’s eyes briefly lit up before he zoomed over to Adrien, “Are you sure?”

He sighed, “Yeah… Besides you might remember something important,” Adrien explained.

Plagg nodded his head and led Adrien down the steps and out the back door to the townhouse. Adrien absentmindedly followed the small black cat down the streets and once again Adrien was surprised that nobody paid him any attention, his father had drilled into him that anyone and everyone would try to befriend him for his money and the revolution only strengthened his father's constant warnings.

Plagg came flying back to Adrien’s side and grabbed hold of his coat’s lapel, the Kwami started to gently pull on the coat forcing Adrien to move his legs faster so they would get to the Cheese shop faster, he chuckled a little to himself and obliged the Kwami’s request by picking up his pace, he needed to get something for himself too so he wouldn’t have to go looking for something to eat when he got up in the morning.

Made for @ladynoirjuly2019

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leswansong · 5 years ago

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(Late) Ladynoir July: When Tomorrow Comes

Day Seven: Lucky Charm

[ A03 ]

Word Count: 5K+

AN: What's this? A new Chapter less than a week than the last? Hope you guys enjoy this speedy update!

Marinette groaned at the pounding headache she had awoken too, her eyes struggled to focus on something within her darkened room. Light slowly floated into the room, her eyes slowly started to focus on the small little dust particles that drifted through the rays of sunlight, she struggled to recall what had happened the night before, she cursed herself for drinking so much the night before so that she couldn’t remember that night. Marinette groaned again and shakily pulled herself out of bed and stumbled over to one of her windows to pull the curtain open, a decision she regretted instantly as the light caused her headache to grow ten times worse. She let out a yelp at the sudden pain drawing a concerned red Kwami towards her, she waved the small creature away and muttered something along the lines of ‘I'm fine’ to her before heading over to her small dressing table to get ready for the day.

She stared at her reflection in the small, somewhat cloudy mirror, she had forgotten to remove the very little amount of makeup she had put on the night before to help blend her mask to her face better, at least she had remembered to take that off as it was sitting on the small table in front of her but the rest of the clothes she had gone out in still clung to her thin frame. She sighed to herself and started to brush her extremely matted hair, slowly she started to pull away at the large amount of knots that had managed to form in her hair overnight causing her to wince slightly from the sharp pains of her hairbrush pulling at them but it had to be done.

She gently put down the wooden, horse-hair brush down on the table at turned around at the room, even though it was dark, she could still see the mess around her. It felt a little strange for her to be the only person in the room, she looked around at the remnants of Alya’s sisters visit on the floor around her, she was going to miss them but last night had provided the perfect cover for them to slip out as the guards attention were on the hundreds of people celebrating in the streets and not on the small suspicious family sneaking their way out of the gates. Alya was going to be back in a few weeks, her aunt was going to meet her halfway to pick up the younger girls so Alya could return to Paris. Marinette didn’t know why her best friend wanted to return to Paris, Marinette wanted nothing more than to escape it, she hated the constant fighting in the streets below her window that she could still hear but she knew that she couldn’t, she had a duty to the citizens to stop Hawkmoth and Chat to help him in stopping him.

Marinette sighed and started picking up the small toys that had been left behind, a doll here, a small stuffed animal she had made them several years ago there and a few of their wooden blocks. She picked them all up and placed them in a small wicker basket leaving room for the addition of the view items of clothing they had left behind as well as the two skirts she hadn’t had the time to finish for them, she hoped that she would be able to send it to them but such a large item would prove difficult for her but it was something that she would like to do. She inspected the small doll she had picked up and smiled, she remembered making it for Ella for Christmas when she herself was fourteen. Marinette placed it in the basket with all the others before she pushed it towards a nearby wall.

She picked up another basket and headed down the steps below, today was washing day, she probably had hundreds of baskets waiting for her downstairs, all of them had to be hand washed and hung out to dry before she got to work on mending any new tears in the fabric. She walked down the last few steps and let out a defeated sigh at the sight of the twenty-plus baskets in the entry hall, reluctantly she pulled up her sleeves and picked up another basket before heading to the small laundry room to get to work.

-x-

He descended the large steps quickly and down the large hallway towards the tall green trees and purple and blue flowers as well as the large brown coffin that he had regretfully placed her within… He paused in front of her and placed his hand upon her casket, his wedding ring let out a muted ring against it and he let out a sigh before moving away from it, he had a job to do.

His high priced shoes he was wearing echoed in the large open room, it reminded him how alone he was in his own home, the white butterflies around him were his only company. He raised his finger and one landed atop it, he couldn’t feel the delicate creatures weight but he knew it was there. It spread its wings and returned to the kaleidoscope of butterflies floating around him. He headed into the centre of the room, the early morning light was twisted into light purples and blue on the floor around him. Gabriel’s eyes narrowed at the large stained glass window, its frames were in the shape of a butterfly, it had been his wife's idea, the thought of her brought a smile to his face.

He knew what he was about to do, his first ten Akuma’s had failed but then again, he wasn’t exactly trying, he just needed to know how the cat and bug worked and he now knew that. They were inexperienced with their Miraculous but the Cat, going by Chat Noir, was a skilled swordsman, he had years of training under their belt, Gabriel needed to see just how skilled this… boy was. He knew exactly what Akuma to send out today to test the boy’s skill and hopefully, the Akuma will be more skilled than the Cat eared hero, once Chat Noir was defeated his unskilled partner should be easy to take down, he would squish her like the annoying little bug she was.

He looked down at the locket in his hand, it was his own lucky charm, the small painted portraits of his wife and son sat within; they were the reason he was doing this and he was going to bring them back. this silly revolution had taken almost everything from him but he wasn’t going to let it take them, not while he still had the Miraculous. He was going to do everything he could to bring his family back to him and restore order to France, the people were going to stay in their respective classes just as they always had been.

He pulled the small box out of his pocket and opened it to reveal the pointy winged butterfly Miraculous, he carefully pinned it to his shirt and waited. The wave of emotions that washed over him were… awful, many were happy and hopeful, some were downhearted and sad, none of which were particularly strong for his desired Akuma. He needed a different emotion, one that was strong and full of uncontrollable rage, one that wanted to destroy everything around them. He closed his eyes and searched the sea of people, he tried once again searching for his son in that large ocean, he searched in the hope that he would find him and bring him home, so that his boy would be safe by his side but there was no sign of him, if he was still alive he must be out of his reach, a hopeful thought.

He turned his search elsewhere to a stronger emotion that was only just emerging, they were perfect, he had never sent his Akuma after a person feeling disappointment and humiliation before he hoped that this one would prove… useful. A sinister smile tugged at his lips as he called one of the many silk white-winged butterflies down to him, he imbued it full of all negative information it needed for it to turn into the perfect Akuma, before sending it off into the streets of Paris in search of its perfect victim. He waited patiently in the large dark room for the black butterfly to find its target, he bit back the laugh that threatened to erupt out of his throat, today was going to be a great day…

-x-

Ladybug, she was a wonderful ray of sunlight and it was very hard to focus on the rather annoyed Akuma when she was around. Her bright bluebell eyes that were able to bring life to the darkest of souls, and her hair that was darker than those souls. She was brave, intelligent, heroic, then again that last one was kinda part of the job but more than anything, she was perfect even with all her flaws. The way she had stood up to Hawkmoth when he tried to turn the very scared and confused Parisians around them against them was what originally drew him to her but that soon evolved into something more, he knew he was in love with her, her irresistible laugh just everything about her.

He tried not to stare at her as she ran across the rooftops in front of him, he hadn’t meant to take his eyes off the Akuma but he couldn’t stop himself from greeting his Lady when she arrived, now they had to try and track down Darkblade before he got what he wanted. What that was, Adrien didn’t know, he had been a little too busy matching his old fencing instructor blade for blade. He wondered what his old teacher had done to deserve his fate, although it had been years since he had seen the slim man, he found it odd and a little hard to believe that the man that he had never seen angry or even a little bit upset had been Akumatized, something had to have caused the calm man to turn but what?

Monsieur D’Argencourt was highly skilled and Adrien enjoyed his time with the older man, the task of trying to beat the better, stronger swordsmen was a thrilling one, each time he would learn something new from him, something that would help aid him in the next time he would face the older man only for the swordsmen to pull something else out of his bag of tricks for Adrien to learn. It kept what would normally be a boring lesson interesting and it helped him prepare for when he faced an actual fight against someone more skilled than he was. Adrien had been rather disappointed that he hadn’t been able to finish his lessons with him but he kept practising every day until the day came that he would return to the large gymnasium but he had accepted years ago that it would never happen.

Slowly Adrien came to a stop behind Ladybug, she was inspecting something on her yo-yo as he took a few steps towards the edge of the roof, the heartbreaking sight slowly came to view. His eyes struggled to locate something to look at, the hoards of citizens that had been turned into Darkblade's loyal knights stood in the small square in front of Notre Dame and the bumpy roads leading up to the feared Palais De Justice. They stood shoulder to shoulder with their tall, heavy, green bladed axes reaching proudly towards the blue sky above them; a twinge of regret washed over him at the sight and his leather cat ears atop his head droop as well. Ladybug slowly approached the edge of the rooftop beside him, he felt Ladybug grow increasingly more and more upset beside him as she took in the sight of the square, making him feel even worse. He wanted nothing more than to crawl into the deepest darkest hole to hide his shame.

She let out a sigh before returning to sneaking across the rooftops, she had noticed that Darkblade wasn’t among the countless turned Parisians in the street below. He silently followed a few paces behind her, he didn’t dare ask or beg her for her forgiveness yet, not until the threat had been defeated.

They headed towards the direction the knights were facing, Palais De Justice, an old home to the former Kings and Queens of France and the new home of the feared Tribunal, even he hoped he would never meet the people who governed it, they oversaw the sentencing of the people who would meet the sharpened blade of the guillotine. Once they had decided your fate there was no way to escape it, you were going to die, maybe it was before you even saw the tall wooden platform that the dreaded blade sat atop but there was no escaping it, your fate was sealed. Adrien didn’t know how many people he had grown up seeing at parties had faced the Tribunal, he hoped it wasn’t a high number and hoped it was the low low number of zero but he wouldn’t bet his life on it.

They slowly approached a small church that sat outside the grand building, Ladybug threw her yo-yo towards one of the peaks of the bell towers and swung herself towards the small rocky roof beside it. He followed her and landed silently on the uneven tiles, behind her. From the rooftop, the taller bell towers of the Sainte-Chapelle loomed tall into the sky, his eyes followed the even taller spire into the blue sky where a dark cloud was starting to form, they were definitely in the right place.

“So…” he trailed off, “How do you want to do this?”

His eyes narrowed and he scanned the large, closed steel gates. The people who were normally camped out in front of those gates watching were strangely missing leaving the area silent without their demanding cries.

“Where would you say he gets his powers from?” Ladybug asked, she too was scanning the empty courtyards.

He frowned to ponder her question, “His… His sword, I guess…” he replied sounding a little unsure.

She nodded in response, “We need to get to it then, if it is where he gets his powers is of course then its most likely the transformed Item,” she explained.

He nodded his head before turning to look at her, he took a deep breath and let the word soup flow out of his mouth. “Ladybug… I’m sorry, I- I shouldn’t have let him out of my sight, none of this would have-”

She smiled sweetly at him causing him to stop in his tracks. “Don’t be Chaton.” she whispered, his heart leapt at the new nickname, she continued, “I might have been a little upset that he got away from you but I know you didn’t let him.” She placed her hand on his shoulder in support and his feelings of guilt slowly melted away at the slightest sign of affection.“So? You ready?” she asked, drawing his attention back from the small daydream that had started to play inside his head. He looked over and noticed her yo-yo was swinging rapidly beside her as she prepared to throw it towards the chapel’s bell towers.

He nodded and watched her yo-yo launch across the large gap, it wrapped itself around the strong brickwork and Ladybug gave it one sharp tug before swinging across, leaving him to follow her like the lost kitten he was, he was so in love with that girl...

-x-

Marinette landed awkwardly on the chapel roof, she spread her arms out to try and balance herself out, her eyes looked up at the steadily growing void black clouds above her, she did not doubt that it would soon cover and all of France by the rate it was growing. She felt her hands shake slightly from the fear slowly rising with her, she had no idea what this Akuma wanted or what his powers were. From the brief overview she had gotten when she arrived, he was skilled with the long greatsword Hawkmoth had gifted him and had almost beaten her incredibly skilled partner in a one on one fight although she knew that Chat would never admit to that.

Her eyes scanned the rooftops, they were covered in the green, axe-wielding knights that had been turned but she saw no sign of the red, sword-wielding one they were looking for. She frowned and turned towards her partner as he landed beside her, he too was confused as to where the Akuma had gone, the only option was that the Akuma had headed into the building. She dreaded the thought of searching all of the rooms and corridors below her for it, she sighed and continued across the tall pointy rooftops in search of Darkblade but of course, there was no sign of the dreaded knight.

Slowly she started to lose hope of ever finding the Akuma, she had run back and forth across the rooftop several times looking for the metal-clad Akuma so many times she was starting to grow dizzy at all the turning. She froze in place and looked up towards the sky, the growing black cloud was still growing, her eyes followed it off into the horizon, the familiar blue was gone, it had been completely replaced by the horrible black void above her head. Marinette wanted nothing more than to give up at that moment, Hawkmoth knew that he had the upper hand with his Akuma hiding from the two heroes and Darkblade was showing his true power. Marinette didn’t know what would happen with the large black void above her but it was something bad, she didn’t want to see Darkblade's goal fulfilled but she was helpless in stopping him. She slowly she started to feel herself cry and she felt herself drop to her knees. She struggled to keep the tears back, now wasn’t the time for crying, she had to focus on the task in front of her.

Chat moved to stand beside her, his clawed glove rested on her shoulder giving her some hope to cling to.

“Its okay Bug… We’ll find him, I promise, we just need to look at this with a fresh set of eyes,” he explained.

She nodded, “Yeah… Just… Where could he be?”

“Maybe in the building below,” he offered with a shrug.

She smiled and nodded again, “We won’t find him in time, that cloud… I don’t know what will happen when it reaches across France but I- I really don’t want to find out…”

He nodded, “Maybe I… Should…” He raised his hand indicating that he was referring to his power.

She frowned, “Maybe… But you know-”

“It’ll take a lot out of you, yeah, that's why I haven’t done it yet.”

She sent him a small but sad smile.

Sending out the cure took a lot out of her even when it was a small amount of damage, she had at first tried to hide it from Chat, she didn’t want him to worry but soon it started to take her toll on her. The large wind and storm damage Stormy Weather had caused had started Chat’s suspicions as he watched her limp away from the fight when he hadn’t seen her get hurt during the fight and the next Akuma, The Bard, she couldn’t remember their Akumatized name only that they were an upset popular street performer had been her ultimate undoing, everyone had been reverted back to the way they had been previously and there wasn’t going to be a repeat of the story she heard when she was younger where people had danced themselves to death but the sheer number of people the bard had turned was too much for her, she had collapsed after the cure had done its job and couldn’t bring her weak legs together long enough for her to stand so she had been forced to admit to Chat what was really going on.

They were now really careful on what they destroyed and a building would certainly be one of the things that would push their luck.

Chat held his hands down to her to pull her to her feet, she gladly took them and with one sharp and skill full tug, her feet were once again standing atop the roof tiles.

“So Bugaboo? Ready to search inside?”

She closed her eyes as a soft breeze brush against her face, “Yeah Chat lets go.”

