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#morally ambiguous marinette
redundant-lava · 6 months
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As Time Goes By - An Enemies AU
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Summary: 
Viperion and Ladybug were the heroes of Paris. They bravely fought the evil Hawkmoth and Chat Noir for six long years. But When Viperion is killed in battle and Ladybug disappears, the city falls to the mercy of the villains.
Two years later, Adrien is trying to make the best of working for his father. His failure as Cat Noir to procure the Ladybug miraculous has caused him to be relegated to busy work - both for Hawkmoth and the Gabriel™ brand. He is finally settling into a life co-managing his father’s spin-off lifestyle brand with his cousin Felix, and he has convinced himself he can live with this. That is, until someone he hasn’t seen in two years walks into his bar - his ex-girlfriend, Marinette Dupain-Cheng.
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An AU where Cat Noir has been working with Hawkmoth since the beginning, and Ladybug is forced into hiding. Will Adrien betray his father to save the woman he loves? Chapters: 13/13 Words: 48,893 Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug Rating: Teen And Up Audiences  Warnings: Major Character Death  Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Kagami Tsurugi, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Nino Lahiffe 
Characters: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Luka Couffaine, Kagami Tsurugi, Tomoe Tsurugi, Félix Graham de Vanily, Nino Lahiffe, Félix Fathom 
Additional Tags: Adrinette | Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Identity Reveal, Bad Parent Tomoe Tsurugi, Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Future, Sentimonster Adrien Agreste, Alternate Universe - Casablanca Fusion, the one that got away, Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Snake Luka Couffaine | Viperion, Lost Love, Star-crossed, Moral Ambiguity, enemies au, Enemies to Lovers, Lovers To Enemies, Rivalry, Villain Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, but like not really he just thinks he is, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Needs a Hug, Emotional Manipulation, Manipulation, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Corruption, Sentimonster Félix Fathom  read on AO3 >>
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theerurishipper · 6 months
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I still remember when s5 bible leaked and in it, the ending stated : "Marinette will lied to Adrien about his father and she will use his amok to change his perspective toward his father." Or something along the line since I forgot the exact line.
And people were like "Lmao, there's no way she will do that. She knows Gabriel is a bad father."
Except now it's trully happened and people saying "She did it for him, out of love!" And "Even if she did give him command, "be yourself" isn't a bad command anyway" as if the idea of someone giving other a command isn't inherently wrong. Not a suggestion or motivation, it is a command! She has no business to control Adrien's life, even more so since she only know a surface level about his life.
Just because Adrien said "Only Marinette understand me" doesn't necessarily means she trully understand him, especially when she barely talk to him prior dating and her understanding of him is mostly from the magazine (and I bet a groupie group).
I don't think the bible mentions anything about Marinette using the Amok. I just read it through right now and it doesn't mention anything about the Amok, so it's up to personal interpretation. Personally, I don't believe Marinette used it, but the scene itself is rather ambiguous on that front. And the show is so broken in its view of the morality of using a mind control device on a fellow human that I wouldn't be surprised if it was revealed that she had done it.
But if people who believe that she did it are defending that decision, that's fucked up. There's no justification for controlling someone's mind like that without their consent. If she wanted to help him be himself, she could let him figure himself out on his own terms and support him, or she could, you know, ask him if he would like her to help him that way. At the very least, doing it with his full and willing consent is better than essentially violating his autonomy and free will.
Marinette does know that Gabriel is a bad father. She may not know the extent of it, perhaps, but she does know that he locked his son up for years and controlled his mind with a magic ring for years, and she still makes the choice to respect Gabriel's wish and lie to Adrien. There is no justification for this, I'm sorry. There just isn't. "Doing it out of love," is the most pitiful and frankly ridiculous excuse there is. Gabriel was also abusing Adrien "out of love." That doesn't make what he did any less horrible.
And you're right that Marinette doesn't understand or know Adrien that well. The show likes to tell us that she understands him like no other and that he feels free with her and all that BS, but it doesn't show us that. What it does show us is that Marinette does not have a clue that Adrien isn't perfection personified until Risk, after which she never put in the effort to get to know him as a person ever again. Instead, he chose to pursue her and literally felt obligated to change himself for her sake. Which is like, fucked up, cause his narrative is about learning that he doesn't have to change himself for other people and he's explicitly trying to be the perfect guy who asks nothing of Marinette for her, and the show pretends this is all fine and dandy.
This is a very unhealthy relationship, even more so now that Marinette is gaslighting Adrien into loving his abuser. This is super fucked up.
And for those who believe this will be dealt with in the future, the bible does have this to say:
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So much for that lmao.
Thank you for your ask!
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The way Felix "couldn't stand up to his abuser until AFTER he was already dead" Fathom is consistently victim blaming Adrien about not standing up to Gabriel.
Y'know, like a hypocrite.
To be clear this is criticism of Felix expecting something of other people that he never did. Not of Felix being incapable of doing so.
Also it's just not true? Adrien's first act in Canon is him rebelling against his father. Hell, his whole relationship with Marinette is a rebellion against his father!
Adrien is being literally mind controlled and he still finds ways to skirt around Gabriel's orders.
But none of it matters.
Because the writers threw out any semblance of moral ambiguity in favor of black and white storytelling.
That's why, after they decided to make Felix a "good guy" they desperately want to make everyone forget about the scene where he buys and sells slaves.
That's why Adrien isn't allowed to hate his cousin for impersonating him and creating Monarch and abuse enabling Gabriel.
Because the writers have decided that "Felix is right" and so by extension Adrien is "wrong". We can't have "family" cutting a toxic person out of their lives now can we?
And the fandom is only too happy to go along with this.
Because outright saying "sentimonsters are a slave race" makes them uncomfortable.
Because the fandom is all too willing to talk about how Adrien has to work at not perpetuating the cycle of abuse when he grows up. But for some reason refuses to engage with Felix's actions as doing just that.
Perpetuating the cycle of abuse. Not in the future towards some hypothetical children but right now to his own family.
Felix has already committed unforgivable acts. And that was before telling someone who isn't Adrien that you can mind control him using a piece of jewelry.
No it doesn't. Fucking. Matter. That he told Marinette/Adrien's girlfriend. That is still Not Adrien.
And to be quiet frank, is none of her fucking business.
I hate sentimonsters as allegory. I really do.
But this is like going up to someone's significant other and saying "Oh yeah he's queer."
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nemaliwrites · 5 months
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My super secret Big Bang fic is finally not so secret! My @mlbigbang fic, In Pursuit of the Uneatable, will be posted on January 1st!
Relationships: Adrien/Marinette, Marinette & Tikki, Marinette & Chat Blanc Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Inspired by Bunny, Manipulative Lila Rossi, Self-Esteem Issues, Identity Issues, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir is not Chat Blanc, Introspection, Canon-Typical Violence, Lila Rossi's Downfall, Hurt Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Psychological Horror, Moral Ambiguity, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Unreliable Narrator Summary: Who do you trust when your own reflection becomes a stranger? In a Paris where Lila weaves tales that blind the city, Marinette stands accused, isolated. Her parents’ trust is shattered, her friends distant, and in battle, illusions blur the line between ally and enemy. As the shadows and uncertainty threaten to close in, Marinette finds herself turning to the last person who claims to be on her side: a boy in a white mask who calls himself a fox hunter.
and here's a lil snippet from chapter 12:
Ladybug’s been crafting her apology in her head for days now, but if there’s one thing she’s certain of, it’s that it’ll all fall apart the second she lays eyes on him. That is, if he even shows up — it only occurs to her now that he might not, that he might be angry enough at her to avoid her.
But he does show up. Of course he does. She never should have doubted that; the fact that she did only has the effect of making her feel more guilty. Because he would never put his own feelings ahead of their duty, and she never should have thought he would. 
He comes, a shadow in the night, to stand before her. For a fraction of a second, Ladybug finds herself doubting which cat this is — after all, noir and blanc are two sides of the same coin, are they not? When she sees his eyes, though, she knows truth: his eyes that are one color, the greenest green. 
“Chat Noir,” she says, voice nearly lost in the wind. The only indication he’s heard her is the way he turns. His profile, the only thing that’s illuminated, faces her. “I’m sorry.”
He says nothing. 
“I’m so sorry,” Ladybug continues. Her voice threatens to break, but still, she persists. “I should have told you everything, I know that. I…I never meant to leave you in the dark like that. I just didn’t want you to worry about me—“
“I do worry, Ladybug.”
Chat Noir says the words loudly, confidently, an open declaration. She gapes at him.
“I’m always worried about you,” he says; he turns his eyes skyward, as though desperate to look at anything that isn’t her. “I worry if you’re getting enough sleep. I worry if you’re stressed out. I worry that an akuma might come for you and that this time, there won’t be anyone to save you — that I won’t be there to save you.”
And now it’s his turn for his voice to break. Ladybug steps closer, takes his face in her hands. Turns it so that he’s looking at her.
“Have you considered,” he asks softly, “that maybe you don’t like to rely on people? That you don’t want to show weakness? That you’re too focused on thinking that you can do everything yourself?”
Mirroring her, he brings his hands up to her face. They’re interlinked, intertwined, impossible to tell where one stops and the other begins. If noir and blanc are two sides of the same coin, then so too are the ladybug and the black cat. 
“Maybe,” she admits, hating the way that doing so makes her feel vulnerable. But here, of all places — in her partner’s arms — maybe she can let herself be vulnerable. “Maybe you’re right.”
Chat Noir drops his hands, steps away from her. A stark contrast to his next words: “You know I’m always on your side, right? No matter what.”
“I know,” says Ladybug, because she does. She’d just forgotten it — but that doesn’t mean it isn’t true. Her hands fall to her sides. “And I think…I think I’ve found someone else on my side, too.”
Someone, something, somewhere, somehow. 
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tinybriewrites · 2 years
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Parfum - 1
"A triple quad black eye but make it ristretto," Marinette mumbled with her eyes half closed, thrusting a ginormous tumbler into the hands of the aghast cashier.
She stumbled her way to a counter seat and promptly collapsed onto the marble surface. The chill of it was sharp enough to keep her on the knife-edge of lucidity while waiting for her dose of sweet, unforgivable addiction.
A chuckle rang through the vacant shop amidst the whirring of the espresso machine.
"Didn't think there'd be a free range one of you nutcases out there," a baritone voice said with undisguised mirth.
Normal Marinette would've ignored the weird voice. Normal Marinette was smart, usually. Even Sleepy Marinette knew better than to jeopardize everything. Unfortunately, the only Marinette left running the show was One-Foot-Into-A-Grave-Slash-Coma Marinette.
And this Marinette was a downright idiot.
She opened a striking blue eye for a moment before turning the other way and mumbling, "...Ngh bad stranger."
"Name's Julian. Not a stranger now, am I?"
Marinette's current slower-than-a-turtle brain took a hot second to process the words and string them together before slurring out, "Mah-ree-nettie," squinting at Julian afterward like a satisfied housecat.
"Well, Nettie, what brings you to Gotham? Secret Wayne? You have the looks for it, that's for sure." The barista couldn't help but let out a snort at that. If there was anything Gotham was known for, it must be the gaggle of black-haired blue-eyed children with wildly tragic backstories.
Marinette slow-blinked like a lagging computer at Julian before sluggishly reaching to the top of his head.
"Flatcap."
"It's Paper Boy Day, y'see."
"...Weird."
"Kid, this dude's one of the resident crazies. This," the barista gestured to all of Julian, "is what happens when you live here too long. God knows, the air here reeks of insanity."
"Don't forget the water too," Julian snickered.
He eyed her up and down before adding, "And you, kid, scream visitor. Your outfit is drab enough to pass for a gargoyle here, but your scent— It's a dead giveaway. You smell too nice to be here. All lavender and cinnamon and puppies."
Before Marinette could begin to muster up a response, the barista came back and placed her filled-to-the-brim tumbler down with practiced caution.
Marinette cared not for anything but her preferred dose of insanity, immediately gulping down the still steaming drink to the resigned and amused eyes of the duo.
