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soulmate-game · 3 years ago

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Curiosity Killed the Exorcist

“And then, see here? You have to be on the lookout for subtle signs like these. This indicates that he’s…” Marinette nodded as Tim continued explaining, pointing out various body language and other clues out on the Batcomputer. It had only been about six months since the Batfam collectively adopted the little ladybug into their menagerie of heroes, and started teaching her deductive habits and skills. She would not allow them anywhere near Paris on pain of death (some of them had already tried, and Bruce was still recovering from the bruise to his ego. The bruise on his ass from being teleported out of the city and onto the stone of the Batcave was gone, though) but she welcomed any help they could give from within Gotham’s city limits.

Usually, at least in the beginning, they did their mentorship at a distance over video call. But then Tim found out her identity, and Marinette made the excuse of wanting to meet with them in person to gauge their trustworthiness for herself and erase their memories of her identity if they failed her test— and, well, it all snowballed from there until she was teleporting to the Batcave every few days for detective lessons. She was practically a Bat herself, if not for her out of theme codename. And she found herself surprisingly comfortable with the thought of them being a… very eccentric extended family.

Tim was flipping to another saved video in the Batcomputer archives to show another example of his current lesson, when Tikki flew up to Marinette in a hurry. She was holding Kaalki’s glasses. The little kwami whispered something in Marinette’s ear, instantly making the teen blanch and force on the glasses.

“Sorry Timmy, gotta cut this short! I’ll come back tomorrow to make up for it! Okay? Okay! Awesome, you’re the best, bye!” She ignored all of Tim’s protests and rapid fire questions, instead opening up a portal and jumping through it as fast as humanly possible. The portal has barely disappeared before an all-too-familiar voice rose up from behind Tim.

“Maybe I’m still drunk, ‘cause I could’a sworn I just saw a portal closing in the damned Batcave, of all places,” the British-accented drawl was accompanied by the flick of a lighter and accompanying fizzle of a flame. Tim groaned, mentally making a note to ask how in the world Marinette had known that John “Annoying asshole” Constantine was showing up soon, and if he could be in on the warning next time. Bruce, cowl still off, walked over from where he had been sparring with Damian and crossed his arms. He had also heard Marinette’s hasty exit, and made a few mental notes of his own before focusing on the exorcist in front of him.

“What do you want, Constantine?” he grumbled. Any time the blond brit showed up, things only got far more complicated than he ever enjoyed. And he always gave Bruce a migraine, to boot.

“Two things actually, Batsy,” John held up to fingers as his free hand tucked his lighter away in his pocket. His unlit cigarette stayed in his mouth though, probably just for the familiar feel of it. “One; I’m gonna need you to tell me why there was a portal closing when I walked in, because I’ll be honest. The implications there are way more interesting than what I came here for in the first place.”

“None of your business. What’s the second thing?” Bruce immediately shot him down, but John was not one to be deterred. He never fucking was.

“But you hate magic! You make sure I know that all too bloody well every time I pay you a visit, so why the sudden change in heart? Huh?”

“Drop it, Constantine. What. Do you. Want?”

“Fine, fine. I need your help with…”

— * — * — * — * — *

A week later, Marinette was sitting with Jason and Damian in one of the manor’s sitting rooms, the three of them just minding their own business and silently enjoying one another’s presence. Even if two of them would never admit it. Jason was reading Jane Eyre for the millionth time, Damian was leaning against Titus on the ground as he sketched, and Marinette was embroidering a sunhat. Unfortunately for her, Alfred the Cat was currently asleep on her lap and thus holding her hostage.

Even as Tikki flew up to her ear in a panic and whispered, making Marinette prick herself with her needle. She hissed for a second but shrugged off the familiar pain, much more concerned with whatever news Tikki had given her. Damian and Jason were already on high alert from the second that a whispered curse had left her lips, and were staring straight at her and her kwami and Marinette frantically tried to find a way to get up without awakening the cat sleeping on her.

“Uh, what’s wrong?” Jason asked, feeling thoroughly confused and left out. On one hand, he knew that if they were in physical danger she would have moved Alfred the Cat without hesitation. On the other, he did not like the sheer amount of anxiety he could see her experiencing. Marinette’s frantic eyes shot over to him, pupils mere pinpricks and hands mouth agape as she tried to form some sort of plan.

“Uh— “

“Ah! You must be the fair maiden that the Bats are comfortable with using magic around them,” John goddamned Constantine threw the door to the sitting room open wide, making it bounce off of the wall and lightly smack back against his shoulder. He ignored it as he grinned at the three younger people in the room, waltzing in casual as anything. He wagged a finger at her playfully. “I’ve been awfully curious about you, ya know? Brucie boy knows a shit ton of magic users, but he never likes seein’ any of us do our thing. And to not only allow you to teleport without any apparent discomfort but to actively protect your identity from me? Now that’s a damn accomplishment and I really gotta applaud you for it,” he mockingly clapped his hands a few times. “So what’s your secret, huh? I won’t tattle.”

“No thanks. Kaalki, a little help?” Marinette carefully pushed Alfred the Cat off of her lap before diving into the portal that Kaalki whipped up for her, the entire process happening so fast that Constantine couldn’t even get out a proper “hey!” before she was gone and the portal closed. He just nodded, hooking his thumbs in his pockets.

“Ya know what? Fair. That’s fair.”

“Goddamn it, Constantine!” Jason threw up his hands in frustration. “Why the fuck do you have to scare away one of the only sane people in this family?”

“Part of my charm, little red riding hood.”

— * — * — * — * — *

“You know, I’ve been pretty damn nice not teleporting right over to you whenever you disappear. So why don’t you just tell me why you’re avoiding me now that we happen to be in the same room by complete accident, huh?” John asked from where he sat in one of Bruce’s lounge chairs sipping on a beer. Marinette mimed choking him, clearly fed up. He had been trying to have a conversation with her for the past three months, ever since that one time he caught the tail end of her portal closing in the Batcave. Three. Long. Months. And he hadn’t given up, because something about this little Parisian teenager intrigued him. She was sixteen, that much he had gathered from the Bats. But to be sixteen and not only in possession of the Horse miraculous but also clearly the Ladybugs, since he had seen Tikki more than once as well, now that was interesting.

Anybody being in the possession of more than one Miraculous was already cause enough to be keeping an eye on them, which was why he had been keeping an eye on the Paris situation and had pieced together on his own that the presence of Tikki meant that this little parisian teenager was none other than Ladybug herself. Now, that? That was a whole new level of concerning, especially since he knew firsthand that the old Grand Guardian was gone and passed his title down to— yeah, Ladybug.

After that deduction, his interest in Marinette had swiftly switched from curiosity to fuck-I-need-to-know-what’s-going-on-here. Because no kid should have to deal with that kind of weight, and Constantine always looked out for kids when he could.

But right then, Marinette was glaring at him. She had been just coming over for a normal “family” dinner with the Waynes, which she attended from time to time. And apparently they had decided to have Constantine already over so that they could chaperone a meeting between them that would hopefully appease the stupid british magic user enough that he left them all alone again until the next time he needed help.

“Believe me when I say, you’d rather not know,” she replied sharply, glaring Dick. He was the one who had convinced her to come despite her recent close calls with Constantine in the past few days. He studiously avoided her gaze. “I just would rather not cross your path, and there’s no reason for us to interact. Why do you care, anyway?”

“You see, now that is an excellent question!” he chugged the last of his beer and gestured to her with the empty bottle. “Normally, I wouldn’t give a flying rat’s ass. But I’ve put two and two together, since I know who Tikki is,” he nodded to the red and black Kwami. “And maybe I just wanna keep an eye on the new Grand Guardian to make sure she’s doin’ alright. That’s an awful lot of magic and responsibility that you don’t deserve, but I’m not about to try to take it away. Keepin’ an eye on you is the next best thing.”

“Try again,” Marinette shot back, crossing her arms. “You were interested in me before you learned about me being Ladybug.”

“I’m nosy, what do you want me to say? I saw a portal in Batman’s man-cave, I get curious. Sue me.”

“Well. I have Bruce and everyone else already watching out for me, so you can leave me alone now. If I need your help, I’ll make sure to ask every other magic user first before contacting you.”

“Woah, now what’s all this venom for?”

“Uh, maybe we should go and actually eat dinner?” Dick tried to step in, hands up. Constantine had stood up from the chair he was in, which was usually a cue to change the subject as fast as possible. “Before Alfred has to come get us?”

“Maybe I’ll be less venomous if you let the subject drop and leave me alone!”

“Context would be nice, though.”

“Seriously guys, let’s go! Food!” Dick was once again ignored.

“Context is the last thing you need in this situation,” Marinette’s voice was suddenly soft, her arms dropping to her sides. “We’ve had this conversation so many times in so many now-deleted timelines. Just drop it this time.”

“If those timelines are now-deleted, then I obviously don’t remember what’s so bad about telling me why you’re acting like I’m some hated family member you’re avoiding!”

Silence.

Pure. Fucking. Silence. As they all watch with front row seats as Marinette flinches at the word ‘family’.

Pure silence as Constantine’s shoulders drop at the sight of her flinch, realization slapping itself on his face.

“No.”

“See? I fucking knew you would— that this would happen. This always happens, you always hate finding it out, but you’re so— so stubborn!” Marinette was blinking away tears, digging in her pockets and bringing out Kaalki’s glasses. “You’ll drop it now, at least. You always do.”

“Now what is that supposed to mean?” Constantine rubbed his forehead, still trying to sort through his amalgam of emotions. Marinette just shook her head, turning to Kaalki.

“Do you mind showing Monsieur Constantine the way out, Kaalki? I’ll grab you a load of sugar cubes afterward.”

“No, wait, hang on a second!”

A portal opened up under him, making John “Stubborn Idiot” Constantine drop ten feet down onto the hardwood, polished floor of his house. His bruised tailbone would take a while to heal, but his frazzled mind was by far the more concerning development. He staggered to his feet, reaching for the nearest bottle of tequila.

“Ugh, fuck my damn life.”

— * — * — * — * — *

“Marinette..?” Damian nudged the girl with his shoulder, frowning. It was after dinner that same day, and as much as he hated to admit it he had grown to actually like having her around. She was a good friend to have. And seeing her slumped back on one of their sofas, sketchbook covering her face and not a single rambling conversation to be had or heard? It was very concerning. She just made a groaning sound to answer him, prompting his frown to deepen. “Are you alright?”

“I just can’t believe that such a sweet, adorable thing like you is half made up of Constantine’s genes,” Jason mused bluntly from the opposite couch, where he tossed a rubber ball up and down out of boredom. “But now I see where you get all of your Disaster Bi-ness from.”

“Shut uuuuup,” She groaned, chucking her sketchbook at him. He caught it in midair, replacing his rubber ball with it and tossing it up and down in the air. “I’m just frustrated. This timeline is still perfectly stable, so I can’t erase it. And I can’t exactly ask ‘hey, can someone commit a horrid atrocity that makes this timeline split from the main one so that I can erase it and we can start over from four months ago?’ because that would be horribly irresponsible of me. But seriously, Jason. If you’re gonna ever commit, like, city-wise arson? I’d probably condone it right now if only so I have an excuse to use time travel to get out of this situation.”

“Not committing arson unless you give me a better reason for it, Pigtails.”

“Damn.”

“But are you okay?” Damian asked again, seeing as she had completely ignored him.

“I’m fine, Damian,” she finally sighed. “And I know how this is gonna go. He’s going to totally ignore me now, until we meet during some magical crisis and he only interacts with me when necessary. Then he pretends we never met, we have a private little one-sided whisper-argument about how he will never make a good father figure and I would be better off leaving him alone, blah blah blah. Avoidance is a coping mechanism I guess I inherited from him.”

“Guess it’s a good thing I’m trying to bite that in the bud then, eh?” Marinette startled out of her sitting position, seeing John stumble into the room…

Drunk off his ass. But apparently still at least mildly coherent.

“I agree with deleted-me’s, I’m not gonna be a dad. Not me,” he tripped, landing on his still-bruised ass and hissing in pain before continuing from the floor; “So if you’re looking for another Daddy dearest, that ain’t me.”

“See, I knew this is how you’d—”

“Let me finish,” he interrupted. “I don’t know how long the booze is gonna last and I need it’s courage here. ‘Kay? ‘Kay. Where was I? Right. But I know magic, ya know. The kind that doesn’t rely on little bobblehead gods to do. I got— like, a million books. Shit ton of books. At my place. Ya can read ‘em. My books. At my place. But I ain’t gonna parent, but I can lend ya books. Maybe give magic advice. Teach a little. Little bit. Didn’t think I’d have a child, but apparently I do and she’s the fuckin’ grand guardian and a damn hero, and I don’t know how the fuck I was able to help make someone like that. But whatever, it’s not like the world’s ever fuckin’ been easy on me,” He pulled out a sample-sized bottle of whiskey from one of the pockets on the inside of his trench coat and chugged it. After a brief wince and hiss at the burn, he kept rambling. “My door’s open, is what I’m tryin’ to say. No guarantee I’ll be in any state to talk to when you walk through it, but it’s open.”

Deciding to steadfastly ignore the tears streaming down her face, Marinette just swallowed thickly and nodded.

“I, uh. I think I can work with that.”

John barely made it to the nearby bin in time to vomit into it.

— * — * — * — * — *

I hate my imagination sometimes, guys. I started imagining a convo between Mari and Constantine at like 4am and it wouldn't leave me alone until I got it down. but by the time I wrote it, I kinda forgot like 60% of the original convo and just winged it. And this was born. I 100% blame @multifandomscribette because their Bio!dad John Constantine headcannons are amazing and even though this isn't in that universe, those headcannons are exactly what inspired this. So blame them, lol.

#dc x mlb #ml x dc #mlb x dc #maribat fanfic #maribat #maribat fic #miraculous ladybug x dc #bio!dad John Constantine

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i-am-thornqueen · 3 years ago

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please! tell us about the support groups! and the other magical comunities and their miraculous patrons and the tributes they give and how they celebrate and everything !!

Where do I even begin?

So... in the world of AWIL, changing a human into a werebeast or a vampire is usually done very thoughtfully. Typically you are in the age of majority when you make the decision to change. There is supposed to be a lot of community support, and there's also some paperwork that needs to be filled out to let local government know your impending change in species status- you know, for census reasons. But there's always someone, somewhere, whose gonna fuck around and someone else is going to end up finding out. It's rather traumatic for someone to suddenly be forced out of their own species - suspecting folks can make the shift in a delirium, where they are a danger to themselves and others. John Moon is an example - he was mauled by a werewolf when he was a child, and ended up running around London for 4 nights delirious and out of his skin. Worse still, he was permanently contracted while in his delirium, locking him to Sarah until her death. Support groups exist for those who had a difficult or non-consensual change. Adrien's experience in AWIL would certainly count as a non-consensual change, so if circumstances were different, he would likely be going to a support group to talk about his experiences and help him accept his change.

As for the different magical communities and who they tend to pay tribute to as their patron, this is mostly going off the limited information I had from season 1 & 2, because after that I faded into obscurity, so a lot of details are made up and very different from what came to be established in the actual cannon.

Please, please keep in mind this is literally lore that is six years old, formed in the infancy of the show. ;_;

Firstly, though I frequently refer to the kwami as gods in AWIL, the communities who hold the Miraculous as patrons don't normally worship them as gods. Some do, of course. Most see the Miraculous as... a team, I guess you could say. What species is willing to support which team and the ideals they represent. Think of how frothed up us humans get about our sports teams, our fandoms, our celebrities - you ever think of crying when meeting your hero? You ever go to a con to meet your fave actor and end up giving them gifts? Now imagine your favourite person being an ancient god of immense power embodying an element of the universe itself. Magical folk tend to go a little apeshit. And even if it's not their Miraculous showing up in a place, it's still a big deal for any Miraculous to turn up anywhere, such as with Ladybug and Chat Noir turning up in London..

Now for the Miraculous themselves:

Ladybug Miraculous, representing Creation and secondarily Good Luck - the witches claim this as their patron, as do many other earthen-adjacent communities. They themselves are creators and caretakers, creatures of the meadows and forests, and so see themselves best reflected in the Ladybug Miraculous. Many who are classically aligned with “good” intentions tend to claim Tikki to make it that much obvious that they are Good, even when Creation itself is pretty neutral on the alignment scale. Tikki has the second most diverse following amongst magical communities. They would pay tribute in sugar.

Cat Miraculous, representing Destruction and secondarily Bad Luck - the low beings claim this as their patron. They are the creatures who embody misfortune of many kinds; demons who've fed on human hearts, plague spirits festered from sickness and decay, etc. Not necessarily evil, considering that destruction is as necessary to life as creation, however those who align under destruction are classically understood as those on the darker spectrum of magic. Of all the Miraculous, Plagg actually has the most followers, since the "low beings" are a very diverse collection within the magical community. They would pay tribute in rot.

Turtle Miraculous, representing Protection and secondarily Wisdom - the vampires, elves and others of long-lived species actually claim this as their patron. Over many lifetimes, creatures can collect vast stores of knowledge. And to be wise, knowledge must be shared. They believe the turtle best represents their cleverness, long lives, and wisdom. They would pay tribute in apples.

Fox Miraculous, representing Illusion and secondarily Lies. Many of the Fair Folk claim the fox, as does any creature who enjoys hiding their true face or telling stories to light the dark nights. Between the Fae and the fox, the relationship is somewhat fraught, since Fae cannot outright lie while the fox's gift is to make any lie sound like truth. However, the illusions of the fox are what draw the fae in. They would pay tribute in alcohol, preferably hard liquors.

Bee Miraculous, representing Cooperation and secondarily Friendship. This is the patron Miraculous to all those who seek a friend - to the lonely and the brokenhearted. To the helpers who sweep hearths, shine shoes, and tend fields in return for kind words and bowls of milk. The bee claims no absolute community, but welcomes all to come and go as needed. Tribute would be paid in honey.

Butterfly Miraculous, representing Change and secondarily Inspiration. Werebeasts, shifters, and wargs claim the Butterfly, as well as many artists, bards, and wanderers. The thought is, claim the butterfly and get inspired! Because all werebeasts were once human, they weren't raised in the magical community so they don't have the same awe as others would toward the Miraculous. In recent years, with the Butterfly being used for evil, fewer folk openly claim it as their patron. Tribute would be paid in eggs.

Peacock Miraculous, representing Truth and secondarily Emotions. If any Fair Folk does not claim the fox, then they would claim the peacock. Truth is enduring and powerful- for some it is cruel and others it is kind. Scattered others communities claim the peacock, those who tend to feed on or stoke human emotions - succubi, incubi, etc. Tribute is paid in alcohol, preferably wine.

It's a bit late, so I'll settle it there for now. I realize that I have thought farrrrrrr too much about AWIL lore. I also realize that it has diverged so much from where the canon of the show went, it's moderately embarrassing. BUT I'm glad someone asked me! It feels really nice to write it all out and tell some folks. Maybe it will give more insight into the world of AWIL? It doesn’t have much to do with the story, it’s all just background info, really. Hope you didn’t mind getting spammed. ^^;

#A Werecat in London #Miraculous Monsters #Miraculous Ladybug #Kwami #AWIL #Lore #Author has thought too much about this #feel free to keep asking questions though #might as well get this all out #before I go into another 3 year slumber again

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goggles-mcgee · 4 years ago

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Revolt Of The Akuma [Commission for @miner249er]

As the title says, this is a commission for @miner249er

Summary: There’s only so much a person can take and Marinette is almost certain she has reached that point. What with Lila and her seemingly never-ending lies, Adrien and his nonexistent spine, Chat and his stubbornness, Hawkmoth and his akumas, Paris and their expectations, it’s all too much. She’s going to snap sooner or later. At least she has Luka and Kagami on her side, right? Right?

