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zivazivc · 3 years

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Pinocchio AU

Okay people want the explanation for this comic so here it goes. It’s long and complicated and MESSED UP because of course it is, this is me. I’m going to write in points because my small tired brain can’t handle good english atm but basically to sum up the Adrien was a sentimonster theory or Pinocchio AU as I like to call it:

Young married Emilie and Gabriel can’t have kids. Gabriel reluctantly accepts this fate and even brings up adoption as a possibility once, but Emilie doesn’t want to hear any of that. She’s a bit of a Marinette in the sense that she pictures this romanticized ideal life for herself and a child—her flesh and blood—HAS to be in it.

They keep trying to get a baby while other young families Emilie knows keep growing. She feels left out and hurt and depressed, then her newlywed twin sister announces she’s expecting a baby too and something within Emilie just unhinges.

She eventually lies to some of her friends, who she was out for coffee with, that she’s pregnant too. She mostly does it just to see their reaction and feel what it would be like but it quickly spirals out of control where she just starts pretending she’s pregnant until you can’t even tell if she believes it herself.

Gabriel is confused at first because he hears the news second hand (a friend/family member congratulating him) so he’s apprehensive when he approaches his wife but she convinces him that they really are getting a baby and Gabriel is ecstatic.

It’s only later at a doctor’s check up that Gabriel learns that she indeed is not pregnant. The doctor even speaks to him alone explaining that his wife is in denial and that he should make sure she goes to see a psychiatrist, something she definitely wouldn’t do alone.

Gabriel is unsuccessful with that because he’s not entirely persistent, doesn’t want to be the guy with the crazy wife having to tell everyone she lied about being pregnant, and hopelessly believes she’ll just get over it eventually.

That is until her “pregnancy is near due”—her sister already had Félix in England a few months ago—and he stumbles on her transformed with her peacock miraculous (they already have both of them) creating a sentimonster newborn.

They have a huge fight about it but because Emilie refuses to destroy it, won’t tell Gabriel where the amok is, and Gabriel can’t just hurt the baby with his hands, Emilie just… wins. Fucked up, yeah?

Now she tried creating kids before this one, using her imagination to try and blend her and Gabriel’s looks but it just wasn’t working. So she decided to copy of photos of baby Félix because he already looked almost like a copy of his mother, and Amélie and Emilie already looked alike so it’s not so weird?—is what her mind was telling her.

She didn’t dare alter his looks but she decided to give the baby Gabriel’s eye color to include the “father” in some way. (Yes in that comic I made I gave Adrien a mix of green and gray but that was mainly to get the point across to the perceptive readers)

Now we got Adrien, a normal baby boy to the whole world except for Gabriel who’s forced into his wife’s fantasy through social expectations.

Why are we only at this point and this post is already so long AAAAAAAA!!!

Adrien physically basically grows in a way where Emilie just keeps changing his appearance to match what Félix looked like a few months prior.

Mentally he’s like a robot just taking in information without really needing to learn it. So Emilie decides when he says his first word, she decides when he learns to walk,… He knows how to walk, he just wasn’t given the command to do so yet.

But even so he does develop a personality over time, just slower, because unlike a normal child who’s always testing his boundaries, how far they’re allowed to go until they’re in real trouble, Adrien just can’t misbehave. At all.

But he does have his favorite foods and favorite toys, and jokes that make him laugh the most. The problem is just that Emilie could just decide that his favorite food is strawberries and he’d just start acting accordingly, rewiring his belief.

He also isn’t allowed to argue or be mean to others which is why Félix thinks he’s a goody two-shoes weirdo while Chloé the brat adores him.

This behavior isn’t so hard to hide with a toddler who’s fickle but it’s harder and harder as the kid grows. Which is why the family becomes very secluded over time.

Gabriel always keeps distance with his “son”. He’s not Dad, he’s Father, he doesn’t do hugs and cuddles, he doesn’t say I love you. But Adrien knows he loves him because his mom told him so and he loves him back unconditionally because Mom said that’s what families do.

Now even though Gabriel is traumatized by this whole ordeal and knowing Adrien “isn’t real” freaks him out he does soften a bit over time. I’m going to give an awful example but like someone who hates cats softening for a cat that their partner/roommate decided to get/had from before. Continuing with this example: But still becoming appalled when the cat starts acting odd/unusually.

Okay I think you get the gist. Let’s move on…

Emilie loves her son more and more as he grows and his sentimonster behaviours start bothering her more and more too. She hates being reminded that he’s not a real boy by people mentioning he looks young for his age because Emilie forgot to make him grow for a while. She hates when he does everything like he’s told. She hates that he has no real friends because they’re afraid to expose him to the outside too much and without supervision. She hates to think about his future.

Her desire for him to be real keeps growing and is what drives her to search for a solution in the miraculous spellbook.

She cracks the script after years, when Adrien is nearly a teen, and finds a way to transfer the creators soul into a sentimonster.

It’s a long process that takes time and while she falls ill to everyone around her, Adrien becomes more real.

Gabriel starts realizing what’s happening when he notices Adrien hesitate for a second when he’s playing a video game and Gabriel wants him to do something, groan when he gets bothered watching TV, huff, complain, have slightly opposing opinions to his and Emilie’s, when he argues with his mother when she tells him she’s feeling fine; when he notices his son’s eyes are greener. Or is it all in his head?

He confronts his wife too late, when she’s extremely ill already, her normally vibrant eyes dulled match Adrien’s bluish gray, and he pieces together in his head what she’s doing.

Before Gabriel could properly think what to do to stop the love of his life from turning into a lifeless doll, in a fit of panic he tries to take her wedding band (where he knows Adrien’s amok is) to get rid of Adrien instead, but is unsuccessful in getting it off her so he snatches her peacock brooch instead (which she needs to complete the spell obvs) and breaks it. (Heyoo! broken peacock miraculous. things are coming together)

Because the spell was almost complete anyway it’s Emilie who falls unconscious. But she doesn’t disappear because she’s not a real sentimonster, she just becomes dormant like one.

This is the point in the story where Gabriel makes it seem like Emilie ran away or something like that—basically disappear. Now he’s living knowing he has an almost sentimonster wife in the basement, knowing he almost killed his son (or her), and having to care for a son that suddenly became much more alive, questioning, arguing, angry, screaming, not accepting, crying, grieving, staring at him with Emilie’s eyes.

Instead of becoming a real parent, Gabriel shuts him out.

Soon Adrien evolves desires for socializing, company, getting away from the suffocating home which eventually leads to him going to a public school.

He slowly starts to live life freely without the restrictions that were put around his thoughts.

Gabriel has an even stranger relationship with Adrien now because he still loves him in a way but also holds resentment toward him. But mostly he sees him as something valuable.

The show happens here… And now finally we get to the comic…

Gabriel gets a hold of the ladybug and black cat miraculouses. (There’s no epic fight in his lair as you see there’s no Ladybug in the comic but that’s not really important)

What’s important is that Gabriel had deciphered the miraculous spellbook with the help of Emilie’s notes and had decided to use the unification’s “wish” power to awaken Emilie.

He’s aware he’ll need to sacrifice something for the wish to come true and he’s certain Adrien should be enough because the soul inside him is literally the one thing Emilie is missing.

✨Adrien (poor boy just lost his miraculous) is taken to Gabriel’s lair, where he finds out his father is Hawk Moth, sees his mother, learns he’s a sentimonster, and that he’s going to become a sacrifice ✨

Of course the last part is not what happens. It’s Gabriel who ends up being sacrificed.

I can’t decide if Gabriel ends up sacrificing himself because he changed his mind in the last moment while Adrien was screaming for him to stop, OR because he didn’t love Adrien enough for him to be considered an equal exchange for his wife… O.O

But anyhow…

Emilie wakes up with Gabriel’s soul within her (hence the bluish gray eyes in the comic).

Adrien is traumatized for life.

This took me hours to write… I knew there was a reason why I didn’t want to do it. I hope I didn’t forget anything and my brain made sense of it all

Well there you have it, peeps. The Pinocchio AU. It’s as messed up as my sleep schedule. Good night.

#and they all lived happily ever after. the end #ml #miraculous ladybug #sentimonster adrien theory #sentimonster!adrien #adrien agreste #emilie agreste #gabriel agreste #pinocchio au #answered #my art

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ilikekidsshows · 3 years

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Please consider: the fox miraculous.

Since I already wrote a bunch about the foiling between Lila and Adrien, I'm guessing you want me to discuss the mirroring between Adrien and the other character associated with the Fox Miraculous?

Adrien and Alya actually both have very similar relationships with Marinette. Both of them are capable of just rolling with her madness and are fond of her even, especially, during her more embarrassing moments. Both of them give a look that's just...liquid chocolate when she yawns really loudly in 'Startrain', for one. Also, I'm pretty sure they were the ones who came up with the idea to use an earpiece to play Cyrano in 'Animan' simultaneously and separately.

Adrien and Alya were also the first people to believe in Ladybug on a personal level, and it was their words of encouragement or faith in 'Origins' that set Marinette on the path to become the great hero she is. They're also both just very kind, caring and nurturing people in general, but also very excitable. Cat Noir also gets along with Alya's sisters instantly in 'Sapotis', hinting at them both being good with kids.

However, there are differences. Alya is very honest and values seeking out the truth for its own sake. She just loves learning new information and solving mysteries. She's also very willing to believe Marinette's half-baked excuses and doesn't really question whether or not Marinette could even be lying to her. Adrien, on the other hand, presents the world with a facade of manufactured authenticity and isn't very honest about his feelings very often. Adrien also isn't very interested in the big questions, like how the Miraculouses work exactly, he's more interested in personal questions, like what makes a person tick or what information he is currently lacking.

A big part of this comes from their home lives. Alya is from a rather big family, and we've seen them all watching tv together at least once ('Prime Queen'). In such an environment, it would make sense that Alya isn't always questioning where someone is going and what they're doing, and a close family is one where you can talk about things more easily. Adrien, on the other hand, has his only remaining parent be cold, distant and secretive, which has taught Adrien himself to be more closed off and to question people's intentions, especially towards him.

Adrien and Alya also seem to have an interesting rapport in-show. Alya can easily invite Adrien places and Adrien never suspects it's for some hidden agenda. Similarly, he usually just rolls with it when Alya schemes to put him and Marinette close, like in 'Despair Bear' or 'Startrain'. Like, he knows something's up, but he figures he can trust Alya that whatever that something is, it won't be anything negative.

Despite them having both similarities and differences, Adrien using the Fox Miraculous would be based on completely different reasons from Alya's. Alya is a good pick because she seeks out the truth, dispels illusions if you will. Adrien would suit the Fox Miraculous because he maintains a facade, creates illusions. Adrien wouldn't be in balance with the Miraculous but, instead, the Miraculous would strengthen Adrien's secretive nature. He'd be a strong user, but probably couldn't grow with the Miraculous the way people who are in balance with their Miraculous can.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous tales of ladybug and chat noir #adrien agreste #alya cesaire #ml meta #kwami swap #kwami compatibility

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your-brilliant-lady-m · 3 years

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Part 5 - Basic Concepts of Miraculous Ladybug: Guardians

Helloooo! Did you think I was done? No!

My PhD thesis chapters were approved last week, so have some celebratory meta. I haven't seen the latest Season 4 episodes, so do forgive me for not being up to date.

Welcome to the next part of my analysis of the basic concepts of Miraculous Ladybug. Today we are talking about Master Fu, Order of the Guardians and how little everything here makes sense. I highly recommend reading previous parts to fully understand this one, but I'll try to quote most parts of earlier posts.

Order of the Guardians

Order is an international and ancient organisation (New York Special showed us the guardian from North America and he was dressed like Su Han). Presumably, Miraculous jewels were created by these people. Guardians are responsible for the preservation of jewels and knowledge about them. They also distribute Miraculouses to worthy people around the world to combat mostly magical threats, but sometimes jewels are used against normal threats too. It's implied that Master Fu used Miraculouses during WW2 when he was in Paris. Perhaps he performed some spywork with Marianne, but the magical nature of his interferences was discovered and he was forced to flee, before returning to France many decades later.

Why does the Order need so many people to take care of a 3 Miracle Boxes? If its only purpose is to preserve knowledge, keep magical secrets and distribute Miraculous jewels then wouldn't it be more logical to have Master-Apprentice system? It's much easier to keep magic knowledge a secret and train a few people in martial arts than doing the same in the self-sufficient temple full of people, keeping in mind that a good part of them are teenagers and children, who are bad at keeping secrets. Also a single person can travel around the world much easier to give out Miraculouses. Imagine that we have a few active guardians traveling the world with Boxes. What do other people at the temple do in the meantime? They teach the next generation about the powers of each Miraculous and Mirakung Fu, but besides that?

Master-Apprentice system gives us more personal conflict between Fu and his mentor and makes his relationship with Marinette and Adrien more nuanced. In this scenario Fu accidentally caused the death of his Master at 14 because he wasn't careful. It makes sense for him to take on only 1 or 2 students if this is how things were done with Miraculous Guardians. This Wang Fu is very cautious and protective, he spent the majority of his life afraid of hurting someone else and never took an apprentice as a result. But now he is ready to try again, since he is not getting any younger and he likes these 2 kids. He wants them to succeed. Maybe Master Fu, becomes the father figure for Adrien in this situation and a guide for Marinette. Just think about it. This way writers avoid the need to develop all these extra characters (Su Han) and traditions related to the Order. All inconsistencies I mentioned before and later in this post are gone now! Hell, even memory loss and the changing of the Miracle Box shape could make more sense. We also raise the stakes post-amnesia, if it happens of course (the whole Season 3 finale didn't make sense, so stay tuned for my next meta). Marinette and Adrien are on their own now, there's no one who can give them answers. It's very fun scenario, which has potential to be brilliant. Any thoughts on that?

The existence of Order of the Guardians is not quite a secret, at least it wasn't in XIX century China. Master Fu in "Feast" says that guardianship was considered "a great honor". It implies that people who lived close to the temple of the Order knew about Miraculouses and what exactly guardians did for the greater good.

The existence of other Miracle Boxes around the world makes sense from a real-life perspective. Writers have the ability to create many stories set in the same universe and use them for merchandise and an almost unlimited amount of content. Judging by the unholy amount of specials in production, this is exactly what the creators are going to do. It probably won't go down well, but who knows?

However, it doesn't work in our main story. The main conflict is Paris-centred. Gabriel's motivations revolve around Emilie's resurrection and Season 4 gives us more reasons to suspect that Adrien's mom wasn't as wonderful as everyone says. Hawkmoth still remains the main villain of the show and most likely it's going to stay that way. There's no point in moving the main story to different places for the sake of introducing more Miracle Boxes from around the world. Ladybug and Chat Noir aren't needed to fight something halfway across the world unless Hawkmoth also changes locations.

LB and CN are centrepieces of this franchise. They brought success and money to ZAG. Creators constantly need to remind the audience that this new piece of media with new characters who will never be mentioned again is connected to Miraculous Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir. Writers have to come up with reasons to include our heroic duo into the story even if makes no sense.

New York Special had to introduce American Heroes whose names rarely come up in the fandom because people stopped caring about them or their stories shortly after the release of the Special. I barely saw any content dedicated to them. In order to bring LB and CN into the story, you have to include Hawkmoth too. Gabriel suddenly needs to get his hands on the Eagle Miraculous and goes to USA. Marinette and Adrien suddenly have a class trip to New York. Unfortunately, their presence in this story is required only to expand the world of Miraculous and attract fans of the show, so that they could keep an eye on new content related to newly introduced characters.

In the end, it's not their story. Events of the special don't affect main story of the show and the development of the love square is merely an illusion, because Adrien and Marinette are no closer than before. In season 4 LB and CN are growing apart and their test of trust in NY Special doesn't matter. Perhaps, some people don't see it that way and it's their right, but I find it hard to see NYS as a valid contribution to canon. I mean, even people in large portion of the fandom state in the tags on AO3 that "specials are not canon", "specials didn't happen" or "ignores both specials". It speaks volumes about continuity and preferences of your fandom.

Shanghai Special didn't give us more information about the Order, which is located in China, history of Miraculous jewels. We still don't know much about how Gabriel and Emilie found Peacock and Butterfly. Maybe, Marinette's family had connections to Miraculous jewels. Maybe, Adrien does some snooping and discovers research his parents made while Gabriel is away. All of these are relevant to the main story. However, we got something much different in the end.

Marinette chases Adrien across the globe and they make new friends. Fey becomes Ladydragon and now has a direct contact with Marinette through her uncle. Gabriel's desire to get his hands on the Prodigious comes out of nowhere. Apparently, he had been planning this trip for years, presumably even before Adrien was born. It probably happened at the same time as Agrestes found 2 Miraculouses. He bought bracelet-key (which is also a Miraculous apparently, but its Kwami is a Guardian of the Prodigious and they existed separately for a very long time - and let us not dwell on this mess) from some shady mafia boss, who can easily find out just who Gabriel really is (fashion designer billionaire) and use this information to blackmail him. This Special didn't answer important questions, but it gave us a new superhero character.

The real question is whether Miraculous as a project will survive long enough for writers to create content for every minor character they introduced in all specials. This is only a beginning after all.

Miraculous is not a global show and it can't be globalised in a way that makes sense, at least with Ladybug and Chat Noir in the centre of action. Case closed.

Mirakung Fu

I liked the idea of Mirakung Fu introduced in "Furious Fu". It makes sense and things rarely do in this show. Miraculous grants its holder superhuman strength, stamina, endurance and ability to fight. This means that essentially transformed heroes are guided by magic in combat. There's nothing personal in the way Miraculous holders fight. You can predict their moves and learn how to fight this magic guidance, which is what Su Han does.

However, if the holder has any special training, skills or knows any martial art in their civilian life then they become more dangerous opponents during transformation because now their fighting is a mix of magical moves and their personal knowledge, tricks and style. Therefore, Adrien and Kagami as skilful fencers have more chances of winning against someone who knows Mirakung Fu than Marinette, for example.

Memory loss

At the end of season 3, we find out several things:

apparently, now Miracle Box can change appearance to suit its guardian;

when Guardian passes down the Miracle Box to someone else, they lose memories not only about everything related to Miraculous, but also about pretty much everything in their life (Fu doesn't recognise Marianne, instead he experiences the love at first sight)

Master Fu trains Marinette to be the proper holder and next Guardian off-screen. He says that her training as the holder is complete in "Feast" and wants her to become the next Guardian. Fu told her lots of things, and yet, he never mentioned the fact that he would lose his memory after relinquishing the box, nor the fact that Marinette would lose her memory afterwards. She finds out about this from Wayzz after the battle with Miracle Queen and the letter that Master Fu gave her. That's not proper training! How on Earth do you forget to mention this memory loss? How?

Master Fu's amnesia is a convenient plot device that removes him from the narrative almost completely. That's mostly all there is to it. Why? Because it doesn't make sense.

Fu was around 7 or 8 when he started his training. The disaster at the temple happened when he was 14. He stated that his training was never complete, which means that he never passed any magical ritual, never swore an oath or was bound by some kind of spell that made him subjected to the rule of memory loss.

Miracle Boxes belonged to the order, not Fu. Their design reflected their country of origin because these Miraculous were made and kept in China. They were just standing there on the shelves not magically bound to anyone in particular. When Feast attacked, monks just tossed Wang Fu the miracle box and grimoire. No one at the temple lost their memory after Fu took the box with him (Su Han is the proof). Su Han not only remembers Fu and his mistake but everything that happened that fateful day as well. In "Furious Fu" Marinette explains Su Han that Master Fu lost his memory in the very first conversation they have. However, after Ladybug and Chat Noir fight Su Han on the roof and escape with the Miracle Box, the latter searches for Fu and attempts to take his staff from him. In this scene, Su Han acts like Fu knows very well what is going on and who he is.