"Even after all that, not even a hint of hesitation, huh? Just like that Tim kid, I swear."
"Uncannily so, indeed."
Three straight minutes of inhaling the more-caffeinated-than-should-be-legal drink later, Tired-As-All-Nine-Hells-But-Still-Pulling-Through Marinette took the stage.
With scrunched brows, she turned to look at Julian then the barista then back to Julian.
"...Wayne?"
Guffawing, Julian replied, "The growing brood of Bruce, Playboy Prince of Gotham. You one of his? Last name Wayne?"
With the caffeine charge belatedly rebooting her critical thinking skills, Semi-Dead-But-Not-Quite Marinette realized how much shit pre-coffee Marinette could have already landed herself in. Idle chatter with strangers was a privilege not granted to a newbie runaway.
"...No. And I- I think I have to go now."
Marinette rushed out of the coffee shop, tumbler clutched like it was her life, under the indecipherable gaze of the odd stranger.
"Hey, Nettie," the barista greeted, moving to make her drink the moment she walked in.
Over the course of a week, Marinette had kept running into the strange man on her coffee runs. After the second meeting, she indulged in the newfound paranoia her journey had encouraged. Under Tikki's disapproving gaze, she casted no less than thirty-seven different spells to be absolutely, beyond any doubt certain that he was in no way a threat to her. Her actions were morally ambiguous, sure, but that coffee shop was the only place in Gotham that didn't stink of corrupted energy.
Marinette could only either take the plunge or go coffee-free, and she's seen how well that would go.
"Hello again, little bean. Need another death drink already?"
Silently acquiescing to that, Marinette admired Julian's newest garb. "...National Bride Day?" she guessed.
He wore an ivory wedding gown, the skirt billowing out around his seat in heaps of tulle and lace. A white camellia rested on his right ear, pinning back part of his flowing blonde wig, pearls hanging from it like a star-lit waterfall.
"Tsk, tsk, Nettie, close but not quite." He bopped her on the head with a bouquet of fake carnations, eyes gleaming with an odd affection. "World Marriage Day, actually."
"What do you think, I'm rocking this one, aren't I?" he wiggled his eyebrows.
Marinette rolled her eyes at his antics. "Felix put it all together, didn't he? You and Mitch together can't measure up to a pinky of his fashion sense."
"How dare you speak to your father like that, young lady!" he gasped in mock offense.
"Thought you called me a Wayne, Jules," Marinette teased back, brow raised.
"You could be both," he joked. "I don't mind being called father-in-law."
"Ju-"
Her righteous indignation was interrupted by the clink of porcelain on marble and the chuckles the barista didn't bother holding back, much to her dismay.
"You- I- Just- No! You guys, no! Felix and I aren't anything even close to that," she exclaimed. But unfortunately for her, her reddening face hid nothing.
"...Sure, kid, sure. But hurry it up, will you? I've got a hundred bucks on the line."
"You bet on me?!"
"I want in. Twenty bucks Felix makes the first move." The barista held out a crisp fifty, adding, "Thirty Marinette avoids him after."
Julian grabbed the bill, pulling up a purse from his fake cleavage.
Before Marinette could protest more, a loud siren blasted from her phone speakers. Her eyes hardened instantly as if a switch was flicked, and without another word, she left like Cerberus himself was on her heels.
By the time Ladybug had arrived on the scene, half of Collège Françoise Dupont was up in flames. Chat Noir was nowhere to be found, but from a cursory glance, the students stayed a distance away from the burning building, seeming neither harmed nor controlled or otherwise affected aside from the bone-deep fright.
"Marinette! Where is Marinette!" the akuma—Manon—screeched.
"We don't know a Marinette," a student cried out in fear of the looming figure.
"Stop. Lying. To. Me!" She flung around her wand-holding arm in her rage of a tantrum.
Staunchly ignoring the rabbit hole of implications of Manon's demands, the heroine came up with her gamble of a plan. Trying to take the most efficient route, she cautiously approached a pastel pink Puppeteer, hand at the ready on her yoyo. From behind the akuma, she nabbed her wand and broke it in half on her knee.
But, nothing changed. Instead, her move only served to incense Manon, not unlike pouring water on sizzling oil.
"LADYBUG!" Manon yelled. "You remember Marinette, right?"
"N-" Ladybug moved to shake her head, but the akuma was quick to cut her off. "You wouldn't lie to me, right? Not you, the perfect sweetheart of Paris, right? Our darling heroine would never lie to a little kid? Right?"
Marinette weighed her options. It was an innocent child versus the entire world. Faith against fate.
Manon stared at her with the same hope-filled gaze she had once had when she wanted her plush dolls. It plunged her into memories she once resolved to forget. It made her weak.
She bit her lip.
"No. I've never heard of a Marinette."
But not weak enough.
"LIAR," she screamed, flinging tiny pink sparks from her fingertips in all directions.
Spinning her yoyo into a shield, Ladybug managed to repel all but one, the littlest of the bunch. But that was enough to damn her.
With its landing point as the origin, it spread from the soles of her feet to the tip of her waist at an alarming speed. The heroine was protected by the magic of the suit, but even through that, she could feel the burn of the pink flame. It was beyond what words could describe. She felt like she was bathing in a hearth straight from Tartarus. She could feel the conflicting magics tearing her apart and putting her back together, tendon by tendon.
In her haze, she could hear Manon roaring out, "If you won't reveal the truth, then just go reveal everything else. Hmph!"
Manon shot out a pink beam from her index finger, but before it could hit her, someone jumped in the way.
Adrien.
Gritting her teeth, Ladybug aggressively blinked her way into focus. Her former friend was in a similar blazing state. His face was deathly pale and covered with a sheen of sweat. His brows were scrunched tight, but still, he held on.
"S-Storyteller! I- I-" he stuttered out, jaw clenched and eyes shut tight.
Looking closer at the school, the brightest flame within came not from the objects set ablaze but from a group of teenagers—her old classmates—writhing in pain on the ground yet unable to escape from the fires of akuma-delivered retribution. They were beneath a fallen column in the innermost part of the building, crawling like worms to hide from the akuma's line of sight.
"I never wanted to be a model." The confession was pulled from Adrien's throat, word by word. "But it's the only I can do to remember maman."
The heroine had seen plenty of gruesome scenes in her time. From a city drowned and silenced to the screams of young children being beheaded, there was no shortage of such scenes in Paris.
But Manon—Storyteller—was a first. She didn't kill, no. She kept everyone alive in a perpetual cycle of torture.
It was cruel.
And it was her fault that this happened at all.
"I have hundreds of pictures of Ladybug on my phone. My... friend says I'm obsessed. I imagine meeting her, dating her, kissing her." Words spilled from Adrien's mouth like air escaping a punctured balloon, and at that, the flames licking at his torso eased an inch.
A sliver of repulsion shot through her at the admission, but she put that aside at her newest theory.
"Manon!" she yelled, shielding Adrien behind her. "I have something to say."
Her eyes darted around, looking for the akumatized object, but her mouth never stopped.
"You want to hear secrets right? I'm adopted," she said, but there was no change to the pink flames.
"No, no!" Manon stomped her feet. "I don't want your secrets, I want Marinette! I'm not the liar, it's everyone else!"
"Manon..." Ladybug slowly approached, hands held out in appeasement.
"It's a consh-pirah-see," the child screamed, and the flames burned brighter at her rage.
As the child spun in her agitation, a flash of unblemished white caught the heroine's eye. It wasn't visible from the front, but a ribbon gleaming like arctic ice trailed from Manon's hair.
Ladybug's eyes flashed.
"Marinette..." she enunciated slowly, catching Manon's attention. She approached the child at a snail's pace, careful not to startle her. "Did she go to school here?"
Manon's eyes flashed brighter, "Yes, yes! Marinette is real. You believe me, right?"
The heroine inched her right hand to her side, but the motion attracted the akuma's attention.
"Liar! I hate you! Give me your miraculous!"
Faster than the beam could reach her, she moved to seize Manon's ribbon.
Ladybug felt words bubbling in her throat, but she resisted. Who knew what sorts of world-ending secrets could escape her lips? The list was far too long, and the risk, magnitudes too great.
With veins throbbing on her skin while her heart and lungs burned with the desire to reveal, she ripped the ribbon straight through the middle, releasing the akuma and leaving behind a child with stained cheeks and puffy eyes.
Gasping for breath, the heroine caught the akuma before collapsing onto the pavement. Her city burned around her, but for once, she wanted to take a small, selfish break. Even if only for a moment.
Sprawled out on the ground, her chest rising rapidly, she heard the whimpers of a child who couldn't know better. She tasted the flames of desperation in the air, smelled the burnt ashes of hope. She saw Manon's heart break, and she felt her lose her faith in the world.
Marinette closed her eyes.
Another failure.
Preventable, necessary, agonizing failure.
Later, she would get up and be the hero Paris needed her to be. Later, she would be Ladybug. Now, she just wanted to be what she was— a child.
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AO3
@maribat-bdbwm
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FUN FIC SNIPPETS! “Broken Morals”:
“So you two were ‘Playing Super Penguino’, and you got caught, and that got you akumatized?” Marinette asks, making visible air quotes.
“Yep! That’s all!” Alya says.
“...really? Because from what I heard…” Marinette smiles a bit. “Oblivio was pretty ambiguously bodied- almost like they wanted people to forget something physical they saw.”
“This conversation is over!” Alya orders with a blush.
“...your bra strap is still undone.” Marinette teases, and Alya squeals.
I will ALWAYS call out that Super Penguino was a metaphor!
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xhanisai · 1 year
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Honestly! As a huge fan of the dream team (Marinette, Adrien, Alya and Nino), I ate so fucking well.
The interactions!
The braincells being thrown around!
The morally ambiguous plans!
I LOVE THEM AND I WANT MORE
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gale-gentlepenguin · 2 years
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Dude, that made me think of something! What if an older Xanatos just showed up in Paris for some rich bs thing, met Gabrirl & the heroes, immediately clocked everything that was going on. Then, knowing a perfect opportunity to troll the eff out of someone, takes Felix under his wing & teaches him the ropes of being a chaotic, reformed, yet still morally ambiguous genius of strategy.
He alligns himself with Gabriel by pretending to show his hand.
However, at the same time, he subtly guides Marinette & Adrien into finding the best ways to achieve their goals with the least resistance & greatest benefits. Mostly Marinette, because he sees a similar talent for strategy that he saw in Felix, just not in the way of manipulation.
He styles himself as the duo's antagonist, but is really on their side.
In the end, they have all but the Peacock, Gabriel's in jail with Adrien's mother awake, but not via a wish, rather a very different sort of magical interference that Xanatos is very well acquainted with, & it's revealed that it's all thanks to Xanatos & Felix's dealings.
His reason? He simply wanted to have a hand in the development of the future leaders of the next generation by helping to teach them how to get what they want.
After all, someone needs to get things done when he's gone.
Xanatos is only interested in what he deems valuable.
If he deemed the miraculous valuable, he’d concoct a plan to get it. But he is no fool. Sure he is arrogant, but he thinks through his plans.
He knows when to gather intel and then move forward.
Though despite his intellect he isn’t infallible, perhaps with a plan more unpredictable, he can be bested
This is a fascinating idea
Id read a crossover fic
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ao3feed-ladynoir · 9 months
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Whatever you need, I'm there.
Whatever you need, I'm there. (reupload + recontinue) by MariMarigold
If Miraculous Ladybug were to be the comic it was originally intended to be, how dark could it have actually gotten? In this continued fic, Adrien discovers Ladybug's true identity by accident, and -- in his conflicting feelings of infatuation and responsibility towards keeping the secret -- he makes the choice to protect his Lady in either walk of her life, no matter the cost.
