#ancient miraculous holders

[etradio]

Ancient Egypt Miraculous Holders (fanart/AU)

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous fanart #artwork #digital illustration #drawing #ancient Egyptian ladybug #ancient Egyptian black cat #ancient Egyptian bee #ancient Egyptian turtle #ancient Egyptian Fox #miraculous au #mlb #mlb fanart #ancient egypt #ladybug miraculous #black cat miraculous #turtle miraculous #bee miraculous #fox miraculous #my art #ET Radio Art

[lilian-writes-sins]

       𝑵𝒆𝒘 𝑩𝒖𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝑻𝒐𝒘𝒏 Ch. 2

“𝐵𝑎𝑏𝑦’𝑠 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑓(𝑙)𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡.”

★ pairing: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir x Reader

★ p.o.v: 3ʳᵈ person

★ ch. 2 summary: The news that they were next in line to hold the Miraculous of the Ladybug and defeat Hawkmoth alongside Chat Noir would affect everyone differently. For [Y/N], it came in the form of ignoring the issue all together, if they didn’t think about it, it doesn’t exist, right? But after weeks of lying low and ignoring Tikki’s pleas to take on the mantle of the Ladybug, the teenager finally, after what feels like an eternity, weakens their resolve (and, maybe, definitely, fights their first Akuma).

★ tags: swearing; weird magic headcanons; sorta making fun of Master Fu’s methods of picking heroes; reader is in denial; terribly written fight scenes (i’m sorry); tried writing a panic attack, dont know if its good or not

★ word count: 5,188

MASTERLIST | previous chapter

⟡ ⁺ ₊ ⊹ ࣪ ━━ ⊱⋆ flashback ⋆⊰ ━━ ࣪ ⊹ ₊ ⁺ ⟡

       “… Are you sure that is possible?”

       “Yes, if I can harness the souls and memories of the past Ladybug Miraculous wielders, I can conjure up an image of the next holder. That means, no more trusting strangers blindly!”

       “Hmm... well, alright, if you believe this will work, let's at least try.”

With that, Tikki took a deep breath, closed her eyes and began to hum. It was unlike anything Master Fu has ever heard — something ancient and not of this world. Wayzz, Fu’s kwami, himself has only heard his friend utter it once before — back when they were young and their powers weren’t contained — and to say it was catastrophic would be undermining it. But that was then, now they're a lot wiser, and their unlimited powers are under control — for the most part — so what could go wrong?

Tikki’s little hands glowed brighter and brighter until the energy was released with a flash. The sphere of light rose into the air, growing in size. Master Fu, Wayzz and Tikki all gazed in wonder at the face of the next Ladybug Miraculous wielder.

       “Is- is that really them?” Fu asked, amazement evident in his voice.

       “Yes,” the red kwami answered, eyes gleaming with conviction, “I’m certain it is.”

⟡ ⁺ ₊ ⊹ ࣪ ━━ ⊱⋆ flashback ⋆⊰ ━━ ࣪ ⊹ ₊ ⁺ ⟡

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       “What. The. Fuck.”

[Y/N]’s eyebrows in bewilderment as they gazed upon the red, bug-like creature in front of them. Tikki, as it called itself, stated that the teen was chosen to be whatever a ‘wielder of the Ladybug Miraculous’ is.

Their face scrunched up as they tried to process the information.

       “… Okay… what?”

       “Are you alright? You’re reacting much more calmly about this whole situation — especially compared to my previous holder,” Tikki asked, her high-pitched voice tinged with concern.

The teen snorted, blinking owlishly as they surveyed their surroundings. “Oh, yeah, I’m perfectly fine! It’s not like a flying, comically large insect just told me I was the fucking chosen one. Nothing weird about that, no,” they shot back with a sarcastic edge to their voice.

A brief moment of silence stretched through [Y/N]’s room. They let out a deep sigh, feeling a wave of exhaustion wash over them.

       “… I’m dreaming, right? This is all in my head, and- and you’re just a figment of my imagination, right?” they asked, their voice tinged with desperation.

       “I’m afraid not, [Y/N]. This is all real,” said the thing, Tikki, who looked almost… apologetic.

       “… Okay, well then, can you at least clear some things up for me?” they prompted, slightly curious but still skeptical.

       “Of course! What would you like to know?” Tikki flew a bit closer to the teen’s face.

       “Well, for starters, the fuck is a ‘Miraculous’?” they asked, brows furrowed.

Tikki released a deep sigh, bracing herself from this point onward: ‘Oh boy… this is going to be a long evening…’

       

       

   ��   

       

       

[Y/N] shook their head in disbelief, trying to process what Tikki was saying. She seemed really eager to explain things, but the longer she babbled, the more the teen felt their thoughts disconnecting from their body. They didn’t hear what the flying bug was saying until she was quite literally in front of them, a worried expression on her face, “... [Y/N]?” she whispered, not wanting to scare them.

That seemed to bring them back, with the teen bringing a hand up, trying to put some distance between the two. [Y/N] wasn’t sure what to even think. They were just a teen, not some hero with superpowers.

       “Look, this is nice, flattering even, but I really don’t think I’m the one for this job, sorry,” they finally uttered, turning away from Tikki. They’ve just escaped to Paris, and they didn’t want to get into any messes so soon.

Frustration couldn’t even begin to describe what the kwami was feeling, she tried getting more words in, but all of it fell on deaf ears as the teen got ready for the night. “Please, just listen to me, [Y/N] — you are meant for this, you are meant to be Ladybug — my vision showed you, not anyone else, please,” nothing she said would cause any reaction from them.

Though the conversation went nowhere, the kwami was even more determined to make the teen see reason, no matter how long it took. Hopefully, she wouldn’t cause an Akuma in the process.

       

       

       

       

       

Every day since then has been a massive headache, at least for [Y/N]. An entire week of being hounded by Tikki’s constant whining and begging was driving the teen up the wall. If she were completely honest, the kwami was surprised that they lasted so long, she could be quite persuasive when she wanted to be.

One day in particular, though ordinary in every other regard, all of that pleading made [Y/N] reach their breaking point. ‘Kwami of Creation, huh, yeah, right,’ has been a primary thought of theirs. Though, truth be told, the teen found themselves enjoying Tikki’s company, if only a little. Unless she was nagging them, like right now…

       “Please. Please. Please. Please. Please,” the bug floated around their head, relentless in her attempts to coerce them into transforming. She came out every day when Astrid would leave for work, like clockwork.

And just like clockwork, [Y/N] refused again. Suddenly, Tikki was floating in front of their face, the quiet buzzing sound her wings emit growing louder. She then proceeded to use her secret weapon, the puppy-dog eyes, in a sort of desperate attempt to persuade the teen.

