#sorry I just figure Bunnyx would involve herself in this were going down

[ladylynse]

So, I just had this idea for a Secret Quartet fic:

After Hawkmoth/Monarch’s defeat, Adrien talks to Jake/Danny about how Ladybug still isn’t willing to do an identiy reveal. They end up bringing up the possiblity of Alternate Timelines (which are supported for his end by the event where Sass used his powers without a wielder). One thing leads to another and Adrien & Danny visit Clockwork, who shows Adrien What Ladybug Knows (without sound, of course, to avoid Spoilers)

Ooh, that would be fun! Adrien might very well suspect she's not being wholly honest with him in this. He knows her well, after all. But he also knows she clearly doesn't want to talk overly much about it, so getting answers a different way makes sense.

He expects he'll find out what he missed in her last battle.

He doesn't expect to find out how badly things could have gone wrong.

While Adrien's trying to digest the whole Chat Blanc future (even if he doesn't know what spurs that future beyond getting akumatized; Clockwork might well edit what he shows), Danny--assuming he's still present--could be mentally comparing it to his averted future and trying to figure out how to comfort Adrien when he's still not exactly comfortable with the whole nearly-could-have-been future himself.

It's all a distraction, of course, because Clockwork is not going to play things straight and simple. Show them bits here and there, give them enough of an answer to be satisfied without revealing anything that's not quite ready to be revealed. Cards played right aren't questioned.

Really, it might have worked wonderfully if Bunnyx hadn't chosen that moment to drop by--but she'd have known that, of course. She'd have chosen that moment specifically because of that. She's good at picking out the proper threads of the timeline for someone so young, and she's aware of the consequences of what she does, but that doesn't mean she's not above bending the rules when she finds some flexibility within them, ready to be exploited, where she can nudge things one way or another without nudging everything onto the wrong course.

#secret quartet #musings #ladylynse #asks #miraculous ladybug #danny phantom #sorry I just figure Bunnyx would involve herself in this were going down #I figure sometimes she'd agree with Clockwork's assessment and sometimes she wouldn't #and when she doesn't she'd annoy him by doing what she can to get her way #all within the bounds of not causing a catastrophe of course #anyway if you do write out your idea let me know so I can toss it on my 'to read' list

[2manyfandoms2count]

I love you (not) - Chapter 5

Slightly late with days 5 and 6 of @marichatmay, I ended up getting side-tracked last night, which prevented me from posting it on time. Yes, there was a Chat Blanc in this AU too; I'm throwing in my headcanon that Chat Noir is sort of affected by it. Hope you enjoy!

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Chapter 5: In which we get an obligatory dose of Chat Blanc angst

It was no use.

Marinette had tossed and turned for a good hour, but whatever she did, however much she tried to imagine pleasant scenarios involving her friends and family, decreasing her heart rate and drawing a soothed smile on her face as her eyes glazed over, the same image always jerked her back up when the latter finally fluttered shut.

Icy blue eyes. A snarl. White.

She turned to face her bedside clock; Midnight. Her heart beat furiously in her chest, way faster than she liked. She knew from experience that little could be done about it.

She sighed and pushed herself up to turn her light on. So much for going to bed early; she’d collapsed on her bed at around 9pm, and had slept continuously for probably a couple of hours - she supposed it was a great improvement compared to the two previous nights.

Still, the nightmare had caught up with her.

She shivered as Chat Blanc’s cold figure invaded her mind once again, and wrapped herself up in a spare blanket. Her eyes wandered over her books, but she doubted any would take her mind off her concerns.

She looked up. The night seemed to be clear outside; even though the early May weather was a little crisp this year, she thought that maybe a bit of fresh air would do her some good.

She pushed her skylight up and climbed out, adjusting her blanket around her shoulders once she was leaning against her railing.

The Moon was full and shined brightly, she noted, neatly contrasting with the midnight sky; very much unlike the future world she’d entered through Bunnyx’s burrow.

She didn’t know what had caused it. Or, rather, she had an inkling, but she felt like she was missing pieces of the puzzle.

The triggering accident had been her delivering a signed package from Marinette to Adrien, in honour of his fifth name day, as Ladybug. She supposed that Chat Noir must have somehow caught wind of it, and also figured out her double identity as a result. Her partner was many things, and clever was one of them.

She understood how he could have misunderstood the situation; it was true that celebrating somebody’s fifth name day could be seen as an intimate gesture, and as close a friend as Adrien was, maybe it was a little too much. Especially since she’d drawn hearts on the package.

It really wasn’t the way she wanted Chat Noir to find out about her feelings (or rather, lack thereof) for him. She probably would have been hurt, too, if the situation had been reversed. They were theoretically dating, after all.