This is intended to be a character study of traits the characters hold in the show, but due to it being intended for kids, there are certain limitations as to how far the writers can go. I do not have such limitations :) I can do what I want :):)
Words: 272, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English
Fandoms: Miraculous Ladybug
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Categories: F/M
Characters: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire, Nino Lahiffe, Luka Couffaine, Chloé Bourgeois, Nathalie Sancoeur, Sabrina Raincomprix, Plagg, Tikki
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Additional Tags: Yandere Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Hurt/Comfort, Jealousy, Secret Identity, Identity Reveal, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Identity Reveal, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Identity Reveal, Overprotective, Obsessive Behavior, Depressed Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Study, Alternate Universe - Dark, Moral Ambiguity, Fluff and Angst
Read Here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/48626242
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giuliz-wthappened · 2 years
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What are your most disappointing western animated series you’ve ever saw?
Probably Steven Universe, I actually though it was something special and new, heck I was actually intrigued by the story. Unfortunaly too many episodes that has nothing to do with the main plot (fillers), too many plotholes and a very disappointing ending (it felt like Rebecca Sugar wanted to end Steven Universe so she rushed like that). I think that it was way too focused on being lgbt than the story. Don't get me wrong, I don't think it's a bad idea showing gay characters in a kid's show, but everyone watches a show so obiouvsly half of them are more interested by the story than the fact that is "daring".
Oh yeah, and Miraculus Ladybug aswell, the story became repetitive, Marinette became pretty unlikable and the author apparently said that his hate towards Cloe was because he based her on a bully he had on highschool. That's a downside for a lot of reasons since he's trying to make her unliakable as possible (ignoring however how he wrote Marinette).
Now I'm saying this as a budding Comic writer, these writers should keep in mind that when writing a story is better being neutral as possible in order of not creating tensions between the fans. It's fine putting something personal (personal thoughs, personal experiences, personal opinions) and I think it's inevitable doing that, however the audience is a third party basically so it's also obvious that they don't have the exact point of view of the author, they should have an open communicantion with their story rather than a "what I'm writing is 100% true nah nah nah nah nah". But maybe it's also me who's more into moral ambiguity.
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eliesaidwhat · 3 years
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red-handed
cross-posted on ao3
0. wedding bells
Marinette traces her fingers along one of the shelves, waiting patiently for his arrival.
The sound of her heels clicking against the tile floor echoes throughout the room with each slow step forward. Her gaze flits throughout the room, taking in each detail and observing everything carefully. Shelves stocked with records, books, and even a few cassettes—seemingly home made, with titles written in sharpie across the case.
She snorts. He is the worst rich boy ever, she thinks to herself. She pulls one of the books off the shelf, flipping through it idly, but she’s not paying attention to it. She probably couldn’t even recite the title if someone asked her to. She’s itching for his arrival, and to hear the important news he’d mentioned vaguely over text. He’s always been one for dramatics. The pronoun game, dropping subtle hints, but never enough to leave her satisfied. Stupid tease.
Marinette catches sight of herself in the mirror, and smiles at her appearance. She surely put work into it. A bodycon lace black dress, black Louboutin heels and her iconic Lady Dior bag. Crimson smeared across her lips and her favourite cat-eye shades sat on the top of her head. Black, red and a whole lot of leg is a killer combo-- especially on Marinette.
Finally, just as her patience started to wear thin, the office door opened. And in walked none other than Adrien Agreste.
A smile curls onto her lips. “Adrien,” she greets. “Nice of you to show up.”
He returns the smile with one of his own. “Marinette. Always a pleasure. I’d apologize for my lateness, but of course I had to build suspense. I can’t just give myself away like that.”
She rolls her eyes. “Ah, of course. How stupid of me to believe that you might want to deliver the urgent, life-changing news quickly instead of dragging it out. My sincerest apologies,” she says flatly.
He chuckles at that, and takes a seat on the chair at his desk. She follows him, sitting on the edge of his desk. “Patience is a virtue, Marinette.”
Her eyes sharpen. “Mm. Yes. I don’t have many of those left. Now, out with it.”
Adrien plants his elbows on the desk, his hands folding together as he leans closer to her. “Lila Rossi is getting married.”
Her blue eyes narrow to slits. “That is the earth-shattering news? Why do I care in the slightest what Lila fucking Rossi is doing with her life? I only pity the poor man she trapped.”
“That’s because I didn’t get to the good part.” He reaches into his desk and pulls out a white and gold envelope with his name carefully written in calligraphy. He sets it down on the desk. “You know Lila Rossi. She’s always been one for the illusion of luxury and glamour and being adored. Even if she has to buy it, or fake it.”
She lifts a brow. “What are you getting at? Why are you telling me things I already know?”
His lips curl into the cat grin she hasn’t seen on him in a while. The kind he gets when he schemes. More importantly, the kind he gets when he knows she’s scheming. When he knows that the wheels in her head start turning and she comes up with the elaborate plans that he follows her to the ends of the earth for.
“Because she invited your entire graduating class. She even invited me.”
The gears in her brain did, in fact, start turning. Her back straightens almost instinctively. Her lips part. Her eyes widen.
Her entire… graduating class… in one place.
Marinette’s eyes narrow on Adrien. “You got an invite? You weren’t in our graduating class. You never attended Francois Dupont. Why would she invite you?”
“You know she was a model for my father’s brand.” Adrien’s lips curl up into a self-satisfied smile, and he leans closer to her. She peeks at him through her lashes. “Well, she had a bit of a crush on me, but I rejected her. So, I guess this is her way of throwing her happy marriage in my face so I can fall to my knees and beg her to pick me instead.”
She snorts. “Of course she would. She has to be the most delusional bitch I have ever encountered.”
“But this time, my lady, it actually works in our favour.” He takes his hand in hers and presses a kiss to the back of it. “She doesn’t even know what she walked into by inviting me.”
She remembers the crushing weight of dirt piled on her chest, and the feeling of it scraping against the walls of her lungs. She remembers pulling her out too late. Marinette remembers dragging her to the nearest road, crying for anyone to help them. To save her.
But, it was far too late.
And now, everyone will pay for it.
“No,” her red lips form a small smile. “She doesn’t.”
next
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consumeconstantly · 4 years
Text
A rose by any other name would(n’t) smell as sweet
Summary: “Please. Just buy me flowers once. Just once, that’s all I’m asking.” Marinette sits on her the cold metal of an outside chair at her favorite cafe. He never does. Not during her life. (But perhaps in death--)
________________________________________________
Marinette is not a trophy wife, although her husband would certainly like her to be.
She is an independent go-getter who builds a fashion empire from the ground up, takes in kids off the street and cares for them like they’re her own, and an ex-heroine who does just as much as a civilian as she did in a super suit. Some will argue that she does more. Marinette is the kind of woman that others aspire to be; care and love built into a frame made of steel, ambition, and values tempered by years of experience. Mothers point at her and tell their daughters and sons that they should emulate her, then attempt to follow in her footsteps as well.
Almost nobody in Paris hates Marinette. 
But perhaps the man who sits across from her at the painted-black table despises her.
“I don’t want children,” she insists. “Not right now. When we do have kids, I want to devote my all to them right now. I can’t do that when I’m trying to branch out overseas.”
“But you’ll be such a good mother. And you’ve talked about having kids for ages. You mentor enough children as it is-- can’t you just divert some of the time and resources you spend on them and focus on us?”
Marinette stirs her coffee, spoon clinking against porcelain. She adds in one creamer. Then two. And a third, just for good measure. “Having kids and mentoring kids is different. And even when we do have kids, I’m not going to stop mentoring the ones that I’ve taken under my wing.”
“That’s not fair to our kids, though.”
“I don’t understand how it’s not.”
“Love and patience aren’t limitless. Even though you’re trying to help everyone, you can’t do that.”
She set her spoon to the side of the cup. “It’s true that I can’t help everyone. But I want to try. Besides, we have plenty of time before we ever have to worry about kids.”
“We don’t, Marinette. You’re almost thirty five, now.” He gestures to her face, which has gained a few number of wrinkles and sunspots. What can she say? Marinette embraces the process of aging, and stopping herself from laughing just to prevent a few lines seems like more trouble than it’s worth. “Not exactly a spring chicken.”
Calmly, Marinette sips her cream and sugar laden coffee. Despite needing the extra caffeine boost nearly every day, she’s never been able to stomach having the drink straight. “How many times have we had this conversation? I’m starting to feel like a broken record.”
He sighs. “And every time we have this conversation, both of us just get older and older. You know that the longer we wait to have children, the more likely they are to have… difficulties.”
“And if they do, we will love them just the same,” Marinette says, firmly. “Now please, can we stop talking about this? We haven’t had a date in ages.”
“Because you’ve been so busy,” he accuses.
“No, because you keep refusing to meet me. Why don’t we talk about something else?”
“What else is there to talk about? You won’t consider having children, and you won’t stop seeing Jason.” With a scoff, Marinette’s husband pushes back the seat, metal scraping against concrete. “If you want to have a good date, you need to be willing to talk about our issues.”
Marinette rests her head in a hand, closing her eyes as her husband storms off. The migraines have been getting worse, lately. She finishes her cup of coffee, and the server comes over with two slices of cake and a bouquet. 
The server looks at the deserted seat nervously. His cup is left untouched, and the napkin lays rumpled. “Mme? What should I do with these?
She taps her nails on the table top. “Pack the cake in to-go containers please. You can leave the flowers with me.”
With a bowed head, the server nearly throws the bouquet at Marinette and quickly moves away to pack the slices up. Marinette shifts, taking the flowers and staring out at the streets of Paris silently. When they first started dating, the bouquets always had roses and tulips. Over the years, the tulips began to disappear, and the roses started getting replaced with forget-me nots. The silver-white of her ring sings against the blues and violets in her lap.
The small bouquet of flowers in her lap won’t be given today.
#
“Hey, Jace.”
Jason stills on the other side of the line. “Again?”
Marinette stays silent. He’s over to her apartment in five.
“I don’t understand why you’re married to the guy,” gripes Jason, letting himself in with a key Marinette made for him years ago. “He’s a complete and utter ass.”
Jason’s eating the cake Marinette bought for their anniversary. She still buys the cakes year after year, knowing that they’ll never make it through to the dessert round. Even though Marinette can’t bring herself to eat the cake without her husband at her side, Jason has no qualms about it; after three failed anniversaries and countless dates gone awry, Marinette started buying his favorite flavors. 
Marinette fiddles with the silver band on her finger. “I love him, Jason.”
“So?” He tosses the cardboard boxes in her trash, then proceeds to wash the dishes in her sink for her. Marinette doesn’t let herself go that often, but she always has a hard time feeling okay when she and her husband are fighting like this. 
She stares at a photo of her wedding day, the sheer elation in her eyes, the flush in her cheeks and ear-splitting grin. In comparison, her husband is demure. Almost unemotional. “Love makes you do crazy things.”
Ceramic and metal clink together. He places a bowl in the drying rack, then makes his way over to where Marinette sits on the couch. Her eyes are red, but at least she’s not crying anymore.
“That’s a line for romance novels, not for real life. He’s abusing you, Juliet.” Jason tightens his arm around Marinette’s shoulder, providing her support. The only reason they met was because Marinette ended up getting involved with a modern day retelling of Romeo and Juliet as the understudy. When the lead actress suddenly lost her voice, Marinette had to sub in. 
“Juliet…” Marinette muses. “Does that make him my Romeo?”
She pushes away from Jason, moving to stand near a litany of dried bouquets. The latest addition still looks alive. Marinette caresses one of the petals with her thumb, then makes an indent with her fingernail. Forget-me-nots dry quickly. Roses take longer.  
“No.” Jason’s eyes go dark, and for a moment, Marinette sees a flash of Lazarus green before he banishes it away again. “Not him. Never.”
#
“Please,” Marinette cries in the middle of the night, hand chasing an invisible phantom in her dreams. 
Her husband stares at her from his spot on their bed. 
“Don’t leave me--”
His hand lifts, ready to shake her out of the nightmare. 
“Jason.”
Marinette’s arm falls back onto her chest, tears in the corner of her eyes. Her husband throws the covers off himself, dresses, and walks out of their apartment. 
