#Desperada | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

milarqui · 7 months

Text

Scarlet Lady: Desperada

Directory | Silencer

Wishing to relax after the absolute mess that was dealing with Bob Roth the previous day, the girls had agreed to join Kitty Section at the Liberty and just enjoy the afternoon, listening to the group practice for their future record.

For Marinette, though...

“Orange juice, Luka?”

“Thanks, Ma–Ma–Marinette.”

… it was just another stressful thing on top of all previous stress.

Because, after Luka's confession, she just didn't know what to do.

“Eheheh!” she tried to laugh, her cheeks burning up at how close Luka was. “You're really hot–” SHUT UP! “uh, tall!–” SHUT UP! “uh talented! How long have you been playing?”

Luka gave a soft laugh.

“Since I was in diapers,” he replied, taking off his guitar and carefully hanging its strip over Marinette's shoulder. “Wanna try?”

“Oh! S–Sure! Heehee!” she stammered, as Luka gently grabbed her left hand.

“Put this hand here...”

“H–Here?”

----

The feeling of being a third wheel was mighty amongst the girls as they saw Luka giving Marinette a too close lesson on guitar playing – and the awkwardness peaked as the last people meant for this encounter entered the room.

“Hey, guys!” Adrien said as he put his bag on the floor.

“Adrien, Kagami!” Mylène exclaimed, part in shock, part in happiness.

“Your parents let you out?” Alix asked, grinning.

For all answer, Adrien turned to his partner, and it was obvious they were both struggling not to break down laughing.

“Wait, you mean this isn't fencing practice?!” Adrien asked, acting shocked at the 'sudden twist'. “Oh no, Kagami, we messed up the address!”

“Dear me, it would seem so!” Kagami replied, holding her face in fake distress.

“Pft,” Alix snorted, rolling her eyes, “okay, guys.”

Then Adrien saw Luka's hands-on lesson to the blushing Marinette, and suddenly the sunshine boy was in the middle of an eclipse.

“What's going on there?” he said in a deceitfully tranquil tone, while Kagami looked at him as if he were a bomb about to explode.

“That's what we wanna know!” Alya exclaimed.

“We're not co-captain anymore, get lost!”

Everyone looked away at the sound of Anarka Couffaine shouting, shocked – mostly because everyone who knew her had barely heard her this angry.

“But we played so perfectly together!” a man said. A voice everyone found very familiar.

“What–?” Kagami said, shocked.

“Up deck!” Juleka pointed out.

“Let's go!” Alix added, and everyone ran for the door.

Well, not everyone – because Marinette collapsed on the closest couch, mentally exhausted, and Adrien stayed behind to make sure his classmate-slash-friend-slash-crush was alright.

“UGHHH~” Marinette groaned, feeling like her face was ready to be used for cooking.

“Marinette? What's wrong?” Adrien asked with worry.

“Oh, Adrien. Luka confessed to me and I... I...”

Adrien felt his eye involuntarily twitching at the idea of someone else confessing to the girl he liked, but held on her knee-jerk reaction as Marinette's face turned devastated.

“I'm trying so hard to be normal and it's! Not! WORKING!”

“Oh, boy,” he mumbled as Marinette began to cry, and he sat next to her as she covered her crying face.

“I'm not trying to date Luka but I'm not trying to ruin things with Luka and I keep overthinking everything and I don't know what to do!”

Now knowing that Marinette was really in a bind, he knew he had to park his feelings aside and be the friend she needed, so he put a hand on her shoulder and gently squeezed.

“Just... talk to Luka,” he suggested.

“Talk?” she asked, rising her face.

“Tell him what you told me. Luka's not the kind of guy to hold it against you.”

“True,” Marinette admitted, a couple of tears still on the corner of her blue eyes.

“More than anything, he'll appreciate your honesty.”

“Yeah...” She sniffed, and gave him a trembling smile. “Thanks, Adrien.”

----

After recovering from her cry spell, the two of them ran outside, where they found Mme. Couffaine in a screaming match with...

“I'm no one's back up plan, skipper!”

