#Alix Sugar

[trashyangelic]

Oooh I have a good prompt if anyone wanna try it. The tags says it all.

Nino had finally realize that Lila has been lying to him about a DJ. So he apologize to Marinette but also breaking up with Alya after finding out from Rose, Juleka, and Alix that they had witness Alya bullying Marinette. Rose, Juleka, and Alix had already apologize to Marinette.

Lila thought of bullying Chloe Bourgeois with Alya Cesaire. What they don't know won't hurt them if both of them land a single hand on Chloe she can tell this to her father who is the Mayor to get both of their parents fired on spot. While Lila still blames Marinette for something she didn't do except being Chloe's new best friend and protective.

Adrien, Luka, Kagami, Chloe, Rose, Juleka, and Alix knows that Marinette is Ladybug due to them having their miraculouses to be keep safety in case of another akuma is available or not. It took Adrien a couple hours to figure out that Ladybug is Marinette due to Chloe showing him pictures on her phone to see they look the same.

Chloe also found out that Felix who is Adrien's cousin has been dating Marinette since middle school is what Nino had told her since she didn't know after what happen in Middle School when she got sick of a flu she missed alot of whats going on.

While Marlena finds out herself after her boss fired her for what her daughter had done to Chloe after asking what she did but the Mayor told her that her daughter bullied his daughter. This made Marlena very angry towards her daughter Alya for this mess.

As for Mrs. Rossi well her job was fired due to her boss and the Mayor itself after telling the head ambassador what was going on. Then Mrs. Rossi recieved a message from both her boss and the Mayor saying that she is fired. She was confused but when she asked what she did wrong the Mayor shown the video clip thanks to Marinette to show her that her daughter was involved of bullying his daughter. She looked absolutely livid and willing to ground her daughter for this mess. But she is accepting lawsuits from many people despite of how much trouble her daughter was in right now they are in thick ice with Paris and between Italy.

You can do whatever you want on Alya and Lila at the end.

#miraculous ladybug #lila salt #alya salt #no lila rossi demption #good chloe bourgeois #marinette deserves better #nino sugar #felinette #juleka sugar #rose sugar #alix sugar #felix x marinette #adrien sugar

[iwasbored777]

Where is that anon who said how amazing Alix is? Cuz I have more to say on that subject

I just remembered Timetagger and when Bunnyx goes back to the future she's like "I'm sorry Ladybug, I failed"

and she lowers her head and the way she's speaking to Minibug is a lot more respectful than the way she's speaking to anyone else, even Chat Noir, and she knows who they are, this is her friend, Marinette, she knows her since forever. But she's so respectful and she's always hyping her up like "you are Ladybug, you always find a solution"

and when she genuinely thought Minibug failed she hugged her and she was so understanding.

Either Alix hung out with Tikki a lot or she takes her job seriously or she has a lot more respect for Marinette and where is that anon who said that Alix will be the best companion for Marinette because she obviously will. I know this is far from today but the fact that Alix will grow up in such a great teammate and person in general is wonderful.

And you can tell from Marinette's reaction in the future when she read the note and said "there is always hope, nothing is lost yet" that either she believes in her team with all her heart or she grew a lot more confident overtime and I don't know which one is better. They are so mature and awesome and their relationship is based on so much trust and they both grew up in great women. I bet they are even closer friends in future. I stan them.

#I didn't expect this analysis #But it just got to me how great they are #Marinette and Alix are 100% bffs in the future #miraculous ladybug #marinette dupain cheng #alix kubdel #ml bunnyx #Alix sugar #ml timetagger #Marinette sugar #Also #Ml analysis #Alix analysis #Ladybug

[daminette123]

Prompt; Miraculous | Avengers | DC

Marinette is Secretly Dating Roy Queen, When she's sixteen (Six Years of being Ladybug) she notices her class has been getting targeted by Hawkmoth due to the Queen Wasp incident where her temporary heroes were exposed her class is now being a specific target to Akuma's, she calls up Roy and convinces him to arrange a class Field Trip through the Major States.

Roy knows that Oliver has been worried about the PR that came after he regained Queen Industries and suggests that they team up with Stark Industries and Wayne Enterprises to do an essay contest where they pick a class that submitted an essay and give them a bunch of Wicked tours and cool events despite the Wicked tours and cool events not being in Marinette Idea he wanted his Ladybug to have the best time of her life during her 'vacation'.

So that night at dinner Roy suggested.

"Hey, Ollie?" He asked from the opposite end of the table," I know you've been worried about the PR since you regained Queen Industries and I was wondering what is we do like... a contest of some sort. Like an Essay one where classes can submit essay anonymously with their contact details on it so that we can decide who's the best essay is and like team up with SI and Wayne Enterprises to sponsor the winning class for a bunch of tours through the city."

Oliver nodded looking thoughtful;" That could work. Roy, I think you're onto something there..."

Dinah was beside Ollie looking really proud of Roy.

Marinette was reluctant at fist but Roy said that they could submit the essay anonymously and Queen Industries staff would select the best one that way Marinette was till working hard to make sure that she got selected and she didn't feel like she was taking someone else's opportunity (And The Author gets less comments about cheating from the Fandom) and she writes up the essay.

During the Whole Trip Oliver has been hounding Roy about getting a Girlfriend because one day he'll be taking over Queen Industries. Roy gets increasingly annoyed about it and Snaps at everyone that he already has a girlfriend and his love life is none of their business. meanwhile Marinette has been repeatedly lied about by Lila who lies about dating Jason Todd and knowing a bunch of celebrities and being in a Love Triangle with 'Theodore' (Tim) Wayne and Dale (Dick) Grayson-Wayne.

The rest of The Trip Roy and Marinette struggle to hide their relationship but manage to succeed until the Wayne Gala when Roy asks Marinette to be his date. Oliver didn't think Roy was coming because the rules of the Gala were if you had a boy/girlfriend you had to bring them as your Plus one. So when Roy walks down the Red Carpet with Marinette on His Oliver is So Shocked that he spits his Drink all Over Ambassador Ross.

Marinette and Her Class Meet a Bunch of Celebrities all of which quickly disprove Lila's lies and Lila and Alya get a bunch of Law Suits. During the Whole Fiasco her eyes had glowed Green and she'd tried to Brainwash everyone into believing her which resulted in Ambassador Ross taking her to The Raft and she was never heard of again. The Class tries to use that as an excuse to make Marinette forgive them but Marinette calmly points out that Chloe, Alix and Adrien had listened to her side of the story despite being under the same effects of Lila's metahuman abilities and when they found out the truth the spell broke.

"Y'know," marinette started not looking up from her phone as she snuggled closer to Roy," It's a real Shame no one tried to warn you of the truth. This all could've been prevented from happening if there was just someone willing to help pointed out the obvious lies. A pity really."

Then she turns her phone so Roy can see the post she's looking at nd he burst out laughing.

It was later discovered that Lila's Abilities only make people believe he lies, it doesn't discourage them from asking for other sides of the story or influence their reaction so that was all on The Class.

Alya gets a talking to about ALWAYS fact checking no matter what personal connections you have to the source by Lois Lane.

Marinette's Parent die and she has to take a DNA test to see if she's got any relatives who'd take her in as it's a necessary procedure even if you know these people are your relatives That's when she finds out she's the Long Lost Daughter of Tony and Pepper. She moves in with them and at 21 she defeats Hawkmoth. It Took 11 Years but she did it and now she has the Moth and Peacock Miraculous safely tucked away. After she repaired the Peacock Miraculous Emile Agreste woke up and rejoined her son and husband.

At 22 she Marries Roy, becoming Marinette Dupain-Cheng-Stark-Queen and at 23 she takes over Stark Industries with Peter Parker at the same time 25-year-old Roy takes of Queen Industries. After she takes over SI with Peter the other permanent Miraculous Holders move in and She, Peter (Spiderman), Mj (Spy; Peter's Fiancé), Ned (Tech Guy), Roy, Chloe and Adrien join The Avengers. She adds a Fashion Branch to SI and The New Avengers attend MIT online together from the tower.

I KNOW THIs IS LIKE A ONE-SHOTZ SORT OF THING BUT, CAN SOMEONE PLS DO THIS AS AN ACTUAL FIC AND COMMENT WHO IT IS AND WHAT THE FIC IS CALLED!? PLEAAASSSSSEEEEEEEE!!!

#roynette #Bio Dad au #Tony Stark is Marinette's Bio Dad #Oliver Queen is a Father In Law #Billionaire Marinette Dupain-Cheng #miracuous ladybug #the avengers #DC #Green Arrow #Lila Rossi is Exposed #Eww! Not that way you dirty minded people #Class Salt #Alix Sugar #Chloe Sugar #Adrien Sugar #Marinette Sugar

[saemi-the-writer]

If Adrien somehow wasn't chosen, who would you like to see as a black cat holder?

Oh dear, that is a very tricky question! Honestly, I don't think there is a character I want to see as the Black Cat holder specifically, but there are some that I think would be nice options and interesting to follow!

I guess you mean the canon setting and not my AU? Because I would be tempted to pick an adult - for the unlimited use of Cataclysm and because, come on, a teen would need the presence of an adult while she's constantly fighting villains!! - buuuuut... seeing how adults are in the show, I have some doubts! xD

So I willingly choose to take asides the tropes "Adults are useless". And here is the list of characters I think would be nice for the Black Cat if Adrien couldn't become Chat Noir:

Canon characters:

Tom Dupain-Cheng, I know it might surprise some, but it could suit him. If you take how protective he is towards his daughter, he would be a suitable BC holder and accept to go in the front line while Ladybug figures out her lucky charm or just keep her from harm.

Penny Rolling, she's very reliable and takes her job(s) seriously. She would rock her role and outfit (haha, sorry). Also, she's very well-organised, seems to adapt quickly, and is good at following someone else's directions whilst being strategic.

Alya Césaire, she was pretty good with the Ladybug Miraculous, but I think she'd be better with the Black Cat. But it's mostly a gut feeling and taking her stubbornness and brashness into account.

Alix Kubdel, while I have mixed feelings about Bunnix's role and powers, it does show that Alix can be reliable and wise: you don't want to give Time powers to just anyone! So she could be trusted with the power of Destruction. Also, she'd definitely be a sassy Black Cat and would know how to annoy the villains, it would be fun to watch/read!

Canon but "blank slate" characters

Okay, I admit that this is more a wish list of "I want this background character to get more screen time and development"!

Gisèle (Caline's wife for those who don't know/remember), I just love her design and have a feeling she'd be a good holder for this Miraculous.

Alim Kubdel, not sure why, I mostly like his relationship with his daughter. It would be quite ironic because his job is museum curator XD , but it would also mean he would be careful with this power and not abuse it.

Mireille Caquet, I guess Aurore has her fanbase, so why Mireille wouldn't have one?

#miraculous ladybug #saemi answers #black cat miraculous #alternative holders #tom dupain #alya cesaire #alix kudbel #penny rolling #gisèle #alim kubdel #mireille caquet #ml sugar

[alixandrite]

felt like drawing an old childhood favourite, chocolat from sugar sugar rune! 🍫💖

#sugar sugar rune #ssr #シュガシュガルーン #chocolat meilleure #ショコラ・メイユール #alix art

[attractivemyfoot]

"I had a thought marinette ( bio dad bruce ) (bio bro Jason )(ship timari) marinette in Paris by kidnapping. Childhood friends via gala only time where Tim's parents take him to Paris ( Major lila Salt )stalker tim stalker mari . Mari being super smart tech genius as well as fashion godess coffee buddies ceo of self made company in 3 yrs may or may not hawkmoth and mayura defeated in 2 months cause that's when lila stuck at day of cupid sugar _ Chloe, gami , Luka, nino Alix Kim max man cause they have brain cells." Never Adrian got cat or ladybug cause mari had both powers of true holder as always dying breath of fu gave mari guardian ship Adrien is bitch who thinks mari has a crush on him while that's totally stupid as he's meta of manipulator and lies with lila . Others broke the spell because they used miraculous gives them immunity towards meta

#tim x marinette #maribat #marinette dupain cheng x tim drake #bio dad bruce wayne #timmari #lila salt #class salt #classic shool trip #ceo x ceo #mdc #childhood friends #sugar mps #chloe sugar #nino sugar #luka sugar kagami sugar #max alix kim sugar

[lightningmickqueen]

🧋five drinks to get to know me🥤 tagged by @lonelyroommp3

coke zero - she's that bitch i love her i love her hair i love her shoes. must have at least 1 litre in the kitchen at all times or i will perish

coffee - black coffee or a cappuccino. any time of day, anywhere. love her.

lucozade sport - i am severely anemic and the b-12 in that keeps me alive. 12/10 would be dead without her. i usually get the orange but sometimes the blackcurrant when i want to ✨treat myself✨

sugar free red bull - she's good on her own she's good with gin she's a quick fix for a tired day she is like nectar and ambrosia where would we be without her

orange juice with some pulp - i'm literally obsessed with it idk what to tell you. it also wakes me up enough in the morning to go make coffee. but like she just means something to me. makes me feel at home

btw i never drink water. maybe i should try it ?

i'm tagging @alexalbonbon @leclercifying @karlmarxverstappen @multi-twentyone @babysharles

#alix i want you to know i hit sugar free red bull then got up to check the fridge

[mercurialrain]

I Couldn’t Have, I Was Playing Hopscotch with Hawkmoth

Felix slid into his seat next to Dupain-Cheng, wondering what would happen today. 

It seemed that her new policy of dealing with Lila’s lies and the simultaneous ire of the class was to say whatever crazy thing popped into her head whenever they accused her of something. It had been rather entertaining, to say the least. 

The first time she’d done it, their faces had been so comical that it had made Felix wish he’d brought his camera to school. 

“Marinette! How could you shove Lila into the lockers?” Kim had stood in front of the crowd, his arms crossed in what was clearly meant to be an intimidating pose. 

Marinette had looked up with a blank expression. 

“I couldn’t have, I was playing hopscotch with Hawkmoth. He’s a really bad loser, so I had to leave before he had a full-on temper tantrum.” She had said it with the blandest tone he’d ever heard her use, which only added to the effect. 

Everyone’s mouths had opened and closed like a fish’s, trying to figure out how to respond to her answer. It was obviously not true, but how did someone respond to that?

She’d held Kim’s gaze, no trace of amusement on her face. 

It had worked exactly how he suspected she intended; they hadn’t managed to come up with anything before Bustier had come back in the room, breezily instructing everyone to turn to page 294 in their textbooks. 

The next time, it seemed that they had come a little better prepared, allowing Alix to lead the charge. She was notorious for having a witty retort to everything, so it made sense. Unfortunately, Marinette had also come with a plan. 

“Marinette! Care to tell us why you sabotaged Lila’s project in the art room?”