[Contains: Class Salt, Adrien Agreste/Chat Noir Salt, Lila Rossi Salt, Angst, Misunderstandings, Slight Tom Dupain and Sabine Cheng Salt, Slight Tikki Salt, Akumanette]

It was rare for her to be surrounded by quiet, even more so to need that blanket of security that quietness can give, and yet here she was. The pink of her room had never seemed more faded or dull even with the lights on. Realistically she knew it was not quiet, her home was never quiet, there was always the bustle of business from the bakery downstairs, the sound of traffic outside, usually the sound of music coming from her phone or computer, and as always the chatter from her Kwami. Though Tikki’s words at the moment sounded like they were being spoken from above water whereas Marinette was under said water, deep under. Her eyes glanced at the mess she had made around her, the pictures of past friends as she’s come to understand all too well these past couple of months, to the torn and destroyed gifts she had given them returned to her solely for the sake of making her heart wrench painfully beneath her skin, from there to the piles of used tissues thrown about during her silent cries, and finally to the thing that had hurt the most and had been sitting in her lap, limp, shredded, basically lifeless, her sketchbook. The sight caused Marinette’s heart to clench in pain once more and she could feel tears pool her eyes yet again, but she forced them to stay, she was tired of crying.

Noise flooded back to her almost making her flinch. There was the soft ding of the bell from the bakery’s door downstairs signaling a customer’s arrival or departure, there were the car engines and the horns beeping, peoples soft voices floating in, and of course Tikki’s worried voice. Everything in her yearned for the quietness but she knew she had to deal with everything eventually and eventually meant now, so she didn’t worry her parents if they came to check on her at any point. If they even noticed her mood change from lunch, she thought bitterly and felt immediate guilt at the thought.

“Marinette…”

“Tikki.”

“Were you listening to me?” Tikki asked, and even though she knew Tikki wasn’t saying it in an admonishing tone, the girl couldn’t help the tiny wince she gave in return as she finally stood up and picked up the tissue piles. Truthfully she hadn’t but she could guess what the kwami had been saying. It was the same thing every time something happened between her and her class. That, they would come around, they were just acting out of misplaced trust and love, they would realize their mistakes and come back to Marinette and everything would go back to normal, but she had to get a handle on her feelings in the meantime so she wouldn’t be akumatized. No that wasn’t right. So that Ladybug wouldn’t be akumatized, but how could she after the day she had?

Lila made good on her promise. Marinette didn’t have a friend left in her class, maybe not all of them thought her the awful bully that Lila painted her out to be, but they didn’t stand up for her, they didn’t talk to her in or out of class, and they wouldn’t meet her eye when she desperately looked around for at least one supportive pair of eyes. It had never been this bad with Chloe. At least with Chloe she knew what she was getting into, she knew the brand of teasing and insults that Chloe Bourgeois used, and she knew that people were scared to stand up to her, but even then they would still flash each other a look of comfort, a look of strength. Those looks let all of them know they weren’t alone, that others saw them struggling, saw them hurting, and were offering comfort. Things truly were simpler then. Lila was something more than Chloe, more than any other bully she had ever seen or encountered. She had a silver-tongue that just seemed to gain more power the more she used it. Her lies were outlandish at this point and yet, no one saw it, no one but Marinette and maybe others outside her class but she wasn’t. The awful truth of it all was that Marinette had no one.

Sure Adrien had said he would be there for her, but that had been the biggest lie Marinette had ever been told, even with Lila spouting nonsense like knowing Jagged Stone because she saved his ‘kitten.’ She was always prepared for Lila to lie, could count on it, and she had become accustomed to her friends falling for the lies, but she had thought she had at least one person by her side. That had quickly been disproven again and again, and it felt like parts of her heart chipped away every time it happened. Adrien, once considered the love of her life, did nothing to ease her aching heart. There were no comforting hugs or even a hand on her shoulder to let her know that she wasn’t alone in the class of sheep. There were no glances shared between the two to let her know that he was just as fed up with Lila’s lies as she. Most importantly, and the one that hurt the most, there were no texts or calls or even letters that offered her any amount of support. That’s not to say he never texted her, but when he did it was never about anything important, it was always mundane and dare she say superficial, and sometimes, sometimes he texted her about her situation but it was never anything helpful, if anything they made her feel worse. They were always about how she was “provoking” Lila and, “what happened to taking the high road Marinette?” At first they had made her cry, she wasn’t provoking Lila, Lila was provoking her, how had Adrien not seen that? Sadness grew into anger, blinding anger, anger that caused her to rip every poster down, change her computer background with such force she nearly broke the mouse, and gave away every planned gift for every occasion, and afterwards all she felt was numb. In the beginning the numbness scared her, but it grew on her like a second skin, it protected her sometimes so she welcomed it.

“Marinette!” Again she was wrenched from her thoughts by the yell of her kwami’s voice.

It took her a couple of seconds to focus, “Yes, Tikki?”

“I lost you again. Where were you?” Tikki asked softly as she flew closer to Marinette’s face.

“Sorry. Nowhere,” Everywhere, ”just thinking.” An apology and a half answer, when was the last time she actually told someone how she was feeling without holding back? Too long, her mind supplied.

“...About today?”

“In a way.”

“Oh Marinette, things will start to get better, don’t let today get to you.” Don’t let it get to Ladybug.

“I know Tikki.” Hollow words, but they were expected, she even threw in a small smile, it was the most she could manage. It was the response of habit she gave, even to her parents, though she had the feeling they wouldn’t notice even if she did show some of her real feelings, some of her hurt. They were just so busy with the bakery sometimes that Marinette couldn’t help but feel that their attention to her was more obligation than anything else, and wow, wasn’t that just the cherry on top of everything? They had even forgotten to ask how her day was today, and though she wasn’t going to tell them, it still would have brought her some comfort to know they cared or pretended to care. At this point she would take what she could get. Today had been another rough one, but it had started out like her new normal, she would go to school and be ignored by her classmates or get glares and sneers that she in turn would ignore. Then she would go to her locker and put the bare minimum of her belongings in, that she prayed would not be destroyed (“improved”) or stolen, she did her best to boobytrap anything of importance like she did her diary since having a lock on her locker was supposedly unheard of at this school. After that was class itself where she expected her seat to be sticky or wet with something but she took to bringing wet cloths and paper towels with her since this was so common. ‘Just harmless pranks.’ Mme Bustier claimed when she first went to talk with her about the behavior. Honestly she didn’t know what she had been expecting when she went to her teacher for help, but she was not going to make that useless of a mistake again. What followed though was weird, she still found rude little notes but none of her classmates went out of their way to glare at her, or make snide comments about her, she wasn’t even tripped if they walked too close to her. To some people it would mean a break, but it only put her more on edge, like something bigger was coming, because Lila was acting strange.

She hadn’t spouted one lie about Marinette, she still lied, just nothing about Marinette, which was odd. Though Marinette pushed it from her mind in order to get some help from Mme Mendeleiev for her homework packet that was due tomorrow. Some problems were proving difficult and she knew the teacher was more than willing to help students out if they went to her, so that’s exactly what Marinette did for lunch time. She even brought a packed lunch so she could eat and work with the teacher so they had more time, it was actually rather nice. Mme Mendeleiev, though stern and strict, was a real teacher. She wanted her students to learn and Marinette yearned for that, she yearned to be one of her pupils. There was a part of her that thought that maybe the teacher wanted that as well. It was an impossible thought, she tried to transfer once, it hadn’t ended well for her. Lila spun it around when she had heard, claimed Marinette was doing it to abandon them and leave them without a class president. Oh how she spun her web of deceit and claimed Marinette was doing it for attention, to get back at the class for not believing her ‘lies.’ Of course the class and Mme Bustier believed her, because why wouldn’t they? Then Mme Bustier went behind her back and spoke to Principal Damocles and whatever they spoke about resulted in her staying in the class no matter what she tried or whatever papers she managed to get her parents to sign that would allow her a class transfer. She was stuck in the class. In her prison.

After lunch is when everything had blown up, and some twisted part of Marinette was thankful it happened sooner rather than later. Lila had made a show of holding something, some papers that looked destroyed, to her chest and “crying.” If you could call over the top whimpering crying. Marinette didn’t have to prepare herself since she had been prepared all day for something to happen when Lila and her herd of sheep came to her and yelled at her for ruining Lila’s homework and something about writing something on her locker too? She just didn’t care anymore, she still claimed her innocence and that there was no way she could have done it, but no one was listening and Adrien was just standing there frowning at her in disappointment and all she could think was, right back at you boy. Mme Bustier joined in and Marinette just stood there as the teacher of course fell for whatever scheme Lila cooked up and then held back a sigh when said teacher started to lecture her there in the hallway for everyone to see. Of course they had to make a spectacle of it, of course they did. Damocles decided to join in and Marinette thought it was for sure going to be another expulsion, some part of her hoped for it. She knew that was bad but she was just so freaking tired of dealing with it all, but to her surprise Mme Mendeleiev was her knight in shining lab coat so to say.

“Marinette didn’t do it. She was with me the entire lunch period so unless she managed to defy all laws of physics and was in two or three places at once I would say she’s being framed.” Mme Mendeleiev’s voice had commanded attention and even Lila couldn’t spin it around to keep Marinette in trouble. Even her classmates had stopped their incessant murmuring.

“But Lila said she saw her running away from her locker!” Kim had yelled in return. It spoke of Mme Bustier’s character and control of her class that she hadn’t even attempted to reprimand Kim for raising his voice to another teacher.

Marinette saw Mme Mendeleiev give Mme Bustier a look that had the younger teacher trying to reign in her rowdy class after they had all been yelling their own affirmations that yes, that was what Lila had said. “Then either Mlle Rossi needs to get her eyes checked or she saw someone else, or she’s lying.”

“Demeter! I’m sure Lila didn’t mean for this...little misunderstanding to happen. I'm sure she saw someone who looked like Marinette.” Mme Bustier had tried to reason.

“If I’m not mistaken Caline, this is not the first time this has happened to Marinette. Her being accused of something in this school and getting punished unjustly with no proof. Forgive me, or not, but I’m not going to overlook this like you. Those are serious accusations to throw at someone. It would be wrong not to investigate. Right, Damocles?” No one spoke throughout Mme Medeleiev’s little speech but Marinette saw the glare Lila was giving the teacher and Marinette was tempted to tell Mendeleiev to just drop it.

“Er, yes, of course.” Principal Damocles had stuttered out. How he had managed to be a principal Marinette would never know. Once upon a time she had thought him an awkward but good guy all around, but that was not the case anymore.

“I suspect we call Mlle Rossi’s mother to speak about this. I’m sure she would love to know that her daughter is being...if not bullied then the start of being bullied. Then we will gather students who match Marinette’s description. It’s not much but it’s the best we got. I’ll go take pictures of the locker in question.”

“Oh-Oh we really don’t have to do that. I’m sure it really is all a misunderstanding! I wouldn’t want to bother my mother!” Lila had desperately claimed.

“How is this a misunderstanding Mlle Rossi? Please explain. Because from where we teachers stand this is clearly bullying and we will not tolerate that at this school.” Mme Mendeleiev said with such authority, one would think she was the principal.

Somehow, Marinette didn’t know how, but Lila had talked her way out of having to have her mother called to the school even though Mme Mendeleiev had strongly insisted to Principal Damocles that they call her and have a sit down with her over her daughter’s wellbeing and school life. Though she honestly shouldn’t have been surprised that nothing had been done. It was Damocles after all. Lila probably said it would be best not to disturb her very busy, very important, diplomat mother and Damocles with his nonexistent spine folded. Though with all the wrong type of attention the incident had brought for the lying vixen Marinette had a relatively “relaxed” rest of her day. No one outright apologized for just blaming her for destroying another person’s work and defacing public property with no proof but at least they didn’t glare at her or make snide remarks for the rest of the day. Adrien even managed not to give her one of his lectures at the end of the day which was a big welcome on Marinette’s end. She could only deal with him being on his high-horse and looking down on her for so long and more often than not she wouldn’t even argue back she would just end the conversation with,*“Il n’y a pas plus sourd que celui qui ne veut pas entendre.”

The day had started to look up for her and she was going to strike the iron while it was hot so to say. Her steps felt lighter. It’s like Mme Mendeleiv’s belief in her gave her invincibility for the day and she found herself actually looking forward to seeing Luka and Kagami at the end of the school day since she would finally have something good to share rather than her usual bouquet of gloom. The sun seemed brighter when she remembered that fencing practice was cancelled that day due to M D’Argencourt having some appointment to go to and a substitute couldn’t be found so the fencing club students had the day off. Marinette had excitedly texted Kagami that they should meet up after school and hang out earlier than the trio had planned since the girl had more free time. Kagami had agreed but said she would meet Marinette at her house as she had some things to take care of there at the school that she wanted to finish up before they met up. Of course Marinette had agreed without question, Kagami liked things to be in order before she had her free time and Marinette understood that. Now, Marinette didn’t remember what she had forgotten, but she knew she had forgotten something in her locker and had rushed from her home to grab it, not wanting her luck to run out for the day. She didn’t know why but since she was back at the school she felt the need to go talk with Mme Medeleiev and thank her once more for what she had done that day for Marinette. Whether the teacher knew it or not, she had given Marinette some hope back.

So she was going to do just that when she had heard familiar voices. Luka and Kagami? Kagami she could understand but why had Luka been there? He was supposed to meet them at Marinette’s house so she was immensely confused to hear his soft voice echo the halls. Her curiosity had gotten the best of her then and she had followed its call. She had not expected to find the scene she had stumbled upon, and the way her heart lurched with such pain. You would think I’d be used to it by now. Her eyes watered as she watched Kagami and Luka, her closest and only friends sitting with Lila and looking at her with such concern and half hugging her to give her comfort. She couldn’t hear what was being said but she would wager it was about her, she saw the disapproving frowns both Luka and Kagami gave in response to whatever Lila had said and all Marinette could think was, I’ve lost them too. She took them from me too. Before she knew it she had ran back home, to her room and had, well, she wasn’t too sure to be completely honest. It all went by in a blur, but she did remember texting Kagami and Luka and saying she wasn’t feeling well and maybe they could hang out together tomorrow, despite knowing Luka would have band practice and Kagami would have fencing practice. Then threw her phone onto her chaise and looked at her pictures of her friends she still had on her walls, she thought of the gifts she had given and all she had felt was this white hot rage and sadness that consumed her.

She heard, more than felt the ripping and smashing of the things that reminded her of a past she could never get back. Marinette was done listening to Tikki in that moment, and she was done believing she had anyone on her side like she thought she did. Kagami and Luka, they both held little pieces of what was left of her heart and she could feel those pieces breaking with every thing she destroyed. Now here she sat in the aftermath of her destruction and she didn’t even feel satisfied. A small part of her still felt hurt, she was sure she had to have made noise, quite a bit of it, and yet neither of her parents had checked on her. It was just another drop added to her already too-full cup.

“I’m sure it wasn’t what it looked like, Marinette.” Tikki chirped as she flew to Marinette’s sink and back with a wet cloth in her hand to help Marinette clean her face.

“What?”

“Luka and Kagami.” Tikki said their names so simply, “I’m sure it wasn’t what you’re thinking. You’ll see! We have to see them for patrol tonight. I’m sure you can ask them subtly about it as a concerned hero of Paris.”

The only concerned hero. Her mind bitterly spat out without warning. The thought almost made her wince in shock at the venom that came from it. Though she found herself not apologetic in the least, Chat had been proving himself to be unreliable. At first she had brushed off his behavior as his usual antics and she had been beating herself over the head about it everyday it seemed like. He became more aggressive in his flirting and really that’s what it was, it wasn’t passionate, it wasn’t some misguided persistence, it wasn’t just him being a “boy”, he became aggressive in his affection for her. He started asking her on more and more dates, bringing her more and more gifts and each time she rejected him, reminding him they had work to do, or she had plans, or that his timing was not the best, or of course that she had feelings for someone else, he started “punishing” her and Paris as a result. He would refuse to help, sometimes he wouldn’t show up to a battle at all, he would only call to ask her if she had come to her senses and realized she loved him and when she wouldn’t give him the answer he wanted he would hang up and the battle would be a lonely one. She had tried to get Master Fu to do something about it but he had brushed it off much like she had in the beginning. Seemed like he still had faith in the cat, Marinette wished she could say the same but it would be a lie, besides she had kind of announced she no longer trusted Chat to help her since she gave Luka and Kagami their individual Miraculous back but to permanently use to help her defend the city. So instead of Ladybug and Chat Noir defending Paris, it was Ladybug, Viperion and Ryuuko.

“I think I want to go out a little early Tikki. Maybe the fresh air and time out will do me some good.” Marinette said with forced cheer as she stood and stretched her arms high above her head.

“I think that’s a good idea Marinette!” Tikki chirped as she zipped through the air to hover at Marinette’s shoulder and she couldn’t help but chuckle. With a quick saying of the magic words and one transformation later, Marinette was out slinging from rooftop to rooftop. There was no destination in mind just yet, she just wanted to simply be for a while. Everything finally felt okay and she was ready to actually head to the top of the Eiffel Tower to wait for Luka and Kagami as their hero forms so they could start actual patrol when she heard their voices. It sounded like they were trying to keep quiet about something. She didn’t want to pry but it was late and if they were out this late as their civilian selves she had a duty to them to make sure they were okay. With a quick swing she was at the Château Edmond de Rothschild where the voices seemed to come from, it was supposed to be not accessible to the public, so why were they there?

A quick peek was all it took to understand why and Marinette had to stop herself from making any noise, whether it be a sob or a scream or a gasp. She couldn’t risk it if what she was seeing was real, but there it was right in front of her. Luka and Kagami were sitting in their hero forms holding a charm of some kind between them and they both had the sickening violet glow of Hawkmoth around their eyes. They didn’t seem angry or sad, or even like they were being akumatized so she wasn’t really sure what was going on but she was going to put an end to it. Now.

“Yes Hawkmoth. Ladybug trusts us completely, we are doing our part.” Kagami said.

“But...Chat Noir has yet to show up. That has helped us get closer to Ladybug yes, but it means we don’t know where the Black Cat Miraculous is for you.” Luka had added on and it was another stab to Marinette’s heart. They, her most trusted allies, her friends, her maybe something more’s, were working with...oh god she was going to be sick. She had to get out of there. She didn’t know how long she had swung but at some point she hadn’t been thinking about where her yoyo should attach itself and she fell down into a garden. No, she couldn’t identify the garden because she couldn’t see past the tears. Marinette didn’t know how long she laid there crying but she quickly took off her earrings and just as soon as she did Tikki zipped out.

“Marinette…”

“You said things would get better Tikki. How? How is this supposed to get better? Luka and Kagami...they are...they’re working for HIM!” She screamed and she didn’t care who heard, she was tired of suffering in silence.

“I’m sure it wasn't-”

“What? What, it looked like?....I’m done. I’m done sacrificing everything for this city. Sacrificing my feelings. I need to feel Tikki!” Without waiting for a response, Marinette threw the earrings and ran further into the park. She sobbed as loud and she had wanted to, needed to, and she couldn’t stop. She collapsed yet again, this time in a patch of butterfly bushes, though she hadn’t noticed. It wasn’t the only thing she hadn’t noticed, there was an akuma flying her way, but by the time she heard the tell-tale sign of the flap of its wings it was too late. The thing had already morphed with something on her person and all she could do was gasp.

______________________________________________________

Gabriel Agreste couldn’t help the tiny shout of joy he let out because finally, finally he had managed to snag his masterpiece. She had evaded him for so long, her will over her emotions had always seemed so iron strong but finally, Marinette Dupain Cheng was akumatized, and she was going to be the one to get him the Miraculi he craved. He could feel it. He turned to brag to his swarm of butterflies seeing how Nathalie wasn’t in the lair but when he did so he paused. All his butterflies were gone. Honestly he had to just stand and stare because where could they have gone? And why hadn’t he noticed or heard them leave?

No matter. The important thing was that he had Marinette Dupain Cheng under his control and it was going to be glorious. She would make quite the spectacle for Ladybug and, well, the heroes and Chat Noir when she appeared tomorrow. Victory was close, he could practically taste it.

__________________________________________________________

Wang Fu had made many mistakes in his life and he regretted every single one, but this one, this one was causing him the most pain. Marinette, the girl he had chosen to be Paris’s pillar of hope, the girl he had seen as a granddaughter, the girl he had failed to protect when she needed him, was in danger. He had been sleeping when Tikki had come flying into his shop wailing about Marinette. At first he and Wayzz couldn’t understand her, when she managed to calm down some she gave him some of the most devastating news he had ever received. Marinette Dupain Cheng had given up the mantle of Ladybug and had been akumatized. He had been desperate to know why and know why Tikki looked so guilty because surely it could not be her fault. Then the kwami had spilled everything, she told of the situation at school, the situation with Chat Noir, with Adrien that he himself had thought was nothing more than him being a stubborn boy, and she had told him how even she believed her user was somehow something more than human and would be able to handle it all. She had been angry at Marinette for throwing her away but had realized that it wasn’t her fault and had tried to find the girl to talk to her but by the time she had found her...it had been too late. So here he sat after calling Chat Noir to his shop and hoping the young hero...no, the young boy, would show.