To their credit, the teen really tried resisting the blue, alien-like eyes being thrown at them, but some things are inevitable. A few seconds pass before they relent, throwing their head back against the couch and saying, “Ugh! Fine! Okay, okay, I’ll fucking do it.”

       “Yay! I knew I could change your mind! Come on! Come on! Let’s go right now!” Before she could get carried away, the teen put their foot down because they couldn’t just transform right then and there, for the sake of staying covert.

Thankfully, Tikki regains some sense, “Hehe, sorry,” she smiles sheepishly.

Shivers ran down [Y/N]’s back, mind and heart racing at the thought of them running along the ornate roofs of Paris.

The day ran its course, and the human-kwami duo were the only ones home for the day, spending their time scrolling through YouTube and eating snacks. As the sun was setting, Astrid came home from a long day at work. She spared the teen a glance and a smile, before making her way to her bedroom down the hall.

When the pair heard snores coming from her room, they decided it was finally time. Tikki’s excitement was clearly visible on her face as she flew straight through the door to [Y/N]’s own bedroom. The teen followed her, closing the door silently behind them.

Taking a deep breath, the teen closed their eyes, not wanting to waste any more time than needed. “Okay, Tikki, spots on,” they whispered. A bright light surrounded them, it faded as soon as it came, leaving the teen covered in a skin-tight, almost uncomfortable, material. ‘Fuck,’ [Y/N] stealthily made their way to the bathroom, ‘I don’t have a mirror... Their heart felt like it was going to jump out of their throat any time soon. And then, they caught their reflection.

The teen almost didn’t recognize themselves in the reflection. Staring back at them was a person covered head-to-toe in a red and black armor-like suit. As they looked themselves over, [Y/N] felt a grin form on their covered face. The most striking detail that the teen noticed was on their face. It was their eyes. They resembled Tikki’s eyes — striking blue hues with dark blue sclerae.

Right beneath their eyes, the teen noticed a dark gray mask covering the bottom half of their face. A pair of goggles were hanging around their neck, the blue lenses connected by a thick black strap. The suit looks like it came from a sci-fi novel: a dark gray bodice, resembling a ladybug’s underbelly, was tight-fitting, with a red chest piece, shoulder pads, forearm braces and knee-length boots. All the red pieces have black spots on them.

They turned around to inspect their back, and saw a big, red, black-spotted lump that rested between their shoulder blades. ‘What is that supposed to be?’ confusion riddled their face. Suddenly, the lump opened up, and a set of large, bug-like, transparent wings unfurled from its confines. [Y/N] brought their gaze back up after they felt something twitch on top of their head. And there they noticed it — a pair of antennae sprouting out from their forehead. The teen reached up to touch one of the ends, feeling it twitch.

The teen smiled, striking a few poses and quietly admiring their reflection from different angles. Taking a closer look at all the details of their attire, [Y/N] notices something red attached to their waist. They took the object into their hands, quickly realizing it was a yo-yo, it also had five little spots on it. ‘Of course this is my weapon,’ the teen sighed, a bit disappointed.

[Y/N] turned to exit the bathroom, turning off the lights before opening the door very slowly. Before the hinges started squeaking, the masked teen slipped through the gap, quickly making their way across the hallway back to their bedroom. They went over to the window connected to the side of the balcony, opening it and stepping through, trying not to bump or knock over the plant in the corner.

The teen stood crouched on the ledge, looking down at the street below. They grabbed the goggles around their neck, putting them around their eyes. [Y/N] stood up, grabbing their yo-yo from their hip and swinging it back and forth, feeling the weight and movement of the seemingly indestructible string in their hand.

Time seemed to slow down as they took a deep breath. [Y/N] swung their red tool out, linking it to a chimney on the other side of the street, and tugged on it a few times to test it. ‘Well, no time like the present.’ With that thought, they jumped, soaring through the air.

After what felt like forever but, in reality, was only a few seconds, the masked teen crash-landed across the street from Astrid’s apartment with a loud thud and a shout.

       “OW, FUCK!”

Immediately covering their mouth to quiet any cries, [Y/N] looked around to see if anyone had noticed them. Feeling safe, they swung their yo-yo again with a bit more confidence than before. Unfurling the suit’s transparent wings once more, the masked teen glided through the night sky, enjoying the wind hitting their face.

Not wanting to be spotted, [Y/N] made their way directly to the Eiffel Tower, climbing up its structure quickly with their newfound strength and agility. When they finally reached the top of the monument, they felt their breath get caught in their throat, stolen away by an incredible view of the vast city bathing under the full moon.

       “Whoa...” the teen muttered, removing their goggles and resting them on their forehead — right below the long antennae — so they could see a clear view of the skyline with ease.

The moment of awe was cut short when [Y/N] heard a figure land across them. The teen quickly hid behind the tower, holding their breath and not looking back. They were ready to jump off and head back home when they heard another thud, followed by a sigh.

Out of curiosity, they peeked around the corner and spotted a black figure sitting on the edge. Fortunately, the figure seemed unaware of the alien-like blue eyes peering at it from the shadows. Recognizing the potential dangers of being caught, [Y/N] decided to turn around and go back home.

The sound of something soaring through the air caught the ears of the dark figure. It turned its head back, not finding a source for the noise. It let out a defeated sigh after not seeing anything, its shoulders dropping in sadness.

       “I’m even starting to hear things in your absence, m’lady. Sigh, this tomcat misses you…”

[Y/N] couldn’t hear the desperate pleas of the figure, they were too preoccupied trying to find their way back home. When they stopped on a roof to gather their bearings, a group of people caught sight of them, taking out their phones and shouting in unison.

       “OH. MY. GOD! LADYBUG?” the group shouted, taking multiple pictures.

‘Shit!’ The teen panicked and swung away as fast as they could, eventually making it back to the apartment — almost tripping over the balcony railing. Climbing through the open window, they de-transformed and collapsed on their bed, exhausted.

       “So? Did you like it?” Tikki asked, eager to hear what [Y/N] was thinking.

The teen just smiled and said, “That was so cool! Though, I’m not too sure about the yo-yo. Anyway, come on, let’s get some rest.” Tikki buzzes with excitement, snuggling next to [Y/N]’s cheek on the pillow. The pair drift off into a peaceful slumber.

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

Another week passed before anything notable happened. [Y/N] spent their days bonding with their loving aunt, Astrid, who helped furnish and decorate the teen’s room to their liking. The relationship between them grew stronger, and the teen felt more comfortable and safe in her home, though some habits were difficult to break.

However, when the sun set and everyone was fast asleep, [Y/N] and Tikki would sit on the teen’s bed, having fun and growing closer. The kwami would explain various Miraculous-related topics, like the history of the Miraculous, her own powers, and the rules the teen had to follow.

Together, they enjoyed a sense of peace and security that was lacking in their daytime routine. [Y/N] even let Tikki have a strand of their hair, which the kwami claimed was for ‘secret purposes’ with a sneaky giggle.