-x-

Marinette looked down at her Lucky Charm, she had no idea what to do with the sabre, she knew Chat would but he was currently engaged in a sword fight against the Akuma they were trying to defeat. Her eyes frantically searched the room looking for something, anything to use against the steel-clad Akuma before they landed back on the heavy sword in her hands, she sighed as she considered the stupid thought that crossed her mind before closing her eyes and accepting her fate. Her eyes reopened and she raised the heavy sword, she had no idea how to hold it or even wield it but she needed a distraction so Chat could either snatch the sword or use his ability on it, whatever worked, they just needed the sword destroyed.

“Darkblade!” she yelled drawing the Akuma’s attention, “I challenge you to a duel,” her voice was a little shaky towards the end of her sentence but she tried to stay strong.

The Akuma turned sharply towards her and smirked, “I accept,” he hissed back before charging at her.

The Akuma was clearly extremely skilled, Marinette was constantly trying to defend herself from his fast attacks, he was pushing her closer and closer towards the unsteady roof tiles near the edge of the roof, she was losing ground quickly, he was pushing her back two steps with every swing of his greatsword; she had no idea how she was managing to parry his strikes but she was. Her eyes frantically looked around for her partner, he was slowly sneaking up beside the distracted Akuma, she pulled her eyes off of him as quickly as she could but Darkblade had noticed. He turned his head towards her partner causing the Cat to freeze, Marinette saw her opening and quickly wrapped her yo-yo around the blade, she had seen what the sword did with one touch and she didn’t want to join the hundreds of people around her. With the yo-yo wrapped tightly around the giant blade she stomped her foot down on the loosely hanging string pulling the sword from the Knights had and sending it to the floor where it broke into a thousand little pieces, the black butterfly rose from the ashes like a phoenix.

Marinette let the Akuma float up into the sky above her a little bit before she threw her yo-yo to catch it, an action she had repeated so many times already that it was starting to burn itself into her brain. Her yo-yo sprang open releasing the purified white butterfly into the cloud above her. Her eyes returned to the now kneeling Akuma, his Akumatized form had disappeared leaving a tall, thin as well as confused man with a moustache in its place. She sent him a saddened smile before helping him to his feet, he hung his head in shame and started towards the guards that were going to help him off the roof and would assist in helping him escape the mob that would try and kill him once they found out who had been the one to cause so much damage.

Chat walked up beside her and looked down at the sabre in her hands, she spotted a smirk form across his lips out of the corner of her eyes, “You know... I could teach you how to use that, it might be useful in a fight,” he offered.

She too looked down at the spotted hilted and silver bladed weapon, “Maybe one day…” she replied.

He nodded and she let out a sigh, “I don’t know how much it's going to take out of me…” her voice trailed off.

“I know bug… I’m here..”

She smiled and nodded before taking a few short steps towards the edge of the rooftop, she liked watching the small little bugs working their way across the city fixing the damage that had been caused even if she hated the feeling of her slowly growing weaker and weaker from it. She took a deep breath and called the words, releasing the large swarm of small little bugs over the city, she felt its effects almost instantly and her legs wanted to collapse underneath her, the words of encouragement Tikki had told her replayed in her head, her body will get used to it, in time, she just needed… time…

-x-

Slowly he moved to stand beside her, the small ribbons in her hair floated gently in the wind, the hundreds and thousands of Ladybugs worked their way through the streets, a lot of people had been turned, more than they had seen, he was concerned as his partner was slowly growing slightly weaker beside him and slowly she started to sneak over closer to him so she could use him as support and so she didn’t look weak in front of anyone. A crowd of people gathered underneath them shouting their praises towards the two heroes, he smiled down towards them and waved but Ladybug didn’t, she did smile at them but her eyes were fixed on the horizon, towards the large and what seemed like an endless forest of trees.

“Ladybug?” he called, snapping her out of her spell, “Are you okay?”

“Do you-” she cut herself off and shook her head, “nevermind…” she muttered.

His smile dropped slightly and he stopped waving at the crowd below to turn towards her, “What is it Bug?”

Her own smile dropped, “Do you ever wish that this…” she trailed off, “I don’t know how to explain what I’m trying to say… But, the fighting among the people, the constant squabbling over every little thing, do you ever wish that it would all end.”

He frowned, “Honestly, I- I-” a sigh escaped his lips, “I don’t even know why there… was a revolution…” his voice got quieter and quieter with each word, resulting in her asking him to repeat himself in a louder voice. Reluctantly he did and in a much clearer voice, “I don’t even know why the Revolution is even happening…”

His eyes met the floor and he waited for her to laugh at him, he had tried to find out what had caused the king to lose his head, why his home had been stormed. He knew the Tribunal had control of who was going to face the blade but he didn’t know why they were going to meet that fate. Stray newspapers weren’t all that helpful, they only held a small part of the full story, and he had yet to find someone to fully explain to the very sheltered him what had happened to the world he had known.

But Ladybug didn’t, he watched her face turn into one of sadness then one full of concern. Silently she grabbed ahold of his wrist and pulled him away from the large and still growing crowd below them, he followed without question, he didn’t know where they were going but soon he realised that they were heading towards those large green forests. She pulled his baton from his back and handed it to him, he knew they would be going quite far because she waited for him to bend his legs for her to jump onto his back, something that she didn’t do often but something he didn’t mind, especially because he now knew what calling the cure did to her, he was surprised that she had been able to go so far without collapsing but he definitely didn’t want to push her to that. He waited a few seconds for her to get comfortable before he extended his baton. They moved slowly at first as it took them several short strides to build up the momentum that they needed to make a speedy getaway, but soon the wind was rushing past their ears as they moved past the last several buildings before they vaulted over the wall and into the trees.

Adrien continued on a little bit further before they came to a stop. He helped Ladybug across to one of the large tree limbs for her to stand on before he clambered onto the branch after her where she pulled him down to sit on the branch next to her. They watched the trees sway side to side slightly from the soft breeze, the leaves rustled against each other blocking out most of the loud sounds from the busy city just a few short leaps away. Adrien had forgotten how quiet the world was, living in Paris for so long had certainly taken its toll, visits to the family summer home had completely disappeared when the Revolution had started, he missed that place, the large lake, the birds and the annual hunt he would go on, everything he considered normal.

Ladybug let out another sigh, "How have you…”

“My father, he locked me inside the house when my mother… that was a few years before… but it got worse when the fighting started, I wasn’t allowed to even go out to the garden…” he trailed off and he realised that he had said too much.

He was surprised at how much information she had managed to wiggle out of in such a short amount of time, the night before she had paid for drink after drink for the two of them, each time he got slightly drunker and got him to offer up more and more information. He thought he was smart with how he was able to wiggle information out of her but she was proving to be a god at it.

“So…” she trailed off, “How much do you know about what happened?”

He shrugged, “All the recent stuff… about a week or so before the first Akuma but nothing else.”

“Really?” she replied sounding surprised, “I guess I have a lot to fill you in with then…”

Adrien didn’t like the sound of that, he wondered just how much he had been stopped from seeing throughout the years. He adjusted how he was sitting and prepared for the history lesson she was about to give him.

“So…” she started while biting back a yawn, the cure was really starting to get to her, “It all started with…”

Made for @ladynoirjuly2019

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leswansong · 5 years ago

Text

(Late) Ladynoir July: When Tomorrow Comes

Day Nine: A Helping Hand

[ A03 ]

Word Count: 5K+

AN: there are mentions of violence and this chapter is mainly made up of Adrinette. It wasn't planned but it adds to the plot.

His stomach growled angrily at him, it called for food. He was tempted to even eat some of Plagg’s cheese but he wasn’t that desperate yet. He slowly headed down the street, his nose followed the sweet heavenly scent of food, bread, sweets, a mixture of both. He was getting drunk on the scent of it and he really wanted to continue following it but he needed… He needed to head east towards the river, he knew one of the houses he was looking for was a few houses from the river. He still kept the hood of his jacket up even though he was comfortable walking among the crowds, he highly doubted that a month after the raid on his home that someone would recognize him. He was safe in the crowd it was his second home.

“Hey!” the angry voice called.

Adrien froze in his tracks and slowly turned towards the sound, his eyes slowly widened as he recognised the guard. The memories he had pushed down from that night came flooding back to him. He muffled his gasp of surprise and his eyes searched through the crowd for a way out but he was surrounded by people and guards all of which was looking at him. He felt like a wild rabbit trapped against a wall by hungry wolves. His heart raced and the guard took a step towards him. Although the maid tried to shelter him from the events going on around him, he had been able to catch a few glances of the destruction and a few of the people doing it, the man in front of him had been one of them.

“I know you from somewhere,” the man said, his hand slowly drifted down towards the hilt of his blade and Adrien followed, he felt the cold steel and then the soft leather of his father’s sword.

He prepared to be attacked and his heart slowed down to a calm and steady pace. Time slowed and he started to plan his next few movements. His first plan was to leave, it was the only certain way that he could avoid a fight but he knew that would never happen.

Adrien took a deep breath, “I think you’re mistaken,” he replied, his voice was small but full of confidence.

Slowly Adrien turned to leave but the strong and firm hand suddenly grabbing his shoulder stopped him. Reluctantly he turned back towards the man.

“No… I do…” The man’s voice trailed off before his eyes grew wide as he suddenly realised where. “You’re that-”

Adrien quickly raised his elbow up to the man’s chin to silence him before his identity was told to the entire crowd around him. He heard the sound of steel being pulled from their sheathes and Adrien drew his own. Adrien spun around and took note of how many soldiers had pulled their blades.

“One, Two, Three, Four, Five…” he mumbled under his breath as he counted, five guards not including the one that recognised him.

Two of the soldiers were young and extremely nervous, their blades shook within their grasp and they could barely hold them high enough. Adrien doubted that they were skilled with their blades, they would be easy to disarm. The others, he would have to find out through battle but he also doubted that they were any better. One of them had a long jagged scar running down their right arm, another had a mean and angry scowl that never seemed to disappear from his face and the last seemed normal enough and looked a lot younger than the other two but he was still older than the younger boys.

He had never taken on this many in a fight before, he hadn’t actually been in a real fight before. He pushed aside his nervousness, this was just like training, he told himself; it was one of Mr D’Argencourt’s tests to see if he was ready to advance to the next level.

“Kid… don’t do anything silly,” Plagg whispered up to him from the safety of his pocket.

“I’ll try,” he whispered back, raising his blade slightly higher. He could do this.

The man he had elbowed slowly staggered to his feet clutching his nose, bright red blood rushed from a freshly broken nose that Adrien didn’t know he had broken. He heard the man his something under his breath before he turned back towards Adrien. Adrien pointed his blade towards the man, he was clearly the one in charge of the men around him.

“You’ll regret that…” the man hissed, “Adrien Agreste.”

The crowd let out a gasp in surprise and soon the sound of loud whispers erupted from the crowd around him. His head swivelled around and he caught glances of the many faces in the crowd. He bettered his grip on his blade, there was no way that they were going to let him go now.

“Kid behind you!” the Kwami squeaked.

Adrien spun around and caught the blade of one of the nervous boys. the sound of steel hitting steel echoed out from the impact, it was deafening to his ears but he kept his grip and pushed back on the boy's blade. He felt his heart race slightly as he realised just how close to missing the swing he had been. The boy’s eyes widened at the fact that he had caught the blade and while they were distracted, Adrien took the opportunity to quickly disarmed them; they stared down at their lost blade for a moment before they slowly backed away. Adrien noted that the boy looked a little confused at what they were supposed to do now that their sword was lost. Another man attacked, the one with the extremely long scar down his arm, Adrien could tell he was more experienced than he himself was but his form was sloppy and showed his weaknesses quite clearly.

Adrien could see that he was favouring his left leg, most likely from a recent fight and he didn’t have a good grip on his blade. It took a few blows and in that time another one of the men had joined in the attack but Adrien quickly disarmed him. He grabbed ahold of the man’s sword arm and a sharp crunch came from the man’s arm as Adrien brought his elbow sharply down onto it, the man screamed in pain and Adrien pulled the sword from his loosened grasp.

The other man, scowl face, didn’t give Adrien time to enter back into a fighting stance. He lunged forward and Adrien tried to deflect the blade but he felt it slice at the skin on his arm. His arm stung from the fresh-cut and he felt the warm liquid of blood slowly snake its way down his arm. He ignored it, no matter how much it hurt, he could tend to it later. He angled his sword back towards his attacker and managed to slice at the back of the man's legs as they continued passed from their lunge, they were a bit better at controlling the sounds of pain than the last guy but not quite. Out of anger the man turned back around and lunged again. Adrien caught the sword with his own and slashed down at the man’s chest. He staggered back and stared down at the cut on his chest, the familiar liquid slowly darkened the green shirt. Adrien stared at it in horror, he hadn’t planned on that happening.

“I-” he started to say only for the other man to rush him.

Adrien quickly sprang into a defensive stance, Adrien raised his blade to meet the man’s quick and precise attacks that Adrien wasn’t sure that he could keep up for very long. He tried to look around between the swings but he wasn’t able to look away much as the man used his split-second weakness to his advantage. He was starting to grow desperate when an idea popped into her head.

Playing dirty wasn’t something that sat comfortably with him but… his life was on the line. The man did as he predicted and attacked once more. He saw his opening and he quickly kicked the man in the chest, knocking the air from his lungs causing him to collapse to the floor gasping for air.

Adrien slowly backed away from the guards, the man that had recognised him stared at him, Adrien couldn’t tell if it was horror or in surprise but he didn’t hang around to find out. The crowd parted as he ran, he had no destination in mind, the house he was looking for was behind him and he had no clue as to what lay in front of him but that didn’t matter he needed to be away from the guards.

He disappeared down several alleys but the sound of boots followed. The voices that followed him were loud and angry, they yelled for more boots to follow after him. He ducked down another long alleyway that opened out onto a street, he looked left then right before deciding to turn right but the voices still followed him and he started to panic.

Adrien caught sight of her out of the corner of his eye, the apron, a dark grey caraco, a dusted pink skirt, he knew that outfit from somewhere but he couldn’t quite tell where from at that moment, all he knew was that he needed to get away from the angry mob behind him. Her hand shot out from the bakery doors and grabbed hold of his arm, quickly she pulled him into the shop. His head hit the wall and he let out a sharp yelp at the pain-causing her hand to go flying to his mouth silencing him. The sound of heavy boots and the clanging of metal echoed passed the bakery doors but his heart continued to race.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

He shakily nodded his head but really he wasn’t, he was terrified, what if they turned back around and spotted him through the window.

“What were you thinking? Picking a fight with the guards! Do you have a death wish or something?!” she yelled before returning back to the kitchen.

He winced at the sound of her angry voice but he was focused on the sound of boots still running passed the doors to answer her. Slowly the sounds that caused his heart to race disappeared off in the distance with no indication that they were going to return.

He let out a sigh of relief and glanced over to the girl that had saved him. He instantly knew where he knew her from. He smiled, “I- uh… Thank you…” he trailed off, “and I didn’t exactly pick a fight with them, they started it…” he explained.

“And how exactly did they start it?” she asked sounding unconvinced.

“I- ahh… I broke one of the guys’ noses when he wouldn’t let me leave, then he… told the world who I was…”

“And who exactly are you?” she was still unconvinced.