But the intensity of his pain had destroyed Paris - and if its intensity had been proportional to his love for her…

She tried not to think about it. It just made everything more difficult.

She had a plan to stick to; a plan which now involved a “no gifts to Adrien until Chat and I are over” clause, just in case.

“It’s a pretty beautiful night, isn’t it?” A voice sounded behind her, startling her.

She turned around, even though she would have recognised the voice anywhere. She had to check that he was still here, still okay.

Chat Noir was leaning on his baton on the rooftop, a sad smile on his face. It was his first visit since her encounter with Chat Blanc, even though she’d seen him many times since as Ladybug. He’d seemed to hold up fine in such instances, which was to be expected since he was blissfully ignorant of the situation, but there was  certain melancholy to him as he hopped down to come and join her.

“You should be sleeping, you know,” he said quietly, taking in the bags under her eyes.

“So should you,” Marinette replied.

He let out a bitter laugh. “Would that I could.”

Marinette stole a proper look at him. Under the moonlight, his skin had the pale hew of somebody who hadn’t slept in days (she’d know, having looked at herself in the mirror), and his eyes were puffier than usual. She was pretty sure that, were the mask to drop, his bags would at least match hers.

“Is everything alright?” She asked uneasily.

He looked into her eyes as he considered his answer. She looked genuinely worried about him, which he probably shouldn’t be surprised about, given that she loved him (she hadn’t come back on her words since their other encounter on her balcony, he realised). He came to the conclusion that he couldn’t lie to her; she deserved better than a façade. Plus, maybe she’d be able to help. She wasn’t his everyday Ladybug for nothing. “I’ve been having some nightmares, lately.” He escaped her gaze and turned towards the Seine and its gentle flow.

Marinette felt her heart beat faster in her chest. “Oh?” She gulped.

“I’m not sure how to explain…” He raked a hand through his hair. “I keep seeing this landscape. It… smells like destruction, if it makes sense. Water everywhere. The light is too bright. I don’t know what it means, what it is, but I know it’s bad news.”

Marinette couldn’t help but wrap her arms around him and hold him tightly. “I’m so sorry,” she mumbled against his chest.

“What was that?” He pushed her back slightly, just so she wouldn’t feel how quickly his heart was beating, and repressed a purr.

Marinette cleared her throat. “I’m so sorry you’re going through this. Nightmares aren’t fun.” She looked sadly at the Moon, not fully untangling herself from his arms.

He pulled her closer as he caught her tormented gaze, understanding her subtext. He didn’t want to probe too much into what bothered her since she didn’t seem to want to talk about it, but he wanted her to know that he was there for her.

She clutched his back like it was her lifeline and he reciprocated the gesture, resting his head over hers. The physical contact soothed him. He knew he shouldn’t get used to it, but he felt safe in Marinette’s arms. He waved away the thought that maybe it was where he belonged, and just made the most of the moment.

“We make quite a pair, don’t we?” he whispered when the Eiffel Tower flickered in the distance, the flashing lights disturbing his shut eyes. He considered that maybe it was time to go home.

“That, we do.” She smiled affectionately at him, stifling a yawn as he moved out of her reach. She wrapped her banket more tightly around her at the sudden absence of heat. “Thank you, Chat. For coming by.”

“Thank you , Marinette. I… I really needed that.”

“Anytime, Kitty.” She stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “To keep the nightmares at bay,” she explained the gesture, more to herself than to him, feeling her cheeks warm up as he looked at her with a mixture of awe and bewilderment.

He regained his countenance when he saw her shuffle uneasily. “Sleep well, Princess.” He kissed her forehead. “And see you soon.”

Marinette waved at him as he left, before climbing back down to her bed and curling up in her blanket. She slept soundly for the rest of the night.

Maybe anti-nightmare kisses really were a thing.

#marichat may 2021 #marichat may #miraculous ladybug #the miraculous tales of ladybug and cat noir #mlmiraculous fanfiction #miraculous fanfic #marichat #marinette dupain-cheng #chat noir #chat blanc #day 5: nightmares #day 6: moonlight #elle writes #love you (not)

[waltzofthewifi]

Kota Chapter 37: Setting the Stage

Table of Contents | Beginning

Ladybug and Chat Noir had commandeered a classroom for their meeting.

The night before, Ladybug had filled Chat Noir in on the idea, and they had agreed on this meeting. She had invited the currently active heroes, plus Rena Rouge and Viperion, for this stage of planning.

Kota, Viperion, and Chat Noir were all using desks as chairs - Chat Noir had completely claimed the teacher's desk as his spot. Rena Rouge sat in an actual chair, and had opened a screen on her flute to take notes with. Pegasus has grabbed a chair, forgoing the desks completely.