Su Han should be aware of the memory loss rule as the Celestial Guardian. He remarks on the different shape of the Mother Miracle Box and calls her "incorrect", which means that Su Han should have been able to easily tell that previous Guardian lost his memory and the Miracle Box is now bound to someone else. But he doesn't say anything. Moreover, since Su Han is supposed to know about amnesia, he seemed awfully chill about forcing this 14-year-old girl in front of him to give up the box and her memories. Hell, Chat Noir wasn't on board with this. But we get zero reaction from Su Han.

During the first conversation between Marinette and Su Han, he doesn't ignore what she is trying to say, instead he actively comments on every word. Even if Su Han didn't listen when Marinette told him about Fu's memory loss, than he still should be able to understand that Fu doesn't recognise him, because of common sense and the "incorrect" shape of the box. But nothing of the sort happens. Because writers apparently forgot that "memory loss" is supposed to be known to everyone in the Order. On-screen it looks like Su Han is not aware of the "amnesia rule".

"Furious Fu" makes the concept of memory loss a plothole no matter how you look at it. Just like "Timetagger" and "Chat Blanc", as well as "Kwamibuster" this episode is not consistent within itself. It does not surprise me, however.

Grimoire and Guardian Staffs

Let's talk about the Miraculous Grimoire. Good things first.

There are no illustrations of Miraculouses in camouflage. Kwami can't read its contents, only guardians can. Certain elements are written in riddles as an additional precaution. The book contains only the information people have learned so far, which means that Miraculouses have more unexplored potential ("Mr. Pigeon 72"). It describes powers of each Miraculous, provides information about weapons, has instructions for potions that don't make sense (see previous parts).

Unfortunately, everything is about to go downhill from here.

Guardians are taught how to read the writing in this book. They can read it just like people learn to read texts in a different language. This means that one can read Grimoire like any other book (you don't need to consult some guide to decode each letter or word). Master Fu proclaimed Marinette an almost fully trained Guardian. He should have taught her how to read the Grimoire then (he doesn't know the code very well, but he knew enough to understand the general meaning and content of the book according to "Collector"). He didn't. We don't know why. He shows her powers of every Miraculous but doesn't teach her the code.

Master Fu knows that Grimoire now belongs to Gabriel Agreste. He knows that it's dangerous for someone else to have it. If they knew how to read the Grimoire, they could discover all secrets of Miraculouses and harm Ladybug, Chat Noir and other heroes. It's very important to keep the information about the code top secret because Fu is not the only one with the source material.

What does he do then? Master Fu proceeds to write a French translation of Grimoire for Marinette, a translation that he doesn't even need. He carries it with him at all times on a tablet (without any precautions) just like the Miracle box after "Feast". Naturally, it means that in "Miracle Queen", Gabriel and Nathalie easily managed to get their hands on the tablet and Miracle Box. It allows the plot to happen, sure. But it doesn't make any sense.

"Furious Fu" created another curious plot hole. It will probably be ignored, of course. Su Han has a staff with a magical compass that allows him to find any Miracle box, but not the Miraculous jewels for some reason. How does the staff work? Can it locate the box without the Miraculous? If yes, then it seems useless. What's the point in the ability to locate an empty box? If it can locate the box only with the Miraculous jewels inside, it implies that the staff can track the location of every Miraculous too. So, Su Han could just locate the Butterfly and Peacock without any problem. But he talks about reassigning Ladybug and Black Cat to adults and defeating Hawkmoth like locating the Butterfly is not possible. This situation makes the Guardian Staff a simple plot device that creates plot holes and its only purpose is to explain how Su Han found Marinette.

Also, I have a few more words to say about this. Master Fu had a Guardian Staff that was never mentioned before. I wonder why? That's because the staff didn't exist before "Furious Fu" was written. Writers just went: "Do you know what would be cool? If Fu's cane was really a secret Guardian Staff with a compass all along that he decided to keep even after he lost his memory? It would make people wonder whether Master Fu is faking amnesia, and everyone will definitely call him an awful mentor after this even though we kind of tried to make him a good and responsible person."

Fu didn't give it to Marinette and didn't mention it to her. Why? When he gave up his memory, he should have written about this in his letter at least. Why did he decide to keep it? He can't use it anyway now.

Please note how in the flashbacks Fu didn't take any staff with him when he escaped the temple. Su Han seemed to know how Fu's staff looked like. It means that Master Fu didn't make this staff himself, because it belonged to the Order.

Su Han wasn't even surprised that Marinette didn't have the staff as the current Guardian. Was she not supposed to have it? He never questioned the fact that the former Guardian without memories has the staff. Su Han actually returns this staff to Fu after he is deakumatized and Fu acts like they have never met before. Why did Su Han gave the staff back when he knows what it is and to whom it should belong (to him or to Marinette as the current Guardian)? The staff is useless in the hands of the civilian. Does Marianne know about its secret? We'll probably never find out, unfortunately.

Guardian Staff of Master Fu has a compass too and therefore this also makes it a plot device, just like Su Han's staff.

#miraculous ladybug #ml #miraculous analysis #miraculous meta #ml meta #ml analysis #miraculous critical #miraculous ladybug critical #miraculoustalesofladybugandcatnoir #mt of lb and cn #miraculous guardian #miraculous order of guardians #master fu #miraculous master fu #wang fu #miraculous su han

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anjuschiffer · 4 years

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The Wayne Twins

Just woke up from a 3 hour nap and decided to make some tea when another story concept came to me.

I’ve always been down for bio!dad bruce, hell, I’ve been writing content for it (and even holding an event for it), but!

What if... Bio!dad Bruce AND Bio!mom Talia, meaning... TWIN AU (although Talia isn’t exactly the best mom here either :D)

So basically, Marinette is brought up the same way as Damian, but instead of a sword, she’s an expert at using a rope dart

Her rope dart is black with a single red feather, a sliver dart at the end

However, while Damian is taken to Bruce, Marinette isn’t. Instead she remains with Talia

She’s taught about the miraculous, that she is to investigate the whereabouts of it and to retrieve it

Marinette accepts the mission and wanders the world to look for it

3 years pass, Talia yet to receive any news about Marinette, wondering if she also betrayed her like Damian had. It had been a year since her last report

Turns out, Marinette was still on her mission, but hadn’t been able to contact her mother about her progress on it. She had a lead that told her that the miraculouses were somewhere in France

Marinette had almost been caught by the French government when she tried to cross the border, but still managed to get by.

Now using a fake identity, Marinette got an apartment and school documents to ease her mission

Now it was a matter of time to find it

Now, at this time, Damian was more open towards Bruce, finally dropping the last piece of information Bruce needed to know

“Father, there’s something I need to tell you.” He hesitates when Bruce remained silent. “I have a sister.”

“As in-”

“No, not older.” Damian digs through his pocket, having a picture to show him. Single photo he has of the two of them. “My twin.”

Ensue Bruce losing his shit because why is he finding out about his other child through his own? Why didn’t Talia tell him about Marinette?

Ensue the hint for Mari, taking a year to track her down at Paris since Damian didn’t know of her whereabouts for 3 years and Talia wasn’t giving out any info about Mari

Once they do find Marinette, she’s managed to find and have the Ladybug miraculous in possession, despite Fu’s gut telling him it was a bad idea, but gave it to mari because Wayzz said she was the perfect candidate

However, Mari has been conflicted on whether to give it to her mother, her principles being tested.

Also, something like this happens

It had been a walk home, after fighting an akuma and once more giving Adri-Chat Noir the cold shoulder that she feels like she’s being followed

She quickly whips out her rope dart, tying up the stalker, only to find Damian before her

“Damian. What...what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be with your father?”

“He’s our father.” Damian emphasizes, not untying himself at all

At that Mari purses her lips, quickly setting Damian free, but doesn’t run up to him even though she wanted to. After all, Damian was the only person she considered family. She resented their mother and grandfather

“You still havent answered my question. What are you doing here?”

“I want you to meet father.”

“No.” Mari growls, her rope ready to attack if she hand to. “He’s not my father.”

“Whether you don’t consider him to be or not, he is by blood.”

“No he isn’t!” She attacks, leading to the two fighting, although Damian mainly dodges or has to free himself from multiple captures. “You’ve gone soft. Mother would be disappointed.”

“Like you’re one to talk.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Shouldn’t you have reported to her already?” Marinette loosens her grip on her dart, allowing Damian to take advantage and knock her out.

She wakes up at her apartment, where she’s face-to-face with Bruce

“Marinette, meet our Father.” “Father, meet Marinette, my sister... your daughter.”

Bruce remains still, observing the girl, wondering why Talia never told him about their little girl

Bruce attempts to talk to her, but she breaks out of the apartment, once more fleeing from them

Bruce attempts to go after her, but Damian doesn’t let him

“She’ll keep doing that until she wants to face you. I may not know what she’s been doing for the past three years, but I did grow up by her side for 10.”

Marinette looks for a new apartment and tells her mother about the situation at hand, Talia reassuring her everything is going to be fine and to just focus at the mission at hand

Some time passes and the opportunity finally happens. She’s appointed guardian.

“Mother, I finally know where the miraculous are.”

“Good. Once you have them in your possession, we’ll finally have the ability to complete the League’s goal.”

While Marinette is happy that her mission is almost over, she doesn’t want to hand them over to her mother, something beckoned her to not do it

If living in Paris taught her one thing, it was that she had the power to change

her classmates had shown her kindness despite her cold demeanor, the bakers around the block showed her love and warmth, treating her like family whenever she dropped by

Her coldness melted around these people, even around the Lila girl that got under her skin. While she didn’t like Lila for attempting to frame her for her mistakes, she certainly did like her for her story telling. She should consider being a director or writer.

She knew that she can change, that she didn’t have to suffer from Talia’s rules anymore if she didn’t return

For Talia never truly loved her... she was a mere tool to her...

“She can’t have you.” Marinette muttered to herself, looking at the kwamis with sadness “She’ll abuse you. She’ll hurt you...just like she did to me...and Damian.”

While away from Talia, Marinette had learned more about herself, learned that she liked to sew, that she loved parkour and acrobatics

She learned these, because she was away from Talia, from her controlling mother

A month passed, Marinette now in Gotham, realizing that if she wanted to escape Talia, she was going to need help.

As soon as she stepped into Gotham, she already found it.

She had carelessly let her guard down, surrounded by thugs when Nightwing had fended them off

“You shouldn’t be out here at this ti-”

“I need to speak to Batman.”

“And why’s-”

“Let me speak to Bruce.”

“Hold on a sec, how-”

“He’s my father and Damian’s my brother.” Marinette cut to the chase. “I need their help.”

Dick nods and brings Marinette to the batcave, where Marinette rushes to hug Damian, which confuses the hell out of Tim and Jason

Upon seeing Bruce, Marinette awkwardly hugs him, apologizing for the mess their first encounter was

Bruce hugs her tighter, happy that Marinette finally acknowledged their relationship

“So why are you here?” Jason asks, Marinette telling them about her situation, explaining to them her plan (don’t know if I should make her show them the kwamis or not...)

They agree to help

Talia ends up dropping in the next day, much to the family’s surprise (although they already had everything in motion)

Talia ends up dodging the other bats, chasing Mari and cornering her in a room, Marinette telling them that she can handle it, much to Damian’s worry

“Marinette, come now. Hand them over.”

“I won’t.” Marinette defends, looking at the miracle box in hand. “I will never give them to you!”

Talia rages, beginning to tell marinette how soft she had grown, that she was throwing her opportunity of a life time, that she was stupid for casting aside her right to the ‘throne’

“No I am not! While I’m not the prodigy like Damian, nor am I strong like my father, nor as cunning as you, I know one thing! I’m happier than I’ve ever been since I left the League and I want to continue to be that way!” Marinette yelled, slipping on the Cat Miraculous, shouting catacylsm, holding the miracle box with her other hand

“What do you think you are doing?”

“Something that all the previous guardians should’ve done.” With a shit-eating grin, Mari destroys the box, Talia screaming

Talia gets taken down by Bruce although she ends up escaping and retreating

Marinette finally feels a giant weight off of her, collapsing to the floor

Of course, the plan still isn’t dont

Marinette brings back the Miracle Box (gave Dick the earrings to hold...other rather wear. She changed the earrings to be magnetic) and vows to protect them with her life

“So that’s it, isn’t it?” Damian says, sitting next to her. “What’s next?”

“Dunno.”

“Why don’t you stay here?” Damian offers, Marinette taken aback. “I know you have nowhere else, so why not just...stay with us?”

Marinette looks at the rest of the family, looking at the bruises and cuts on their faces, smiling back at her. Overwhelmed by her emotions, Marinette begins to cry, Damian simply sitting there as she cries.

Her wish was finally granted. She can finally have a warm, kind place to call home.

Tags: @theatreandcomicfreak @damianette-is-life

#maribat #anju rambles #maribat twin au #bio!dad bruce wayne #bio!mom talia al ghul

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enternalempires · 4 years

Text

What She Learned

Jasonette fic, a lil hurt/death, a lil romance, and I like it so... (also can someone please explain to me how to add the thing that I can make it so yo guys can click ‘read more’ instead of being forced to scroll past the whole thing???)

7-years-old and Marinette is told by one Chloe Bourgeois that she will never be worth anything in life, because ugly little girls like her don’t deserve attention. She’s pushed to the ground but she does not cry at her split knees or the scraps stinging on her palms; she stands up and she doesn’t talk back but she returns from school to a warm house and caring parents.

Her soulmate mark appears a month later and her bully spends a month sneering at the Phoenix resting against the inside of her wrist, dancing in reds and darkness and resurrection.

A week later, she learns that there are more important people to listen to than those who make her cry at 8 in the morning.

9-years-old and Marinette thinks that the blonde mayor’s daughter is the worst person she will have the unfortunate chance to meet. She gets insulted and glared at and has a hard time making friends but she is strong and she is kind and she will continue to stand even if she doesn’t know how important it is to get up after you fall.

She’s having dreams of dark streets and color nights; of dark gargoyles hanging off buildings, dirty-faced children, a city drowned in fear. She sees the face of a dizzy woman and an angry man and she wakes up terrified because there are bruises on a body that is not her own and the ache of an empty stomach underneath their palms. When she looks into a mirror there is a boy with a too-serious expression for such a young face and eyes blue enough to drown her in the sadness there.

She learns that there are some children out there who never had the chance to learn kindness before they learned how to survive.

10-years-old and Marinette is shoved into a row of lockers by a boy she doesn’t recognize, her pink dress and pigtails sneered at until tears fill her eyes. She doesn’t know how to defend herself but she tries until she’s shoved onto the school’s grimy floor and breaks a finger trying to catch herself.

She does not cry, she does not say sorry, she does not think that it is fair for her teacher to say, “Boys will be boys,” instead of “I’m sorry you got hurt on my watch.” She will continue to stand up for herself even after a broken wrist.

She asks her parents about the nightmares, about the boy with blue eyes and an empty stomach; they tell her about her soulmate and they tell her that one day, she is going to meet him and love him how their parents loved each other.

13-years old and Marinette does not understand the word sacrifice but she is about to learn. She flinches at the sight of magic-tainted earrings and feels her fingertips run cold with insecurity— because she never wanted this, she didn’t want to be a hero and she didn’t want to be in charge of saving people when, in the past, she never knew how to save herself.

It has been a year and she starts to see flashes of a man in black and a large house that feels too clean to be tainted, too open to be safe. She sees the reflection of a boy in red, green, and yellow and feels the comfort of the heavy books underneath his fingers.

He never got the chance to be smart before, never got the right education, never learned something unless it helped him stay alive— and she goes to sleep smiling because even though he’s not quite happy, at least he’s safe.

15-years-old and Marinette is dreaming of a man in green and purple and she’s sobbing because— he’s getting hurt and she’s watching from his eyes and she can’t do anything about it. He cries out for his father, for the man promised to be there, and he dies alone and staring at a bloody crowbar, his blue eyes going dull in the reflection of his own blood.

She wakes up screaming and feeling empty and with the Phoenix on her wrist looking like nothing more than a pile of ash, red feathers and glowing eyes going blurry and dark. There is not enough light in the world to make her chest hurt any less and her parents hold her as she cries but don’t speak; there is nothing that could be said to comfort someone in the face of a loss like this.

She learns what it is like to be alone for the first time in her life and she no longer knows how to dream.

17-years-old and Marinette is standing at the bottom of the Eiffel tower, ruination around her, swirling and teetering on the edge of death, surrounding her like a wet blanket, the water of horror digging deep into her bones. She has watched her comrades die for her and she has watched them protect her with everything in them, believing that she will win. Believing that she will bring them back— and she does, and they’re safe, but nothing can change the fact that she will always remember what her loved one’s looked like dead, empty eyes staring right at her.

She did not win against Hawkmoth, not really, not when she has lost so much. She casts her cure and she returns home with the two recovered miraculouses, a heavy heart, and enough trauma to last a lifetime.

She knew what it felt like to mourn someone she never met but now she learns how it feels to grieve two people at once, even when they are still alive.

19-years-old and Marinette is staring at the fire that consumed the bakery, her home, her parents. She saw too many horrible, traumatic things that it takes a couple seconds to register that this is it, they’re not coming back. Because yes, she has seen the world end but no, the world did not end. She is used to being able to fix things that are broken in a way that makes sure they never broke but this is not one of those things and her parents are not some of the people whose lives she has the luxury of saving.

She is desperate to run and she is desperate to fight but there is no longer a battle in Paris. Her instincts tell her to go, go, run, don’t look back and don’t think about the bodies left behind, so she does and she ends up in Gotham and she ends up looking at familiar gargoyles and familiar streets and feels an ache so wide inside her heart she’s surprised it’s still beating.

She owns a small bakery on the corner of crime alley that is the only neutral ground in seemingly all of Gotham and she learns how to bake without crying at the scent of baked bread, turning her grief into comfort as she’s surrounded by her parent’s smell and memories of her childhood— she shares that comfort with any kids who come in looking for a safe place to spend the night.

21-years-old and Marinette has built herself a home; the building is old but warm and drenched in magic. She found all the other Miraculous boxes and lets the Kwamis roam free inside of her apartment, there’s over a hundred of them in total but she bonded with them all and, in return, they love her. She is the Guardian; both a monster and a protector at once.

The kids flock to her like moths to a flame and over the years she has gained all of their trust. She asks for nothing in return when she gives them food and medicine and a warm place to sleep. There’s magic on the doors that lead to rooms full of bunk beds and closets with food and medical supplies and sleeping bags and all is welcome— the kids know about the Kwamis and they know that she is safe, in a world that has taught them to fear everything, she is safe.

They call her the Guardian or Lady luck and she learns how to have a family again without being terrified of losing them.

23-years-old and Marinette has just saved one of her kids from Scarecrow. It is not the first time and it will not be the last. There are those that are terrified of her, gang leaders and villains that won’t step foot onto her land— but these are her kids, these are her people, this is her home and she will not feel guilty for protecting them.

She is polite to Batman and the other vigilantes, she has made friends with the Sirens, and she knows her way around Gotham and she knows when there is a problem that needs to be solved. She does not know what to make of Red Hood or the dreams that come with him or how her fingers tremble when one of the older kids comes through the bakery’s doors with a crowbar tucked under her arm.