“Master Fu?” Adrien asked softly as he entered the shop, it was almost easy to believe that the young boy wasn’t wayward and that Fu hadn’t made yet another mistake.

“In here Adrien.”

“Uh, what’s the matter Master Fu? You never call me Adrien. You said this was about Ladybug. Did she...Did she say something to you?” Near the end it was easy to see now the hidden anger the boy held, why hadn’t he seen it?

“No. This is something...far worse I’m afraid. Ladybug has been…”

“Ladybug has been defeated.” Tikki finished for him.

He watched as Adrien’s eyes widened and he gaped at Tikki, he looked as though he didn’t want to believe it. Fu wanted to yell at the boy. He had no right to stand there and act like he cared about Marinette. “That is not all. A young girl has been akumatized and I fear she may be the strongest akuma Hawkmoth has ever made.”

“What do you mean Ladybug has been defeated!? Defeated by who!?”

“By the akuma,” Fu lied, though was it really a lie?

“What akuma?”

“Not what. Who. The akuma is Marinette Dupain Cheng and from what Tikki and Ladybug have told me...Hawkmoth has been wanting to akumatize her for a long time. Whatever sent her to his side...I’ve met the girl. She is a kind soul and to know that he has her under his control...Adrien. You have to stop her. After that...after that is when you and I will sit down and have another talk, but in the meantime find Mlle Dupain Cheng and help her.” Fu pleaded, and he couldn’t help the tear that escaped.

The emotion seemed to hit Adrien, though it didn’t seem to be the only thing. “Marinette is the akuma? How?”

“I think you know the answer to that Agreste.” Tikki answered with a glare from where she was being held by Plagg who honestly looked like he wanted to scratch his owner's eyes out.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“We don’t have time for this. Adrien, just please, go and find her. Help her.” Fu watched as Adrien had left, it was almost morning now and he had work to do as well. He had to retrieve the Snake and Dragon Miraculi before their current users handed them off to Hawkmoth, as he doubted they would help in the fight to save Marinette, and he didn’t trust them enough to let them try.

“We’ll get her back Tikki. We will.”

______________________________________________________________

Adrien was not having a good morning, he had spent the early hours of it searching for his friend and coming up empty, and the more he came out with nothing the easier it was to be frustrated. Though it seemed like frustration was something to be shared in the Agreste home since his father also seemed to be irritable that morning. More than that, he and Nathalie seemed off and they were the most put together people he knew. Them being off, threw him off, thankfully he was still at school on time, which is too say he wasn’t his usual early self, but he was there a couple minutes before the bell would ring which gave him a very small window of time to search for Marinette before class began. Though he’s not entirely sure she would even show up at school if she was an akuma but where else would she go? She had a problem with Lila and Lila was at school so the answer had to be there right? God he hoped so.

The bell was about to ring though so he ran back to class after searching the locker rooms and barely made it to his seat when the bell did ring. Marinette wasn’t there. But she was going to show up, he just knew it. She had to. Lila was the source of her anger probably, even if it was childish, she would come to settle the score and that’s when he would swoop in and save the day. Then maybe just maybe, Ladybug would finally see that they were meant to be and realize how amazing he was. The thought had made him smile, almost losing himself in the daydream, that is until he saw a familiar pair of pink pants enter the room. He was at immediate attention and was alert because Marinette...didn’t look like an akuma. She looked like normal herself, but she was an akuma right? So why didn’t she look like one?

“Marinette. Late again?” Mme Bustier asked even though it was obvious.

“I won’t be long Caline.” Marinette replied and her voice...it was just off. Yes it was Marinette but at the same time it wasn’t.

“Marinette! You will speak to me respectfully or I will have no choice but to-”

“To what? Tell me to be a better example? I’m tired Caline, I’m tired of being your doll that you dress up and play pretend with. I’m not a doll, and I’m not a teacher’s assistant, though it seems like that’s what you believe me to be seeing as you push me to do your job. Constantly, so don’t even try to deny it. It’s the teacher’s job to placate their students and make sure that their classroom environment is a healthy one. You allow bullies to reign free from punishment and in turn punish the victims. Do you ever get tired of being the indirect cause of akumas? Because really how many of your students have been akumatized and you have the gall to say you’re a great teacher, everyone’s favorite teacher no less.” Everyone in the room was dead silent. This wasn’t Marinette at all, but before anyone could say anything the akuma continued, though they didn’t know she was an akuma and Adrien so badly wanted to shout it out to warn everybody.

“Then there is all of you sheep. I had the absolute displeasure of once being your friend, but I realized you were never my friends to begin with. If you were you wouldn’t have believed lies over me.”

“Is this really what this is about Girl?” Alya shouted.

“Alya, it seems like you want me to start with you. You claim to be a journalist, a seeker of the truth, but that is the biggest lie you have ever sold yourself beside Ladybug’s best friend over there. You are a hypocrite. You say you are a defender against bullies and villains. Well you Alya Cesaire are one of the biggest bullies by association I know. You turned your back on me. On the truth. You refused to open your eyes and see what was truly there. You became a bully and enjoyed it. You took pleasure in everything you did to make me miserable alongside Lila. Well congratulations Rena Rouge you have been outfoxed and it isn’t because of some sapotis or illusions. I was wrong to ever trust you.”

Everyone watched as Alya grew pale and just sat there with her mouth agape. “Nino, Kim, Alix, Ivan. You became destroyers rather than the protectors of the weak you boasted about to make yourselves feel better. Well guess what Nino? There’s no shell to protect you from the truth! You are a bully, bigger than Chloe! Because instead of not doing anything like you had last time I was bullied for years on end, this time you partook in the “merriment.” Kim. How I ever trusted you with anything is beyond me. You know in China to call a child a monkey is a great compliment, to call you anything similar would be a great disrespect. How you held the title of the monkey king...I’ll never understand it. Alix, you always liked to believe you were as fast as a rabbit both in mind and body, well the rabbit is dead. Your time will never come again I’ll see to it. Your most prized possession, your watch, I helped you restore it after it had been broken and I even gave it back to you but that was a mistake on my part as you never deserved it in the first place. Ivan, who helped you during Stoneheart? Who? Oh that’s right it was me? I helped you see you weren’t that monster but I was wrong. I was very wrong.” The words were cruel and Adrien didn’t know where all this anger was coming from. Lila was the target right? Shouldn’t she only be going after her, not their friends? He had to sneak out and transform, he didn’t know where her item was but he would find it and put an end to all this unnecessary hurt.

“Oh Adrien, where do you think you’re going? You’re at the top of my list.”

“Your list?” He asked as though he hadn’t been caught trying to get out of his seat.

“Yes. The list of people who have wronged me. The list of people who have turned me into the current me. The list of people I hate. Sorry, but not sorry If you can’t handle hearing how imperfect you are but you will listen to what I have to say.”

Adrien didn’t understand why everyone gasped but he was hurt to hear that Marinette hated him. No it had to be the akuma’s influence, it just had to be. “I’m sorry you feel that way Marinette.”

Marinette walked up to him and took both his hands in hers, it would have been a sweet gesture if it weren’t for the added pressure. “Save it. I don’t want your superficial pity. You Adrien Agreste are the biggest liar I know next to Lila. You knew she was lying. You knew she was lying from the start seeing how Ladybug told you herself that Lila and her were not friends. Oh yeah I know about that, in the park, or how about when Lila was akumatized to be the Chameleon, which by the way Lila very unoriginal and I’m fairly certain you were akumatized on purpose but hey what proof do I have right? And she pretended to be you because she didn’t like what you had to say about her lying. Yet you still didn’t tell your so called friends about her, because you don’t care about anyone but yourself! I learned that the hard way. I believed you when you said we were in this together and that if we both knew then that was enough and that we should take the moral highroad. What a joke! I am truly disgusted with myself for ever thinking I was in love with you.”

What!?

_____________________________________________________________

Luka couldn’t believe what he was hearing, he and Kagami had rushed to Marinette’s class after they had each gotten a call from her mother asking if either one of them had seen Marinette. Apparently they went up to her room and realized she was missing but thought maybe she had told them she was spending the night at Alya’s and they maybe just hadn’t heard but when they had called her and texted her with no response they had gotten worried. More so when she hadn’t shown up that morning. Luka had immediately felt his heart drop. Marinette was, well, she was his melody and to think that something could have happened to her, it made him get on his bike and search as many places as he could think of. It seemed like Kagami had the same idea because he ran into her and her car before they decided it would be better to search together. He felt awful about her cancelling their plans yesterday but figured she just genuinely wasn’t feeling well. Luka was beating himself over the head because obviously that wasn’t the case.

Maybe if him and Kagami hadn’t been so focused on helping get evidence that Lila was a liar and who Hawkmoth could be they wouldn’t be in this mess, but they had done all that for Marinette. They had seen what Lila had done to her and Kagami had been the one to say she didn’t trust Lila and proposed they help Marinette expose her for the lying weasel she was. Luka had been all for it, even if they had to pretend to be nice. When they found out that Lila actually didn’t like Ladybug well, that had been a shock but they had played into it. Both he and Kagami had acted like they too despised the superheroine and finally they saw Lila, the real Lila, or at least a small glimpse of her. She believed they really didn’t like Marinette and Ladybug, she believed they were her spies on Marinette, and then she admitted something that genuinely made Luka sick to his stomach.

Lila was working with Hawkmoth. And she wanted them to help them and join their “team.”

It had seemed like a good idea at the time. It was more evidence against Lila Ross and it was a way to help Ladybug who had seemed like she was being spread thin thanks to that no good Chat. So him and Kagami agreed to help. Then Ladybug asked them to be permanent heroes. They told Hawkmoth in order to gain trust from him and he had seemed pleased. Fake working with him was disgusting but him and Kagami felt like they were getting close to figuring out who he could be or what his ultimate goal was, but one thing was for certain and that was, for some odd unexplainable reason, Hawkmoth wanted to akumatize Marinette. He wanted Luka and Kagami to help, they had been hoping to unmask him before it came to that, but hearing Marinette now and seeing her...that was not Marinette. Hawkmoth succeeded somehow. Because that in there was an akuma and it was breaking Luka’s heart, more so when he realized it had way more information about people and the Miraculi than anyone would other than Ladybug herself.

“Luka...that’s.” Kagami had never sounded so lost.

“I know. Marinette was, is, Ladybug.”

“What do we do?”

“We save her. And...and we tell her the truth.”

They were ready, they were opening their mouths to say their separate transformation phrases when a window in the classroom broke. They turned to look inside to see if it was Marinette running out and finally showing an akuma form, but all they saw was a green blur and Marinette leisurely following after the blur out of the school to the park outside. Of course they followed, but when they went to transform they both realized, their respective Miraculous was gone. What did they do now?

_____________________________________________________

Fu had done it. He had retrieved the Dragon and Snake Miraculous, with help from Tikki as she took them from their holders as he caused a distraction as Jade Turtle. It was never easy to hold his transformation but he had done it for the short while he had to. That was one, kind of two, problems out of the way, now all he had to do was wait for Adrien to save Marinette. “He will do it”

“He will, Master.” Tikki muttered from his shoulder as Wayzz nodded his agreement from Fu’s other shoulder.

“I doubt it.” Fu nearly fell with how he stumbled back at what had landed in front of him. It was Marinette but also not. He didn’t want to call her an akuma because even that felt like a wrong description. She felt like something else entirely, looked it too. She wore some armor like that of a knight over what appeared to be a black body suit, but one made of light. Her freckles seemed more like stars and if he looked closer each star was unique, and almost seemed to resemble every past akuma

“Marinette...what...what are you?”

“A protector, the Protector.” Marinette answered as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

______________________________________________

As soon as Marinette felt the akuma merge with her, because truly it felt like it merged with her and not an object, she felt so much. She could feel the butterfly feel her pain, her anger, could feel it soak up her negativity. She in turn could feel its pain and anger, its sadness too. Her heart filled with so much empathy. Then it was like the voice of the butterfly doubled, then tripled, then there were too many voices to be heard but Marinette understood. She felt their pain because it was the same as hers. All of them had been used, all of them together had put their trust in people they shouldn’t have. Though she had no way to see it, Marinette just knew she was covered in butterflies because she refused to call them akumas, they were victims just as she was, just as Paris was too, to Hawkmoth.

They told her they wouldn’t let him harm her. That they would protect her. That was the moment that Marinette felt that she and them were one and she vowed to protect them just as they vowed to protect her. She accepted them, she let them and her truly become one, because at that moment they were her only friends, her only family, and she was going to protect them from their abuser. They sung her praises, they gave her strength, they whispered a name and place. Their former owner. She listened and she heard and Marinette followed where they led. The closer they got to the Agreste Mansion, the louder the cries of Nooroo she could hear, could feel. She vowed she would protect him as well. He was her family, her friend too, just like the butterflies. A part of her felt like she should have been surprised that Gabriel Agreste was Hawkmoth and that so, Nathaniel Sancoeur was most likely Mayura, but really she just felt anger. Gabriel and Nathalie were to face justice. Her justice.

They would pay for their crimes against Paris, and their abuse of the Miraculi, kwami, and butterflies. She was the Protector and nothing would stand in her way.

_________________________________________________

“I don’t wish to fight you, but I see you believe me to be an akuma. I’m not. I don’t expect you to believe me but it’s the truth. I am merely the Protector now. As a sign of good faith,” Marinette, or Protector held out a hand to Fu, one he was reluctant to reach out for. “Here.”

It seemed like she caught on to his hesitation because Marinette threw whatever had been in her hand to him. Tikki and Wayzz had quickly helped catch them and when he saw what Marinette had tossed him he felt faint. Whether it was from relief or fear he didn’t know. Marinette had given him the Peacock and Cat Miraculi. “And what of the Butterfly Miraculous?”

“I’m keeping it. You couldn't protect it, so I will in your place. Nooroo and I decided it is what is best.” At the mention of the kwami, said kwami fly out into the open to sit in Marinette’s open palm.

“Marinette I can’t let you do that.”

“We’re not asking permission.” Nooroo stated as he nuzzled Marinette’s thumb that was caressing his head. “Marinette and I have suffered at the hands of Paris long enough.”

“This was merely me wanting to say goodbye face to face. Don’t come looking for me Fu.”

Fu could only watch at Marinette, Nooroo, and a swarm of white akumas jumped away from him and his kwami. He didn’t know what else he could do. He was too old to run after her, and he didn’t have anyone he could trust with a Miraculous with to send after her. So he just watched as Marinette continued to get smaller and smaller in his vision, until she was gone. Though she asked not to be looked for, he would do it, because Marinette deserved to be found and talked some sense into. When he found her, an apology didn’t feel good enough, but he would give her the biggest most heartfelt apology. She was a kind soul, and truly deserved none of this.

______________________________________________________

It was chaos. Tom and Sabine had closed the bakery but it was still filled with people, only it was Marinette’s class and Luka and Kagami. They didn’t dare call this class their daughter’s friends after they finally learned what had really been happening at the school. Luka and Kagami had told them everything and Sabine, Sabine sobbed and had called out for her baby girl till her voice was hoarse. What had they done to her baby girl? But they apologized to them, they said they were tricked. It felt more like they were trying to trick them, but nonetheless they needed help figuring out where Marinette could be and they were offering to help. Tom said it was out of guilt and had wanted to kick them out but Sabine convinced him it would be more manpower to help with the search. Truth was, they were just as guilty, they hadn’t realized something was wrong with their daughter until she was missing.

Adrien had come in with his arm in a cast, when they asked what happened, the class claimed it was Marinette when she was an akuma. Adrien hadn’t denied it, in fact he looked angry, every time Marinette was mentioned he would frown, and Tom had been so so close to just tossing the boy out, but they heard the kids gossiping and saying that someone had broken into the Agreste Mansion and had beaten Gabriel and his assistant pretty badly. When asked about it Adrien would get really quiet but would confirm that his father and Nathalie were in the hospital due to injuries. He looked a mess.

Luka and Kagami though,...those two looked worse. They looked as though someone had ripped out their hearts. They were there physically, helping wherever they could and however they could, but one glance and you could tell they weren’t there in spirit. It was awful. Paris was celebrating the supposed defeat and disappearance of Hawkmoth and Mayura, but how could Tom and Sabine join in the merriment when they couldn’t share that joy with their pride and joy? The guilt of being so busy had never hit them so hard, but they vowed that once they found Marinette, they would do everything in their power to make it up to her.

____________________________________________________________

It was quiet, actually it was more like her ears were ringing so loud that it was impossible to hear anything. Her body collapsed from exhaustion, she couldn’t travel any further but she felt the distance. It felt safe. She felt safe and maybe that’s why her body just kind of shut itself down, maybe that’s why when the butterflies and Nooroo prodded at her mind if she was willing to give up the akuma and drop the transformation and which she did, that didn’t mean that Marinette wasn’t going to fight to stay conscious even if it was a losing battle. But she was so tired and she could feel Nooroo reassuring her that they were safe and that? That was enough for her. She quickly slipped into unconsciousness and for once didn’t fear the possibility of nightmares, because she knew when she woke up she wouldn’t be back in Paris anymore. Though with falling unconscious she did fail to introduce herself to those who found her, right away.

“I’m telling you guys I saw something wash up on the beach from my house!” A boy said as he and his friends made their way down the beach.

“Yeah? Last time you said that and dragged us here it was just a piece of driftwood.” Another boy piped in with a point of his finger.

“And you claimed it was a real mermaid this time.” His twin sister added.

“Guys be nice I’m sure it’s an actual real mermaid this time.” A girl laughed as she walked ahead to walk side by side with the first boy.

“Actually there are many documents of mermaids you know.” The third boy of the group said matter-of-factly.

“Any of them driftwood mermaids?” the fourth boy of the group asked with a laugh.

“Ha ha ha, very funny. But I’m telling you I really saw...someone. Oh my gods.” The first boy had started before he actually did see the slumped form of Marinette just lying there.

*Il n’y a pas plus sourd que celui qui ne veut pas entendre Translation: No one is as deaf as the one who does not want to listen.

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princessjaqulinechess1031 · 4 years ago

Text

Interesting

Description: Damian and Marinette have a rainy day date.

Characters: Damian Wayne, Marinette Dupain-Cheng

The rain poured down on Gotham, the streets lit up with the headlights of cars and the reflection of light posts off the thin flood of water on the street. Damian and Marinette sat inside the café, steam rolling up from their coffees and twisting the smell of mocha and cinnamon from Marinette’s coffee up into their noses. Marinette took a sip of her coffee, looking out of the window with a sigh and leaned her head against her hand.

“I love the smell of the rain,” Marinette said softly. Damian raised a brow.

“You can smell the rain?” Damian asked. Marinette nodded, her pigtails bouncing.

“Oui. Can you not?” Marinette said. Damian shook his head.

“Smells like a normal Gotham day to me,” Damian said. “What does it smell like to you?”

Marinette sighed and leaned back in her chair with a smile.

“Like…..fresh paper and the wafting of flowers,” Marinette said. Damian grinned at her.

“Sounds like a lovely smell,” Damian said. Marinette nodded. It was, it was one of her favorite smells. It reminded her of busy days back in the bakery of her youth, when the rain was pouring, and Papa and Maman would bake fresh bread with her. Even now, she could almost feel the heat of the oven and the laughter of her parents. Oh, how she missed them.

She used to not be able to think of them without at least one tear. But now…now she could think of them with a smile, without the marring that Hawkmoth had left on her family. A hole would always be left in her heart in the shape of her parents, but the hole was scabbed over. Still there, still in pain, but no longer bleeding blood so thick it threatened to drown her.

She heard a rustling in her bag, and she looked down to see Tikki’s antenna poking out. Marinette smiled and broke off a piece of the muffin she had bought and brought it down for her kwami to eat.

Damian laughed under his breath at the motion. “Tikki hungry?”

Marinette nodded and then shut her bag again once she was certain her little friend was fed.

