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Marc Appreciation Week 2019| Day 7: Future| “Rough Draft“

So yeah, it’s late, but I finished it anyway. Thanks to everyone who read this and everyone who participated in the event. Now that I have a bunch of time on my hands, I’m gonna enjoy the heck out of all your guys’ work.

Disclaimers were in Day 1.

Chapters:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

AO3 Link

(Exactly 2000 words, because I’m not always as insane as I’ve led you to believe.)

Desperately, Rose pounded on the door to the house’s basement.

“Please!” she shouted. “Anyone! Help!”

But she realized it was no use. No one was coming down to save her.

All was silent and dark.

Until she heard a noise from the far corner.

“Is someone there?” she croaked, squinting in the darkness.

She didn’t squint for long. There was a bit of light in the room, though nothing was casting it. It just existed.

Then, there shimmered into visibility a floating figure: a woman all in white. White jumpsuit with a black cross over her chest and chains on her wrists near her gloves, white boots that hovered just above the ground, and a bright white cowl that sucked all other light from the room to feed its glow. There was no color around the face, mouth, and eyes. Her hair, which flowed around her head like twisting snakes, was a royal violet.

Rose knew her immediately. Akuma or not, she’d know that face anywhere.

“J… Juleka?” she gasped, horrified. “It’s you?”

“Rose.” The figure sneered. “Where were you when I needed you?”

“I…” She struggled to make her words work. “I was—”

“You left. You left me alone with a room full of strangers.” The villain hovered higher, leering down at her. “You do know how I get in crowds, right? Typical; no one even noticed when I started breaking down. No one even saw the butterfly come to me.” She grinned maliciously, showing off pointed teeth. “But they saw me. And oh, how they screamed.”

“I-I thought you were having fun.” Rose backed away from her akumatized girlfriend. “I thought I’d just keep you from socializing.”

“I wasn’t having fun! Or did you think because it was Halloween that the spook was in her element?”

“I’m sorry!” she bawled. “I just wanted you to be happy!”

“I was happy, Rose.” The specter came close and stared her in the face. “I was always happy, standing next to you. Didn’t you see that?” She held up a gloved finger. “Don’t answer that. If you understood…” the chains on her wrists glowed an ominous purple, and her hands clenched into fists, “you wouldn’t have left me alone.”

“Juleka… I’m sorry. I didn’t know…”

Ghostlight narrowed her eyes and raised her arm. “Too little, too late.”

................................................................................................................................

Outside, Ladybug had finished tying up the police officers, just as they began to regain consciousness.

“Alright,” she seethed. “I’ve been having a bad night tonight, so I’m really not in the mood. Tell me where Ghostlight is right now.”

One guard blinked awake. “Ladybug?” he said. “What are… what happened?”

Chat Noir cursed. “She must have released her hold.”

“Thank goodness,” Reverser panted. “These guys were tough. You guys do this all the time?”

“We face mind-control baddies more often than not,” explained Mighty-Illustrator. “They always go for one of us heroes, and we’ll end up having to fight them. Usually Chat.”

“Hey!” the feline hissed.

As usual, it was Ladybug’s duty to keep the boys off each other’s throats. “Possession’s not her main power, though, so it wasn’t as bad as it usually is. Her poltergeist attacks ripped cars off the street. We’re lucky we’ve got our suits, or there’s no way we would’ve walked away from that.”

“Yeah, but,” Reverser approached Ladybug, now nearing hysterics, “you’ve got a plan, right?”

“Almost. We’ve got to get close enough to land a hit and find her object.”

Mighty-Illustrator looked back, at a house where many of the occupants were running out of it screaming. “Well, looks like we’re getting that chance.”

The heroes looked on as Ghostlight herself appeared in the doorway. “Well, well,” she snarled. “Four against one? I thought superheroes had honor.”

Ladybug struck a heroic pose. “So many others have tried to take our miraculous before you, and now our team’s bigger than ever before. You never stood a chance!”

“Yeah!” shouted Chat Noir. “Give up the ghost while you can!”

“Not so fast, creeps,” their adversary cackled. “There’s been a slight change in plans, courtesy of my good friend Hawk Moth. Let’s see… if one monster’s too much for the newbie to handle, how will he fare with two?” She held up two fingers. “A phantom and a witch.”

Ladybug grit her teeth.

She had green skin and pink hair, styled like a blooming flower. Familiar black garb, complete with a swirling masquerade mask, adorned her, but now she had a new black cloak to match Ghostlight’s.

“Bonsoir, my pretties,” trilled Princess Fragrance, brandishing her perfume gun. “Did you miss me?”

Rose stared at the page, then quickly flipped it back and forth over the back cover. “There’s no more?” she whispered, flipping through as though searching for another, secret page. “That’s it?”

“That’s it,” Nath replied, smiling. “You like it?”

“How could you do this!?” she shrieked, almost lunging at the two of them. “How dare you make me feel things and then stop writing!”

Juleka laughed from behind him. “That’s a good sign. You got to neck-throttle levels of hiatus frustration.” She leaned back in thought. “Last one that did that was… was it the Warrior Duchess season 2 finale?”

Rose spun on her heel. “Don’t even bring that up.”

Marc shrugged, fingering his copy of the draft. “Just be glad we got all this in one week. I mean, it’s not perfect, and we haven’t even colored or proofread it. But, uh, I think it’s pretty good for a first try.” There was a general chorus of agreement in addition to Rose’s insane cheers.

“This was so worth putting off the budget meeting,” Marinette said, flipping through her own copy of the rough draft. “Sorry I haven’t been in much. But that was really fun, you guys, I can’t wait to see more.”