She does not know how to make her mind any lighter, she does not know how to get rid of the darkness but she learns that there is such a thing as healing with time.

24-years-old and Marinette comes home from patrol and finds her balcony’s doors open and the living room smelling like blood. She sees Red Hood’s eyes for the first time and she does not cry, she does not fall, and she does not flinch. They are blue and more angry than sad and guilty— so, so guilty— but she knows them well. Her wrist burns and the Phoenix rises again from the ashes, and she no longer feels so alone.

She patches Hood— Jason, his name is Jason— up and she still does not fall over but her knees are weak, so very weak because he’s here and he’s alive and oh my God. She does not ask about the bullet wound but she asks about the sickly and tainted magic clinging to his skin. He tells her about waking up in the Lazarus Pit and when asked, she tells him about a boy in white and the moon cracked in half in the sky.

They do not know each other’s past well, they do not know so many things but they know that they don’t want to lose each other again. They do not know what to do next but she learns not to question it because her soulmate is alive and that’s good enough for her.

26-years-old and Marinette is getting married under a sky full of stars and the hands in hers are warm and there’s nothing cold about her life. She has her home, she has her kids and bakery and she has her Kwamis. She has Jason and he isn’t gentle but he is kind and he knows how to hold her just right when she feels like falling apart. She is kind and soft and knows how to hold him when he feels like the madness is getting worse again.

She is happy for one of the first times in years and she knows that, despite it all, she’d go through it again if it meant she could end up here; happy in her husband's arms and cheeks hurting from smiling so wide.

She has learned a lot and she’s not even 30, but she has learned how to love and how to be loved and how to always get up when she falls. She knows how to stand, feet firmly planted into the ground, and she knows how to not let herself get blown over when things get too hard.

But if she did happen to let herself fall?

Well, now there’s someone there to catch her.

#jasonette #jason x marinette #mlb fic #miraculous ladybug fanfiction #fanfic #batman dc #jason todd #marinette dupain cheng #ladybug #death #learning #soulmate AU #cute #love #marriage

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gainaxvel3o · 3 years

Text

A Miraculous Tale of Rubybug and Cat Blake Chapter 5

Previous / First / Next

Watts up, Doc?

“Two of my pawns have been taken out of the board.”

Monarch paced around the room. Her face was framed by the purple light coming from the little butterflies surrounding her. Nooro’s magic felt wondrous to be around, intoxicating in it’s warmth, even corrupted by dark desire. “Tyrian Callows nearly succeeded in killing the champions,” Monarch spoke. “His pride got to him, but if trained well he would have made a proud Huntsman for me. The downside of involving the police in affairs. They let a body go to waste.”

She felt a shiver down her body. Poor Nooro… he continued to fight against her even knowing he didn’t have a chance. Such a small, whiny, pathetic little thing. Behaviors more suited to children than an ancient powerful being that of creation. Many myths would be destroyed by simply observing the Kwamis.

“I will need someone smarter. Wiser. A person susceptible to my power, who will be able to calculate the most efficient path to success.”

She closed her eyes. Butterflies were everywhere in the city, dismissed by most as just little flying insects interrupting their path. They didn’t know the butterflies could hear the whispers underneath their breath, the thoughts they hold back every waking moment…

Her eyes flashed red, her sclera briefly turning black.

“Yes… he will bring me the Miraculous!”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

The first thing Blake Belladonna did when she woke up was brush her teeth.

The second thing she did was inspect her eyes in the mirror. She noticed the small circles forming under them. It had been difficult for her to find sleep for any given week. It only got worse since the other day, when she fought alongside Ladybug, against Scorpio.

“YOU TOOK AWAY MY POWER! I WAS SCORPIO! I AM SCOR-“

A loud ringing noise.

There was no peace in his eyes. Only shock.

“If you move then you’re gonna end up like him. Get down!”

“NINJA VANISH!”

Blake had heard about incidents like these. The police firing when they didn’t need to, against someone they shouldn’t have. Tyrian Callows was a murderer. There should be no guilt in his death. Even so, being in the moment when it happened, the bullet firing… that caught her off guard.

She wondered about Ladybug, imagining if her lady was having nightmares like she did. She wondered how she was able to cope with the death of a man, even if it wasn’t her fault.

“What’s been buggin’ you, gloomy cat?” Blake sighed. “Plagg.” “You gonna tell me?” The little cat Kwami grinned wildly. “Do I gotta be a bad kitty?”

“Do what you want. It is irrelevant to me.”

Blake swiped some locks of her hair away from her face. She closed her eyes, breathing in. “I hope Ladybug is okay. The fight the other day was intense.” “No need to worry. Tikki picks her champions well. No doubt she’s bounced back and ready to go, good as new as can be.”

“That’s a relief.”

It was. Ladybug came across as naive and nervous every time Blake met her. Skilled yes, but nearly always in trouble every time Blake arrived. Blake admired the girl’s spirit, but knew that she would need plenty of help. So long as Ladybug needed her, Chat Noir would be happy to serve.

Blake drank the water from the sink and spat it out. She took out a small tube, bringing out the pills and swallowing them.

“Plagg?” “Hm?”

“Why are the Miraculouses so special?” “They have us, pretty sure that makes them special.” “Chadwick. Scorpio. Both of them wanted our Miraculous. What would he need ours for?” “Ah… Yeah I should tell you.” Blake’s eyes snapped open. “You didn’t think it was important before?!”

“No you’re right, let me explain.” Plagg said. “Tikki and I, we’re the Kwamis of Creation and Destruction. When we’re together we can accomplish miracles beyond anything mortal can imagine.”

“Like… genies?”

“Yeah, but we’re not bound by rules the way those twerps are. Whoever’s the boss has Nooro and probably wants Tikki and I to fulfill a wish.” “Hmmm…”

Blake shook the little rube in her hand. Her eyes narrowed a little. “So you could grant any wish right?” “Probably. Why, you gonna swipe the earrings?” “I won’t.” “Then why the question?” Blake hesitated, before deciding to risk it.

“I’m just wondering if they could…” She shook the tube. “You know, make it so I don’t have to take these?” She had only rarely seen Plagg get serious around her. His mischievous smile gave away to a frown, contemplating her question. “It could do that yeah. You’d probably feel more comfortable without ‘em. Thing is, the type of magic we are… the wishes we grant come at a cost. In order to get a thing, something has to be given back.”

“Equivalent exchange…” Blake sighed again. “Nothing is ever free is it?” “I wish it were so, gloomy cat.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

The corridors made Blake feel uneasy.

There were just so many… people. Students, teachers, employees… Blake tried to ignore them. She tried to ignore the noises and small talk that could be heard down the hallway; she tried not to look for any mention of her name that came with disgust or insult; no matter what she did, the feeling of anxiety came with her. At last, Blake glanced around trying to catch someone. Anyone.

Nothing came. Nobody did.

It was silly. Nobody knew her, she was practically invisible to the crowd. They were too wrapped up in the hum and drum of their own lives to think anything of her. Even so, Blake felt uncomfortable. Even if she knew, logically, that no one stared at her, that no one knew her, she felt as if any moment somebody would jump out and call her by name, revealing her to the world.

To her relief, no one did. Blake shuddered. College was supposed to be a fresh start for her. In many ways, it was exactly what she needed. Even though she walked into the room late, no one batted an eye. She took a seat behind her (so far) best friend, with no one the wiser.

“Mornin’ Blakey,” Yang winked at her. “Had trouble rollin’ out of bed?” If Plagg and Yang ever met, they’d probably make a great team. Blake thanked the universe they haven’t. Yet.

“My sleep schedule isn’t your concern Yang.” Blake placed her bag underneath her seat. “What’s the lesson for today?”

“Oh it’s just the doc rambling off. You haven’t missed much.”

“You will be missing something, Miss Xiao-Long.” The teacher twirled his brown mustache. “Your grade, if you keep speaking out of turn.” Yang narrowed her eyes in contempt before yawning. Dr. Arthur Watts was the type of man to carry himself with great self importance. His lab assistant, a man with green hair and glasses larger than his own eyes, fidgeted behind him. A machine lied in the middle of the table, a metal skeleton, the body split as if it was reaching for it’s toes.

“As you can see, students,” Dr. Watts spat out, “We’re supposed to be studying history. What better demonstration of history can there be, than actively participating in it?” “D-doctor,” Bartholomew Oobleck, the doctor’s assistant, stuttered while he sipped his coffee. “I must insist this to be a terrible idea! The prototype isn’t even out of testing stage!” “Nonsense. Activate the machine!”

Oobleck, against his better knowledge and wisdom, pressed the button on the robot. The almost sinister sounds of beeps and smoke rising were heard across the room, the metal skeleton raising itself up. It stared at the students, freaking them out with it’s slow deliberate patterns. Arthur Watts grinned.

“My machine was rejected for being an inferior product,” He said to the room. “As you can see, it is clearly nonsense. Wave at them my robot!”

It did so, mimicking the human action of waving hi at people to the best of it’s ability. However, everyone could see smoke rising from the machine’s head. A minor explosion was heard, the skeleton head twisting, turning and churning before falling to the floor, sending nuts and bolts flying around the room.

“A… minor setback.” Dr. Watts said finally. “But if I can make it work then I’ll finally be able to ascend to the scientific community! No more classes for me with idiotic, inattentive students at least!”

There was a moment of silence among the students who weren’t quite sure what to make of this display. Blake raised a hand up.

“Yes Miss Belladonna? Who I may remind you all was late to this lecture? Would you care to voice your objections?”

Blake was keenly aware of the chuckles from behind and in front of her. She put them aside. “I was late, I’ll try to keep that in check.” Blake said. “However, while this… experiment looks rather interesting, aren’t we supposed to be learning about American history?” Indignant at the response, Dr. Watts turned to his assistant, who was whispering little curses to himself. He was on his own for this. “But you are!” Dr. Watts shouted. “You’re participating in our experiment!” “Would it not be better to do it in an actual lab?” Blake said. “With actual doctors checking on it? Not in a classroom where we’re supposed to be learning something else entirely? No wonder you haven’t been certified yet, you’ve been very unprofessional.”

Laughter came. Not at Blake, but at the incompetent doctor she had to remind herself. Dr. Watts blushed furiously.

“A once in a lifetime opportunity…” Dr. Watts pouteed. “-and you throw it away?!?” “I told you this would happen Arthur,” Oobleck tried to reason. “Maybe we can open up the textbooks and get back on track, there’s still an hour-“

But the doctor wasn’t hearing any of it. He grabbed his coat and marched out of the room, ignoring the laughter of, in his mind, infantile ignoramus adults. “BAH! If this how they act then they are not worthy of me.”

The door slammed shut. Watts would complain to the Headmaster later. The stupid woman gave him an inattentive classroom. He brought out a cigar.

“Stupid children, stupid Oobleck. I’m supposed to be a genius scientist but… graaargh! I’ll get revenge at some point.”

Arthur twirled his mustache, feeling something on his shoulder. He turned to see that what landed was a small butterfly.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Oobleck looked around not sure what to say. The students erupted into conversation, completely ignoring the green haired man. Any chance of a normal class had died when Watts left the room.

“Whoah Blake.” Yang whistled to her friend. “That was awesome.” “Not really.” Blake waved it off. "An idiot is a hot air balloon that needs to be popped, less they fly off into space and have it’s occupants freeze to death.” “Isn’t space a vacuum though?” Blake rolled her eyes.

“You okay though?” Yang asked. “You seem a bit tense.” Perceptive. Blake cursed in her head coming up with an excuse.

“I didn’t sleep well, so I’m a bit on edge.” Blake supposed that would do. “How did this guy end up a teacher, let alone our teacher?” “Ah, you missed that part of the opening act.” Yang said. “Dude apparently got fired from his old job, so Salem brought him here as a favor. Since every other position was filled he had teach history since he had the degree for it.”

“Ah, that does explain it. Salem is a nice person.” “Yeah, too nice.” Yang slumped on the table, resting her head on her shoulders. “Not that I’m ungrateful, but she should be more careful with who she picks ya know?”

Blake nods. “I suppose so.”

‘Then again.’ She thought. ‘If it weren’t for her… why I be allowed here?’

“Anyway,” Yang continued. “Wanna skip class? Ruby’s got some designs she wanted to show me, and I’m getting the distinct impression the teacher won’t be coming back.” “Maybe…” She felt her ring vibrate. “Um, maybe not today.”

“Oh come on we haven’t even hung out yet!”

“I’m sorry it’s just that I remembered something and-“

The door was suddenly kicked down. Blake and Yang turned their heads bewildered ash the sight.

“Hello children!” A raspy voice spoke to the classroom. “Do you want to participate in an EXCITING EXPERIMENT?!”

Blake surmised him to be yet another freakish villain, the same as Chadwick and Scorpio. The man had credit for going for something a bit more stylish than the other two. The black long coat mixed with the red scarf around the neck, the man’s eyes by oversized goggles and a cigar on the mouth. “My my my, how come you’re not all excited? As a Huntsman of the Great and Mighty Monarch, I’m going to have to ask ALL OF YOU to sit down until those pathetic hero brats show up.”

“What is this madness Arthur?!?” Oobleck placed a shoulder on Dr. Watts. “How did you even change your outfit so quickly, you weren’t even in this when you-”

BAM! Oobleck fell to the floor, spasming from electric shocks as Dr. Watts blew away the smoke from the gun.

“Arthur Watts is a disrespected genius, but…” He smirked in delight. “KillerWatts will be happy to avenge him, I have so many plans to execute, with so little time!”

He pulled out another gun with his pocket right, firing both at the ceiling, leaving the lights dimmed and broken. The students could only watch in horror as the Shockslinger chuckled.

“What’s the doc doing?!”

“Is he like a supervillain? Like the guys Ladybug and Chat Noir fight?” “Shit we gotta go run!”

They were piling out and fast. Blake knew she needed to find a spot so she could transform into Chat Noir and take care of this villain. Perhaps she could take advantage of the chaos to find a place to hide. “Blake we gotta stick together!” Yang grabbed her friend’s arm. “Now move!” Or she could get dragged by Yang, away from any place they could do so.

“Yang maybe we need to find a place to hide,” Blake pointed in one direction. “I could look for help over there-“ “Are you crazy?!?” Yang pulled harder. “I’m not leaving you alone for a second, c’mon!”

As her friend took her away, Blake realized that transforming would be a difficult task. She knew she needed to find out, but how? Where was Ladybug?

As she thought of that, KillerWatts cursed himself for allowing the brats to get away. His master already told him the mission: find the miraculous, bring it to her, everyone else was secondary. As much as he wanted revenge, KillerWatts knew he needed to set his priorities straight.

“Those insufferable little brats will get what’s coming to them later. For now though…” He walked over to his failed machine. Gently, Watts fired a bullet from his gun into the robot, causing blue electric waves to spread over the robot’a.

“We should spread a bit of chaos… just enough for Ladybug to appear."

_____________________________________________________________________________________

“Hey Ren! Look at this!” Nora stuffed a pair of peas into her mouth, then brought a straw to her lips. She spat the peas through the straw into the air, where it hit Cardin Winchester. He turned around, flipping the middler finger to Nora, who just waved at him. Ren clapped.

“Fantastic as always Nora.”

“Thanks Ren.” Pyrrha and Jaune decided to shrug at that. Jaune glanced over to Ruby, seeing her focused on her notebook.

“What’s up Ruby?” Jaune scooched over to Ruby. “Working on a new design right now?”

“Huh?” Ruby blinked. “Oh yeah! Weiss suggested some ideas for designs and I’ve been trying to figure out how to get them right. I’m going to meet with her later to see what she thinks.” “… You’re working with Weiss?” Jaune raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you and Weiss umm… Hate each other?” “I don’t… hate her I guess?” Ruby shrugged. “I don’t like her, but she’s seen my designs and wants to help me get better. If I want to get a career going, I feel like I should get advice from someone who’s already working in the industry right?” “Makes sense.” Ren said. “If one studies the art of the blade, they mustn’t be too picky about who they learn it from.” “… yeah I guess?” ‘Ren can be so strange sometimes,’ Ruby thought. ‘At least he’s supportive?’ “You’re a fashion designer, Ruby?” Pyrrha asked. “Have you made any designs yet?” “Ohhhh she is, Pyrrha!” Jaune pointed at the notebook. “Ruby showed me her notebook during inauguration, she’s not half bad!” “Oh stop it Jaune!” Ruby giggled. “I’m not great… yet…” “Ruby’s a fashion designer?!” Nora popped in front of Ruby, which startled the girl. "COME ON LET US SEE!”

“Nora, that’s not how you ask friends for favors. You do it from an approximately two feet away so you’re at tackling distance.” “Oh right sorry Ren.” Nora pulled back. “May we pleaaaase see your cool stuff? Please?” Ruby felt eyes on her. She wanted to keep some ideas to herself but… well these were her friends… Ruby supposed it would’t be a problem this one time. Laughing awkwardly, she laid out her notebook for her friends.

“It’s not much but… here they are!” They looked at her notes in awe at the skill. There were pictures and drawings of elaborate, elegant outfit designs, inked to the slightest detail, with notes on the side explaining how they were supposed to be stitched, what fabrics would work with this or that, each dress not just sticking to one style but dipping into other types. Goth, pastel, others, Ruby had a talent for not just doing one, but knowing how to mix them together.

“Wow Ren look at these! I gotta ask Ruby to make our wedding outfits!” “Agreed. She is quite adept.” “These aren’t bad.” Pyrrha looked at Ruby. “Have you thought about posting these online?” “Maybe?” Ruby said. “I only just started college… I want to keep a low profile now.”

“Low profile?!” Jaune pointed at a design in the book. “Ruby that kind of t talent should be out there for all to see!”

“I just don’t think I’m ready that’s all.” Pyrrha noticed how Ruby was nervous, so she laid a hand on Jaune’s shoulder to calm him down. “I can understand what you mean, Ruby.” Pyrrha smiled. “I came here so I could avoid too much publicity. Do consider my point though. If you want opportunities you’re going to have to take risks. Not just here, for all life.” “Huh…” Ruby frowned. “That’s what Weiss said.” “She’s right, Ruby.” Pyrrha placed a hand on Ruby’s shoulder. “I might be able to put in a good word for you.” “You could?!?” Ruby’s eyes lit up before she gently brought Pyrrha’s hand away. “Uh ahem, let me think about it. Maybe.”

She thought of the possibilities that could come from this. Maybe other designers will see them and give her a chance? With Pyrrha, a popular athlete, giving a good word maybe something could be done. But would it work? Of course her friends would praise her. Maybe she should need to speak to Weiss first. She’d probably tell her not to do it, being an expert and all. What if she did get people to notice her but they turn her down?

(What if she saw it?)

“HOLY CRAP, RUN!” Ruby heard it before her earrings vibrated. A panicked student ran down the mess hall just as a set of walls broke, revealing a robot with blue sparks surrounding it.

“Kill the brats.” The robot spoke. “Bring the miraculous to the Master!”

“Shit what was that?!?” Jaune got up from the chair. “We gotta move!”

Ruby knew she had to act quickly. She pushed the notebook into her bag and ran with the others. Nora fired peas from her straw at the robot. They disintegrated upon impact due to the electric current. Thankfully for her Ren grabbed her hand and moved with Jaune. “Why is it attacking us, here?” Pyrrha turned her head led and right. “Where’s Ruby?!”

Jaune turned around, having just noticed his friend’s absence. “Ruby, RUBY!!!”