When the door slams behind him, a dried petal falls to the ground.
#
“Hey,” Jason murmurs, hand pressed against Marinette’s forehead. “You’re not running a fever or anything, but you don’t look too hot.”
Marinette waves him off. “I’ll be fine. Just didn’t get enough sleep last night. Paris Fashion Week is coming up, and you know how important that is.”
“Not as important as your health.”
“A little cold never hurt anybody.”
Jason looks Marinette in the eyes. “More people die from the common cold every year than you might expect. Don’t say things like that.”
Her body softens, leaning into Jason’s warmth. “You know me. I’m tough as nails.”
“I know.” His voice lowers. 
#
“You bastard!”
Jason Todd is a person well known for his bouts of anger. Most of the time, his resentment is dry and cynical. Quick to burn, but easy to put out with the right tools. 
Today, his voice is wet with rage, oil-soaked and smoky. 
“Please sir, calm down. This is a hospital.”
He does not calm down, but he does get quieter. His voice switches from explosions to a blizzard. “How could you do this to her? She loves you.”
The man draws into himself. “Does she? Did she ever?”
“This is no time for your self pity. She’s dying, and it’s your fault for not noticing. If she got treatment earlier--”
“Don’t push the blame on me, Jason. Marinette spends more time with you than she does with me.”
“And why is that? Because you never show up when she needs you, because you forget every single important date, because you keep making her cry. She wants nothing more than to spend time with you. She doesn’t love me. Not like she loves you.” Jason’s hands are balled up into fists, and he’s this close to throwing down with the bastard who has the privilege to call himself Marinette’s husband. “You probably didn’t even notice, but she buys flowers for you every single anniversary that the two of you have had together. Every single anniversary for the past ten years. Up in your apartment.”
Jason pushes the other man up against a wall, eyes narrowed and jaw set. “Every single time she’s come home from one of your god awful dates, she cries. She used to ask why you never gave her flowers, or why you weren’t spending time with her. She doesn’t ask for things like that anymore.”
Scoffing, Jason body checks the man and moves towards the door of Marinette’s hospital room. 
Marinette does not get better.
Her husband does not attend her funeral.
#
On the day of their anniversary, a single red rose appears on her gravestone.
@jasonette-july-2k20
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skittikyu · 3 years
Note
MINT YOU LIKE ML TOO-
THE SHORT ANSWER IS YES LOL
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miraculouscontent · 3 years
Note
Au where Kwami are more morally ambiguous and have their own sort-of agendas or vague goals (I can't think of a better description than that for what I'm thinking) some of which have to do with their wielders (like Pollens being something like 'helping her Queen reach their fullest potential', with that full potential varying depending on the wielder and their personality/goals) or the Kwami in the same box as them, humanity in general (positive or negative), or just fully embodying the concept they represent, and if their wielder starts using their Miraculous in ways that keep the Kwami from fulfilling said agenda, they can take their Miraculous and magically sense people who would be better fits to replace their former wielder. The Guardians, who aren't actually as good as they claim to be/think they are, found a spell to stop Kwami from being able to do this as a way to control them and use them as tools. Gabriel or Emilie was able to use this spell (mb someone translated part of the Grimioire before they find it or smthng) which is why Nooroo and Dusuu don't leave, but Plagg and Tikki aren't bound to Adrien and Marinette.
Tikki's agenda is to maintain the safety of the Kwami of her Box over everything else, and Marinette doing her damnedest as Ladybug and as the Guardian to stop Hawkmoth and retrieve Nooroo and Dusuu aligns with this, so she is quite happy with Marinette.
Plagg's sort of agenda is to, basically, help Tikki with what she wants to do. Not in a self-sacrificing way like what Marinette is forced to do in cannon for Adrichat tho; Plagg and Tikki are Destruction and Creation. At the beginning all they had was each other, and when the world crumbles to dust they'll still have each other. They are two sides of the same coin, they are part of each other; whether Plagg will admit it or not, Tikki is the most important thing in the universe to him, and Tikki feels the same way. But while Creation is active, Destruction is passive. Plagg doesn't really want for much, and is content to follow Tikki's lead. But when Adrien grows more entitled, and starts refusing to help Ladybug bc she doesn't return his feelings (or in his mind, won't acknowledge that she does), Plagg takes issue. He likes being lazy, takes pride in it at times, but refusing to help Ladybug hurts Tikki, makes it harder for her to do what she wants.
So the night after Glaciator, when Adrien shows that he has no problem putting his feelings over his duty to Ladybug, Plagg takes the Ring and flies over Paris looking for a new wielder. Tikki is able to sense this, and alerts Marinette in the morning.
When Chat Sith shows up on the scene to help Ladybug deal with an Akumatized Adrien, she isn't surprised by this new partner, but she is wary at first. This wariness soon fades however, as Chat Sith shows himself to be a better partner in every way.
((Chat Sith is the widely used fannon name for Black Cat!Luka, right? If not, that's who I meant))
my anons: Adrien salt where Adrien gets replaced by basically anyone Luka.
me: 👀 👀 👀 👀
I ADORE IT!! YESSSSS
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centrumlumina · 4 years
Photo
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As part of the AO3 Ship Stats project, this list shows the 100 most-posted pairing tags on Archive Of Our Own in the period 24 July 2019 - 2 August 2020. This list was created by comparing the current number of fics with data gathered for the 2019 AO3 Ship Stats.
There are 71 M/M pairings on the list, 15 F/M, 3 F/F, 8 Gen and 3 Other. (Please note that on AO3, ‘Name & Name’ indicates platonic or familial ‘Gen’ relationships, while ‘Name/Name’ is used for romantic and sexual pairings.)
Of the 200 names on the list, 23 are women and 3 are characters of ambiguous gender, down from 28 and 3 in the 2019 list. 92 are POC, and 7 are racially ambiguous, compared with 64 and 11 two years ago.
For more information about the AO3 Ship Stats project, please check out the accompanying FAQs. You might also be interested in the All-Time Top 100 Pairings and the Femslash Top 100 list. These stats are also available on AO3.
ETA: Fixed the Change value for Merlin/Arthur Pendragon.
ETA 2: Fixed Race categorisation for Michael Guerin/Alex Manes.
A text-only version of this data is given below the cut.
Rank   Change   Pairing   Fandom   New Works   Total   Type   Race 1   15   Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)   Good Omens (TV)   20298   28726   M/M   White 2   72   Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī/Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn   魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù   10671   13130   M/M   POC 3   8   Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren   Star Wars Sequel Trilogy   9076   21306   F/M   White 4   28   Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier   IT (Movies – Muschietti)   8441   12227   M/M   White 5   N   Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier | Dandelion   The Witcher (TV)   7573   7573   M/M   White 6   1   Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter   Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling   7239   40312   M/M   White 7   5   Bakugou Katsuki/Midoriya Izuku   Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia   7070   16824   M/M   POC 8   0   Peter Parker & Tony Stark   Marvel Cinematic Universe   6807   17366   Gen   White 9   -7   James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers   Captain America (Movies)   6262   49659   M/M   White 10   4   Bakugou Katsuki/Kirishima Eijirou   Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia   6141   15375   M/M   POC 11   -5   Steve Rogers/Tony Stark   The Avengers (Marvel Movies)   5613   36264   M/M   White 12   68   Aziraphale & Crowley (Good Omens)   Good Omens (TV)   5503   7928   Gen   White 13   -8   Jeon Jungkook/Kim Taehyung | V   Bangtan Boys | BTS   5254   23339   M/M   POC 14   5   Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug   Miraculous Ladybug   5183   19631   F/M   Whi/POC 15   5   Midoriya Izuku/Todoroki Shouto   Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia   5001   14073   M/M   POC 16   -13   Castiel/Dean Winchester   Supernatural   4927   84563   M/M   White 17   1   Jeon Jungkook/Park Jimin   Bangtan Boys | BTS   4596   17867   M/M   POC 18   N   Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)   9-1-1 (TV)   3716   3716   M/M   Whi/POC 19   5   Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor   Supergirl (TV 2015)   3614   13048   F/F   White 20   -16   Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood   Shadowhunters (TV)   3599   24787   M/M   Whi/POC 21   2   Pepper Potts/Tony Stark   Marvel Cinematic Universe   3569   17384   F/M   White 22   14   Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead/Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic   Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia   3565   7325   M/M   POC 23   N   Adora/Catra (She-Ra)   She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)   3538   4919   F/F   Whi/POC 24   15   Dazai Osamu/Nakahara Chuuya (Bungou Stray Dogs)   文豪ストレイドッグス | Bungou Stray Dogs   3512   8768   M/M   POC 25   N   Wang Yi Bo/Xiao Zhan   陈情令 | The Untamed (TV) RPF   3446   3446   M/M   POC 26   -12   Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski   Teen Wolf (TV)   3249   59286   M/M   White 27   10   Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)   Merlin (TV)   3157   18688   M/M   White 28   -11   Kim Namjoon | RM/Kim Seokjin | Jin   Bangtan Boys | BTS   3155   16682   M/M   POC 29   66   Ayanga/Zhèng Yúnlóng   声入人心 | Super-Vocal (TV)   3111   5285   M/M   POC 30   -21   Min Yoongi | Suga/Park Jimin   Bangtan Boys | BTS   3026   19851   M/M   POC 31   -3   Sirius Black/Remus Lupin   Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling   2958   17686   M/M   White 32   N   Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist   The Magnus Archives (Podcast)   2917   3367   M/M   Ambig 33   60   Bakugou Katsuki & Midoriya Izuku   Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia   2672   5023   Gen   POC 34   12   Peter Parker/Tony Stark   Marvel Cinematic Universe   2623   6160   M/M   White 35   N   Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio   Haikyuu!!   2601   10485   M/M   POC 36   22   Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy   Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling   2583   10171   F/M   Whi/Amb 37   -8   Kim Taehyung | V/Park Jimin   Bangtan Boys | BTS   2507   9891   M/M   POC 38   -37   Keith/Lance (Voltron)   Voltron: Legendary Defender   2480   30317   M/M   Amb/POC 39   20   Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington   Stranger Things (TV 2016)   2438   5338   M/M   White 40   N   Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou   Haikyuu!!   2387   7629   M/M   POC 41   N   Patrick Brewer/David Rose   Schitt's Creek   2363   3150   M/M   White 42   5   Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee   NCT (Band)   2331   5854   M/M   POC 43   8   Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren   Star Wars Sequel Trilogy   2304   6506   Gen   White 44   N   Dabi/Takami Keigo | Hawks   Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia   2294   2930   M/M   POC 45   N   Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru   Haikyuu!!   2272   11155   M/M   POC 46   -24   Jung Hoseok | J-Hope/Min Yoongi | Suga   Bangtan Boys | BTS   2259   12668   M/M   POC 47   N   Felix Hugo Fraldarius/Sylvain Jose Gautier   Fire Emblem: Three Houses   2218   2218   M/M   White 48   28   Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth   Game of Thrones (TV)   2186   7063   F/M   White 49   19   Bakugou Katsuki/Todoroki Shouto   Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia   2169   4991   M/M   POC 50   N   Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh   IT (Movies – Muschietti)   2163   3116   F/M   White 51   3   Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley   Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling   2128   11699   F/M   Whi/Amb 52   -31   Sherlock Holmes/John Watson   Sherlock (TV)   2121   61544   M/M   White 53   -5   James Potter/Lily Evans Potter   Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling   2110   10125   F/M   White 54   -28   Jeon Jungkook/Min Yoongi | Suga   Bangtan Boys | BTS   2074   9498   M/M   POC 55   N   Jiāng Chéng | Jiāng Wǎnyín/Lán Huàn | Lán Xīchén   魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù   2073   2494   M/M   POC 56   -25   Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter   Hannibal (TV)   2064   17257   M/M   White 57   N   Kakyoin Noriaki/Kujo Jotaro   JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken | JoJo's Bizarre Adventure   1964   3580   M/M   POC 58   N   Midoriya Izuku/Uraraka Ochako   Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia   1896   3983   F/M   POC 59   -46   Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov   Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)   1843   24332   M/M   Whi/POC 60   15   Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley   Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling   1838   9269   F/M   White 61   N   Poe Dameron/Finn   Star Wars Sequel Trilogy   1806   7238   M/M   POC 62   N   Kaminari Denki/Shinsou Hitoshi   Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia   1791   2732   M/M   POC 63   -38   Dan Howell/Phil Lester   Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)   1782   17316   M/M   White 64   -54   Keith/Shiro (Voltron)   Voltron: Legendary Defender   1764   13925   M/M   Amb/POC 65   31   Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders   Sanders Sides (Web Series)   1720   3917   M/M   White 66   N   Tyrannus Basilton "Baz" Pitch/Simon Snow   Carry On Series - Rainbow Rowell   1707   4803   M/M   Whi/POC 67=   -33   Kim Taehyung | V/Min Yoongi | Suga   Bangtan Boys | BTS   1651   7176   M/M   POC 67=   N   Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/My Unit | Byleth   Fire Emblem: Three Houses   1651   1651   Other   White 69   N   Michelle Jones/Peter Parker   Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)   1639   3692   F/M   Whi/POC 70   N   Michael Guerin/Alex Manes   Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)   1635   2746   M/M   Whi/POC 71   28   Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto   Naruto   1625   7705   M/M   POC 72   N   Bakugou Katsuki/Uraraka Ochako   Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia   1617   3776   F/M   POC 73   -30   James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark   Marvel Cinematic Universe   1559   7456   M/M   White 74   -39   James "Bucky" Barnes/Reader   Marvel Cinematic Universe   1544   7724   Other   Whi/Amb 75   9   Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed   Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)   1534   3921   M/M   White 76   N   Harry Potter/Tom Riddle | Voldemort   Harry Potter - J. K. 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spooky-z · 4 years
Text
Leaving the Mask Behind
Warning:
This story contains language, OOC, Asian bamfs and moral ambiguity.