“Thankfully, Tikki is much nicer about it than Plagg,” Marinette chuckled. Damian rolled his eyes.

“I’m the son of a billionaire, and I still don’t know how Adrien manages to afford to feed Plagg,” Damian joked. Marinette giggled and Damian reached across to peck a bit of her muffin off. Marinette playfully slapped his hand away but let him get away with a piece anyway.

“My muffin,” Marinette said in a mock-stern voice. Damian popped the piece of muffin into his mouth with a smug grin, and Marinette had to fight not to roll her eyes.

“You could have got your own,” Marinette said, “if you’re so hungry.”

“It’s more fun if I steal it from you,” Damian said. Marinette sipped her coffee, relishing the warm taste in the cool Gotham air. Though it was warmer in the coffee shop than out in the open, the rain put an inescapable chill that was impossible to ignore.

“My maman, she used to make the best muffins,” Marinette said. The scab clenched but did not reopen. “She used to make orange blossom muffins, and they were the best in all of Paris.” She smiled wistfully, eyes glistening as her mind wondered to a different time and place. “She taught me how to do it, but the first few times I just burnt them all!”

Damian chuckled. “I’m sure Alfred would let you make them some time, if you asked.”

“Do they sell orange blossom in America?” Marinette asked. Damian shrugged.

“I don’t know,” Damian said. “I don’t often do the shopping. I’m sure Alfred has his ways though.”

Marinette had to agree with him on that one. The Wayne family butler and closest confidante she was sure could take over the world, procuring orange blossom was probably a drop in the hat for him.

“Monsieur Pennyworth probably could,” Marinette said. Damian laughed once, lightly, and then crossed his arm on the table.

“Maybe you could teach me? My mother was never one for baking, so I never learned,” Damian said, eyes downcast. From all that Marinette had heard of one Thalia al Ghul, it sounded completely character for her to never teach Damian something as simple as baking. Or spend the time to teach him, regardless. Damian was never one to ask for help, so Marinette was obliged to agree to teach him.

She reached across and laid her hand on top of his.

“Of course, ma moitié,” Marinette said. “Maybe I can teach you the family secret for croissants!”

Damian laughed under his breath. “Let’s not get carried away.”

Marinette looked outside and noticed that the rain had let up to only a small drizzle. She picked up the pink umbrella by her seat as she stood, sticking out a hand to Damian as a symbol to follow her.

“Come on, let’s head back while the rain has calmed down,” Marinette said. Damian took her hand and followed her out. Marinette held the umbrella in one hand and her coffee in the other. Damian had discarded his when they left, saying it wasn’t that good anyway, but Marinette figured it was an excuse to take the umbrella from her so he could hold her hand.

Which he did after about a minute. Because Damian had already asked one vulnerable thing of her (to teach him how to bake), and so asking another was out of the question. Damian was a softie deep down under his grumpy veneer, but very rarely could he express that tenderness verbally. And Marinette was fine with it, if it meant she got to hold his hand.

The tip of Marinette’s boots wetted just a little, and she knew she would have to let them dry for a day or two before she could wear them again.

They walked in silence with their hands connected as the strolled through the drizzly day of Gotham back to the Manor. Marinette shut her eyes and leaned her head against Damian’s shoulder as they walked, finding warmth in him in the slight chill of the air.

“You really should walk with your eyes open, nawaret aynaya,” Damian said. Marinette hummed and opened her eyes lightly.

“It’s more fun this way,” Marinette said. “Adds danger to my day.”

Damian squeezed her hand tightly and kissed the top of her forehead.

“And being a superhero isn’t danger enough?” Damian asked softly. Marinette shook her head and propped her head up on Damian’s shoulder. The two came to a stop at the corner of a street, neither looking in front of them.

“What can I say?” Marinette said. “I’m a glutton for adventure.”

“Interesting,” Damian said. Damian leaned down and kissed her lips softly, and Marinette smiled into the kiss. Her coffee was forgotten, accidently dropped to the ground as she curled her arms around his neck. The coffee spilled on her boots, but she could not find it within herself to care.

Damian pulled away from her, looking down at her through half-lidded eyes.

“interesting,” breathed Marinette, before she reached back and brought him in for another kiss.

Notes:

it's FEARLESS day! this fic was partially inspired by the song "Fearless" by Taylor Swift, which she re-released today on the Fearless (Taylor's Version) album. I'm a Swiftie, what can I say?

Chapter Bible Verse:

"And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity." -- 1 Corinthians 13:13.

Questions, comments, or concerns? Let me know! Have a blessed day!

#batfam #damian wayne #marinette dupain cheng #batman #fluff #maribat #miraculous ladybug #taylor swift #fanfic

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syndianites · 3 years ago

Text

A Queen Serves and Protects

Chapter Three

First Chapter --> Last Chapter --> Current --> Next Chapter Summary:

Post-Style Queen, Pre-Queen Wasp.

Chloe finds the Bee Miraculous, but instead of finding an obliging, subservient Kwami, she finds the Kwami of Order and Subjugation, and Pollen is not about to let herself be used like Nooroo was.

Granted, the only danger in a teenage girl is the damage she poses to herself. Can Pollen shape Chloe into a hero? Or will she stubbornly refuse to change and remain the bitter, harsh person the city has long since known?

[My take on how Chloe’s character could have developed] ——————————————————————————————

Getting akumatized was a special sort of uncomfortable. But it was exhilarating in all the same ways. Everything that one felt became louder, bigger, something beyond what it used to be. It grew into power. The power to act and take what was yours.

For Chloe, it just made her more upset. The anger had almost fizzled out, but the akuma brought it back with a vengeance. But unlike the last time she had been akumatized, her sorrow manifested much stronger than her rage.

Her skin darkened to a deep blue, almost purple, like the edge of the night sky after the sun had set. Where her hair had been in a high ponytail, it was undone and draped down and around her face. It looked stuck together and damp as though she had just been rained on. Chloe’s makeup looked washed out and runny both from her own tears and the transformation.

Most notably, her clothes became a simple long t-shirt and sweatpants that looked worn down and overused. The pants were a bright, light blue, while the shirt was a dark, deep crimson. To top it off, her sunglasses molded into a hat not unlike what her mother wore, but with goggles inlaid into them.

Without a word, Chloe put her hands before her and a large pair of scissors, easily the size of her chest, formed in her hand. Transformation complete, she turned on a dime and walked out the locker room.

A moment of silence followed before Pollen poked her head out the locker she had hidden away in. “Well, this isn’t good.”

//////

Marinette had never been so uncomfortable in her life. That included that time when she was seven and her twice removed cousins from her dad’s side came over and asked her why she didn’t wear dresses if she liked making them so much. And that one time she stepped foot first into a mud puddle, lost her shoe, and had to walk home with a sock soaked in mud.

It was bad.

Audrey, once Chloe had stormed out, continued on her tirade. “Ugh, how dramatic. Little Charlie needs to learn her place. She simply can’t compare to talent like yours, dear.”

Starting at being addressed, Marinette gave her a pinched smile.

“Now,” Audrey continued. “You simply must come to New York with me. The opportunities are endless, and skill such as yours would flourish under my attention!”

Her heart skipped a beat. New York was a big deal for fashion. Next to Paris, it was the place to be, and opening up her contacts to overseas big names would be a huge step for her career.

But could she work with someone this awful?

Sure, Marinette didn’t like Chloe, but even she thought that how her own mother treated her was cruel. It made her feel bad for the girl. It explained a lot about her, and for a moment Marinette considered being nicer to Chloe.

Not that that would make Chloe suddenly decide to be a good person. It would take the inevitable explosion of the sun for that to happen.

“I-i, um, I need to think about it, Mrs. Bourgeois.” Marinette glanced over at her parents. “I have a lot to consider about leaving or staying, and my parents still need my help at the bakery.”

Her parents, and oh how she loved them, spoke up immediately, “Oh, we can manage the bakery dear! Don’t worry about little old us, what’s important is your future.”

Please, take the hint guys.

Before Marinette can struggle to find more excuses to deny her request, Adrien pipes up, “Mrs. Bourgeois,” he flashes her an award winning smile, “Don’t you think that the way Chloe was handled was a bit… out of hand?” Gabriel laid a hand on Adrien’s shoulder, squeezing it gently before sharing a look with Natalie and wandering off.

Audrey rolled her eyes behind her sunglasses. “Oh, darling, for such a sweet thing you can be so daft. Girls like that need a quick strike down before they let their misguidedness get to their head.”

Adrien, for his part, kept smiling. For those who knew him well enough, they could see the twitch in his eye as he struggled not to snap at the woman. “Ah, my apologies. In my experience, the best growth comes from a guiding hand that focuses on building a person up rather than tearing them down. But I suppose, for a critic, that is not the case at all. Though, the modelling experience is often different from the experience of those who make judgement calls on others’ hard work.”

Bringing a hand to her chest, Audrey sniffs derisively. “Sure, dear. Of course, most models are meant to make anything they wear look pretty, so it can be hard to see where their accessories are lacking when all they see is themselves.”

Marinette wanted to desperately be anywhere but where she was standing. She almost wished that someone had bust in with the Bee miraculous and caused a scene just so she could excuse herself.

She’d rather deal with her own mistakes a million fold over than this.

Mayor Andre, for his part, smiled a shaky press smile as he tried to talk his wife down.

Adrien, fed up with Audrey, grabbed Marinette ’s hand and pulled her away quickly. Natalie spared him a glance before going to converse with his bodyguard.

“Can you believe her!” Adrien simmered. “How cruel can you be to your own child!”

Marinette laughed awkwardly. “I mean, at least we know where Chloe gets it from?”

Adrien rounded on her. “Chloe is not as bad as her!”

Taking a step back, she watched Adrien wide-eyed. He sighed, taking a breath to calm himself. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped at you. That display was just awful.”

He ran a hand through his hair, mussing up carefully styled locks.

Hesitating, Marinette asked, “Is she… always like that?”

Adrien gave a tense nod. “Since we were young. Chloe always wanted her mother’s support, but well,” he waved his hand back in her direction, “You try reasoning with that.”

Before either could pick the conversation back up the front doors to the building burst open. Carrying comically large scissors and dressed as what could only be called a fashion disaster was an akuma that looked one bad day away from a mental breakdown.

Or, well, in the middle of a breakdown.

“Audrey Bourgeois! You claim to recognize talent when you see it, but failed to see how your own daughter can be exceptional. Well, I am the Queen Killer and if I cannot be exceptional then no one can! I’ll cut your reign to shreds.” The akuma accented her speech with a threatening snip of her scissors before launching forward at the Style Queen.

Before anyone could react, Queen Killer had Audrey between her blades and closed. A thing, white line appeared where the blades connected and, as Queen drew her weapon away, there was a horrifying moment where Marinette was sure Audrey was split into two pieces.

Instead, a dark shadow started spilling out of Audrey, enveloping her body as she screamed. When the shadow dissipates, a twisted, snarling version of Audrey that looked like she was fused together with five other versions of herself appeared. It lashed out at those around her, screeching and clawing at them.

Queen Killer laughed. “Now everyone will see how hideous and cruel you are!”

Marinette jolted out her shock as Adrien roughly pulled her away. This, unfortunately, brought Queen’s attention to them as the rest of the room also began to run.

“Dupain-Cheng!” If she had any doubt that that was Chloe, she had none now. ”You stole my mother’s love from me!”

As Queen launched forward with her scissors open, Marinette screamed, “That was not my intention! I didn’t know she would ask me to go to New York with her all over a hat!”

Alas, her pleas were not enough. Stuck in her civilian form, Marinette could not outrun the enraged Queen. Twin blades circled around her waist and cut, forcing Marinette to stumble and fall.

Adrien, worried for his friend, stopped and tried to go back for her. But, between a snarling Queen and Marinette urging him to keep running as a dark shadow overtook her, he kept running. The best thing for Marinette would be Chat Noir and Ladybug. He would have time to check on her later.

Marinette , meanwhile, felt the shadows come off her and… she looked the same. For a moment, she was confused. What was the akuma’s power supposed to be?

But then it bubbled up. Nothing physical. No, that would be too easy. As she looked up towards Queen and thought ‘I need to transform into Ladybug’ a wave of crushing doubt and insecurity gripped her throat.

She would just mess up again. Like she had when she started out, when she lost the Bee miraculous, and every time she let someone get harmed by an akuma. There was no way she could do this. Chat Noir would be better off without her.

As the building cleared and Queen ran out to terrorize the fleeing patrons, Marinette stayed on the ground, shaking. What could she do? Make things worse? Disappoint all of Paris? Put Fu and Chat Noir in danger?

Distantly, she heard someone talking to her, urging her to get up and move. The voice disappeared as he heard footsteps and she was lifted into someone’s arms. A hop, skip, and a jump later had her safely placed down on a chair in a private room, looking into the eyes of Chat Noir. His eyebrows were brought together in concern.

“Stay here, okay? I promise Ladybug and I will fix things for you.” He offered a reassuring smile before dashing out of the room.

When she couldn’t hear his footsteps anymore, Tikki flew out of her pocket. “ Marinette !” The little ladybug placed her paws on her face, getting her to look at Tikki. “Are you okay? What happened after she cut you?”

Shaking her head, Marinette focused on her breathing. ‘C’mon Mari,’ she thought to herself, ‘You can’t let Chat do this alone.’

“I, uh,” she looked back at Tikki, “It’s so bad Tikki. I’m going to mess up and make things worse. Like yesterday with the Bee miraculous! I lost it! Instead of getting help, I lost a potential ally and a powerful magical artifact. If I can’t even keep track of things placed under my care, how can I protect Paris?”

Tikki was at a loss for words. This reminded her so much of the Marinette she first met- unconfident, afraid, and so uncertain in her actions. It was like the cut brought out all the most hurtful parts of herself…

“ Marinette ,” Tikki began, “We all make mistakes. What’s important is working to fix them. Sure, if you do nothing you can’t mess up or disappoint people, but you also can’t grow and succeed. Paris needs its Ladybug, regardless of what the people think of you. I know you can do this. Chat will be there to help you too, I’m sure of it.”

Doubt in her eyes, Marinette nodded. While her doubts and insecurity swirled in her mind, the urge to help others reigned supreme. She had to at least stop the akuma and set things back to normal.

“Alright Tikki,” Marinette swallowed thickly. “Spots On!”

///////////

Chat was not having a good time.

His first thought upon finding Queen snipping people in half with her scissors was that he could easily beat her in combat. What could she do with a pair of large scissors when he had a versatile staff?

A lot, apparently.

As he dodged backwards from another attempt to cut him in half from Queen, he tossed a jab her way. “So is clashing colors the new look, or did I miss the memo?”

Queen huffed at him, “Says the boy in full leather! I would know a fashion disaster when I see one!”

She ran at him again, holding the scissors completely open so she could swipe at him with a blade. Chat blocked it with his staff, before pushing her away as she tried to close the blades on him.

“Excuse you, Queenie!” He retorted. “I’ll have you know that my outfit is purr-fect.”

Clearly, she disagreed, if the groan and slash at him was anything to go by.

What a party pooper.

But what was worse was that he couldn’t get close enough to her to properly disarm her. Nor could he figure out where the akuma was while trying his best to not get cut in half. Chat needed to regroup with Ladybug, but she was nowhere in sight.

Biting his lip, Chat jumped back and up onto a rooftop. Giving Queen Killer a salute, he started away from her.

“Get back here you mangy cat!” Queen simmered on the ground below where he ran off. “You better bring back Ladybug so I can take you both off your high horse!”

///////////

Pollen was not the best at sneaking around. Not for lack of trying, of course, but people were ingrained to see a blur of yellow and the sound of buzzing and think ‘Bee!’ It didn’t help that she was larger than the average bee.

What did help, however, was people being too busy staring at an akuma running full tilt down the street to pay attention to the yellow being that was trying to stay unnoticed behind them. So Pollen got a front row seat to Queen’s akuma speech and display of her powers. When Chat Noir showed up she waited for her chance to talk to him or Ladybug whenever she came around.

And, well, there went Chat running for his life.

Pollen sighed. At least flying along rooftops was less obvious than following an akuma.

After shooting past building after building, she manages to get closer to the black blur that was Chat Noir. He was vaulting along, keeping an eye out as he worked on not plummeting to the ground. When he finally stopped to catch his breath, Pollen nearly sped past him.

As Chat retracts his staff and starts to dial Ladybug, Pollen drops down in front of him. “Oh!” He stumbles back, “Hello? Who are you?”

Pollen smooths out her fluff and offers a paw. “I am Pollen, Kwami and Order and Subjugation, and the one who dwells inside the Bee Miraculous. You must be Chat Noir. A pleasure.”

Chat, mystified, offers a finger. “Nice to meet you. I thought you would be with Master Fu and your miraculous?”

“Ah, well,” Pollen tilted her head. “Did Ladybug not tell you?”

He pinched his lips. “No?”

“Ladybug lost my miraculous in the fight with Style Queen. You weren’t there, though, were you?” Pollen considered him for a moment. “I don’t blame you for that, nor do I blame Ladybug for losing my miraculous. But that isn’t important right now.”

Accepting the hand Chat placed out for her, she settles into his palm. “I need to talk to you and Ladybug, but the akuma is our first priority. What do you know about them?”

“Well,” Chat began, “I believe it is Chloe Bourgeois. But as for the akuma,” He scratched the back of his head with his free hand, “I’m not too sure. My current two guesses are her scissors or her hat, since she normally doesn’t have either on her.”

Pollen nodded thoughtfully, despite having seen the akuma land in Chloe’s sunglasses. There was no way she could tell Chat Noir without him having at least some suspicions as to who she was with at the moment. At the very least, he could narrow it down to who had been around Chloe when she transformed.

Chat pushed on. “Even if we managed to subdue Queen Killer and get the akuma out, we wouldn’t be able to do anything until Ladybug gets here to purify it. The best we can do is wait and try to stop as much damage as possible.”

“Actually,” Pollen butt in, with a slow smile spreading across her face, “I may have a solution to that.” Chat tipped his head to the side. “I can immobilize people with my power. As long as I can hold onto the power they will remain frozen, or until I touch them to let them free.”

He perked up, stars in his eyes. “Like how Plagg can use Cataclysm when he’s himself! That’s perfect, Pollen.”

She nodded eagerly, before stopping. “Wait, did you not know kwamis can use their own power?”

Chat looked confused, but nodded slowly. “I didnt figure that out until he used it to free from an akuma a while ago.”

Pollen buzzed, frustrated, before saying, “The Guardian should have told you that! It’s important for a holder to know about their miraculous and kwami, especially a trouble maker like Plagg.”

“Well,” Chat scuffed his foot on the roof, “I don’t speak to the Guardian that much. Last time we talked was when he came to my house and talked about the Miracle Box and such.”

“That’s ridiculous!” Pollen moved out of Chat’s hand and floated in an irritated circle. “You should be just as informed as Ladybug. It’s not fair to you or her to pile information on one of you and expect the other to just go along with it!”

Chat shrugged. “That’s how it’s been for most of it. Besides, I trust Ladybug with my life.”

“But, when keeping so many secrets, can she trust hers with you?” Pollen replied with a meaningful look in her eyes.

She received no response. Instead of dwelling on the matter, she urged Chat to get back to Queen Killer. They still had a job to do, after all.

/////////

Ladybug arrived on the scene to find Chat nowhere in site and Queen Killer happily snipping at random citizens. Great. Before she can engage with the akuma, she hesitates. Could she really do this without Chat? What if she lost her miraculous because she let her civilian self get hit with the akuma’s power?

Shaking her head, she prepared to head in when a flash of black caught her eye. The familiar form of Chat pole vaulting across the rooftops to her left filled her with a sense of relief. She really, seriously needed to keep it together.

Taking a second, she throws her yo-yo to wrap around a chimney in Chat’s path. Her heart races as she tests the line and jumps. Shit, shit, shit, she’s gonna hit the wall, then Queen will notice her, then-

She made it on the roof with two scraped knees. Not flawless, but still unseen. Chat landed beside her, more than happy to see his Lady. A frown creased his brow as he took in her demeanor.

“Are you alright?” He checks her over for wounds, but comes back with nothing beyond a few scratches. “Did something happen?”