The robot turned it’s attention towards Jaune, who was desperately looking around.

“RUBY!” “Jaune watch out!" A red spot appeared on Jaune’s chest. Before he could get fired on, a yoyo appeared over Jaune’s arm, pulling him away from laser fire. “You should be more careful.” Ladybug said. “This is the second time I saved you. Get going!” “But Ruby-!” “I’ll find her soon, but move!” Ruby felt guilty sending her friend away. She had ducked under a table during the chaos. She knew what she had to do.

“Okay you bucket of bolts!” Ladybug shouted to the robot. “Let’s see what you’re made of!” The robot fired concentrated electric blasts at Ladybug, but she was quick and nimble, leaping across the tables with ease. Her eyes narrowed, she used the yoyo to catch one of the robot’s legs, pulling on it to break it off. Once it did, the robot fell to the side, firing at Ladybug again. However, she jumped through the air, raising a leg to attack it’s head.

SMASH! The head went flying, falling just a few steps away. Ladybug let out a breath.

“Holy crap.” Ruby said to herself. “I should be careful with my own strength. She waited for the butterfly to come out, to de-grimmify the robot, fix the area, get some answers. Chat would appreciate a situation she didn’t have to be called for.

“I guess this isn’t it.” Ladybug said. “That means the real Huntsman must be in here somewhere.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

It was hard for Blake to concentrate when she could hear bullets flying in the air.

“Hahahahaha! Stupid kids are going to get what’s coming to them!”

She heard the doctor shout his grazed ramblings behind her. She cringed as Yang took her behind a wall.

“Which way do we go? That bastard’s gonna track us down sooner or later.” Yang looked around. “Where’s Ladybug and Chat Noir when you need ‘em?”

Blake wished she could laugh. She wasn’t sure about Ladybug, but Blake would certainly not be able to answer her about Chat Noir. Unless Plagg decided to take control right now, Blake wasn’t sure she wanted to risk her identity just yet to Yang.

“Maybe if we head down the mess hall.” Blake pointed. “Maybe we could get help.“

“Yeah, great idea.” Yang’s eyes widened. “Wait no. Ruby’s with her friends in the cafeteria. What if he gets there?”

Damn. Blake hadn’t considered that. “Maybe…” Blake tried to think. “Maybe we could head into a different classroom? Call someone?”

“Maybe. I don’t know I-” Yang breathed in and out. “God things have gotten weird so quickly.” “What do you mean?” “What, the superheroes, the donkey monsters, the scorpion guy, now our teacher’s a crappy cowboy? World’s gone insane since we showed up in town.”

Blake laughed. “Yeah they have. I wish I could say things’ll get better but…” “I wouldn’t believe it if it came from you. You’re too gloomy for nice thoughts.” “Harsh, though not unfair." “I’m good at reading people like that.”

Oh Plagg would love Yang if they met. Maybe…

“Yang I think…” Blake breathed. “I think I might have a way out of this.” Yang raised an eyebrow. “Well out with it, I don’t think I have any- GAAH!“ Blake watched in horror as Yang fell to the ground. She clutched her arm, bleeding from the side. Blake saw a hole where Yang’s arm originally was. “Ggh! What the hell?!?”

“Do you enjoy my handiwork?” KillerWatts grinned at the frightened teenagers. Better yet, these two were the slackers who made a fool of him in today’s class. “Foolish children. You mock and insult your betters…” He raised a gun at Yang. "Who’s laughing now?!!!?” It amused KillerWatts when Blake stood in between Yang and himself. She raised her hands in defiance.

“Don’t hurt my friend! Do whatever you want to me, just let her go!”

“B-Blake no-!” “Idiot.” Dr. Watts’s eye twitched. “You’re the one who humiliated me… You don’t deserve even one of my bullets.” He grabbed the offending student and threw Blake through the window.

“Say good bye!” “BLAKE!”

As she was tossed out of the window, Blake thought about the events that lead up to this moment. Her past, her present, her friendships with Yang, Ladybug… Ruby… she couldn’t let them die.

“Plagg, Claws-"

Blake felt arms surrounding her shoulders before she could even spout the words. She looked to see her savior, as they landed at the lawn. “You alright miss?” Ladybug said. “You’re not injured?”

Blake blushed, nodding her head.

“Good.” Ladybug cleared her throat. “You better hurry inside. My partner hasn’t shown up yet and I need to stop the villain quickly.” “Of course… I won’t get in your way.” Blake’s eyes widened. “Watch out for the doctor! He has guns! He shot my friend Yang in the arm.”

She was surprised at the way Ladybug glared. “He won’t get away with it, I promise.”

As Ladybug jumped up to face the evil scientist, Blake dashed away. She rubbed the ring.

“What’s up gloomy cat?” “Plagg, CLAWS OUT!” _____________________________________________________________________________________ “Well well well, if it isn’t Ladybug! You arrived at last.”

Ruby watched Yang bleed out next to the villain and saw red. How dare this pathetic, cruel little man do that to her sister?! He had to pay.

“Monarch demands your earrings.” KillerWatts pointed a gun at her. “You wouldn’t want to disappoint your highness, would you?” “She’ll have to pry them off herself, over my dead body.” “That can be arranged.” Without a moment’s hesitation, the fight began. KillerWatts fired at her, but Ladybug quickstepped past them as if they were slower than dirt. She threw her yoyo to tangle one of Watts’ arms.

“Do you think that will be enough?!” Watts fired his other gun to break the Yoyo’s string. “You really are a child-“ A sharp pain! The gun was knocked away from his right hand. Ladybug had another yoyo in her hand.

“Why you-!” She ducked below him, kicking him off balance. KillerWatts immediately fired from his left hand, which Ladybug jumped away to avoid them. Watts got up quickly, just in time to avoid two strikes from two yoyos. Somehow Ladybug’s broken yoyo repaired itself.

“You’re fast, Ladybug.” He said. "Not fast enough.” He fired again. Ladybug dodged again.

“You’re not particularly creative, sir.” Ladybug said. “Even Chadwick varied his monsters.” “It’s KillerWatts dear. Watch what you say brat-“ The bullets froze in mid air.

“-You might end up regretting it!” Ladybug was surprised by how fast the bullets moved. She had to keep herself moving less they hit her.

“What the heck are these?” “Fool! You think Monarch hands out powers without imagination! Your efforts so far-“

The bullets glowed.

“-WILL DETONATE BEFORE YOUR EYES!”

Miniature explosions shocked Ladybug still, the current making her drop to her knees. “GAAAAAAAH!” “Heh heh.” “No…” Yang tried to get up, but her arm hurt so badly. “Ladybug no!”

KillerWatts laughed, walking over to his defeated foe with nary a concern.

“A fitting end to a worthless brat. It is a wonder that the others had so much problem with her. The difference between peons and a genius.” He reached over to the earrings… before something slammed into his chest. KillerWatts jumped away, pointing guns at the intruder. “You won’t lay a hand on her.” Chat pointed her staff at him. “Surrender now.” “Oh great.” Dr. Watts sneered. “More naughty children to kill.” He fired several shots at Chat, who smashed them all at once with her staff. One by one they were each broken to KillerWatts’ amazement. “I have to study that staff… after I take it from your corpse!”

Chat moved quickly. She didn’t even flinch at the bullets moving towards her, smashing some as she ran towards her target. “Say your prayers!” “Wrong thing to say, kitty cat.” The bullets that Chat hadn’t destroyed detonated again. This time, they formed an electric trap around her. “You…” Chat said. “What did you do?!” “I dare you to move towards me, I dare you.”

Chat glared at her opponent. She took a step, but a laser shot near her foot, leaving a black spot on the floor. The laser fired again, which Chat had to move. Ladybug came to. She noticed KillerWatts laughing while her partner was dodging the lighting in the trap. She had to figure out a way to help out her friend.

“Here goes nothing…” She whispered. "Lucky charm!” Tikki had told her of this ability. When pushed into a dangerous situation, Ladybug wielders can summon an object that will help turn the tide of battle. Ruby didn’t have a choice but to use it. The yoyo glowed, releasing…

“A razor?” Ladybug picked up the electric razor with her hand. She looked it up and down.

“What the heck? This is supposed to help me against that psycho?!? What am I supposed to do, shave off his mustache?” She blinked. “Oh you gotta be kidding me.” Given who she was dealing with, it wouldn’t surprise her. Ruby sighed.

“Okay let’s get this going.”

“Hahahahahaha dance for me you stupid cat!” KillerWatts laughed. “Give praise to your superior mind!”

Chat cursed in her head as she moved from the laser. Why did the Butterfly miraculous grant it’s users these versatile, almost overpowered abilities while she and Ladybug were so limited?! It angered her over it’s unfairness.

“When I get out of here, I’m going to rant to Plagg. Maybe limit his cheese until I-“ “Chat grab on!” She blinked as the yoyo appeared in the trap. Chat grabbed it, and felt herself being pulled from the trap.

“What?” KillerWatts’ eye twitched. “No…” “Thank you my lady.” Chat collected herself. "What’s the plan?” Ladybug showed her the electric razor. “What are you-“ Chat’s eyes darted from the razor to KillerWatts. “Oh. That makes far too much sense.” They dashed one last time. The dup kept switching places, avoiding the bullets again.

“Damn you!” KillerWatts shouted. “Die!” Chat went in front of Ladybug, destroying a few bullets, while Ladybug used both of her yo-yos to move them closer to their opponent. “Die!”

He was about to fire again, but they were knocked away by a yoyo and a staff strike.

“YOU ALL SHOULD JUST DIE!!!!” He shouted even as Blake grabbed his arms behind him, Ladybug activating the razor.

“No stop-!”

SHZZZZ

His mustache was gone. Destroyed, in the blink of an eye, by the razor. Arthur couldn't even process this blasphemy happening as the butterfly appeared. Ladybug caught the glowing insect with her yoyo.

“MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!” As it happens in these situations, the ladybugs fixed everything. KillerWatts was no more, as Dr. Arthur Watts lied in the ground, probably knocked out from the shock of his mustache gone. Ladybug and Chat gazed at each other.

“That man is so fired.” Chat said. “Not bad Ladybug. You were great today.” “You’re not so bad yourself, Chat.” Ladybug said. “You ok?” “I am.” “Me too!” Yang swung her arm around freely. She was cheery “Damn my arm’s good! Would be a shame if I lost it.” Ladybug and Chat laughed awkwardly at that joke. Yang smiled before panicking. “Oh crap! I need to find Blake! And Ruby! Sorry guys gotta run!" Yang ran off to the hallway. Ladybug and Chat shrugged.

“See you around Chat.” “Likewise, Bugaboo.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

“Foiled again. This is getting so annoying.” Monarch slammed a fist at the table. KillerWatts did come closer to capturing the miraculous than the other two, but almost is not the same as total victory. She had to change her strategy somehow. How did they arrive to the school so quickly?

She stopped herself.

“How did they arrive so quickly to the school?”

Monarch turned on her computer. She typed into the mainframe, pulling up a list of students from this year. She smirked in realization.

“It seems not all was lost today. I may have a clue.”

Author’s Notes:

I was originally gonna have Arthur be like this Frankenstein parody “FrankenWatts” but that fell through. I was also going to call hi “The ShockSlinger” but my friend came up with KillerWatts, which was a way better name. Thank you friend for having more sense than me!

I was going to have more moments between Blake and Ladybug to sort of set up a Ladrien situation, but the story didn’t feel right for such a thing. I hope you’re satisfied anyway!

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skaylanphear · 5 years

Text

Monster

Summary: Ladybug didn’t know how far one could stretch the abilities of the peacock miraculous. And quite frankly, she hadn’t wanted to find out. But when she and Chat Noir finally catch Hawkmoth--revealing him to be Gabriel Agreste, no less--they learn the truth about many things. About him, his wife, and the unnatural means by which the couple had recreated their dead son using the same power that Mayura had twisted into sentimonsters.

And though Ladybug can’t figure out why Chat Noir seems to be taking the news so hard, his own identity soon makes it all clear.

(just another drabble based on a new episode. Like, y’all knew I had to do it to him)

Part 1

Gabriel Agreste was Hawkmoth.

This was a reality that was slowly sinking through Ladybug's system. After all, there was no denying the truth. He was crouched on the ground before her, his miraculous in her hand while her other gripped her yoyo. He'd tried to escape through the secret elevator in his house, but she and Chat had followed him through. Weakened after their previous battle and without the help of Mayura—who'd collapsed upstairs—it'd taken only another moment to steal his miraculous, leaving him exposed before them.

Exposed in his lair, which Marinette was taking in as she quickly looked around. Long walkways, butterfly breeding grounds, and…

"What the hell is this place?!" Chat demanded, pointing his stick threateningly in Gabriel's direction. "Explain. Now!"

"What does it look like?" Gabriel asked shortly, slumping some as he looked up at them. "It's a tomb."

Flicking her attention back behind him, Ladybug finally took in the ignited figure at the back of the room. She was propped up behind a glass case—a case more akin to a coffin. She was holding a bouquet of flowers, expression peaceful.

Chat was looking between the encased figure and Gabriel as well, just as confused as Ladybug.

"Is this why you wanted the miraculouses?" Ladybug asked.

Gabriel sighed. "With the power of your miraculouses, I can heal her." His gaze dropped to the ground. "I can bring her back."

"What's wrong with her?" Chat asked. Well, it was less a question so much as a demand. And when Gabriel didn't immediately answer, he extended his stick harshly into his chest, knocking him onto his back. "Tell me!"

"Chat!" Ladybug scolded, but he ignored her.

Gabriel shoved the stick aside and propped himself up on his hands. "I don't see how the details of her condition are any of your business," he snapped.

Ladybug glared. "I don't think you're in any position to be making determinations about anything."

Gabriel eyed her for a moment, before clicking his tongue and looking to the side. "She abused a miraculous and so suffered the consequences."

Chat curled his lip. "A miraculous?" he asked. "How? Why?"

"Why does it matter?"

"Because I want to know!"

Ladybug looked again to Chat, surprised at his ferociousness. But she had to admit that she, too, was curious as to how all this had gotten started. Not only because they'd finally caught Hawkmoth and she wanted details, but because this was Adrien's mother and father. Maybe it wasn't her business, but she still wanted to know.

"When you try to make a miraculous do something it's not meant to do, there are prices to be paid," Gabriel replied. "But Emilie was willing to pay that price, just as I'm willing to pay the price to bring her back."

"That's not an explanation," Chat growled.

"It's enough."

"It's not."

"Just tell us the whole story," Ladybug insisted. "And don't leave anything out."

Gabriel glared, but with Chat once again shoving his stick into his chest, he released another defeated sigh.

"It happened because of our son," he started, a statement that visibly startled both Chat and Ladybug. "Some years ago, he got… sick. Very sick. He'd always been… weak. That was why he had to stay in the house, and why we never let him go to school. Because his health… He just couldn't.

"We knew from the beginning that he was unlikely to live much past the age of twelve or thirteen. But even so, you can't… You don't just give up on your children. We talked with the best doctors in the world, got opinions from everyone, but no one could help us. So Emilie decided to look into… other options."

"The miraculous…" Ladybug determined.

"Yes. We got a lead that led us to Tibet, but the miraculouses we found weren't the ones we needed. What we needed were your miraculouses, but we got the peacock and moth miraculous instead.

"We started to give up hope. Adrien, he… he didn't have much time left. And so we decided that what little time he did have, we'd spend it… with him. Home. Together. As a family." He had to pause to take a shaky breath, his chin trembling as he visibly clenched his jaw. "He was everything good in the world. He knew he was—that he—he knew what was coming, and he was this… positive force through it all.

"He told us not to worry," he said, voice choked. "That everything would be fine. That he'd be fine, no matter what."

"You can't possibly know what it's like." He looked back up at them, heavy, dark grief apparent in his gaze. "To watch for months—years—as the one thing in the world you love the most slowly fades away."

Shaking his head, he tried to remain composed, but a single tear streaked down his cheek nonetheless.

"He died in my arms," he whispered, the words so strained it was amazing he could even say them. "Nothing but skin and bones, wasted away to nothing. He took his last breath while we held him, and then he was gone."

Despite herself, Ladybug blinked back her own emotions. None of it made sense, because she knew Adrien and he was strong and healthy. Yet, somehow, she realized that what Gabriel was saying was true as well.

"Parents aren't supposed to outlive their children," he continued brokenly, seemingly giving in to the fact that he wasn't going to be able to hold back his own despair. "Even though we knew it was coming, we could never have been prepared. It broke us both, losing him. But with Emilie it… it was like she just couldn't accept it.

"So she started experimenting with the peacock miraculous. At first, I thought she was just… grieving, creating these sentient creatures that looked like him, but never actually were. Because no matter how close to living the peacock miraculous makes these… things, they were never actually… But she kept going, thinking she was getting closer each time.

"But the peacock miraculous isn't the miraculous of creation—it doesn't have the ability to create life or restore it. Not within the typical parameters of how it's meant to be used. But Emilie, she… she was always the type to think outside the box. Like you." He nodded to Ladybug. "She always found a solution, even in the bleakest of circumstances.

"She became very skilled at creating these… fake copies of our son. I hated them, but they seemed to preoccupy her, so I just… kept my distance. Maybe if I'd been more attentive, I could have stopped her. But in the end, I was too late.

"She's kept a few locks of his hair, before we'd… As a memento. I don't know when she started using the hairs to create the creatures, but I suspect that was when the miraculous started siphoning off her own energy. Because with each attempt she made at making him real, the more there was that was required of her. Like I said, the peacock miraculous doesn't create life, so in order to do that, you have to get that life-force from someone else.

"She perfected him. She manipulated the genetics in those strands of hair, weeding out all the weaknesses and leaving everything else behind. But even so, he still wasn't… right. Which she knew, because she'd been practicing. Preparing herself for the real thing.

"So the time came when she felt she was ready. She took one of those single hairs and instead of keeping it, she created the… sentimonster, as you call them, around it. Protectively, so it could be born with free will that no one else could take or manipulate. And then she poured all of her life force into it.

"It shouldn't have worked, because that's not what the peacock miraculous is for. But I suppose we can't really know the true nature of the forces that reside inside those tiny jewelry pieces. They're beyond us. Her love, her memories, her desire, her grief, whatever it was she poured into him, it was enough to break the barriers that had defined what was possible with her miraculous.

"But it also shattered the miraculous, which in turn shattered what little remained of her. So here we are." He gestured out to the sides. "My wife is all but as dead as my son and all I wanted to do is bring her back."

To say that Ladybug was pale and shaky by the end of his story was a bit of an understatement. It was hard to believe, let alone rationalize. Because that meant the Adrien she knew, that went to school with her and her friends…

"But you have a son," she said sternly, as if needing to convince herself.

"Yes." Gabriel shrugged one shoulder. "I have the living embodiment of what Emilie thought our son was and want she wanted him to be. A perfect child that represents all that we loved without all the ill that stole him away from us. But though they share the same name, he's not the Adrien that died in my arms. He's perfect and unreal, just as Emilie intended him to be."

"But he's not unreal," Chat reasoned, sounding oddly desperate. "He's… He's a person. He has feelings and memories and—"

"And he is just as Emilie intended him to be," Gabriel replied flatly.

"You talk about him as if he's not your son at all," Ladybug pointed out.

"Of course he's my son," Gabriel snapped. "But he's not the son we lost and he never will be. Emilie's grief created something unnatural and she had to pay the consequences, while I live on with a constant reminder of everything I lost, loving it—him—because what else is there possibly left for me to do?" Once again, his expression broke. "He's perfect, but he's the only thing in my life that is."