Maribat by @ozmav​
9.3K
Translations for this story:
妹妹 (mèi mei) – young sister
姉貴 (aneki) – older sister
anh - elder brother / em – younger brother
混蛋 (hún dàn) – bastard
やりまん (yariman) – slu*
女武芸者 (onna-bugeisha) – female martial artist
瓢虫 (piáo chóng) – ladybug
竜 (ryū) – dragon
con khỉ - monkey
大人 (dàrén) - used for an official or a person in authority
meaning "chief" or "leader" -  رئیس (raʾīs)
さま(sama) – respectful to higher rank person
悪 霊(akuryoo) – demon / biblical type
▫▪▪
"I don't believe that... That... Ugh!" Marinette screamed angrily at the walls of her room.
It had been almost twenty minutes since she had been walking back and forth grunting in anger and cursing Lila Rossi's existence. Marinette couldn't believe the audacity of that freaking Italian! She really did that.
“妹妹(mèi mei)! What happened this time?” Kagami invaded the nervous girl's room, without bothering to knock on the hatch door, after all, Kagami Tsurugi was part of the family.
"She did it again, 姉 貴(aneki)!" Marinette replied, throwing a paper ball into Kagami's hands. “That 混蛋(hún dàn)! If I get my hands on that Italian, I'll kill her!”
Ignoring Marinette's outbreak in the background, Kagami carefully stretched the paper, trying not to tear it. She thought it was just another bad joke that Lila had made again; like the one from the previous week, where she wrote a letter all in Italian offending Marinette and lying to the class saying it was a letter praising the girl.
Of course, not even in a million years, she expected to find the "ULTIMATE WARRIOR" in thick letters, painted in red and gold on top of the paper. Much less the words “SELECTED” and the names of Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Kagami Tsurugi and Lê Chiến Kim.
Kagami had to read and reread what was written on the paper because she was too stunned by what she was seeing. She couldn't believe that Lila had the courage to enroll them in a combat competition program.
Even more because it was no secret that the program was the extreme of the extreme. Kagami still remembered a competitor who had to be forcibly removed from the competition, for having left three teams - nine people - disabled beyond measure; one of the victims had almost lost his leg movements because he was hit hard by the guy's blade.
For God's sake! Competitors had to sign documents exempting the program from any liability in the event of a fatality.
And Lila signed them up for it. Even though she knew everything, she signed them up because she wanted to see them suffer.
“That や り ま ん(yariman)!” Kagami spat, crumpling the paper again and throwing it to the floor in anger. "Let me get my 短刀(tantō) and we can cut her throat without having to get our hands dirty with her rotten blood."
Marinette sighed in devastation.
"I knew that defending Chloe from Lila's lies would have consequences, but that?" She pointed to the paper ball on the floor. "This is sadism."
Kagami sat on the chaise, pulling the girl with her. She was still simmering with anger, but remembered that she was the oldest there, by a year, but older. So Kagami had to show maturity and comfort her younger sister.
"What she’s doing- what did she did... This is no longer about revenge, mèi mei." Kagami put her arm around the girl's shoulders in comfort. “She's doing it all just to hurt you. Even if you didn't defend Chloe, Lila would find another way to attack you.”
Marinette dropped her head on Kagami's shoulder, tired of it. Tired of Lila Rossi.
“If it were just me, that's would be fine. I would accept it because it wouldn't make a difference to me, but it involved you and anh.”
Kagami laughed. The truth and certainty in Marinette's words made her happy. Knowing that she had a person beside her like Marinette - and Kim - was a gift that she would never be able to pay her parents.
"But at least it's me and em." She answered. "Have you ever thought if she put Chloe and that girl- Rose?"
Marinette snorted, imagining that. "That would have been a colossal disaster."
The two sat on the chaise in a comfortable silence. It was normal, when the two were without Kim, for silence to be part of their day. Both Kagami and Marinette expressed their feelings better through actions.
They were both sitting for a few minutes when the sound of doors slamming and heavy footsteps running downstairs caught their attention. Both recognizing the rhino that was tap dancing around Marinette's house.
It wasn't long before a very smiling Kim's head appeared in the open hatch.
He paced the room in a familiar comfort. Kim practically lived there.
"Mèi mei, aneki!" He said excitedly. "Why do you two looks like death?"
Kagami pointed the paper ball to the floor. "Read."
The boy frowned at Kagami's tone. She hardly spoke like that when it was just the three of them, keeping her cold behavior only to people outside the family.
He picked up the crumpled paper and stretched it without care, his eyes skimming over the written words.
Kim looked up at them. His expression was unreadable.
"You who signed us up, mèi mei?"
Marinette snorted insulted, and pulled her head away from Kagami's shoulder.
“Of course not, anh. This is the work of our dear and beloved, Lila Rossi."
'Hm' came from him. The eyes going back to the paper, analytical. Probably thinking about something that Marinette and Kagami hadn't thought of yet, as they were both too angry for that.
Many believed that Kim was a silly boy. Obviously, he made a point of acting like the jester with his classmates and in a way, he was, but no one but the family knew about the real Kim.
The smart, cold, strategist and merciless Kim. Of the three, Kim was the most likely to participate in a carnage and still make it look like a trip to the mall.
"I think we should accept this opportunity, 灌(Guàn)." He said clinical.
Kagami shuddered in surprise at the boy's words. Marinette beside the girl, had the same reaction. Of the three there, Kim was the most heavily camouflaged, so for him to suggest that meant...
"... You don't intend to pretend anymore." Marinette said Kagami's thoughts aloud.
The boy sighed, looking older and more tired. The paper was still firm in his hand.
"Technically, we are not pretending, just... not being completely sincere." He pointed. "But yes. That's exactly what I'm saying.”
"But Kim-Giáp, you know that as soon as we are 'sincere', things will change." Kagami said, hope growing in her heart. She hated having to put on a mask to leave home and interact with people. "There will be no turning back."
“There is nothing else for us here. Guàn has been suffering to remain civilized in order not to attract the attention of her parents, I am tired of having to make a fool of myself for those idiots and you, Kagami, also do not like having to put on the ‘girl without friends’ mask, to keep the peace." He sat down heavily next to Marinette. "Mars, if you agree, I want to do this."
Marinette stared at the floor, lost in thought.
Kim was right, of course. None of the three could take it until they were eighteen or finished the lycée to get rid of their classmates, Bustier or Lila. But Marinette also feared, because of the three, she was the person who would have the most changes in life.
After all, the agreement was that as soon as she decided to become Cheng's head, the engagement- her engagement, would be understood as accepted. And maybe Marinette was still a little afraid to leave the comfort, because she didn't know who her promised husband was.
But then she thought about the hell that Dupont was being and how just changing schools would not solve the problems of the three. They were suffocating being something they were not.
She lifted her head and looked at the boy.
"So, you better say goodbye to that blond hair." And smiled. Kagami practically vibrated with joy beside her.
Kim rolled his eyes before shoving her with his shoulder.
"At least I won't be forced to see those awful pig tails anymore."
"HEY!"
"He's right."
“Aneki!”
Now they just needed to finish enrolling for the program, let families know about the change in plans and what the expected consequences are.
They only had a month to settle everything and compete in the program.
▫▪▪
For a month the trio did not appear in Dupont.
In the first week, Lila was easily the first to notice the lack of a certain girl in the classroom, internally congratulating herself for breaking another one.
Next were Max and Alix, believing that Kim was sick. They went to the boy's house only to come across a “property for sale” sign. Needless to say, they came back to school confused and sad.
The third person to notice was surprisingly, Chloe Bourgeois. The girl only realized that Dupain-Cheng and Lê Chiến were missing when Lila started spreading lies about her and Marinette was not there to act as guardian of morals.
Nino and Sabrina noticed at the same time, but neither of them paid much attention because they knew the duo and knew that sporadically, Marinette and Kim (and Kagami) would disappear for a while and then return as if nothing had happened.
The rest of the class noticed at the same time as Bustier. One Wednesday, in the middle of the third week absent, the teacher entered the classroom with heavy eyes and hunched shoulders. The word "transferred" and the names "Marinette, Kim" were all they got before Alix became a berserker.
Alya didn't even blink at the announcement. Glad that Lila was safe now that her mother managed to get rid of her daughter's bullies.
Adrien failed to maintain the perfect model expression. When he arrived at the Dupain-Cheng bakery, he was greeted with employees never seen before. No sign of Marinette or her parents.
He also realized that Kagami was strangely absent from fencing classes and that the calls went directly to voicemail. The blood ran cold in his veins.
▫▪▪
Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, on a strangely sunny Monday in Gotham; a letter with a thick envelope and sealed with a ladybug coat of arms arrived at Wayne Mansion.
They were all together for breakfast when Alfred, the butler, handed the red, black wax-sealed envelope to Damian Wayne, Bruce Wayne's youngest son.
His father, his brothers and his almost brothers, curious about the unusual situation.
When he opened the letter and realized its contents, a deformed smile took over the face that until then, was always frowning.
Everyone was able to hear the ‘Finally’ coming from the boy, before he disappeared upstairs without exchanging a word with the family.
“Damian Al Ghul Wayne, we would like to announce that Cheng Guàn will finally be taking over the Cheng head next month. She accepted her role as head of the family and will be announcing through her participation in Ultimate Warrior, accompanied by the heads of Tsurugi and Lê.
We would like to challenge you one last time, as a demonstration that Cheng Guàn is more than able to walk and fight alongside you.
Best regards,
Cheng Hua.”
Not very traditional, but it would do.
As he read the program rules, the only thought in the boy's mind was that he and his brothers were going to have a lot of fun ending up with anyone who wasn't even minimally decent.
▫▪▪
Marinette was just finishing tying the laces on her boot when Kim fully armored came in with the phone to the ear.
While he was finishing talking to what was probably his ‘war assistant’ - if the Vietnamese indicated anything - she watched her brother well, now that he wasn’t trying to hide under the jester mask.
Giáp had dyed his hair back to its natural color, removing the blonde once and for all. He preferred not to cut his hair completely, leaving the sides and nape shorter than the top, combed with gel to the side. Like a businessman.