       

       

       

       

       

Now it’s Thursday, a regular day in the middle of a regular week. And it was, at least until a deafening roar shook the ground the Parisians were walking on. [Y/N] was out running errands — they really enjoyed helping Astrid out whenever they could — when it happened.

The deafening roar made everyone begin to panic and fall to the ground. Only seconds after the bellowing stopped, the grounds trembled once more as heavy stomps took over. The city was in utter chaos. [Y/N] could hear children crying, scared out of their minds.

As the teen’s heart raced and adrenaline soared through their blood, they desperately tried to make sense of the situation. Suddenly, a massive shadow loomed over them on top of the buildings.

Some civilians, including [Y/N], looked up to see what the source of all this commotion was, while others panicked and ran for cover. Some hid in stores, some fled to their homes, and some huddled together in groups, too overtaken by fear to act.

Before they even noticed, the monster came into full view, revealing a stark white reptilian beast towering over everyone.

The teen looked around, looking for a hiding spot to get to, before they heard something. A few feet in front of them, a mother and daughter were hugging as they were about to be crushed under the massive foot of the reptile. [Y/N]’s body moved without a second thought — almost instinctively — running towards the pair as fast as they could. When they were close enough, the teen jumped for them, pushing the woman and her child out of the way.

The older woman looked back at the teen, holding her wailing child close to her. She mouthed a silent thank-you to them before running away. [Y/N] almost forgot where they were before they turned back to look at the clawed, scaly foot coming down on them this time.

They covered their head, preparing for the worst, but it never came. Instead, the giant monster yelled and moved its foot away from them. Peeking their eyes out from behind their forearms, the crouching teen noticed a black, leather-clad figure right in front of them. ‘This must be Chat Noir...’  [Y/N] thought as they brought their hands down.

Chat Noir looked back, looking at you with a concerned expression. His silver staff retracts back into its original size and is placed behind the cat-themed hero’s back. [Y/N] stared at him, even as he extended his hand out to them, before they took it and got up. The two gazed into each other’s eyes, both under a strange haze; the two teens felt a tightness in their chests. It went away quickly, and the leather-clad hero straightened his back and spoke.

       “Are you alright?” Chat asked, voice brimming with concern, green slitted eyes fleeting over them, looking for any injuries.

       “I- I’m fine. Just shaken up,” the teen’s trembly hands were proof of that.

       “Well, do you think you can get back home on your own? I’m kind of preoccupied with a lizard infestation,” he said, pointing behind him, where more destruction could be seen.

Instead of answering verbally, [Y/N] nodded. That was all the hero needed, apparently, as he gave them a smile — it made the weird tightness in their chest come back — before he turned, grabbing his staff and extending it again, jumping away.

[Y/N] stood in place for a second before they felt something jabbing into their side. Glancing down, the teen noticed Tikki already looking up at them.

       “C’mon! Let’s go hide!”

They scrambled to get somewhere hidden, finding an alleyway and crouching behind one of the dumpsters. Tikki flew out of [Y/N]’s bag.

       “I- What the fuck was that thing?” The teen held their chest — their heart beating faster than normal — trying to control their breathing.

       “[Y/N]? Are you sure you're okay?” The kwami flew closer to the teen’s face, touching their cheek with her small limb.

They slid down the brick wall, hand still clutching their chest, as their breath became shaky and ragged, as if they’d run a marathon. Their eyes were looking straight past Tikki, not really focused on anything.

Loud ringing could be heard, though it only seemed to bother [Y/N]; they suddenly brought both their hands to cover their ears harshly, tears welling in the corners of the distraught teen’s shut eyes. Quiet, strained whimpers kept escaping their lips.

Tikki thought they looked like a wounded baby deer — scared and vulnerable. She flew down, perched on the teen’s shoulder, and rested a hand on their neck — that was really all she could do.

The kwami continued to reassure [Y/N], and a little while later, they finally stopped shaking. The teen looked at their little red companion with a determined look as they stood up, rolling their shoulders back.

       “Okay, let's do this.”

       

       

       

       

       

All Chat Noir could think of right now was not letting his lunch come back out the wrong side. He was being swung around by ginormous, scaly reptile paws and thrown through the air. You’d think that after half a year of working alone, he’d be more efficient at this whole thing. And you’d be right; today was just... not his day, to say the least.

The terrified screams and reassuring words from the Parisians below all mixed into a disorienting white noise that Chat couldn’t do anything about. As he was being lifted to the Draken’s face, rows upon rows of sharp, yellowy teeth could be seen. The feline hero shut his bright green eyes tight, silently preparing for his doom. ‘This really is it... I’m so sorry, m’Lady.’

       

       

       

       

       

       “HEY, UGLY!” A voice cut through the air, loud enough to get the attention of everyone, “Let the cat-boy go!”

There, on the roof of a tall building — eye-level with the scaly, white beast — stood a figure, shadowed by the warm afternoon sun hitting its back.

Murmurs ran through the crowd like wildfire. The figure grabs something from its hip and spins it fast, a familiar pink glow appears from the whizzing of the object.

       “Whoa, who is that?”

       “Is that Ladybug?”

       “HA! I told you she would come back!”

The figure paid no mind to the crowd, keeping their gaze on the giant in front of them — more specifically, the bright purple butterfly outside that suddenly appeared over its face. It seemed to make the large beast stop in its tracks, like it was under a spell. But there was no time to think about that; there were civilians and a stray cat in danger.

       “Oj, scale-face! I’m talking to you!” The red figure took a running start and jumped off the roof, spreading large, transparent wings out from their back.

That seemed to bring the creature out of its trance-like state — the glowing outline had disappeared by now — letting out a deafening roar, black smoke pouring out of its unhinged mouth.

Now that the sun wasn't blocking their view, everyone could see someone akin to the iconic red and black-spotted heroine Paris has come to love and mourn the loss of. Though, the voice and mannerisms should’ve given them away sooner, this was definitely not Ladybug, at least not the Ladybug people know.

The spotted figure zipped straight for the overgrown lizard, effectively — if only a bit clumsily, as if this were their first time — dodging its flailing limbs. They flew straight towards its open mouth, quickly grabbing the black-leather-clad hero before he could become lizard food.

The two escaped narrowly, [Y/N] setting Chat Noir down on one of the flat roofed buildings, behind the roof access room, hiding them from the beast’s line of sight.

       “Are you alright?” the teen asked, unknowingly repeating his first words to their civilian self.

Wherever his mind went, it came back to his body right at that moment. He glanced at the face of his savior, covered with a black face mask and goggles, hiding every part of their face apart from their eyebrows. The short hairs were furrowed, and no doubt a concerned expression decorated the face beneath the disguise.

       “I- Yes… Who are you?” His gaze held so many emotions, like confusion but mostly distrust.