He sighed, he really wanted to tell her but he had no idea whether or not he should tell her. She had saved him from the guards and he was pretty sure that she wouldn’t tell anyone but there was that small piece of him that urged him to err on the side of caution. He didn’t know her that well, one chance meeting with her when he was cold, hungry and desperate, the other was when he stopped the twin girls for her and that was when he was in the suit, she, of course, was going to be kind and courteous but he also really wanted a friend in this city. Ladybug was his friend, she was his only friend and he really wanted to be more than that with her but even she had her limits, mainly the suit as she wouldn’t reveal who she was underneath her spotted mask while Hawkmoth remained a looming threat so maybe Marinette could fill that void. Maybe she could be the one to lend him a helping hand when he was in trouble.

His mind argued back and forth and he struggled to bring himself to answer, “uh…” he started, “Adrien… Adrien Agreste.”

He watched the emotions washed over her face. Shock, surprise, sadness, worry, understandment… So many, too many keep track off.

“I- I-” she stuttered, he had effectively rendered her speechless, a first for him.

“And you are?” he asked, even though he already knew her name.

“I-” she stuttered again, he noticed her cheeks were bright red, probably from the shame of not recognizing him. “I- I’m Marinette,” she replied with a small curtsy.

“Nice to meet you, mademoiselle.”

She nodded and returned her gaze to her large mixing bowl, leaving the bakery to fill with silence. He stood awkwardly in the bakery as Marinette went about her day. She used the large paddle to remove the freshly baked bread from the ovens, the smell alone made his mouth water. Slowly he found himself inching towards the counter and towards the food.

“Did… You want some?” she asked, still stuttering.

His eyes widened slightly but he reluctantly shook his head, “I- I can’t… No money,” he replied patting his empty pockets.

She frowned, “Doesn’t- Doesn’t matter. Here,” she told him tossing him a bread paddle.

“I… I don’t know what-”

She cut him off and pulled another bread paddle from the wall, “Stick the paddle in the oven under the bread,” she said, showing him how, “then quickly pull it out.” She pulled her paddle from the oven and two loaves of bread came out.

“What if I drop it?” he asked worried.

She shrugged her shoulders, “then-” she sighed, “Then, we’ll make more,” she replied, placing the paddle back where she had retrieved it from before returning to a large metal bowl full of a powdery substance, presumably more bread dough.

He looked down at the bread paddle and then at the large ovens. He glanced one last time at Marinette before he turned back the large array. He grabbed ahold of one of the wooden handles and opened one. The wave of hot air that hit his face was surprising, he stumbled back in shock as he was not prepared for such heat to come from within the ovens.

He heard the soft sounds of giggling behind him, he glanced back to find that Marinette was struggling to hide her face from him.

He smiled as well and returned to the oven, his arm cried out in pain and it begged him to stop. Once again he ignored the pain in favour of pulling the bread out of the ovens. Carefully he angled the paddle in front of the bread and tried to scoop it up one of the loaves, it wasn’t as easy as she had made it out to be but the feeling of finally picking one up was worth it. He carefully pulled it out and placed it on the counter.

She smiled at him and he watched as her face fell as she noticed something on his arm. His own eyes followed her gaze down to the slowly growing maroon spot on his jacket. She dropped the wooden spoon she was holding and rushed over to him.

“Why didn’t you say something?” she almost yelled, any signs of her stutter had disappeared.

He hissed at the pain shooting through his arm at her touch. She carefully pulled at the fabric around it to try and get a better look at the wound. Even the slightest touch caused aching pain but he appreciated that she was trying to be gentle.

“Sit,” she ordered forcing him into an empty chair behind the counter. “Wait here,” she said disappearing through a door.

He heard her move a few things aside, she let out a yelp and the sound of something heavy came crashing to the floor. He shot up from his seat and started towards the door to make sure that she was okay. His hand only just reached the handle when he heard her yell. ‘I’m okay,’ back to him. He let out a small sigh and returned to the wooden chair she had placed him in, his eyes wandered across the walls of the bakery. Painted family portraits were piled onto the wall as well as artistic renditions of the city around them, he could faintly make out the signature of the artist; he could only just see the N of the artist, the rest of the name blended in with each other. He leaned forward to inspect the details of one of a busy street beside him. He didn’t notice that Marinette had returned.

“Hold still,” she instructed, holding a large bottle of wine. “This will hurt.”

He nodded, he knew just how bad this could feel, his chest stung at the memory of when his opponent’s sabre snapped resulting in the large scar across it, it had taken months for it to heal and sometimes when the weather was right he could feel the wound. He turned his head away from her as she took a hesitant step towards him, her hand touch his arm and he balled his fist up in the fabric beside him, he didn’t realise at the time that it was her skirt.

His eyes watered slightly and he tried not to scream from the pain. His arm felt like it was on fire, he wanted the pain to stop and he was half tempted to ask her to even though she wasn’t pouring the alcoholic liquid any more but it still stung. She turned her back and for a second he thought everything was over only for her to turn back around with a large sewing needle and some string. He sent her a pleading look and she sent him back an apologetic one, this had to be done. She patted down his arm with a stray piece of fabric causing even more pain that he didn’t vocalise. He made a promise to himself that he would never let a blade slice at his skin again, it wasn’t worth the pain he was feeling at the moment.

“I’ll try to be gentle,” Marinette mumbled beside him.

He turned back to see that she was holding the tip of the needle over a nearby candle, it was starting to glow a bright orange and the rest of it was covered in black soot. She pulled it away and returned to his arm. He turned his head away once again when he felt the pinch of the needle that was soon followed by another pinch and another. He let out a hiss at the repetitive torment his arm was under. His grasp on the fabric beside him tightened and he fought to keep the tears in his eyes at bay.

“I’m almost done,” she promised with another push and pull of the needle.

“Take your time,” he replied, trying to hide the pain in his voice.

He heard her huff at his retort, “I’m quite sure you don’t want me too.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he countered.

He noticed that a puzzled look had appeared across her face, the same frown he got when someone tried to remember his name at a party. “We’ve met before, haven't we?” she asked, he felt the needle pinch again.

He clenched his teeth slightly and nodded with a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. She probably didn’t think much of the day she had handed him that small loaf of bread, she had probably forgotten about it but he knew that without her and that small act of kindness he probably wouldn’t be here.

“Yeah, I’m probably only still alive because of you… so… thank you?”

She smiled and her eyes scanned his face searching for the event that had saved him., “You’re that boy… The one- The one I gave the loaf of bread to, aren’t you?”

He nodded again as she pushed the needle into his skin for the final time. He let out a hiss at the pain and she murmured a quick apology.

His eyes widened at the large scissors she had in her hands. He wiggled in his seat and tried to escape the reach of the twin blades.

Marinette let out a sigh and grabbed hold of his arm, “Stop moving,” she commanded, “I need to cut the string.”

He did as she asked and he heard the blade slice at the thin string. She patted down his arm slightly and dumped a little more wine onto it. He winced but it wasn’t as bad it originally was. He pulled his eyes away from the paintings on the wall to stare at what had caused him so much pain. His arm was stained red from dried blood but the neat stitches she had placed on his arm stood out.

“Do you do this often?” he asked looking down at the neat row.

She shook her head turning back towards the table. “No, I wanted to be a dressmaker.”

"You still can be,” he offered.

She shook her head again as she packed away her sewing supplies. “My parents need me here.”

His eyes met the floor, he really wanted her to continue on with her dream. He could tell that she was really passionate about it just by her stitches alone. He knew so many people that he had been forced to socialize with would enjoy her skills and it seemed like such a waste for it to be spent on baking bread when it could be making lovely clothes.

“Do you need any help?” he asked as she picked up her items.

She shook her head, “No… I’m o- okay,” her stutter had re-appeared causing him to smile. “You’re fine to leave, my parents would be back too and I’m guessing that you don’t want them to know that you’re here,” she murmured. “The guards... they won’t double back for a while, just… just keep your hood up and they won’t recognise you but it wouldn’t hurt to avoid them when you can.”

He smiled and nodded, he would have to keep that in mind. “Thank you… for everything, really. I’ll find a way to repay you,” he promised as started towards the door.

“Here!” she said and he turned back towards her. “Take this,” he looked at her confused as she threw a small loaf of bread towards him. He caught it and stared down it before looking back up at her. “You look like you need it.”

He smiled at her and nodded his head, “Thank you… again, I don’t know how-”

She cut him off with a wave of her hand, “It’s okay, you earned it, and thank you… for helping me.”

He nodded his head again before pushing open the bakery doors. He pulled a piece of bread off the loaf and shamelessly stuffed it into his mouth. Although horrible the day's events were worth it for more of this soft, delicious bread.

-x-

Marinette stared out across Paris, the soft amber lights of a thousand candles illuminating the night sky. She wondered where her partner was, their patrol was supposed to have started hours ago. She was just glad that she didn’t have to be anywhere or babysit anyone or even clean up the mess she had made in the bakery as there wasn’t any, a surprise to her parents when they arrived back from her grandparent's house. She kept the fact that she had pulled someone being chased by the guards into the bakery. She would never have been allowed to be left alone in the bakery but Marinette couldn’t believe that Adrien was still… Alive… Every report she had heard and every little piece of gossip she and Alya had stumbled across had said otherwise and yet, there he was, sitting in her parents' bakery. She also couldn’t believe that he had been the boy she had given the spare loaf of bread to so long ago, he was unrecognisable, he still was so she was quite surprised that a guard had been able to but that didn’t change the fact that he was still the kind boy she had met all those years ago and was just as handsome. Her heart had fluttered even without knowing who he was but the fact it was him only worsened it. She groaned at the fact that she had magically picked up the habit of stuttering, it was embracing, she knew Alya would have a field day with the event.

She smiled at the thought of her friend, she couldn’t wait until Alya returned to Paris so she could tell her everything. She missed her best friend and all her crazy theories of the two new heroes no matter how outrageous they were. She knew there would be a thousand questions thrust upon her when she arrived back in Paris. Alya was returning to Paris, the big mystery of the superpowered villains and heroes was too big to keep her away and Marinette knew what would happen when she returned. She wouldn’t be able to keep her friend away from the Akuma’s. She would be there with pen and paper in hand, taking notes so she could write something for the local paper.

A smile spread across her lips when she heard the familiar sound of his baton hitting the roof tiles. She slowly turned towards him. He landed gracefully on the rooftop but right away she could tell something was wrong.

“Are-” she started.

“I’m okay, bug, just got caught up in somethings,” he quickly replied, “I’m okay, I promise.”

She nodded and returned back to her view of Paris. Chat retracted his baton and moved to stand beside her.

“Chat?” she asked, “Could you teach me how to use a sword?”

-x-

Adrien wasn’t sure why he was doing this but he was. His arm was still weak from earlier and it hurt quite a lot but she had asked and he couldn’t bring himself to say no to his lady especially when she asked so sweetly. He pulled his father’s sword from his hip and handed it to her. Plagg had been kind enough to incorporate it into his suit although he had changed the hilt of it so it would fit in with the suit better.

Hesitantly she took the blade from him. She lifted the sword, just as he asked, he could tell already that she was uncomfortable with the weight of the light sword. It was way too heavy for her and she was straining to even lift the tip of the blade away from the floor. He frowned and took a step towards her, this was going to be a lot harder than he first thought but she was a willing student and he believed that in time she would prove to be quite the expert swordsmen.

First, he corrected her grip on the hilt of the blade, they were too bunched up and it was better to correct this minor problem now rather than later. Next, her stance, he slowly pushed her legs apart and instructed her to be light on her feet; in a fight, she would need to move towards and away from her opponent. Then, he tried to get her to lift the blade higher but he could see it in her face that she was putting all her strength into lifting it as high as it currently was.

He sighed and lowered the blade, “It’s okay, bug. You’ll get used to it in time,” he told her. She let out a sigh and he took his father’s sword from her, placing it back in its sheath. “But first…” he said walking over to a nearby shelf and pulling two very old wooden swords from it, “you’ll start with wooden swords to build up your strength.”

She sent him an odd look but caught the wooden sword when he threw it to her. She inspected the weight briefly before she raised the sword and waited for him to correct her.

Adrien returned to her side and lowered the blade slightly, “You want to keep the tip of the blade just below your eye line,” he told her, “that way you can see your target.”

He watched her wince slightly and he struggled not to smile.

He once again adjusted her grip on the blade and loosened her tight grasp in the process before he moved onto her stance which had also reverted back to the way she had originally been standing. A stance that had almost been correct, useful as it wouldn’t take much for her to get used to the correct one as all that needed to be done was a slight bit of tweaking. He pointed her toe towards her imaginary target and her back one pointing slightly away from it as to give her more support when she eventually moves into a defensive stance.

Adrien knew it would take some time for her to learn everything, he could remember when he first started out, trying to remember how to hold the blade and the stance plus all the ways to deflect incoming attacks as well as attacks and he didn’t quite know how to teach her everything but he had promised to teach her how to use a sword and he intended to keep that promise no matter how difficult it may be.

Once he was happy with her stance, he slowly backed away from her and prepared to teach her how to block and incoming attack. He swooped up his sword and stood in front of her, a smirk spread across his lips, he could be kind and teach her first but he really wanted to see what her instincts would tell her to do. He watched her grip the sword slightly tighter before he attacked, she quickly raised her wooden blade to meet his.

-x-

Everything hurt, that was one thing she knew for sure and that she hated training but she needed, Hawkmoth knew she was weaker than her partner and she couldn’t exactly hold her own in a fight making her an easy target. Darkblade had certainly proved as well as the Akuma’s that came before him.

Marinette knew she was good at thinking her way out of a fight but she wanted to be able to do more, she felt like she was letting Chat down with her inability to defend herself in a fight. Tikki had reminded her that her yo-yo was her greatest strength and she should use it to her advantage but they both had agreed that maybe she should learn to use other weapons and that she shouldn’t rely on those weapons.

Marinette let out a sigh and fell back onto her bed, her muscles cried out in relief as they no longer had to hold up the slightly heavy wooden sword that she had been forced to take home. She had to study it and learn its features, a little silly for a wooden blade but Chat insisted that she do so as it would be her best friend. She yawned, she had a few hours before she once again had to lift the wooden blade so Chat could test her defensive stance and for more cuts and bruises to form across her skin before the other ones had a chance to heal although Tikki had offered to heal them for her but she decided against that, they reminded her that she needed to improve.

She stared up at the ceiling above her, she was tempted to fill the large tub downstairs that she used to wash clothes in with warm water to relax her tired muscles but that meant warming and then carrying heavy buckets of hot water to the backroom, it just wasn’t worth the pain it would cause.

Reluctantly she resigned herself to sleeping away the pain and ignoring the homework Chat had given her, she could memorize the sword and practise her stance later right now she needed the warm embrace of sleep.

Made for @ladynoirjuly2019

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leswansong · 6 years ago

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Ladynoir July: When Tomorrow Comes

Day Three: Akuma

[ A03 ]

AN: Reshuffled some of the prompts so the story would flow better...

Marinette wandered slowly up to her small balcony a thick blanket hung loosely atop her shoulders, it was one of the rare nights in the busy streets of Paris where she couldn’t hear the constant drunken shouts on the streets below but sadly her ears could still pick up on the distant sound of music. She yawned and stretched in the cold night air, the feeling of being so alone in that moment felt foreign to her although she knew her parents were just a few floors below her, fast asleep in their own beds. A cricket chirped somewhere in one of her many pots reminding her of the fact that she too was supposed to be asleep, her bed sat waiting for her to welcome her into a warm embrace but she couldn’t sleep, her mind was awake and filled with inspiration.

Her sketchbook sat on the small table beside her open to a new blank page, she had already filled several new pages with fresh designs and still had several more bubbling away inside her head but something else had kept her awake, Tikki…

The Kwami foretold of a threat to Paris one more dangerous than what she saw on the streets when she went about her early morning deliveries and that she was supposed to put a stop to it. Marinette couldn’t understand where Tikki would get such an idea, she could barely walk on her own two feet properly, the multiple sickly purple bruces dotted across her body displayed that, how was she supposed to stop a threat that was going to be worse than the revolution.