Ladybug cleared off the whiteboard and grabbed herself a marker.

"I bet you all are wondering why I gathered you here today."

"Top ten things I've always wanted to say," Rena Rouge replied.

Ladybug ignored her. "I have decided we need to take more decisive action against Hawkmoth." She wrote on the whiteboard, PLAN TO DEFEAT HAWKMOTH.

"Have you figured out who he is?" Rena Rouge asked.

"Well, no," Ladybug admitted. "I'm still working on that. But once we have that figured out, I have a plan. So, we have four threats when facing Hawkmoth: him, Mayura, an akuma, and an amok." Ladybug wrote those four things on the board.

"What If Hawkmoth pulls another mass akumatization?" Pegasus questioned.

"What happened on heroes day was planned," Ladybug answered. "Hawkmoth would have to specifically akumatize someone with the ability to power him up. Only then can he akumatize more than one person."

"If we catch him by surprise, he won't have a chance," Chat Noir noted.

"Even better," Ladybug said. "Because Hawkmoth skipped the natural progression of the miraculous-"

"Wait, what?" Rena Rouge interrupted.

"The miraculous were designed to gradually make their users more powerful," Ladybug explained. "That's why Fu gave the miraculous to someone our age - because we can grow and become more powerful. While Hawkmoth's age keeps him from having a five-minute timer, it also keeps him from gaining that growth - specifically, extra control and range."

"Like Startrain," Pegasus said. "She wasn't in Paris, and Hawkmoth couldn't control her - her only goal was getting to space, not fighting you."

"Exactly," Ladybug agreed. "Once an akuma is out of range, he can't even recall it."

"Wait so that means-" Viperion started.

"That if we get the akuma far enough away, he can't use it to protect himself!" Rena Rouge finished. "That's brilliant!"

"The only problem is, we also would need to do the same thing to Mayura and her amok," Pegasus said. "And I can only conjure one portal at a time."

"That's where Bunnyx comes in," Chat Noir said.

"Bunnyx can time travel," Ladybug said. "If we can get Mayura to use up her amok, she can send them to two different times. But Mayura's smart, and that could prove difficult. That's why I have another ace up my sleeve - a candidate for the ox miraculous."

"Which gives extra strength," Rena Rouge remembered.

"I'm hoping to recruit him and Souris Rose to help Bunnyx against Mayura," Ladybug said. "As well as Roi Singe."

Pegasus nodded. "If she realizes what's going on before she uses her amok, she could create a sentimonster that could bring her back. Roi Singe's powers would counteract that."

Ladybug wrote Roi Singe under Amok, and Bunnyx, Souris Rose and Ox under Mayura.

"I want Rena, Carapace, Viperion, and Ryuko with me to defeat Hawkmoth," Ladybug said, writing down those names in the Hawkmoth column. "That leaves Queen Bee, Pegasus, and Kota to handle the akuma."

"What about Ibex?" Kota questioned.

"For reasons I can't say, she won't be available," Ladybug replied. "Do you think you three can handle the akuma?"

"Yes," Kota replied confidently.

"Good," Ladybug said. "Now, all we need is a way of figuring out his identity."

.

Lacy had just managed to quiet Orikko when Chloe called her.

"Just got in an argument with my mom," Chloe said. "I - Sabrina and Adrien aren't picking up. I didn't know who else to call."

"Tell me what happened?"

Chloe sniffled and started explaining what happened. The entire time, Lacy felt herself getting angry and angrier.

"Your mom sucks," Lacy summarized.

Chloe blinked. "You're not going to defend her?"

"Uh, no. She sucks. She's a crap mom. And you have every right to be upset by her."

"And that's not all!" Chloe said. "The other day -"

.

Marinette tied her hair back into a single ponytail and slid the extra hair band onto her wrist.

Today was the self defense seminar, and she was excited. Not only was it a way to start preparing for Hawkmoth, but nearly her entire class plus Marc and Kagami had signed up with her.

She, Alya, and Nino all met up at the subway station, running into Rose and Juleka by accident. Mylene, Sabrina, Lacy, and Alix were already at the place - a convention room in a hotel with plenty of space - when they arrived. Nathaniel, Chloe, Marc, Kagami, and Kim all arrived shortly after.

"This will be fun," Kagami said as she stretched.

"Depends on how much exercise we actually have to do," Nathaniel muttered.

Alix rolled her eyes.

The instructor told everyone to pair up. Alya and Nino paired up instantly. Marinette didn't mind - Alya and her might be best friends, but Alya and Nino were superhero partners, and sometimes that won out. Marinette personally loved sparring with Chat Noir.

Mylene asked Alix to partner with her, and Kagami and Kim teamed up, so Lacy and Marinette paired up.