       “Y’know, I never gave it much thought before, ask me again when we take Godzilla over there down, ‘kay?” Apparently, that wasn’t the answer he was expecting, [Y/N] could almost imagine a giant question mark floating on top of his head.

       “So... you have a plan?” He was still staring, the fight clearly not on the forefront of his mind. His lack of answer perpetuated the awkward silence: “... Right, so, ahem, do you know where the Akumatized object is?”

He finally got over it, if only for the time being, “Yeah, there’s a gem lodged into the back of his neck, I tried getting it, but I got caught.”

       “Well then, how about we try that again? C'mon, I’ll go and distract it while you destroy the thing!”

[Y/N] raised their goggles slightly over their eyes, winking at Chat Noir, allowing him to catch a glimpse of the alien-esque blue eyes that were hiding underneath the lenses. They prepared to take another running start, spreading their wings, before remembering something.

       “OH! Before I forget, sorry, this is my first time doing this,” they took their yo-yo from its resting place on their hip and throwing it in the air, “Lucky Charm!”

The red polka-dotted sides spun around as it glowed before it came back down, leaving a small object where it was. The item dropped into the gloved hands; it was a red ice pick with a black dot pattern all over it, quite on brand with the ladybug theme. [Y/N] turned it around, looking it over closely, then grasped it tightly and returned to their previous position.

       “Okay, are you ready? ‘Cause I’m not,” the teen chuckled, pulling their goggles back over their eyes, running and jumping off the roof, heading straight for the scaly monster.

The cat-eyed hero stood in place for a second, his mind still lagging behind. He shook his head, getting out of his stupor, and hardened his gaze, focusing on completing the mission. He would ask questions later.

He stood still for a while, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike the Draken. He kept his gaze mostly on the spotted hero, distracting the beast by zipping around with their large wings, evading its grasp. Maybe he was watching them because he was worried they would get caught and hurt, or maybe he was judging them because ‘Ladybug wouldn't have come up with such a primitive plan’.

By now, the Draken's back is turned away from Chat, letting him get a clear view of the icy blue gem, the same color as its eyes, embedded into the back of the beast's neck, surrounded by glistening white scales.

Taking the opportunity to strike, Chat Noir extended his staff, letting it carry him to land on the lizard’s back. He landed a bit below where the gem was, so he gripped onto whatever space he could and began to climb. However, the beast’s thrashing and flailing around made it quite hard to do. The green-eyed hero inched his way towards the glittering jewel, hanging on to a few looser scales to not fall off.

He raised his hand, preparing to strike, “Cataclysm!” A black, void-like mass bubbled around his right hand. Chat pressed his hand onto the gem, watching as it began to crack and turn a deathly gray.

Soon it stopped, and a glowing purple butterfly squeezed its way out of the cracks, trying to fly away. But before it could, Chat caught it in a strange, dark metal canister, not giving the insect a chance to escape.

As the butterfly no longer powered it, the large lizard became covered in a dark, almost black, purple, tar-like liquid. And then it disappeared, leaving a man, who looked to be about mid 20’s, to fall to his death.

Of course, seeing this, both heroes couldn’t let that happen, jumping into action to catch the young adult, before he could become one with the cracked concrete.

[Y/N] made it first, their wings gave them a stark advantage in situations like this, grabbing the man midair and gently landing him on the ground. The teen removed their goggles, letting them rest around their neck, and looked over the hunched person for any injuries. Thankfully, they found none, so they awkwardly patted his shoulder, making him look up.

He looked frazzled, as if his mind was a couple of minutes behind, trying to catch up to the rest of his body. He looked at the gloved hand on his shoulder and moved his gaze up to his savior’s face. The man was met with dark blues, glazed with concern.

He paid no mind to it, rushing into the hero’s arms and burying his head in the crook of their neck. It was a bit uncomfortable, both because their armor is very rigid and not soft at all and because they weren’t expecting it, obviously. Nevertheless, the teen hugged back, if only a bit stiffly.

       “Thank you! Thank you so much!” The man cried out, tightening his hold around them. He hiccuped, “I’m so sorry, for all of this. I- I just- my emotions got- got the best of me.”

He pulled away after a while, the teen now looking behind him to see Chat Noir staring them both down. Freezing under his gaze, the teen felt the third tightness in their chest return, all because of his eyes. But his gaze didn’t hold that same feeling — it was cold for some reason.

Not wanting to dwell on it, [Y/N] turned their unusual eyes back down at the man. Finally, they took a closer look at him; he was quite short — though that didn’t mean much, as the teen noticed they towered over most of the crowd, apart from Chat Noir, in this form — and gaunt, with heavy bags under his brown eyes. He was clearly dressed for work — unless business casual was his regular style — with a white collared shirt underneath a blue plaid sweater vest, paired with light brown slacks and matching loafers. His wavy brown hair was styled professionally — now a bit mussed from falling in the air.

       “Hey, you’re okay. What’s your name?” The teen asked awkwardly, smiling more with their eyes, as their mask covered the bottom of their face.

       “A- Arthur Gallo,” he spoke, still clearly in shock from his situation. [Y/N] patted his back lightly and reassured him, “Well, Arthur, whatever happened that caused this, it isn’t your fault, you were just pushed to your limit, and that's okay.”

The teen turned to fly away before stopping suddenly, “OH! Before I forget,” they grabbed the ice pick from its resting place on their hip — it was quite useless in their plan, but Tikki did say to have it on hand, just in case — throwing it up in the air, shouting, “Miraculous Ladybug!”

The spotted pick disappeared in a bright, pink flash of light, and thousands of ladybugs flew around the area, fixing and rebuilding all the destruction caused under the butterflies influence. The little insects surrounded the two heroes and Arthur before shooting up into the sky and dispersing out of sight.

Civilians around the area cheered loudly, and reporters popped up in front of the trio, asking questions upon questions and shoving cameras in their faces. [Y/N] ignored them, turning to face Chat Noir, whose gaze never left them. Suddenly, he spoke.

       “Ladybug would’ve come up with a much better plan.”

The teen’s expression quickly fell in confusion; you didn’t even need to see the bottom half of their face to see it. Their brows furrowed, and they spoke cautiously, “Yeah, well, I’m not good with plans in general, and I’m not Ladybug.”

       “Yeah, I can tell,” he huffed, turning around and extending his staff, jumping away, probably to detransform.

‘What the fuck is his problem,’ [Y/N] thought to themselves bitterly, their mood dampened by their ‘partner’s’ cold behavior. They turned back to Arthur, who was still standing next to them, looking awkwardly to the side.

       “You can make it back home on your own, right? I kind of have to go,” [Y/N] said, pointing to their beeping earrings, only 3 of the 5 spots were left. He nodded, and the teen went to walk away before the man suddenly grabbed their hand, “WAIT!”

       “Yes?”

       “Please, what’s your name?”