She sighed and picked up her sketchbook as well as her candle so she could return to the room below, she had a lot to think about. Tikki had promised to answer any questions Marinette’s mind could dream up and she planned to put that to the test, she just couldn’t think of any questions to ask her, the Kwami had pretty much answered the questions Marinette wanted answers to earlier.

Marinette looked over at the sleeping Kwami and the half-eaten plate of cookies she had supplied for, she smiled at how peaceful the small creature looked.

-x-

Candles were dotted around the room, Plagg had to light them for him because he struggled to find the tall sticks in the dark. He dared not to open thick curtains and he was extremely aware of everyone that walked past on the cobbled street below.

Spending the night in the small townhouse had been an odd feeling especially sleeping on a bed and ultimately he rolled out of it and slept on the wooden floor.

But that still didn’t promise him a peaceful slumber, nightmares plagued him throughout the night, he had lost count of how many times he had awoken in a sweat-filled panic and the last time he had awoken he had not been able to go to sleep; he could no longer remember what had caused him to toss and turn in the night but he could still feel the fear the dreams had given him. Plagg had given him a strange look when he had eventually wandered his way up to him but didn’t question why he was awake.

He sighed and pulled one of the dust covers off one of the sofas and a thin layer of dust came with it, he sneezed several times before the dust settled again. He now knew that they would be staying there for the near future, Plagg didn’t like the idea of being forced to constantly move from one spot to another and Adrien definitely felt the same.

Rain trickled down slowly from the sky above and splashed onto the small balcony that sat to his left, Adrien turned to the second sofa and pulled its dust cover off, he sneezed again as more dust entered the air and pinched his nose to try and stop himself from sneezing anymore. When he released his nose the foul smelling scent of the cheese Plagg insisted that he buy filled his nose, he turned around to see the incredibly smug Kwami had entered the room, he rolled his eyes and returned to the chairs to throw off the feathered pillows Chloe had prided herself on.

“So kid? What’s your story?” Plagg asked before taking another bite.

Adrien frowned and ignored the question as he tried to fold the dust cover up into a neat square but failed in the simple task, he picked up the other dust cover and ‘folded’ it as well. Plagg moved closer with his cheese and waited for Adrien to open up but Adrien didn’t, he didn’t feel like talking about his family at the moment and he really didn’t want Plagg to know about his past yet, so he took the silent road much to the Kwami’s dismay...

-x-

The birds chirped loudly outside the bakery windows in the late morning sun, Marinette kneaded a large ball of dough atop a flour-dusted countertop, her mother was upstairs counting the few francs they had earned the day before while her father was manning the two large bread ovens filled with bread.

She continued kneading the dough while she kept an eye on the bakery door, she picked up a handful of flour and dusted it across the dough before she stuck her fist back into it.

Her father smiled and headed back into the back room to grab another sack of flour, their last sack in fact, it would be hard for them to run a bakery without it from that point on, their last few sacks hadn’t arrived from the mill, thieves were raiding any and all carts going into Paris. They were used to things disappearing off the carts before but it had never been this prevalent or consistent.

Humming quietly to herself, she separated the dough into smaller chunks for her father to bake and placed them near the oven. She grabbed too more eggs and got started on making Tikki a fresh batch of cookies.

Tikki sat on the counter beside her, one of the few books Marinette owned sat next to her. The Kwami had asked about them stopping by a library before they returned back to the bakery so she could read up on the recent history and Marinette had been totally on board for that if it weren’t for another protest, Tikki had sadly agreed to visit the library for her books some other time when Marinette deemed the streets to be safe enough to venture back out onto the streets without the fear of accidentally being caught up in it.

The sudden sound of screams from outside the bakery window caused her to jump slightly but Marinette didn’t pay it much attention, it was normal for there to be fights among people on the streets, peoples opinions normally caused it and so Marinette waited to hear the echoing of a bullet being fired. She heard one loud bang then a number of muskets being fired in unison, someone yelled reload and a few seconds later the muskets fired again, she frowned when reload was once again yelled, something was horribly wrong, it never took them three shots to dissipate a crowd, not since the storming of the Bastille.

She dropped her spoon in the bowel and ran to the window, people were still running past the window although they weren’t screaming anymore. Carefully she stepped out the door of the bakery and out onto the street, a person bumped into her and quickly apologised before the took off running again.

She watched them run off then back in the direction the had come for, she couldn’t see anything, she pulled the door gently shut behind her, she didn’t want to alarm her parents of the disturbance. She hesitantly started down the half cobble and half mud road, Tikki followed a few inches behind her, she seemed just as alarmed as Marinette.

The rifles fired again causing Marinette to jump slightly even though she had been expecting it, she approached the corner of the rather short street and carefully peeked around the brick building, she saw nothing but a large group of scared guards shakily holding their rifles towards an unknown threat the next street over; their commander yelled for them to reload and they didn’t argue, they quickly reloaded their guns.

“Marinette…” Tikki whispered, “We need to get a better look.”

She turned her head to look at the Kwami, “Why? It’s probably just another protest,” she explained and turned to return to her work.

“But what if it isn’t…” Tiki whispered when Marinette walked past her making Marinette stop in her tracks.

Now Tikki had done it, she was curious now, she wouldn’t be able to return to work without knowing if it was just a protest and Tikki clearly knew that by the wide smile on her tiny face.

Marinette sighed and turned back to the Kwami. “Fine… What do I have to do?”

The Kwami smiled even wider, “Transform…”

She sighed again and nodded her head.

-x-

He groaned when the gunshots echoed for the fifth time, he put down the rather large book he had plucked from Chloe’s bookshelf and ventured over to the balcony doors to peer out but he didn’t see anything. The people on the wide street below were paused in place and were also listening to the gunfire. He heard Plagg yawn behind him but he didn’t turn around to face him he continued to stare out the window.

Adrien wondered why the rifles were being fired so much, they were distant but loud, they fired again and Adrien jumped. He looked over at Plagg, his ears had perked up at the shots and he seemed concerned at the echoing sound.

The Kwami zoomed out through the closed balcony doors like they were air, Adrien stared at the green sparkles of… light, he had left behind, he was only pulled from his stunned stupor when the entire building shook below his feet causing him to grow quite alarmed. He called out for the Kwami to come back and Adrien headed for the wall safe he knew was hidden just behind the large oil painting above the immaculate marble mantelpiece that had been built specially for the fireplace.

He swung the painting aside and with a few tricks he had picked up throughout his younger years he pulled open the heavy steel door. The old ornate rapier sword sat neatly tucked away behind a number of empty jewellery, it held no real value anymore so Chloe had obviously left it behind and Adrien considered it an unintentional gift; he pulled the sword down from the safe and pushed it shut.

“Kid what are you doing?”

He jumped and turned to the Kwami, “I might need it?” he replied with a shrug.

Plagg sighed, “You don’t need it, just say Transform me.”

“Transform me?” Adrien asked confused and like a trigger on a rifle, green and black sparkles of light washed across his body forming a second layer of skin across his body. He headed over to the long mirror carefully tucked away in the corner while the magic still drifted across his body.

Adrien stared down at the black suit in the mirror, it was strangely comfortable but something that he wouldn’t dare step out in public dressed like this, he turned to where Plagg had been to ask about the suit only to find him gone.

“Plagg?” he called but got no answer.

He looked back at the suit and at the large silver bell around his neck, he looked quite smart in the silver buttoned leather coat, it didn’t feel or move like leather but it definitely was he could tell by the look of it. The breeches were also black and almost blended seamlessly into the black button-up coat, they were plain and simple just the way he liked them.

His attention was drawn upwards when he felt something move atop his head, he noticed that a set of tall black leather ears sat atop his extremely messy blond hair, he could move them with a single thought like they were a limb he had always had. A rather long belt tracked down from around his waist, he guessed it was supposed to be his ‘tail’ and it didn’t end until it had reached well past the tall black silver-toed boots and pooled on the floor behind him, he could move it as well but he didn’t have as much control as his ears. He grabbed hold of his leather belt tail and wrapped it loosely around his waist again removing some of the extra length but not all of it.

Hesitantly he pulled the silver baton from off his back and headed towards the balcony, he knew roughly how it was going to work so he prepared for the sharp and sudden takeoff before extending it and finally finding out what this rather large threat that had brought the Kwami to him.

-x-

Marinette felt the lasting effects of the magic drifting its way across her goose kissed skin leaving a slowly fading pink light in its wake until the outfit was complete and it was all created by a few magic words.

The dull red suit with large black spots clung to almost every bit of visible skin across her thin frame, a small black jacket covered her shoulders and arms, it extended down in the back giving her the appearance of long, thin folded wings, she quickly pulled the only button it had to the other side and buttoned it up. The outfit Tikki had chosen was already way too far out of her comfort zone and she could tell already that there wasn’t a corset underneath it, she couldn’t feel one and she definitely hadn’t seen one before she had buttoned up the soft velvet feeling coat.

She looked down towards her waist and was glad to see that Tikki had given her a skirt to protect some of her modesty but it was rather short as it ended halfway up her thighs and once again sported the same dull red with black spots. She also had a yo-yo tied around her waist, it must be the weapon Tikki had told her about.

Quickly Marinette dashed down the steps of her home towards her parent's bedroom and towards the only mirror in the house, her feet felt extremely heavy, she stopped and lifting up her legs she discovered that she had on a pair of what looked to be very expensive red riding boots as well as long pants in an even darker shade of red, it too had black spots but these ones were a lot larger and could only just be seen against the claret-coloured pants.

The house shook, her hand shot out to the wall beside her as well as the handrail to steady herself on the tall steps, the thought of seeing what she looked like in the mirror was abandoned, she turned and took two steep steps back to her room and up through the small wooden trapdoor.

She stood on her balcony and pulled the rather heavy yo-yo from her side. Marinette tested the yo-yo before she threw it but it didn’t stop her from being thrown halfway across the arrondissement and into someone, tackling them to the floor.

With a loud yelp, she felt several cuts and bruises form on her and just as quickly started to feel them heal, she froze and stared at her arms and felt her skin tingle under the long sleeves until the pain in her arms dissipated.

She also realised that she was still partially laying atop someone, she scrambled off of him and quickly apologised, “I’m sorry!” She stood up and helped him to his own feet.

They were dressed completely in black leather and the suit was in much the same style as her own only he looked a lot more upper class but she really couldn’t take his look seriously with the rather tall and sharp pointy cat-like ears atop his head; he looked like he had come straight from one of the many street plays she walked passed on her delivery route.

He brushed off some of the dirt on his suit and smiled, “It's okay,” he replied, “You must be my partner then?”

She awkwardly nodded her head, “yeah…” she said barely above a whisper.

“It’s nice to meet you, I’m Chat Noir,” he responded introducing himself.

“I’m Mar-” Tikki’s words echoed back when she was halfway through her name, “Mad- Madly clumsy.”

He chuckled slightly, “It’s nice to meet you clumsy girl,” her cheeks slowly turned a bright shade of red, “We better find where this thing is shouldn't we?” he asked before he extended his baton to find the giant stone monster leaving Marinette alone on the uneven roof until she decided to throw her yo-yo to a nearby building to chase after him.

-x-

Adrien jumped freely from one rooftop to another, the girl he had met was struggling to keep up with him, his baton extended faster and propelled him quicker than she could swing her yo-yo to a new building or retract it from where it had attached itself.

His new set of ears directed him towards what they were looking for and with the added height of the rooftops, he was able to see the great stone monster just slightly over the horizon. He landed awkwardly on the flat stretch of roof and a few minutes after he had arrived, the ‘clumsy girl,’ his partner landed next to him.

She took one look at the creature and froze in fear, her shoulders slightly trembled and a hand went up to her lips so she could try and bite the nails underneath the red and black spotted gloves she was wearing.

The creature roared loudly for all to hear, he felt the building shake once again below his feet. He called his special ability, he knew exactly what he was going to do, with one touch he could turn that massive piece of granite into dust but he wanted to test it first, his eyes spied a small stick that had fallen from the tall birch tree in the small cobblestone courtyard behind them.

He bent down to press his palm to it and the clumsy girl yelled for him to stop but it was too late, the stick crumbled to ash and the ash was picked up by the soft midday breeze, carrying it off in the wind. “Cool,” he whispered to himself, he extended his baton and headed straight towards the mighty beast, the girl continued yelling behind him.

“Stop! It doesn’t-” he pressed his palm to the stone surface and waited for it to crumble to dust but it didn’t. “You only get one shot,” he heard her say, his eyes grew wide and he realised his mistake.

Slowly he raised his head to stare the beast in its eyes, he entered his starting stance, he had no idea how effective swordplay would be against the creature but it was worth a try. His silver baton met stone and he struggled to fight against the monsters extreme strength, his baton slowly started to get closer and closer to the cobbled road.

He removed his baton quickly and attacked the creatures stoney chest, it, of course, had no effect, he couldn’t perceive any visible weak points on the monster so he was clutching at sticks and everything was worth a try. It paused for a second then the cracks between the stones flashed yellow and it doubled in size. He leapt backwards to avoid an attack and then leapt again as the creature’s second stone first came crashing after it.

He was on the defensive, the monster gained several feet on him with each attack pushing him closer and closer towards the nearest building.

He turned his right to see his partner standing idle, “A little help here, please!” he yelled in a panic.

In the few seconds he had been distracted, the monster had raised one of its heavy rock fists it high above Adrien’s head, he watched helplessly as a dark shadow grew around his feet, he looked up and saw the fist slowly raised higher and higher before it stopped and by the law of the land, what goes up must eventually come back down.

He whispered a few small goodbye’s and prepared for his end, something wrapped tightly around his waist and then it was sharply pulled, he heard air fly past all four of his ears, he met the ground with a rather loud bump. He rubbed the back of his head, his vision was slightly blurry but his saviour steadily came into view, dark red spotted suit and she was quickly removing her yo-yo from around his waist.

“Didn’t your Kwami tell you anything?”

He shook his head, “Sorry,” he replied, “he demanded cheese and even then he wouldn’t explain everything.”

She sighed and shook her head, “We need a plan…”

He nodded and turned back to the creature who had just pulled its heavy fist from its crater, it roared again and made a b-line towards them.

He sprung into action, he pushed her out of the way and extended the baton wedging it between the floor and its fist, it tried again and his partner wrapped her yo-yo around it stone hand pulling it towards her and into the wall of the building beside him. His eyes looked up to the roof and found her standing atop it. The creature roared in outrage and pulled against the rope but she kept her grip on the thin twine.

He watched, even at that distance, as a plan slowly started to form in her head, her facial expressions told him almost everything he needed to know. He couldn’t understand how she was able to drum up a plan to stop a large stone creature tearing up the now deserted streets below and him using his ability on a worthless piece of wood certainly hadn’t helped their current position.

She clicked her tongue then turned to him, “Trust Me?” she asked, her voice was unsure and doubtful.

He smiled, “Of course,” although he was lying, she needed to hear something positive if they were going to defeat this monster and she had proved quite useful already.

She nodded and released the stone arm sending it crashing into the building in front of it. She indicated for him to follow, he frowned but quickly did as she asked when the monster started to recover from the shock of having its arm free.

He expanded his baton and followed her across the roof tiles, the clinked against each other as they rain towards Place Vendôme. People screamed below their feet but the monster stayed on its target, them. The window panes shook in their place as the monster jumped and ran after him, it was constantly gaining on them, he and his partner couldn’t escape it, he extended his baton but that only granted him a couple of feet that would be quickly gained back by the creature.