His tactical military suit was identical to that of Kagami and Guàn, only further reinforced in places of impact such as fists and knees. The face had full protection to prevent accidents, only the eyes uncovered, but only because he had taken off his glasses since they were not yet in the field.
He would fight only with fists at first.
Kagami was sitting on the floor with her legs crossed, meditating. Her tactical suit was a little more mixed with her kendo suit, since she was wearing her armor over her clothes. The 胴(dō) on her chest, 小 手(kote) on her wrists, 垂 れ(tare) on her waist, and the 面(men) lying comfortably on the floor beside her, along with her twin 刀(katana) with red blades and the 十 文字 槍(jūmonji yari) that she had won for her sixteenth birthday last year.
There was also a cloth mask covering her nose and mouth, and sports glasses over her eyes to keep out dust.
Guàn wore the totally pure military tactical suit. A little more pulled into an anti-riot suit, but not as bulky, because she didn't want to impair her mobility and her mask was a totally black ballistic mask.
On the table in the tiny waiting room - a tent - there were two types of rifles: A Colt M4 and an Arctic Warfare; two Glock and a Revolver with tranquilizer ammunition ready to reload. The five were airsoft guns. In addition to two training Cold Steel. The armament just for her.
It was as soon as Giáp hung up the phone and Kagami opened her eyes, that a staff appeared at the door of their tent warning that the competition would start in five minutes, saying it was time to finish getting ready because they would soon come to pick them up.
The three looked at each other with equally bloody smiles.
▫▪▪
ULTIMATE WARRIOR is a war-type competition program.
With each team consisting of three (3) competitors, they will have to fight against each group in order to redeem the One (1) Million Euro prize. That is, the team must defeat all other teams in order to redeem the prize. Only one team leaves UW undefeated.
The competition takes place once a year and is hosted in ghost towns around the world and recorded live for TV channels. It has no minimum duration, with the maximum reached being 5h.
UW is a very prestigious event; participants are usually military or combatants of some kind.
The minimum age for participation is sixteen (16) and the maximum is thirty (30).
Non-lethal weapons are allowed.
Competitors are eliminated by voluntary withdrawal, if they are knocked out or by serious injuries.
Any type of aggression that results in fatalities or near fatalities is completely prohibited. The punishment for breaking the rule is jail.
▫▪▪
As the UW was something really important worldwide, almost like the Olympics or the World Cup, the day was given as a holiday by all countries in the world; then everyone would sit in front of their televisions and watch the competition cheering for their favorite or those from their country.
In Paris, the city hall set up a screen under the Eiffel Tower and the population came with their families to watch with the rest of the Parisians.
That was no different that year. Mlle. Bustier’s class all together, some accompanied by their parents or siblings and others - like Lila - alone or with their bodyguards - like Adrien -.
They were sitting on the lawn having silly conversations when Mylène's voice caught everyone's attention.
“... Isn't that Adrien's friend? Kagami? I guess." The blonde raised his head to look around, but couldn't find the girl.
"I don't see anyone like her." He replied confused.
"Oh." Rose sighed. “On the screen. It's Kim.”
And everyone turned to see that it was actually Kim, Kagami and Marinette on the screen, being announced as Team B.
"What..." Alix sighed in disbelief.
"... And in team B, we have Lê Chiến Giáp, only 16 years old." The camera focused on who Kim should be - they were not sure, as the person was completely camouflaged in tactical clothing and a mask, and the hair did not appear to be blond -, standing with a broad chest and quite intimidating.
Half the screen was divided, one that filmed Kim and the other with his info and a 3x4 photo of his face.
"He will be the fists of team B. The boy knows how to throw a punch, Will!" One of the narrators continued.
"Yeah, Smith! But have you seen his teammate, Tsurugi Kagami?" The camera started to focus on Kagami, dressed as a Japanese warrior, but also totally unrecognizable. There were two swords stuck in her back - camera showing details of the armor - and in her hand, a trident-like spear. "She is 17 years old!"
Like Kim, there was a 3x4 photo of her with the written info.
“The girl is a real 女 武 芸 者(onna-bugeisha)!” The first narrator, Will, said excitedly.
"But let's not forget about 16-year-old Cheng Guàn!" The footage changed to the third person, fully dressed as a military soldier, a plain black mask that left only her blue eyes uncovered. She, Guàn, had two rifles attached to her back, a Glock attached to each thigh, a Revolver just below the Glock on her right thigh. In addition to a black knife attached to each boot.
The 3x4 photo of Marinette Dupain-Cheng appearing on the screen with the info.
"She'll be the team's sniper!" Smith announced. "This year's contestants..." And they started talking about the rest of the participants, but Mlle. Bustier’s class stopped paying attention.
They were unresponsive.
Or at least almost everyone.
"Wow, I didn't know they were going to participate." Nino commented surprised, but not shocked like the rest of the class. "Did you know that, Chloe?"
The blonde - who for some reason had accompanied them, even without being invited - looked at the boy shaking her head. "No. I was not informed that they would participate. Only that they wouldn't be available for a while.” She sighed. “Did you hear anything, ‘Brina?”
Sabrina looked up from the tablet, shrugging. "Only they'll be back in a week." She replied softly. "Mom has been getting busier and busier, but she told me that soon they would tell us."
Nino nodded, seeming to understand what Sabrina meant and Chloe leaned back in the beach chair she had taken. The conversation dying there.
"Since when are you close to Marinette or Kim?" Ivan asked confused. He never saw any of them minimally close to each other.
"And the ice queen." Alya commented acidly, eyes narrowed on Nino.
"Ah, our parents work for them." Sabrina replied disinterestedly.
"We've known each other since diapers, dude." Nino shook his head.
"What- and why I never heard about it before?” Alix asked with their disregard. "I'm Kim's best friend and he never told me about it."
"Maybe because he didn't want to tell." Chloe murmured, not loud enough for Alix to hear, but loud enough for Adrien and Lila, who were closest to her besides Sabrina and Nino.
Adrien winced at the sharp edge of the words. He didn't like that at all.
Lila, on the other hand, was excited to watch Marinette suffer live for the whole world, but was also a little irritated by the attention she was receiving.
"But I don't understand..." She sighed in delight; they were once again focused on her. “Marinette's parents are just bakers, Kagami's mother is just a fencer and Kim's... What do Kim's parents do? I don't think I've met them before.” She frowned.
She had never seen or heard of Kim's parents.
"Now that you mention it, I also never saw Kim's parents." Max said shocked. "Every time I went to his house, he was alone."
Alya looked back at the atypical trio. Chloe, Nino and Sabrina.
"You are going to tell us right now what is happening!"
Chloe raised her eyebrow, not liking Alya's demanding tone. "Or what, Césaire?"
Alya opened her mouth to reply, but Adrien was faster.
"Nino?"
“My bad, dude. It is not something I am allowed to tell.” The boy shrugged guiltily.
"Yet." Sabrina said out of the blue and everyone looked at the girl waiting for her to elaborate, but she kept quiet.
"-Oh, it's starting." Rose pointed to the screen and the students soon calmed down, their eyes avid on the screen.
▫▪▪
"... 竜(ryū) there are two heading your way." Guàn said in the communicator, her voice muffled by the ballistic mask.
The trained eyes on the street below her, providing cover for Kagami and Giáp to eliminate the other competitors.
"Understood." She heard Kagami respond through the headset. “Con khỉ goes on the right and I on the left. Do any of them have weapons, 瓢虫(piáo chóng)?”
She watched Giáp hide against the stone walls of the hut across the street and Kagami disappear into the hut a little further from where she and Giáp were.
“One unarmed and one with knives. I'm trying to find the third, but no sign of him." She breathed heavily. “Con khỉ the target is fast approaching. Ryū, target at ninety degrees.”
Guàn didn't need to see to know that both Giáp and Kagami had ambushed their targets, but even so, she didn't take her eyes off them.
It was always beautiful to see how gracefully Kagami handled the jūmonji yari or how Giáp did not hesitate to reach the pressure points on the enemy's body, never using too much brute force, only skill and knowledge.
That was why she was almost a little too late to notice the presence in the ruin in which she was hiding. But it was only almost.
The competitor - Team E, she read on the stripe attached to his arm, not much older than her -, didn't have time to react. She was flexible and had the knowledge. Even though he was a combatant, he was no match for her at full capacity.
Guàn was quick to take the knife out of her boot and throw it at him as a distraction. The sniper rifle forgotten in the previous post. She ran while he fumbled with the gun in his hands; she didn't think twice about kicking the back of his knee and when he fell heavily on the clay floor, she didn't hesitate to shoot twice with the Glock.
One dart in the thigh and one in the arm. Where protection was less effective, since the Kevlar did not cover and was just the fabric of the suit covering.
"The third has been neutralized." She said as she put the Glock back in her thigh holster.
"The second too." Giáp replied a little breathlessly. That mask was probably restricting his breathing. Even more because he was a heavy fighter.
"The first one gave up." Kagami said with a mocking tone. The girl hated it when she started to cheer up in a fight and then the person just gave up, for not being able to keep up with her.
“Calm down, Ryū. There are still three- “A siren sounded; the team alert cleared.
"Team E, Team A, Team C eliminated." The announcer's voice loud enough for all the competitors in the Craco ruin - Italy - to be able to hear. “We will have a ten-minute break for competitors to hydrate and replenish their energy.”
"What were you going to say?" Kagami snorted.
It hadn't even been an hour of combat and three teams had already been eliminated. They had taken team E and team A.
Team A was a bunch of filthy elitist pigs, acting contemptuously with them as if they were Asian, were worth less or were easy to beat.
Guàn loved to break the jaw of the leader of the three, Kagami may have stabbed the third a little more violently than recommended and Giáp may have broken the tibia of the second. But it wasn’t like they got a reprimand for it.
Perhaps the producers have turned a blind eye to the rules, only to see the three white supremacists having their asses delivered by three Asian teenagers.
"Okay, we have two to eliminate yet."
She expected them to be a little more challenging.
▫▪▪
In Paris, the class was at different levels of breathing difficulties, but of all, Lila was the most affected.
She didn't know that Dupain-Cheng could be so scary.
"How can she move like this, if she can barely walk straight without falling or hitting something?!" Alya seemed personally offended by Marinette's recent acquired skill.
Chloe snorted mocking the girl.
"Are you serious, Césaire?" She crossed her arms, without patience. "You said you were the girl's best friend for almost a year and you don't know that she can knock someone out with her eyes closed and her hands tied?!"
Alya opened her mouth, but nothing came out in her defense.
"Chloe!" Nino scolded the blonde and Alya felt her heart heat up for being defended by the boy. "It is not their fault that they are ignorant about Guàn's life." And Alya's heart ached with the harsh words.
"They can't talk about it, remember Chlo?" Sabrina asked sweetly, trying to calm Chloe.
The blonde turned her face in a tantrum. There was a pout there.
"I didn't know that Kim knew how to fight." Nathaniel said softly, almost without a voice.
“There is a lot that you don't know about Kim. Or Marinette.” Sabrina said enigmatically.
Adrien was starting to think that they didn't really know anything about the two classmates and the only three who did for some reason wouldn't open their mouth at all.
But he had faith that when the two returned, everything would finally come together. And he would have a very serious conversation with Kagami about hiding things from him.
▫▪▪
Damian was growing more and more impatient. Until that moment he had not yet found his fiancée.
Sure, he had a brief glimpse of her and the other two heads, but all three were armored to the top and he couldn't even make out what color her eyes were. Only that her hair was long and so dark that when the sunlight hit, the color changed to a deep blue.
He, Dick and Jason had eliminated two teams - C and D - with only team B missing. Her team. But somehow, they couldn't find the team anywhere in the ruins of Craco. It was as if they had evaporated with the air.
"I spotted them Demon!" Jason's voice came over the communicator. “They are at the highest point on the e-ek hill! Shit I almost got hit by a dart.”
Damian didn't think twice about leaving his post and running the streets of Craco, closer and closer to the top. On the way, he spotted Dick fighting the man of Team B.