       “I- hmm,” [Y/N] thought for a second.

They knew they weren’t Ladybug, and they didn’t want to take on her name out of respect — and something in their head told them that if they did, a certain feline would dislike them even more. All they knew was that they were up for the task; to help Paris and the rest of the world from Hawkmoth, they knew that they had to have a strong, powerful name that would make people feel safe. [Y/N] took a breath, pushing their shoulders back with a more confident expression in their eyes.

       

       

       

       

       

       “Red Beetle, my name is Red Beetle.”

Arthur let go of their hand — a grateful expression on his face — and thanked them. The newly named hero turned away from him, grabbed their yo-yo and swung away.

MASTERLIST | next chapter

★ author's note: I’ve written and rewritten this so many times, I feel like I’m losing my mind, anyways hope you enjoy! Also so sorry for the long wait, I really wanted to post this back in September, but school started and killed my motivation. I have chapter 3 as bulletpoints, but I’m not making any promises to post it any time soon :(

★ taglist: @leafanonsforest; @ok-boke; @they2luv1naia; @mytaiyakeylover;

#★.lilian writes #adrien agreste x reader #chat noir x reader #miraculous ladybug x reader #cat noir x reader #mlb x reader #gn!reader

[mayaannart]

I haven’t watched all of the episodes yet but I DID design a new suit for Ladybug! Wanted something that looked more solid/protective, while drawing on ancient Chinese armor for Marinette’s ancestry and more ladybug (like, the actual bug) motifs - spots of white on her mask, the panels of armor that look like wings. But I still wanted it to look like she could be agile and do all of those kicks and jumps - hence the pants tight at the ankles and the boots.

Low-key tempted to do this for other miraculous holders I’m not gonna lie.

BONUS: I was also imagining what it would look like for Kwamis to fight at their holders’ sides, but ‘full grown’ so to speak. I’m sure I’ve seen other art of Tikki as a cat, so I played with that concept and drew her as a leopard. Hope you like it!

#all of this from an ask to draw Tikki as a cat #got my creative juices flowing thank you so much anon #miraculous ladybug #ladybug #tales of ladybug and cat noir #marinette dupain cheng #miraculous ladybug fanart #fanart #ladybug fanart #ml tikki #ml fanart #ml fandom notice this pls I worked very hard on it

[redtippedfox]

Miraculous Timey Wimey Lore: Kwamis

—————————————————————————————-

Kwami Headcanon: Tikki (Creation)

Kwamis are ancient eldritch Gods that ruled over the Heavens for years, Tikki is one of the very first Eldritch God to ever be born, created from the Big Bang of the Universe. Tikki is the other half of the God of Destruction, Plagg, her and Plagg have been together since the beginning of time. Though Tikki will not ever admit it she and Plagg are indeed in love but she won’t ever admit it since Plagg and her are always separated due to their holders. Tikki may look like a responsible Goddess but she is actually very irresponsible and while she loves following the rules she can appreciate a little chaos from here, she is actually very fond of Marinette’s clumsiness especially when it creates a little bit of chaos.

Tikki loves sweets, likes every types of sweets, from strawberry short cake to chocolate pudding, although she loves chocolate chip cookies more than anything, Tikki was very happy when she found out that Marinette lived in a bakery where delicious treats are served everyday. Tikki is very curious about the human world and enjoys learning about new things. She adores Marinette’s creativity when it comes to her fashion and her creations.

All of the seasons were created by Tikki

Spring is the season that belongs to Tikki, the season of Love was created by Tikki so her Ladybugs could find love and so humans could have a season of love. During Spring she is energetic, chatty, and an absolute matchmaker. She loves giving Marinette proper love advice and tries her best to help Marinette understand her feelings for Adrien and even help her realize her feelings for Chat Noir.

During winter she becomes slow, tired and less energetic, she is supposed to go into hibernation till the next spring but thanks to humans warm technology she is able to be kept warm and therefore does not have to go into hibernation. Even though winter is a bad season for her it is a time of warmth and love, the winter may be freezing but Tikki made sure it looked beautiful.

Fall is another season, while spring is Tikki’s favorite season fall is Tikki’s second favorite. As the leaves fade away and make way for winter Tikki it to show off the beauty of the falling of the leaves.

Summer is a time of fun and relaxation, it’s not Tikki’s favorite due to the heavy heat but she still cherishes the season

Tikki likes to use the word “Fuck”, its her favorite human curse word, “Shit” is her second favorite human curse word.

Tikki adores Alya and Nino, and dreams of being able to properly meet both of them

Tikki will come up with mischievous plans with Plagg to get Adrien and Marinette together

Tikki can get very jealous and possessive of Marinette especially when it comes to Marinette wearing or using other Miraculouses. Tikki punched Mullo after Kwamibuster when the mouse kwami kept teasing her.

Tikki can be very impulsive sometimes

Tikki has the ability to grant blessings on people but she can also create curses as well

Tikki will sometimes cry at night, hoping that one day her brothers and sisters would be safe and Nooroo and Dussu would return to them

Tikki is a little shit sometimes

Tikki has a whole wardrobe made by Marinette just for her, she doesn’t like sharing any of it.

————————————————————————————————-

Tikki’s old form was bland and didn’t have a lot of black, she didn’t look much like a Ladybug but that’s what Fu thought of her, after he became Guardian Tikki was stuck in that form for over 300 years, Fu only saw the kwamis as creatures that had to be locked away from the world so they didn’t have a lot of animalistic parts of the animals that they represented since they haven’t been free in 300 years and Fu didn’t see them as Gods with animal tendencies so they looked nothing like their animals.

When a new Guardian is chosen the kwamis change their forms to match how their Guardian sees them and to fit their Guardians soul. When Marinette became Guardian the kwamis forms changed and they got to have more animalistic parts. Tikki was given more black on her body to represent being a Ladybug, her tails even got bigger rather than smaller, she even had a pink glow around her, Marinette’s soul allowing them to be more free and God-like than trapped like Fu.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous tales of ladybug and chat noir #miraculous au #timey wimey…uh oh au #my art #Fox’s art #kwami art #tikki kwami #tikki Headcanon #miraculous kwamis #kwami Headcanon #Timey wimey lore #rewritten miraculous lore/story

[familyagrestefanblog]

Rewatching "Crocoduel" for the first time after a long while made me realize just how unneeded Tigresse Pourpre was in it. It was genuinely just a case of Ladybug giving her civilian friend a miraculous to make her feel better, acknowledged and empowered.

But the battle itself could have perfectly fine gone without Tigresse Pourpre. She had no purpose there. The excuse for why she was there was that for some reason Ladybug and Chat Noir pretended like their space power up don't exist so they can fly up in the sky to the ship and then later on when said ship is diving towards the ground Ladybug tells Tigresse to "hold them [Juleka's parents] at bay".