Ladybug goes to dismiss the idea before Tikki’s words ring in her head again ‘Chat will be there to help you too.’ Shaking her head, she gave Chat a grimace. “Queen managed to cut me while I was in my civilian form. Even after I transformed the effects are bothering me. It’s… brought back a lot of my insecurity and confidence issues. But we can do this, I know we can.”

Chat nodded, resting a hand on her shoulder and giving it a gentle squeeze. “Don’t worry, I have a plan. And some back up.”

“Backup?”

A yellow figure lands on Chat’s shoulder. “Hello, Ladybug. It’s nice to see you again.”

Blinking in shock, Ladybug exclaims, “You’re the kwami from the Bee miraculous! Oh god, another thing I messed up, I’m so, so sorry.”

Pollen holds up a paw, stopping her. “It’s not your fault. You were in a tight situation and did the best you could. Besides, I’m with someone who may be a good ally in the future. They just need time.”

Chat and Pollen brought Ladybug up to speed on their ideas, to which she poked and prodded at. They exchanged glances before nodding and Chat and Pollen split. Still standing on the roof, Ladybug calls her Lucky Charm. It dropped from the sky as a red and black spotted crowbar.

Keeping the crowbar in hand, Ladybug drew Queen’s attention with a hit to her scissors. “Hey!” Ladybug called out, “Don’t you know scissors are dangerous?”

Queen Killer growled back, “Of course you would start preaching at me, little miss perfect. I bet everyone in the whole city loves you. Well I’m here to cut your heroic tales short!” She launched forward, bouncing off a car and digging her scissors into the side of the building to propel her up to the rooftop to get on Ladybug’s level.

Ladybug, in a quick move, flipped over her and flung her yo-yo around the scissors to send Queen flying back to the ground. Before she could hit a lamppost, Queen dug the blades into the street to slow herself down, only to run back to Ladybug.

‘Good,’ Ladybug thought to herself, ‘Keep coming.’

In the moments before Queen got back in range, Ladybug took a moment to eye the area around her for clues on how to use the Lucky Charm. Nothing stood out, so she sprung from the rooftop to land before Queen and send her yo-yo swinging at her feet.

Queen, quick to the punch, lowered her scissors to cut the yo-yo string. Ah, what a lovely and easy mistake to make when fighting a person who used scissors with a string based weapon. Panicking, Ladybug brought up the crowbar to stop the scissors from striking her.

Pulling back, Queen raced in again with the blades open, looking to trap Ladybug the same way she had Chat in their fight before. Ladybug readied her crowbar, bringing it up to block again. Queen smirked, shutting the blades in a smooth motion. By luck or skill, Ladybug managed to sidestep the action, getting the crowbar’s hook caught in between the blades. Seeing her chance, Ladybug used the hook to pull the scissors from Queen’s hands.

Spitting a curse, Queen abandoned her scissors to tackle Ladybug.

Chat, meanwhile, called forth his Cataclysm and rushed the scissors, destroying them with a touch. When no akuma appeared, he looked back confused. Queen kept fighting Ladybug, managing to get the upper hand as Ladybug hesitated in kicking her off. As Queen pinned Ladybug’s hand with one of her own and reached for her miraculous Chat sprung towards her.

He wouldn’t make it in time.

But Queen stopped dead in her tracks, eyes wide beneath the wide-brimmed hat. Pollen popped up from behind her, giving Ladybug a little giggle. “Sorry, I meant to do that a little earlier.”

This time with no reservations, Ladybug pushed Queen off of her. Chat bounded over to her to help her up, to which she shook her head and pointed at Queen. “Find the akuma.”

Receiving a nod, she picked herself up to retrieve the cut off part of her yo-yo. Chat, in this time, took Queen’s hat and ripped it. For good measure, he broke the goggles on them as well. Lo and behold, the akuma haphazardly fluttered out. Before it could escape, Ladybug snapped it up in her yo-yo.

“Bye, bye little butterfly,” Ladybug murmured, letting it fly off into the sky. With a nod to her partner, she threw her crowbar into the air and let forth the rush of ladybugs to fix the damage done.

Pollen, seeing Chloe safely de-akumatized, gave Chat a little nod before rushing off. He made a move to go after her when a bawl reached his ears. Chloe, freshly purified, was trying her best to keep it together. But as Chat knelt to help her to her feet, she jumped him for a hug.

“I’m sorry,” she cried. “I’m sorry that I was too pathetic to not get akumatized again. My mother was right about me, I’m so, so sorry.”

Chat rubbed her back slowly. “What your mother said was cruel and unfounded. You’re not pathetic at all, Chloe.”

“And it’s definitely not your fault. Even the strongest, most exceptional people can get akumatized,” Ladybug added, “Besides, even heroes have bad days.” Not that she considered Chloe even close to a hero.

Andre chose this moment to come bustling through the doors of the building behind them. “Princess, my darling!”

Seeing that she was in good hands, Chat and Ladybug pound their fists together and part ways.

Ladybug, however, is stopped by Pollen two blocks over. “There you are! Thank goodness. Can you show me where your miraculous is so I can return it to Master Fu?”

“No,” Pollen told her quietly, “But I want to ask you to trust me. I’ve found someone who needs my help. Maybe one day she could be a great hero, maybe not. But this person has gone through a lot of heartbreak and I don’t want to be another person that leaves her behind. I want you to tell Fu that I have decided to stay with them.”

“Wait, but what about secrecy? How will we know they won't spread the word about the miraculous or accidentally lead Hawkmoth to you?” Ladybug fretted, cupping her hands for Pollen to land in.

“I haven’t told her the transformation words, yet.” Pollen stroked her hand reassuringly. “That way if things go south I can still manage to keep my power from being abused. Please, Ladybug, trust me.”

Biting her lip, Ladybug hesitantly nodded. “Please stay safe, Pollen. If you ever need my help don’t hesitate to ask.”

Giving her a bright smile, Pollen floated up to nuzzle Ladybug’s forehead. After giving parting words, they went off in different directions.

Hopefully, Pollen hadn’t just made a huge mistake.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous tales of ladybug and chat noir #ml #ml fanfic #ml fanfiction #chloe bourgeois #chloe bourgeois redemption #ladybug #marianette dupaign-cheng #chat noir #adrien agreste #pollen #pollen (ladybug)#pollen the kwami #bee kwami #tikki #plagg #marinette dupain cheng

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ultimatetornshipper · 4 years ago

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Daminette December Day 6

@daminette-december2019-2020

Oh what’s this? Two chapters in a row from Marinette’s pov? Sorry just couldn’t help myself, like I just had to man

Hope yall enjoy it~

Princes and Pedestals

Chapter 6 – Comfort

Marinette didn’t sleep that night.

Sure, negotiations had gone wonderfully and she, Cass and Steph had spent the afternoon discussing everything from fighting stances to Stephanie’s potential wedding dress. They hung out with Ivy again and went to the beach to pick up shells.

Most of the day's activities were Stephanie’s ideas but Cass and Marinette also enjoyed them. Now and then Jason and Dick would join them or Cass would go to do something or another, but Steph was practically attached to Marinette’s hip. She smiled, Alya and Chloe would be jealous.

She had fun, but when night fell and everyone had retired to their bedrooms, there was nothing to distract her from the memories.

His smile and the sparkle in his eyes when he was up to good mocked her whenever she closed her eyes. Reminding her that she’d never see them again.

When the birds started singing she’d given up trying to sleep. Marinette stood and for the last time she put on one of her black dresses. She put her hair in a single braid down her back and put on a practical pair of boots with it.

She stared at the silver necklace he gave her a month after they met. She hadn’t worn it since her week in isolation after he died. She'd kept it with her whenever she travelled but she’d never had the strength to wear it again.

She picked it up. On the silver chain hung an oval shaped emerald.

To remind you of me when I’m not with you, Bugaboo.

With shaking hands she tied it around her neck. It felt right to wear it this one last time.

She took a deep breath, she needed to be alone today, being around other people wasn’t something she had the energy for.

She eyed Tikki, still asleep on one of the many pillows on the bed. She loved her kwami dearly, but... she wasn’t in the mood for company.

She stood and walked over to where her writing supplies lie on the table. She quickly wrote a note for Tikki asking her to tell anyone who came looking for her that she was safe and that she’d be back by nightfall.

Satisfied, she grabbed her coat and her knife in its scabbard and made her way downstairs to the kitchen. She didn’t want to eat, but she needed the energy if she was going to be out all day.

When she got there the staff were busy preparing the meals of the day, the smells made her stomach rumble.

She didn’t really know who to approach or what to do but before she could worry about it too much a middle aged man with red hair approached her, he wore an apron and gave her a slight smile, “You the Guardian?”

“Yes, that would be me,” she answered, before she could figure out how to ask for a basket of food or something similar he chuckled lightly.

“Your Majesty, Alfred said you might show up, he asked me to give you this and to tell you Bluebell is saddled up for you in the stables. He also said that George left a saddle bag in her stable for you,” he turned around and picked up a basket and a thick looking basket, handing them to her.

She stared at the objects in surprise, “How did he...?” she started, not even knowing how to phrase the question.

He seemed to know what she meant, though, and just shrugged, “He just does that sometimes. We’ve learned not to question it,” amusement shinning in his eyes, he continued, “But if you’ll excuse me, I really need to get back to work,”

“Please, don’t let me stop you and uh... thank you,” she said lifting the basket slightly.

She turned out of the kitchen and a small wave of homesickness surprised her. Nathaniel also always knew what you needed before you did, helpfully supplying it before you could even phrase the question.

It was an ability all of Duusu's holders had, knowing how to take care of people and enjoying the act of doing so.

She made her way to the stables as the first rays of dawn started lighting the sky. Small rocks and sticks crunched between her boots and the cobblestone.

The fresh, chilly morning air motivated her to don her coat. When she got to the barn she saw a young dapple grey horse saddled up in her stable. The name on the door said ‘Bluebell’.

“Hey girl,” Marinette held her hand out and petted her. She opened the door and attached the saddle bag to the saddle, putting the blanket in it. She tied the medium sized basket to Bluebell’s back the way she’d been taught since it distributed the weight best.

She lead her out and once they were outside she climbed onto her back. She lightly kicked Bluebell’s sides and made her way to the forest.

She followed the well trodden path through it for an hour, while the sun slowly rose over their heads. Eventually, they reached a beautiful meadow. The path continued on, but Marinette was hungry and wanted to stop and eat.

A river ran through the clearing. The woods stretched out the other side of it. In the distance she could see the range of mountains they’d passed on their journey to Gotham.

She took out the blanket and spread it out. Then she removed and opened the basket. Inside she found all her favorite foods, as well as a bundle that contained apples, carrots and sugar cubes for Bluebell.

She allowed the horse to roam free, but she never wandered far. Marinette ate a few grapes, a small bun of bread and a few bites of cheese.

She gave Bluebell an apple and a sugar cube. The rest she rewrapped in the cloths she got them in. She removed the charcoal and parchment in the basket that Alfred had added for her to sketch with. It was a nice surprise; she wouldn’t have thought of including it.

She wasn’t sure when she started talking to Bluebell but eventually she found herself telling the horse everything, from the moment she met him to her initial thoughts. She told her about things she hadn’t thought of in ages.

She told her about how his favorite color was blue and his favorite season winter. She told her about how hard he'd tried to hide it when he started realizing he was getting sick.

She told her about how weak his grip had gotten towards the end and how it taken every piece of her self control not to take his ring and wish it all away.

She wasn’t sure when she started crying but before long her cheeks were wet and she was sobbing as she spoke of the memories and the pain and just how tired she was.

And when she was done she realized that it was already afternoon. She fed Bluebell some more, even though she’d grazed for most of the day, then she packed everything onto Bluebell.

As she rode back she felt as though a massive weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Today she’d found something in Bluebell’s presence that she hadn’t experienced for the longest time.

Bluebell didn’t have expectations of her, she was a horse, she didn’t put her on a pedestal like everyone else, to her she was just another human.

Maybe some people would find it funny that she’d found comfort in a horse, but Marinette couldn’t bring herself to care.

It was dark when she got back, she unsaddled Bluebell and brushed her.

She dropped the basket and blanket off at the kitchen and asked the staff to pass on her thanks to Alfred.

She made her way back to her room, passing the sitting room, just as Dick was exiting it. His eyes widened when he saw her.

He looked incredibly relieved, “Guys, I found her!” he called out, then made his way over to her, worry still evident on his face.

“Marinette are you alright? We were so worried,” he took her hand and seemed to be checking her over for injuries.

She frowned, had Tikki not told them that she was going out?

Steph suddenly appeared next to her, along with Jason, Cass and Damian.

Steph pushed Dick away from her, “She’s fine, Dick, you’re invading her space. I told you that Tikki said she’d be out,”

Stephanie’s hand rested on her shoulder. But she didn’t miss the way the girl’s gaze had caught on Marinette’s red rimmed eyes, along with the black rings under them, that clearly indicated that she hadn’t slept.

All the others still seemed intent on making sure she was fine for themselves, some less discreetly than others.

Jason took her cloak off before she even realized it and had folded it, asking a passing maid to wash it and fix the tears she hadn’t noticed.

Dick kept asking questions, but she zoned him out almost immediately.

Cass steered her towards a couch in the living room, and held her hand tightly, while studying her.

Damian was frowning at her muddied boots and a tear or two in her dress. It was an old dress, she was sure none of the tears were new, but she also had a feeling that wouldn’t ease his worry.

Stephanie started arguing with Dick, telling him to leave her alone and that she was clearly fine, though it seemed like she didn’t completely believe the words herself. She wasn’t the only one though, everyone looked worried.

Marinette was surprised, sure her court cared for her. But they never worried or asked questions about where she’d been, they trusted that if she looked fine she was.

So this, this was new.

She found that she didn’t mind too much. Well, she didn’t mind it in general. Right now, however, she was tired and emotionally drained and would rather explain everything later.

“Do you want me to take you back to your room?” Damian whispered from behind her, most of the others were too caught up in their own conversations to notice.

She turned around and met his gaze. Accept this time, she didn’t flinch. He seemed surprised too, maybe talking to Bluebell had done her more good than she’d realized.

She gave him a tired smile and nodded. He studied her for a moment more before looking up and glaring at his siblings.

“That is enough,” he said evenly, “She is clearly tired. If she so wishes, she will tell us what happened tomorrow. Now, I will be escorting her to her room so that she can get some rest,”

Most of his siblings stared at him in shock, while Cass smiled approvingly. Marinette stood and took Damian’s offered arm. He escorted her out of the room.

When they got to the hallway Plagg flew out and gave her a sad smile, “Hi, pigtails,”

She softly smiled back as they walked, “Hey, Plagg,”

He landed on her shoulder and whispered in her ear, “You should have seen him freaking out when you were missing. A true black cat, overthinking everything when it comes to their bug. He'll do well,”

He then curled into her neck and purred, she hadn’t missed the sad tone in his voice. Plagg was still grieving, it would take time before he’d truly bond with Damian.

She looked at the boy walking next to her, he seemed to be lost in thought, but he glanced at her every now and then, as though he was checking to make sure she was still there.

She spotted the ring on his finger, reminded of what Plagg said, she decided to break the silence.

“I'm sorry if I scared you guys, I figured Tikki and the note would be enough assurance,” she said softly, turning her head to look at him.

He glanced back at her, and she saw his gaze catching on her red rimmed eyes, “She showed us the note, but those have been faked in the past to hurt us before and we don’t know what your handwriting looks like, a lot of people have been known to target us and those we’re involved with, so we’re a bit paranoid,”

Suddenly she understood their reaction, they thought she might’ve been captured and her note was planted to buy the kidnappers time.

“I didn’t realize that. Though, in future, you should know that you would’ve been able to tell if something was wrong through the miraculous, thanks to Plagg and Tikki's connection,” she said, smiling at him, “Thank you, though, I’m not used to people worrying about me,”

He looked at her in surprise, but his voice was even when he spoke, “How so?”

She shrugged and looked forward again, “People tend to overestimate me,”

What an understatement. Everyone seemed to think she was practically invulnerable. Well, except for Damian and his siblings apparently.

She felt him tense slightly, he seemed to be pretty protective of her already. He had resonated quicker with Plagg than she anticipated.

They walked the rest of the way to her room in a comfortable silence.

When they finally got there he opened her door, but before she could go in he took her hand. She turned her attention to him and he studied her for a moment, clearly hesitant.

“Goodnight, Marinette,” he said softly, staring into her eyes, gaze searching.

She stared back at him and gave him a small smile, “Goodnight Damian,”

That night she slept better than she had in years.

Taglist:

@animegirlweeb @loysydark @toodaloo-kangaroo @forgottenfriends @wolf-for-life @heyitsbugette @f-rget-lt

#maribat #daminette #daminette december #damian wayne #batman #marinette dupain cheng #guardian marinette #protective batsiblings #this chapter did not go how I planned it but like... i don't really mind it turned out pretty well #they all so worried about her #bluebell in the stable @ the other horses : yo man that girl got problems I'm telling u yall think ur humans have issues like damn #lmao #utp writes #marinette working through trauma by talking about it #yknow like a healthy person #unlike certain people #pointed look at batfam #batfam: and we were like we know but hey #my poor plagg #dami doesn't know what to do so he just listens to plagg and cass's advice #something to look forward to next chapter #i think #damian wayne x marinette dupain cheng #dc #ml x dc #dc x ml #everyone is hella worried and you can't blane em Mari has issues and they know it #*coughs* takes one to know one*coughs*#batfam: *glares at me*#thanks for reading

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moonlitceleste · 4 years ago

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timelines

Maribat Platonic November Day 2 - Timeline

@maribat-platonic-november

Note: This was supposed to be platonic but there are some ~vibes~ there (which were completely unintentional), so this can be interpreted as a “pre-relationship” friendship if wanted.

“Second chance!”

The glow dissipated, and Marinette stood there, panting. A faint ticking noise sounded, which could be traced to the green ouroboros bracelet wrapping around her wrist. It was a stark contrast to her sleek maroon-and-black uniform and the darkness of another gloomy Gotham night.

“How many times?”

She dodged his concerned gaze, ponytail whipping with the movement.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Yes, it does. You’re going to exhau—”

A sharp hiss cut the boy’s words off.

“Second chance!”

Marinette would rather use the ability a million times than have to tell him that she had failed. Again.

She turned to meet Tim’s concerned face. Again.

“How many times?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

The lie was like lead on her tongue, but she had said it enough times that it didn’t matter anymore. She could see him open his mouth, probably to ask her if she was okay just like he had all the times before.

She decidedly ignored him and spouted out instructions instead.

“You take the right. Watch out overhead.”

The words were short and clipped as she prepared to leap onto the roof overhead. Before she could gather the momentum, a hand shot out and wrapped around her wrist, almost faster than her bracelet’s namesake.

It was warm and strong, the grip just loose enough that Marinette could break out of it if she wanted to.

“Talk to me.”

Sweat dripped down her forehead, a product of all the alternate timelines she had experienced.

“We don’t have time for this right now, Tim,” she growled. “Black Masks’s gang is on the move. Like we should be.” Her last words were biting, but he knew it was only out of frustration.

“You can’t keep doing this.”

There was a beat of silence, and he hoped his words had gotten through to her.

“I have to.”

Apparently not. Sometimes he forgot just how stubborn she could be.

“No, you don’t. Let me do it, let anyone else do it. You’re running yourself ragged, and you look like you’re going to collapse any second. I’m worried about you. ”

Something about his pleading eyes made Marinette snap.

“Do you think I’d still be doing this unless I had no other choice? You haven’t seen what I have, Tim. I’ve lived through these types of things enough to handle myself.”

The ongoing operation they had to stop was long forgotten by now.

His eyes widened for a second before his features softened. Marinette hated that look. It was pity.

She didn’t want to be pitied.

“I’m fine. It’s fine, now let’s go. We’ve already wasted enough time.”

She tried to shove past him, but he refused to budge.

“Tim, what are you doing?” she hissed.

His jaw was clenched in irritation, but anger was better than whatever pity there was before. She hadn’t expected what came out of his mouth next, though.

“Why won’t you just let me help you? You don’t have to do this alone. You’re not alone.”

The genuine worry in his voice made her stop and reconsider for a second. She took a deep breath while Tim waited in patient anticipation for her answer.

“I just… I don’t want you to see what I saw,” she started, glancing somewhere off to the side rather than looking at his face. “I’ve done this before—I should be able to handle it. But I keep messing up.” Her head snapped up, and Tim could see the anguish in her eyes. “Do you know how many times I’ve seen you die? It happened again and again, and every single time I couldn’t get to you in time.”