Marinette had held up a finger, digging in her backpack. The class had watched with interest, as this was the first reaction that hadn’t been outright hostile or bland. 

She’d pulled out her tablet and typed something before turning it around. 

Can’t talk. I lost my voice after too much yelling at the heavy metal concert I went to last night. 

Alix had blinked at the idea of sugar-sweet Marinette attending a heavy metal concert, but recovered quickly. “Ok, so type out why you destroyed her project!”

Some more typing, then a response. Couldn’t have, I was helping scientists extract DNA from mosquitoes in amber to make dinosaurs.

“That’s the plot of Jurassic Park!”

Where do you think they got the idea from?

Alix had stared for a moment more before throwing up her hands. “This is useless, she’s clearly gone off the deep end!” She’d stormed out, leaving the rest of the class behind, unsure of what to do now that they’d lost their ringer.

Again, Bustier had made the decision of what to do for them, coming in with a reminder of the worksheet they had due at the end of class. 

Needless to say, Felix believed that this was a very good use of her creative mind. Watching her outsmart the idiots of the class in her own way was endlessly amusing and had quickly become his favorite part of the day. 

Today, before the daily confrontation, Bustier had assigned them a project, a partner project with their deskmate. For Felix, that was Marinette. Since they’d been working on the project all day, Lila hadn’t had the chance to leave and lie about anything, pushing the confrontation to likely after the lunch break. Felix could hardly wait to see what she said this time. Maybe this project would allow him to get to know and understand her better.

“So for the project I was thinking that we make a PowerPoint-” Marinette cut herself off, staring at him with a puzzled expression. “You’re almost smiling at me. Are you feeling alright?”

Felix immediately wiped his expression, mildly mortified that he’d outwardly shown his amusement, but forged ahead. “I see you got your voice back. Was the heavy metal worth it?”

“What? Oh, that. I’m fine.”

“Oh, I know. Your recent interactions with the class have been thoroughly entertaining.” 

“Glad you’ve been enjoying it. Confusion is certainly better than outright hostility.” She sighed, suddenly looking very tired. 

“It’s about time that you started retaliating, even if it’s just by scrambling the two collective brain cells they have left. I don’t know that I could’ve put up with Rossi’s bullshit for as long as you have with the patience you’ve had.”

Her eyes snapped to him. “You know she’s lying?”

He scoffed. “Please, don’t insult my intelligence like that. Of course I know she’s lying.”

Marinette was silent. He could almost see the burden on her shoulders getting lighter with the realization she wasn’t alone in knowing Rossi was a liar and was about to comment further on it when Marinette smiled. It was a mischievous smile that promised trouble, which immediately intrigued Felix. He hadn’t seen much of her troublemaker side except for the few glimpses from her last interactions with the class, but he had a feeling there was one hell of a wicked streak somewhere underneath that cotton candy. 

“You wanna help?”

He considered for a moment. Was it worth getting involved in? On one hand, it was enjoyable to just be merely a spectator. On the other hand, he wanted to know more about this side of Marinette and it was always enjoyable to see idiots put in their place. 

“I’m in.”

- - - - - -

After school, Felix and Marinette were at their desk, waiting for the confrontation. 

And like a bad penny, the class came back to try again. It seemed that they were shuffling who was leading the ‘Marinette how dare you’ brigade, and this time they had chosen Adrien. Felix knew about her crush on him, so he supposed that it was a rather strategic move on their part, if he wasn’t able to see the barely hidden disdain for the boy on her face. 

“Marinette, you know that it wasn’t kind of you to throw Lila’s backpack down the stairs while she was in the cafeteria. That’s not the everyday Ladybug we all know and love.” 

Ah, the guilt trip method. Usually foolproof on someone as empathetic as Marinette, rendered useless by Marinette’s developing apathy towards the class.

“It must’ve been someone else. I spent the lunch break teaching Mr. Ramier’s pigeons how to moonwalk. I wouldn’t have gotten back in time if Felix hadn’t realized the time and dragged me back.”

“Now, Marinette, don’t lie about it.”

“I’m not. Felix?”

Felix nodded, pulling up a video on his phone and showing it to the class. In it, Marinette stood next to some pigeons, clearly demonstrating how to moonwalk. The pigeons looked on curiously, occasionally pecking at her shoes and awkwardly waddling backwards. Mr. Ramier sat in the background, alternately cheering or throwing birdseed to the pigeons. The video clearly had the timestamp of about ten minutes before their break ended, so they would’ve had to rush to get back to class. There was no way they could’ve done anything.

Marinette looked back at Adrien and folded her arms. “Well? I’ll take my apology now.”

Felix snorted at the flabbergasted expression on Adrien’s face, casually putting his arm over Marinette’s shoulders. He didn’t really know why he did it, only that it felt right. Apparently she didn’t mind, since she just readjusted to be a bit more comfortable. “Give him a minute, he’s rebooting.”

“Wait, are the two of you dating?” He blurted out, then immediately looked like he regretted it. 

This time, Marinette snorted. “Because the only reason he’d support me was if he was my boyfriend? No, that’s what friends are meant to do, Adrien.” The last sentence was laden with poison that Felix didn’t know the context for, but Adrien did, because he flinched. 

“I’m sorry,” he muttered, turning away. 

As soon as the class turned away, her head fell on his shoulder, her face crumpling in pain. He didn’t know what to do but hug her shoulders tighter. He’d seen that her love language was physical touch, so maybe it would help? After a while, her face smoothed and she lifted her head, seemingly doing better. 

“Hey, thanks for backing me up.”

Felix shrugged. “It was fun.”

She turned to look at him. “No, I’m serious. It’s been a long time since anyone’s had my back, even if it’s just to mess with someone. Thank you.”

Why did he suddenly feel all warm inside? “So what’s the next plan?”

Marinette looked surprised. “You want to be involved in the next one?”

“Sure, why not?”

She looked away, her cheeks turning a light pink. “Maybe we could, well, I don’t know, I don’t want you thinking that I’m just saying this because Adrien said it because I promise I’m really not, but maybe we could, um, discuss it on a date?”

“But we hardly know each other.” What did she see in him that she liked? Sure, he’d helped her once, but that was hardly grounds for someone liking someone, was it?

“That’s the point of the date. To get to know someone. Besides, I want to see if you’re as nice as I suspect you are under that prickly exterior.” She was looking at him again, cheeks now a bright red, but with determination in her eyes. 

Well, hadn’t he wanted to get to know her better too? “Sure.”

#felinette #felix graham de vanily #marinette dupain cheng #genuinely keep forgetting to post my fics on tumblr #crack fic #lila salt

[trashyangelic]

₊° For what I do for prompts mainly MLB, the requirements I will accept *♦̮̑ɜ

Here are the list I will accept if I will be doing prompt requests by others.

Lila Salt

Alya Salt

Adrien Salt (it's his 'high road' advice that pissed me off)

Bustier & Damocles Salt

Akuma Class Salt (except Nathaniel, Nino, Alix, Juleka, Rose)

Chloe Redemption (but no salt I don't do it)

Marinette Deserves Better (but no salt I don't do it)

Felix Fathom Redemption

Felinette, Chlonette, Lukanette, Kagaminette, Ninonette

Feligami, Lukloe, Julerose, Chlolix

Good Tom Dupain & Sabine Cheng (but no salt I don't do it)

Gabenath

Gabriel & Nathalie Redemption (but no salt I don't do it)

Bad Parent Gabriel Agreste

Bad Teacher Caline Bustier

Anymore? Oh I forgot I can't do Maribat that I've seen so far. I haven't watch any batman series/cartoon/movies at all so no, I'm not doing it. But I can request one who does Maribat/Daminette/etc prompts stuffs.

#prompt request #announcement #miraculous ladybug #lila salt #alya salt #marinette deserves better #adrien salt #chloe redemption #bustier salt #felinette #damocles salt #akuma class salt #nino sugar #juleka sugar #rose sugar #nathaniel sugar #alix sugar #felix x marinette #felix graham de vanily redemption #no lila rossi demption

[iwasbored777]

Reasons why Alix is the best:

1. She already knows she'll be a future miraculous wielder and doesn't pester Ladybug for the miraculous even when it's become a family heirloom

2. She see Ladybug call upon others to be allies even some of her classmates and friends and Alix doesn't bitch about it

3. Alix has kept the fact she will receive the bunny miraculous a secret so even though Hawkmoth knows a future rabbit weilder exists he has no idea who it could be doing exactly as her older self says she does

In short Alix is the exact kind of person Marinette needs and relies on and I can't wait to see present Alix finally get her watch back. I'm hoping when they retrieve the watch Marinette will finally give it to her permanently.

Alix is great! I always found her cute and fun. I have so many future Alix headcanons. She's so casual about wielding a miraculous that's so important. I wonder what her reaction to this season 4 catastrophy will be. She'll be like "damn y'all really have to change the timeline all the time. I have to spend every weekend here with you dealing with another apocalypse. Kitty Noir, your father really is a d*ck." (She would use the exact words btw) 😂😂😂😂

#miraculous ladybug #alix kubdel #Alix sugar #ml bunnyx #Ml ask #ask and answer

[alien-slushie]

Class sugar and Lila salt prompt! One of the classmates becomes their inner wereanimal (painful transformation, non-feral mindset). Lila sees it and lies to everyone that the monster (the transformed classmate) is a danger and must be put down. But the class would rather try to save the person instead (much to Lila’s frustration). Obviously, the classmate is cured and Lila is exposed.

Disclaimer: I don't hate any MLB characters, salt drama is just funny, and I want to get my writing enthusiasm back. Don't like, don't read. And any hate comments that are not constructive criticism will be laughed at and then ignored so don't waste your own time.

Thank you for the prompt(s). I'm pretty sure they are from the same person, because they came pretty close together, so I combined these two. If not, well, sorry. This is not my best work, and was kind of rushed, sorry.

Contains: Lila Salt, Canon Typical Violence, Mentioned/Implied Putting Down/Death, Not Beta Read, Akuma Typical Body Modification/Mutation, One Cuss Word,

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

Title: 'Were' the Lies were Exposed

Nobody was quite sure what had happened. One moment they were walking down the street as a class, intent on going to the park to surprise Marinette with a party for her latest third place victory in a local fashion contest(against much older and more experienced designers mind you), but also as a ‘Thank You’ for all the hard work she did daily for their class, the next Marinette was shoving Juleka out of the way, getting an akuma absorbed into the pen she had tucked into her ear. 

The akuma’s energy bubbled and oozed while Marinette fought, trying desperately to fight the akuma’s hold, but Hawkmoth must have done something to it because she just couldn’t shake its effects completely. The one thing she was thankful for was that she seemed to be keeping her head, and was very much in control of her thoughts and actions. Her bones started popping, and an animalistic whine escaped her throat, her limbs twisting to accommodate the akumatized form while soft fur sprouted across her body. Marinette choked on painful whines as the transformation finally stopped.

The class gaped at their class president’s new form. She was much taller now, matching Ivan’s height, her legs bent like that of an animal’s haunches, with sharp clawed feet and hands. Her face and head were animalistic tiger-like, like the third or fourth picture of an Animorph book cover. Fur took up where had once been skin, but not the usual orange or white fur on a natural tiger, her fur was ladybug red, and the stripes that cascaded down her body we a blue hued black, with dashes of white around her muzzle, chest, and chin. Most noticeable was the now bushy red and blue-black striped tail that sprouted from her tail bone, and her human ears that were larger and rounded, with noticeable white spots on the back. 

Marinette opened her mouth to speak, but all that came out was a gargled half growl sound that caused her friends to jump in fright, with her softer classmates taking a few steps away. Hurt flared in Marinette’s chest before she remembered the predicament she was in. Her head bowed, ears twitching like they wanted to fold back while her tail drooped.

“M-Marinette?” Juleka stuttered, trying to gauge if her akumatized friend, and savior, was a threat or not. Whiskered twitching, Marinette turned towards her, blinking slit pupiled yellow eyes at her. 

“Girl you in there?” Alya asked, stepping towards her friend and grabbing her claw-hand. In place of a purr, Marinette let out an odd cuff sound, her tail twitching happily. Alya grinned at her. “No way! Hawkmoth transformed you but don’t seem to be under his control at all! I knew my best friend was badass but dang!” She reached up to pet her friend's new furry head, getting a pleased cuff sound in return. 

That seemed to break the tension as the class then relaxed, Juleka was quick to hug Marinette, stammering ‘thank you’s and ‘I’m sorry’s. Alix and Nathan were taking selfies with their akumatized friend, her cuffing fondly at them and played along. Mylene was tentatively running her hand over her tail, amazed by the softness, while her boyfriend and Kim were comparing her new height, Kim in particular wanted an arm wrestle seeing as Marinette seemed to get some extra muscle. Nino was quickly writing a new script while Adrien’s back acted as his table, the DJ/Movie Director hopeful getting a flash of inspiration and Adrien not minding since no one was in immediate danger. 

“Are you crazy!” Lila simpered, drawing the class attention to herself. “Marinette just turned into a beast! We need to call Animal control!”

“Girl, it's fine.” Alya sighed. “We just have to find Ladybug or Chat Noir so they can dispel the Akuma.”

“How are you so sure she's an akuma?” Lila balled her hands into fists. “Ladybug told me that there was no way a person could shake off an akuma, much less transform but not be under Hawkmoth’s control! As her /best friend/ she tells me everything!”

“We saw the akuma, Lila.” Juleka said softly, glaring at the italian, whom she blamed for the situation. She was the one who upset Juleka in the first place, if Lila hadn't said that Marinette would have won if she had a professional model(ie not Juleka like she had) then the shy model to-be wouldn't have gotten upset enough to summon an Akuma. 

“Well she maybe just hasn’t met someone strong enough to do it then.” Adrien chimed in. “I mean, Ladybug is human, she doesn’t know everything about everything, and its wrong to assume she does.”

“Or Marinette just isn’t human.” Lila huffed in frustration. 

Alix laughed. “You can’t honestly believe Marinette has been an actual weretiger this whole time and exposed herself to fight an akuma.”

Lila glared at the girl. “Its possible!” She screeched. “Which is why we have to call animal control to come put her down or something!”

“That isn’t funny Lila.” Mylene chided.

“I’m not joking! She’s a danger to all of us!” Lila huffed and grabbed her phone, but Nathan swiped it from her hands before she could dial a single number. “Give me my phone back!”

“No.” Nathan shook his head, handing the phone to Alix to keep safe.

“Sorry to interrupt.” A tiny voice squeaked, drawing everyone’s attention upwards, where a small floating bug kwami floated. “Ladybug is in a every important exam, and since this young lady isn’t a danger she send me out to dispose of the akuma. So if one of you could break that pen.”