But for real, if the episode hadn't forced Ladybug and Chat Noir to NOT have their power up with them (or even acknowledge that they exist) it legitimately would have clear-cut been Marinette giving the Tiger miraculous out for no reason as a little treat for Juleka to feel better and feel inspired by.

And I'm sorry, but as much as I love Juleka as Tigresse Pourpre - and thank goodness Chat Noir was treated well in the episode, thats RARE - but that really isn't the purpose for why the miraculous should be given out. Just like that Penalteam disaster of 4 new miraculous holder bc Ladybug agreed to play soccer for a while instead of solving the damn akuma, cases like this inherently devalue the miraculous and it's sad that Marinette's leadership is sometimes written in a way where the miraculous aren't allowed to be treated like the important and valuable ancient artifacts they are; and the way Su-Han did call her out for it in "Ephemeral" but it wasnt allowed to be taken serious at all cause he's a man who yelled.

This isn't "Paris comes first", this was Ladybug unnecessarily giving a dangerous miraculous out like candy bc she couldn't seperate her civilian life from her hero work.

#ml spoilers #miraculous ladybug #miraculous #Ml Crocoduel

[lucydoodlessometimes]

alright guys. i have more miraculous-ish content. 3rd pic is felix, marinette, kagami, and nathaniel from left to right. I haven't done a nino yet, but he'll be there when I post a finalized version I swear. Also, either Juleka or Rose, though I havent decided on which.

SO. bit of context before i yap under a cut. this is a co-op work (and potential series of fics) with @frickifiknow and so I only have half of the cast to design; hence no adrien, alya, or chloe in my lineup. they will be yapped about, and perhaps drawn by me, but maybe dont hold your breath. ALso, this is a rewrite, inspired more by the fandom than the actual show (though I am passively re-watching it currently, so we'll see) and will kindof sortof overhaul the entire premise. but that all goes under a cut, so i will see you all there.

alright SO. hi folks. miss me? Miss my rambles? no? your loss, because my yapping is immaculate.

Starting with the world!

There are 12 kwami in total- i love the Chinese zodiac for the show, but I personally don't want that many characters to be active. This will feature a main cast of my personal favorite characters from when I watched this show, and not much else because this is for personal pleasure, not objective quality. Each kwami has a pair, which corresponds to a unifying concept. These arent wholly ironed out yet, but they go: existence, defense, time, devotion, guidance, and experience. more about them and their kwamis to come.

this runs on a multiverse that the kwami of broken worlds can and do break. the idea is that after hawkmoth, the miraculous holders face the breaking of whatever has held the "antikwami" at bay this long, and have to gain higher power to defeat themselves and protect their world, thus allowing us to move on from gabriel agreste as a villain long before season five. The antikwami can only exist in this timeline separate from their counterparts because they are currently fulfilling a separate role; they would (and have) sort of merge into the kwami of this world if "redeemed". The kwami chose to be bound to the miraculous and to human holders in ancient times, as doing so managed to weaken their antitheses as they entered this timeline due to the natural balancing of, like, natural law. what is must be undone, or whatever. The antikwami tend to also pick "holders" of a sort, but it's... a worse process, overall. They cloud one's judgement, enhance all their worst traits, the works. more to come on them, i haven't ironed out all the cracks just yet.

All of my designs hinge on being relatively young versions of the characters, as you tend to get more power as you get older, and as you gain experience with the miraculous. Early on, any animal parts will be stuck onto clothing, with ear and horn details coming from masks and tails being attached to belts and capes. later, more high-powered designs will look grander and feature more naturalistic inclusions from the animal (including functional wings for ladybug, possibly) as the holders grow closer to their kwami.

It's 2am, I have school in the morning, and I gotta go. Thanks for reading, or not, reblogs > likes, like and subscribe or something, gn

#lucy doodles #my art #fanart #lucy rambles #miraculous ladybug fanart #miraculous au #miraculous fanart #miraculous ladybug #tales of ladybug and cat noir #ladybug #marinette dupain cheng #miraculous marinette #miraculous lb #miraculous rewrite #miraculous felix #kagami tsurugi #nathaniel kurtzberg #can i tag this as nino? #no i dont think i can hes not actually here #HE WILL BE SOON GUYS I SWEAR #i am a nino lover? not in his visual design but he is v important to my heart #lila rossi #kwami swap kind of #ml fanart #im not tagging this as salt because for all that i am a lil salty i dont like how mean the salt community often feels #you guys are harsher than im comfy with over there. i dont always disagree with what you say but the way you say it makes my heart hurt #i could yap forever about why they all look like that #AND i have big feelings about dusuu and sentimonsters DO NOT you worry #more to come there >:) #i wont tag the people who got me back into miraculous brainrot

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

I watched the whole 2 seasons of Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja and I couldn't stop noticing some paralels between that show and Miraculous Ladybug

Both shows have a 14 years old main character that was chosen to be the next holder of an ancient power that had a lot of holders through the years

Both main characters learn a lesson in every episode

Both shows have a villain that takes advantage of the Negative emotions of the people and turn them into monsters

The difference being that Randy Cunningham is a better show overall, knows exactly what it wants to be and lasted way shorter that it has to, while Miraculous has overstayed it's welcome and after 5 seasons, still doesn't know what it wants to be and we're just halfway through it

I'm honestly surprised DEATH BATTLE! hasn't pitted these two against each other yet.

#immaturity of thomas astruc #iota #not miraculous ladybug #randy cunningham 9th grade ninja

[sizzleissues]

So in process of making a page of Chat Noir’s but thought I’d explain and get some help here so I don’t messy up the actual post. I’ll go through each Chat I have included and a little about them and ask for some suggestions of different names or another Chat to include.

More under cut

From left to right, top to bottom.

Chat Noire- Genderbent Chat Noir

Chat Night (better name please suggest)- Miraculous if it turned you into the animal. A cat with a smoky quality. Adrien would first dress in a homemade Chat Noir get-up and then transform so he could switch between forms in battle without revealing his identity. He can be as small as a regular cat and as large as a house. Gets distracted by mice frequently mid-battle.