The next words were as quiet as a whisper, but Tim caught them anyways. “I can’t put you through that.”

He didn’t know how to respond, so he went with an attempt at humor. “Not even if I volunteer?”

She didn’t look amused.

Switching back to a more serious expression, he enveloped her hands in his, making sure she understood his next words. They were small and warm in his.

“I can handle it, Marinette. Gotham isn’t exactly a pretty place—look at where we are now. It’s not your fault it didn’t work before, but it doesn’t have to be your burden. I can help you. Let me help you. Trust me.”

Her brows furrowed, and she worriedly gnawed at her lip as she processed his words. The warmth in his palms suddenly left as she took her hands out of his. For a second Tim thought she was going to reach for her bracelet, but she set her arms at her side and closed her eyes.

“Sass, scales rest.”

The green light faded to reveal Marinette standing in a suit that looked identical to the one she had just been wearing. The only difference was that the previous was magically bulletproof, while this one was only normally bulletproof.

The kwami collapsed into her outstretched hands, and she transferred him over to one so she could rummage through her utility belt for food. She pulled out a granola bar from one of the pouches.

“Sorry, Sass. I can’t put eggs into my belt.”

Marinette broke off a small piece and fed it to the kwami, who gobbled up. Almost instantaneously, the tiny deity zipped into the air like new. It regarded Tim with scrutinizing eyes as Marinette handed the bracelet over to him.

He wasn’t intimidated by the tiny god, exactly, but the yellow eyes boring into him were a bit unsettling. He knew the kwamis were fiercely protective of Marinette—so was he, in a way.

“You have chosen a good one, Guardian.”

Marinette glanced over at him and smiled. “I know.”

She suddenly straightened up and nodded her head at him.

“You know the words.”

He inclined his head back at her. “Sass, scales slither!”

The glow faded and the two shared twin smiles, a new look of confidence on Marinette’s face.

“Let’s do this.”

PERMANENT TAGLIST @avengerthewarrior @enternalempires @freesportspalacesalad

#maribat #maribat platonic november #platonic timari #timari #celestewrites #cel's fics

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aalissy · 3 years ago

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Hold Me

Day 24 is doneee!! However, it is veryyyy angsty D:. I hope you guys like it even though it is angsty. It does contain hurt/comfort tho which is one of my fave tropes :’). Lemme know what you think <3

AO3

“Hold me, Ladybug, please,” Adrien whimpers, looking up at her with a pair of sad green eyes. Tears billowed in them as he stared up at her. “Just please.”

Ladybug felt her own eyes water as she hugged him to her desperately. She rubbed his back gently as she whispered, “It’s alright, Adrien. It’s going to be alright.”

It wasn’t going to be alright.

His sobs wracked his body and she choked right along with him, fighting the urge to cry herself. It had been a long day. But, the battle was over. The fight with Hawkmoth was finished. She sucked in a harsh gulp of air as she watched the police lead the man into a squad car. Of all the outcomes she had pictured on a day like today, Ladybug had never imagined it would have been this sad.

Hawkmoth’s defeat was supposed to be euphoric. She and Chat should have been celebrating, basking in the fact that there would be no more akumas. Instead, her partner was sobbing in her arms about how not just one, but two of his parental figures had been set on destroying Paris. How could she have ever known that Hawkmoth would be Adrien’s father?

Sure, she had suspicions in the past but they were quickly brushed aside by the fact that it couldn’t be him. How could they do this to Adrien? A new set of tears began to build up in her eyes as he buried his head in her shoulder. Ladybug clenched her eyes shut against the new wave of emotion, clutching Adrien to her tightly. How could this have happened? What could she possibly do to make anything better?

Her gaze fluttered open only to be drawn to the Lucky Charm that was still sitting on the ground uselessly. Not even that would be enough to save this day. Ladybug tightened her embrace on Adrien once again, placing her head on top of his as she tried to pour as much love and comfort into him as she could.

The two stayed like that for a while, just enjoying the other’s presence as they fought against the rising tide of sadness. Eventually, Adrien sucked in a shaky breath, leaning away from her as he wiped some of the tears off of his eyes. Sniffling quietly, he said, “Thank you, Ladybug.”

She shook her head slowly, feeling her lower lip quivering. “You have nothing to thank me for, Adrien.”

“Yes, I do,” he gave her a soft, weak smile as he gestured around them. “You saved the day once again.”

“We,” Ladybug spoke determinedly. “We saved the day once again. We’re a team, Adrien. Always. So I’m always going to have your back. No matter what.”

He sniffled again, his gaze on hers almost adoring before he a small frown settled between his brows again. She clenched her fists, wishing that she never had to see that look on Adrien’s face again. He sighed quietly, glancing away from her as he muttered, “I don’t know where to go now.”

Ladybug’s eyes widened before an idea popped into her head. “You can stay with me!”

He blinked at her before worrying his lower lip with his teeth. “I-I don’t know, Ladybug. That’s a lot to ask of you. Plus, we don’t even know how your parents will react.”

“Oh, that’ll be fine. My parents love you.” She waved him off, giving him a small grin.

Adrien’s green eyes popped open with shock as he gaped at her. He gestured between the two of them as he stuttered out, “D-does that mean... that I-I, um, err, know you?”

Ladybug’s own lips parted as she realized one fundamental thing. Adrien still didn’t know her identity. She hadn’t detransformed in the battle yet and her earrings beeped a reminder that she was still on a timer. Nodding her head, she pushed herself up hurriedly. “Yes, you know me very well. In fact, you’ve been to my house quite a few times.”

Her lips quirked as she recalled his visits to her room as Chat. The amount of hours they’d stay up playing video games and watching TV shows was too many to count. Going over to her lucky charm, she threw it up into the air, shouting, “Miraculous Ladybug!”

The words felt slightly hollow in her chest as it repaired all the physical damage of their recent battle. Her heart stuttered in her chest as she peeked back over at Adrien, staring solemnly at the sullen boy. With a heavy sigh, Ladybug realized it was going to take a lot more than a Lucky Charm to fix the pain he was currently feeling.

Sucking in a deep breath, she held a hand out to him, tugging him close to her as she twirled the yo-yo in her hand. Quickly, Ladybug swung the two of them away from the scene, hoping to leave behind some of the sorrow of that now empty mansion. With her destination clear in her mind, she headed for her balcony, her earrings giving another warning beep.

Dropping him off onto her rooftop, she gave him a small grin as she waited for the realization to kick in. Instead, Adrien’s gaze turned slightly confused and he raised an eyebrow at her. “This is Marinette’s balcony. Did you need to stop and recharge before we continue?”

Slowly, Ladybug shook her head at him. “Nope, we’re here.”

Those were the last words she uttered before her earrings beeped one last time and a flash of pink light left her standing as Marinette. She waved at him shyly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear before she turned and fed a cookie to Tikki. Her kwami hummed at her thankfully before a whirl of black sped out of Adrien’s pocket to hover next to Tikki.

“Well, I’m glad that’s over with,” Plagg rolled his eyes, crossing his arms across his chest. “Do you have any idea how long I’ve been waiting for this? It was exhausting.”

“Hush, Plagg,” Tikki shushed him, glaring at the cat next to her. “Can’t you see they’re having a moment?”

Adrien and Marinette both turn to each other with wide eyes before bursting out with laughter. For the first time that day, she felt light and giddy especially as Adrien’s smile grew even wider. If only she could pause this moment forever. Just to keep them happy and grinning for the rest of time.

It was Adrien who broke first, gazing at her happily as he murmured, “I had always hoped it was you, Marinette. But after Kwami Buster I was pretty sure that I would never get this lucky. I’m assuming that was another one of your clever plans?”

She flushed at his praise, nibbling on her lip as she shifted nervously. Nodding her head, she gave him a small smile. “Yeah, I used pretty much every kwami for that fight, so making an illusion with Trixx was pretty simple.”

“Right, of course.” He nodded his head thoughtfully.

“And where was your clever plan?” Marinette cocked her head to the side as she gave him a small smirk. “Calling our school an elementary school was your entire thought process?”

“Hey! It worked didn’t it!” Adrien pouted, his lower lip jutting out.

Good. If she could just keep him distracted for the rest of time, maybe she could forget about the fact that just a few minutes ago he was sobbing in her arms. Unfortunately, though, they did need to talk. Especially to her parents who were probably still worried about her. Heaving a quiet sigh, she nodded her head down at her trapdoor. “Are you ready to go in?”

“Yeah,” Adrien gazed at her softly before taking her hand with his. “I think I’d always be ready if you were the one by my side.”

Marinette felt her lip quiver at that before she squeezed his hand. Giving him a thankful nod, she led the two of them down her hatch, ready to start their talk with her parents.

#ladrienjune2021 #ladrienjune #ladrien #miraculous ladybug #miraculous #ml #mlb #fic #fanfic #hawkmoth defeat #angst #hurt/comfort

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imthepunchlord · 3 years ago

Text

Miracurse: Revival

To break a miraculous is no easy feat.

As they were creations of miracles and salvation, to break one took momentous acts of maliciousness and selfishness, though the curse was set up to try and defend against that. But sometimes users can catch a kwami off guard and bypass that curse, leaving the miraculous to break in the wake of their actions.

Nooroo knew not what action Emilie Agreste had done, but it had left the Peafowl cracked, and drove her husband to desperation and ruthlessness. It was the worst sort of love any human could have for another, willing to throw away the well being of others for one.

But anything broken can be repaired. And for a miraculous, it took a great act of kindness or selflessness.

In his current state, it was something Gabriel couldn't give as there would be selfish undertones to his acts of benevolence.

But Nooroo had no such underhanded desires for Duusu. He wanted to see her better, and see if she would agree to his idea. So to fix her, he as a kwami offered her what was most important to him, especially given his life the past few months.

On Gabriel’s podium, he had the pin on the softest pillow he could find, a blanket around it, and he had flowers set around it, and now he was placing steaming, fresh cinnamon rolls around the flower heads.

He had no comfort, but gave her some.

He was denied flowers, and left in a cold dark room.

He was denied his favorite food, fed scraps from his master's table. It was enough to fill him for his power to be used, but Nooroo was never full or satisfied.

All of these things he was denied, he offered to Duusu before he could take this chance to enjoy them.

He had just set the last cinnamon roll down when the doorbell rang. He set the plate down, gave the pin a light touch, offering a silent promise to be back, and went to the door.

He was mildly surprised to see Ladybug and Chat Noir at the door, arguing. Nooroo could hear that Ladybug had wanted to bust in, not give Hawk Moth a moment to prepare.

Ah. So Gabriel had been correct in his suspicions that the heroes knew.

Nooroo opened the door to them, watching both heroes stiffen. Chat Noir looked upon him with big eyes. Ladybug gazed upon him with hardened resolve.

"Ladybug, Chat Noir," he greeted, looking between the two. "How can I help you?"

"W-well, you see--"

"We suspect that you're Hawk Moth," Ladybug cut in, getting straight to the point.

Chat looked ready to panic.

"Oh?" Nooroo asked calmly.

"Adrien Agreste came to school with a curious miraculous related artifact. I doubt it came from him, so you must have had it."

It was good to know that the book did fall into Ladybug’s hands. Nooroo threw them both off by offering them a kind smile.

"I did have the Grimoire," Nooroo admitted. "My wife found it last year, and I had used it for artistic inspiration. Upon your arrival, I had meant to give it to you, but I have a busy schedule, and was never able to return it. I'm glad it wound up with you."

That hostility Ladybug came with faltered, and she seem to relax a little in her surprise. "So, you had just found it?"

Nooroo nodded. "I'm sorry I had startled you so. I truly should have made an effort to get it to you."

"I... it's OK. No harm, no foul," Ladybug awkwardly offered. "I'm sorry I came in accusing you."

You weren't wrong, Nooroo thought, his smile growing. "It's fine. I appreciate the work you do. It's nice to know you'll be quick to act if you find him.” Nooroo lifted up a finger, forewarning, "But make sure you're ready, Ladybug."

He received unsure and surprised stares, and the heroes left with an awkward goodbye. They landed on the opposite building before an argument popped up between them. Nooroo went inside, having no interest in their squabble. He hurried to Gabriel’s office, stopping to see a blue being sitting on a pillow, absently munching on a cinnamon roll, looking confused.

Her crests went straight up at his sudden appearance and her pupils seem to shrink as red started to explode over her face. "You--"

"Good to see you again," Nooroo hurried out, showing Duusu an empty brooch.

The kwami faltered, then looked up to the man's eyes, seeing gentle purple orbs.

"Nooroo?"

He held out a hand to her. "I missed you, my friend."

"Nooroo!" she cried out, bypassing his hand and tackling his face. Nooroo cupped her, leaning lightly against her.

Not exactly the reunion he'd want, but he'd take anything at this point.

#ml fic #kwami curse au #miracurse #nooroo #duusu

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p-artsypants · 4 years ago

Text

I’ll Handle This (11)

In Which The Metaphorical Crap Hits The Metaphorical Fan

Who authorized this angst in my crack fic?

Ao3 | FF.net

BWAAAAAAAA

BWA-BWAHHHHH

BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

“Where did you get a harmonica?” Adrien whispered.

BWAAAAAAAA

BWA-BWA-WAAAHHHHHH

“Wish I was back in Texas.

The ocean's no place for a squirrel.

Wish I was in Texas,

Prettiest place in the world, oh no.”

“Are you going to answer my question? Or are you going to continue to serenade your cellmates?”

“I guess deep in my heart,

I'll always be a Texas girl.”

“We’re in jail, you know. Maybe that’s not a big deal for you, but it is for me!”

“I wanna go hoooooome, home.”

Adrien scoffed and sunk into the pocket, sulking. Of course, since he was in a Kwami’s body, he was not in jail. He could leave at any time. In fact, he wanted to. Desperately. Jail, cells, bars, they were all part of his greatest nightmare.

But he stayed with Plagg.

They hadn’t been given a reason for arrest. Just, slapped with cuffs and hulled out of the Lahiffe household.

Plagg went quietly. Asking no questions and offering no protests. It was like he knew what was to come.

Adrien couldn’t fathom the speed at which things happened.

And where the hell did Plagg get that harmonica?

BWAAHHHHHH

“Alright alright, Mr. Agreste. Enough with the music. Give it here!” An officer approached the bars, hand outstretched.

“Are you going to tell me what I’m in here for?”

The officer huffed. “We were asked to scare you straight. Your father said you were traveling a road of self-destruction, and thought a night in jail would help clear your mind.”

“That’s what I thought.” He stepped back, and continued to play his harmonica.

BWAAAAAAAA

“Hey, I said hand over the harmonica!”

“If you want it, you have to come get it.”

“Oh, you don’t want me to, kid. Just make this easy and hand it over.”

“Do you often arrest kids for no reason?” Plagg asked instead.

The policeman crossed his arms. Plagg could read his nameplate, which said Daryl. “I’m not sure what ‘no reason’ is to you...but your father sure gave me an earful of what you’ve been up to. I have a nephew your age. If he was doing the crap you were, I’d hall his ass in here too to straighten him out.”

“And what, pray tell, did my father say I was doing?”

“Drugs. For one thing. Running around with some local gangs. Theft. Getting violent. Playing hooky.”

Plagg groaned. “Man, I hate to say it, but you got played. Sure, if I was doing all that, I wouldn’t blame my father for asking you to scare me straight. But that’s not what happened. Look at me. Do you think I would jeopardize these good looks for some drugs or fights?”

Officer Daryl pulled a stool over and took a seat.

“Alright, let’s hear your side of the story, then.”

“First of all, I should have called you guys on him. He’s a tyrant! He’s the most self-centered, emotionally constipated, jerk-hole in Paris. And we’re French! That’s saying a lot!”

“Does he physically harm you?” Daryl asked with concern.

“Well...no. I wouldn’t put it past him, but not yet, at least.”

“Does he provide a clean, safe environment for you?”

“Almost too safe...” Plagg muttered.

“Does he withhold necessities? Such as food, shower, or a bed?”

“No, he cuts me off socially though. And he neglects my emotional needs. He thinks that because I’m fed and clothed, that’s all I need.”

“I get it,” the man sighed. “Really, I do. It sucks to have a parent that seems like they don’t care. But I’ve seen mothers smoke crack in front of their malnourished, filthy babies. I arrested a pimp beating up a prostitute in front of her toddler. Your father might not be the best, but he’s far from the worst. And that is not something we can really help with.”

Plagg took this into consideration and nodded. Police couldn’t really arrest someone for being a sourpuss, right?

“However, when he comes to pick you up in the morning, we can recommend him to get you both in family therapy. That might be the avenue to take.” He smirked. “So if it wasn’t drugs, what did you do to make your father so upset?”

“My father is Gabriel Agreste, fashion police. And I wore this out,” he gestured to the kilt he still wore. “Among other hideous outfits, just to get his attention.”

The man looked extremely disturbed by this. “You’re serious? That’s it?”

“I mean, I also ran away from home...”

“Ah, now that is a little bit more of a problem. You’re what, 14?”

“15.”

“A minor. Your father does have guardianship over you. This would be grounds for us to bring you home...but I wouldn’t have brought you here.”

“So you’ll let me go?”

“I could, but then you could be lying about all this.”

“What do I have to do to prove I’m not lying? Blood test?”

“Now hold on, kid. As long as you behave tonight, we’ll put in a good word for you tomorrow. And like I said, we’ll talk to your father about family counseling...and we’ll have a word with him about misusing resources.”

This was not good enough to Plagg. Because Gabriel was still winning. Slap on the wrist or not, having Adrien spend the night in jail would be seen as a victory in Gabriel’s eyes. Adrien was under control again.

And that would just not do.

“You have my word, Daryl, I’ll behave.” He smiled.

“Glad to hear it. You can hold onto the harmonica, just keep it down.” Daryl scooted the stool back to where he had grabbed it, and walked back from where he came.

Once the coast was clear, Plagg let Adrien out of his jacket.

“Okay, phase into the lock and get me out.”

“What!” Adrien shrieked. “No no no! I’m not busting your butt out of jail! That’s illegal!”

“So are most of the things I do, but that doesn’t stop me.”

“You said that there wasn’t a lock in this world that could hold you. I will not be your keyblade.”

“What?”

“It’s a video game reference.”

“Nerd.” Plagg nabbed him out of the air and pulled on his tail.

“Ow! Hey!”

“Sit still!” He yanked and twisted and scrunched his tail until it was a crooked pin shape, then he stuck it in the lock, fiddled with it, before the door slid open.

“Geez, next time I’ll just phase through the lock.”

“That’s what I thought.”

Plagg tucked Adrien back into his jacket and closed the cell door behind him.

“So how are we going to get out? You can’t just walk out the front door.”

Plagg narrowed his eyes. “Or can I?”

“It won’t work.”

“Try me, bitch.” And Plagg walked with deliberate steps towards the front doors, where they had been escorted in.

Daryl, of course, spotted him. “Ah! Agreste! I don’t know how the hell you got out—“

Plagg raised a hand, two fingers together with the thumb out to the side. Then he stated sharply. “Eck thoos yul hikteem!”

Daryl stopped, blinked once, twice, then said, “oh, Adrien, you’re right. Your father really did do us both a disservice. Come on, I’ll escort you up front. Do you need a ride back to your friend’s house?”

Adrien’s jaw dropped. It wasn’t supposed to be that easy!

“No thanks, officer. I think I’ll walk.”

“Okay kiddo. Let us know if your old man gives you any more problems, okay?”

“Haha, will do!”

Once outside, with the doors firmly closed behind them, Adrien emerged. “What was that?”

“What was what?”

“That—that spell! Have you always been able to do that?! Do you use it on me?!”

“Simmer down, buddy.” Plagg patted him on the head. “It was just a...very specific destruction spell.”

“What did you do?”

“It’s temporary, really. Nothing to worry about. Back in the old days, people might realize I used the spell on them, but with him...he might just have some doubts about his decision to let me out.”

“Okay, but what did you do?!”

“Just a little spell that changed his resolve. Earlier, I convinced him to let me go, but that little barrier of…justice, or honor, or whatever kept him from following through. So I just…removed it.”

“You just…removed it?”

“Yep!”

“How often do you use that?”