“On it!” Kim said, recovering the fastest from seeing Ladybug’s kwami. He snatched the pen from Marinette’s ear and snapped over his knee, wincing at the sharp glare he got from the tiger turned girl. “I will buy you a new one.” He promised. 

As Marinette turned back, the transformation just as painful as before, Alya and Juleka pressed against her in comfort, the rest of the class watched at the kwami gulped up the akuma, spitting out a purified one that fluttered away with ease. 

“This had been bothering me for a while,” Alix chimed, grabbing the kwami’s attention before she could fly back to Ladybug. “Is Ladybug friends with any civilians.” The pink haired girl glanced at Lila, who stopped stewing in her anger long enough to panic. 

A very serious face befell the kwami. “No. Understand that Ladybug befriending a civilian, even privately, is extremely dangerous. It puts them, and herself in grave danger. Even in her private life shes extremely careful with who she befriends. If you know someone saying they are friends with her, please stop them. It’s a lie and it can cause them great harm.” She advised before flying away. 

“I wonder what else Lila has been lying about.” Adrien prodded, and the class turned to the Italian, but she had booked it down the street during the kwami’s speech and was nowhere to be seen.

Alya sighed. “We’ll deel her her later. Right now lets go to the party we set up for my best friend!” She smiled at Marinette, who smiled back with a small wince.

“Can we get an Ice pack on the way?” She asked carefully. “Everything hurts.” She admitted, pulling a few laughs from her friends. “I am not kidding.”

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug fanfiction #miraculous ladybug salt #class sugar #lila salt #marinette sugar

[scribbleseas]

The Indignant Pawn, Chapter XVIII: The Eternal Promise

Description: You are Y/n Y/l/n- formerly known as Princess Helena, the runaway princess.

You're an assassin for hire who only agrees to find the worst of London's criminals at the business end of your knife; until a mysterious woman hires you to end the likes of Ciel Phantomhive, the King of the Underworld. You find yourself trading your weapons for your abandoned family crest in order to infiltrate his home as none other than Princess Marie-Louise, your twin sister. What's to happen when you find that the young Earl is more than a callous businessman?

OVERALL STORY WARNINGS: sexual assault (once in the prologue), objectification, misogyny, death, detailed description of blood/gore, detailed description of murder, lying, impersonation, theft, weapons, detailed panic attacks, symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, kissing

Author’s Note: Hi everyone! This is the last chapter of The Indignant Pawn! Thank you so much for reading and following along on this story! It means the world to me and I’m so happy that I was able to complete this for you, and so soon. I ended up having more time than I thought, and I was so inspired. I couldn’t start to study for finals without completing this, unfortunately. Please let me know how you feel about the ending. It’s been years in the making. 

One more thing, I opened commissions! If you're remotely interested, please check out this post!

Happy Reading!

- Dan

⇠ PREVIOUS CHAPTER

MASTERLIST  

. . .

MAY 12TH, 1892

SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN, GERMANY

It was early noon and you were already exhausted. 

Last night, the Glücksburg Castle staff separated you and Ciel the moment your steamship docked at the port. They pulled you apart before you could share much of a goodbye; taking you to the castle in different carriages and in separate routes before showing you to separate quarters. In accordance with common wedding superstition, you weren’t to see Ciel until the wedding ceremony, the next day. 

Instead, your company was the bridal party, handpicked by Queen Victoria. The Hesse sisters occupied the full length of the brunch table’s left side, talking amongst themselves.  

Despite being married across the continent, they still came in a set of four, the beautiful and elegant daughters of your late Aunt Alice. The eldest, Victoria, was about ten years your senior, married to Louis of Battenberg, the adventurous one. She was engaged in some emphatic discussion with her sister, Elisabeth, one of the most beautiful women in Europe, the papers liked to say.

Elisabeth turned down numerous dukes and princes before Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich captured her heart. 

The other two sisters were Irene and Alix, both were shy and withdrawn, at least by comparison to their siblings. Irene was content to let her elder sisters engage the European press, enjoying her serene marriage with Prussian Prince Henry. Meanwhile, Alix was still engaged to Nicholas II of Russia. She was unpopular with the Russian public, but a noted beauty.

“I believe our gowns are soft blue or some shade of periwinkle, are they not?” Victoria of Hesse said ponderously, adding a half-spoonful of sugar into her tea. She had your deceased aunt’s pleasant smile and joking eyes-- at least from what you remembered of Aunt Alice.

“I’m sure I don’t know,” Elisabeth replied, “Gangan had our modiste send over my measurements and that was all. Do you know, Marie?” she asked, turning the table’s attention back to you. 

“No; Gangan handled all of the wedding planning,” you hoped your tone was light enough to portray amusement. “I haven’t so much as seen my gown, much less yours.” It was true. Nina merely sent your measurements to your Matron of Honor, Aunt Beatrice, and that was all. You were even unsure if the wedding was going to take place at the castle or a traditional church. 

“We should hope it is a more vibrant color than blue, no?” Grand Duchess Maria chimed in, seated at the right of the table by Lizzie. You managed to convince your grandmother to allow the Midfords to attend the wedding, so long as you strictly referred to their familial relationship, rather than past engagement. Not to mention, Ciel needed stand-ins in the wedding procession for his parents.

She seemed well-suited to the royal table, easily carrying conversations with the Hesse sisters, and winning over the Grand Duchess. Maria was advertising her and your Uncle Alfred’s son, Alfred II, for Lizzie to consider marrying. They were the Duke and Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and they were looking for a bride for their second son. Lizzie would make a better duchess than you did a princess.

“If it’s a baby blue, I think it could look quite elegant,” Irene said. “Especially if the gentlemen wear deep navy and with chartreuse accents.”

“That’s exactly what I thought!” Lizzie smiled. “That color scheme is perfect for the spring.” Her word of agreement seemed to encourage shy Irene. Lizzie navigated these situations flawlessly, engaging the outspoken, and encouraging the quiet. You respected her ability to infuse cheerful care into every conversation she was a part of, even if it was these sort of superfluous topics.

After all, this was the sort of aimless conversation you had been entertaining all morning. It was endless torture with a side of tea and miniature pastries and finger sandwiches that the other women hardly touched. You would’ve taken the pain that came after Mey-Rin’s grazing bullet over entertaining this group of frivolous women. 

“Good morning, everyone!” Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom entered, carrying a wooden box with both hands. By the tension in her shoulders, it seemed heavy.

Beatrice was your youngest aunt; Queen Victoria’s youngest child. She was Victoria’s known confidante; living with her for years as her secretary. Beatrice and her husband, Henry of Battenberg, made home with Victoria since their early marriage.

And for the next several days, she was to serve as your Matron of Honor.

You were satisfied with that choice, as well. Out of all your grandmother’s daughters, Aunt Beatrice was the most motherly. Marie was fond of her — she was a bridesmaid at her wedding in 1885. You were always most partial to your Aunt Louise, the Duchess of Argyll, but much to your silent chagrin, she was not a part of the wedding party. 

The table rose, everyone dropping into a shallow curtsey, though Duchess Maria’s was too quick to be genuinely respectful. Your aunt was too humble to comment on it and make an unnecessary scene. Instead, Beatrice took measured strides towards you, exchanging knowing smiles with the rest of the table.

“Good morning, Aunt Beatrice,” you greeted, swiftly kissing one another on the cheek. “Thank you for being here,” you said, though you doubted the queen gave her the option.

“Of course,” she smiled fondly, setting the heavy box on the table. 

“Marie, Aunt Beatrice had to secure your ‘something borrowed’ as it were,,” Victoria of Hesse explained. She gestured to the guard behind Beatrice with the slightest chin tilt. Of course, all traveling jewels from the royal vault needed to be accompanied by a guard and a gun.

“Go on, Marie,” your aunt encouraged, setting the thick wooden box down. “We all spent ages in the vault picking the right one for you.” 

You smiled. You hoped it looked more grateful than nauseous as you unclasped the box. Crimson velvet insulated the box’s interior, cushioning the imposing tiara that sat inside. The diamonds sparkled, cut into long, pointed off spikes. Small circle-cut diamonds lined each spike.

This tiara was a piece your grandmother obtained as a gift at the beginning of her reign in 1837, originally commissioned by her uncle, King William IV for his wife. 

“Queen Adelaide’s Diamond Fringe,” Aunt Beatrice said, though you knew the name. It was one of the oldest installments in the Royal Collection. Likely sensing your surprise, your aunt chuckled, “it did not take much convincing on the Queen’s part. Not after I insisted it would look best with your wedding gown.”

Reluctantly, you used the cloth included in the box to pick up the tiara, inspecting it more closely. The diamonds sat on the heads of two generations of royal women: Queen Adelaide, Queen Victoria…and now, you. An imposter. Royalty by blood, but of course, not by private association.  

“It’s lovely—” you began to say, until your cousin interrupted you.

Elisabeth of Hesse gasped, “Aunt Bea! You’ve seen her dress!” The rest of the table expressed their overlapping speculations, was it lace or tulle? Was the neckline straight across or Queen Anne?

“Elisabeth, Victoria, she would never hint at such a secret, there’s no point in accosting the woman,” Grand Duchess Maria scoffed, taking a cavalier sip out of her tea. She was jealous. 

“You will see it tomorrow!” Beatrice replied, laughing. The reminder of tomorrow forced another jolt of anxiety down your spine, but you used the energy to laugh as well. “In the meantime, I was also tasked with escorting you to your fitting, Marie. I do apologize for cutting your breakfast short, ladies.”

“That’s all right,” you smiled, carefully putting the priceless tiara back into its box. The moment you clasped the box, Beatrice’s guard took hold of it. After a reverent bow to the room, he took his leave, likely going to put the tiara into Glücksburg vault.

 At least you could escape this useless chatter. 

. . .

Given that your day was nothing short of exhausting, you should have had an easier time falling asleep. Yet, you paced Marie’s quarters, restless. It was unsettling to be around all of her recent belongings; letters, left behind clothing, books, her violin. It was as if she was truly on a short vacation in England.

A new lump of guilt rose in your throat.

But more importantly, you wanted to see Ciel. Strangely, after only a day of separation, you missed him.

Having lived together for the past several months, you were accustomed to being around him. Even if some of the time you spent together was quiet, and you only felt his presence at your side.

“I was sent to escort you to my Lord’s room, Miss Y/n,” Sebastian’s voice came from behind you. 

Instinctively, you turned on your heel and reached for the closest weapon possible, a small pair of scissors off your vanity. They were hardly big enough to cut thread with. You brandished the scissors in Sebastian’s general direction, but failed to find the voice’s source at first glance. The butler blended with the shadows, wearing nearly all black. He chuckled mirthlessly.

His red eyes were certainly glowing in the dark. 

“Yes, Sebastian?” You asked impatiently, putting the scissors back on the table. They wouldn’t be of much help to you, anyway. Nothing would be— not against some… being… that caught bullets. 

“My Lord requests your presence in his quarters. Unfortunately, you’ve made him care for you. Considerably,” he said. You hated his smile, the light tone his voice took. You would prefer he yell, or scowl, or frown. Anything to replace the patrronizing look that you knew so well. 

“Made him?” You questioned. Your eyebrows knitted together indignantly as you crossed your arms. What was he insinuating?

“Yes,” the butler said bluntly. “You’ve become an unfortunate distraction. A scourge to his soul.” His… soul?

“Thankfully, that is not for you to decide. Any opinion you have is irrelevant to us, Sebastian.” You said, turning your back to him to find flats to slip on. You never knew Sebastian to lie; he certainly wasn’t holding back at that moment.

“I simply want you to be aware that my loyalties will always fall with my master,” Sebastian replied, the undertones in his voice clear enough. If there is a life and death situation tomorrow, I will let you die, if I can.

“Well, you’ve been such an obedient servant, thus far,” you mirrored his obsequious tone, pairing it with your own reprimanding smile. “You ought to keep your Lord’s best interests in mind. Not to worry, Sebastian, I can handle myself.”

“Happy to hear it, Miss Y/n,” Sebastian replied, bowing with a hand over his heart. The gesture was as genuine as Duchess Maria’s greeting to your aunt had been.  

“My Lord ordered me to escort you. There are guards in the hallway,” the butler explained. His eyes brightened, daring you to decline him. 

You scoffered in disbelief, shaking your head. It was precaution from Diego’s warning, you assumed. “Fine.”

You left the room first, surprised that there was no guard fixed outside your door. Though you knew where you were going, Sebastian led you to the guest wing. Instinctively, you remembered where to step so as not to cause the wooden floor to complain.

Every few paces, Sebastian would have you pause to let a guard pass. Apparently, he sensed them much sooner than you did. 

Do some reading about the supernatural after all of this is over with, you reminded yourself. The thought was ridiculous, but there was no harm in investigating. Besides, Sebastian was becoming too unmistakable to continue ignoring. 

The moment you knocked on Ciel’s door, Sebastian disappeared. Your fiancé opened the door. Before he could speak, you hugged him tightly, hiding your face in his nightshirt. You breathed in his familiar scent, letting your eyes flutter closed. Your fingers grabbed fistfulls of his shirt, bunching the material around his back. Ciel hardly managed to close the door behind you, locking it to be safe.

“I waited to see you all day,” Ciel said simply, brushing strands of your hair behind your ear when you looked up at him. He pressed a greeting kiss on your cheek. “My groomsmen insisted we explore the city. It was quite a hindrance.”

“Well, I was stuck in a flock of blushing bridesmaids,” you laughed humorlessly. “If I so much as started saying your name, they would throw some fit— something about bad luck.”

“If simply saying my name is bad luck, seeing me must be absolutely damning,” Ciel quipped smugly. He guided you to sit on the edge of his bed, shamelessly regarding you. You returned the favor, your gaze catching on the way his collar bones protruded under his loose nightshirt.

You thought about the last time he sat on the edge of his bed with you present, climbing into his lap, pleasuring yourself against the hardness in his trousers. Technically, you wore more that evening than in this current moment. All you wore was a white nightgown. Nothing under it, nothing over it. It was made of satin, as sheer as a curtain.

Ciel made a respectable effort to look at your face only. 

“Tomorrow night, we will be wed,” you said meaningfully, feeling your face flush. 

“Yes,” Ciel’s response was impatient, “we will be.” He hated to wait, but he was never one to do something so significant haphazardly. If you were to consummate, you had to be married. But this time tomorrow, you would be. 

An amused smile tugged at your lips, “my Aunt Beatrice was giving me…anecdotes about her wedding night.” The interaction had been excruciating during your gown fitting, but now you thought it was rather humorous. Beatrice was a few years past 30— she had three children, another on the way, so it was rumored.

Ciel cringed at the thought of your relative telling you about what takes place behind a couple’s locked door. As if he had no clue, and didn’t want to know. You knew he knew. “And I thought nothing could be worse than my own cousin.”