“It's not like that! You're the only one I want to play with, Nanarky!”

“Jagged Stone?” Marinette said, a bit shocked.

“'Nanarky'?!” Mylène asked, shocked that their favorite singer was speaking so casually with their host – and that said host was answering in kind.

“You don't fool me, pirate! I bet you threw your guitarist overboard! Again!”

“Nooooooo!” Jagged Stone said, unconvincingly. “I didn't, I swear! She, uh, sailed away!”

“LIE BETTER!” Mme. Couffaine replied, clearly angry.

Jagged looked over the people on the Liberty, and smiled.

“Marinette! My awesome designer!” he cried out. “Do you play guitar?”

“Uh, no–” she timidly replied, and Jagged shook his head.

“Bummer. Do you know one? Like one in a band on a houseboat with blue hair?”

“Uh, yeah! Exactly that!” Marinette replied, turning to Luka with a smile. “Wow, so specific!”

“You rock, Marinette!” Jagged said, pointing at Luka. “So, you up for it little dude–”

“Jagged Stone! I finally found you you hack!”

Of course, there was only one person in the world that could have uttered those words.

“Chloé?!” Adrien said, shocked.

“HACK?!” Jagged Stone fired, annoyed.

“I demand reimbursement for the shoes your stupid lizard ate!”

“Ugh,” he said, but he kinda acknowledged she was right, “send the bill to Bob Roth. Stop hounding me.”

“HEY.” Everyone turned to see someone else had arrived on scene, and was standing at the prow of the Liberty. “Jagged Stone is my target.”

“What?!” Chloé yelled at being ignored, but Adrien was more aware of the situation.

“Akuma!”

“Vivica?” Jagged asked, surprised.

“There ain't no more 'Vivica',” the Akuma said. “There's only Desperada now! You fire me and try to replace me with a school kid?!”

“Vivica, you're only two years older than him,” Jagged said.

Luka and Juleka looked at each other, feeling awkward and hoping no one noticed that Jagged shouldn't have known Luka's age.

“Back off my kids, ship rat!” Anarka furiously shouted at Desperada, who gave a smirk.

“Then I'll get you first!” she said, and strummed her guitar – and Anarka, after being hit by a projectile, disappeared in a cloud of golden smoke, as a sticker with her face appeared on the guitar.

“Ahh!” Mylène screamed in fright.

“Desperada always hits her targets,” the Akuma declared, and she started to pluck her guitar again.

“Ah–!”

“No–!”

Juleka and Rose, despite the former's attempt to push her out of the way, were soon taken out as well, while Marinette angrily glared at the Akuma before ducking away.

And Adrien, who could tell who was the Akuma's target right now, grabbed Luka's hand.

“Quick, let's get outta here!” he said, pulling his friend-slash-romantic rival out of the way.

----

As soon as she found a safe place, Marinette took a breather while Pollen came out of her bag.

“It's that time again, My Queen!” the Bee Kwami declared, while Marinette kept glaring at the Akuma.

“Does Hawkmoth never sleep?!”

----

“C'mon, Chloé, you gotta transform,” Tikki tiredly said.

“This one looks really annoying,” Chloé replied. “But I have to avenge my shoes, so–”

Tikki rolled her eyes. Figures that that would be her goal.

----

“You probably got fired over your stupid hair!” Scarlet Lady shouted, and she began to run to a side as Desperada fired her musical bullets, which all hit the ground right next to her feet.

“GRRR!” the Akuma growled over her failed attack. But then another guitar started to sound, and Desperada turned to the source. “Another guitarist?!”

She started to shoot at him, while he remained in place, making his solo.

“LUKA!”

Before Desperada realized it, a large rope twisted around her waist.

“AH!”

“HYAAAAAAAH!” Marigold mightily yelled, and pulling from the rope she tossed the Akuma far away enough that none of those present could see her. With danger temporarily out of the way, she smiled at the boys and waved them towards what she had found. “Down here, quick!”

“Ew, the sewers?!” Scarlet Lady said with a disgusted tone, but Marigold paid her no mind and pulled the manhole cover before forcing the Ladybug heroine in.