The Dashing/Daring Black Cat- English Adrien and a vigilante. A Robin Hood type figure who faces the Red Knight. Of course she soon becomes smitten with his charming antics and eventually switch’s to the side of the rouge, becoming the Ladybird

Kitty Noir- Zoe with the miraculous. Gave her a pony tale because I wanted to

Ladynoire - Marinette ofc

Lord Cattus (please suggest names)- Felix with the miraculous if he was going full morally grey antagonist mode and not masking as Chat Noir. Sort of regal and dangerous, even if he used his powers for good. He would totally act like Batman, all broody and dark. I’m really conflicted on his name because I wanted to go Ancient Greek for cat but that word is already tied up in something…… else

Plagg- Favourite boy

Dark Claws (name suggestions?)- Nino with the cat miraculous. A situation where he’s permanent holder, alongside Alya as Ladybug. Very anti-establishment and uses his power a little irresponsibly. Nino is the type of dude who shouldn’t have such a destruction power, it’s in his nature to protect so he’s fiercely loyal to Scarabella and very reactive. Liable to fall down a dark path. Or Adrien gives it to him one day for the goofs and they terrorise Ladybug

Ears on his hood, a cropped hoodie with a turtle neck underneath and loose jogger style pants. Debating on dropping the mask and giving him black circular glasses (since miraculous hide identity anyway with magic buffering)

Cat Walker- Chat Noir x200 times the Adrien

Chat Noir- little baby man

#chat noir #chat noir redesign #many chat noirs #miraculous ladybug #miraculous #ml fanart #mlb fanart #cat walker #ml season 5 spoilers #felix graham de vanily #lady noire #kitty noir #Sketch #suggestions please #mine

[princess-sof-time]

Hey! I'm Brazilian I must say that I loved the request they made about the S/O with the Miraculous of Manipulation.

So I can ask for Miraculous holders with an S/o who is a Brazilian holder of a Miraculous from Caixa Sul American or Brazilian as you prefer.

The Miraculous of the Pink Dolphin With Powers Similar to the God Eros of Mythological Legends Related to Love and Passion.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ──────

🄼🄸🅁🄰🄲🅄🄻🄾🅄🅂 🄷🄾🄻🄳🄴🅁🅂

• Deep in the lush rainforest of Brazil's Amazon region lies the mysterious and sacred Caixa Sul Americano, an ancient tree that houses several Miraculouses. Among them is the Miraculous Boto Cor-de-Rosa, whose powers are similar to those of the God Eros, related to love and passion.

• The Brazilian S/O is the bearer of this precious Miraculous, and its connection to nature is deep and enchanting. His powers are a boon to the forest, allowing him to communicate with animals and plants, nurturing the bonds of love and harmony in the region.

• Meanwhile, S/O is also the keeper of the Miraculouses, a wise and respected figure steeped in the forest's ancient lore. He shares his ancestral wisdom with himself, teaching himself how to fully utilize the powers of the Boto Cor-de-Rosa Miraculous for the benefit of nature.

• As his friendship with himself grows, he decides to share his knowledge with other Miraculous holders. He creates a secret haven in the forest, a place of learning and training for himself as a guardian wielder.

• The refuge is a hidden clearing surrounded by ancient trees and lush foliage. There, he reunites with himself as a bearer of different regions, each bringing with them their unique culture and traditions.

• With himself, with his love for Brazilian culture, he introduces visitors to traditional dance rhythms and music, immersing them in the richness of Brazil's culture. He shares stories about the legend of the Boto Cor-de-rosa, which delight everyone and strengthen the bonds with himself as a bearer.

• As they train together, he learns to use his powers in a balanced and responsible way. He understands that true strength comes from connecting with yourself and nature and respecting the traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation.

• Over time, the refuge becomes a place of union and understanding with oneself as a bearer. Bearers from different countries and cultures exchange experiences and share their stories, strengthening the spirit of friendship and cooperation with each other.

• Miraculous Ladybug heroes, who have visited the Amazon rainforest in search of answers, are also invited to participate. They marvel at the beauty of the haven and the dedication to himself as a bearer in preserving nature.

• The refuge experience leaves a deep mark on the heroes, who leave with themselves as bearers with a new appreciation for cultural richness and the importance of protecting the environment.

• With peace restored to the forest, himself as wielder and guardian of the Miraculous remain vigilant, tending to nature and sharing his wisdom of self as wielder with new wielders arriving at the haven. His cultural richness and respect for nature continue to inspire those around him, showing that together, he can protect the world around us.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ──────

#miraculous x reader #miraculous ladybug x reader #miraculous holders #miraculous holders x reader

[r8cs]

The Graham de Vanily twin rings are a dormant Miraculous and Adrien cant reject being its holder

You read me.

There's a chance that the most powerful names/families in history Made their way using Miraculous to their advantage.

Like that one ancient holder of the dragon Tomoe Gozen, or the previous holder of the Eagle Lafayette, Made themselves in greatness through magic objects.

And if the British Aristocrat familiy Graham de Vanily we're talking about, they might have built their legacy over a Miraculous. Also, those rings are at least, symbolicaly important to the family. (Aka. Feligami theatric explanation).

What animal? Idk. Maybe a fish? (Like a piscis reference?) Does this family have a symbol/Family shield or something?

What power? Idk. Not as powerful as The Mother Box's, I guess.

How it would awaken, Now that Adrien has it? Idk, I dont see Plagg caring to help (also theyre in hiding mode, idk if other kwamis can tell).

But something I know, he can't give away a family heirloom (also the most valuable thing his parents left him). PLUS HIS AMOK IS IN THERE LIKE DUDE, YOU AND ME UNTIL I DIE TYPE OF SITUATION.

Wouldn't it be fun that this new kwami Is so excited to take action after so long, ready to fight, only to find that his new holder has a Miraculous aldeady (far more powerful than theirs) and refuses to transform!

#chat noir #miraculous ladybug #adrien agreste #miraculous lb #felix fathom #ladybug miraculous #plagg #Twin rings #sentimonster

[rosie-b]

True Blue

Chapter 10: Free Pastries and Freer Falls

“What are you looking at?” 

The unexpected question cut through the silence, and Marinette jumped backwards, her heart racing at the familiar voice.

"Golden Bug? What do you— what are you doing here?”

You can read the rest below or on AO3!

The Grimoire was proving to be very difficult to decode. 

Marinette should have guessed. Even Gabriel Agreste couldn’t make heads or tails of the ancient tome he’d sworn held the answer to repairing her Miraculous somewhere in it; why had she thought she could fare any better? She’d spent three weeks studying the book during the day at the mansion and in the night at home, and so far, she hadn’t had any luck. 

Usually, when she was at the mansion, she could always take out her frustration at not being able to make any progress by putting on her training outfit and heading to the small dojo and working off her steam there. It was good practice for her fights with Golden Bug and Chat Grise, and it helped her feel like she was making progress in at least one area, so it was a win-win. 

At home, though, there was nothing to stop Marinette from obsessing over the Grimoire and its mysteries. She could, and often did, lose herself in the book for hours. Poring through the pages of beautiful art and entrancing script was addicting, and if nothing else, Marinette could say she enjoyed letting her imagination run wild thinking about how to incorporate the ancient fashions in the book to her modern designs. 

She flipped to the next page of the large tome, the one holding information about the Peacock Miraculous. Tracing the outline of the depicted Peacock holder with one finger, she wondered if they, too, had ever faced the dangers of a broken Miraculous. This couldn’t be the first time such a thing had happened, so there must be someone else who’d undergone the slow poisoning that Marinette had chosen for herself. And the wisdom gained from the experience was hidden somewhere in this very book, to help save people just like her and Mme. Agreste. 