While your eyebrows knit, initially figuring he was referring to Lizzie, but you took a sigh of relief upon realizing that he was speaking of Edward Midford, her brother. He was Ciel’s best man.

“Better than Sebastian,” you quipped. However, your smile faltered at the thought of the butler. Marrying Ciel meant you were resigning yourself to a life with a powerful, supernatural servant who wanted you dead. If given the chance, he would kill you. 

“Y/n?” Ciel frowned, mirroring your disheartened expression. 

“It’s nothing. I just…I suppose I’m tired,” you said unconvincingly. 

You rested your head on the side of his arm. “Being here…seeing my aunt and cousins. Living in my sister’s room....” It wasn’t the full truth, but certainly wasn’t a lie. There was an unwavering pit in your stomach. A premonition that something was about to go terribly amiss. 

“We’re taking the first steamship tomorrow night,” Ciel replied, running his thumb over your knuckles. It was a habit he picked up from you, the way you liked to ground yourself through small, repetitive motions. “I assumed being here would be difficult for you.”

“Where are we going?” The destination of your honeymoon was supposed to be a surprise, one left to Ciel’s careful planning. However, you were never one for surprises, and you would be away for about a month. You deserved to know where you were going to be for such a long span of time.

Ciel replied in French, “Quelque part où il y a du vin, des champs de lavande et une grande tour, ma chère.” He rarely used his second language, considering you couldn’t understand it and he was in the midst of perfecting his German, but it was attractive. You flushed at his graceful accent, the way the complex language suited his voice. 

“Ciel…” you started, chuckling fondly. 

“Et quand nous y serons, nous ferons des choses innommables les uns avec les autres,” Ciel continued, gauging your reaction. He kissed your cheek and slightly below your jaw before moving your hair out of the way to press a peck on the nape of your neck. The more you were intimate, the more you noticed his fixation with your neck. 

As Ciel turned to face you completely, his hand released yours to settle on your bare thigh. You moved further up the bed to make space.

His voice dropped to a whisper, “nous avons tous deux attendu si longtemps.” Your arms erupted with goosebumps as you pulled him closer, his lips centimeters from your own. 

For all you knew, he could be stringing nonsense into sentences, but it didn’t matter. It sounded perfect, his tender touch giving way for a new warmth to spread in your stomach.

Your fingers tangled into his hair as you pulled him down against the bedspread with you. The kiss was breathless and all-consuming. It ignited every nerve— down to your toes. You could feel Ciel’s warmth through his shirt, and you were consciously aware of everywhere your skin touched his. His legs bracketed yours. 

Giving you a moment to catch your breath, he kissed the center of your throat, your drumming pulse point. He paused, an amused grin playing at his lips. 

“What is it?” You managed. 

“Do you recall the last time we were in a position like this?”

After a beat of silence, you laughed. “Our dispute! When I nearly broke your nose and ran away.” Even when you hated Ciel, you couldn’t bring yourself to meaningfully injure him. 

Ciel hummed in confirmation, though his dubious look suggested he thought your recollection of the altercation was self-serving. “And you still looked like you wanted to kiss me. Even when I held a knife right here,” his fingers grazed over the scar on your throat— a superficial wound above your left carotid. 

“Yes… just like this,” you smarted, pulling him close to steal an innocent peck from his lips.

“Yes, I suppose just like that,” Ciel conceded, rolling his eye. 

“What’s more, you couldn’t bring yourself to press harder,” you added teasingly, pulling him back in for a long kiss, treating this opportunity to be intimate with your fiancé as if it was your last.

. . .

MAY 13TH, 1892

SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN, GERMANY

You didn’t recognize yourself in the mirror. 

Mey-Rin and Nina made elegant work with your makeup; darkening your eyebrows, painting on a blush that made your cheeks look flushed, a lipstick that made your lips appear bitten. After all, obvious makeup was considered fraudulent and deceptive; the work of women who worked street corners, Queen Victoria would say. 

Nina twisted your hair into a French twist updo, leaving curled strands out in the front. Queen Adelaide’s Fringe Tiara felt heavy on your head, fastened to your hair with pins. It dug into your scalp, the pain made it impossible for you to forget that it sat there.

Your gown was surprisingly simplistic; it was whiter than snow, free of any lace or bead detailing. Instead of was a sheen of satin, the lustrous fabric beautiful without being flamboyant. Your sleeves, controversially, were off the shoulder, meeting in a seam in the middle of your chest. 

To hide the gruesome scar on your arm, you wore matching white gloves that reached your elbows. They were out of season, but there was no way for you to hide the old wound otherwise. 

Under such a heavy dress and tiara, you were ready to collapse. Your preparation team had you awake before the sun rose, giving you a small breakfast before stuffing you into a carriage and taking you to the church to get dressed. It was a prayer room made into a makeshift dressing areafor your purposes; security did not want to risk the wedding party arriving at the ceremony in carriages, per tradition.  Instead, everyone in the wedding had to get to the church at inane hours to let the guards watch every doorway and window for intruders, once again taking separate carriages in different routes.  

You took a deep breath in, trying to settle your nerves. You were marrying the man you loved, someone who understood you in a way that no one since Baxter did. Only…now your life was to belong to the monarchy once more. This wedding ceremony was more symbolic and full of circumstance than romance. It wasn’t yours and Ciel’s. It was Europe’s. 

Not to mention, Diego warned you that Mariana had a plan. Mariana…it was still strange to have a real name for the woman. A reason why she was determined to kill you both, but more importantly, Ciel. You couldn’t allow that, even if he did kill her husband.

No matter how security prepared, she was still a threat. She would try to kill the both of you until either she succeeded, or you killed her first. Still, you knew that every possible measure was made. Sebastian would protect Ciel to the bitter end, regardless. That was what mattered. 

There was nothing more for you to do besides having the wedding. You laughed at your reflection. You looked like a princess, but what raced through your mind — murder, death threats, the leader of a foreign drug empire — were not regal bride concerns in the least. 

And you looked much more calm than you felt. At least you could contain your inner turmoil; stuff it down, sort your worries into neat categories. Impending doom, a death threat, a potentially supernatural butler. Hide it all behind the image of a jubilant princess who balanced the weight of a diamond tiara and a dagger all the same. 

Besides, there was no other option. Ciel had an earldom to run, a business to support, an Underworld to terrorize. He was too proud to live in middle class America. He would detest waking up every morning, and that would soon become a hatred for waking up with you. All you could do was marry, and support each other in your new royal family role. Dispel evil together. Dispel Mariana if she attempted to challenge you. Maybe even have a child or two. 

You squeezed your eyes closed, thinking about last night. All you needed to do was complete the day, and you would be together. In every way a couple could be together.

There was a stiff knock at the door, forcing you to open your eyes and paint a pleasant expression on your face. “Come in.”

“Marie,” Christian, your eldest brother, entered. You figured he would be walking you down the aisle — giving you away — instead of your father. No one told you, but you had the good sense to expect it. It was well-known that Queen Victoria disliked your father. She didn’t care for Prince Christian I, matching your mother, Princess Helena, with him because she couldn’t find a proper European house to marry her middle child into. 

Meanwhile, it was no secret that Victoria favored your brother. The Queen adored him for studying at Wellington College as she wanted, and she found nothing more befitting of a prince than serving in the military. Christian recently returned from an expedition in Isazi as an officer in the British Army. His skin was still lightly tanned from being in South Africa for so long. He wore his uniform and full officer decorations. Other men in the service were likely doing the same; Edward Midford and his father, Lord Scotany.

“Christian,” you were unsure how Marie greeted him, and your hesitance showed. There was a beat of silence as he regarded you.

Christian raised his eyebrow, “why did you do away with Christle?” He was referring to that puerile nickname you both used for him as children. 

Marie still referred to him as Christle at this age? He was a military official!

“You’ve been acting differently lately, Marie. Are you sure you love Phantomhive? Is this what you want to do?” Christian asked, worry furrowing his eyebrows. He looked like you when you were apprehensive, the same level stare, pursed lips. 

“How am I different?” You asked. It was easy to act around Queen Victoria and your mother— anyone who spent more time worrying about themselves or their positions to really understand the difference between you and your sister. But Christian was more complicated. He was your authority figure while your mother was opening hospitals abroad and your father worked. Christian spent plenty of time playing with Marie, admonishing you for being lax in your duties as a child. As the eldest, he was 16 the second time you ran away, 15 the first. 

You felt like you were nine years old again, getting admonished for refusing to ride a horse side saddle, or for getting mud all over your dress before the family portrait. 

“You’re…acting quite like Thora,” Christian said, his militant eyes practically staring into your soul. You tried not to grimace at your old nickname. 

He wasn’t accusing you; his voice was thoughtful or concerned, if anything. “Aunt Beatrice was worried, too. I only…” he paused. “I only want to ensure that this marriage is what you want. You will always be my younger sister, even if I’m supposed to be giving you away.”

The honorable Prince Christian never changed.

“If I’ve been somber…I don’t mean to be,” you replied. “I…the past few months of my life have been terrifying. I know you were away in Africa but there was a death threat sent to court. On my life. The Phantomhive manor was even attacked, months ago,” you rolled down your glove to show him the injury. If you could persuade your brother, no one would question you. 

Christian sighed, his face unchanging. The military seemed to desensitize him to these sorts of wounds. He inspected the healed scar, and nodded once. “It healed well. Phantomhive’s medic is rather talented,” he admitted gruffly. The irony being, that the medic was Sebastian, a monster who wanted you dead. 

You pulled the glove back over your forearm. Christian didn’t argue with you, but you knew he was unconvinced. Before he could speak, the quick notes of Mendelsson’s Wedding March reverberated throughout the church, preceded by soul-shattering chords. That was your cue to join the procession. 

Christian glanced at the clock to confirm the time was right. “We have to join the others,” he offered his arm. You laced yours with his, and two servants you didn’t know picked up your gown’s long train. 

When you joined the procession from behind, the first of the wedding party was already walking down the aisle. First was Queen Victoria, accompanied by her secretary and two guards; the Officiant; Lord and Lady Scotany as they filled in for Ciel’s deceased parents; your parents; Ciel and his groomsmen. You and Christian joined from the hall behind the doors to the Sanctuary, so you didn’t see any of them before they walked. 

Instead, you saw the middle of the procession: your bridesmaids, the Hesse sisters, Cornelia, and Aunt Beatrice. Cornelia was one of your bridesmaids because her husband, Edward, was Ciel’s best man. It was more of a formality, than a show of closeness between you. 

After them was the ring bearer and the flower girl, respectively. While you expected Victoria to insist the roles be fulfilled by your younger cousins, she allowed Ciel to fill those positions from his own friends and family. He asked little Beatrice Moore and her betrothed, Theodore Ambrose, the next Earl of Granard. Beatrice was still giggling at the fact that she shared a name with a real princess, your Aunt Beatrice.

You settled behind the children. Little Beatrice nearly missed her cue because her eyes were locked on your tiara and seemingly endless gown. Beatrice waved at you vigorously, causing you to smile. “Marie! You look so beautiful!” She exclaimed, shooting Theodore an irritated look when he tapped her shoulder and reminded her to walk with him. 

One of the servants handed you a bouquet of flowers, alstroemerias with white roses, and baby's breath incorporated. It was your turn to walk down the aisle with your brother, but you couldn’t help but wish it was Baxter at your side. That this wedding had less people, a tiara that didn’t weigh more than your brain…

Smile. You urged yourself not to buckle under the weight of everyone’s states. Everyone stood for the entire wedding procession, given that Queen Victoria was standing as well. No one sat while the highest-ranking royal stood. 

First, you passed the servants and guards in the furthest pews from the altar. Mey-Rin dabbed at her tears from under her glasses, Finny waved, Baldroy nodded once. Nina smiled at you, gesturing for you to keep walking in time with the music. You had paused for a half second, attempting to find Sebastian. The awkward timing forced Christian to stop his stride to let you catch up. 

You didn’t see Sebastian, and you were unsure if that caused you more anxiety, or alleviated it.

Strictly-screened journalists and press members were in the pews in front of the servants. Their cameras clicked, lenses immortalizing the moment. You smiled for them, struggling to find a place to look.

The music echoed throughout the Sanctuary, overly cheerful. It was the same chords repeating on the grand organ behind the altar. 

Closer to the altar were the aristocratic and the royal guests. Several faces stuck out to you— your Aunt Victoria, the Queen’s eldest child; brother, Albert; Aunt Louise; Mateo and Valentina Bianchi ; the heirs to the English throne, Uncle Edward and Alexandra of Denmark. 

You caught Lizzie’s emerald gaze; she was in the front row, to the side. She looked at you before pointedly looking ahead of her. Look at the man you love. The rest of the world will simply fall away. She was too empathetic for her own good, sometimes. 

As you took your concluding steps towards the altar, you finally looked at Ciel. She was right. Your heart flipped immediately, taking in his deep navy suit. He had a white rose tucked pinned over his chest, his signature flower. The tie tucked into his jacket was a soft pink; pale enough that you thought it was white at first glance. The rest of the wedding party coordinated with him, the bridesmaids wearing the same pink, and the groomsmen the same blue.

Ciel didn’t smile broadly, but you knew better than to fixate on that. Instead, the corners of his lips turned upwards. He took in your appearance slowly, as if he were fixating on a painting. Inspecting every detail with the intensity of someone trying to commit each brush stroke to memory.

At the altar, you took your place across from Ciel. Christian stood behind you, to the officiant’s side. Aunt Beatrice took your bouquet for you.

All you needed to do was finish the ceremony, and you would have the man across from you all to yourself for the next month. Just you, him, Carl, and the servants abroad in some beautiful place. There was no royal tour— all you needed to do was attend Alix of Hesse and Nicholas II’s wedding in Russia as guests.

The thought of such solitude was elating. It helped your smile widen naturally, though your cheeks were beginning to sting.

The music quieted into a small, soothing tune that the officiant could speak over. 

“Welcome, everyone,” the officiant said. He was an agind man with kind blue eyes and a thoughtful smile. There was a gold wedding band on his left ring finger, matching his red and gold robes. “Please be seated. Thank you all for joining us on this joyous day and cloudless afternoon.” 

“Every one of you today has been invited today because you, in one way or another, shaped the lives of these lovely individuals standing before me, Her Highness Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein and Lord Ciel Phantomhive.”

Not hearing your name hurt you more than you thought it would have. 

“For those of you I have not had the chance to meet, my name is Reverend Arthur Green. I have officiated the past…six… royal weddings,” he said with a flourish, making a show of counting. There were scattered laughs in the audience in response. Green was close with the Queen, who sat in a distinguished throne to the side of the author with her Munshi, Abdul Karim. Notably, not all of her children were present— likely for security reasons. 