All while Luka turned to Adrien.

“Did Marigold just kill Desperada?” he asked, shocked, and Adrien shrugged, before they followed Marigold inside. As soon as they closed the cover, the two boys started to huff from running.

“That was very reckless, but very brave,” Marigold encouraged them, ignoring Scarlet Lady as she skipped around in disgust. “Thanks.”

“N–No problem,” Luka replied between huffs, as he recovered his breath.

“You guys should hide while we find Chat Noir,” she suggested, immediately grabbing Scarlet Lady by the face before she could do what Marigold knew she would do.

“Nooo!” Scarlet Lady whined as she tried to reach out to them.

“Sure thing, Marigold,” Luka said, and both of them went off, eager to be away from the Ladybug heroine.

----

As soon as he got Luka into a closet, Adrien started to do a run around to find a different passageway that would lead to where Marigold and Scar were waiting.

“Chat got your tongue? Leave a message!” he heard his own voice say.

“Dammit, where are you?” Scar complained; she must have called him to his baton-phone.

Time to hero, he thought.

“Plagg, Claws Out!” Soon, he was once more clad in leather. “I'm here!”

As he turned the corner, Marigold and Scar looked at him.

“Chat Noir!” the former said.

“Why are you sweating?” the latter asked, disgusted.

He laughed. He wasn't going to tell them he had ran all the way around to avoid being tracked.

----

As soon as she recovered from being flung around, Desperada ran back to where she had found that boy, but by then there was no one around, as they had either taken refuge elsewhere or just hid.

“I'll find that brat guitarist sooner or later, you bugs!” Desperada yelled into the empty air.

----

Good thing I'm not claustrophobic, Luka thought from within the locker Adrien had told him to go into. There was literally nothing for him to do right now.

Perhaps he could think of a song to make for Marinette...

----

With no ideas to pull from, Scar used Lucky Charm, which took the form of a bronze dish.

Or, rather...

“A gong?” Marigold realized.

“You know what that means, Goldie!” he said, winking at her.

“You're going to get another Miraculous aren't you?!” Scar said, and Chat Noir looked at her, surprised that she had actually made the connection. “You are going to give whatever-it-is–”

“The Snake, probably,” Chat Noir suggested.

“– to my Adrien!” Scar continued. Chat Noir held the instinct to tell her that he wasn't hers, but instead chose to help avoid the potential problem.

“Wuh – Agreste? I don't think–”

“Actually...” Marigold said, blushing, “I think Adrien would make a good hero.”

Stunned at Marigold's words (and feeling a bit of a flutter in his heart) Chat Noir looked down with burning cheeks.

“... I'll find him while Scar recharges and you fetch the Miraculous,” he conceded.

“YAY!” Marigold cheered.

Splitting up to do their parts, Chat Noir found a place he was certain he wouldn't be seen in and detransformed.

“Claws In.”

“This'll never work,” Plagg warned him as he reappeared.

“You know that, I know that, but do they know that...?” Adrien asked.

“You're just soft because your honeybug recommended you,” Plagg deadpanned.

“Shush. Why're you worried, Plagg? For you it'll be like no time at all,” Adrien replied with a chuckle.

“I guess.” Plagg didn't look excited.

“And this'll get Adrien Agreste off the Hero roster.”

Plagg tilted his head in askance.

“Uh, how?” he asked, and Adrien gave a smirk that wouldn't be out of place in a cat's face.

“By being such a nuisance I never get called on again.”

Plagg felt a sweatdrop at the back of his head. Which was weird, because he didn't sweat...

----

We did all agree on Adrien...

But Luka distracted Desperada...

But Adrien saved Luka...

But Luka –

“Marinette? The Akuma?”

Marinette shook herself off. Oh, right, she was still at Master Fu's parlor.

“R-Right! Thank you, Master!”

----

“It's that it?” Scarlet asked as soon as she arrived with the Miraculous.

“Yeah. Where's Chat Noir and Adrien?”

“Here! I'm here!” Adrien said, and Marigold quickly put her hand exactly where it had to be.