“Well, we can’t wait to make more.” Marc gestured to the issue. “Consider this a sneak-teaser.”

“PLEASE!” Rose screamed. And then, quieter, she added, “But don’t over-stress yourself, your happiness and health are important.”

Marc smiled. “I’ll try.” Nathan nudged him playfully, and he added. “We’ll try.”

“But don’t slack either,” Juleka countered, taking another look at Ghostlight. “Dude, Nath, that’s an awesome outfit. Way better than that plastic Barbie dress.”

“Rose was a consultant on that,” her designer confessed. “Coincidentally, consider it an anniversary gift. A proper romantic supervillain rampage, coming soon.”

Rose had stars in her eyes as she looked over at her. “And sure to be just as cool as how we got together, right Julie?”

“Yep. Speaking of…” Juleka started to close the distance.

“Upupup!” Rose halted, moving backwards and whipping out her phone. “Wait for…” she checked the time. “Two more minutes.”

Nath raised an eyebrow. “Are you still not allowed to hug each other? Alix…”

“Don’t look at me,” the suspect denied. “Rose served her time already.”

Juleka jerked her thumb at Rose. “Yes, but now she wants to wait until our ‘official’ anniversary before I can kiss her again.”

“May 19,” Rose recalled dreamily. “2:39 p.m., she kissed me on the cheek in the middle of us taking a selfie.”

“We both tripped and fell over right as she took it.”

“It was so dashing of her.” There was not a trace of irony in that assessment. “I’ve got it framed over my bed.”

“Not the worst selfie I’ve ever taken.”

Marc was the only one who laughed at the punchline. Everyone else only pretended to.

“You didn’t happen to get the exact time I kissed you, did you?” Nath asked.

“Why?” Marc challenged. “Fancy celebrating our one-day anniversary with a proper date?”

“If you’d like to. And if you’re free. That superhero movie just came out.”

“I’ve already seen it, though.”

“Well, would you object to seeing it again?”

“Not at all.”

Marinette glanced between the two of them awkwardly. “I missed something, didn’t I.”

Rose’s phone beeped. She cheered, “It’s time! It’s time!”

“Yes!” Juleka spread her arms. Rose gleefully jumped into them, squeezing tight, and the goth peppered the top of her hair with kisses (the benefits of dating someone a head shorter than her).

“Ugh,” Alix muttered, turning to Nath. “Promise me you two won’t get like this.”

“We’ll try,” Marc assured her. “At least in front of you.”

“In front of anyone.” She shuddered. “Why do sweethearts need to flirt in public? They’re already together, they don’t need any more prompting.”

“Well some people can’t help it,” Marc explained. “I mean, look at his face. That face was made for flirting.” He turned to Nath. “I hope you don’t mind me flirting at that face.”

“Is that all I am to you?” he asked. “Just a face?”

“No… well, actually, yes. But then I think most of us are faces, aren’t we?”

“That’s rather bleak, isn’t it? Treating a mask as the genuine article?”

“Not really. If you’ll permit me to wax poetic.” Marc sat Nath down at a stool and looked at his face. “You are… two crystal-blue eyes who see me for who I am. You’re two ears who listen to me and a mouth that converses with me.” Nathan started to blush in response, which prompted Marc to get closer and touch his cheek. “Two blushing red cheeks I can hold, gorgeous red hair I can do this to…” He ruffled up Nathan’s hair. “And a nose I can do this to…” He tapped the nose impishly. “And two lips… well, maybe later. And you’re the sum of all the expressions of every emotion I’ve seen you act on. Don’t underestimate a face. Especially not yours. While its appearance is subject to change, it remains consistent for whoever uses it.”

Nathan had turned about as red as his hair. “Seriously, is that, like, effortless for you? I don’t really know what to say to that.”

Marc looked at him, prompting.

“There’s no way I can top it,” he protested. “It’s your words… your words are all so beautiful.” Marc’s eyes won him over, and he sighed. “Fine. I’m no good with words, but I’ll try.” Cheerfully, Marc ushered him off the stool and stole his seat.

Nathan coughed and began. “I don’t really think I saw you right. Not until you were telling me how happy you were when you wrote. I felt like I had found someone like me.” He stopped talking, unsure how to proceed and eyeing the others, everyone nose deep in their comic, warily.

“Hey,” Marc caught his attention. “Don’t worry about anyone else. And… I won’t judge anything you say. Just try saying something. Anything you want.”

“We’re both screwed up in our own ways. You just… you kept coming back, and I’d never be able to do that. I’d run away and hide, and pretend you didn’t exist. I did do that, the first time.” He frowned, remembering. “That was a mistake.” He shook his head, trying to focus. “You have persistence. You have wit, and you have charm and a style… just everything I wish I had. And it was through all that, I got to know everything else—the whole thing. I saw you, and… here we are.” He bit his lip. “I guess we’re a thing now?”

“Sure thing,” Marc laughed. “You did great, champ.”

“No. It didn’t really make sense.”

His partner smiled. “It never does.” He leaned in once more, and was greeted by a warm set of lips chastely pressed on his own.

Rose clapped softly, the teacher averted his gaze, and Juleka gave them a thumbs-up. Even Alix had to smile. “You guys rock,” she said. “Now back to work, you two.”

Only then did the boys realize that everyone was watching them.

“Okay,” Marinette announced. “I definitely missed something.”

As Rose pulled her aside to fill her in, Nathaniel and Marc went to the back of the room where no one would bother them. “Way to kill the mood, Alix,” Nath complained.

“Thank you,” she bowed. “It’s what I’m here for.”

So that’s that then. Day 7, all done and done.

I’m going to sleep.