Reverend Green continued, “we were all taken by surprise by this sweeping love connection, but seeing the way these two beautiful souls regard one another, their love is strong and true.” 

You felt your face redden, matching the new flush over Ciel’s cheeks. 

“I have vows prepared for both the bride and groom,” Green announced. Neither of you expressed a desire to write your own vows, and you doubted the Queen would have let you. She was reluctant with royalty expressing such passionate feelings in public, preferring to preserve the dignified appearance her Royal Mob upheld. 

“Please repeat my words, Your Highness,” he requested, forcing you to refocus. 

You repeated. “I, Marie, take thee, Ciel Phantomhive, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; and I promise to be faithful to you until death parts us.”

Ciel repeated the same vow, having the same reluctance with saying your name. No, Marie’s name. 

This is just the beginning, Y/n.

Ciel broke into a broader smile, yours matching his. His blue eye seemed even darker in the sunset. When you looked at him, you saw your honeymoon, your future, your husband. Your closest friend and confidante. Your heart fluttered, your mouth was dry. More than anything, you wanted to kiss him.

When you looked at him, you forgot about the weight of the tiara on your head.

“Your Highness, do you promise to love, honor, cherish, and protect Lord Phantomhive, forsaking all others, and holding only unto him forever?” Reverend Green asked.

“Yes!” You said more enthusiastically than you meant to. The guests laughed, and out of the corner of your eye, you caught Lizzie’s amused grin. You cleared your throat, “yes, I do.”

“And Lord Phantomhive, do you promise to love, honor, cherish, and protect Her Highness, forsaking all others, and holding only unto her forever?”

“Indeed, I do,” Ciel’s reply was much calmer than yours, but his face was full of love. It made your eyes sting, as if you could cry. You tried to blink the forming tears away. You thought about what his lips feel like, how his arms feel when they wrapped around you to combat your surfacing feelings.

The both of you already loved, honored, cherished, and protected each other. You’d do it forever, if that’s what the Fates had in store for you.

Reverend Green nodded at Theodore, preparing the child to get ready for his cue to bring your wedding rings up to the altar. 

Theodore nodded aggressively in response, tightening his grip on the small cushion with your rings. The audience laughed, but you couldn’t make yourself look away from Ciel to survey their responses any longer.

Green grinned, his eyes brimming with tears as well. At least you weren’t alone in your tragically sentimental feelings. “Now, if there is anyone present, who can show just cause why these two persons may not be joined in matrimony, speak now, or forever hold your peace,” he declared, naturally assuming that no one in the audience would protest. 

The gasps and screams forced you to look away from Ciel and into the audience as it rippled, devolving into chaos. They dove away from a singular woman who stood, aiming a small purse gun at the altar. 

Guards sprang into action, their guns unlocking, but they couldn’t shoot with terrified guests fleeing and hiding. Mey-Rin argued with a soldier, likely in an effort to take his weapon and fire. She was the best shot there, but you assumed the guards refused to let her bring a weapon in.

You didn’t need to look longer to know what was about to happen. You refused to let it. 

Before you knew what you were doing, you moved. You pulled yourself out of Christian’s restrictive grip, and pushed Ciel to the ground, just as the woman shot. The shot sounded throughout the Sanctuary, amongst the course of screaming guests, shouting guards and crying guests. 

You remained standing, merely feeling a searing warmth rip through your left chest. It was nothing like Mey-Rin’s grazing bullet. In fact, it hurt less. It was hot like nothing you’ve ever touched, but it didn’t hurt. Not even the hot stove you touched by accident as a child compared to the sensation in your chest. 

Ciel managed to pull himself off the ground, startled by your hard shove. He’d tripped down the short steps and hit his head, but otherwise, he seemed unharmed. You would have been relieved, had he not been staring at you in panic.

“Y/n,” he managed, horrified. 

But you name was lost amid the chaos. Before you dared look down, you took a quick survey of the rest of the Sanctuary. Queen Victoria and most of the guests fled or hid, guards shielding their escape. Edward sprung in front of Cornelia, the Reverend, Theodore, and Beatrice. The children cried for their parents, who were likely forced to leave with the guards. 

Reverend Green trembled behind the altar, bear hugging young Beatrice and Theodore, the Hesse sisters and Aunt Beatrice fell to the floor, covering their heads. Your brother stood before them, gun drawn. Royalty received crisis training for situations like this. 

Mariana was gone, having used the chaos to make her escape.

“Edward, take the kids!” Cornelia demanded, “get them to their parents.”

“I will not leave you,” Edward Midford insisted, his voice trained to be steady in the face of danger. He was a soldier, like Christian. 

“I-I can,” Reverend Green said, trembling. “Come on, children. We must— we must, go.” He tried to let go of them, but Beatrice held on, hiding her face in the man’s robes. 

“I’ll make sure nothing happens to them,” Green assured Cornelia, but neither child seemed interested in leaving.

“Y/n!” Ciel shouted, his face red as if he’s been trying to capture your attention. He put his hand on your shoulder, but he was trembling. His gaze alternated between your chest and your face, and you made the mistake of looking down at your fresh wound. At the fresh crimson blood that blossomed on the left side of your dress’s bodice. It was in the middle of your left breast— the third or fourth rib you assumed. 

“Oh,” you managed. Your legs buckled, but Ciel caught you and carefully helped you to the floor. He tore his jacket off and pressed it against the wound, hard enough for you to cry out in pain. The ease that he pressed indicated that the bullet fractured your ribs. Ciel sensed that the wound gave way too easily and paled. 

You took a difficult breath in, shivering despite the warm bullet in your chest. Your teeth chattered.

Pain, tenderness, difficulty breathing, you told yourself. Baxter always said that self-assessment came first. It was a small gun. The best you could hope for was a fractured rib, but the way your chest gave way to Ciel’s pressure suggested it was shattered. 

“Why can a shattered rib be dangerous, Y/n?” Baxter asked.

Massive bleeding from ruptured blood vessels, bone fragments from the rib can puncture a lung… or my heart.

Air could build around the lung and cause a tension pneumothorax… assuming the bullet didn’t puncture the lung and do that already.

“Ciel, keep the pressure steady,” Cornelia said. You forgot she was a nurse. Maybe you had a chance, if it wasn't a tension pneumothorax. But you never had that kind of luck. “Help me check for an exit wound,” she said to someone on your right side. The three of them lifted your torso up, and confirmed that you were also bleeding out from the back. They ripped the satin from your gown and used another man’s jacket to slow that bleeding while Ciel held pressure on your front. 

“We need a carriage to get her to a hospital,” Cornelia declared, checking your pulse.

“I-I think the guests took them all,” Lady Scotany said, “Alexis— go check. For a guard, a doctor, a commoner with a carriage, anyone.” With a grim nod, Alexis Midford ran with Baldroy and Mey-Rin. 

“Marie, I know it hurts but I need you to do your best to breathe. And wiggle your fingers,” Cornelia said, but you were more concerned with Ciel. His hands were soaked with your blood, despite Aunt Beatrice continuously giving him new material to help stop the bleeding with. 

“Marie!” Cornelia repeated. When you didn’t respond, she turned to Ciel. “Ciel, you need to tell her to breathe,” she said, “she will listen to you.”

You were Marie, even when you had a bullet in your chest. It was a cruel joke.

Were you not breathing? Was that why your lungs were aflame? Was that why your throat was constricting? Was that why your vision coated in white, and your ears rang like church bells?

Ciel trembled, but he nodded. “Look at me,” he ordered, “breathe. You need to breathe.” Breathing hurt. It hurt more than any pain you ever experienced in your life. It hurt more than your arm. Inhaling hurt more than the bullet itself hurt. 

“T-trying…” you managed.

“You’re doing well, Marie, it’s okay,” Lizzie said, sniffling. Your head was in her lap, though you were unsure when she showed up. “J-just focus on breathing.”

My ribs are broken. I probably have a tension pneumothorax, you wanted to cry out. But your voice wasn’t cooperating. You could feel your rationality slipping out with the same urgency blood bubbled from your wound.

Cornelia cut your bodice open, cutting through the dress and corset. Finny gave his jacket to Lady Scotany to drape over the right side of your chest, for your modesty. As if that was the most concerning part of the situation. 

“Take a deep breath in,” Ciel said, repeating Cornelia’s words. You shivered, struggling to do as told. Your lungs were already full— as if you took an inhale prior, held it, and tried to inhale again, all without exhaling. 

“Abnormal lung sounds,” Cornelia drew back to watch your chest as you struggled to breathe. “Asymmetrical expansion of the chest,” she mumbled gravely.

The problem with being right all the time, meant that you had also diagnosed yourself correctly. And this diagnosis was fatal without near-immediate treatment.

“What does that mean?” Ciel insisted. “Cornelia!” He shouted, but the nurse didn’t meet his gaze. 

“It probably means it’s a…tension pneumothorax,” Cornelia admitted.

“She got away,” you heard Baldroy say from a distance, returning with Lord Scotany. He shouldered his coat off to let Lady Scotany put it beneath the exit wound on your back. “Guards were too concerned with gettin’ the royals to safety. Took all the carriages, too.”

“What does that mean, Cornelia?” Ciel shouted.

“Where is Sebastian?” Lizzie asked, trying to keep her voice level. She removed the heavy tiara from your head and gently smoothed her fingers over your hair.

“Sebastian?” Lady Scotany asked. “He’s getting another carriage. We need to get her to the hospital.” 

You wanted to laugh. With Sebastian getting the carriage, you were surely going to bleed out— or die of hypoxia— whichever came first. You were going to die in front of an altar. In a church. At your own wedding.

“Cornelia!” Ciel yelled. 

“Ciel, shut up and let me work!” Cornelia put her ear to your chest again. 

“Air is building around the outside of her lungs, rather than inside because the bullet— or a bone fragment punctured it,” Christian said, pitying your…husband? Fiancé? 

“The air puts pressure around the punctured lung, and that strains that lung and her heart. Since the lung is punctured, air keeps getting stuck when she inhales, so there is no room for it to expand when she breathes,” your brother explained.

Your lung definitely collapsed. The well-meaning pressure Ciel put on the wound couldn’t be helping, either.

“Hyperresonant chest percussion,” Cornelia noted under her breath. Her concerned frown deepened.

“Cornelia, her neck,” Christian added calmly. He kneeled at your other side, across from Ciel, light fingers touching your throat, feeling for your trachea. “Tracheal deviation to the right and distended neck veins.”

“Tension pneumothorax,” they said in synchrony, sharing a look. 

“So what can we do?” Lizzie cried out. 

“Dying,” you mumbled, fully believing that these were your final moments. The procedure you needed was impossible on the floor of the church. If Sebastian was tasked with the carriage, you weren’t going to get there in time. And he was why you were shot, in the first place. 

He caught bullets. He wanted you dead…it was simple. Bloody demon.

That’s what he was, wasn't he?

“We need a large bore needle!” Christian exclaimed.

“A needle? Whatever for?” Lizzie cried out.

“To evacuate the air,” Cornelia said, “but we don’t have the right kind here.”

“So what do we do?”

“You are not dying, you utter imbecile,” Ciel insisted, steady tears streaming down his face. You weren’t sure if he noticed that his forehead was bleeding, much less the salty tears streaming down his cheeks. “She was bloody aiming at me.” 

You wanted to reach out and wipe the tears off of his face, but your arm was limp at your side, refusing to obey. You could wiggle your fingers, but you couldn’t quite muster the strength to lift the limb. You tried again, but your arm fell to your side uselessly.

You could hear your heartbeat in your ears, pounding in your brain. It was a welcome change from the terrible ringing.

“I’m s-..sorry,” you managed, but it was a lie. If you hadn’t pushed Ciel, it might have hit him. If the man you loved died from your inaction, you wouldn’t be able to forgive yourself for it.

You felt there was a constrictive corset around your brain, tightening and tightening. Your breathing was rapid, in out, in out, in out. You could feel your head throb in time with your heart. With every inhale you managed, you got less air. 

But even so, you would do it again. 

“They’re not going to have the right needle here, we have to burp the wound.” Cornelia said. “Otherwise, she’ll suffocate before the carriage gets here.”

“Burp the wound?” Ciel asked incredulously. 

“The air caught in the pleural space won’t come out safely and she’ll suffocate if we don’t let air escape the opening that’s already there. Ciel, you need to step aside for a moment,” Cornelia explained.

“But— but, she’s still bleeding! I’m…stopping the bleeding! She will bleed out if I stop!” Ciel argued, looking from his bloody hands on the wound to your paling face. Back and forth once more.

“She’s going to die of hypoxia if you don’t let the air out of the lung cavity, Ciel.” Christian said. “You need to move, or I will move you.” Christian was much taller than Ciel. It would’ve been as simple as moving a chess piece.

Ciel moved reluctantly, and switched spots at your side with Christian. 

Cornelia moved the blood-soaked dressing from the wound, and you caught a quiet rush of air before she put fresh dress fabric over it once more. It was only a little easier for you to breathe before it grew difficult again. However, she quickly  removed the dressing when she noticed you beginning to strain. The nurse repeated the process in tandem with your discomfort. 

You shivered, watching the world above you— Ciel’s face, Lizzie’s, your brother’s. The world was brighter, it was blurry. And then it was refined. It was vibrant, and then it wasn’t. Vibrant, clear, blurry, bright…

Was this what Baxter saw? you wondered.

“No, Y/n. It’s not your time, yet.” Baxter said. “You need to wait. You need to try to live. The doc’s comin’ in a carriage with his supplies. He will be there. Just hold on. We’re all here for you every step of the way. You will not die.”

Earnest Baxter.

You refocused on Ciel. His face was clear, and vibrant. And then it was blurry. It was bright. He was still bleeding. He was still handsome.

You put all of your focus into your next words. “I love you,” you managed. Your eyes fluttered closed, it was getting too hard to concentrate and keep them open. 

“No, don’t you dare say that!” Ciel demanded. “You will not die. I don’t know what I’d do without you,” his fingers felt warm on your face, they smelled like blood. Your eyes fluttered open again. You smiled weakly. 

You weren’t sure what you would do without Ciel, either. 

“It’s…not my intent to but…” that might be out of my hands.

This was supposed to be the day you eternally promised yourselves to one another, but apparently, plans sometimes went awry. Sometimes, the determined widow got her happy ending.

But you won too. All because the last face you were going to see was the face of the man you loved.

“Surgeon’s here! He’s got supplies!” 

Hold on, Y/n.

. . .

Acknowledgements:

First of all, I want to thank everyone on Amino (who I unfortunately, didn’t keep in contact with) for telling me that the first 2 chapters of this fic were worthwhile. Without motivation from them, I never would have felt inspired enough to keep developing this idea. 