He heard her throw her yo-yo to the at the centre where a statue once sat, he followed her further into the empty square, the monster jumped over the tall building and landed before them.

“So… What’s your plan?” he questioned.

The monster took two large steps towards them.

“He has an object, we need to find it,” she explained.

“Okay…” his voice trailed off, “What does it look like?”

“No idea,” she replied.

He sighed and scanned the rocky surface looking for the so-called object.

“I-” she started then cut herself off when the creature threw its fist towards them.

He ducked and rolled out of the way, landing extremely hard on his left shoulder, “What is it?”

“I think it might be in his closed fist,” she said pointing towards it.

His eyes followed and saw the massive stoney rock hand that was clenched tightly.

“How are we going to open it?” he asked.

She smirked, her yo-yo went flying towards him and he suddenly realised what was going to happen, he took a deep breath and waited for the string to wrap its way around his waist. It did and soon he was flying through the air towards the stone monster.

Made for @ladynoirjuly2019

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leswansong · 5 years ago

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Ladynoir July - When Tomorrow Comes

Day Five: Babysitting

[ A03 ]

AN: I know this is extremly late but life happened and I'm only just getting back into writing, -Swan

Marinette hastily descended the stairs to the door leading to the streets, the constant, panicked knocking had awakened her from deep slumber four stories above and the windows dotted around her home informed her that it was still night. Her fingernails scratched at her scalp and at the large knots that had formed in it during her slumber. She yawned and stretched before she opened the door.

Much to her surprise, she opened the door to Alya standing there, her hair was a mess just like Marinette’s, fresh tears were in her eyes and her cheeks were a bright red. Marinette pushed open the door wider and pulled her friend inside for a tight hug. The dam broke and Alya erupted into tears against her shoulder, she glanced over her friend's shoulder to see her younger sisters standing there.

She pulled away from the embrace in exchange for quickly ushering them all inside, she checked the streets before closing the door, they didn’t need spies to be watching. Alya and her sisters started up the stairs past the closed bakery door and towards the third floor.

She locked the door to the kitchen to make sure they weren’t interrupted before she found out what had brought her friend to tears. She snatched two cookies from the plate as she passed through to the small seating space, the sister's eyes grew wide as they took the small baked biscuits from her, a few small thankyous were sent her way before they took a bite of the sweets.

Marinette smiled and turned to her shocked friend, “Where did you get the money for that?” Alya asked.

She shook her head, “It doesn’t matter,” she replied and changed the line of questioning, “Alya? What happened?”

Her friend looked to the floor in defeat then at her younger siblings and choked back a sob, Marinette frowned, Ella and Etta understood what their sister was asking and quickly made themselves scarce. Marinette watched them run up the steps to her room, the trapdoor shut gently and the room was once again filled with silence with the occasional sob from Alya.

She waited patiently for her friend to speak, “They came for Papa and Nora this morning, I-” Marinette’s heart dropped at the words but Alya continued, “They also came to take me, I couldn’t leave Ella or Etta there. I- I- I need you to look after them, they’re after me not them, I just need a few days to find a route out of Paris for them, I have an aunt east of here, near the coast, she’ll take us,” Alya explained wiping away a few remaining tears, “I need to go, the longer I’m here, the more I put you and your parents at risk.”

Marinette tried to protest but her friend was already heading towards the door.

“Alya…” she called, “don’t you want to say goodbye to them?”

Her eyes met the floor and she shook her head. Marinette heard the lock click and Alya threw open the door, her feet hurried down the steps and Marinette’s ears picked up on the front door being shut.

Marinette sighed and fell back onto the sofa, out of the corner of her eye, the first few rays of sunlight slowly peaked their way through the clouds. Her eyes flickered over to her still closed trapdoor and another sigh escaped her lips, she stood up and headed up to her room.

The trapdoor let out a loud creak and it hit the floor, Marinette winced slightly at the loud sound before continuing up the last few steps.

Her eyes struggled to adjust to the darkened room, she fumbled to find the small handle of her door but she made sure that it was closed gently.

She located the girls on her chaise, they didn’t move when she called their names, she shook them slightly and still didn’t get a response. Slowly she turned on her heels and shuffled over towards her desk, she tried to remember where she had left the candle the night before, in her haste to finish her sketch and return to the small bed above she had forgotten to put it back in its usual place; her hand knocked over several things, her pencil tin and all its pencils were scattered by a simple misguided flick of her hand.

Tikki ever her savour lit a nearby candle for her, the soft auburn light illuminated the mess she had caused, she sighed and started to clean up some of the mess. She heard a soft sleep-filled groan from behind her, glancing behind her she realised that the twins were asleep.

She stopped what she was doing and gently placed down the cup she had in her hands back on the desk, slowly she reached over to the candle on the desk and backed her way towards the steps to her bed up above her. Tikki followed her up the steps and waited until Marinette settled back under the bundle of blankets before she blew the flame out, the only light left in the room was from the steadily rising sun outside.

-x-

Adrien looked down at the crowded streets below, the shadow of the building hid his darkened form from them. People chattered happily as they walked, some had baskets full of different fruits and vegetables, others had armfuls of books, one was even carrying a large cross in their hands as they passed.

He was still amazed by the crowds of people, his windows back at his childhood home never allowed him to see the street, the large sandstone like walls also added to that.

He shook his head to try and pull him from the distant memories form the past, he seemed to be thinking about that old house more and more, an odd thing considering that he hated that house, he wanted nothing more than to escape its cold walls and now he wanted nothing more than to return to it, he even thought about his father more, a feat that he never thought was possible.

A giggle was what ultimately pulled him from his self-pity, it took him a moment to locate the source but eventually his eyes located and tracked the two giggling girls running away from a much taller and frantic girl, she was trying her best to chase after the two without knocking over anyone or bump something out of someone's hands by accident.

He laughed, it was truly never a dull day in Paris, he looked down at the street below before he extended his baton down to the street so he could cut them off. People around him tried to catch his attention, he tried his best to be polite and brush them off but some were still trying to push their questions.

He escaped them by returning to the roofs once again and the light blue dresses of the girls he was chasing caught his eye, he jumped across the buildings following them through the crowd, the older girl was still trying to find them but her pace was starting to slow.

He watched them duct down a darkened alleyway and he readied his baton to descend to them. His boots landed heavily on the mud and puddle ridden road.

Leaning on his baton he called after the girls. “Hey! Where do you think you're going?”

They both stopped in their tracks and sheepishly turned to face him, a set of apologetic smiles were already spread across their faces.

“Sorry, we ran from Marinette,” one apologised while the other nodded along.

“Is Marinette the girl you were running from?”

They both nodded in response.

He gave them a lighthearted frown, “I think we should-“

“There you are!” A familiar voice called cutting him off, he knew it from somewhere but he couldn’t place where.

His tall cat ears snapped around to the source then his head and he froze watching idly as she pushed past him to talk to the runaway girls.

Her long black hair, the grey apron, and the dirty pink skirt with spots of dried mud around the base from several rainstorms, all the same. She, of course, didn’t recognise him making him feel a little disappointed but it was her, it was the girl with the bread.

She quickly bent down and wrapped the two girls into a tight hug sending a smile to spread across his normally neutral face.

“Thank you,” she said, still trying to catch her breath.

“It’s okay,” he replied, trying not to stutter.

“Where were you going?!” She yelled, her attention was now solely on the runaways.

The two girls eyes met the floor in shame. “We were going to see Alya,” one mumbled, his ears twitched at the name.

Marinette sighed, “We talked about this… She’ll be back for you, you just need to be patient.”

“But why?” One cried, a few tears started to fall freely from her eyes, “She promised us that she’d never leave us!”

Bread girl didn’t seem to know how to answer that question, she just continued to look at the two.

“Ella, you know why she had to leave, she did it to protect you and your sister. I wish she had handled it better but that’s in the past, she will be back for you and then you’ll go with her to see your aunt, okay?”

The girl slowly nodded but she still didn't like the outcome of the conversation.

Adrien took this as this moment to make a stealthy retreat, carefully he took one step backwards, then another and another, he was almost clear when he sent his foot into a puddle of water. He winced and accepted his fate, his eyes slowly opened and he felt everybody's eyes on him.

“You must be Chat Noir?”

He nodded.

“Thank you… For stopping them I mean, I would never have caught them if you didn’t.”

He smiled, “It’s no problem,” he replied.

“I should probably introduce myself, I’m Marinette,” she offered out her hand for him to shake, he smirked and quickly flipped her hand over and placed a gentle kiss on the back of it, a few giggles escaped from the younger girls at her side.

He looked up expecting her to be shocked but no, she continued to smile and waited for him to release her hand, “I best get these two back home,” she explained, the two girls locked hands and one grabbed hold of Marinette’s free hand. He dropped her hand, he had only been holding it for five seconds but he could feel the heat from her calloused hand through his leather gloves.

“Of course,” he replied, bowing his head slightly, “Maybe I’ll see you again someday, Princess.”

He mentally chastised himself as soon as the nickname passed through his lips.

“Maybe…” her soft voice echoed.

She waved at him before pulling the two giggling girls back towards the way the had come, leaving him alone in the shadow-filled alley. He slowly backed his way further into the shadows before he returned to rooftops of the tall houses. His ears tracked their footsteps as they slowly grew distant until he no longer heard the soft footfalls against sharpened stones, his eyes searched the skies above for a reason not to follow them and eventually, he found one.

The hour bell rang from Notre Dame informing all who heard it what time it was, he pulled a small pocket watch out from a hidden pocket and double-checked the time, five o’clock, patrol time. His legs carried him over the rooftops towards the meeting spot near the western gate.

It was easier to start near one of these gates then work their way inwards and they wouldn’t get confused by the sometimes confusing streets and roads.

He found the designated rooftop empty when he arrived, he shrugged his shoulders and sat down on the cold tiles, waiting.

-x-

Watching the two girls out of her eyes Marinette got to work fixing her torn skirts, she held it up to the light and sighed as she saw just how bad the damage was for the first time, the damage was too great and now it was only good for mending other torn outfits.

Her eyes flickered over to the basket of clothes, she had promised that she would never touch them but… it wouldn’t hurt to take one would it, it wasn’t like someone was coming back for them and nobody had come to claim the many baskets that lined the far wall of her room.

Still uncomfortable with the thought of it she looked over the baskets of light and darkened cloth. She pulled out various shirts for both males and females, her left hand grabbed a hold of a dark grey stretch of fabric, it was heavy and was once most likely a curtain, she inspected it carefully for holes and found none, a first in a very long time.

She pulled the long cloth out further from the tangled confines of the small woven basket and heaved it towards her desk. It met the sewing desk with a loud thump, she laid it flat and with her eyes, she measured out the desired length, her hand felt around in the draw beside her for the pair of fabric scissors she kept there, they wrapped around the cold heavy metal.

Within the first few snips of the stiff fabric, she had attracted the attention of the twins. They watched eagerly as she cut out a skirt pattern and it wasn’t long before they were asking for tasks they could perform for her. Ella was handed the offcuts in case they were needed to extend the skirt in parts, Etta made sure that the wool she was using to stitch it all together didn’t get tangled up into massive knots even though Marinette had it somewhere where it was least likely to happen.

She flipped the dress over and got started on hemming the long skirt, the wool proved to be the correct choice in threading, her needle struggled to pierce the fabric several times causing her poor fingers to meet the unfortunate end of it. The fresh wounds stung painfully but she forced herself to continue the skirt as she waited for the question she knew that the twins were only just holding back to be asked.

The sewing needle went in and out of the skirt at a steady pace, Marinette only just heard the girl’s voice but it had finally been asked.

“Could you make me one?” Etta whispered.

She smiled and let out a small giggle, “Of course but you have to promise to eat everything tonight.”

Etta nodded her head and returned to the ball of wool in the basket, her eyes had turned to the other balls that Marinette had in there most likely contemplated what colour she wanted to be used with hers.

“Can I have one too?” Ella piped up, “I promise to eat all my dinner too…”

Marinette nodded in return and the twins excitedly started gushing about their new skirts.

All the talk of dinner reminded Marinette that she needed to keep an eye on the time, she quickly felt around at her pockets for her grandfather's pocket watch, it ticked in her hands and it took a second for her mind to work out the time.

Her eyes grew wide and she froze for a second before she felt herself start to panic, the twins sent her an odd look as she raced around the room looking for her bag, they tried to help her but she sent the girls to the bakery below, they didn’t protest much as they knew they would most likely worm their way into a couple of the leftover sweets the bakery still stocked.

With the door below slamming shut, Tikki flew from her spot with her bag in her hands, Marinette let out a sigh of relief and followed the Kwami down the steps to the kitchen below. Tikki went for the warm coals that had been left in the fireplace to add to the cold ones under the stove to start warming up the soup still sitting atop the stove.

Marinette went to the bucket of water they kept in the kitchen to rinse out the bowel and pot she had forgotten to clean out the night before. She dumped the dishes into the bucket and got to work with scrubbing them clean.

Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Tikki ponder over the ingredients in the pot, her ears picked up on the small bubbling happening within the pot as the soup started to heat up but something still wasn't right with it, Tikki had said as much the night before, even with Marinette insisting that the soup was alright. The Kwami flew back over to the spice shelf, her bright blue eyes searched the rows looking for that one ingredient that would bring it all together, Tikki wanted it to be perfect and nothing would convince her otherwise.

Finally, Tikki found the spice that would tie the soup together and eagerly dumped it into the pot, the Kwami struggled a little to pick up the wooden spoon to mix it in, Marinette tried to help her but she had her hands full drying the bowel but Tikki proved that she could handle it herself. Marinette smiled as her hands circled the cloth around the pot wiping away the small droplets of water still left on it from its brief swim in the bucket until it was dry, Tikki gave the wooden spoon one final turn in the dish then turned to her and gave her smile, it was ready.

With a little of Tikki’s help, Marinette picked up the pot and poured a large amount into the pot to try and make up for making him late. She felt horrible after asking him to show up early, only for her to show up late the next day.

With a frown, she tied the long white cloth around the pot to keep the lid on and called for her transformation, she threw her small fabric bag over her shoulder and carefully made her way up to the roof. Night had fallen and she could see the candles burning in so many windows, she pulled her trusty yo-yo from her side, it was only there to catch her if she fell, there was no way she would be able to properly swing while holding the warm pot in her hands and she slowly made her way towards the meeting spot, her mind already at work at explaining why she was late.

-x-

Adrien watched the rooftops carefully for the red and black spotted suit, he was early just like she had asked him to be. He paced back and forth while he waited, his eyes still dutifully flickered up to the rooftops but as darkness started to descend upon him, he started to lose hope of her ever showing. He pulled out his pocket watch and watched the seconds hand tick their way around the clock face once, then twice until he had lost count.

The cold started to set in, they had been two months off of winter when he last looked at a date, he could tell it wouldn’t be long now, the heavy snow would soon snake its way across the country and eventually come to Paris.

His eyes caught sight of a flash of red across the rooftops, a small wave of relief washed over him, he watched her bound ever so carefully across the rooftops, she had something in her hands, the off white ribbon tied on top of it stood out from the darkened rooftops as did her suit but maybe it was because he could see much better in the dark. She paused for a moment to adjust her grip on the object in her hands, Adrien contemplated meeting her halfway but he didn’t know whether or not she could see him in the moonless night.