He found Jason crouched behind a rock that was supposed to be the wall of one of the houses, trying not to be hit by the tranquilizer projectiles.
"I'm going up!" He signaled to Jason. "Cover me."
He ran to the entrance to the tower, barely avoiding the projectiles being fired at him. Jason right behind him and Dick alone fighting the other guy.
Damian barely stepped on the top floor when he had to block the yari's blade with his katana. He was fighting the Team B swordswoman and Jason going head to head with Cheng Guàn, Damian's fiancée. The two of them in a shooting contest.
▫▪▪
The Parisian population was quiet. All barely breathing with their eyes glued to the screen. The class was not much different from them. Even Nino, Chloe and Sabrina watched the final confrontation with glazed eyes.
They watched as both Marinette and the other competitor- Jason ran out of ammunition and weapons, without thinking twice about throwing themselves into a fist fight.
They held their breath when it looked like Marinette was finally running out of stamina, Jason taking more and more of the girl's escape routes. Until-
"Piáo chóng!" Kagami screamed, distracting Jason momentarily, while throwing the trident towards Marinette before blocking the sword of the other competitor- Damian, with her own sword.
The girl was not at all surprised by the call and took the trident effortlessly, looking used to the movement. And before Jason could hit her, Marinette threw herself out the window.
"IS SHE CRAZY?!" Surprisingly it was Juleka who screamed. The shy girl was paler than normal.
But no one looked away from the screen. Everyone watching the way Marinette stuck the trident in the clay wall of the house, stopping her fall and the way she landed on the shoulders of Team F’s third competitor-Dick, strangling him with her thighs.
"DO YOU SURRENDER?!" She shouted at him, squeezing his neck even tighter.
"..." Dick was still standing, slapping his hands on her legs and trying to dislodge the girl off him, but the guy had no chance.
As soon as he managed to loosen her grip and breathe properly, three projectiles hit one on the butt, and the other two on each thigh. He fell hard to the ground, Marinette barely having time to jump out of the man. Kim standing behind them with Marinette's revolver.
“Thanks, Con khỉ-“ She didn't finish speaking before running away from Dick's body, Jason arriving like a bull. "GIÁP!"
Kim threw the revolver at Marinette and she fired at the enemy without even thinking. They blinked in time to see five projectiles lodged in his neck before Jason passed out. Avoiding Dick's body for just a few inches.
"Wow, they were a lot more trained than the others." Marinette commented to Kim, neither of them looking worried about Kagami, who was still fighting Damian inside the house.
The split screen showing Kagami's fight and the street where Kim and Marinette were.
“Well, he managed to hit me five times. That means something.” Kim replied relaxed.
"Oh really? This is surprising.” Marinette whistled, impressed.
There was an awkward silence.
"Shall we help aneki?"
“Nah. Let her have fun.”
And the two sat on the floor, watching the group of rescuers on the show take Jason and Dick away.
"I wish I had brought a book." Kim sighed in disappointment and soon Kagami and Damian's fight took over the entire screen.
What the hell?!
▫▪▪
Tsurugi and Wayne were walking in circles, analyzing the level of danger and skill.
Kagami knew who Damian was, she knew this was Guàn's fiancé, because it was her idea to send the letter inviting him to participate in the competition. Because she wanted to make sure he was able to accompany Guàn when she demanded.
Of course, Kagami knew that it was impossible for Damian to be completely useless because he was the son of Bruce Wayne and Talia Al Ghul, grandson of Ra’s Al Ghul; but she wanted to personally test how good he was, because she would accept nothing but the best for Guàn.
Then she convinced Sabine Cheng-Cheng Hua to send the letter.
"I'm glad you accepted our invitation, 悪 霊(akuryoo)." She said, the tip of the katana towards the ground.
Damian tilted his head, intrigued by the way he was called.
It was not popular knowledge the way his family called him.
"I'm grateful." He nods. "It’s always good to test my skills with experienced people."
"Let's finish this."
"D'accord."
▫▪▪
Damian had given up.
Damian Al Ghul Wayne had given up.
After Tsurugi declared defeat, Damian lowered the katana and said 'I give up' directly to the camera, leaving the clay house with her.
That was a shock to Damian's family. But Alfred's discreet smile said that giving up had a much deeper reason than just giving up a fight.
▫▪▪
Guàn and Giáp got off the ground as soon as they saw movements coming from the house where Kagami was fighting with the other competitor.
Guàn had the revolver hidden behind her back, cautious. Until the fireworks went off in the sky.
"Team B is the winner of Ultimate Warrior!" The announcer shouted excitedly. “For the first time since Ultimate Warrior debuted, a group of teenagers won the contest! What a day my friends, what a day!”
The announcer was speaking something, the program staff showing up from where they were hiding, Giáp was snorting with pride as he took off his mask and glasses, but Guàn was more focused on the teenager who accompanied Kagami.
In the middle of the dispute she barely had time to analyze him while running away from his teammate's punches, but at that moment, without imminent danger, Guàn's eyes were solely focused on him.
And he was not much different from her.
Guàn barely had time to pull the ballistic mask off her face before he was standing inches from her, forcing her to lift her chin so she could look him in the eye.
"It’s a pleasure to finally be able to meet my fiancée." The boy took her hand to his mouth, placing a kiss on her knuckles without caring about the glove. "You were magnificent against my brother." He said as he lowered her hand.
Guàn raised an eyebrow, a charming smile taking over her expression.
“Oh? I am flattered." She replied, the words sliding sweet as honey. "Cheng Guàn, head of the Cheng." Inclining her head, as an informal bow, Guàn didn’t look away from him for a second.
"Damian Al Ghul Wayne, current Demon’s head."
Demon's head, huh.
She liked the sound of that.
▫▪▪
Adrien was feeling strange.
Marinette's team had won and so she was fraternizing with the enemy in a very non-Marinette way.
"It’s a pleasure to finally be able to meet my fiancée.” And he kissed her hand, his greedy, sticky eyes on the girl.
They still had communicators, so everyone was able to hear what they were talking about.
"Fiancée? Did I hear that right?” Max murmured.
"Oh, so this is him." Chloe said disinterestedly.
"He still looks like a serial killer." Nino said, an amused tone in his voice.
"Cheng Guàn, head of the Cheng." Marinette's voice cut through the confused murmurs.
Cheng Guàn? Cheng's head? What the hell was Marinette talking about?!
Classmates seemed increasingly lost.
"Damian Al Ghul Wayne, current Demon’s head." The boy with Marinette replied.
... they were really confused.
And Adrien strangely homicidal.
▫▪▪
After receiving the check of one million-euro, Guàn, Kagami and Giáp were in the car driven by Bai, the driver of the Cheng family.
There was a car in the front with Cheng's bodyguards and another in the back with Tsurugi and Lê's.
After her fiancé introduced themselves, they talked for a while without tactical microphones, being formally introduced to his brothers.
The warning had been given.
Cheng's head was engaged to the demon's head and anyone who tried anything against either of them should expect retaliation from Tsurugi, Lê and Wayne. In addition of Al Ghul.
▫▪▪
It had been a week.
A week since Ultimate Warrior, since Kagami, Marinette and Kim won the competition exhibiting skills that no one knew they had.
The situation in the classroom was a little more tense than usual.
Alya having argued with Nino because he refused to say anything about what happened and ended up breaking up with the boy, thinking he would reconsider for loving her, but he hadn't even blinked twice before leaving the girl talking to herself.
Since then, he sat in the back with Chloe and Sabrina. The three of them sitting comfortably in one seat.
Adrien had tried to extract something from Chloe, using the excuse of best friend wanting to spend time together; but the girl was not fooled by the trick, dismissing Adrien as soon as the boy opened his mouth to speak.
Lila was strangely sulky and silent. Even Alya was unable to cheer up the Italian. She was constantly having to answer mysterious phone calls that only made her more and more furious. Nobody knew how to bring it up, fearing that she would fight with them for meddling in her private affairs, so they just kept their distance.
It was on a Wednesday, exactly a month and fifteen days after they disappeared from Paris, that the class got their first glimpse of Kim, inside a luxury car accompanied by three men twice as big as him. But it had been too quick for them to be sure it was really the boy, so in the end they ignored what they saw.
But it was on Friday, a month and seventeen days, that they actually saw Marinette coming out of the Dupain-Cheng bakery.
Alya didn't think twice before running up to her, dragging the entire class along - not that they didn't want to go -. She wanted answers and she was going to get it!
"Marinette Dupain-Cheng, you're going to tell me right now what's going on-" She shouted at first, not caring how much attention she was drawing from the people around her, but the words died in her mouth. For the first time noticing what Marinette was wearing.
The girl was wearing something that Alya had only seen in the Chinese dramas that Marinette watched with her when they were still friends. She remembers the name, hanfu, when the girl explained the different types.
The top was pearly white, the neckline crossed in a 'y' shape. The pleated skirt was a light blue with embroidery of white roses on the hem, the length reaching above the foot - maxi, she remembered Marinette saying -. At the waist, the white lace of the skirt wrapped around the waistband, holding the skirt in place; the same embroidery on the hem of the skirt was also on the ends of the white fabric. Above the hanfu, a thin transparent peach tunic.
On her feet, white kitten heels and the hair, was loose reaching the middle of her back.
She looked ethereal.
"Oh, Alya." The girl sighed as if she had barely recognized Alya. "How are you?" She asks.
Besides clothing, Marinette's way of talking had changed abruptly. There was a delicacy, but also a certain kind of power. As if she were a very important person who had cleared five minutes of her busy schedule to exchange a few words with her classmates.
"Wwhy are you dressed like that, Marinette?" Rose stammered.
It wasn't a strange outfit, not really. It was very beautiful and sophisticated, but very different from what Marinette used to wear normally. Not even the familiar pig tails were in sight.
"Family business." Marinette replied without going into details.
Suddenly, a man wearing a black suit stepped out of the BMW parked on the sidewalk and approached Marinette nimbly. Not sparing even a glance at the group of teenagers around her.
“Guàn 大人(dàrén) I was informed that Al Ghul dàrén is on his way.” The man said to the girl. He put a finger to his ear, where everyone noticed a discreet phone - like those American movies about secret agents -. "Lê and Tsurugi dàrén are accompanying him."
“Thank you, Bai. I will wait inside.” She smiled softly at the man who, after a complete bow, went back inside the black BMW.
"Who is he? And why is he calling you that strange way?” Alix asked, annoyed. She was sure the man was talking about Kim.
Marinette looked back at the class, focusing on Alix.
"This is Cheng Bai, my driver and bodyguard." She responded politely. "I wish I could stay and talk, but I really have to get in." Marinette pointed to the Dupain-Cheng bakery.
The girl didn't wait for anyone to answer, before turning around so she could enter the bakery. She was totally insensitive to her classmates.
"Dàrén!" They recognized Sabrina's voice before they even saw her leaving the bakery with Chloe and Nino right behind. “I have updates from- oh! Hey guys, what are you doing here?” She changed the subject when she noticed the class frozen on the sidewalk.
"... We saw Marinette." Juleka replied blandly. She was feeling super uncomfortable with that situation.
"Oh, I understand." The redhead waved mechanically, looking just as uncomfortable.
Chloe ignored the class completely, talking quietly to Marinette and Nino just waved from a distance, showing no desire to approach, even with Adrien in the middle of his colleagues.
Alya seemed to wake up when she saw the three around Marinette. A feeling of betrayal burning in her stomach, but not knowing if it was about Marinette or Nino.
“Girl, what's going on? Why did you disappear?” She asked. "You went missing for a month with Kim, came out of nowhere on a show that I didn't even know you liked, and you were acting different!"
Marinette stopped talking to Chloe to look at Alya. The blank expression, hard as marble.
“Does this have anything to do with Lila? Is that why you are doing this?” Alya continued, not caring about anything else. “We can help you, Marinette. If you leave us, we can help you get over it!”