I also want to thank my best friend for listening to me rant about this piece. About the hours and hours of research about historical figures, laundry in the 1890s, makeup in the 1890s, speech, Victorian slang terms, hair, names, German breakfast food, types of tea, Victorian wedding traditions, serial killers, post-traumatic stress disorder, bilingualism, travel, everything. Even anatomy, dangerous chemicals, ages of me studying self-defense, waltz, and harp tutorials on YouTube. I even did the math-- Cornelia really is an 8th-generation New Yorker! I sat down and put a half hour into making a very preliminary family tree for her. Don’t even get me started on how many times I watched the anime and took notes on the cast’s speech and mannerisms. I even scoured Pinterest for reference pictures, outfit inspiration…everything you could ever want. It all amounted to 300+ pins to my TIP board, and exactly 127,411 words.

I digress. My best friend is so motivating, and without her telling me not to force myself to write when I don’t feel it, you guys wouldn’t have gotten anything close to this quality of work. In fact, she’s also a bit responsible for a scene in this chapter.

I also want to thank Sweet Anon, mylostleftfootsock, katherine101, for consistently reaching out to me in asks, DMs, and commenting. You all motivate me so much, and there’s nothing quite like knowing that the story I write touches you. Without knowing people were really engaging with what I put out, writing would have taken a lot longer, if it happened at all. 

Thank you all, so much. I’m so grateful for every single read.

I can't wait to share my next projects with you. I'll even give you a few hints to make up for this ending: Ciel Phantomhive, ballerina!reader, fake courtship, serial killer. Do with this what you will <3

Love, Dan

#the indignant pawn #ciel phantomhive x reader #ciel phantomhive #ciel phantomhive x y/n #ciel phantomhive x you #black butler fanfic #anime fanfiction #historical fiction #historical romance

[artzychic27]

The Recess Class (Appearing soon in Scarlet Beetle & Ikati Black) headcanons, plus stuff you should know about them

Austin A 🩷:

Gender nonconforming

Too fabulous to narrow down his pronouns and sexuality

Mommy issues

She HATES alcohol

Spends hours on his hair. There are all these eyes expecting perfection, and he gives it to them

Owns a few dresses… Okay, a lot. Plus some sequin tuxedo jackets

Took them forever to approve of Jean for for Tomassian

“TeeTee is very precious to me, and if you hurt him, I can and will break your legs, Duparc.”

If you ask, he will paint your nails and do your makeup

Austin B 💛:

AroAce, He/Him

LOVES video games

Will spend hours on end playing Fortnight, and will dominate

Parent issues

Some slight breathing problems. The other Austins all carry inhalers on them just in case

Not crazy about physical affection. He does everything he can to avoid full body contact

He knows everything about everyone. His brain is just full of blackmail material

Talks shit about people with Rochelle

Is he doesn’t have a game console, he will just tap his fingers against any hard surface

Sarcasm king

Queen Elizabeth III is his future prom date. He’s got a little dress picked out for her and everything

Austin Q 💙:

Questioning, He/?

The only one who actually takes care of his brother because his parents are shit

Parent issues for days

When he moves out after graduation, he plans to have Félice live with him so he can look after him when he’s in his headspace

In case you couldn’t tell… He loves sharks

Wants to study marine biology and psychology

Not crazy about being the center of attention, but once in a while, it’s nice

Loves his freckles

Pretty good at sports

Victoria is desperately trying to get him to join the kickball team, but he’s not up for it

Austin T 💚:

Gay, He/Him

The class baker

Gives the best hugs. It’s because he so warm and wears soft clothes

His classmates all immediately hugged Jean when he introduced him to them

Has a tooth gap, and he loves it

A bit of a nerd for Marvel. He keeps a few comics in his locker, and he may or may not have chased Marc and Nathaniel off like they were stray raccoons when he caught them trying to steal some

Austin T: Hey!… Psps… Go! Get!

Marc: … *Tries to take a comic*

Austin T: No! *Hits his textbook against a locker, scaring them off with the loud sound* Damn strays.

Loves carrying Jean, because he can

Let’s the other Austins sleep over at his home because their parents suck

Lotta Jameson ⚠️:

Aromantic, She/Her

A bad bitch rocking goggles and leather jackets

Own seven pairs of goggles because she makes them work

Loves her curly red hair

Will hug you… With consent

Can and will slide down a stair rail if she so pleases

Likes to jump down from high surfaces. It gives her classmates heart attacks

Sort of the class daredevil in case you couldn’t tell

She, Lacey, Alix, and Kim love daring each other

Short and just a little bit crazy

Somehow, she’s never broken a single bone

Probably chugs a bunch of sugar-laced coffee every morning

Back in elementary, she always hogged the swings. Her nickname was Swinger Girl

Her family’s kind of protective, and school is the only place where she can be as spontaneous as she pleases

… Oh, and she had leukemia when she was nine

Kendra Anne Gunderson 🙃:

Polyromantic, She/Her

Has no idea how to sit in chairs properly. She sits upside down while taking quizzes

Able to read text and write upside down

It’s a weird talent, but she’s proud of it

In the Legally Blonde Club with Austin A and Rose (Blondes who wear a ton of pink)

Can be a bit snarky, but she means well… Sometimes

Will protect Austin T with every fiber of her being

In elementary school, her nickname was Upside Down Girl because she’d always hang upside down from the monkey bars

Family life’s okay

Best friends with Lotta

She knows she should stop hanging upside because she gets dizzy spells afterwards, but she can’t stop

DJ Detweiler🃏:

Genderfluid, Bisexual, She/He

Sort of the unquestioned leader of the class

Amazing at card games; wins every time

A prank genius and hasn’t been caught once

Never seen without his red beanie

Had a small time crush on Spinelli. They actually kissed when they were in the fourth grade

She’s got information on every teacher at DuPont (And a lot on Damocles)

Only use in case of an emergency

Wants to get Damocles fired for funneling money from a club she’s in toward something non-school related she still can’t figure out

Knows how to out-swindle a swindler. It requires patience, focus, and the right team

He’s gone to the school board with several issues that negatively affected the students… When he was in the fourth grade

He’s already to stick up for his friends and fellow students

Austin Spinelli 🩰:

Achillean, He/Him

“Not gay. Achillean.”

The toughest guy in class and makes sure everyone knows it

And he’s so tough that he takes ballet and looks badass doing it

Accidentally put bleach in with his red clothes, and they came out pink. He ain’t complaining

“Screw toxic masculinity!”

Curses out people he doesn’t like in Italian

Daddy issues. He’s a bit of a momma’s boy

Wants to join theater, but is worried what people will think

Beck was sort of his older sibling figure growing up because his sisters weren’t… Great

A member of the art club. His main medium is chalk

He’s got his own chalk wall, draws, takes a picture, and then erases it

Would rather not be associated with the Austins for… Reasons. So, he goes by his last name

Gia Griswald🪖:

Trans girl, She/Her

Military family, so she moved around a lot

Polyglot- English, French, Spanish, German, Japanese, Swahili, Hindi

Dresses in a lot of camo prints

Speaks softly, but will give it to you straight if you fuck shit up

Her dad, a well-respected army general, speaks in a lot of military terms, and sometimes she does, too without realizing it

He was the most supportive when she came out, and wore a lapel pin to show his support

Well versed in her history classes

Shortest in the class and loving every second of it

Unlabeled in terms of sexuality, but she dates the person, not the gender

Slight crush on Mindy

Victoria LaSelle🏀:

Agender, bisexual, He/She/They

One of the coolest people in school

Amazing at basketball and baseball

When she was in the fifth grade, she got in a car crash and damaged her spine, and she lost most of the feeling in her legs

Not stopping him from playing her favorite sports like a motherfucking boss, tho

Ambulatory wheelchair user, and she will whip out her cane just to show off how tall she is

Coming in with a shaved head and beautiful eyeliner, making everyone simp. The fucking nerve

Gets pissed whenever parents tell their kids not to bother her with questions

“Lady, your kid’s curious, alright? Shut the fudge up.”

Gerard’s been their best friend since forever. They met at the hospital where Gerard was getting fitted for a prosthetic leg

They bond over fucking with ableist asshole’s heads and being tall and gorgeous

She’s an amazing chef and took over the cafeteria for two weeks

Crop tops. That is all.

Oh, and they’ve got a nerdy older brother they’ll protect with their life

Gerard Grundler🤓:

Trans guy, pan, polyamorous, He/Him

Another redhead!

Tooth gap, loves it

Resident genius of the glass and got several offers to skip a few grades, but he said no

Always helping his friends with their homework

“Whoa, look at that guy. A genius, easy on the eyes. He’s perfect- Whaaaat?! He has no leg?!”

Had to get his leg amputated up to his knee after some poorly built floor crumbled under the weight of so many people during a cousin’s wedding

If someone even thinks of making an ableist comment, he’ll roll up his pant leg and be like, “Continue, bitch.”

M. Grotke continuously offers him homework passes so he can take a break, but he’s stubborn

He has passed out a few times from pulling all noghters for projects, but his friends make sure he gets rest

He and Max are friendly rivals, but things get heated during science fairs

Tries not to use so many big words. He’s worried his friends will feel dumb for not knowing what they mean

Mindy Blumberg🎼:

Demigirl, panromantic, They/She

Tallest person in class (Sorry, Victoria!)

The voice of an Angel and the body of a pro wrestler

She sings a lot of opera

Has been chosen a few times to sing the school song for graduations

Wears a lot of pastels and Austin T is living for it

Starts working out with Kim, Denise, and Marcelle when they see them bench a desk

They give the best hugs

Austin A paints her nails since she can’t keep her hands steady

In the same ballet class as Spinelli

Slight crush on Gia. Spinelli’s her wingman

Rochelle Weems🤫:

Demigender, polysexual, Ze/Zir

The class gossip (Or, it would be gossip if it weren’t true)

The Blackmail Vault

Ze and Austin B can often be found whispering to each other, and it scares people

Ze was born with kyphosis and is always hunched over

Wears a back brace to school and is insecure about it, so ze spills secrets about people before they can make fun of zir

Victoria and Gerard invite zir to their rant group. It’s like a support group for disabled teens and young adults, but they just talk shit about ablists, eat cookies, and bedazzle their canes, wheelchairs, crutches, etc.

Always tenting zir fingers like a villain

Has never invited anyone over to zir house

REALLY likes cookies

Not crazy about the idea of making friends, but Victoria and Gerard will change zir mind by any means necessary

Mason Ewing 📓:

Bigender, asexual, He/She

Childhood friends with DJ

May or may not have thought about kissing Austin A when he walked into class wearing a pink skirt

The most organized out of the class, and takes great pride in it

May have undiagnosed OCD

Mason/Simon: …

Mason: … Neurodivergent?

Simon: Yes.

Mason: Cool.

A real stickler for the rules. Think of Iida Tenya

Loves his label maker (Which he definitely did not name Lin Manuel Miranda), because labeling stuff is just solid fun

Would have run for grade representative, but she’s just got so much on her plate

She keeps everyone’s birthdays, allergies, interests, triggers, likes and dislikes logged in her binder. It’s her way of showing she cares

Marcelle Anciel👟:

Trans girl, Pan, She/Her

Marc’s younger sister by three seconds, and he won’t stop talking about it

She was supposed to be in Mme. Mendeleiv’s class, but there was a typo in the system, so now she’s in the Recess Class

Fortunately, DJ and the others are doing what they can to help her out (And that involves fucking with Damocles)

‘Till then, she’s loving the chaos

A member of the ‘Tall & Gorgeous Club’ with Victoria, Gerard, Austin Q, and Mindy

Has a slight crush on Ondine and the others will not stop teasing her about it

Has physically dragged Mason to his home to put him to sleep when it’s clear he got none

The secret mom friend, but refuses to admit it

She and Victoria have the best sneakers

Whenever they play one-on-one basketball, they end up exhausted, tied, and sweaty before calling the game off

The Recess Class isn’t crazy about the Akuma Class since they seem to be Monarch’s primary targets, but she’s slowly convincing them they’re alright

Beck King👑:

Nonbinary, Achillean, They/Them

An older sibling figure to the class, ever since elementary school

A part of the class group chat

Plays hockey and is the captain

They’re rocking their unibrow

May or may not be rich and with government connections

People swore they’ve seen people in suits following Beck around

Always wears a crown-shaped hair clip to keep their gorgeous bangs off their face

At some point, everyone in the Recess Class has had a crush on them

It’s inevitable, really

They will stop to hug Beck when they see them

Sort of took care of Spinelli when he needed a break from his family. They were also the first person he came out to

M. Grotke☮️:

Transman and gay, he/him

A total DILF

A badass activist who dresses like it’s the seventies

Always encourages his students to fight the power

He teaches them what history books refuse to tell children- That slavery was not the start of black history, the pilgrims were assholes, King Henry the 8th was a jackass to his wives, the horrors people with mental disabilities went through back in the day, the Radium Girls, and the Royal Family didn’t do shit about Apartheid

Spinelli’s father figure in a way

Crushing hard on M. Monlataing but has no clue what to even say

Takes yoga with Mme. Bustier and they occasionally gossip about teachers they don’t like

Mme. Bustier: You know that’s not her real hair color.

M. Grotke: Oh, believe me, honey, I know. Sue is definitely not a blonde.

They met at a protest and haven’t stop hanging out since

Really HATES the mayor… He was a little high at the polls

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous #mlb ocs #disney recess #Recess #90s nostalgia #ao3fic #scarlet beetle & ikati black #character info #recess class

[imsparky2002]

Drawing Bad AU

This was somehow inspired by the Scarlet Beetle and Ikati Black AU by @artzychic27, specifically with the idea of Nathaniel being the antagonist and Marc being his eventual sidekick. So here’s the basis of this crack/serious AU. It’s also based off of this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmnJGui7bDs&ab_channel=Patrick%28H%29Willems

Nathaniel Kurtzberg is a mild-mannered artist making his way through the first year of high school at DuPont. His life takes a turn for the worst when he is diagnosed with lung cancer, right after being rejected by his longtime crush, Marinette Dupain-Cheng. He begins to look for a way to help pay for treatment. He gets invited to watch a raid from Kim and Ivan, his friends who work for the safety patrol at school. They’ve been investigating a candy smuggling unit, which apparently makes a lot of money. While watching them catch some kids selling unauthorized candy to classmates, he recognizes the one who gets away. It’s Marc, a writer from his old elementary school who hung out with Nathaniel before he moved. He follows Marc and gives him an ultimatum. Become his partner in selling candy, and he wouldn’t rat him out to the safety patrol. Marc reluctantly agrees, and the partnership forms. Marc knows how to sell the stuff, and Nathaniel knows how to improve the candy’s quality. They hangout in an abandoned RV, and create “Akuma”. It’s a butterfly shaped hard candy with enough sugar to get the customer addicted to the product. They use the codenames of “Monarch” and “Paon” in order to avoid getting caught. As their candy becomes spread throughout the school, they gain a reputation. This earns them the attention of Nino Lahiffe, the shifty captain of the debate club, who promises to keep them out of trouble as long as he gets a good cut of the money. There’s also Max Kante, a seemingly harmless and kind nerd, hiding a shrewd and calculating mind. He helps to ship out their candy to Parisians. They’ve also got enemies to worry about. Not only Kim, Ivan, and the other kids on the safety patrol, but also Alya Cesaire, a reporter for the school newspaper, hot on their trail and looking to uncover their identities. These candy dealing boyfriends have a lot of trouble to deal with.