Marinette was surprised at how much Lacy already knew. When she brought it up, Lacy just shrugged.

"My sister made sure I knew how to defend myself," Lacy explained.

"I didn't know you had a sister," Marinette commented.

Lacy spluttered. "Oh, um, half-sister. On my mother's side."

"I didn't know you had family on that side," Marinette said.

"Actually, that side of my family is pretty big," Lacy said. "I have several half-siblings. Most of them live in America though."

"Do they live with your mom?" Marinette asked.

Lacy shook her head. "No. My mother isn't very involved."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

Lacy shrugged. "It's not a big deal."

That was probably a lie, but Marinette didn't push.

.

"That was fun," Marinette said, even as she collapsed onto her bed, exhausted. "I learned a lot."

"The instructor had some very good observations about akumas," Tikki added.

"And it was great to do it with so many friends," Marinette continued. "I can't wait to go back to help Alya with her blog post about it."

"It will definitely be an informative video," Tikki agreed.

"She's really been putting a lot of effort into making her blog more reliable, after what happened with Lila," Marinette noted. "I'm glad she's willing to learn from her mistakes."

"It'll help make her a great hero too!" Tikki said. "Those who can learn from their mistakes are some of the greatest allies you can have."

.

Lacy was about to fall asleep when her phone rang. She was exhausted after the self-defense seminar, in a good way, but answered it nonetheless.

She had been expecting Chloe, so she was caught off guard by the English and the British accent.

"You would never believe what happened."

"Sadie?" Lacy asked. "What happened?"

"I might be going to Paris," Sadie answered.

"What? Seriously?"

"Something came up with family," Sadie explained.

"Well, we'll have to meet up then," Lacy said. "I miss you so much!"

"Me too," Sadie agreed.

At first, it seemed too much like a coincidence. The again, Sadie was an Egyptian demigod - no, magician - and a powerful one at that. Maybe the Egyptian society or whatever she was involved with was investigating the magic in Paris.

"I'll text you the address of where I'll be staying," Sadie said. "Hopefully, they speak English there, but I bought a French English dictionary just in case."

"Don't worry, I can help translate," Lacy replied. "I'm pretty much completely fluent."

"Sweet," Sadie said.

Lacy's phone beeped, and she glanced at it to see an akuma alert.

"I have to go," Lacy said. "Talk to you soon?"

"Definitely."

.

Kota was the last one at the akuma, barely arriving in time to attempt to deflect a blast of color aimed at Ladybug.

Her kite did nothing, but the color blast didn't affect her.

Seeing where the blast came from - a scary dragon-looking creature with colorful scales - did have an impact.

Kota cursed. "What is that?"

"Sentimonster."

Kota turned to see Ladybug behind her, looking near tears.

"Are you okay?"

"It effects the emotions of others," Ladybug said.

That was a horrible power to fight, and Kota was glad that she seemed to be immune.

"The amok is on the akuma," Ladybug said. "Can you distract the sentimonster for us, since you seem to be immune?"

Taking on a dragon all by herself did not seem like fun, but she nodded anyways.

Kota took a running start and jumped on the sentimonster's back, grabbing the scales as hand grips. The dragon huffed, trying to twist around to bite her or shake her off, but her climbing experience gave her a strong grip and she stayed on.

The dragon flapped it's wings, launching into the sky, and did a barrel roll. Kota stayed on.

It was almost exhilarating, riding a dragon. The rush of air kept her awake and alert, and the city was pretty from the sky. Plus, her kite would keep her from falling to death. It felt like a magical rollercoaster.

Kota was completely distracting the sentimonster. It's entire focus was on her, and she felt like a powerfully annoying tick on the dragon's back. She wasn't even doing anything but holding on.

The dragon did a loop-de-loop, which was fun, and then disappeared completely, which was not fun.

Kota free fell for a moment, trying to figure out what just happened. Ladybug must have freed the amok, which of course cause the sentimonster to disappear. She twisted, extending her kite, and slowed her fall, hitting the pavement with a roll.

"Enjoy your ride?" Chat Noir asked.

"That was fun! Can I do it again?"

Chat Noir chuckled. Ladybug looked less amused.

.

Lacy was preparing for bed when Ladybug knocked on her window.

She wasn't surprised by the visit - after all, that latest akuma/sentimonster attack had been intense. And it once again brought up the fact that Lacy was immune to some magic.

"How exactly does that work?" Ladybug asked after Lacy forced her into accepting a hot chocolate.

Lacy shrugged. "I'm not sure, exactly. It's not exactly something that gets used a lot."

"Do you know why?"

"It's because of my mom," Lacy replied. She took a deep breath. "Which is something I probably should have told you about a long time ago."

Next Chapter

#kota #Percy jackson #miraculous ladybug