"No one is perfect," Ladybug replied, finally beginning to regain her composure. "Your wife did an abhorrent thing, creating Adrien the way she did." Gaping, Chat whipped around to look at her. "But it's not his fault he exists, nor is it his fault that he now has to pay the price for you and your wife's mistakes."

"If you'd give me your miraculouses, he wouldn't have to know a thing about it," Gabriel growled out.

"What makes you think there isn't a price to be paid to use our miraculouses that way too?" she asked. "What you want to do is no more unnatural than what your wife did originally. You've created a life and ruined it all at the same time.

"You act like what your wife did was a mistake, but now you're trying to do the same thing. What makes you think your attempts will end any differently?"

"Because this time I'll have the proper tools!"

"No, you won't," she said firmly. "There are no right tools for what you're trying to do. No, all either of you have done was create a child that you've now orphaned. His mother is dead and now his father… You've done Adrien a horrible, horrible wrong and there's no way you'll ever be able to undo it."

"I'm doing this for Adrien!" Gabriel insisted.

"No you're not," Ladybug insisted. "You're doing it for yourself. Because you're just as steeped in grief as your wife was.

"This ends now," she said finally. "No more will you abuse any miraculouses. Or Adrien, for that matter."

"I love my son."

"That doesn't mean any of this is okay. I know Adrien. And I know that he'd never approve of anything you've been doing." She paused, swallowing hard. "And I hope to god that he never finds out the truth you just told us."

Gabriel glared. "Then you're not going to even try and help me."

Ladybug stood firm. "No."

And so Gabriel looked to Chat Noir. "And you?"

"I've already called the police," he said coldly, holding up his stick as he did. The phone adaptor was open, programmed to supply the authorities with their location. "You'll never be allowed to abuse a miraculous the way you and your wife have ever again."

Gabriel scowled.

"You're going to prison," he continued. "And if I have anything say about it, you'll be locked up for the rest of your life."

"It won't be that simple," Gabriel practically threatened.

"You're a terrorist that's murdered thousands. I don't think there's much to question," Ladybug replied.

"Thousands that you brought back!" Gabriel practically shouted. "How is that any different than what I'm trying to do?!"

"Because I only bring back the people who have died by the unnatural means of your abused miraculous!" she snapped. "I'm not bringing back people who die every day outside of your influence. I wouldn't even know where to start in doing that, because I know better than to question things like the natural process of life and death! Your wife… Your wife tampered with that line and I can't… I won't follow in her footsteps. And I'm certainly not going to allow you to do that either."

"You'd rather retain a status quo?" Gabriel asked. "Is that really the attitude of a hero?"

"It's the attitude of someone who knows their place in the universe," Ladybug replied simply. "And who has accepted their own mortality in the face of a universe I know is beyond my comprehension."

"Then you're a coward, unwilling to reach beyond your simple existence!"

"No, Gabriel," she said steadily. "You're the one unwilling to face reality. If anyone here is a coward, it's not me or Chat Noir."

Maybe he'd have had more to say. Maybe he'd have tried to do more than that. But if fate truly existed, it had something far different in store for Gabriel Agreste. Within the moment that Ladybug had quit speaking, they heard voices overhead, before a flashlight was shining down through the elevator shaft behind them. Snapping her yoyo out, Ladybug wrapped Gabriel up before he could finish standing, stranding him in place while Chat turned and marched back toward the elevator.

Soon enough, the police were all over the lair. And while Ladybug knew there was no hiding what was obvious, she hoped that perhaps she'd be able to keep a majority of the more sensitive details between only her and Chat Noir. Keeping both the moth and peacock miraculous hidden in her fist, she gladly handed Gabriel Agreste over to the authorities.

She wanted to find Adrien before things could get too messy. He had to be somewhere in the house. At the very least, she wanted to prepare him for what was coming. Yet as she attempted to retreat back up the elevator shaft, she was halted by the police for questioning. And so she ended up stranded for some time, explaining all that had happened and any details she felt were pertinent.

By the time she finally broke away and swung up the elevator shaft (the police calling after her), at least thirty minutes had passed. Hopefully—upon realizing that the police were swarming his house—Adrien had been barricaded away.

She really wanted to be the one to talk to him first.

And where had Chat Noir disappeared to?

Ignoring the police that continued to try and get her attention, she vaulted across Gabriel's study and out the door. Jumping to the banister along the stairs, she sprinted upward and over, deciding that the first place she would look was Adrien's bedroom.

The door was unguarded and unlocked, making it easy for her to press her way inside.

"Adrien?" she called as she walked in.

The room was dark, the night sky cloudy beyond the windows, the moon's light slightly hindered. But it was still light enough to see, and so she scanned the room.

There, sitting on the edge of Adrien's bed, was a single figure.

"Chat?" she asked, recognizing him immediately.

He didn't look up at her. In fact, it didn't even seem as though he had heard her. Hunched over, he was staring down at his hands, wholly indulged in his own thoughts.

"Chat," Ladybug said more firmly, making her way over as she did. "Have you seen Adrien?"

Still, he didn't answer. But he did twitchingly look up at her, the sight of his confused, distressed green eyes immediately jump-starting Ladybug's own concern.

"What's wrong?" she asked quickly. "Is everything okay? Are you okay? What about Adrien? Where is—"

The bright green flash of Chat's transformation disappearing was both startling and shocking, Ladybug freezing in place as her eyes went wide. But she didn't have time to look away, her gaze still zeroed in on Chat as his black suit disappeared to reveal…

Heart surging into her throat, she felt everything inside of her go numb as she stared into those familiar green eyes, both of which were now bordered in tears.

"Adrien..?"

He swallowed hard, the tears overflowing down his cheeks.

"My Lady," he struggled to say, each word sounding as though he had to pry it free from hardened concrete. "I—I'm Adrien."

He gasped helplessly, a sob ripping from his throat.

"I'm a monster."

#miraculous #miraculous ladybug #ml #mlb #ladybug #spoilers #ml spoilers #miraculous spoilers #my fics #fics #part 1 #Monster #sentimonster!adrien

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love-musicheart · 3 years

Text

NoirBug - Chapter Three - Episode 3: Now in Colour (1970s)

(AO3)

Summary:

Yeah, okay. Everything maybe isn't quite so perfect after all. Marinette is hiding something. And possibly... remembering things. And what's up with Wang Fu and his turtles??

“Hmmm… definitely…”

Adrien glanced up from where he sat on the couch. Marinette had wandered into the living room, her sketchbook in hand. She had a pencil in one hand, another tucked in her hair, forgotten, and her nose in her sketchbook.

Adrien couldn’t help but smile at the sight of her - not just because she looked better than ever, now that she was in colour, but also because of how Marinette it was of her to walk in like that.

“What are you talking about?” he asked, setting aside the book he had been reading to give his girlfriend his full and undivided attention.

Marinette looked up. “Oh! I didn’t realize you were in here.” She snapped her sketchbook shut with a final-sounding snap!

“What are you up to?” Adrien grinned. “Let me guess: Chat Blanc and Ladybug doll designs?”

“First off,” Marinette said, plopping down beside him on the couch, “I’ve already made those. Secondly…” She shrugged. “I left my sketchbook here accidentally. I needed to grab it.”

“So… what’s inside it, then?” Adrien asked. He leaned forward, reaching for the sketchbook in a motion that was half-joking, and half-curious for real.

Marinette yanked the sketchbook away from him, holding it up into the air and out of his reach. “Nothing! Just some plans, is all.” Only when Adrien lowered his arm did she set the sketchbook down on the couch again. “What are you reading?”

Adrien gave her a quizzical look. “Since when do you not want to show me what’s in your sketchbook?”

Marinette chuckled. “Since it had to do with your surprise, silly kitty!”

Marinette had been mentioning his surprise a lot. She was planning something… something that she thought he’d really like. Either that, or it was ginormous, and seeing as Marinette was planning it, both were equally plausible guesses.

But it was starting to worry Adrien slightly how she was being so… mysterious about it. Not to mention, as superheroes, they were skilled in the art of hiding things from their loved ones.

“Why can’t you share anything about this with me?” he asked, scooting slightly closer to her on the couch - and to the sketchbook that likely held all the answers he wanted. Not that he would actually take it; he loved Marinette too much to do something like that.

“Because it’s a surprise,” Marinette said, smiling even as exasperation filled her voice. “If I told you, then it wouldn’t be a surprise anymore!”

Adrien rolled his eyes, smiling. “Really? I didn’t realize.”

Marinette swatted at him good-naturedly. “Adrie-e-e-en…”

He laughed. “Okay! I’ll try and stop asking about it until you’re ready, then.”

“It’ll be soon,” Marinette promised. “I just have some things I need to finish getting ready first. And, speaking of which…” She stood up from the couch. “I have something I need to go do for it.”

“Right now?” Adrien asked.

“Right now,” Marinette nodded. “That’s why I came for the sketchbook now. But I’ll see you later!” She smiled brightly at him - gosh, she looked nice in colour - and headed for the door, sketchbook tucked under her arm.

Marinette headed outside, proud of herself for having remembered to bring a purse. Not that she needed it for Tikki to hide in this time, of course, seeing as Adrien was watching over the miraculouses - but she did need it for other reasons.

“Hey, Kim!” she called cheerfully to one of the neighbours. Kim lived in the apartment building next to Adrien and Emilie’s, but spent so much time outside, he may as well have not been living in it at all.

“Hey!” Kim called in reply from the other side of the low wall before kicking a soccer ball at a goal he’d set up - missing it completely and sending it flying over the wall instead.

Marinette chuckled, stopping the ball with her foot. “Think you might have sent that a little too far there, old chum.”

“So I have,” Kim admitted, chuckling as she picked up the ball and passed it back over the wall. “Thanks, Marinette.”

“Yeah,” Marinette smiled in return. “Don’t mention it.” She headed past the bushes and out the gate, making her way down the road, heart beating a staccato rhythm of excitement in her chest.

Adrien’s surprise was almost ready. She just had a few final things to do today, and then she would finally be able to show it to him.

Marinette paused on a street corner, waiting to cross. She was pretty young to be walking around by herself, but she’d learned how to navigate Paris years ago on her own - and it had only gotten easier after she’d become Ladybug.

Of course, if she’d had the earrings now, she could have made quicker progress. But she and Adrien weren’t supposed to use their miraculouses for personal gain.

Marinette frowned, pausing at another road as she waited for some cars to pass. There was something… something sort of tickling the back of her mind. More of a feeling than anything, but… one that made her feel like she had recently suggested using their miraculouses for person gain.

But why would she have done that? What would that have even been for?

Marinette crossed the street, hurrying down the sidewalk and casting a quick glance behind her. She loved Adrien, but he could be really curious sometimes - which wasn’t the best trait when she was trying to surprise him. However, no one - white cat hero or otherwise - was following her, so she turned her mind back to the problem at hand.

When had she ever suggested using the earrings for personal gain?

Marinette shifted her grip on her purse. She hadn’t had a purse for Tikki to hide in last time-

An image of Tikki falling into an aquarium flashed through her mind.

But… in black and white.

Marinette stopped where she was, looking down at her hands and blinking in surprise. They were peach, and her charm bracelet - a birthday gift from Adrien - was blue and yellow. Her clothes were coloured. In fact, everything around her was.

So… why was this memory in black and white?

Marinette started walking again, struggled to remember. Her brain felt like it was fighting against her; it would be so much easier, after all, to just stop thinking about it instead…

They had been doing a show. Right. And they’d won an award - the inaugural Superhero Performance of the Year, or something like that.

They had been planning on using their miraculouses for the show.

And, even more bizarrely, everything had been in black and white.

Maybe my memory is just fuzzy? Marinette thought uncertainly, though, deep down, she didn’t believe that even for a second.

But even if they had been planning on doing the show in their superhero forms, it wasn’t as if she herself had suggested doing that. And it wasn’t totally for personal gain, seeing as it was for the children.

So why did she feel like she had once-

Wait. There had been another time.

When she and Adrien were cooking dinner.

She’d suggested it.

But the whole scene was fuzzy in her mind. She could barely remember anything, other than a vague feeling of being out of control.

“What…?” Marinette breathed, her mind aching with the act of trying to remember.

“Hello, Marinette!”

Marinette looked up. She had been so deep in thought, she hadn’t noticed that she’d reached her destination already: the vet.

“Hello, Ms. Bustier,” Marinette greeted, forcing a smile. The thoughts easily faded into the shadows of her mind, slipping away as quickly as they had come. “I’ve come to ask you a few questions, if that’s all right.”

“Of course,” Ms. Bustier said, smiling from the doorway of the vet. “Come right on in.”

Adrien stalked about the apartment. Maybe it was just the cat miraculous rubbing off on him, but he couldn’t stay still, wandering about the apartment and swatting at things at random. His mind was busy, the image of Marinette at the forefront.

Marinette, in colour, giving him a mischievous smile as she talked about a surprise.

Marinette, in black and white, telling him about Clara Nightingale.

Marinette, her hair curled, smiling unnaturally as they made dinner.

Adrien forced himself to stop walking, shoving his hands into his pockets and staring out the window, as if he were some moody character from a movie set in the 1970s.

He loved Marinette. He’d gotten her back, and had no plans of letting her go anywhere without him. But it was his love for her that had made him give her control again, cutting her mental strings that he’d held like control over like Puppeteer.

What if that had been a bad idea?

What if she was remembering things now? Things that had happened?

Things… that no longer existed?

Clara Nightingale.

Adrien remembered that day with Clara. He and Marinette had almost put on masks in front of one another, which surely would have outed their identities then and there as Ladybug and the cat superhero.

That was in another place in another time, Adrien tried to dismiss the thought, and with another cat superhero. I’m not who I was then, and neither is this world. Of course Marinette thinks she’s remembering things. I cut her strings, so her mind is just adjusting, settling into reality; that’s all.

“Adrien?”

Adrien turned in surprise, only to find his mother behind him. “Mother? What are you doing home right now?”

Emilie smiled at him. “I could say the same thing to you. Why don’t you go outside for now? I think I saw Kim out front with a soccer ball.”

Adrien paused. He wanted to be here when Marinette got back, but his mother was right. He was acting like a caged tiger right now. He needed to get out, to move.

But not with Kim.

“Okay,” he relented. “I’ll go.” He headed for the door, then paused, glancing back at his mother.

It was good to have the two most important women in his life back.

“I love you,” he said, then slipped out the door.

He would never let them forget that he did, and would never let anything happen to them. Not again.

Never.

“So that’s all I need to know?” Marinette double-checked.

“Yes,” Ms. Bustier nodded. She slid a piece of paper across the counter to Marinette. “These are all the recommendations I’ve made. Try buying them; they’ll work great.”

“Thank you so much!” Marinette smiled, accepting the paper, her eyes skimming over all the items.

“Where are you going to pick… you know, them up from?” Ms. Bustier asked, curiosity tinging her tone.

“I’m going to ask a friend of mine to help,” Marinette replied distractedly. “You said the food for them was available here, right?”

“No, that’s in the store across the street,” Ms. Bustier shook her head. “It was smart of you to come here first to ask me about this. You’ll do a great job with them; I know it.”

“Thank you,” Marinette smiled, blushing slightly at the praise. “It’s a surprise for Adrien.”

Ms. Bustier seemed to pause. “Adrien… Agreste?”

“Yes,” Marinette nodded, popping open her purse. “Do you need me to pay you?”

“Oh, this is just a consultation between friends,” Ms. Bustier quickly shook her head. “No need to pay.”

“That’s so generous of you,” Marinette said gratefully, closing the purse again. “Is that all, then?”

Ms. Bustier nodded, but seemed a little distracted even as she smiled. “Thank you for dropping by. Remember us if you ever need to take them in for check ups.”

“I will,” Marinette promised, standing even as confusion tickled the back of her mind. This was unlike Ms. Bustier. Marinette had known her for years; the woman had always come to her parent’s bakery on the weekend for a cupcake that was as sweet as she was. She was always so kind to children, to the point that Marinette had wished that Ms. Bustier had become a teacher instead of a veterinarian, but…

Marinette paused in the doorway of the vet, scanning the street before locking in on the pet store across the road. She’d pop in there to buy a few things that Ms. Bustier had recommended.

What had she been thinking about again?

Marinette stopped at the edge of the sidewalk, glancing up and down the street for any oncoming traffic before crossing.

Meh. It probably wasn’t all that important if she’d forgotten it so easily.

Adrien pressed his back to the wall of a building in an alleyway he’d slipped into.

Kim had, predictably, attempted to rope him into a game of soccer, but Adrien had managed to wriggle his way out of it.

Now, he unbuttoned the cuff on his shirt sleeve, pulling out the charm bracelet Marinette had given him. The bracelet had always been in colour, even when the world around him had been in black and white.

Not that anyone else remembered it being like that, of course.

For its part, the bracelet now blended more easily into the surrounding world, thanks to the fact that it matched it in hue. But Adrien still kept it hidden away, unwilling to risk losing the earrings or ring.

Now, however, he untied the knot in the bracelet, his fingers practiced in the motion by this point. Adrien slipped the ring off the bracelet, retied the knot, and placed it back under his cuff.

Hidden.

Safe.

“Plagg, claws out!”

A moment later, Chat Blanc burst forth onto the rooftops of Paris, riding his baton and shooting out into open air. His feet hit a rooftop, and he was off.

He needed to run off his energy, to get out of his own head, but his thoughts were spinning in circles faster than his feet could keep up with or overrun. His heart ached, but not with the way it was pounding to get oxygen into his lungs.

Marinette was keeping a secret from him. That wasn’t the end of the world.

But he hated it anyway.

What if something happened because of it? What if something went wrong?

Chat Blanc stumbled, almost missing the edge of a roof. The next moment, he was crouching down in a small ball on the roof, not even sure where he was in Paris anymore, but worry crashing through his system, overriding all sense and thoughts. His hands clutched at his head, fingers tangled up in his hair, the ring and earrings thrumming on his hand even in his superhero form. The power was undeniable, unable to be suppressed even by his costume.

What if everything fell apart, and he was left alone again and everything was as it was before-

Zeep!

Chat Blanc jerked his head up - just in time to watch the lights flicker and go out in the building facing him.

Chat Blanc jerked to his feet, heart pounding in his chest, fear now thrown into the mix with all the other emotions already roaring through him. Was there an akuma in Paris? But, no, that was supposed to be impossible! He’d made sure of that-

It was only then that Chat Blanc noticed the rest of the buildings around him had also gone dark. There were shouts coming from within, confusion obvious in the tones.

An electrical outage.

Not an akuma, then.

Chat Blanc released his hands, which he only now realized had been curled into tight fists. The feeling of power slowly faded away into a haze in the back of his mind again.

Oh.

Definitely not an akuma, then.

It had been him.

The lights went out just as Marinette reached the doorway to leave.

“Huh,” the guy behind the cash register said. “That’s weird.”

“I’m sure it’ll come back on again,” Marinette said quickly. “Have a nice day!”

Not waiting for a reply, she rushed out the door, craning her neck instantly and sprinted down the street despite the heavy load she was carrying. Ms. Bustier had given her quite the long list of supplies.

As she raced back toward Adrien’s apartment, she searched Paris for any sign of an akuma. She hadn’t had to fight one in a long time. Hawkmoth seemed to have gone completely silent. If one was attacking, she needed to get her earrings from Adrien - now.

However, by the time she was a block away from the apartment and finally beginning to slow down, she had to admit within herself that the electricity had likely gone out for completely normal reasons.