“Mon Prince~” Scarlet said, attempting to grab Adrien in a hug, only for Marigold's hand to hold her in place, well away from the boy.

“Adrien!” the Bee Heroine exclaimed, ignoring the irritant behind her. “Where's Chat Noir?”

“Oh, uh, he had to check on the civilian thing he ditched,” Adrien replied. “But he said you needed me?”

“Yes!” Marigold said, offering the box. “Adrien Agreste, this is the Snake Miraculous, which grants the power of Second Chance. You will use it for the greater good–”

“Let me give it to him, Marimold!” Scarlet yelled.

“Omigod, let me finish!” she replied with irritation as she struggled to keep her away from Adrien, who was now awkwardly waiting.

----

Alright, time to start faking this, he thought, and he opened the box. With a flash of light, the Snake Kwami of Intuition appeared.

“Oh, woooooow,” he said, trying to look like he had never seen something similar.

“Greetings,” the Kwami said, “my name is Sass, and...”

“Are you, like, some kind of genie?” he asked, playing dumb, but Sass' judging look told him that the Kwami wasn't falling for it.

“... I am a Kwami,” Sass replied, unimpressed. As he put on the Ouroboros bracelet, he noticed Plagg hiding at the wall, and he really looked unhappy.

Sorry.

“Sass, the transformation phrase, please,” Marigold kindly asked, and Sass sighed.

“Guess we're doing this. Right. Just say, Sass...”

“Scales Slither!”

He quickly noticed the difference as he transformed: while the feeling of leather was similar, it wasn't the smooth touch of his Chat Noir suit, but slightly rough, much like a snake's scales. The full black was partially replaced by aquamarine. The mask covered more of his face, and his hair felt wilder than normal. As the transformation finished, a name came to mind.

“Call me Aspik,” he told Marigold. “I won't let you down, my Queen!”

“Ha! I know,” Marigold replied, smiling.

“Adrien~ I believed in you first!” Scar said, but he scoffed.

“I don't care.”

Finding the ladder going up, Scar quickly went up first, while Marigold looked back at him.

“If anything goes wrong, Second Chance will let you go back to the time you used it.”

“Got it,” Aspik nodded. “Second Chance.”

As Scar left, she made a sigh.

“Finally out,” she said. “Where is she?”

She quickly got her answer, as a musical projectile hit her in the back.

“Ah–”

“Oh no!” Marigold exclaimed.

“Second Chance!” Aspik said, grinning at the sight of Scar being in distress. And, as he reappeared in a minute before... he realized something.

Every time he had wanted to do something to Scar, he had held back because he knew he would have to deal with the consequences.

But, here and now?

He could do something... and then use Second Chance to undo it.

And he could do it... as many times as he wanted.

It was a bit of a jerk move, but, honestly, after dealing with Scar for months, he felt he had the right be a bit of a jerk.

Time to have some fun!

----

He tripped her.

“Ah–!”

She got hit by Desperada.

“Second Chance!”

----

He shoved her.

“Wuh–!”

She got hit by Desperada.

“Second Chance!”

----

He used her as a shield.

“Ad–!”

She got hit by Desperada.

“Second Chance!”

----

“Aspik...?” Marigold asked, shocked.

Alright, perhaps this one was too hard.

Who cared?

“Don't worry. You won't remember this. Second Chance!”

----

"Hey, Scar, guess what, I'm not just Adrien Agreste, I'm also Chat Noir, your 'sidekick'!"

Scar's face suddenly twisted into horror as the two images clashed against each other.

"YESSS, THAT'S THE FACE I WANTED! SECOND CHANCE!"

----

“If anything goes wrong, Second Chance will–”

“Sass, Scales Rest.”

Marigold gave a gasp of surprise as Adrien detransformed.

“I'm so sorry, Marigold,” Adrien apologized, returning the box with the bracelet. “It didn't work, no matter how hard I try. I just... can't protect you two.”

“No! We can try again!” she said, but he shook his head.

“Um–! N–No, I've been trying! Like, 25,913 times!”

“Oh no!” It must have been tough for Adrien, trying for so long without success! “Adrien, I'm so sorry for putting you through that!”