“Never, if I can help it. Notice I usually just annoy people to get my way. And using spells with the three conditions is completely counterproductive, by the way. Magic is a tool, not a shortcut.

“So you can’t use that spell to get my dad to drop whatever wall he has between us?”

“No, because it’s effects are temporary, and we have to convince him to ease up on his own. You see?”

“I think so…so what now?”

Plagg smiled.

—

11:30 pm. The evening bowel movement. Ever since he turned thirty, Gabriel was able to predict and prepare for the movement. But he liked it that way. Everything should be planned out and under control. Something so animalistic as defecating would not interrupt his day.

Now finished with his business, he came back down and headed to his Atelier, to prepare notes for the company tomorrow morning.

He walked in, and noticed the lights were off. Odd. Had he shut them off by accident when he left for the bathroom? Had Nathalie shut them off?

He flicked the light on, and the big plush red desk chair behind his desk swung around slowly.

“Well, well, well…If it isn’t the parent of the year.”

Gabriel just gaped in shock. “You-you…how did you get here?! I just talked to—an hour ago! The police! You were in jail!”

“My my, Gabriel. I have never seen you so flustered before.” He shook his head with a chuckle. “Are you ready to call it quits yet? Or are you going to call the police on me again? What little lie will you tell this time? That I was trespassing? After I ran away from home?”

“Now Adrien, this was for your own good!”

“I think we both know this has far passed my own well being, old man.”

Gabriel just continued to stare at him, and Plagg wondered when the anger would burst out. Gabriel was never a level-headed man. So to see him so shocked, almost afraid, was concerning.

Actually no, it was delightful.

“You’re obsessed with control. To the point where I look like a cardboard cutout to you, instead of your son. Your son who is a human, with wants and needs and the capacity to make mistakes. But I can love. God, I can love, Gabriel. I want to love you. And my mind tells me I have to, because you’re my father. But your actions, your coldness, your control? That tells me that my love is being wasted. I might as well love my rock wall. It gives me the same amount of affection that you do.”

Gabriel looked away, brow furrowed in thought. He still didn’t look angry, just confused and unsettled. “I really can’t...” he muttered to himself.

“I’m sorry, what was that? You really can’t what? Control me? Is that what you were going to say?”

“In a way...” Gabriel breathed. “Or ‘get you under control’, more specifically. But that’s the same thing, right? I want you to behave...but my way. And...you don’t want to.”

“And that bugs you. Because all your employees do as you ask. But I’m not an employee. I think you forgot that.”

“You escaped jail.”

“I thought we were past that.”

“Yes. Sorry, you’re right. I’m just...how? I talked to them, they said they were going to hold you until morning.”

“I told you. There’s not a lock on earth that can hold me.”

Gabriel collapsed into a chair, pushing his fingers through his hair and mussing it up. “Alright. I’m cornered. What do you want?”

“A dad.”

Gabriel frowned. Like the phrase was utter nonsense to him.

Plagg stood and came closer, and when he spoke, his tone was much softer than it had been. “What’s going on? Why do you always push me away?”

Gabriel tapped his thumbs together, clearly thinking.

“I mean,” Plagg continued. “I’m no psychiatrist. If you’d rather us get therapy together, I would be down for that.”

“Do you trust me?” Gabriel asked instead.

“I’d like to,” Plagg shrugged. “But you haven’t trusted me enough to trust you back.”

Gabriel stood. “Then I think it’s about time I let you in on what’s really been happening. It’s...it’s complicated. And I don’t expect you to understand right away. I should have told you sooner, but...I didn’t know how.” He walked over to the painting of Emilie in the style of Klimt. Then he beckoned Plagg closer.

Plagg stood at his side, and looked at the painting with Gabriel.

He expected some long winded monologue about love, and soulmates and how much losing a partner can hurt. He expected excuses and blame and guilt.

He didn’t expect for the floor to move.

Down.

Adrien dared to peek out of the jacket, just to take a glance.

They reached the bottom. A garden at the end of a bridge.

Plagg was on edge, but didn’t speak. He just followed Gabriel down the bridge. Up to a tube.

No, a casket.

With Adrien’s mother inside.

Wow.

So...this was a lot more than he was prepared for. And Gabriel certainly was not a normal, predictable human.

Gabriel 1. Plagg 0.

Actually, right now it was more like Gabriel 1, Plagg 89. But who was counting?

“I...that’s...” the shock was genuine. Adrien never knew what happened to his mom. And the whole time, she was in the basement?

“She’s in a coma, and can’t wake up. It’s an effect of using the broken peacock miraculous.”

Oh shit. Oh shit shit shit. This was bad. Really really terribly awfully bad. Edge of a knife, balancing on a thread kind of bad.

“It is my hope that by obtaining the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculous, I can join them and wish for her to be healed and wake up.”

Don’t say it. Don’t you dare say it, Gabe!

“I’ve been trying to do so with the use of the Butterfly Miraculous, as Hawkmoth.”

Goddamn son of bitch!

It occurred to Plagg that Adrien would probably not be taking this news quite as calmly as he was. Adrien would be screaming and crying, and begging his father not to do this. But Plagg just stood there, staring at Mrs. Agreste. It was shocking, and heartbreaking, but for Plagg, it was more frustrating and annoying.

How was he supposed to repair this relationship now? Gabriel certainly didn’t seem remorseful.

“And now that I’ve told you this…I’d like you to join me. I need your help, Adrien, to bring back your mother.”

And that was the final nail in the coffin.

“Won’t you say something, son?”

What was there to say? ‘No’? ’Screw you old man’? No…he had to find some way to repair this.

“How did you find out about the wish?” Plagg asked.

Gabriel opened his lapel, and his kwami emerged. “This is Nooroo, he allows me to transform into Hawkmoth.”

Plagg turned his slitted eyes onto his estranged brother, only to receive a wide-eyed gasp. Nooroo knew, but continued to stay silent and wait.

“He told me about the wish. He said it was the only way to save her.”

“The only way he knew of.” Plagg corrected.

Gabriel narrowed his eyes at him. “What—?”

Plagg sighed. “The ultimate wish would, potentially, work, however, balance must always be maintained. If you want to wake her up, someone else would have to take her place. Someone you love. Someone like Adrien.”

Gabriel took a step back. “Who are you?”

“Ah, finally figured it out, hmm Gabe?”

Gabriel went pale. “Jesus Christ…I asked who you are! Where’s my son?!”

“He’s near. And he’s safe. It took you two weeks to notice that I wasn’t Adrien. Nino and Marinette figured it out way sooner. This possibly could have gone on forever if I hadn’t given myself away.”

“WHO ARE YOU?!” Gabriel shouted, actually scared.

Plagg smirked. “Name’s Plagg. The Black Cat Kwami. At your service.”

“You…how? Why?”

“The more important question is, do you want to save your family?”

Gabriel gaped at him, so many questions going through his mind.

“Keep in mind, the ultimate wish is half of my power. I know how it works. And I think I have an idea to save Emilie without sacrificing Adrien.”

“Let me see him,” Gabriel begged, his voice full of gravel. “Let me see my son!”

Plagg took Adrien out of his jacket and held him up in his hand.

Poor Adrien was bawling. He covered his face with his paws to keep from making noise.

“Adrien…”

“How could you…you know I missed her so much…She was right here the whole time?” He sobbed. “And…and Hawkmoth…you’ve hurt everyone I’ve ever cared about.”

“Now son…”

“No! Shut up!” He wailed. “I agreed to this stupid body swap with Plagg because he promised that he’d get you to love me again…but I don’t know if I could love you. You’re a monster.”

Gabriel stared, mouth open, fighting for words, willing to protest, but he had nothing.

Plagg drew Adrien up to his face, holding him close to his cheek. “I’ve got you, buddy. It’s alright.”

The Butterfly Miraculous burned on his chest, boiling with the despair from his son. Normally, Gabriel would want to capitalize on it…but now, he just wanted to make it go away.

“What do I need to do to fix this?” He asked.

“Well, for starters, hand over your Miraculous. And the Peacock, while you’re at it.”

Adrien watched in amazement as Gabriel willingly handed over both brooches.

“Okay,” Plagg stated with an exhale, he deposited Adrien’s tiny form into Gabriel’s hand. “Here, talk with your son. Listen to what he has to say. I’m going to take these somewhere safe. And talk to my sources about helping Emilie.”

Gabriel clenched his eyes shut, like he was trying not to cry. “Had I known saving her would have been this easy, I would have asked for help. I don’t know how but...I would have.”

Adrien didn’t hold back the snark from his voice as he said, “Anything would have been better than terrorizing the entirety of Paris. What will mom think?”

This made Gabriel moan in pain. He hadn’t even considered it.

“How do I get out of here?” Plagg interrupted.

“Oh uh…the elevator. There’s a button with an up arrow.”

“Okay, I’ll be back Adrien.” Plagg took quick steps from the room.

He knew they had to talk. Nothing would be fixed without them having honest communication, but it felt wrong to leave Adrien behind like that.

Worst case scenario, Adrien could always cataclysm his father. It might permanently get them stuck until Adrien’s body perishes, but…

He left the mansion, making a beeline for Marinette’s house. The bakery was closed, and the lights were off, but Marinette’s lights were still on.

Thankfully, he had his phone.

“Hello?” Marinette’s cheerful chirp came from the other side.

“Hey Marinette, I’m outside.”

“What? Where?”

“Not on the balcony, at the front door. I have a present for you.”

The phone hung up, and he saw a light turn on in the stairwell. Then Marinette stumbled down the stairs and opened the door. “Do you have any idea what time it is? Why didn’t you transform?”

“Couldn’t. Here,” and he took her hand and slapped the brooches in it.

“I...are these...? Is this a joke?”

“Nope. Gabriel Agreste is Hawkmoth and he handed these over to me himself.”

“Gabriel is...?” She clutched her heart. “Adrien...where’s Adrien?”

“Currently having a heart to heart with his dad.”

“Yeah, but...isn’t one of the conditions to repair their relationship?”

“Yep.”

Tears welled up in her eyes. “And he was really Hawkmoth?”

“He was trying to get the miraculous to bring his wife back. She’s in a coma in their basement.”

“Oh my god...”

“You said it, sister.”

“Is he okay? Should I go over there?”

“He’s upset. Obviously. I was hoping Ladybug and the horse miraculous would make an appearance over there. We can take Emilie to the Guardian temple in Tibet. They certainly have a way to wake her up.”

“Are you sure? Or are you just hoping?”

“I’m sure. Not the first time a miraculous has broken and hurt someone.”

“Should I bring the peacock too, then?”

“Maybe keep it in your compact, just in case.”

Just then, a chirp came from the ring.

“Uh, well I’ll be a monkey’s uncle.”

“What?”

“A condition was just met.”

Marinette grabbed his hand and stared at the ring. “What?! How?!”

He shrugged.

“Lila must have died.”

Plagg laughed. “You think that’s more likely?”

“I’ve seen how stubborn Mr. Agreste can be. There’s no way they’ve reconciled. What was the wording of the condition, exactly?”

Plagg smirked. “Conveniently, we didn’t have specific wording. The three conditions are ‘return unrequited crush from Ladybug—“

“Which was already requited, so it shouldn’t have even counted.”

“‘Get rid of Lila permanently,’ and ‘fix the relationship with father’. If you have a leaky pipe, you can replace the whole thing, or you could just throw some duct tape on it. Both would be considered fixes. Maybe they found their duct tape for now.”

“Perhaps. But I’m not going to stop worrying until I see him myself. Let me pop these in the Miracle Box, and I’ll meet you down in a minute.”

—

Ladybug returned to the mansion with Plagg. He escorted her in, passed the office, down the hidden elevator, and into the garden where he had left Gabriel and Adrien.

When the door opened, there was laughter. Not manically laughter, like one might think of in a villain's lair, but laughter like someone told a really good joke.

“And then I said, ‘Napoleon may not have designed his coat, but he had a hand in it!’” More laughter.

Puns.

They were bonding over effing puns.

“Adrien?” Ladybug called out carefully, in case he had lost his mind.

“My lady!” He chirped, and zipped over to her, nuzzling her cheek.

Ladybug squeezed him carefully in her hands and kissed his little head. “Are you okay? Plagg told me what happened. I’m so sorry, Sunshine.”

He gave her a little smile, a purr rumbling in his chest. “I’m okay, my lady. Or I will be. My dad apologized, and we talked and...well, put a bandaid on a bullet wound. But it’s a start.”

“Ladybug?” Gabriel asked softly. “Would you...help my wife?”

She stepped closer to the coffin, finally seeing Emilie in her coma. She looked like a living doll. Was she even breathing?

“Plagg says the Guardians in Tibet can help. But I would like my Kwami to take a look first, just to make sure. Are you going to behave?”

“All I want is my wife back. If your miraculous is the bad way to do it, then I don’t want it. I almost lost Adrien. I don’t want that to happen.”

It was a good answer. “Spots off.”

Gabriel gasped when he saw her, and then chuckled. “Of course it would be you, Miss Dupain-Cheng.”

“What’s so funny?”

“You know, I tried to akumatize you several times.”

“Yeah, I remember.” She glared at him.

“I thought you would be a perfect akuma. You’re incredibly creative, resourceful, strong-willed, and have a strong sense of justice. I knew that if I could get you, I’d definitely win.”

She shrugged. “I guess I will take that as a compliment...”

Tikki flitted over to the casket, followed by Plagg. They observed, and conversed.

“Do you think it will work?” Asked Adrien.

“Plagg certainly seemed to think so.” She scratched the back of his head. “You know, your ring went off while Plagg was briefing me. Seems you met another condition.”

Adrien looked at her with wide eyes. “You serious?”

“Seems like your bandaid did just enough. Or Lila died.”

“Lila? Lila Rossi? What does she have to do with this?” Asked Gabriel.

So they told him the whole story. About how Adrien had lamented to Plagg about his problems, and how Plagg had tricked him. They laid out the conditions and explained that only one remained.

Getting Lila to leave him alone.

“Well, for one thing, I can fire her.” Gabriel said simply. “I have no need for a compulsive liar in my employment.”

Adrien hugged his father’s neck. “Thankyouthankyouthankyou!”

“Of course, I could also set up a restraining order, if you’d like.”

“That would make things...maybe even more difficult. She would take it as a challenge.”

“I thought as much. Well, if Emilie is truly going to Tibet, I will go with. And while we’re gone, we’ll think of ways to help with Lila. If you haven’t solved it already. I should probably leave an email for Nathalie so she knows what’s happened.”

“Did she know?”

“Mayura.”

“Ah, right.”

“Oh crap!” Adrien suddenly exclaimed.

“What?”

“Nino still thinks I’m in jail!”

#ml #miraculous ladybug #marinette dupain cheng #adrienette #adrien agreste #adrien and plagg #plagg #I'll handle this #fanfiction #identity reveal

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sixtyeightdays · 4 years ago

Text

The Queen

She is not playing dolls. She is stalking the halls; living off thrill of the kill. Marinette can smell fear.

this mini speech drabble is inspired by HBIC by @unmaskedagain and The Pigtails Are Off by @para-dox-normal

WARNING: MILD VIOLENCE , SLIGHTLY GRAPHIC

Marinette left the class, after depositing ribbons into the hands of a few of her classmates.

Alya turned to face Nino, whose hat was still drawn down, covering the upper part of his face.

‘What was that all about?’ She demanded. Nino sunk lower into his seat, casting a look towards Chloe, who huffed and stood up.

‘You all made a huge enemy today,’ she began.

Alix scoffed. ‘We’ve dealt with you a lot, we aren’t scared of you.’

This time, Sabrina spoke up, which clearly shocked the rest of the class who thought she was a spineless servant of Chloe’s.

There was a glint in her green eyes that wasn’t there earlier, making a shiver run down the class’ spines.

‘Oh, who said anything about Chloe?’

Now it was Juleka who spoke up, looking away from Rose who was grasping at her arm for answers.

‘You have no idea what kind of protection you just threw away.’

Ivan, fed up, slammed his fist into the table. ‘What the HELL are you guys even talking about?’

Nino looked up and smirked, which shocked Alya and made her take a step back, after noticing the sinister glint in his eyes.

‘You all are... new here. You don’t know how the Queen works.’

Kim stood up from his desk proudly, puffing his chest out. ‘I’ve been in this class one of the longest! 3 years!’

Nathaniel looked to him like he was stupid before shaking his head.

‘No. We have. I’ve been here 6 years, Chloe 5, Sabrina, 6, Juleka 5 and Marinette? 8.’

Juleka, Nino, Chloe and Sabina all spoke up in an oddly monotonous voice, walking towards the front of the class.

‘She is not playing dolls. She is stalking the halls; living off thrill of the kill. Marinette can smell fear.’

The class broke out into laughter. ‘Marinette? What can she do?’ Alya wiped a tear from her eye.

The others stared at her coolly and waited for them to stop laughing. Chloe stepped forwards and smiled.

The class was taken aback.

‘I don’t like any of you, so let me make this clear. Watch your back when you get to school tomorrow. Like Juleka said, you have no idea what kind of protection you just threw away. Marinette has been protecting you guys for ages, since the first minute you stepped into this school.’

‘Just because we don’t like you, doesn’t mean we’re evil enough to leave you..without a warning.’ Juleka smiled, cold flashing over her features.

‘I may be dumb, stupid, even. But I’m not that dumb to get on the wrong side of the Queen.’ Sabrina laughed.

Nathaniel made his way to the front before stepping next to Nino and in unison, they said;

‘Good luck. You’re going to need it.’

When Marinette reached home, she immediately shrugged off her regular grey jacket before digging into the closet to the item she had left behind for 3 years.

She reached to the black box sitting innocently at the back of her closet and pulled it out.

She opened it and unfolded the outfit that was inside, looking at it with a evil smile on her face.

Inside, there was black combat boots with silver studs, a black leather jacket with light pink and grey highlights and dark blue ripped jeans.

Marinette grabbed the clothes out and spent the night altering her old clothes, making it bigger and adding a small pocket in her jacket for Tikki to comfortably sit in.

The kwami knew of Marinette’s past of course, it was one of the first things the bluenette had confessed to the kwami about. Tikki was supportive of the old Marinette surfacing again. She was irritated by the way her class treatedher chosen, and wanted it to be over once and for all.

That hatchet was long forgotten, although the way Marinette ruled the school went unnoticed by the imbeciles in her class.

Marinette was--still is-- the Queen of her school. When she arrived in the beginning, she was not to be taken lightly and she earned her place at the top of the food chain.

There had aways been some sort of invisible barrier between the other students and Mlle. Bustier’s class. No one could get in, mainly due to Marinette’s influence.

Everyone in the school apart form that class knew about the Queen who sat in the sidelines. Marinette had some sort of protection over that class and if anything happened to them, you’d had to answer to her.

This made many of the students stay away, although they still made friends with the class.

The next morning, Marinette was early. Surprising, I know. But she knew her class always sat together in the courtyard until everyone arrived, and 15 minutes before school started, they would head up to the classroom.

If anything, Marinette felt rather relieved at not having to hide her status anymore. Word had spread, and there was whispering everywhere, glances at Mlle. Bustier’s table, who didn’t notice.

Alya heard many people whispering around her.

‘I must say, I’ll be happy to see the Queen in action again. It was a golden era.’

‘I know right! I feel sorry for the poor people who invoked the wrath of the Queen though.’

The doors slammed open, ad a tall shadowy figure strutted in as if she owned the place. Lila regarded her carefully.

Once the shadowy figure took enough steps forward, she stopped. Light illuminating her features to reveal Marinette.

Gone was the happy go lucky expression on her face, replaced with a steely determination with no trace of her usual smile.

Her hair, free from her signature pigtails, flowed freely down her back, wild, as if she just came back from the club with her boyfriend.

She wore her leather jacket and ripped jeans. She wasn’t even wearing a shirt, opting for a black sports bra. She zipped her jacket up till the bottom of her bra, before letting the sleeves of the jacket fall back on her shoulders.

She was wearing black pumps, almost 6 inches tall, which made the class’ jaws drop. Clumsy Marinette wearing heels? That almost spelled disaster.

The class could’ve sworn the temperature dropped as soon as she looked in their direction. A cold smile graced her lips, which were stained a blood red.

She lifted her right arm slowly, all the while still smirking at the class.