When even was the last time she’d fought an akuma?

Before Marinette could try to answer that question, she spotted an old man waiting on the corner. She broke into a smile, shifting the heavy bag in her arms, slowing down to a walk as she approached. “Wang Fu! Thank you for coming.”

“Of course,” the old man replied easily, smiling at her. “You appear to have quite the burden. Do you need any assistance with it?”

“No, thank you,” Marinette panted, stopping in front of him. “I have a different favour to ask you, actually.”

“Is that why you asked me to meet you here?” He glanced over his shoulder towards the apartment building. “If that is where your friend lives, wouldn’t that have been where you’d want to meet instead?”

“Nah,” Marinette waved it off. As luck would have it - and, as Ladybug, she seemed to have plenty of that - she’d bumped into the old man earlier that day and asked him to meet her here later. After that, she’d headed to Adrien’s, where she’d picked up the sketchbook she’d accidentally left there. “I want to surprise him. I just was at the vet, and now I have all the information I needed to be able to tell you about it.”

“Well,” Wang Fu smiled, “I’m all ears.”

Adrien brought his knees up into his chest, watching as Plagg slowly munched on a piece of camembert cheese. Despite himself, Adrien still carried around his kwami’s favourite kind of cheese. He was pretty sure that, after all he’d done, Plagg would accept any kind that he gave him, but… Plagg had been his friend. He had known things about his home life that no one else had - even before Marinette. Adrien couldn’t help but still be fond of his kwami.

“You’re pushing it pretty far, kid.”

Adrien’s eyes snapped to the black kwami of destruction. He hadn’t heard him speak in so long that he hardly even recognized his voice anymore. “Plagg?” Even as the word flew out of his mouth, Adrien’s mind registered what his kwami had said, and he shifted uneasily. “What are you talking about?”

“I think we both know exactly what I’m talking about,” Plagg replied, his voice weary. “You’re pushing me and Tikki to our limits. Constantly making changes and stuff. And…” he cast one of those dry glances that Adrien used to see him give all the time at the building across from them, “now you’re shutting off people’s electricity.”

“That wasn’t on purpose,” Adrien mumbled. He paused, then asked in a whisper, as if worried someone would hear him even when he was on a roof, “Do you think anyone knows it’s my fault?”

“Why should they?” Plagg shrugged.

“Because…” Adrien swiped angrily at his eyes. “You know why.”

For a few moments, Plagg eyed him silently, slipping easily back into his old role of advisor to his young holder. Finally, he said, “The only one who even has the power to suspect anything is Marinette. The rest of them… they don’t think anything.”

“Am I doing the right thing, Plagg?” Adrien asked quietly, his voice tortured, laying his head on his knees.

“Do you really want me to answer that?”

Adrien said nothing.

Plagg sighed. “If you pay attention to pigtail girl, you’ll notice that she’s starting to think that something is… wrong. Off. She doesn’t know what, but… it’s there, nevertheless.”

“The truth is,” Adrien said quietly, “we are in uncharted waters… and you know what? I’m anxious, too. I’m afraid that her surprise is something that’ll throw everything off.”

“We just don’t know what to expect,” Plagg agreed, chewing his camembert slowly. “Not even Tikki and me.”

Adrien peeked over his knees at the black kwami, a tiny grin crossing his face at the way Plagg completely disregarded correct grammar. “I’ve missed you, Plagg.”

Plagg grunted. “You don’t exactly give me much of a chance to talk with you.”

“I know,” Adrien sighed. “I just… I’m trying to keep the miraculouses safe.”

“From who?” Plagg challenged with sudden fire. “Hawkmoth? Or the one person who has the ability to find out your secret?”

Adrien drew back from his kwami as if he’d been struck. “Marinette would never do that,” he choked. “She… she wouldn’t leave me. Not on purpose.”

“And what about the things that have been happening?” The cheese now gone, Plagg flew right into Adrien’s face, glaring, his beady little eyes that had seen thousands of years of life demanding an answer. “You know that they want her - heck, they probably desperately need her!”

“Well they can’t have her!” Adrien screamed, shooting to his feet, tears springing to his eyes, fury mingling with brokenness and agony in his voice.

Plagg jerked back, narrowly avoiding phasing straight through Adrien’s head. For a few moments, Adrien stood there, panting.

He should find Marinette. Make sure she was fine. Make sure they were fine.

“You’re wrong,” he whispered, raising his eyes to Plagg even as the sight of his kwami went blurry with his tears. “They… they’re fine.”

“You’re still you, kid,” Plagg said quietly. “You have the biggest heart of anyone I’ve ever met. You may be the holder of destruction, but you wouldn’t destroy anything if you could avoid it. Not Paris. Not Marinette. Not… everything.” He dared to drift a little closer, and when Adrien didn’t move, whispered, “This isn’t you.”

“What about what I was before this?” Adrien shot back, even though his voice wobbled as he did so. “Was that me?”

When all Plagg did was stare at him sadly, Adrien took a vicious swipe at his eyes, sniffing. “I’m sorry, Plagg. I’m sorry that I’ve done this to you and Tikki. But there’s no going back now.”

No reply.

Adrien took that to mean that the conversation was over.

“Plagg, claws out.”

There was a flash of white light, and Chat Blanc wearily trudged to the edge of the roof, sitting down despite the fact that he’d only just stood up.

“Little kitty on a rooftop,” he whispered, “all alone… without his lady…”

Except… he wasn’t.

Not anymore.

Because now he had Marinette.

Marinette shifted her load once again in her arms, only now thinking to wonder as she approached the apartment how she would get the door open.

“Hey, Kim,” she greeted, out of breath, as she passed by.

There was no reply.

Marinette paused at the gate, glancing over at Kim. He was still there, kicking the soccer ball.

But as she watched, he kicked the ball and missed the goal entirely. The ball hit the wall, bouncing back to Kim, where he immediately kicked it again - sending it to the same place on the wall where it bounced off yet again.

Marinette blinked.

What was he doing?

As she watched, he kicked the ball, over and over, mechanically, missing the goal with every attempt.

“What in the world?” Marinette mumbled, confusion flooding through her.

“Marinette?”

Marinette looked up - her thoughts interrupted for the second time that day by a woman standing in a doorway. “Emilie! I have all the stuff.” She lowered her voice, peering uncertainly past Emilie. “Is… Adrien still here?”

“I sent him out, as I said I would,” Emilie assured her. But then, she frowned. “That is… I sent him to play soccer with Kim. But… he’s not here.” Panic began to creep into her voice. “And then there was a power outage! Do you think he’s okay?”

Marinette hustled to the doorway, eager to drop off her stuff in the apartment upstairs. “I’m sure he is.” Whatever happened, she knew her boyfriend could take care of himself. He was the superhero, Chat Blanc, after all. “Is the power back on yet?”

“It’s back,” Emilie assured her, letting out a calming breath before she closed the door behind them. “We can set up the room now.”

Chat Blanc dropped into an alley near his apartment, whispering, “Plagg, claws in.”

There was a flash of light, and a moment later, Adrien Agreste casually strolled out from the alley, hands in his pockets.

No one in Paris was any the wiser to what had just transpired.

“Hey, Kim,” Adrien greeted easily, barely even glancing at his athletic friend as he passed by.

“Hey, Adrien,” Kim replied. There was the smack of the ball hitting the wall.

“You may want to practice your aim,” Adrien advised as he reached the door.

“I have been,” Kim replied. “I’ve always felt like soccer was more than that, though.”

Adrien froze, heart in his throat, the words far to familiar to be mistaken. He glanced nervously back over his shoulder, then down the street, making sure Marinette wasn’t there. She was the only other person likely to remember the words, even if they were now applied to soccer.

No sign of her.

Adrien forced a laugh. “What are you talking about, Kim? Look, just keep practicing; I’m sure you’ll get it.”

Kim perked up. “Yeah, you’re right. Forget I said anything.” He kicked the ball again with gusto - though as Adrien quickly stepped inside, shutting the door behind him, he couldn’t help but notice how Kim missed the goal again.

Hurrying upstairs, Adrien reached his and his mother’s apartment, opening the door.

“How about over here?” Marinette’s voice reached his ears instantly.

She was back, then.

Adrien hurriedly shut the door behind him, heading further into the apartment, looking for Marinette. He stuck his head through a doorway, into the only other room that he and his mother didn’t use.

Sure enough, there were Emilie and Marinette, heads bent close together.

“What are you doing?” Adrien asked.

Both looked up. Marinette leapt to her feet as soon as she saw him. “Adrien! You can’t look! It’s your surprise!” She hustled forward, ready to shoo him out of the room.

Knock knock knock!

Adrien turned. “Who is that?”

Marinette pushed past him. “I’ll get it!”

“What’s going on, Marinette?” Adrien asked, suddenly overwhelmed by the need to know what was going on. “What are you doing?”

Marinette flung open the front door. “Wang Fu! You got them?”

Adrien came to a stop several steps behind Marinette.

It was Fu again.

What was he doing here?

“As promised,” the old man nodded, holding out… was that a carrier he was handing to Marinette?

Marinette turned to Adrien, beaming. “Surprise!”

“What…?” Adrien blinked. Was all this secrecy over a carrier?

Emilie appeared at his side. “It’s inside the carrier,” she whispered to him with a small smile.

Marinette watched as he stepped, an eager smile on her face as he peered inside. “Meet Tommy and Billy,” she announced.

Adrien’s jaw dropped. “Hamsters?”

“Yes!” Marinette squealed happily. “I wanted to get you a nice surprise, and I knew how you wanted a hamster, so…”

Adrien couldn’t reply, too shocked to even think of how to form words.

As if made nervous by his silence, Marinette began to ramble. “Do you want to put them in their cages? Your mother and I worked on setting them up. There’s a spot for them in that room and everything! I had to enlist her help to come home from work today so she could get you out of the house for a bit. I didn’t want you to see us setting up, and I… hey, sorry, did you have something you were going to do today?” She twisted to look over her shoulder at Wang Fu. “I totally forgot to even ask. I can walk you back outside, if you want.” She whipped about to fact Adrien again, not even waiting for an answer, now in total ramble-mode. “Do you like them? I hope so. I mean, I put a lot of thought into the names, but if you don’t like them-”

“No, no!” Adrien said, her attempt to change what was already perfect finally snapping him out of his lack of ability to speak. Warm happiness welled up inside of his chest, bubbling and overflowing, spreading throughout the rest of him. “Thank you, Marinette! This is… I mean… I love it.” He locked eyes with her, a part of him melting just from seeing their bluebell blue. “Thank you.”

Marinette blushed pink, looking pleased with herself. “I’m glad you like it.” She turned back to Fu. “Since Wang Fu knows so much about animals, I thought I’d ask him to choose them out for us.”

Adrien looked at the old man. “Thank you,” he said sincerely - feeling for the first time since he’d seen the old man at the show that he might not actually be the trouble he’d thought he was. “Can you stay for a few minutes? I think we might still have some cookies from a dinner Marinette and I made recently.”

“How could I say no to an offer like that?” the old man smiled. “But… my turtles are outside. I couldn’t bring them up the stairs along with the carrier.”

“I’m heading out,” Emilie offered. “I could watch them for a few minutes.”

“No, that’s fine; I’ll go watch them for you,” Marinette interjected. “You’ve done so much to help me today; it’s the least I can do.”

“Thank you very much,” Wang Fu inclined his head to her, smiling one of those mysterious smiles that used to hold so many secrets.

But he posed no danger.

Which meant he had no secrets to hide from Adrien.

Adrien couldn’t help but grin as Emilie and Marinette headed out the door.

He was glad to be done with other keeping secrets from him.

Marinette spotted the aquarium filled with turtles easily enough. It was standing in the yard in front of the apartment.

As she head over to it, though, she noticed Nino strolling into the yard. She waved. “Nino! How are you?”

“Good, good,” Nino said, seeming almost… distracted. He inclined his head to Kim. “Kim. How’s the practice going?”

“Fine,” Kim said. But even as he said so, he missed his shot again. He sighed, then came over to the wall, leaning against it.

“Is everything all right?” Marinette asked, somewhat bemused by the boys’ behaviour. Were they planning a surprise, now?

Nino glanced up at the apartment, then, lowering his voice, whispered, “What is he doing in there?”

“I don’t know,” Kim said.

“Who?” Marinette blinked in confusion. “Adrien? He lives here, you guys.”

“And the other one,” Nino said, not seeming to have heard.

“He went right in,” Kim said, seeming to be confirming… something.

“Remarkable day we’re having, no?” Marinette interrupted, trying to get a word in edgewise - even though she wasn’t totally sure what it was edgewise against.

“That’s fine,” Nino replied.

“Did you lose power, too?” Marinette added, trying to keep the conversation away from… whatever this was.

“Oh, sure did,” Nino nodded, finally seeming to notice her. “But Chris looks better in the dark, so I’m not complaining.”

Marinette and Kim chuckled.

Nino let out a small sigh. “Okay.”

Marinette gave him an odd look, then slowly began to draw back. “Well. I’ll get back to Adrien.” She paused, then added jokingly, “Neither of you boys are going to steal these turtles, right?”

“Marinette.” Nino’s eyes went up to the apartment again. “Is Wang Fu inside with Adrien?”

“Ye-e-es,” Marinette said, stretching out the word, now thoroughly weirded out. “Why?”

“You and Marinette are very good at baking,” Fu complimented, finishing off a cookie.

“Thank you,” Adrien said, his eyes drifting back down to the hamsters in their carrier. He’d set it on the floor as he got the cookies out for Fu. “Marinette grew up in a bakery, so she’s a whiz at it.”

“Marinette told me that you wanted hamsters for a long time,” the old man said. “I didn’t realize those were the names you two wanted for them.”

“Billy and Tommy?” Adrien chuckled. “I don’t know why. But Marinette already knows what she wants to name her kids in the future, so why not, right?”

“Billy and Tommy each lost their fathers, apparently,” Fu added. “I thought that they needed you and your sweet girlfriend as much as you both need them.”

“I appreciate it,” Adrien murmured, staring at the hamsters.

Silence descended.

“I had a father.”

The words slipped out without his intention. But Adrien was at ease, now that he was sure that Fu posed no threat.

Fu hummed, and Adrien took that as his cue to continue.

“His name was Gabriel.”

The hamsters squeaked, their voices tiny and cute.

“It must be nice to have your mother back,” Fu commented.

Adrien stilled, and, feeling as if ice were slowly spreading out over all his insides, raised his eyes. “What did you say?”

Nino and Kim exchanged a glance, Nino shifting from foot to foot with apparent unease.

Kim spoke up. “He’s… new to town. Brand new.”

“There’s no family,” Nino added. “No wife.”

Marinette gave her friends a quizzical look, moving to go inside and leave this weirdness behind. “Well, there’s nothing wrong with that.”

“Hmm…” Kim hummed. “No home.”

Marinette stopped. “What?”

“What did you say just now?” Adrien repeated.

“I said, I thought that they needed you and your sweet girlfriend as much as you both need them,” Fu repeated. “Should I say it one more time for good measure?” This line was added jokingly, and Adrien would almost have been able to write this all off as his own mishearing if it weren’t for a slight tremor that had entered Fu’s voice.

“No,” Adrien said, eyes narrowing. “What did you say about my mother?”

“Your mother?” Fu repeated. He licked his lips. “I… here, allow me to bring the hamsters to their cage-”

Adrien stood, moving between Fu and the carrier. “No, I think you should leave.”

Marinette took a step closer to the boys. “What do you mean, he has no home?”

Kim swallowed. “He came here because… He came here because…”

“He came here because we’re all…” Nino cut in, but then his voice trailed off, ending in a sigh.

“He came here because we’re all what?” Marinette demanded, fear beginning to wriggle in the pit of her stomach. “What’re you trying to tell me?”

And that’s when he saw it.

“What is that?” Adrien asked, his gaze locking on Wang Fu’s wrist.

“What?” the old man repeated, confused.

“That.” Adrien pointed straight at the green bracelet about Fu’s wrist. “That bracelet.”

“I, uh… I…” Fu began backing up.

Adrien’s gaze snapped up to the old man’s face again, and his lips curled back involuntarily, revealing his teeth. “That explains the turtles, then.” He began to slowly stalk around the coffee table, quietly demanding, “Who are you?”

But Fu just shook his head. “I don’t…”

Adrien stopped, towering over the short man threateningly, his hands curling into fists. “Who are you?”

“Adrien,” Fu said, as if trying to calm him.

But they were far beyond that point now.

“I…” Fu reached out behind him, eyes widening, feeling for the couch, trying to make his way around it, as if suddenly realizing that he was in danger. There was fear in his eyes - and he certainly had good reason to fear, now that Adrien knew. “I… Adrien…”

Out of the blue, Nino and Kim relaxed. “Well, I better get going,” Nino said. “That music’s not gonna write itself.”

Marinette stared in bewilderment as Nino walked away. She turned her gaze on Kim. “Kim?” she tried, her voice rising to a squeak at the end, desperately searching her long-time friend’s face for answers.

But Kim just gave a chuckle. “Catch you on the flip side, Marinette.”

Marinette stared in shock as he turned, walking away. Where was he even going?? His soccer goal was still set up!

Marinette turned - and froze.

The turtles were gone.

“I… what?” Marinette gaped. For a beat, all was silent besides her sharp, shallow breaths.

And then she burst into action, sprinting for the apartment, taking the stairs up to Adrien’s floor two at a time.

“Wang Fu!” she called out as soon as she burst through the door. “Your turtles… I’m sorry but they’re…”

She stopped.

Adrien was standing in the living room, his back to her.

Alone.

“Adrien?” Marinette asked hesitantly, her breath coming fast. “Where… where’s Wang Fu?”

There was a beat of silence.

Then, Adrien turned about to her, smiling easily in that cheeky way of his that she loved. “Oh, he left, Marinette. He had to rush home.”

Zwoosh!

Wang Fu landed on his back - hard. The air went out of his lungs in a single woosh.

“Master Fu!”

“Are you okay?”

“What happened?”

“Where’s Ladybug?”

Master Fu slowly opened his eyes, groaning at the bright white surrounding him.

“Fu,” a firm voice, older than the rest, said. “What happened?”

Fu slowly opened his eyes.

Staring down at him was a group of heroes, their eyes filled with worry to varrying degrees - sharpest of all in a pair of green ones.

“Fu?” It was said a little more insistently this tim.e

Slowly, Master Fu turned his gaze to the hero who was talking. With great effort, he tried to rally himself. “I…”

“Fu?” This time it was worry that tinged the voice.

Master Fu closed his eyes, pained by what he had to tell them, yet knowing there was no avoiding it.

“Bunnyx… I don’t know if we can rescue her.”

First / Previous / Next

#miraculous ladybug #noirbug #my writing #ml fanfic #chat blanc #wandavision au

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justanotherpersonsuniverse · 4 years

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mini changes to the pirate au because it started out differently from how it is now and I need to write it down— this is also a timeline post

—At an unknown date and time, the miraculouses are scattered across the kingdoms and world. The Tsurugi’s gain access to the dragon choker and keep it in storage.

—At an unknown date and time, Fu Wang finds the Turtle Bracelet and receives the curses and blessings of immortality.

—At an unknown date and time, Anarka Couffaind finds the Tiger Panjas and receives the curses and blessings of obscurity

—At an unknown date and time, Alim Kubdel receives the Rabbit’s Pocketwatch and receives the curses and blessings of inevitability

—Alix, Adrien, Sabrina, Felix, and Chloe are children, they’re all childhood friends and they live their life as nobles together. Somewhere during this time, Chloe develops a small crush on Alix, but is engaged to Felix.