It’ll be a miracle if they make it to sophomore year without getting caught and expelled. Nathaniel knows his reputation will be torched if people find out, but that’s just the price he’d be willing to get treatment. Even if it means... breaking bad.

Essentially

Nathaniel - Walter

Marc - Jesse

Marinette - Skyler (Kinda)

Sabrina - Walt Jr. (Nath’s sister in this)

Kim - Hank

Ivan - Gomez

Max - Gus

Kagami - Mike

Nino - Saul

Mylene and Alix - Badger and Skinny Pete

So yeah, this is a crack au treated seriously. Lemme know what you think. As always, @artzychic27 @msweebyness 

#crack au #crack treated seriously #crack #breaking bad au #breaking bad #nathaniel kurtzberg #nathaniel #marc anciel #marc #marcaniel #nathaniel x marc #marc x nathaniel #nathmarc #marcnath #why did i make this #miraculous ladybug #miraculous #drawing bad au

[starlit-dreaming]

[ch4] élémentaire

Fandom: MLB Ship: Eventual Felinette, MarcNath & Chlogami, Past Lukanette TL;DR: HBIC Marinette + Rich Marinette + ML Salt Fic + Canon Divergence

0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | [4] | 5

Note: ngl, this chapter kinda took my ideas and ran it through before i even realized it. i had only 2 main ideas and it ended up getting better than expected -- it even fit the theme of the chapter LMAO

4 words: karma is a bitch

ALSO I DIDNT FORGET THE TAGS THIS TIME!!!!!!!

Tags: @jjmjjktth @smolplantmum @always-on-a-sugar-high @fan-written @vixen-uchiha @fanfics-and-fangirling @marvel--unsolved @starlightshield @lady-bee-fechin @draco-kasai @weirdo-with-no-beardo @idontwannaexistsopleasekillme @blep-23

————————————————————

iv. jacinthes bleues

————————————————————

Even though they’ve been classmates for years at Dupont, Nino couldn’t really consider himself to be friends with all of them. Maybe the guys, but certainly not the girls.

So, despite how friendly Rose has always been even when they were attending Notre Dame, he didn’t actually know her well enough to feel comfortable calling her a close friend despite their shared circles. He knew nothing of her involvement in any of Marinette’s plans unless Marinette or Alix talked to him, and apart from info gathering, he couldn’t think of any other reasons on how she factored into Marinette’s plans. An insider job, perhaps?

Rose still wore a pink ribbon, her unspoken sign of her allegiance to Marinette, so… they were in the same boat. They both fell for Lila’s lies and were trying to make it up to Marinette. Rose was a much better actress than he ever realized.

“What a screwed up situation we’re in, huh?” Nino asked wryly, leaning back into his seat. They were both in the library, working on their assigned project for their history class in the peace and quiet.

“I wouldn’t say that,” Rose said with a smile, though her eyes narrowed at him. “If anything, it’s a minor setback.”

“If that’s how you wanna call it…” he frowned, trailing off as he looked at the textbook. “Y’know, there’s no shame in admitting—”

“We are both in very different situations, Nino,” Rose sharply stated in a sweet tone of voice. “You let yourself be fooled. I let myself be complacent. There’s a difference.”

He didn’t get why Rose seemed so on edge, but it was probably for the best if he let the conversation drop. Out of everyone, Rose was the worst person to be stuck in an argument with, especially because she had that effect on people in making them feel as if they kicked a puppy.

It didn’t seem all that different to him, though. They were both in the same situations, just different end results.

Still, Rose was also the most observant person in their group who could easily pick up on a wide range of information, and her grudges were long-lasting. He���s not gonna argue about technicalities.

“You’re slouching,” Rose started frowning.

“I know,” he awkwardly admits.

“You can’t avoid it forever,” she gently said.

“I know, Rose.”

At this, she sighed, “If you don’t do anything about it, I will.”

It wasn’t a threat; it was a promise.

He doesn’t say anything in response to that, because he knows. Everyone is doing their part, no matter how hard it might be, and he’s been stalling.

But what he’s about to do is going to hurt either way.

His relationship with Alya is on the line — if she doesn’t believe him then… they might break up. He knows that the likelihood of their relationship surviving into adulthood is pretty slim, but he doesn’t want to lose her over a liar, he knows that much. If he says nothing, he’s letting her be manipulated; if he says something, it’s over even if he doesn’t want them to be. The only possibility of it going great is if Alya hears him out, which is definitely going to be a 50-50 chance.

And if Adrien doesn’t believe him, he might go crazy, but it’d be bearable — Adrien and Lila kinda have a thing going on. Adrien’s already pretty clueless about a ton of stuff, even more so when it comes to girls flirting with him, but with how he lets Lila hang off of him all the time, he wouldn’t be surprised if he was blinded from infatuation.

“If I were you, I would talk to Alya first,” Rose smiled sweetly. He’s not sure if it’s genuine kindness or if it’s part of her own plans, because it’s Nino’s problem to begin with, but it’s good advice nevertheless. “It’ll be easier to convince Adrien, but harder with Alya. If you do end up arguing or breaking up over this, then she’ll have time to come around and apologize.”

Adrien would be easier to convince.

As much as he thinks his feelings for Alya might be tipping into love, his girlfriend’s got a short temper and he can’t deny it. She was easy to rile up, and it does get hard to communicate with her when she’s adamant about being right.

“…yeah, you’re right. Thanks, dudette.”

—————————— 

“For the record, this is a terrible idea.”

Alix knew that her words would do nothing to deter Marinette from seeing this meeting through to the end, but she has always been her right-hand man and stating the obvious is her job. Honest to a fault, some might say, but frankly that’s the way Marinette prefers it. Despite their past disagreements, it will always remain the same.

Despite what happens, Marinette leads, and Alix follows.

“Oh, believe me,” she dryly chuckles, shooting Alix an amused look. Alix didn’t see why this was so amusing to Marinette, but maybe her suffering was the funny thing here. “I know it is.”

Standing tall before them was a very familiar building — a rather sizable hotel. It was overly fancy and had long since lost its charm, and yet it was the only place that Dupont could get a free field trip at on short notice: Le Grand Paris.

Despite knowing that it’ll be far from pleasant, it was necessary. There was no set precedent when it came to disbanding a faction and rebuilding it in later years, but this felt like a matter of formalities.

It was during the faction meeting that Marinette disbanded Méticuleuse, and so she herself needed to correct her past action — even if it never really stopped her followers from still following her unofficial guidelines.

The first step of doing so was holding a faction meeting, and that required a proper apology to Chloé Bourgeois (yeah, the irony of this fact wasn’t lost on Alix — Mme Bustier has consistently been badgering Marinette to apologize to Chloé despite being innocent, and here she was, doing exactly what Mme Bustier would be ecstatic to hear). Before they could move forward, they all probably need to air out their grievances, which was going to be the worst.

At least it was only Chloé who was going to be complaining.

(Félix technically needed to be there as well, but he was a special case considering that he isn’t attending Dupont and wasn’t even in France to begin with.)

So, apart from Marinette and Alix, it was just Chloé and Sabrina, and Claude Sainté-Pierre who was acting as Félix’s proxy (as he always did) who would be in attendance.

‘She’s going to be insufferable,’ Alix sighed, already feeling slightly irritated at the thought. “Would it be too late to ask you to swap me out with Rose for the meeting?”

“Absolutely,” Marinette smiled serenely, looking at Alix with a clear statement of “you’re not getting out of this that easily” — which, fair. Alix knew what she was getting into when she agreed to remain as her second. “Besides, Rose has more pressing matters to attend to from what I’m aware of, while you just have your daily bets and competitions with Kim. Ondine can easily help you get out of that by asking to spend more time with him.”

Ah. An unexpected bonus. That was also the reason why Kim didn’t seem to complain too much when Alix told him she had to bail on their race for the day, if Alix put two and two together.

Alix knew that Ondine was popular and reliable, and they both get along well enough (and Alix can say for certain that Ondine’s too good for Kim), but she never really stopped to think of her beyond that. Kim and Ondine were still in that phase of figuring out their maybe-relationship, so Alix did actively try to avoid thinking of Ondine more often than not purely because she wanted nothing to do with that.

‘It sure is convenient that Kim’s definite-girlfriend is in our group,’ Alix nodded. ‘I’m tired of all his demands for a rematch.’

“We should probably go in now,” Marinette sighed, sealing Alix’s fate for the next few hours.

‘On second thought… never mind.’

—————————— 

‘I would do anything to get out of this,’ Claude Sainté-Pierre thought, a fake smile plastered on his face as takes a sip of water.

They were sitting at one of the private tables of Le Grand Paris — something normally offered to celebrities and VIP guests. Chloé’s butler had assured them at the start that no classmates of theirs will be allowed to take a foot into the building before bowing and taking his leave.

The butler and the whole secret meeting was a bit much, but Claude was somewhat used to it. His parents were on the wealthy side, yet his family didn’t have a butler or anything — a regular cleaning service and security system, yes, but not their own wait staff. Allegra’s family had no qualms about employing maids and their own personal chef, and Allan’s family may have been similar to his, but Allan’s family had their own home studio and an indoor cinema.

Marinette’s probably the only one who would get it — Félix had the chance to go to her house when they were younger, and they didn’t have any hired help. At the bakery, yeah, but not within the house.

The sound of a glass cup thumping against the table brought him back to the conversation at hand.

Or rather… the lack of conversation.

They were seated at a table for six, with Claude kinda sitting across from Alix. Chloé was unfortunately next to him, while an empty chair remained on his other side. Empty seat, Claude, Chloé, Sabrina, Marinette, and Alix — the typical setup to prevent a faction leader from sitting next to another leader. It was mostly to prevent them from being fixated on the other person, since it often led to distractions.

Marinette and Chloé argued, Chloé and Félix would make snide comments against each other, while Marinette and Félix would, well… Claude’s not sure what to call it, exactly. It wasn’t flirting, but it also wasn’t really arguing or getting along.

Just talking, he supposes, which would make this meeting far less awkward.

“I believe you have something to say to me, Dupain-Cheng,” Chloé stated with sharp narrowed eyes, smiling.

Everyone knew that Chloé only stopped referring to Marinette by her first name ever since she stepped down from her position. Claude was under the impression that it would’ve changed once he heard from Félix that Chloé finally won.

Marinette maintained her smile, her lips twitching just the slightest bit as she relaxed her shoulders and fixed her stare on Chloé.

“Congratulations, Bourgeois,” Marinette stated. “You were right; I was wrong. You won.”

He expected as much.

For reasons beyond his comprehension, the Akuma Class believed the liar girl over Marinette for the better part of the year or two — he wasn’t paying too much attention to them, just Marinette given how haggard she was from overwork. It was even more noticeable with how their peers on the student council would always talk about her worriedly.

“I know I am,” Chloé had scoffed, leaning back into her seat as she regarded Marinette with a rather cold look. “That’s not what I was talking about.”

“And what exactly do you want to hear?” Marinette asked incredulously.

Looks like he wasn’t the only one who was confused — even Sabrina and Alix seemed surprised over the statement. Sabrina should’ve known everything about Chloé, and for her to be thrown off by this just goes to show that Claude really was wrong about the Charmante Faction Leader.

“What I want,” Chloé seemed to glare, “is an apology.”

“For what?” Marinette’s brows knit, clear confusion on her face. “For being naïve by not believing you?”

“That, and for your deplorable behaviour,” Chloé practically sneered. “It was disgusting, watching you act beneath your station.”

Alright… now she was definitely matching Claude’s memories of her. Claude was starting to think that maybe Ladybug was actually making a bigger and better positive impact than Adrien Agreste, but he stands corrected.

“Right,” Marinette dryly stated. “You’ve always been the type for extravagance like all the others who prefer to indulge in their wealth. How dare I show such a shameful side of me, for preferring to disregard status. I’d prefer to call it moderation, however. Ah, what was it again? Moderation is key, isn’t it?”

“Ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous,” Chloé wrinkled her nose in distaste. “Moderation,” she scoffed, looking at her nails as if to ignore Marinette. “Well, look where moderation brought you. Acting like a mere commoner, lowering yourself as if you were a feeble servant to our peers, becoming not only a doormat, but also becoming a stalker!”

Oh… oh.

Claude suddenly had a feeling that maybe, just maybe, this was becoming personal. It was no wonder why Chloé wasn’t finding delight in Marinette’s defeat right from the get go — something that all of them had been expecting — she was pissed because of Marinette’s former fangirl crush on her friend.

Judging from the look of dawning realization on Marinette’s face, she got the memo.

“I’m sorry,” Marinette stated, looking away from Chloé. She was ashamed, he could tell that much. “I shouldn’t have let myself get so obsessed with the idea of Prince Charming. For what it’s worth, I have made strides to improve myself for the better.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” came Chloé’s clipped reply. “Adrikins is innocent and naïve — he needs someone to snap him out of it like I tried to do for you. I’m waiting until he finally opens his eyes on this whole Liar Rossi thing, because with how much he cares for the simpletons of our class, he’s going to realize that she’s the worst type of person to associate with. What he doesn’t need is to get dragged into your fantasy and unresolved issues — despite the distance, he is still my childhood friend.”

“I get it,” Marinette stated with gritted teeth. “When I realized how kind he was, he…” she sighed, shoulders slumping. “He matched my idea of a perfect prince.”

At this, Chloé leaned back into her seat once more, giving Marinette a glare. “You weren’t using him to get back at Félix for leaving, were you? Considering how similar they look.”

Oh, jeez… Claude didn’t want to hear any of this conversation for plausible deniability, but now he has no choice. This was definitely going to bite him in the ass later, because, well, for starters he’s the only guy here and if Félix says anything, it’ll get traced back to him. Sure, Alix was nonbinary and didn’t care about pronouns, but she was loyal to Marinette to begin with so no worries about breach of privacy there. Félix was unaware of the Marinette’s crush on him from back then, but there’s no doubt he knows now.

(It didn’t help much that Claude was probably the only one in the Quantic Kids who picked up on this whole crush situation. He never said anything to avoid getting on Marinette’s bad side, besides, he thought Félix was only nice to Marinette due to being all businessman-like.)