Everyone in the courtyard slowly raised their wrists, Nino and the others included. With sick dread pooling in their stomachs, the class noted with fear that everybody except them were wearing a red hair ribbon on their wrists.

They never took it off. Kim remembered asking Ondine why she wore it, even while swimming. She had looked to him before changing the subject hastily.

Alix recalled her brother, Jali, wearing one on his wrist, before Alix had gone to school at Francois Dupont.

Marinette walked slowly towards their class, swaying her hips with the aura of cool confidence surrounding her. Lila stuck out her foot to trip Marinette, who noticed and gave Lila a smile, before stepping directly on Lila’s toes, crushing it with her heel.

Marinette grinded her heel into Lila’s foot, and she could barely keep herself from yelling. Soon, she did and the class turned on Marinette, screaming profanities at her.

Lila’s toes were now bent in ways that shouldn’t have been possible, a sickening purple color. Surprisingly, no blood was exiting the toes, and Marinette internally rolled her eyes at how careless the class thought she was.

She whispered to Lila, although the whole courtyard heard.

‘You wanna fake an injury, Lila? I’ll give you an injury.’

Alya snarled and tried to slap Marinette.

‘What is wrong with you, you bitch!’ Her hand swung out, intending to meet Marinette’s face. And though no one blinked, Marinette’s hand caught Alya’s. Her fingers wrapped around Alya’s wrist almost seductively, before she smiled.

The smile reminded of the class of the old times, when Marinette used to have fun with the class, laughing her heart out when Kim snorted milk out of his nose.

That was how the class knew Marinette enjoyed breaking Alya’s wrist.

The bluenette squeezed Alya’s wrist with surprising strength, causing Alya to let go of the phone clenched in her hand, letting it fall to the floor, where Alya’s wallpaper glowed for a soft moment, showing Alya, with an arm wrapped around Marinette, before the bluenette stepped on the phone like she did with Lila, causing the screen to shatter and Alya to call out in anguish.

That call turned into a scream as the class watched Marinette mercilessly twist Alya’s wrist, breaking it with one resonating snap.

Marinette let go and watched amusedly as Alya flailed around, grasping her broken wrist in her fine one.

Marinette watched it all with a smile on her face, an exact replica of the happy, warm smile she gave when she hung out with her friends.

The class looked around and realised that none of the students around them looked the least bit shocked when the situation was occurring.

Adrien let out a quick breath. This was what Chloe meant by Queen.

And as Marinette turned to fix her cold eyes on the class, they knew they was done for.

Sabrina watched from afar with Chloe, smiling sickeningly as everyone in the class took their turn to get something of theirs broken.

Marinette saved Adrien for last. He smiled charmingly at Marinette, inching backwards, trying to use the fact that she had a crush on him in his favor. As Marinette paused, he exhaled quickly, thinking it was over.

Marinette took a step back. If she were to hurt Adrien, his father would most certainly murder her and Marinette wasn’t willing to waste more time on the blonde model than she already had.

Until Adrien called out.

‘Mari this isn’t you! Come bACK TO US!’

The courtyard swiveled their heads to look at the boy and no one flinched as her heel found his stomach.

There was a smile on Marinette’s face even after Adrien lost consciousness.

its kind of a bad ending but i couldnt think of how to end it with and im sorry bc its kind of violent but i think this is okay for now

#marinette #HBIC #not my idea #okay its not mine

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kitty0boy · 4 years ago

Text

Uh ohhh, back again. So this time it’s, you guessed it, Marichat. I will write other love square fics in the future but for now I must feed my Marichat starved ass. As always, Adrien is 18, Marinette is 17, and this time, Chat pays Marinette a visit, while drunk. Nothing smutty just dumb Chat Noir. And I checked, the drinking age in France is actually 16 so this is very much legal. Enjoy!

—————————

Adrien was bored, so incredibly bored in his absolutely massive room. Despite having a rock wall, a piano, an arcade machine, a Foseball table, a wide screen television, a computer, and an entire wall full of CDs, Adrien was bored. He felt bad that he didn’t appreciate all he had, but the simple fact is that he would give all of it away in a heartbeat, and you know what? Maybe he should. There are thousands of kids in Paris that would kill to have a fraction of all he had. And he was rich anyways so he could just buy something else. He sighed and Plagg lazily rolled over on his desk. “Are you as bored as I am?” His Kwami asked. “Yup.” He replied. What to do what to do. “You know Plagg, I kind of feel like pissing off my father right now.” He said nonchalant. “Who are you and what have you done with Adrien?” Plagg teased, earning a giggle from his wielder. Over the years Plagg seemed to rub off on him. He was still a hundred times more responsible than Plagg but he wasn’t a stick in the mud when it came to rules. He wasn’t afraid to piss of Gabriel or disappoint him anymore, he didn’t spend much time with him anyways. “Well then,” Plagg said, floating up “let’s see what we can find.”

————-

Marinette had finally figured out a routine when it comes to being the guardian. The Kwamis were allowed out of the miracle box for two hours everyday. She would set up snacks, board games, arts and crafts and more to keep them entertained. In exchange, they would stay quiet so that people wouldn’t be worried for her, plus it helped to not have the Kwamis ripping her room to shreds. Their time out of the miracle box had just ended. She had already cleaned up the board games and brought the plates down stairs. She was about to change into her pjs when something poked through her window. It was a black glove. She squealed and tried to quickly pull her shirt back on before he could come in. “Chat Noir! What did I say about knocking?” She quickly stuffed the miracle box into her closet before approaching the window. He didn’t climb in right away though, instead he dangled from the window sill. She poked her head out and made eye contact with him.

“Look Marinette, now I’m the damsel I’m distress, waiting for my hero to save me.” He slurred his words a little which was odd. Playing along she grabbed him by the arms and pulled him up through her window. Instead of standing and climbing through the window. He dragged himself in and slumped to the floor with his back against the carpet. “You know, you’re strong for a little person.” He giggled. “Ok kitty, get up.” He followed orders and stood, but he swayed slightly and laughed more when she held him steady. He reached up and, booped her. What? She knew he was a dork but he never usually acted like this. Then the faint scent of expensive wine hit her nose. “Chat are you drunk?” He crossed his arms infront of him. “No I’m not, I’m Chat Noir.” He laughed at his own dad joke. “Yeah ok, you’re drunk.” She sighed and rubbed her temple. “Just wait here a minute.”

She went downstairs and got a glass of water and some croissants for him to snack on. She opened the trap door, “Ok kitty, time for you to sober up.” She looked at him, still standing in the same place she had left him. What a goof.

“Come sit Chat, we can watch a movie while you eat.” He obeyed and collapsed dramatically onto the chaise lounge. “Can I get cuddles Marinette, your knight in shining armour is touch starved, only the cuddles of his *hic* purrincess can save him from this curse.” She giggled, “Ok, but after you eat first.” He sat bolt upright and seemed to regret that decision because he slumped and collapsed again. She laughed and he pouted, “Chat oh my god, you don’t have to rush, I’m not leaving.” He smiled clumsily, was it even possible to smile clumsily? He sat up in slow motion, no he actually tried to move in slow motion before slowly reaching out and grabbing a croissant. “Chat you’re going to kill me,” she laughed “you don’t have to move in slow motion, you can eat at a normal pace.” Somehow, he didn’t understand the concept of normal because he shoved the whole croissant into his mouth, chewed, and swallowed. ‘How was that even possible?’ she thought, did he have power she didn’t know about? Like stretchy mouth or something? She stared at him dumbly as he inhaled another croissant. “Ok kitty, this time we’re going to take bites.” She picked up a croissant and took a bite out of it, “Like this see, bites.” It was like teaching a toddler, she had done it in the past but said toddler wasn’t drunk and 6 feet tall. Chat didn’t grab the last croissant on the plate, instead he took a regular sized bite of the croissant in Marinette’s hand, chewed and swallowed. She laughed again, he was such a dork. She decided that it would just be easier to let him eat the croissant like that so she fed him the rest and adjusted her computer on the desk so it was facing them. She handed Chat the remote. “Ok kitty, you pick what movie you wanna watch and I’ll be right back ok? Don’t go anywhere.” He gave a toothy grin before sliding to the ground and sitting against the chaise lounge. She sighed smiling and walked towards her bathroom to change and get ready for bed.

When she walked back in, Chat wasn’t scrolling through movie options or even sitting up right. He was lying, on the ground starring blankly at her ceiling with the song “Despacito” playing from his baton. She walked over to him and kneeled by his face, “Chat Noir what are you do-?” He placed a finger on her lips and slurred out a “Shhhhh.” Before a tear rolled down his cheek, she looked at him, mixed between trying not to laugh and concerned. “I’m in my feels princess.” He said before deeply inhaling. “DESPACI-“ her hand slapped over his mouth before she rested her head on his chest and wheezed out a laugh. “Chat oh my fucking god.” She said between giggles “You have to keep quiet, my parents would kill me if they found out you were here, and drunk no less.” He reached up and put his hand on top of her hand that was currently silencing him, instead of pulling it off, he kissed it and smiled at her. Her face turned beet red as she stared at him. That is until he licked her hand. She pulled her hand away and wiped it on her shirt. “Chat!” She exclaimed, he brought his hands behind his head and smirked at her, “Who’s the loud one now little lady?” She blushed again, if it wasn’t for the fact that he just licked her, she might have stammered too. Instead she just shook her head, “Come on Chat, let’s watch a movie.” His eyes lit up and he stood, jumping up and down, “Do I get cuddles now?” His tail swished behind him. Was he a dog or a cat? She laughed and agreed before the pair settled on the chaise.

————————

The sun was beaming on his face when he woke up. He was surprised he didn’t have a headache. He opened his eyes and the first thing he saw, was pink. Lots and lots of pink. His eyes shot open and looked around before landing on a mop of Raven hair. Marinette was cuddled up to him, her arms encircling his torso while her head rested on one half of his chest, one of her legs crossed over his. ‘Oh no, oh shit shit shit.’ He gulped before slowly moving his hand down her back, oh thank god, she had clothes on. He smiled down at her and soon, she blinked up at him. “Good morning Marinette.” He said, his voice still heavy with sleep. “Ah so you’re sober I see, don’t worry, nothing happened.” She said reassuringly. He ran a hand down his face, a gloves hand. Ah so he came here as Chat Noir. “Do you remember anything?” He shook his head and she filled him in. “Well I’m glad I didn’t do anything stupid.” He laughed, “Nope it was more like babysitting an overgrown toddler.” She laughed, he smiled. “I’m surprised you don’t have a headache.” She said, “It’s probably the suit, it will probably get worse when I take to suit off.” He made to leave but Marinette held him down. “Nope, I had to babysit you all night, I request cuddles as payment.” He sighed before rolling onto his side and nuzzling his face into her neck. “Fine by me purrincess.”

He was right, his head nearly split open from the hangover, but it was all worth it.

—————————————

Thanks for reading!

#marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #marichat #miraculous ladybug tales of ladybug and chat noir #miraculous ladybug #mlb #mlb fanfic #marichat fanfic

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celestialtitania · 4 years ago

Text

Breaking Down Part 6

Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

"Oh mio Dio. How is this possible?" Lila was staring in horror, unable to believe her eyes. "You two are...but how? I saw you...with my own eyes!" Her expression seemed to be a mixture of wonder, happiness and disbelief.

"We're not," Amy spoke up. Roderick nodded. Lila turned furious eyes on to Ladybug.

"It's the power of the miraculous. They insisted they come speak to you, I had nothing to do with it."

Lila paled and her eyes widened. "S-so they're….they're really…" she stammered, unable to say the words.

"We're ghosts," Roderick announced flatly. "Well not ghosts but something similar to that. It's too hard to explain."

Lila was shaking and she fell to her knees. "I know why you two are here," she got out.

Amy and Roderick exchanged a look. "You do?"

"You must blame me for your deaths! I'm sorry! I know what I did was wrong, I didn't mean for anything to happen to you!" Lila was pleading, tears in her eyes.

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

"Tikki! This is going too far!" Wayzz said furiously, whirling on the ladybug kwami.

"This is my plan, Wayzz," Trixx corrected softly.

Tikki nodded. "Trixx is helping Lila too. I was so worried about Marinette, I forgot my own duty as a kwami. She's a child that we need to bring on the right path."

"And getting her away from people like Agreste who are using her and getting her to accept her wrong doing is the only way to do so," Trixx continued. "These two are why she is who she is. Now, just watch will you?"

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

"Please! I am sorry. I've learned my lesson. Please let me go!"

"Lila, we can't do anything. We're not that type of ghost," Amy was shaking her head. Roderick kneeled down in front of her and put his hand on the shelter. Lila looked at the hand with an equal mixture of fear and longing.

"Why am I here Rod?"

"We don't know what brought you here," Amy spoke up. "But we're glad it did. It gave us the power to come talk to you."

"What could you possibly have to say?" Lila scoffed, shaking her head and scooting as far back as the shelter would allow.

"We know what's been going on Lila. Ever since we...died," Roderick told her, a grim look set upon his face.

Lila peered up at him questioningly, as she brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them.

Amy began to answer when she took a look around, noticing their audience. "Could we get some privacy?" She requested, making the celebrities and Senora Rossi startle.

The celebrities all filed out of the room until only Ladybug and Senora Rossi were left.

"We'll be fine Ladybug," Amy promised. Ladybug looked conflicted but silently left the room when she noticed the glare Lila had leveled at her. Lila turned to her mother to force her out as well, but Amy and Roderick shook their heads.

"Fine, you can stay," she shrugged. "Now will you both say something? Just tell me what's going on? Why now?"

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

Above them, Trixx sighed in relief. "That's better."

"Too many illusions?" Tikki worried.

Trixx nodded. "But I'm good now!"

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

Roderick took a deep breath. "We're here to talk about the lies. Specifically the lies you've been telling everyone."

Lila went through a myriad of expressions, settling on disbelief and incredulity. "Yeah, so is everyone else out there. You two are telling me you came from beyond the grave for that?"

"Lila," Amy began but Lila cut her off.

"What is the big deal? I'm just telling people what they want to hear. It's their own fault for believing me in the first place!" She was yelling again, utterly fed up with everything.

"What are they going to sue me for? For saying stuff and putting it in a stupid blog? Even if some people took it as fact, I'm a minor. Nobody is going to take that seriously."

"Lila," Amy cut in. "Tell us why."

"Tell you why, what? Why do people believe everything they hear? I can't do that, I guess I just have a way with words," Lila shrugged.

"No. Why you're bothering with these lies," Roderick corrected.

"I don't understand," Lila was staring at them both. "Listen if you two are here to torture me…" she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Well, if you came back from the afterlife I definitely deserve this. Just do whatever it is you want to."

"We don't want to hurt you Lila, promise!" Amy protested.

Lila cautiously opened one eye. "Is it because of the green thing? Is it stopping you?"

"Why do you think we want to hurt you?" Roderick cut in, wanting to hear Lila's reasoning.

Lila wiped the tears that were streaming down her cheeks and hugged her knees tightly. "Isn't it obvious?" She mumbled making the kwamis strain to hear her. "I'm the reason you two are dead."

"Of course you're not Lila!" Senora Rossi tried to protest but Lila leveled her mother with the meanest glare she could muster. "Yes, I am!" She yelled back, refusing to hear any alternatives.

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

"What's that supposed to mean?" Plagg wondered aloud.

"You'll see," Tikki told him. Plagg shrugged at her in response.

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

"How is that true?" Roderick asked, before Lila could spit more venom towards her mother.

"You weren't the one who caused our car to crash, were you?" Amy added, as she crouched down to make better eye contact with Lila.

"You two were only out there for me. Because of me and the terrible position I put you in."

Amy and Roderick exchanged a meaningful look, before nodding at each other. Lila watched them in confusion.

"You were doing the right thing," Amy countered as she looked back at Lila. Roderick

"Everyone keeps telling me that. How is getting my best friends killed the right thing?" Lila growled out in frustration making Amy and Roderick wince.

"You were helping Noemi. She appreciates everything you did and after we...died, you got her and us justice. You didn't let that man get away with it. That's how you did the right thing," Amy tried explaining, making Lila furiously shake her head in disagreement.

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

Above them, the kwamis were blinking in shock. "Care to fill us in?" Kaalki asked, turning to Trixx and Tikki who were completely silent.

Trixx shrugged. "Bit busy over here. Tikki?"

Tikki took in a deep breath. "So basically, when Lila used to live in Italy she had three friends. Noemi and these two," she gestured towards Amy and Roderick. "There was this politician in her area, Noemi's father. He used to control Noemi and ended up…" Tikki trailed off and shook her head. "He ended up getting her killed because of his illegal activities." At that the kwamis all gasped in shock.

"And then?" Wayzz asked worriedly.

"Then Lila went out searching for proof. The politician and the people who killed Noemi wanted to silence her, because she actually found proof that would get them jail time for a very long time. They thought Lila was in the car with Amy and Roderick. She was supposed to be, but she'd stepped out for a moment. That's when the crash happened. So now Lila has blamed herself ever since. She did end up getting them all prison time but she was in terrible condition. So her mother moved them to Paris. Unfortunately it hasn't helped with her healing."

"That's terrible!" Kaalki exclaimed, pity in her eyes.

Tikki shrugged. "It is. Doesn't excuse her actions though."

Plagg whistled lowly. "Never say Sugarcube doesn't know how to hold a grudge." Tikki turned towards Plagg in annoyance but he just smirked at her.

"How do you know all this Tikki?" Wayzz cut in.

"I did my due diligence," is all she said.

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

"You helped Lila. Our souls are at peace. Or they were, we can't go rest until you are alright again," Roderick told her mournfully.

Lila flinched. "I'm fine," she told them. "Don't let me be the reason you two are ghosts. Please," she whispered the last word, trying to get them to leave.

"That's not how this works Lila. We know when you're lying." Amy smiled, a sad smile making Lila look away from her.

"Just tell us why," Roderick implored. "Why lie? No one is going to acknowledge you and even if them suing you doesn't go anywhere isn't it just more trouble than it's worth?"

"No!" Lila shot back. "This gives me power. Being willingly akumatized gives me power! If I have all the power then no one can ever harm me ever again!"

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

The kwamis gasped. None of them had any idea Lila was willingly being akumatized. That she was working with Hawkmoth.

Tikki crossed her arms. "See! I always knew she was a no-good, rotten,—"

Wayzz interrupted Tikki's rant. "Did you know?" Tikki faltered at that and shook her head.

"Still to be working with Hawkmoth with her own agenda. That's...gutsy." Plagg offered watching the Italian girl with suspicion.

"A child," Wayzz tried to insist. "I know so are Ladybug and Chat Noir," Wayzz added before Tikki or Plagg could protest. "But some need more help and guidance than others."

"Well this is her last chance," Kaalki shrugged.

"If this doesn't work, she has to be removed from the situation," Trixx agreed.

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

"You're working with a terrorist willingly? What's happened to you?" Amy was looking at Lila as if she didn't even recognize her.

"Working with him means I can control it! I won't be the reason anyone I care for is harmed ever again!" Lila shot back, convinced she was right.

"And who do you care for?" Roderick asked quietly, making both girls pause.

"I…" Lila began before faltering. Then she shook her head. "I can't just let people in."

"You're killing yourself," He shot back. Lila gaped at him not understanding what he was trying to tell her. "Nobody here knows what you're like. Not really. And it's not their fault, you've built this false image of yourself and you hurt whoever tries to break the illusion."

Lila's perplexed expression melted into a sneer. "You're talking about Marinette?" She scoffed loudly, unable to believe her ears. "You know what? Marinette deserves it!"

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

Plagg and Kaalki had to physically restrain Tikki from going down and hurting Lila.

"Patience," Wayzz advised warily. "Patience."

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

"She thinks being truthful will keep everything peaceful and happy! Like she has no idea how damaging the truth can be!"

"The truth is always best," Amy muttered, her arms crossed over her chest. She was staring at Lila as if she truly couldn't recognize her.

"Really?" Lila asked scathingly. "The truth didn't save your lives now did it? So what if I'm not close to people anymore. That just keeps me from getting hurt. And as far as the lies go, it means everyone around me adores me. Not even the mayor can blindly punish me without getting some backlash!"

"Even Hawkmoth trusts me and he doesn't even realize I'm using him! I figured out his identity ages ago! And now I'm the one using him. Both in and outside of the mask."

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