—Alim and Anarka become friends somehow —Felix’s father dies and Amilie takes the throne

—Pollen is a soldier and holds the Bee Comb.

—When the kids are age 10, Emilie dies and Gabriel goes mad, trying to find a way to revive her in some way

—He finds a book of dark magic, that tells him about the miraculouses and how he could possibly bring Emilie back to life, via much human sacrifice equal to how important Emilie is to him.

—Alim and Anarka find out and attempt to stop him but are stopped.

—When the kids are age 12, Anarka’s home is set on fire and Alim is murdered.

—Alix witnesses the death of her father and maiming of her brother, but receives the Rabbit’s Pocketwatch. She calls for a healer and escapes.

—Anarka flees and hides herself away, she uses the tiger artifact to obscure the island entirely, but leaves clues across the kingdoms for her children to find her with.

—The liberty is taken by the agreste kingdom

—The fire almost kills Juleka and Luka, and they are temporarily taken in by the Tsurugi’s thanks to a young Kagami Tsurugi, but leave afterwards before they could learn the two Couffaines are wanted.

—Alix lives with the Bourgeois for one more year, but not being able to handle seeing Gabriel anymore, she leaves and goes MIA, taking her watch and one of Chloe’s scarves.

—During the two years after the assumed death of Anarka Couffaine and assassination of Alim Kubdel, Luka leaves Juleka to become a Pirate King and find Anarka on his own.

—She leaves on her own shortly after this

—Juleka and Alix find each other and become criminals together, finding a common goal through their parent’s connection.

—Between these two years, Alya is cursed by the fox pendant that was given to her by Lila, who disappears soon after.

—Nathaniel Kurtzberg’s family dies and he leaves home. —Felix starts up his side job as a skilled assassin

—Adrien and Kagami are engaged, and soon after, Kagami is presumed assassinated by a mysterious figure by the name of Ryuko. The Tsurugi’s are broken by the loss of their heiress and falls into a state of coldness and mourn.

—Kagami as Ryuko joins The Harmony, the growing Pirate Empire ran by Luka Couffaine.

—Juleka and Alix steal the Liberty back and start their journey

—Four years pass, and the crew is formed at some point, and Chloe has started her journey to find Alix, making he down crew with Adrien and Sabrina to find her.

—At some point, Chloe finds them and starts the feud between The Allure of Pride and The Liberty

—Marinette at some point accidentally steals the Ladybug earrings which Gabriel Agreste had sent someone to obtain and was just about to receive.

—’The girl with the ladybug earrings’ is wanted dead or alive by the Agreste kingdom and Marinette flees

—She boards a trading ship on its way to the Lavillant Kingdom, but it is raided by a pirate band, but then that raid is raided by The Liberty.

—The Mysterious leader of the Liberty, Captain J. Couffaine, takes interest in her, and tells her she owes the crew her life and tells her to join, and they will help her stay alive

—Seeing no other options, she joins.

This is the only story so far I think that is important for now. But this is the basic summary of the history of this story up to the first chapter of the upcoming fic, I hope you guys like it

#Pirate Queen au #writing

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auspicious-lilana · 4 years

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Two Cats, One Heart (Chat Noir x reader)

Summary: Summary: Y/n Ross and Adrian Agreste are childhood best friends, they’ve been through thick and thin, including losing their mom, and dad. Since then Y/n’s mom made her live with Adrian at his mansion and forever leaving her life. Watch as their lives Change as they become the new heroes of Paris alongside Ladybug and see how Romance sprouts between the two models.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

"Come on Y/n, it's just a little cold, not like it's the end of the world" Alpha mumbled the last part to himself as I glared at the little wolf as I sneezed and cleaned my red snotty nose into the napkin. That stupid Stormy Weather Akuma gave me a freaking cold!

"Today is Adrian's birthday! I've been planning for this day for weeks! and what do I get for all that hard work? A freaking cold!"

"It's not that-"

"It is!"

"Geez. Who knew chill Y/n could be such a big bully when sick" I glared at Alpha again as I sneezed as I heard the door open. Alpha hid behind my hair as Natalie came in.

"Good morning Y/n. I'm here to bring your shed- Oh my, are you having a cold?" I mustered up the most believable smile I can.

"Ye-achoo!" I sneezed into my napkin again as i groaned slightly to myself as I heard Natalie talk into her ear piece.

"Would you like the chef to cook something up for you and bring it up here?"

"Yes please"

"Tell her to get brownies too!" Alpha hissed in my hair as I fake coughed to cover up my next words and Alpha's voice.

"Shh" I smiled back at Natalie.

"Can you maybe bring a few brownies along? For a little treat for later of course"

"You've been having an obsession with brownies these few weeks"

"No kidding" I gritted my teeth with a smile.

"I must go and inform Adrian now, I hope you feel better soon"

"Me too" I said as she left. I sighed and relaxed back in my bed. My messy hair spreading all over as Alpha came out. "You need to learn when to talk and when to not," I said breathlessly.

"I'm sorry my miraculous owner forgot to give me my mealy brownie an hour ago."

"you've mistaken mealy with hourly Alpha"

"Still. A hungry kawami is a hungry kawami"

"Whatever" I groaned out as I soon heard a pair of footsteps running up here. I quickly gave Alpha a look as he groaned.

"Again?" He flew off to hide behind my computer as Adrian stormed in panting.

"Y/n. I..heard...that you got sick"

"Sadly is true," I said as I heaved myself to sit up.

"I know how you get when your sick. Do you want me to sta-"

"No. Birthday boy has to go out to school and get those birthday wishes from friends and presents perhaps. I'm good Adrian. You go."

"How am I supposed to leave without you? I'm used to leaving with you. I can't go around and be happy knowing one of the people I care about most is at home being sick and in need of her dear Goldilocks" I stared at Adrian agape as a genuine smile made up to my face.

"Don't worry my dear Goldilocks, Here's a deal. I'll try my best to recover quickly then maybe get up strong enough to wish you a happy birthday as long as you go to school" Adrian looked at me hesitantly as he sighed and kissed my forehead as my eyes widened slightly as he pulled away.

"Just get better without forcing yourself" he smiled as he got up and left, leaving me shook as my hand slowly touched my forehead where he kissed.

"Didn't think the model boy would pursue two girls" Alpha said with his little signature smirk.

"S-shut up. he's not pursuing anyone, nobody, Natta"

"mhmm, right. well, if it's worth it I saw him blushing as red as those nasty rashes you had last week when he left through that door."

"Your lying, and the rashes weren’t that bad!”

"Sweetie I don't lie, especially to my holders. and face the facts Y/n, it was that bad" Alpha sat himself in front of me laying on my hand. "Plus, I'm pretty sure model boy likes you a bit more than you think, but then again, how can you notice him when you have a monster crush on Chat Noir" I blushed as I moved my hand away making him fall down onto my lap.

"It's not that big of a monster crush"

"So your not denying your deep love for that black cat?" I looked away with a blush, not wanting to see the smug face of my kawami. "Honestly. Humans are so dense. It's frustrating yet so entertaining." I rolled my eyes as I soon heard my door knocked as I quickly opened my blanket under him so he can hide there.

"Miss Ross, your meal is here" I heard my personal chef say.

"Come in" The chef quickly placed my meal on my lap as he quickly left. "Thank you!" I quickly yelled out. Alpha quickly came out and took the plate of brownies.

"Come to papa" I rolled my eyes as I eat my chicken soup.

***

I was watching Netflix on my TV, bored out of my mind. I had already recovered enough that I don't sneeze much and my appearance looks fine too. I was going to go back to bed to take another nap hoping the day can go by quick as I heard loud music blasting outside the mansion.

"Y/N! TURN DOWN THE TV!" Alpha yelled from my bed, already half asleep.

"It's not me" I said suspiciously as I looked out my window to see adults flying up in bubbles?! I gasped as i turned to Alpha to see him tired. "Naps has to wait. Paris needs Lady Wolf" Alpha slowly went up to me as his stomach began to grumble.

"The last time I ate was four hours ago, I need my refill!" Alpha complained. I sighed as I pressed the com button to get the chef or natalie but nobody was answering. I looked out at the window to see all of them floating out.

"I'm guessing this akuma holds a grudge on adults" I said as I quickly placed a jacket and tied my hair into a rushed bun as I placed Alpha in my inside pocket as I snuck out. By the time I went out I saw all my friends from school and more dancing, not seeming to enjoy themselves.

"Hey, you. Why aren't you having fun?" I heard a voice as I quickly hid behind the hallway as I watched the Akuma talk to Ivan.

"None of your business" Ivan replied leaning on the wall.

"Then I'm going to make it my business." The akuma brought out his large bubble sword as he bubbled Ivan sending him to the air as I held my mouth to hold in my gasp. I quickly hid behind the wall as he looked around before walking back to the DJ station. I let out a sigh as I quickly snook over to the food table and stole a brownie and tucked it into my pocket with Alpha in it as I quickly went back in the mansion as I saw Marinette leave. I looked at her confused before shaking it off. I have no time to think of her right now. I quickly hid inside the study room as Alpha came out eating the whole brownie in one gulp, seeming pretty satisfied for now.

"Okay. Alpha, Tails out!" "but your siiiiickkk!" I quickly transformed.

"sick or not, Paris still needs me," I said to Alpha if he could hear me as I leaped from the study window and made saw Ladybug. "Ladybug! Where's Chat?"

"Who knows," Ladybug said as we jumped on top of the wall.

"Hey, Paris, how you doing?" Adrian excitedly said raising the microphone. Poor him. he doesn't realize it's a forced party. When nobody cheered the bubbler threatened them behind him as they began to cheer. Adrian jumped down from the stage as he soon noticed us. "Ladybug? Lady Wolf?" Ladybug threw her yoyo hitting the power strip unplugging everything.

" Sorry, Bubbler, but the party's over." Ladybug said with a smirk.

"Why you two gotta be like that?" Bubbler replied.

"You made all the adults disappear, that's why! And now you're imprisoning anyone who isn't having fun." I yelled out as we didn't notice Adrian slip away from the fake party.

"You will not bust up my party!" Bubbler threw two bubbles at us as we used our yoyo/staff to deflect it. We got in a furious battle as the crowd shattered running to safety. Ladybug threw a yoyo at a big bubbled being thrown at us as it reflected back at her as Chat Noir quickly came in and hit the yoyo up the air.

"Looks like I made it just in time."

"We had it under control," I said as the yoyo hit Chat's head. "But thanks" I winked as Chat rubbed his head slightly annoyed. The Bubbler sent a large wave of red bubbles as we all swinged at them to keep it away from us. The bubbler then smirked as he snapped his fingers as the red bubbles turned green and began to circle furiously as it stuck to our bodies as we tried to shake it off. Before we knew it we were stuck in a green bubble. I was squished between Ladybug and Chat Noir. I sneezed as they quickly looked at me as I tried to hold another sneeze in. Great, just great. Why couldn't the cold kick in some other time?

"Are you sick?" Ladybug asked.

"No, I'm fine" I firmly said as I covered my nose hoping whatever power is in this bracelet would be able to hide my cold from the period of the battle.

"Give me your Miraculouses before you run out of air." The Bubbler threatened.

"Dream on Bubbler!" Ladybug yelled back as I choked on a sneeze, determined not to show my sickness in the heat of a fight.

"Total party poopers, just like adults."

"Kids need Adults!" Ladybug protested.

"False! Kids need freedom, fun, let loose and live it up. Adults are controlling and bossy."

"But adults keep children safe and protected. They care for their kids, they love them!"

"At least must do" I mumbled to myself thinking back to my mother leaving me in a young age. "You can't take them from these innocent kids!" I yelled to cover my mumbles.

"You must bring back the adults!" Chat yelled.

"Nope, never. Know what, since you care so much about these adults, why don't you go float with them for a while?" The Bubbler ran toward us as he kicked us up high in the air as we gasped from the sudden movement. I found myself clinging to Chat due to my fear of high top heights. Chat chuckled.

"Is little wolfie scared of heights~?" I gripped to him harder unable to mutter a word as we stopped moving but super high up in the sky.

"Save the teasing for later, Chat" Ladybug said as she looked around them. " Use your Cataclysm!"

"Couldn't you say that five hundred feet ago?" I squeaked out. "We can't stay stuck in this bubble together forever way up here and the deserted sky...way high up" I said slightly going paranoid. Chat held me close as he kept one arm away from me, probably to use his power.

"Cataclysm!" Chat touched the bubble as it popped making us start to fall. We all yelled as I clinged on to Chat's shoulders to scared to let go.

"Should we see if you two land on your feet this time?" Ladybug yelled over to us.

"No, Thanks!" We both said.

"Chat! Your stick, there!" Ladybug pointed at the eiffel Tower as he nodded.

"Got it!" Chat threw his stick on the eiffel tower as it stuck there as ladybug tied her yoyo around it as I grabbed ladybugs hand while holding Chat's hand in the other as we swing and land on the ground safely. I collapsed on the ground relieved to feel the rocky road beneath me.

"Remind me to go mountain climbing with you~" Chat flirted at me as I finally regained my senses and scoffed as he helped me up.

"Let's see if I ever go out with you anywhere first" I purred.

"Challenge accepted, M'lady"

"I can't have one flirt-free fight with you two can I?" Ladybug said jokingly as she walked to us. "We've got to get to his bubble sword, that's got to be where the akuma is." As Ladybug said that Chat's ring started beeping.

"Better hurry" He said slightly worried.

***

"Where is everybody? Get out here and party!" The Bubbler yelled angrily looking at the kids who were hiding.

"Sorry to burst your bubble!" Ladybug said as we stood on top of the wall as Chat crouched.

"Ladybug! Lady Fox!" Alya and Maya exclaimed as everyone began cheering for us.

"No one wants to party with you anymore, Bubbler."I said confidently.

"What's wrong with all you guys!? Why you gotta be such haters!?" Bubbler got angry as he trapped the kids in bubbles sending them up with the adults.

"NO!" We all yelled.

"Outer space is the next stop for your precious peeps, and they're never coming back!" The Bubbler jumped from roof to roof as Ladybug, Cat Noir and I went to pursue him. The Bubbler flies to the Eiffel Tower. Ladybug, Cat Noir and I start climbing it while he threw explosive bubbles at us as Cat Noir's ring alerts he's about to change.

" I'm gonna switch back soon, hurry." Chat Noir desperately yelled as us. Ladybug nodded as she stood up.

"Lucky charm!" Her powers handed her a giant wrench as we stared at it confused.

" Your... plumbing skill is gonna help us out?" Chat said confused as Ladybug shrugged her shoulders. Bubbler began to throw more explosive bubbles at Chat and I as we jumped and climbed to dodge them.

"Is that all you got? Bubbler?" I teased as Ladybug looked around with her charm vision.

"Got it!" Ladybug yelled as she ran towards the pipe while Cat Noir and I are still dodging bubbles. She loosens the screw and the pipe comes off. It goes up to where Cat Noir is standing.

"Chat Noir! Cover us! Lady Fox! Wait for my signal to use your powers to snatch the bubble sword. We both nodded as Chat jumped down as he gripped onto the pipe as it blew away any bubbles that was thrown at us.

"Moon Wolf!"I shouted as I went invisible. Once Bubbler raised his bubble sword Ladybug looked to where she last saw me.

"Now!" I nodded as I quickly jumped around and leaped above Bubbler snatching the bubble sword as I threw it towards Ladybug who quickly got it and snapped it in half with her leg.

"Get out of there, you nasty bug. No more evil-doing for you, little akuma." Ladybug opened her yoyo as she captured the akuma, before releasing it. "Bye-bye, little butterfly" Ladybug then threw her giant wrench to the air. "Miraculous ladybug!"as it spread apart fixing whatever damage that the fight caused and returned the adults where they were as it soon changed Bubbler back to Nino who sat on the ground confused.

"Pound it!"We all said.

___

"You can't run forever Ladybug, Lady Fox. and when I catch you, I will crush you! I will DESTROY YOU ALL!" Hawkmoth yelled as his window closed.

___

Adrian was dining alone, since Y/n was still a bit under the weather since the fight.

"A birthday present, from your father" Natalie said giving a gift containing a scarf as Adrian happily took it.

"Thank you. I mean, please say thank you to my father for me." Natalie nodded and left as Adrian stared at the gift happily as Y/n looking slightly better came down the stair case to the dining room with a gift in hand.

"Adrian?" Adrian looked up and quickly ran to her worriedly.

"You were supposed to stay in bed, N/n. If you needed me you could've called me"

"But the gift won't look that special then" Y/n complained as Adrian only just then noticed it.

"You made me a gift..?"

"Yes. I decorated it, placed it and wrapped it all on my own"

"but you're sick..." Adrian said as he took the gift gently as they sat down.

"I, uh. " Y/n began to stammer nervously. "started on it...a month ago"Adrian looked at Y/n shocked as as blush began to coat his cheeks at the thought of Y/n thinking of a birthday gift for him so early.

"You'd really do that for me?" Adrian said as he began to carefully unwrap it before gasping at the well decorated picture frame with a picture of them playing around in the park as their 5 year old selves. On the top frame with a colorful font, it read.'In all the places in the world, I'm happiest when I'm with you'

"I know it isn't as fancy as your other gifts, and it probably looks pretty torn but If you don't like it I can take it ba-" Y/n was cut off by Adrian pulling her into a hug as he buried his head into her neck, taking in her warmth smell.

"This is the best gift anyone could've ever given me, thank you, Y/n. I love yo- it. I love it" Adrian blushed as he realized he almost confessed his feelings. Thankfully y/n hadn't caught on.

"I'm glad, and uh. I found a little something in one of my old drawers" Adrain let go of Y/n as she gave him a small box with a ribbon on it.

"Another gift? Gee N/n, are you trying to spoil me?" Y/n laughed a bit as she slightly pushed his arm.

"Just see what's inside" Adrian nodded as he opened it to see one of the old bracelets Adrian and Y/n made together when they were 10.

"I almost forgot about this..." Adrian looked up to see Y/n holding up her wrist showing the bracelet he had made for her. It was grey and f/c, while the one she made for him was green and black. When they made this...they promised to never leave each other's sides. and how cheesy this may sound but Adrian also remembered them promising they'd marry each other when they're adults. "Didn't we say we'd get married when we grow up?" I said teasingly as Y/n blushed a bit as she laughed.

"Are you planning to win my heart? Goldilocks?"

"Maybe," Yes. was what Adrian wanted to say. After today, he learned he's in love with his best friend. But did he know, his best friend was in love with his flirty alter ego?

Don’t forget to comment! I love to hear what you guys think! Feedback is greatly appreciated!

#Y/n #Chat Noir x reader #Adrian x reader #mircaculous ladybug #Reader insert #lady fox #Ladybug #Chat Noir #The Bubbler #Nino #marinete dupain cheng #Ivan

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arolla-pine · 4 years

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I, Marinette - p.4

(4) – The questioning

Surprisingly, I survived the art classes without ruining Marinette’s reputation. It was like a body’s memory – my hands did their job with no need to use my brain. Of course, I knew some basics of sewing or knitting, but I was a complete amateur when it comes to designing. Luckily, Marinette had started a new project last time, so all I had to do was continue.

While I was sewing I could try to analyse my current situation. Those lucky coincidences were a bit weird. Was it possible that Ladybug’s Miraculous could influence the reality and protect me from a total disaster? Or was it only ‘a beginner’s luck’?