Chloe, Sabrina and Nino had incredulous expressions on their faces. None of the three believed in Alya's lack of awareness. The blogger seemed unable to think rationally before acting or speaking.
Perhaps that was why Lila had clawed at her so deeply.
"Why would mèi mei need your help?" Someone behind the class asked and they turned around in alarm, only to find Kim, Kagami and- was that Ultimate Warrior contestant Damian Wayne?!
There were also five men and two women in the same style as the man before, Bai, following them closely.
"Kim?!"
"Kagami!"
"What the hell is he doing here?" Adrien murmured poisonously. The look piercing Damian.
The three newcomers were wearing traditional clothing from their culture, as was Marinette.
Kim was wearing slim fit pants, probably cotton, as it didn't look rough. Over his pants, there was a - ao dai, Alix thought. Having seen Kim wear them before, but the old ones were much simpler than what he wore at that moment - which reached knee-high, with buttons on the right side of his chest - like a chef's jacket - and golden embroidery along the sleeves, hem and along the left shoulder to the end of the rib on the right side. There were two slits, one on each side of the body. Derby shined on his feet.
The entire set was black, except for the golden embroidery of ao dai.
Kagami's style was vaguely similar to Marinette's, but with very noticeable differences and a little ‘heavier’. Kimono was the name? Ivan was not sure.
The top part was made up of two layers. The first was white, visible through the collar of the second, which was black with a floral print that varied between purple, white, pink and orange. Both 'y' shaped collars. The sleeves were relatively large, with pieces falling by the side even though the girl had her arm raised between Kim's. The skirt as well as the top was in two layers. The first was a dark green, only two inches showing and the second was red. Pleated and tied right below the chest.
It was less flowing than Marinette's.
On her feet, white socks and wooden sandals.
The third- Damian Al Ghul Wayne, the demon head, was wearing a... dress? No, Nathaniel did not know the name for that outfit, but he did know that most men in the Middle East wore it.
The fabric was pure white - looking quite expensive -; in the throat there was a detail that went down to the middle of the chest, it was probably hiding a zipper or buttons; there was a discreet pocket on his right chest and long sleeves, adjusted on the wrist with the same detail that was around his neck. The hem of the garment reached to the middle of the shin, where it was possible to see centimeters of cotton trousers also white and on his feet, beige Oxford.
Finally, he had a scarf squared with red and white, wrapped around his hair.
"I’m waiting, Césaire." Kim asked again, not looking happy with the lack of response. "Why would she need help?"
Alya snorted, annoyed by the question.
"For what else, Kim?" She asked petulantly. "I'm talking about this obsession and envy that Marinette has towards Lila."
While Kim kept a blank expression, Kagami raised an eyebrow, a scornful smile opening on her lips. Damian hadn't even stopped to greet them, he just walked right past them before pulling Marinette into a tight hug.
Kagami gently tapped Kim's arm that was wrapped around hers and he let her go, while maintaining his haughty pose.
"Why would mèi mei envy Lila, when Lila is just a cockroach?" She asked, Adrien winced at the hardness of her words. “Who is Lila compared to Cheng Guàn? No one. So, I don't know why you insist on this idea of envy.”
Mlle. Bustier's students were in various degrees scandalized. They were used to Kagami's abruptness, but she was always a blunt-non-aggressive type, where words came out rude without intention.
But here she was, being rude and deliberately aggressive.
Lila was soon putting on her best victim mask. With tearful eyes and a fluttering pout.
“Wwhy would you say something like that, Kagami? I never did you any harm, so why are you being a bully?” She sniffed, her voice shrill and fake.
Alya wrapped her arms around the Italian, Rose following closely, sandwiching the girl between them.
"Kagami, don't you think you're being too harsh?" Adrien asked, a pleading gleam in his eyes. "This is just a misunderstanding, isn't it?!" He smiled hopefully, believing that Kagami, like Marinette, would let Lila through without a hitch.
"Why the hell would it be a misunderstanding?" Kagami countered, her eyes growing colder and colder. Kim beside her had a disgusted expression. "She knows pretty well that she is on a tightrope, so she shouldn't be feeding Césaire's stupidity."
And Lila stiffened between the two girls, her face going pale.
"What does that mean?" Mylène asked.
"It means that mother Rossi found out about baby Rossi's antics after she was demoted from her embassy position." Kim replied, satisfaction dripping from his words.
Alya's eyes widened, Adrien gasped in shock and the rest of the class was incredulous.
"Did you dare to conspire against Lila's mother, Marinette?!" She turned to the girl who was talking privately with Nino, Sabrina, Chloe and Damian. Alya's voice caught their attention, again. "Have you gotten so mean, to the point of destroying an honest woman's career?"
Marinette's expression hardened, her gaze sharpening in a way they had never seen before.
"Have you ever in your life stopped to think before opening your mouth?" She asked acidly. "Eventually you're going to piss off someone not as benevolent as me and the results will be disastrous for you."
"... That seemed like a threat." Ivan murmured, his eyes darting nervously over the men and women in suits and possibly armed around them.
"The Cheng don't make threats, Ivan." Marinette looked at him. The icy blue of her eyes pierced him. "They just go and do it."
"That right there! What is this about Chengs, the Demon's head? Why are you acting this way? And why did you move out?” Alix asked, already irritated by everything. Frustrated by the lack of answers.
"You were born in Paris and live here, but have never heard of the Three Families?" Damian asked skeptically. "I understand that you don't know what the Demon's Head means, but not knowing about the Three Families is at least stupid."
"Is this about that legend of France's three richest families?" Nathaniel asked confused. ‘Three Families’ was no stranger to him, but he couldn’t remember exactly where he had heard about it.
“Not exactly... The Three Families are, as the name says, three families. The three main families of the global mafia." Max replied, his eyes wide as he understood the general situation. "The Three Families are composed of Tsuruchi- or rather, Tsurugi." He looked at Kagami. "Lien-Lê," He looks at Kim. "And the Chang-Cheng." And finally, he looks at Marinette.
"Alternative names have been used to hide the real identities of families, but valid information is available to those who are really looking." Kim nodded, enjoying Max's intelligence.
"And if I'm not wrong, the Demon's Head correlates with the League of Assassins, a highly trained clan of hired assassins." The boy spoke again, his eyes flicking over Damian.
Damian smiled scarily. "This and much more." He says in response. "It’s good that there is someone with brain cells in this class."
"So, you mean you four are part of the mafia?" Rose asked shakily.
"We are not part of the mafia." Kagami replied.
"We are the mafia." Marinette completed.
"Then again, why the hell would Guàn be jealous of an Italian girl who only gets attention by lying every second she breathes?" Kim crossed his arms, demanding a response from Alya.
The girl flinched, instinctively turning away from him and Lila.
"III-" She closed her mouth, not knowing what to say. For the first time using reason before emotion.
“Well, while this little meeting has been good, Guàn, Giáp, Damian and I have a place to be. So, if you would excuse us, we’d like to go now.” Kagami said rudely, before dragging Kim and Marinette by the arms to the bakery.
Damian, Chloe, Nino and Sabrina following behind with the bodyguards.
"Ah!" Marinette stopped abruptly, turning back to the class. "Adrien?"
The model jumped, surprised to be called.
"Yes?" He asked cautiously.
"Let Gabriel know that his presence was requested at an audience with the Three Families." She said. Adrien felt like there was a glacier in his stomach. "We have some pending issues to deal with."
Marinette looked at the model waiting for confirmation that he understood what she had said and he nodded mechanically. Fear licking his bones.
She smiled at him before looking at Lila, who was strangely pale next to Rose.
"And Lila?" The girl barely looked up to face her. "Behave. You and I know that you don't want my wrath.”
The girl looked down at the floor, completely subdued and Marinette went back into the bakery without looking back. Everyone coming in soon after, just Sabrina staying behind.
“Max, you will receive an email with important documents about Mlle. Rossi.” She said to the boy. "I hope you make good use of it."
Lila saw her reign collapse like a tower of cards.
And there was no way to escape because she knew she wouldn't be safe anywhere.
▫▪▪
"Cheng-さ ま(sama), was it really wise to expose yourself like that?" Tetsuya, one of Kagami's bodyguards, asked respectfully. "You are at risk of them opening their mouth to someone who might be really problematic."
Guàn smiled kindly at the man, finding his concern cute.
"They are not going to do that."
"How can you be so sure?"
"First because they are too scared of possible retaliation, second that they are too busy now tearing up Lila Rossi." She replied nonchalantly. "Sabrina sent a compilation of all her lies with evidence and facts to Max. They will keep themselves busy for at least until next month with this."
"The only persons we should be concerned with at the moment are Lila Rossi and Alya Césaire." Giáp said seriously. The hard line of his mouth showed how uncomfortable he was with the two girls.
"... Can't we just disappear with them?" Damian asked condescendingly. Caring nothing for the implications of his words.
"No." Kagami was succinct. "If they disappeared now, we would be the prime suspects and even if justice cannot touch us, we would be in evidence." The frown said how bitter she felt about it. "More than we already are."
Kagami would be the first person of the three to suggest getting rid of the problem, but because the three of them in evidence - for having participated in the UW -, that would not be possible.
"Why don't we leave Lila to the police to handle?" Sabrina asked uncertainly, everyone turning to look at her. "She's old enough to be judged by the justice both here and in Italy."
"Wait-" Nino looked at Sabrina in surprise. "Is Lila a criminal or are we planting evidence?"
"Oh, please!" Chloe rolled her eyes. “Rossi doesn't need us to do the dirty work. Her file is dirtier than the sewers in Paris.”
“So, we have a solution for Lila. Thanks Sabrina.” Guàn smiled at the redhead and the girl screeched, before hiding her red face behind the tablet.
Kagami and Guàn were two frighteningly charming young women and Sabrina's gay heart was too weak to withstand such direct attacks.
"Now we need something about Césaire and her gossip blog." Giáp said.
They all sat in silence pondering possible routes.
"Oh!" Nino sighed, an idea forming in his head.
"What is it, Nino?" Kagami asked.
"What is the best way to destroy a journalist?"
Everyone looked at each other in confusion until Damian smiled badly. "A journalist is destroyed by his reputation." He replied. "Spreading fake news, being a tabloid writer and things like that."
"Exactly." Nino nodded his head.
"If Alya tried to expose us, her blog would be enough for all credibility to fall apart." Damian continued. "I've seen one of my dad's associates use this to stifle any news about our... Activities, that escaped to the media."
"Not to mention that she is just a teenager." Qadira, one of Damian's bodyguards, said it out loud. She opened her eyes wide when she noticed everyone looking at her and then she lowered her head to Damian, her expression chastened. "I'm sorry for my boldness, رئیس(raʾīs)."
The sharp edges on Damian's mouth softened.
“Relax Qadira. We are among friends.” He replies and the woman straightens up, slowly nodding at him. "Now elaborate what you said to us."
She hesitated for a few seconds before speaking again.
“I meant that she is just a teenager. No adult will take her seriously, even if her blog is not brought as evidence of her inability to judge or check the facts.”
"Not to mention that she seemed to be a very troubled teenager." Oma, Damian's second bodyguard, pointed. “I don't think she is an immediate risk here. She’s too volatile to be taken seriously.” She shrugged.
"Well, it looks like everything is settled." Giáp raised his arm to check the time on his wristwatch. "Just in time for us to kick Gabriel Agreste's ass."
Marinette turned to Kagami's bodyguard, a sweet smile on her face.
"See, Tetsuya?" She said. "Nothing to worry about."
▫▪▪
"So mèi mei is engaged to the Demon's head." Giáp said suddenly. "That means we have to find our own, aneki."
He and Kagami were sitting on the leather couch, reading some important documents about companies belonging to the Three Families.
The girl looked up from the paper in her hands, no reaction beyond that.
"... I call dibs on Sabrina and Chloe." She responded quickly.
Giáp smiled conspiratorially.
"Great, because Nino is mine."
And then the two went back to reading the documents lying on the table.
... Totally ignoring the people around them, including the three mentioned, who were at different levels of embarrassment.
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