“Of course not,” Marinette huffed. “Yeah, I wanted to forget Félix, but I didn’t even realize that they were cousins until he came back. Félix is a common name, and I didn’t remember his last name beyond Graham until I saw the film with Adrien’s mother.”

“Hmph. Fine. I’ll accept that for now,” Chloé said, pursing her lips. “I won’t apologize for my words and actions. I’m still far too upset at what you’ve done to him under the guise of friendship to even want to.”

“As long as we’re done airing out our grievances, that’s fine with me,” Marinette smiled. “Now, can we finally move onto what we’re really here for?”

“Hold it,” Chloé cut in. “Sabrina, call our guest.”

“Yes ma’am,” Sabrina complied to the command, pulling out her phone.

“A guest?” Marinette blinked. “You never mentioned that another person was joining us.”

“Why would I waste my time on that when you’re going to be meeting them anyway, Marinette?” Chloé rolled her eyes. “Just wait.”

Claude, who left one of his hands in his hoodie’s pocket with his phone, finally ended the call with Félix before Sabrina could call him herself.

——————————

Nino’s not sure if it’s because he knew, deep down inside, that this was going to happen, but it’s a strange feeling nevertheless. He thinks that maybe he’s heartbroken, maybe numb, but he knows that he’s upset because he did cry in the restroom for several minutes after it happened.

Like ripping off a band-aid — hurts and then it’s fine for a while. Not great, not terrible, but fine.

As much as he didn’t want to, it’s either stick with the herd, or save the rest of his class from further manipulation.

It does hurt, though, knowing that he and Alya won’t be spending time together any more, that she’ll give him back his stuff and he’ll give hers back as well. He’s going to get bombarded with questions from the guys, and he’s not sure if that’s something he’s capable of handling emotionally at the moment.

“Nino…?” Adrien hesitantly called out, frowning with his brows pinched in concern. “Are you okay?”

He doesn’t think he is. On the bright side, he won’t be akumatized until maybe later. Can’t really say the same for Alya who just stomped off, but he expected that.

“Alya and I broke up.”

It was a quiet statement, simple, straight to the point. For the past several minutes, he’s been staring at his phone, trying to decide whether to actually drop Alya’s number like she yelled at him to do.

Huh. How long did he keep Adrien waiting? He hopes it wasn’t too long.

“What?!” Adrien shouted, eyes blown wide as he was very obviously taken aback by the news. “Why?! Don’t you two love each other?”

“We… had a fight,” Nino admits, not really wanting to rehash the last 15 minutes of his study period. But Adrien was his best friend, and he was also Alya’s friend, and Nino wasn’t gonna blind side him by making him feel awkward about hanging out with one over the other. “Rose and I finished our project early during our study period, so I went to go look for Alya.”

He should probably thank Rose for pushing him into doing it, otherwise he wouldn’t have, and then it’d be too late to do anything. She did look worried about him, when she caught sight of him heading towards the restroom, but she was with Juleka who’s been looking really pale lately.

Rose definitely knew how the conversation with Alya was going to turn out, and while he is upset at her for that fact, he knows that it’s not actually her fault.

“Uh huh…” Adrien nodded, looking increasingly worried. “What’d you two talk about?”

“It was about Lila,” he breathed, and he could see Adrien perking up at the mention of the girl. It made him feel terrible, having to break the news that Adrien’s crush isn’t as great as everyone thinks she is.

“What… uh, what about her?”

Like ripping off a band-aid, he had to remind himself. Taking in a deep breath, then letting it go as he steeled his resolve.

“I told her that Lila’s been lying to us. To all of us,” he looked away, not wanting to see Adrien’s heartbroken face. “And Alya… she didn’t believe me. She accused me of still liking Marinette and that’s why I’m siding with her. Stuff about how…” his eyes burned with unshed tears. “Lila’s been telling her a bunch of lies. About how I’m always looking at Marinette when Alya wasn’t looking, that she thought she saw me talking to Marinette after school the other day, that I was standing really close to her, like we were gonna…”

Nino took in another breath, letting it out with a sigh, willing to keep the weight of the heartbreak off his shoulders. He didn’t want to deal with getting akumatized for the day — it always made him feel worse in the aftermath.

It’s already been a bad day.

“What…?” he regrets looking back at Adrien, seeing a look of horror crossing his friend’s face. He hopes it’s for the situation that Nino’s in and not because of Lila’s lies. He didn’t know if he could handle something like that so soon after the breakup with Alya.

“I didn’t expect it either,” he smiled wryly, feeling all the bitterness bubbling up in his chest before suppressing it with a tired chuckle. “I thought that maybe…” he shook his head, his vision blurring. “Well, I guess Lila’s lies were stronger than our relationship, stronger than everything we’ve been through together, apparently.”

And oh, did that admittance hurt. Alya chose to doubt him over Lila, choosing a liar over her own boy—ex-boyfriend. She didn’t want to hear him out, claiming that he wanted to cover his unfaithfulness by throwing Lila under the bus.

“Nino, I’m… I… I know that’s not true—”

“Thanks for believing in me,” Nino gave his best friend a pat on the shoulder. “But I kinda expected this would happen if I talked to Alya about it,” he shot Adrien a weak smile. “I know you like Lila, just… be careful, yeah? I just… I don’t want you getting hurt like I did.”

Adrien said nothing. Nino didn’t blame him. Poor guy was still in a state of shock from what Nino could tell. It did make him feel better, knowing that he still had Adrien on his side if not Alya.

“Thanks for not calling me delusional. I… I know I said that I’d come hang out with you and Kitty Section today, but uh… I’m… not really up for it right now,” he gave Adrien a side hug. “Kinda don’t want to be around anyone from school.”

Maybe he’ll stop by the Dupain-Cheng Bakery on his way home. He could really use the warm hugs he’d always get from Sabine and Tom, and maybe a warm, freshly baked chocolate croissant. They always knew how to make him feel safe and at home whenever he’s had a bad day, and maybe they might have some advice for the heartbreak and—

Ah shit, Nino was definitely crying now.

“See ya tomorrow, dude,” he tugged his cap down and headed off.

Breakups are the worst.

#wynter writes #hbic marinette #fic: elementaire #fic: élémentaire #rich marinette #ml salt fic

[mochinek0]

Agreste-Wayne 19

It was hard to believe one year had passed so quickly. Wayne Manor was filled with close friends and family, all to celebrate one person: Emma Lily Agreste. It was her first birthday and so much had changed since she was born.

Much to Gabriel's distaste, Adrien had found he preferred Gotham. Adrien and Emma had officially moved into Wayne Manor. Gabriel had hoped that Adrien would come back and at least work in the business section. He wouldn't have forced him to come to meetings or model. Unfortunately, he had found a job at Wayne Enterprise and was Tim's direct line to the science department. Perhaps, he was only sour that he had to leave Paris to see his granddaughter, but he had never seen his son happier.

Quickly, Gabriel found he had gained a new respect for Mrs. Wayne. Mairnette Wayne was a rival and comrade in fashion, whom he could bounce ideas off of. While his son was working, she was happy to allow him time with Emma and converse about the latest trends. They had their differences, but they could also call each other and complain about the competition. Eventually, not to anyone's surprise, they began to bounce around the idea of a collaboration.

"Happy Birthday, Princess!" Adrien cried, happily, as he took another picture.

"Papa!" Emma giggled.

"Okay, so we have the cake and presents ready!" the excited father spoke, "Nino, Kagami, Luka, and Alix are putting their stuff in their rooms."

"Yeah, after you shooed them away." Marinette smiled, "They barely said 'hi' to anyone."

"Shoot." he winced, "I'll apologize when they get back down."

"Amaya, Jun." Damian spoke, "Why don't you take Emma outside as we prepare the decorations. I believe her grandfather is here, as well."

"Yes, Baba." Amaya answered, picking up the birthday girl.

"I'll grab Titus!" Jun shouted, running out of the room.

Amaya and Jun quickly adapted to Emma as being their cousin. They loved spending time with her and Uncle Adrien. They had made some not to subtle remarks about wanting a younger sibling to the whole family, leaving Damian and Marinette bright red.

Marinette placed her hands on Adrien's shoulders, "Breathe. I know it's her first birthday and you want it to be special."

Adrien nodded in response.

"Spend time with her, take pictures, talk with your father, and let everyone spend time with her, too." Mari smiled, "That's what will make her birthday special. Not the flavor of the cake, not the decorations, and not the dinner. It will be when you see her eat cake and open presents."

Adrien smiled and pulled his best friend into a hug, "You always know what to say."

Nino, Kagami, Luka, and Alix came back downstairs.

"I'm sorry for forcing you to put your stuff away so fast!" Adrien apologized.

They all laughed. They could tell he was excited.

"Where is Little Emma?" Kagami questioned.

"She is outside." Damian interrupted, "The girls took her to play so we could finish setting up."

"Right; food will be inside." Marinette smiled, "Party, outside!"

"Where can we put her presents?" questioned Luka.

"Oh! In the dining room." Adrien cried out, "Cake, then presents!"

Alix laughed, "She'll probably pass out from the sugar rush and playing with her new toys."

Everyone placed their gifts for the birthday girl down. Nino lingered behind as the others went to see Emma.

"Need help?" he questioned.

"Sure." Mari answered.

Damian grabbed Marinette's hand and dragged her to the other side of the room.

Nino sighed as he followed Adrien to put up more streamers.

"She still...." the DJ began.

"Damian's overprotective." Adrien spoke, "He knows who you are and who you talk to."

Nino handed him a piece of tape, "Do you think she's okay?"

"Marinette read the blog." he answered, "She knows Alya is sorry, but she was hurt a lot by Alya's decisions back then. I don't think Mari's ready to forgive her yet."

"It's been almost a year." Nino stated.

Adrien sighed and turned to his friend, "I know, but in Mari's eyes, this never should have happened. Lila didn't need to have a blog written about her; she didn't need to be outted on tv."

"What do you mean?" his friend asked.

"All she wanted was for the people she grew up with, ten years ago, to listen to her. Alya never would have been fired from her job and she wouldn't be going to school for culinary because she can't find a job. In a way. Marinette thinks it's all her fault." Adrien explained, "If she tried harder to call her out, tried to prove more how Lila was lying. She's known Jagged Stone since she was thirteen. She's even thought what it would have been like to call him that day when Lila claimed to have tinnitus from saving his cat. She blames herself for Alya not getting her dream job. She knows how much it meant to her to be a journalist. That article spread far and wide. Even Lois Lane, Alya's idol, told her there wasn't really a way back from that. It would follow her no matter where she tried to apply."

Nino frowned. He never thought about how Marinette was dealing with this. He knew Marinette would never be on speaking terms with Lila. He thought eventually she'd speak to Alya since they had been best friends, but now he wasn't so sure. He had been getting closer to Alya, but he knew they would never get back together.

"Marinette doesn't wanna hear apologies." Adrien continued, "She can tell Alya is sorry. If anything, Mari would probably cry and say sorry to Alya. You guys are the closest people Mari talks to from Paris and half of them weren't even in that school."

Nino suddenly started to feel uncomfortable, "Did people really try to get her to find them jobs?"

The birthday girl's father nodded, "I asked Damian about it later. I had no clue, but he said he ended up blocked a couple numbers. They called her phone and at Wayne Enterprise. I think she was pregnant with Jun. He grabbed the phone and yelled at someone on how his wife wasn't responsible for the mistakes they made in the past. She had zero reason to help them now. He told them to spread the word around to the others because the next person from Bustier's class that called, he was gonna sue them for harassment."

"It was that bad?" Nino cried out.

The newest adopted Wayne nodded.

"Who called?" he hesitated to ask.

"I know Kitty Section didn't, but only because of Luka. He might not be with them anymore, but he called them idiots when he found out about everything. He told them that until they found solid proof of what Lila said was true and that Marinette was the liar, he wouldn't play with them. They had a concert that weekend, I think. Anyways, Juleka looked everywhere for Lila's old modeling shoots, aside from my father. Rose called Prince Ali. Ivan looked up about Jagged Stone."

"And that's how they found out." the DJ answered.

"Yep. Prince Ali had never heard of Lila or an environmental project. Ivan learned tha Jagged went to lots of animal charities and was seen holding cats. He wasn't allergic to fur, like she claimed. Also learned he's never owned a cat, but a dog as a child. Juleka only found the Gabriel brand. It was probably then she realized that Lila was never going to help her become a model. They apologized to him. They wanted to apologize and suggested going to the bakery. Luka had to tell them that she had left Paris because of the bullying. They didn't take it well and cancelled the concert."

Nino sat down, "That's what that was?"

"I think Mylene called once." Adrien spoke.

"Really?" his friend questioned, "Ivan and Mylene don't like confrontation."

"It wasn't about a job, though. I think she just wanted to apologize. Ivan tried to tell her, but Lila is her friend, so they argued. He showed her all the proof he found. Mylene even talked to Juleka and Rose, but she still didn't listen. Mylene left on a trip that was suppose to be paid for and had nowhere to stay when she got there. They had never heard of Lila Rossi. She ended up callign Ivan, in tears, that she couldn't reach Lila and had nowhere to stay. She was sobbing in the lobby. Ivan didn't have enough money either. Mylene had to work for her ticket back."

"I think Alix found out when Lila claimed to have an injury and she had the same one. Alix was on three different medications, could barely walk, and had her leg in a cast. Lila was limping around. Alix suggested going to a hospital, but Lila claimed to be fine. She told Kim later, but he didn't believe her. He said Lila was probably stronger than her for building houses for charity. She called and apologized for not realizing it sooner, especially all her phony injuries."

"Max did call looking for a job. Marinette told him 'No'. He complained how they needed someone like him to further the future of Wayne Enterprise. He reminded her that he created an AI at age thirteen. All she said was that he thought a paper napkin could take out his eye with glasses on. He hung up."

"A blow to the ego, then?" Nino questioned.

Adrien nodded and continued, "Chloe never cared. Sabrina went into psychology and realized just how bad Chloe and Lila were. She apologized to Marinette, but that's it. Nathanial might have been the one Damian yelled at, but I'm not sure."

Adrien took tons of pictures as Emma was passed around. She would waddle after Amya and Jun, with Titus by her side. She held onto his collar as she walked around the backyard in her dress. Emma was spoiled by her aunts and uncles. She smiled the whole day and looked just as excited as her father to have vanilla cake with strawberries. Gabriel was quick to help put Emma down to sleep as Adrien lugged her new toys and clothes to her room. Tom and Sabine offered to put Amaya and Jun to bed, as well. Gabriel went to check on his son and found him passed out, same position Emma was in.

'Definitely Father and Daughter. I wish you were here, Emile. We raised a fine young man and a great father.'

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