Although I didn’t figure out why I avoided being compromised, an hour of the art classes was a nice relax after morning sensations. Actually, I had an earthquake one after another, so this calm time was a nice break from them.

After a school bell I left the school immediately and ran back home. I needed to start investigating why I’d appeared in the Miraculous universe.

I entered the apartment like a hurricane and that surprised Sabine.

“I have to read a book for the afternoon classes, mom!” I explained quickly.

“You don’t have much time, darling…” She commented. “I’ll call you when lunch is ready!” She added, but I was already on the stairs, so I ignored her words.

I closed the trapdoor and sighed with relief. I was finally safe. Or not… Five seconds later I knew I was in troubles.

A red kwami flew out of my purse and stopped just in front of my face.

“Hands up!” Tikki glared at me. “Who are you and how did you get here?!”

I could expect that kwami would find out that I wasn’t real Marinette. But I didn’t expect that Tikki would assume the offensive instantly.

“I’ll answer your first question right away, but bear in mind that it can be a shock for you. When it comes to your second question I don’t have answers but I need to find them soon… Sooner than later, I’d say… Maybe Master Fu could help?”

“Master Fu left. He gave up the Miracle Box. He doesn’t remember anything…”

Holy crap! That meant we were just after the Season 3 finale…

“Don’t tell me I’m the Great Guardian of the Miraculouses…” I groaned. Anything else?!

“You are. Marinette… What happened? Why don’t you remember anything? Why do you act so different?”

“Because I’m not Marinette. My name is Lena Klimka and I live in Poland. I’m adult, I have a family… I don’t know why I’m here… And I have no idea how to go back…”

Tikki watched me carefully for a while, like she was checking my truthfulness. Then she began flying around me, that looked like a weird dance, buzzling as if she was filled with sparkled water. I felt like I was examined with a lie detector – in a Miraculous edition.

“Maybe it’s Hawkmoth’s trick?” Tikki asked when she’d finished her dance. Apparently I passed the truthfulness exam.

“I don’t think he’s so powerful.” I replied, shrugging, and then I added: “Unless he akumatised someone and gave them a power of transferring souls between bodies…”

“That’s quite plausible. He has already given many strange superpowers.”

“No, it’s not.” I denied. “That was a wild guess. Because… it doesn’t make sense. Why me? Why someone chose me to be exchanged with Marinette?”

Tikki looked at me thoughtful.

“Is there anyone who could want you to be in troubles?”

“Even if, I’m not aware of that. Besides, that should be someone from here. We’ve already known that Hawkmoth doesn’t have powers from afar.”

“How do you know that?” Kwami asked.

‘From the Startrain episode…’ I was about to say, but I held my tongue.

“He couldn’t control the akuma when Marinette’s class was in the space…” I said instead.

“How do you know that?!” Tikki repeated in an alarmed tone.

“I’ve seen…” I mumbled.

“Where?”

“Oh, Tikki… This might sound a bit unreal, but it is the same for me. ‘Miraculous Ladybug’ is a TV series. Fans from all over the world watch Marinette and Adrien’s adventures and wait for the moment when they’ll finally learn about each other. They ship them… I know Cat Noir’s identity. I know who Hawkmoth is…”

“Who is Hawkmoth?!” Kwami asked immediately, ignoring my previous news.

Gabriel Agreste. That was on the tip of my tongue. However, I couldn’t speak because of a sudden knot in my throat.

“Well?” Tikki insisted.

“I’m trying to say that but somehow I can’t. Maybe I’ll write it down…” I suggested, taking a piece of paper. All four pencils broke and pens didn’t work. “What’s happening?!” I muttered irritated.

“Magic.” Kwami explained immediately. “Same as the spell that doesn’t let us share our holders’ names.”

“I know.” I nodded and added under my breath. “Although I had a theory that it was only to delay the reveal of identities…”

“It’s so weird to talk with you like that, Marinette… You know, like I was talking with Master Fu, not with you…”

“Because you’re not talking with Marinette. And believe me, it’s much more irrational for me. Like a million times more…”

“So you can’t tell me anything?” Tikki came back to the subject.

“It looks like I get a knot in my throat every time I try to tell you something that would lead you to Hawkmoth. I could help. I could tell you that you’re really close to find out who he is. Lila helps him…” I added and stopped surprised that I could say that. “Oh, it’s not always that knot…” I commented staring at my kwami.

“Let’s check what you can say.” Tikki proposed.

“Cat Noir is… Thomas.”

“What a Thomas?” Kwami laughed.

“Not Thomas!” I snorted. “I know it’s A… Thomas.”

“You keep saying that…”

“Damn you, ‘no-spoiler-man’!” I exclaimed irritated. “Thomas Astruc, I believe…”

“That director?”

“Exactly. Every time I try tell you something I have his name instead of a knot.”

“Magic.” Tikki repeated, nodding as if my symptoms were something normal. “What else can you tell me?”

“Mayura is… Thomas. Damn! I know what happened to Adrien’s mum. I know what would happen if Ladybug revealed her identity to Adrien… I know that… Thomas… Urgh!” I groaned because that was all I could say.

“You know quite a lot and don’t know why you’re here?”

“Not a clue.”

“If that’s an akuma behind this, you will have to find it, capture and purify. Then you must repair all damage.”

“With ‘Miraculous Ladybug’, I know.” I muttered. “If I manage…”

“You need to learn quickly.”

“I know the theory, but I have no idea how it works in practice…”

I started walking around the bedroom. It usually helped with thinking. Kwami observed me and waited.

“I could trust Ladybug’s instinct.” I discovered. “When Ladybug and Cat Noir lost their memories by Oblivio, they managed to defeat him anyway. Their instinct was stronger than the memory. Maybe it’ll work this time as well…”

“You’ve seen that too?!”

“Oh, it’s my favourite episode ever!” I admitted.

“Uh! Episode! I still can’t believe we’re in some TV series!” Tikki exclaimed outraged.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to me and I looked at her in horror.

“Oh, my God…”

“What?”

“If Marinette woke up this morning at my home, she’ll be exposed to some information… If she survived the first shock…” I muttered.

“What do you mean?”

“I have plenty of books about Miraculous, including a written version of some episodes. Marinette will learn about Cat Noir’s identity. She’ll learn about Hawkmoth’s identity! If my daughter shows her some episodes on TV, Marinette will see everything! That may have significant consequences for your world! Like a butterfly effect. Or rather an akuma effect…”

“Maybe Marinette is protected by the same magic as you are here?”

“Do you think that this magic can work from afar?” I asked doubtful.

“This magic doesn’t have limits. If Marinette appeared in Poland because of an akuma, she’s bound by the Magic of the Miraculous. The question is: who the supervillain is and why they chose you.”

“I have no idea why me… I’m just a writer. I write short stories. Actually, I’m quite anonymous. I’m sure that nobody in France even knows me!”

“You write? What do you write?” Tikki was curious.

“Fanfiction.”

“What’s that?”

“Stories written by fans for fans. It happened that I fell in love with the Miraculous universe and I’ve already written some fanfics about Marinette and Adrien. You know, some theories how they could reveal their identities or how they defeated Hawkmoth… Sometimes I fixed the plot if I was disappointed with the actual episode…”

“You fixed?”

“I wrote an alternative plot development…”

My voice fainted. I remembered a popular sitcom, where one of characters was a soap opera star. In an interview he said that sometimes he improved his lines written by screenwriters. In consequence, he was killed in the next episode.

What were the chances that I was a victim of a similar intrigue?

What were the chances that Thomas Astruc had read one of my stories and he took revenge on me by setting me in the middle of the world created by him?

---

I, Marinette - p.3 <- Previous part | Next part -> I, Marinette - p.5

Read the story from the beginning

#miraculous ladybug #fanfiction #fanfic #I Marinette #Tikki #Lena Klimka #season 3 spoilers #season 3 finale #after season 3

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pandawritespoorly · 4 years

Text

With Time: Something Happened

Author’s Note: The doc for this is titled 'Drink some water you coward'. My friend needed to drink water but wouldn't, and I made a threat that I fulfilled. I won't say who I killed, but those of you who have been around long even may remember a tumblr post from long ago. (Heh heh, reblogged it to bring it back a few days ago)

Here's that story, which I can finally post now that With Time is over.

(Sorry for the angst. I'll post something fluffy soon.)

Summary: The team goes up against Hawkmoth, and something happens.

!!! Warnings: Character Death, Violence

It had been years. Years upon years of fighting against Hawkmoth. It had gotten bad enough that Adrien and Marinette had eventually needed to give their friends their miraculouses permanently.

It hadn’t been solely a bad thing of course. They’d been planning on doing it soon enough, but it’d happened sooner than they’d intended.

Of course, after spending a good six years - almost seven - Marinette and Adrien could not be ready for this day.

The final face off with Hawkmoth.

The man that had been terrorizing the heroes, the city, for years.

They’d tracked him down after learning of Mayura’s identity.

“How did I not know?” Chat Noir stares at the mansion he was raised in, “He’s my father! I grew up in the same building he was attacking the city from!”

“Adrien-” Ladybug begins.

“I’m supposed to be a hero! What kind of-”

“Adrien-” it’s Kit Mime this time, gripping his shoulder and turning the other boy to face him, “None of us blame you.”

“You should.”

“No, we shouldn’t. He kept it from the entire city, y’ couldn’t’ve known,” Tortue Verte cuts in.

“The entire city wasn’t living with him this whole time! For fuck’s sake, he attacked my school the most! He wasn’t even subtle!”

“Adrien, it’s not-” Honey Bee also tries to interrupt him.

“All those attacks where he or I was targeted! How could I not have realized-” gloved hands dig into blond hair, green eyes vacant.

“Chat-”

“My name literally means ‘dark butterfly’, I mean come on!”

“Adrien!” Ladybug snaps. She isn’t angry, just trying her best to reign him back in.

He pauses, taking a breath to steady himself.

“Kitten, none of us blame you,” Kit Mime keeps his own gloved hands on Chat Noir’s shoulders, “So you shouldn’t be blaming yourself.”

The hero looked doubtful, but didn’t respond.

“He’s right,” Ladybug comes to his side as well, hugging him tightly.

Doing so triggers a group hug among the heroes. There’s a lot of feelings towards what’s about to happen.

There’s a lot to process, but they didn’t have much time. They wanted to settle this as quickly as possible - both for Paris’ sake and to avoid Gabriel getting suspicious.

“Alright. Let’s go,” and Chat leads the charge into the house.

It’s time to end this.

---

Despite having hoped to take the man by surprise, he must have been clued in somehow. They burst into his lair to find it empty.

They tense, walking forward hesitantly and looking around cautiously.

“Where-” Honey begins to speak.

There’s a sound, quiet enough that only Kit and Chat hear it. They motion for silence and turn in the direction, night vision carefully scanning the area.

Honey Bee inhales sharply.

“This would be an ideal time to hand over your miraculouses.” a cold voice cuts through the silence.

The group turns to see Hawkmoth himself standing before them, sword drawn from his cane and pointed precariously near the heroine’s neck. She stands stiffly, hands raised slightly.

Low growls come from the two tallest boys, while Ladybug and Tortue shift to fighting positions.

“Give it up Gabriel,” Chat snarls.

“You’ve lost,” Kit Mime adds.

“It would seem I was correct to assume that Nathalie had been compromised,” the tip of the sword pushes further into Honey’s neck, and she tilts her head safely away.

“Gabriel Agreste, your reign of terror on Paris is over. Hand over your miraculous.” Ladybug holds out her hand, glaring at the monster before them.

“No. Not until I’ve completed my goal.”

“The consequences of any wish would be catastrophic. The world can’t afford your selfishness-”

“Selfish?!” The man roars, “You are the selfish ones! I only want what’s best for my family! What’s best for my son!” In his anger, he gestures carelessly and a pinprick of blood appears on Honey Bee’s neck as he speaks.

Chat Noir growls, snapping and swiping at the man, “What’s best for your son?! What’s best for your son?! How is terrorizing Paris supposed to help your son?!”

Taking the distraction, Honey Bee ducks and slides over to her other teammates. Tortue looks worriedly at her neck, but she smiles at him, “I’m fine,” she says quietly.

Kit Mime seems to disagree, scowling - a rare expression for him - and joining his friend in the barrage of attacks at the supervillain.

“Well,” Ladybug says, readying her yo-yo, “We do this like we always do…”

Honey Bee and Tortue Verte speak with her, readying their own weapons and dropping into offensive stances, “...together.”

The trio joins their teammates in the fight.

---

They didn’t think it was going to be this hard. Especially given that it was five to one.

Yet here they are. At least one and a half hours later, and the fight hadn’t gotten anywhere.

They’re exhausted.

Maybe it’s closer to two or three hours. None of them have really bothered to check the time, simply focussing on their goal, aiming to end this nightmare as soon as possible.

Hawkmoth swipes his sword at the spotted girl. She dances away to the best of her abilities, though she feels it makes contact anyways.

It wasn’t the first time, and she’d stopped checking once they’d all been false alarms.

Her suit is impenetrable after all.

This needed to end soon. The exhaustion of her team was palpable, but somehow Hawkmoth seemed fine.

Maybe he was just better at hiding it. Or he had more experience. The reason didn’t really matter to her anyways.

The team of five continues in their assault, their teamwork they’d built up on for the past five years shining through.

Still, it wasn’t a perfect art, and mistakes were bound to happen.

No one is quite sure how it happens, but the frenzy of movement halts when Hawkmoth wrenches Kit Mime toward him by the arm.

“Let him go,” Honey Bee growls.

“Give up your miraculouses.” It’s basically his mantra with how many times he’s said it now. He’s holding the fox hero to him tightly, gripping his neck from behind so that both miraculous holders are in clear sight.

“That’s not going to happen,” Chat repeats.

“This is your final warning,” Hawkmoth cautioned lowly, a hint of something in his voice.

He correctly takes their silent glares and battle stances as refusal.

The dark chamber is silent for a moment.

Five teenagers wait patiently for the next move.

A sickening crunch echoes through the room.

Even with most of them lacking night vision, their eyes have adjusted enough that they can see what happened.

Hawkmoth holds up Kit Mime by the neck, dangling the boy above the floor. The hero’s face is an unnatural color, and his feet kick uselessly at the floor, searching for traction.

His hands reach for the one that has crushed his throat, but the adult’s iron grip is too tight.

His teammates, friends, can only stand in horrified silence. The only sound is the ocaissonal scuffle of boots against the floor. The color that has appeared on his face is deepening, and his hands still claw at the one around his neck. His flute is on the floor, dropped in surprise when the moment came.

None of them are looking at any of that though.

It’s his eyes.

Kit- Claude’s eyes, normally bright and full of mirth are wide with fear.

Even through the worst attack, Kit Mime had been able to smile, keep things light and spirits up.

And now…

It’s when his eyes begin to glaze over, growing unfocused, that they break out of their trance.

Chat Noir’s and Honey Bee’s faces harden in resolve, both rushing forward.

Ladybug hears a furious ‘cataclysm’ and ‘venom’, which somewhat shakes her out of her oncoming attack. She can panic late, right now she has to…

What does she do?

Tortue isn’t doing well, hyperventilating beside her.

Kit Mime is still struggling in the villain’s grip, though his desperate kicks and gasps have become fainter, weaker.

The five of them couldn’t defeat Hawkmoth together, should she really let only two of them try alone? They need all the help they can get, right?

The heroine’s eyes dart back and forth, undecided. Comfort Tortue?

Help Chat and Honey with Kit?

Comfort Tortue?

Help Chat and Honey with K-

-it?

The moment of indecision costs her. In the time it takes Chat and Honey to cross the room, Hawkmoth grows impatient.

Tired of holding up the struggling boy, Hawkmoth tightens his grip on his sword, raises his hand, and runs it through the boy.

Honey and Chat can’t stop their momentum in time, Honey’s hand slides past the intended target, and she can’t pick herself off the floor, instead staring in horror at the scene above her.

The scene doesn’t last long.

Chat’s outstretched hand makes contact.

With an orange suit.

The darkness spreads like an inky disease across the brightly colored uniform. Shadowy tendrils make their way over it, spreading like a horrific wildfire and leaving nothing but ash and dust behind.

Chat Noir stares in terror at his gloved hand, now coated in dust that looked too soft for something so nauseating.

Reality chooses this moment to resume its normal speed. In comparison to the last eternal minute or two, everything feels like double speed.

Honey Bee manges to put together enough thoughts to hit her venomed hand to their foe’s leg, and stands to take the miraculous.

Chat hasn’t moved.

Tortue is barely breathing with how badly he’s panicking.

And Ladybug?

Ladybug defaults to her usual solution.

“Miraculous Ladybug.”

Claude’s body reappears right where it had been previously. He falls to the ground, the other heroes nearby follow him, too exhausted to do anything else.

After a moment they’re all far too aware of the fact that he isn’t breathing.

“Miraculous Ladybug.”

He remains still.

“Miraculous Ladybug.”

Nothing. She’s beginning to feel dizzy.

“Miraculous Ladybug.”

Why isn’t it working?

“Miraculous Ladybug!”

Why isn’t he coming back?!

“Miraculous Ladybug!”

This wasn’t supposed to happen.

“Miraculous Ladybug!!”

How had this happened?

“Miraculous Ladybug!!!”

She feels sick.

“MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!”

Still nothing.

Her shouts become a repetitive echo, ringing through the terrible chamber. What else can she do? She’s the leader. She’s the one who fixes everything.

So why isn’t everything fixed?! Of the team, she’s the only one still speaking. The only one still standing.

Until she isn’t anymore.

The others look up after her quiet, pleading calls go silent, soon followed by a thud.

Against a surface other than her bright red suit, the alarming amount of blood flowing from a distressingly large gash in her side is hard to miss.

---

When Felix walks into the hospital room he does not know what to expect. He had known they were going after Hawkmoth, so the fact that Adrien had sent him a text with nothing but the words ‘we’re here’ and the hospital’s address and a room number concerned him.

Still, he did not want to jump to conclusions.

Perhaps Hawkmoth had been critically injured.

He repeated that thought over and over because the alternative-

No, there is no alternative. Hawkmoth is injured and his friends are fine.

He loops that thought.

Hawkmoth is injured and his friends are fine.

Hawkmoth is injured and his friends-

He walks into the room, hearing the steady beeping of the heart monitor and turns to see…

Marinette in the bed. All manner of tubes and wires attached to her.

When he manages to rip his eyes away, his fears do not cease.

Adrien is staring at Marinette, though his eyes are far away.

Allegra is barely holding herself together.

And Allan…

Felix hadn’t seen that look on Allan’s face since- since-

Something is missing.

Someone is missing.

“Where is Claude?” He barely manages to keep his voice steady.

Those three words are all it takes.

The Allegra’s final threads snap and she loses the little composure she already had. She falls to her knees like beggar and sobs.

The look on Allan’s expression gets worse, and he stops breathing momentarily, and even afterwards his breaths are irregular.

Adrien is gripping Marinette’s hand like a lifeline, head buried in the sheets of the hospital bed as he sits beside it.

No one speaks.

The picture is becoming very clear, but Felix just will not accept it.

Surely Claude is just somewhere else.

Grabbing something perhaps?

Another sob from Allegra is all it takes to dash all his hopes. Anyone with half a mind can see the only answer to this question.

Something happened.

The mission went wrong.

Claude is gone.

---

I'm just going to leave this here. No more words from me.

Reminder: This is very much not canon to my With Time storyline.

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