“I–It's okay.”

“We'll figure things out,” she encouraged. “Don't take it to heart, okay? We chose you for a reason, don't forget that!”

“U-huh,” Adrien replied, but he clearly was feeling guilty over what had happened.

----

“So what do we do now?” Scarlet asked, clearly irritated that she wouldn't get her way.

“Relax. I know just who to go to,” Marigold replied.

“Marigold?”

The Bee heroine turned to the voice.

“Luka! Right on time!”

“I was looking for Adrien, have you seen him?” Luka asked, worried.

“Yeah, he's right–”

And she turned to where Adrien was.

Or where he should have been.

Because now there was a vacuum in the form of her friend.

“Huh?! Where'd he go?!”

“He was right here!” Scarlet wailed.

“Guys!”

And, right on time, Chat Noir returned from whatever thing he had been doing as a civilian.

“Chat Noir!”

“Why are you sweating again?!”

“So–So much running,” he puffed.

As much as she wished to check on Adrien, Marigold knew the Akuma remained the priority, so she turned to Luka, offering him the Miraculous.

“Luka Couffaine, this is the Snake Miraculous, which grants the power of Second Chance. You will use it for the greater good and then you'll return the Miraculous to me. Can I trust you?”

“Absolutely!” Luka replied, and gingerly picked the box and opened it – causing a flash. “Wow!”

“Ah, another one,” Sass said, and Luka was clearly confused.

“Huh–?”

“Greetings. I am Sass and I'll be your Kwami.”

“A 'Kwami'?” Luka asked, pronouncing the unfamiliar concept.

“Alas, we have no time for explanations,” Sass said. “All you need to say is, 'Sass...'”

----

“Scales Slither!”

----

“Looks like Desperada is sniping from the Eiffel Tower,” the newly minted Viperion said after a quick look.

“Let's take away her vantage point with Chat Noir's Cataclysm!” Marigold suggested.

“And how are we supposed to find the Eiffel Tower from here?” Scarlet Lady pointed out, to which Marigold pointed at a sign. “Oh!”

Eiffel Tower zone: Wear a hard hat in case of Akuma MANAGEMENT

“Yeah,” Chat Noir said, slightly embarrassed.

“Hm,” Viperion hummed, giving an amused smirk at Marigold. “You guys destroy the Eiffel Tower so often it's a work hazard zone.”

Marigold grumbled, whistling away her awkwardness.

“I mean, technically the Akuma destroys it, not us...”

And, as if to contradict her...

“Cataclysm!”

----

The heroes jumped into action, ready to stop the Akuma... but they ran into their own problems.

Like Scarlet Lady tripping and smacking Chat Noir, leaving them open to Desperada's attack.

“Second Chance!”

----

Or Scarlet Lady setting herself up for getting hit by Desperada's weapon.

“Second Chance.”

----

Or Scarlet Lady just bantering with the Akuma and getting distracted enough that she got hit. Again.

“Second Chance...”

----

“Could you maybe chill the FUCK out?!” Viperion asked, irritated with Scarlet Lady... who didn't know what was going on.

----

As Desperada tried to recover her wits, she saw Viperion playing his harp, sticking his tongue at her.

“YOU–!”

“You're OPEN~” Marigold declared as she entangled Desperada's left arm with her top.

“AH!”

“You're surrounded~” Chat Noir said, as Viperion grappled her other arm, forcing Desperada to her knees.

“AGH!”

“You're done~” Viperion finished, as Scarlet Lady struck the Akumatized guitar with her yo-yo, breaking it and freeing both everyone that had been trapped and the butterfly.

“AGHHHH!”

----

With Vivica now restored, and the air filled with ladybugs, the heroes split their tasks.

“I'll escort Mlle. to the houseboat while you return the Snake,” Chat Noir said, leaning on his baton while Vivica smiled at him.

“Sure,” Marigold agreed. “Let's go, Viperion!”

“Hey!” Scarlet yelled. “I'm coming too! Show me where you get the Miraculouses, Bumbling Bee!”

Marigold smirked.