She landed gracefully on the rooftop beside him, a long line of apologies came his way as soon as she did. She pulled an empty bowel from her bag and emptied the soup from the pot into it.

“Are? Are you okay?” he asked.

She shook her head, “I’m sorry Chat, I- I can’t stay long,” she replied passing him the bowel, “I need to get back before they notice that I’m gone.”

He frowned in confusion but still took the bowel from her, “Who’s they?”

She groaned, “The siblings I’m looking after.”

He nodded and quickly started to drink the soup, “Did you still want me to do patrol?” he asked in between mouthfuls.

She shook her head, “Only if you want to.”

He nodded and returned to the much warmer soup, he was never going to show up late again, it tasted a lot better warm and it was a shame that he had to rush it. He gulped down the remainder of the soup and handed her back the bowel, she frowned at the state of it but still wiped it down and stuck it back into her fabric bag.

“You should go home Chat, it's cold and I don’t want you to catch a fever.”

“Aww, you do care,” he teased bringing a small smile to her face before she punched his arm.

“Don’t push it,” she warned collecting her stuff, “Go home Chat,” she commanded, she threw her yo-yo back towards the direction she had come from, “No excuses.”

He nodded his head and with that Ladybug leapt back off into the night, she ducked around a bell tower and he lost sight of her. With a sigh, he looked towards the direction of home then off towards the start of the patrol route, he knew he shouldn’t and that he should go home but with one massive leap, he started the patrol route.

Adrien promised himself that he wouldn’t do it all and would go home after a few minutes of roaming the darkened rooftops but as usual he kept telling himself just a little further then he’ll stop but it was always just a little further and eventually, he had done it all. In shame, he slunk back home with his head hung low, the patrol route he had taken ended nearby his home so it was a short walk home but still a long one for his cold and tired body.

His ring chimed loudly and he picked up his pace at the warning sounds, his legs protested and wanted to go back to the slow pace of a walk. A sudden blast of cold winter wind hit him and almost knocked him off of the small board he had slowed down to walk across it, he wobbled slightly and jumped the rest of the distance to the roof, he landed perfectly.

Shivering he pushed open the door and stumbled inside the remaining heat from the burnt-out fire that burnt out several hours ago still lingered within the building, his cheeks burned slightly but he was still cold. Plagg flew from his coat, phasing through the decorated roof to the floor above presumably to try and restart the dead fire, Adrien slowly followed him up the stairs, he pulled his coat further around his thinning frame.

Adrien dropped to the floor in front of the fire while Plagg tried to light the bundle of sticks underneath a log, a small orange flame slowly made its way through the sticks and soon the fire took hold of the small log, their last log, the small coin purse that had afforded them this luxury but it had, of course, run out, Adrien shuffled closer and closer to the fire, eventually he laid down in front of it, the soft sounds of the fire crackling sent him towards the desperately needed sleep he wanted.

The last thing he remembered before falling into a deep dreamless sleep that called for him was Plagg pulling one of the dust sheets off of the chair and haphazardly draped it over him then curled up into a ball beside him in front of a roaring fire.

Made for @ladynoirjuly2019

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leswansong · 6 years ago

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Marichat May - Kitty Cats & Ballet Shoes

Day Nine: Ice Skating

[ A03 ]

Marinette really hated Chat Noir sometimes, he wouldn’t listen to her no matter how many times she brought up the fact that he was injured so after three days of him begging she finally agreed to go with him.

The snow had come early this year, they still had three weeks until winter was supposed to arrive but that didn’t stop Chat from taking the opportunity to have some fun. The first day after heavy snow was when he asked she said no because she was far too worried about him slipping and hurting himself further so when she returned home from her long shift at the library he had surprised her with an impromptu snowball fight, she had won of course but mainly because she was being more competitive. The second day he had asked again and she once again said no but it was for her own selfish reasons and when she returned home the next day a snowman was waiting for her at the foot of the steps that lead up to her apartment. This morning in her half-asleep state she had said yes, yes to Ice Skating.

Chat had healed a lot in the week and a half that he had stayed with her, she had pushed him to stay with her a lot longer when he tripped and fell headfirst into her wooden coffee table, he didn’t protest much.

Marinette snivelled and groaned, she was already coming down with her dreaded yearly winter cold. She had to dig around in her spare wardrobe for her winter coats and boots just so she wouldn’t freeze out on the ice and so she wouldn’t freeze out in the cold winter Parisian streets because Chat insisted that they head out after midnight just as an extra precaution. She hated that idea because it would be close to freezing or just past it which meant she was going to be cold and miserable for most of the night, she was just glad that she didn’t have work or any dance classes to attend to the next morning.

Sighing she tugged on her blush pink scarf and beanie knowing that she couldn’t procrastinate forever no matter how much she really wanted to, her hand reached for the cold doorknob and reluctantly she opened it. Chat was waiting on the other side for her, her eyes instantly noticed the large black case in his right hand and her curiosity had peaked, she wondered what was in it. Then she noticed his black suit wasn’t its usual form fitting as it used to be, it looked as if he was wearing several jackets underneath it but somehow not at the same time, a few tuffs of fur stuck out around his collar and Marinette really wanted to know just how warm his suit was.

“You ready?” he asked distracting her from her train of thought.

“Yeah…” her voice trailed off.

Chat took her hand and started to lead her to her own front door, she could see the excitement in his face, she wished she could feel that way but the looming sense of dread in her stomach wouldn’t leave her alone, she wanted to tell him what her heart was telling her at that moment but as soon as she opened her mouth her anxiety chased it back.

She struggled with her keys because of how much her hands were shaking, Chat took them from her and unlocked the door for her, she stepped outside and instantly wanted to return to her somewhat warm apartment. She buried her hands into her pockets to save them from the stinging cold and waited only for Chat to hand her back her keys, she reluctantly removed her left hand to take the cold pieces of metal from him.

“Are you cold?” he queried.

She quickly nodded her head.

He chuckled slightly, “Let’s get you moving then, you’ll warm up faster.”

She started walking down the steps leaving Chat at her front door, he raced down the steps after her. His hand dug into her pocket to take her right hand, he forced it open and gave her the set of gloves from his suit, she hadn’t seen him take them off but she graciously took them from him and quickly put them on. The inside had been made with soft fur, the softest she had ever felt, it reminded her of the fur of the sleeping kittens safely tucked away in her apartment. The gloves were surprisingly warm; her hand hadn’t grown hot or sweaty in them making her love them even more. She looked over at him to see him bury his hands into the gloves she had bought for him, she smiled and bravely she removed her now warm gloved hand from her pocket to hold his hand making the thief’s already red cheeks grow slightly darker; she tried to hide the smile tugging at the corner of her lips from him.

She allowed him to lead her towards the ice skating rink, it had been a very long time since she had been there, she cast her mind back to try and remember the last time she had been there, her mind eventually settled on… Luka. She groaned internally, no matter what she did he always wormed his way to the forefront of her memories, there was no escaping him not when he had played such a major role in her life for so long.

“Marinette? Are you okay?”

She pulled herself from the start of a long and dark spiral of sad memories long since passed. She looked at Chat and tried to give him her bravest smile to try and calm his worried look. An ungloved hand reached up to her cheek and wiped away a tear that she hadn’t realized that she’d cried. She looked to see where they were only to find that they had arrived at their destination.

“We- We don’t have to do this if you-“

She cut him off, “No I want to do this,” she tried to reassure him but it was more for herself.

She needed to do this, she needed to prove to herself that she was past him, that she was okay, that she didn’t need him to survive.

“Are you sure?” Chat asked again.

She nodded her head, “let’s go before I freeze out here.”

He gave her an uncertain smile then whispered something beyond her range of hearing, he pressed his hand to the lock on the doors and it crumbled to ash, her eyes grew wide, this was now the second time she had seen him do something beyond her imagination but he didn’t seem to notice her shock when he took her hand and led her into the darkened arena.

“Stay here,” he whispered dropping her hand.

She heard his feet walked off somewhere very quickly and a door open, she wrapped her arms around herself in an attempt to stay warm when the lights and the small amount of heating the building had turned on. She headed over to where the skates were kept and she wandered over to where the ones in her size were stored. She looked up to see Chat walking over the ice, he seemed to be inspecting it, she frowned but kept her eyes on him as she sat down to put her skates on.

“What are you doing?” She called out to him.

“Making sure the ice is solid,” he called back and he started walking towards her, “Need some help?” he asked.

She shook her head, “I’m fine.”

He shrugged his shoulders and sat down beside her, he opened the case he had brought with him revealing a nice pair of sleek black leather skates, she really wanted to know where he got them so she could get herself a pair.

“You ready?”

She took a deep breath and nodded her head.

Chat helped her to her feet, she could dance with perfect balance but somehow when she was out of her pointe shoes she had the extreme tendency to trip and fall; she found it strange that she had yet to fall in front of Chat and really didn’t want to jinx herself.

Slowly he led her out onto the ice, her feet wobbled and her anxiety rose higher within her causing Chat to hold on her slightly tighter. She had never been any good at skating whether it was roller or ice no matter how much time Luka sank into trying- No, she shook her head having already gone down that route many times before.

“You okay?” Chat asked leading her further out on the ice.

She nervously nodded her head.

Her legs grew stiff and tense, she was terrified of falling. Slowly her mind registered that Chat was running small circles on her wrists with his fingers, calming her and eventually her mussels loosened and her fears dissipated. Soon a wave of confidence filled her, she let go of him and she skated carefully around the outside of the rink. Chat smiled and clapped giving her even more confidence, he started to skate faster than her and she quickened her pace.

They went around the rink several times before she took her attention off of her skates to look over at him and that’s when she felt her foot slip, she braced herself for the cold hard impact. Her arms made contact first then her chest, she slid along the ice a bit before coming to a complete stop. She slowly sat up and tried to stand but her skates kept slipping out from under her, she was about to resign herself to crawling off the ice when the sound of Chat’s skates headed towards her. He held out his hands to help her up, her feet wobbled a bit but he helped balance her out.

She pushed herself away from him as soon as she was standing so she could tear her jacket off to inspect the bruises that were starting to form.

“That was a hard fall,” he commented.

“Felt like it too.”

She threw her large bulky jacket aside just managing to get it over the tall glass. She was angry with herself and in that moment she decided to force herself to continue skating even if her legs protested.

Chat speed up beside her, “Marinette… Maybe you should take a break.”

“No,” she shook her head and she tried to make her legs move faster.

Chat sighed and reposition himself so he was once again skating beside her, “Marinette stop, please.”

She didn’t listen and continued to skate, his hand flew out and pulled her into him, using himself to slow her down she came to a stop. She didn’t protest, she looked everywhere but his eyes but the empty ice rink only brought her distant memories from a time when she wasn’t running from her heartbreak.

She had avoided those memories, locked them away to try and escape the pain but somedays…. Somedays she wasn’t strong enough to keep that box locked and today… today seemed to be one of those days.

Ice skating was something that she and Luka tried to do every two weeks, he loved the activity and looking around at the rink and at the sidelines all she could see was him. He was like a host on the ice, she could see him clear as day leap and twirl in the air and still make the perfect landing. Marinette knew the move all too well but she could never replicate in on the cold ice. She tried to look somewhere else but she could see herself with him sharing what used to be her favourite flavour of ice cream.

She was confused when a tear rolled down her cheek, when had she started crying? And then her heart realized that she had opened the forbidden locked box and it clawed at her bringing all the pain she had buried trying to forget the black haired boy, but unlike the other times she couldn’t close it and she cried, she cried like she had never done before. She hadn’t even cried when Alya had flown back to try and comfort her. Somewhere in her grief Chat had pulled her into a tight embrace, she clung to him as if her life depended on it.

The flood gates had opened and there was no closing it until the dam had run dry. She had instantly packed away all of her feelings when it was happening, she moved on and pushed herself to dance, she threw herself into any and every production even if it was a minor role. Her parents where the only ones that saw it for what it truly was and tried to convince her to slow down but nothing could, not even a hospital stay for exhaustion could stop her.

She had never faced the pain and hurt that Luka had left her with and regretfully she let the painful memory resurface. Images of her old apartment that she shared with him came first, then came that day, she had just returned from landing her first major role when he said those hurtful words, she packed her bags with everything she could carry and boxed up the rest. She had sent a quick message to her father and once everything had been packed into the small family delivery truck. She hadn’t said a word to him not even when she slammed the door in his face. That day she vowed to herself to never see him or mentioned him again.

Slowly the tears dried up and now she was dry crying, all the pain she had kept buried deep down slowly subsided, it felt good to finally get it all out but it didn’t disappear, it was now slightly dulled. She wiped away the remaining tears that were running down her face.

Marinette slowly realized that she had been moved off the ice to the sidelines and was now sitting in Chat’s lap facing away from the massive sheet. He didn’t say anything; her head was still slightly buried into his chest so he probably didn’t know that she had calmed down. She felt safe in his arms and really didn’t want to move but eventually, she had too; gently she pushed against him and he loosened the tight embrace that made her feel safe and loved from around her leaving her exposed to the world.

“I-“she tried to explain but no words formed.

“Are you okay?” he asked softly.

She tried to smile but couldn’t so she nodded her head instead.

“I think we should get going, I don’t know when the owner gets here to start setting up,” he told her.

Shakely she nodded her head relieved that they were going to be leaving the rink and the memories behind.

Chat shifted her off of his lap to the seat next to him, he kept hold of her legs and started to remove her skates, she didn’t protest she just sat there as he swapped them for her winter boots, then packed away his own skates.

“I’m guessing you want to head home.”

She sniffled and nodded her head, her face felt red hot and puffy from crying.

A mischievous smile spread across his face. “Hold this,” he instructed and handed her the sleek black case his skates were in.

She rolled her eyes but followed his command.

Chat quickly scooped her up into his arms and picked her up bridal style, she threw her free arm around her neck to steady herself.

“Hold on,” he murmured.

He headed out the door of the ice rink, his slow and steady pace slowly rocked her to sleep.

Marinette yawned and stretched, the warm glow of the morning or afternoon sun, she didn’t know, floated in through a window. Her mind was hazy but she felt the soft familiar sheets of her bed, her eyes adjusted long enough to read the small note on her bedside table before she fell back into a deep sleep.

‘Hope you slept well Princess,

I wish I could have hung around

to say goodbye but duty calls.

I’ll see you again soon Mari.’

-Chat Noir

Made For @marichatmay

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leswansong · 6 years ago

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Marichat May - Kitty Cats & Ballet Shoes

Day Twenty-Eight: Secrets

[ A03 ]

Adrien walked briskly down the street to the pre-designated meeting point, his bartender finally found something about the Lightning bolt girl although he already knew that she was one of the many victims of Hawkmoth but any information was helpful, he still needed to track down the villain. His mask sat in his pocket just in case it was needed, he was growing used to carrying it around with him, Plagg called him silly for doing so but it made him feel safer, he was meeting more and more people apart of the dark world without the safety of the suit, he trusted some people but not all; public places were a good place to meet the first time around, the threat of drawing too much attention was a large enough of a deterrent to most.

The bartender, Nino, he recalled had promised that meeting in the day time was going to be worth it, Adrien was weary but he trusted that the guy was telling the truth particularly because he was meeting Adrien in secret.

He pushed against the glass door to the café, it was busy, extremely busy. He loosened his scarf from around his neck and joined the long queue that slowly moved towards the counter. He greeted the barista and ordered a green tea, he scanned the crowd around him as discreetly as possible to make sure he wasn’t being watched.

“Chat Noir,” he greeted in a hushed voice, his green mask hid all of his defining facial structures but Adrien could still tell it was him.

“We never established what your name was…”

“Yes… That doesn’t matter, shall we get right to the point then?”

He nodded and Nino pulled out a large manila folder from a bag that sat beside him, he slid it across the table for him to read. Cautiously he flipped through it but nothing stood out.

“What is it?” he questioned.

“My… Significant other is…” he struggled to find a word to describe her, “an amateur detective, she is the one that dug this up. I don’t know how useful it will be but since… Since Hawkmoth appeared, she hasn’t stopped looking.”

“And this is everything she has found so far?”

“Yeah,” he replied, “They aren’t the originals unfortunately, I wouldn’t dare hand over those in fear of my own life.”

Adrien chuckled and continued to read through the pages, he could see the handwritten notes in the margins of printed out pages of web sites, he read one, it detailed a small theory the researcher had, he smiled at how enthusiastic she was about the topic, he suspected that he would get along quite well with her.

“Anything else?” Adrien asked, the paperwork was going to take several hours to go through and he really wanted to start on it.

“Yeah, the girl at the bar, she-“

“Hasn’t been back?” he said cutting him off, Nino looked at him and nodded, “I know, she was looking for me, she was one of Hawkmoth's victims…”

“Oh…”

“Don’t sound disappointed, I still owe you something.”

Nino nodded again and stood up, “I’ll give you more in a couple of weeks, Al-” he cut himself off, “My wife… she’s doing this for fun, maybe her research can help you and your mouse friend.”

Adrien nodded and watched him leave before he returned to the five-inch-thick stack of paper he had just been handed, it felt like Christmas to him. He could tell already that the notes were incredibly well organised, Plagg shifted in his pocket to see what it was and the Kwami groaned when he realised it was only paper and not cheese.

Papers sat scattered around him, he could barely move without running into more and it was a struggle to move them all aside before Natalie could read them. He didn’t know that she had known where his apartment was let alone what floor he was on. She stood awkwardly in the doorway to his living room as he cleaned.

“Adrien, your father has asked that I-“ she started only for him to cut her off

“Ask me to move back in. That’s a no Natalie.”

“He has offered-“

“Still a no,” he replied cutting her off again, “Is there anything else?”

“He wants to know how you’ve been but if this is not a good time I can come back, you must be busy with… school work I assume, I will keep this a secret for you, your father won’t be happy…”

He nodded and she turned to leave, he heard his front door and he collapsed to the floor, his father always wanted him to get his education but only in the fields he wanted him to study. It was frustrating at how much his father still thought he had control over him but Adrien was going to prove him wrong.

Hours of pouring over the stack of paperwork he had been given had led him to this, Marinette had agreed to help him in his suspicions.

Adrien looked at the small box he had found in that small safe all those months ago, the simple Ladybug design had been nothing at first but now… Now he wondered if he had found one of the most powerful Miraculous so long ago without even noticing it. He opened the box and stared down at the small round earrings, he sighed and then handed the box to Marinette, she looked at him and the box in confusion before hesitantly taking it from him. She slowly put them in and they waited, no ball of light, no sudden appearance of a red Kwami, nothing. It wasn’t the Miraculous he had been looking for and it was a relief.

Adrien rubbed his eyes, he had awoken to a dark room and he didn’t know why, his eyes shot over to his bedroom window, he stared out it, it was somewhere in the early morning, he could tell by how quiet the streets were. His phone buzzed on the bedside table as a call came through, he groaned and rolled over to answer it.

“Hello?” he asked, his eyes had caught the time and he wasn’t happy to be awake at four in the morning.

“Chat… We- We… uh…” Marinette’s voice came through in a panic.

His eyes drooped closed but he forced them back open, “Did you have a nightmare?”

“No!” He jumped at the sudden loud volume, “It’s something else… Could you get over here, like right now.”

He sighed, “Sure…” he replied sounding a little unsure and through a small yawn.

She whispered a thank you and ended the call. He removed the phone from his ear and stared at the screen. It sounded important but he didn’t like how vague she had been. He stared up at the ceiling for a few minutes as thoughts about what she had been hinting towards swam around in his head before he got out of bed to make himself a cup of coffee to go. Plagg looked annoyed at the lights in the bedroom being turned on, the Kwami yawned and stretched before he settled back into his spot on the spare pillow, Adrien was tempted to wake Plagg but the Kwami could sleep for a few more minutes while he made himself somewhat presentable to the world.

His eyes felt heavy, he didn’t like driving to the opposite side of Paris before the sun had peaked its head over the horizon neither did Plagg, not even the promise of cheese would get the Kwami to move so regretfully he called for his transformation, he didn’t like forcing his Kwami into it but sometimes he had to. Clutching his travel mug tightly in his hand he knocked on the small wooden trap door. It opened all most instantly and he was pulled into the warm room bellow.

It took a second for him to get his bearings in the pink room, he looked at Marinette, she was pointing towards something, he looked to see what it was. Red, floating, large blue eyes, Kwami…

Made for @marichatmay

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leswansong · 6 years ago

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Marichat May - Kitty Cats & Ballet Shoes

Day Twelve: Post Reveal

[ A03 ]

Adrien wished he had called Gabriel something different at that moment, any number of names would have done but no his mind had settled on father and in his rush to get Marinette out of the building as quickly as he could he didn’t even register the fact that had even called him that. He hoped Marinette didn’t realise who he was but he knew it wouldn’t take long, one billboard ad or even a newspaper article would inform her as to who he was. He was going down a dangerous road with her knowing who he was, she could tell anyone and every one although he doubted that she would she was still a risk to his identity. He had to talk to her sooner rather than later even if he never wanted to face it.

Plagg was having a field day with this recent revelation, The Kwami hadn’t stopped his teasing even into the early morning as the sun slowly started to rise across the rooftops. It was his usual teasing consisting of a slew of I told you so and you would listen but eventually, the Kwami stopped long enough for them both to get some sleep.

Adrien looked over at the alarm clock on his bedside table and groaned before sitting up, it was past midday already and Marinette would already be awake. Plagg was still asleep on the pillow beside him which meant if he wanted the suit he’d have to wake him and waking Plagg was no easy task. He retrieved his spare mask from the night before off of the dresser and put it on, it was a little uncomfortable but then again all masks were when he was used to the one that came with the suit.

Marinette wasn’t anywhere to be seen when he exited his room, a note had been left on the dining table for him. She had left to pick up some groceries for the week, he sighed and looked around at the silent apartment before picking up the note again and writing a response.

He headed towards the safe hidden behind a stack of books on the bookshelf, the necklace was still sitting within, he grabbed it and stuffed it into the black bag it had been transported in. He left the tiara and earrings behind and headed for the door, Plagg would know where he went and follow him.

He removed his mask and stuffed it into his jacket pocket just in case he needed it later.

The streets although busy were easy to navigate, the old massage pallor was only a few short streets away. Adrien kept looking over his shoulder to make sure that he wasn’t being followed as he walked towards the parlour, he was used to being followed and this happened to be the one time he didn’t feel constant eyes on him, it worried him.

Gently he pushed on the old bamboo door, the old man, Master Fu, was as predicted, waiting for him, a cup was already waiting for him as well as a newspaper sat in front of him open to the front page where Adrien could see the words written in big bold letters, Stolen and a picture of the necklace.

“Chat Noir, I see your latest heist was a success, I congratulate you.”

“Thank you, Master Fu, but I had some help on this one,” he picked up his cup and took a sip of the green tea.

“I was under the impression that you had no partner.”

“I don’t but I would like her to be… She knows who I am under the mask.”

“Adrien…”

“I didn’t tell her,” he assured, “Last night at the Gala… We ran into my father… She’s trustworthy.”

The old man nodded, “It is up to you whether or not if you trust her, I can only guide you to your next target.”

Adrien gave the man a small smile before he pulled out the box that contained the necklace.

“I believe this yours Master Fu.”

The old man slowly opened the box and smiled, “Thank you.”

The old man smiled and pulled the necklace from its confines to inspect it, the Kwami, Wayzz, floated over to inspect it.

“It’s her Master, she’s home.”

Adrien smiled, reuniting a Kwami back with the others was always a joyous moment for all parties involved. Master Fu walked over to the second gramophone on his shelf, it was larger than the first one but only slightly. He opened it and placed the necklace within before it sealed shut again.

“Do you have any leads on any others?” Adrien asked.

He wanted to know if he should start planning his next heist after the heat of his last heist dies down.

“Not yet Chat Noir but there will be in time, I have a solid lead on your next one, we just have to be patient.”

Adrien finished his cup and stood up, “You know where to find me,” he replied and walked towards the door.

“This Girl… Do you trust her with a Miraculous?”

He looked back at the older man and left without answering the question.

He didn’t know if he trusted her that much but he trusted her. The Miraculous was something different, Master Fu didn’t trust anyone but him with one, some event in the mans’ past had led him to that and he had left Adrien to choose who he trusted. Adrien would have at least some time to decide whether he trusted her to the effect of a Miraculous being bestowed on her, he knew he wanted to work on his next heist with her to see if she was actually dedicated to his cause.

She would question everything and he wouldn’t be able to tell her anything but if she trusted him enough her patience would be rewarded in time. He just hoped that she would wait that long for those answers.

He looked up in through the bakery window at the older couple then at the name on the building, he smiled and pushed on the glass door to enter the small bakery. They greeted them cheerfully but didn’t let slip that he knew their daughter.

“And what can I get you?” the woman, Marinette’s Mother, he assumed, asked.

“Uh… Three of chocolate croissants, Please.”

She smiled and nodded, she picked up a brown bag, he didn’t see her slip the croissants into the bag because her expert hands move so fast.

“Anything else?”

“No.”

He handed over the correct amount and picked up his bag of treats.

Her parents seemed nice and trustworthy just like her making him question if dragging her into the dark world he lived in was right, he had never wanted to drag her into this world that part was clear to him but Marinette was Marinette, strong and brave, somehow she had gotten him to take down the walls and let her in to a world that no one should even get a glimpse of, a world he had long since grown used to and now… Now he had to decide, decide if he should let her descend further into that dark world.

He wanted her as his partner, she seemed to understand him better than anyone else he had encountered and he hated that he was even questioning himself right now, he should immediately talk to her about his identity and swear her to secrecy, a large amount of cash each month should help keep her mouth shut and then never let her back into this dark world he called home but he couldn’t bear to let her go just yet. There were still so many things he wanted to learn about her and do with her, his fondest memory although sad was of her at the ice skating rink, her laughter and giggles when she was happily going round and round.

Opening the bag he reached in and picked out one of the croissants, it was warm and sweet on his tongue, he resisted the urge to eat the other two in the bag.

He pressed the button to call the lift then the one to the top floor, he prepared his mask for if Marinette was home, he wasn’t ready for her to see him without his mask. He slid the spare key into the lock and pushed open the door his mask raised up to his face, Marinette was in the kitchen so he pushed the mask further on his face and closed the door behind him.

“You’re back,” she said cheerfully.

He smiled at her, “Yeah… I dropped the necklace off to someone else who will take good care of it…”

She looked down at the floor before she continued unpacking the food she had bought.

“I didn’t sell it if you’re wondering. I never sell them, they all get returned home where they all belong.”

“Oh… Is that why you steal them?”

“Mainly,” he shrugged his shoulders, there were many reasons as to why he did it.

“What do you mean by that?” she said in confusion.

“Doesn’t matter, do you some help?” he asked quickly changing the subject.

He didn’t bother waiting for an answer, he pulled out a bag of potatoes and put them in the large pantry cupboard.

“Are we going to talk… about last night?”

He winced at her question, “what about it?”

“You and I both know.”

“Yeah…”

“I won’t tell anyone,” she assured him placing a hand on his shoulder, “as long as you don’t tell anyone that I helped you in stealing the necklace.”

He chuckled, “Trust me I won’t, it’s just… Do… Do you want to continue with…?”

“Stealing? I don’t know,” she replied shrugging her shoulders.

“I’ll have another heist within the next month or so.”

“You always find them this quick?”

“No, the last one was my first one in about a year and it took a year to plan it.”

“Wow…”

He reached into the bag and pulled out a bag of carrots and handed it to her.

“But… The reason why I’m asking you is because… I would like to continue this… arrangement between us. It’s been nice having someone around and…”

“I don’t mind helping just… why? I don’t exactly have a reason to do it anymore.”

“I’ll pay you for it…” he replied shrugging, “Last time I checked you don’t exactly like working after rehearsals.”

“True…”

“So what do you say?”

“Am I allowed to think about it?”

He nodded and resumed unpacking the food.

“Chat,” she sighed, “Adrien…”

It felt strange to hear his name from her lips but he turned to face her.

“Why does me knowing who you are such a bad thing?”

“It… I’ve always done this job by myself,” he explained, “The world of highly trained thieves is a dangerous one; you knowing who I am, makes you, your friends and family a target.” She didn’t respond and he didn’t force her to.

Adrien had been kicked and beaten, he had almost had his prize taken from him and many people had tried and failed to find out who he was. It wasn’t the best line of work to get involved with but it made some decent cash on the side when Master Fu paid him, the old man knew that Adrien couldn’t live off of just stealing and he did have plans to move out of the mansion that had materialised into an actual plan. Deciding to live this life was a massive undertaking and not an easy one to make.

“You make it sound like mission impossible.”

He laughed, “Sorry.”

“If… If I do this, we become partners, we plan the next heist together.”

It was a solid agreement, one he could easily agree to, he extended his hand out to shake on it. She looked at his hand then at him.

“Shake on it?” he questioned.

She understood and slowly shook his hand.

Marinette returned back to the bags of food, he hadn’t noticed that she had purposely left out some food meant for dinner. He reached up to his mask and pushed it firmly back into place before quickly removing it from his face like a band-aid. He looked back over to her and smiled, she smiled back, he rolled up his sleeves and immediately was put to work chopping vegetables for Marinette.

Made For @marichatmay

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leswansong · 6 years ago

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Ladynoir July: When Tomorrow Comes

Day Four: Patrol

[ A03 ]

Marinette gradually made her way across the rooftops towards the spot they had decided upon, night was slowly setting around her and the clouds above her were an angry grey, a few distant rumbles echoed across the empty sky.

The tiles bumped against each other when she stepped on them, people below her quickly glanced up to try and search for one of the new faces of the revolution forcing her to stop and duck down lower on the cold slate tiles. Eight more Akuma’s followed the first, and she was starting to get to know the great threat that was threatened her unstable living.

Capturing the hate-filled butterfly got easier and easier each time as well; it was still hard but she felt like she was adjusting pretty well to her new schedule although finding an excuse to leave her work or her friends was something she had yet to master.

Her suit hid her quite well in the dark but his hid him better, she could barely see him against the angry storm clouds, his blond hair was his only give away. His back was to her but he knew she had arrived, she had yet to master a silent approach, her clumsy self still managed to trip almost daily on the loose and clunky roof tiles.

He turned around and gave her a smile before some laughter drew his attention somewhere else. She smiled internally and moved over to his side to try and find out what had caught his attention. His attention had been drawn away by a couple slowly walking home from a rather long alcohol-fueled night, she giggled before patting him gently on the back letting him know that it was time to get moving before the large storm overhead threatened to rain down upon them.

Chat was strange, a different kind of strange, he didn’t act like he had lived in Paris for as long as he claimed. His attention was quickly drawn away by everything, a couple dancing in a courtyard, the distant sound of cannon fire that reverberated across the countryside from the fighting of rebels, which ones had the cannons she really couldn’t remember but it was an interesting sight to see when one fired and the tall ears atop his head swivelled around trying to locate the source.