“Sure.” And she opened the manhole cover. “You just have to come down here with us.”

“EWWW! Oh, look at that, timer's going off, byeeee!”

And Scarlet ran away as if she had a bird flying to eat her.

Marigold and Viperion had a bit of a laugh before the latter detransformed, and Luka returned the Miraculous.

“You were great, Luka,” Marigold praised him.

“We make a good team,” Luka replied. “Thanks for not actually taking me to the sewers.”

“I agree. Most new sssnakes have to use Sssecond Chance many more times or ssselfishly,” Sass said, flying next to Luka. “You're certainly a bright, caring young man. A perfect snake!”

Luka blushed and looked aside.

“Aw, geez.”

“You're right...” Marigold said, causing Luka to blush even harder.

“Marigold, you too?!”

----

Back at the houseboat, when confronted with the young guitarist, Jagged Stone knew he had to fix his mistake.

“Sorry, Vivica. Eating my cereal and drinking Fang's milk wasn't a good enough reason to fire you,” he apologized. “You can come back if you want, I'd love to play with you.”

“Me too!” Vivica cheered. “I'm in, Jagged!”

The girl left, happily humming a song as Jagged Stone and Anarka Couffaine looked at her fondly... before the latter looked at him with an ominous glare.

“You fired her on purpose to play with our kids, didn't you.”

Just like that. A statement of fact.

“I don't know what you're talking about.”

Just like that. A terrible deflection.

----

“Orange juice?”

Penny looked up from her tablet and saw Juleka holding two glasses of oh-so-inviting juice.

“Oh, thank you, Juleka,” Penny said as she picked one of the glasses, slowly sipping it and letting it help her relax: after the mess with Vivica and the Akumatization, that kind of thing really hit the spot.

“Maman and Papa think they're being slick, huh?” Juleka asked.

“Mhm,” she agreed, still drinking.

“Funny they think me and Luka don't know.”

“Yup, hilarious,” Penny replied, taking another sip.

“Well, at least we get a cool step-manager.”

The resulting spurt covered a good part of the deck in a sticky liquid that took a while to clean up.

----

Marinette took a deep breath and sat next to Luka. She really needed to follow on Adrien's suggestion.

“Luka?”

“Hm?”

“I'm sorry for being so weird lately.”

“Hey, I like Weird Marinette as much as Put-Together Marinette. And Passionate Marinette, Justice Marinette, Designer Marinette–”

“Okay, okay!” Marinette interrupted, struggling (and failing) to keep her cheeks from flushing.

“I'm just glad you didn't become Avoiding-Me Marinette,” Luka replied, smiling. “I didn't tell you how I feel to put pressure on you. I told you so you know how important you are to me.”

Marinette sighed in relief. It was just as Adrien had said.

“You're important to me too, Luka!” she said, smiling. “And I'll never run from being your friend!”

“Good,” he nodded, before his smile became a bit naughtier. “That said, I'm gonna compliment you a lot more to bring out Blushy Marinette.”

Oh.

Oh no.

“NoOOOOOO!” she wailed.

----

Adrien watched from afar as Marinette – completely red in the face – slapped the air next to a laughing Luka, and he sighed in relief.

“Whew. At least they're not dating,” he said out loud.

“This time.”

“Ah, Kagami!” Where did she come from?!

“Marinette can choose whomever she wants to date,” his friend said, “yet you don't make yourself a known option. Why?”

Oh. That. His life second's major irritant.

“There's an obstacle,” he said, crossing his arms. “A big, tall, annoying, dumb obstacle with bad fashion sense and is so selfish!”

Kagami patted his arm.

“I understand. Your father is a difficult person to overcome.”

“Eh?”

I meant Hawkmoth...

----

Ikari Gozen

@zoe-oneesama Adrien better make a move soon, lest he lose his chance with his Princess!

That's 453 pages, 180836 words, 974597 characters!

#scarlet lady the novel #fanfiction #milarqui #long post #marinette dupain cheng #marigold #adrien agreste #chat noir #aspik #luka couffaine #viperion #desperada

9 notes · View notes