She heard him sigh beside her and his baton met the rocky tiles, his ears still followed the people on the street below but his attention was now on her.

“Sorry My Lady, I seemed to have lost track of time.”

She gave him a small smile and shook her head.

She had no idea where the nickname had come from, most likely from his failed attempts to seduce her, his flirtatious advances had always been shot down with a simple ‘no’ or ‘not right now’ but only for a while. She was however glad that he kept trying, his advances always brightened her normally dull day but right now she was pleased that he didn’t utter the nickname too loud and only someone standing next to them would hear him say it.

“Shall we go?” she asked gesturing to the open rooftops.

He nodded and readied himself to follow her across them, she nodded in response and threw her yo-yo, feeling it grow taught she pulled on it and was sent sailing towards the church tower it had warped itself around. She bit back a scream as buildings flew past her, she rounded the tall bell tower several times before she lost the momentum, getting used to her weapon had proved… impossible, it was unpredictable with each swing and never landed where she wanted it to, it pulled her towards her destination way to fast, helpful in a fight but not for short distances.

Chat raced to catch her before she was left to climb up the flat wall. She waited until he was on the small stretch of roof below her before she released her grip on her yo-yo.

“You okay?” he asked as he pulled her down to him.

“Yes, still getting used to it I suppose.”

“Don’t think about where you’re throwing it just throw, it’ll go where you need it to not where you want it to,” he offered.

She nodded and waited for him to continue.

“See that chimney stack,” he said, pointing to one directly across the large square. “You’ll want to throw your yo-yo at it but don’t, it’ll go there on its own if you just throw it in that general direction.”

She frowned not understanding what he was telling her, she contemplated it for a moment and shook her head.

He sighed, “Think of it as… as an extra limb, an extension of yourself. You don't tell your arm what to do, it does it because it knows already what you want it to do.”

She nodded slightly as she started to understand what he was telling her. She stared down at the red yo-yo in her hands then at the chimney stack.

“Don't think about it too much, okay?”

“Okay,” she replied.

Chat took a step back from her and readied his baton to chase after her if things went sour. She took a deep breath, keeping his words in her mind's eye she threw the yo-yo, it met its target and she pulled on the taut string, it knew what she wanted from it and it slowly retracted and she leapt off the roof, it retracted slightly faster but not to the level she had been sent flying at before.

She landed carefully on the slated roof beside the chimney, with one sharp tug the yo-yo came free from where it had wrapped itself and was once again in her hand ready to be thrown again.

Chat landed shakily on the roof beside her and smiled, “you got it?”

She nodded, “yeah, let’s get going.”

He nodded and leapt off into the night leaving her to once again catch up with him. She groaned and threw her yo-yo after him.

She looked down at the streets below as they passed them, she still had no idea why they were patrolling the streets, they both knew that they weren't going to find Papillion this way.

She followed him around corners towards their first stop and the one closest to her home. The tall bell towers of Notre Dame were a difficult climb but the view was worth it, she could see everything from up there and at times she forgot that there was a war raging on the streets.

“I’m guessing it was much easier this time?” Chat asked giving her a hand up to the roof.

She smiled and started to respond only for his stomach growled audibly loud next to her, she felt her eyes grow uncontrollably wide in shock as they wandered down to his stomach region.

“Sorry,” he apologised, his hand found the back of his head to nervously play with a few loose strands of his blond hair. “I haven’t eaten… for a while,” he explained in a shaky voice.

Her eyes grew slightly wider and through Chat’s mumbled words she slowly understood some of what he was saying.

“Chat? Did you want me… too-” she slowly asked.

“No! I’m fine, I’m sure you need it more than me,” he replied trying to politely turn down her offer, “besides I’ve-”

She cut him off and shook her head, “Let me help you.”

Frowning he shook his head, “No My Lady, I- I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

She shook her head again, “Nonsense, I’m helping,” she insisted. Her yo-yo had already found its way around a tall chimney waiting for her to swing towards it. “Wait here,” she instructed and pulled on the yo-yo sending her flying towards the chimney, she only just heard Chat yelled for her to stop but it was already too late, she was already heading towards the bakery.

-x-

Adrien stared at the large loaf of bread that was being handed to him, he really didn’t want to take it from her but somehow against his will, his hand slowly etched towards the loaf until he could feel how soft it actually was. He halved it and handed it back to her, she tried to refuse but he pushed and she slowly took it. He pulled off a small chunk of the loaf a forced the piece into his mouth, he knew he wouldn’t be able to keep it down, the small piece of cheese Plagg had forced him to eat the day before had been much smaller than the piece of bread and he hadn’t been able to keep that down once it had hit his stomach.

He watched her watch him swallow the food before she took a smile bite of the loaf. His stomach bubbled at the sudden introduction of food, he tried to keep it down but ultimately couldn’t, he raced over to the side of the building and emptied the food he had just eaten.

Ladybug ran to his side, “Are you okay?” her voice thick with concern.

He nodded, “Yeah… don’t worry about me,” he replied, waving her off.

She didn’t listen to him however and just stayed by his side, her hand ran gentle and soft circles into his back calming his slightly panicked mind. She kept running those calming circles as he slowly pulled himself back together before he pushed himself to stand up properly, he wiped his mouth against his sleeve to get rid of anything else.

“Just how long has it been since you last ate a proper meal?” she questioned.

He wanted to ignore that question but she would push. He tried to think back, days had blurred together for him only the ones with Akuma attacks seemed memorable and he didn’t remember eating anything on those days; the only day he could remember was the day after Stone Heart had attacked again and even then it was a small amount, that being a small handful of grapes.

“I-” he stuttered, struggling to find the words but that was enough for her and she frowned in sadness.

“Tomorrow, we will meet early,” she instructed, “No excuses,” she warned before handing him the other half of bread.

She threw her yo-yo at the same chimney stack she had before and leapt off into the dark night as a few small raindrops fell around him.

Those small raindrops turned into much larger and faster-falling ones just before he reached the townhouse, he was shivering constantly when he pushed open the balcony door. The magic fell from his body leaving him with his soaking clothes, he looked around the darkened room, the only light came from the slowly dwindling flames sitting in the fireplace. He dropped the pieces of bread still in his hands and ran towards it, his hands burned but he kept them there until he felt his body slowly warm up.

Plagg picked up a stray log and threw it on the coals for him causing the flames to suddenly catch on the dry log, Adrien jumped back in surprise, his face had been hit with a wave of heat, it took him a few seconds to recover from the heat and in that time his eyes found the discarded loaf of bread on the floor; his legs carried him over to it and he picked it up.

He looked at the bread, it was soaked through and he really didn’t want to eat it but hesitantly he raised one half to his mouth and bit off a small piece. His stomach tried to force it out but by sheer willpower he kept it down, he took another bite and another before he knew he couldn’t stomach anymore. -x-

Marinette searched her cupboards, vegetables of different kinds were added to the table ready to be chopped and added to the boiling water, the chicken bones had already been stewing for a while and she needed to add the vegetables to the very watered down soup.

Tikki flipped through the recipe book behind her, entranced by all the different sweets they had once been able to make, Marinette swore she could see the Kwami dribble at the sometimes messy words on the page. She too missed those sweets, macarons had once been her favourite but the ingredients to make them were hard to find and even more expensive to buy. She longed for the days of her early childhood when the sweets lined the shelves and when her parent's small little bakery had its marble floors cleaned and polished now sat a dirty brown from all the mud that had been tracked in by the day's small amount of customers. It was sad to see it this way, the shop had been her father's pride and joy and now he was afraid to clean it

too much for fear it looking like they wanted to reinstate the monarchy.

Sighing Marinette stood up and returned to her chopping board, with a sharp knife in hand, she started slicing and dicing the large variety of vegetables beside her, first it was a potato, then a carrot and soon she was tossing in a mixture of onions and beets until she felt like there was enough to flavour the soup.

She made sure that she had prepared enough to last several days, there was no way she was going to let Chat starve, she knew starvation way too well, it wasn’t fun and left the person feeling weak and tired.

Carefully she slid the vegetables into the pot and lowered the heat so the vegetables would slowly cook with the soup, she grabbed the lid to the pot, covered it and checked the small old pocket watch sitting on the shelf beside the old stove, she made a mental note of the time and headed towards the stairs to her room.

Her eyes scanned the room for her sketchbook, she couldn’t remember where she had left it the night before. She searched through the large sheets and baskets of laundry that were ready to return to their owners, a large basket sat in the corner full of clothes that had once been own by brave people loyal to Paris and France but whose head’s had unfortunately met Madame Guillotine. She pulled at a large sheet in a stray basket and her sketchbook fell free from the fabric confines, she let out an audible sigh of relief and plucked it from the floor, her desk was her destination.

Opening a drawer she found her pencil as well as her sharping knife which was quickly snatched up, she slowly and carefully peeled the wood away from the graphite, Tikki had just wandered her way up the stairs when Marinette had started sketching, the faint outline of a tailored suit was drawn across the page.

The Kwami looked over her shoulder as she sketched and in a few hours the outfit had gone through many iterations but she finally landed on one that she liked. She contemplated whether or not to use her water coloured paints on it, she liked it but not enough to use her expensive paints on it and then it was decided, much to Tikki’s disappointment.

-x-

Adrien stared down at the paper in front of him, the words blurred together, his stomach loudly protested to be fed and the constant pounding in his head never seemed to dissipate. He bit back a yawn and returned to the large map of Paris on the floor, studying the streets had been Plagg’s idea and Adrien had agreed to it but committing it to memory had proved difficult.

It was then that he decided that he needed a break, slowly he rose to his feet, his joints cracked and popped from being stuck in the position he had been sitting in for several hours. Carefully he stretched his arms and back, a few more cracks and pops followed but the feeling of his muscles finally getting flexed in a new way distracted him from the loud noise.

He yawned again and walked towards the steep steps, he wanted to lay down atop the soft bed that lay in the room above, he had avoided sleeping in the bed for so long, he didn’t want to get used to the luxury of the bed so he had called the lounge below his bed every night since he had moved into the abandoned townhouse.

Adrien reached the bed and fell face-first into the soft sheets that still carried a hint of the strong perfume Chloe loved to wear. He allowed himself to get comfortable against the sheets before he forced himself to return to the large map on the floor below. He yawned again and rolled over to stare at the canopy ceiling, he felt his eyes slowly blink as they grew heavy, he didn’t fight as he gradually drifted in and out of consciousness, not even Plagg entering the room with his horrible smelling cheese and the Kwami constantly talking could pull him away from the warm embrace of a well-deserved nap.

Plagg tried to awake him but he was too far gone, darkness enveloped his sight and he was soon heading towards a deep slumber.

-x-

The soup bubbled away on the stove, she lowered the heat even more, leaving only a small amount of heat of the coals below it.

“Did you want to try it?” she asked her Kwami.

Tikki nodded her head enthusiastically at the question, she never seemed to grow old of Marinette’s attempts of creating an original recipe. Bitter tasting cookies, sour bread didn’t stop the Kwami from being her guinea pig, Tikki always put on a brave face and gave Marinette constant constructive criticism.

Marinette pulled open a drawer and plucked an old wooden spoon out. She raised the lid quickly away from atop the pot, hot steam escaped from its confines, she waited for the white mist to pass before she dumped her spoon in and pulled it out full of a murky brown liquid. Tikki swooped in and tasted the concoction, she paused for a moment to consider what she should say to her wielder.

“It’s…” the Kwami’s voice trailed off, “it’s alright…”

Marinette blocked out the rest of Tikki’s words, she felt her heart drop and she knew that the soup most likely tasted horrible.

“I know what could save it!” Tikki chirped pulling Marinette out of her downward spiral of disappointment.

The Kwami ran towards a cupboard holding her mother's unused spices, Tikki’s small eyes read the words labelled on the small jars when she found one that she liked, her small hands picked it up and tossed it over her tiny shoulder leaving Marinette to catch them before they hit the ground. She returned to the stew pot and called out names of spices, Marinette quickly read the names of the many spices that had been pulled out of the largely unused cupboard and handed them to the demanding Kwami who added them to the soup.

“Spoon!” Tikki yelled and Marinette scrambled to pick the spoon of the table for Tikki to taste the soup.

The Kwami once again paused after tasting the soup to contemplate whether or not it needed more, Marinette held her breath and the Kwami nodded her head in approval and backed away from the pot for Marinette to taste the mixture. Jumping at the chance Marinette dumped the spoon into the soup and quickly raised it to her lips, the heavenly taste of the soup was too much, it was almost indescribable and she had to resist the urge to dip the spoon back in the pot for more. Her tongue could only just taste the oregano and basil but it was enough to push the soup over the edge, her hand reached down and closed the vent cutting off the heat under the pot and the water slowly became still.

She frowned when she came to the realization that she had no way to transport the liquid, with a sigh she looked around the kitchen for a small pot that also had a lid to go with it to transport it in. By the little pocket watch on the shelf, she had five minutes until she had to meet Chat for patrol, with a sigh she started opening different cupboards looking for that elusive pot.

-x-

Night slowly fell upon Paris, falling asleep had not been part of the plan and now he was running late to what was supposed to be an early meeting. Slowly, Adrien, he made his way to the meeting spot, he tried to put on a brave face, the small loaf of bread he had eaten the night before still wasn’t sitting well and running over the rooftops certainly wasn’t helping his current situation.

He could see that Ladybug was already there, waiting patiently for him to arrive which made him feel even worse. With his head hung low he landed on the rooftop beside her, she turned to face him and gave him a small but sad smile.

“I’m sorry, I-” he knew whatever came out of his mouth next would never make it up to her.

“It’s okay, just be early tomorrow, okay?” she told him, her voice still carried a hint of disappointment and passed him a bowel.

“I will,” he promised while nodding his head.

He looked at the bowel and the brown murky water it contained, he frowned at it and dipped his finger into the cold substance.

“You’ll need this,” she replied handing him a spoon.

He looked at it and dipped it into the waters before raising it to his mouth. He realised then that it was soup and not just a bowl of water with weird vegetables floating around in it.

“It would have been warm if you had shown up earlier it would have been warm,” she informed him.

He nodded and apologised again. The soup although cold tasted quite nice and definitely sat better than the bread, he soon discarded the spoon and slurped up the rest of the liquid in a matter of moments. He wiped his lips against the back of his hand and looked down at the empty bowl, he resisted the urge to lick the bowel and handed it back to Ladybug. She pulled a cloth from a bag he hadn’t noticed before and wiped it down as well as the spoon before she slipped it into the bag.

“Thank you,” he told her and she smiled.

“I’ll give you a few minutes, then we’ll start our patrol.”

He nodded and sat down on the roof, his back quickly found the stone wall as did his head. Ladybug picked up her bag and threw her yo-yo off at an unseen target, he knew she would be back, she leapt off and he was soon left alone atop the rooftop.

The sounds of the night flooded his ears, the bar on the corner and the rather loud singing coming from it stood out from all the small crickets and sounds of the small crowd chattering below. He started to learn the tunes being sung. He started to learn the tunes being sung, hearing them every night had drilled them into his memory, and just like when his father had insisted that he learned the piano and subsequently, the harpsichord, he picked them up quite quickly; the drinkers below one song then another before cycling back to the first song, slowly it was driving him insane and it faded back into white noise.

His eyes grew heavy in the night air, he struggled to keep them open, for the first time in many weeks he was going to fall asleep with a full stomach and it felt good. He didn’t fight his eyes as they grew heavier and heavier, Ladybug would be back soon and he went to sleep knowing that she would awaken him when she returned for their extremely late patrol.

Made for @ladynoirjuly2019

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