But it had been encoded in a language no one on Earth knew how to speak or read, so what help was it, really? 

Still, M. Agreste wasn’t giving up, so neither would Marinette. There had to be something they could use to break the code and figure out how to heal Marinette or at least stop the dark magic from corrupting her body any further! Looking at the book’s art for so long was giving Marinette a crazy idea, one she was hoping might hold just enough validity to help her in her search. 

The ancient Guardians of the Miraculous had taken care to include as much information as possible in their book, that much was clear. And they’d spent so much effort adding all this art to it; what if part of their secrets could be discovered through interpreting the pictures beside the indecipherable language? What if a makeshift cure could be made by uncovering and interpreting the messages hidden in the artwork? 

It had to be worth a shot. And Marinette was already beginning to experience worse symptoms of the Miraculous’ effects, so she was willing to try almost anything that could help her. 

__*__*__*__*__ 

It had started the day after her first fight. She’d been slightly weaker, a little less steady on her feet despite taking the medicine when Ms. Sancoeur instructed her to. That day, she’d been able to do everything she usually could, with a little more difficulty than usual, but her struggles weren’t noticeable, and she could forget about them most of the time. 

It got worse the next time she’d transformed. 

Normally, M. Agreste kept the peacock brooch in the mansion’s safe, away from Marinette, so that she wouldn’t be hurt by the corrupted magic any more than absolutely necessary and to keep the brooch safe from anyone who might want to steal it. But he took it out for special occasions, like akuma fights. Marinette hadn’t been in one for a full week after her first failed battle against her new enemies; M. Agreste and Ms. Sancoeur had made sure to give her some basic training in fighting techniques so that she’d be more evenly matched against Golden Bug and Chat Grise. 

Once she knew enough to defend herself from most basic strikes and then return them, M. Agreste sent her back out for her second try. She’d lost again. M. Agreste told her it was all right, and that she should keep practicing and learn more about her weapon. 

There wasn’t much Marinette could use a fan for in battle, but she tried her best. She lost the third, fourth, and fifth battles against Golden Bug and Chat Grise, though the last time wasn’t really her fault! Golden Bug and Chat Grise had switched Miraculous, and it wasn’t fair to expect Marinette to function when her main crush and enemy looked so unfairly good in black (much better than in his usual honey tones, in her opinion). 

M. Agreste had been disappointed in her that time, but luckily, he hadn’t caught on to the reason why Marinette sometimes stuttered or tripped over thin air in the middle of a fight. He thought she was just nervous, and Marinette was more than happy to let him believe that if it meant keeping her embarrassing crush on Golden Bug secret for a little longer.

Her symptoms had gotten a lot worse after that fight. Nathalie had upped her dosage, and they went back to a manageable level, but M. Agreste hadn’t included Bluewing in the next few akumas he’d sent out. Marinette tried not to feel like she was being punished for her failure. 

At least she always had breakfasts with Adrien to look forward to, no matter how bad things got. Every morning, at least on weekdays, she’d come downstairs, still rubbing sleep out of her eyes, and be greeted by a warm, friendly smile from Adrien. Some days, he even convinced some of his new friends from school to come with him, since they knew Marinette, too. She was pleasantly surprised when Nino showed up one Thursday, his cap on backwards and shoes untied, to “say hi to both his dudes,” and brought his new girlfriend, Alya, with him the next day. By halfway through the second week of breakfasts at the Dupain-Cheng house, it seemed most of his class had come to visit one day or the other. 

“You seem to be pretty popular at François-Dupont,” Marinette noted on a rare quiet day to Adrien, who blushed and shrugged shyly. “I’m just surprised you haven’t brought a new girlfriend to breakfast here yet!” 

“A girlfr— no, I don’t have a girlfriend yet!” Adrien explained with a yelp. His face turned red, and he sat up very straight, like clearing this up was of the utmost importance to him. 

Watching him, Marinette giggled as she took a sip of her coffee. “I’m just teasing! It does seem like you’ve managed to convince the whole school to come join you for early breakfasts, though. How did you do it?” 

Looking relieved, Adrien sat back in his chair and laughed. “Oh, I’m pretty sure it was the offer of free Dupain-Cheng pastries that convinced them, not me. Your parents’ pastries are magic, Marinette!” 

“Ah, if good pastries are magic, then so are your father’s designs. Guess we’ve both got magicians for parents,” Marinette joked, swallowing down the urge to tell Adrien just how true that was for him. 

Adrien smirked. “Well, don’t forget that you singlehandedly bewitched my father into offering you an early internship from just one open page in your design book and then convinced him to let me go to public school. I think that makes you the most magical one here, Marinette. You’re really special.” 

Marinette blushed, feeling pleasantly embarrassed. “Aww, thanks, Adrien!” 

Adrien looked like he wanted to say something more, but then the Gorilla’s horn sounded outside. 

“Well, that’s my signal. See you tomorrow! Good luck at school!” Marinette rushed out of her chair, pressing a quick kiss to Adrien’s cheek as she left. 

The boy cupped a hand to his cheek where she’d kissed him and blushed. He smiled, waved back to Marinette, and blew a kiss her way, which made her smile in turn and chased away the omnipresent sickness she felt from the Peacock’s magic. Yes, Marinette would be fine as long as she could still have breakfasts with Adrien!  

And as long as she was right about the drawings in the Grimoire holding part of the secret to the cure. 

Especially if she was right about that. 

__*__*__*__*__ 

“You think the Grimoire’s pictures have messages hidden in them?” 

M. Agreste’s disbelieving voice boomed loudly in the dojo where he and Marinette stood. She’d been spending most of her days here in the past weeks, only having one or two traditional lessons in a day. The rest of her time was spent learning about her Miraculous, training, working on her duties as an intern, and occasionally, helping with akumas.

Marinette nodded. “I mean, it makes sense, right? Why include a picture if it doesn’t serve a greater purpose in the book?” 

M. Agreste made a dismissive sound in the back of his throat. “They do serve a purpose: to illustrate the words of the Grimoire. To show pictures of the Miraculous and the transformations they grant. To show pictures of the world of the Guardians. But the Grimoire’s drawings do not contain any hidden messages. They are very simple and straightforward to interpret. If they held the key to the cure, I would have found it long ago and saved Emilie with it. Are you suggesting that I did not do all I could to save my wife, Miss Dupain-Cheng?”

Marinette shrunk back. “No, of course I’m not! I just mean, you— we could have missed something, is all. There could be a second way to interpret the pictures!” 

“There is no other way,” M. Agreste insisted, rubbing the wedding ring on his finger absent-mindedly. “If you want to waste your time on a wild goose chase, then go ahead. But I will not waste my efforts on something I know will not help save Emilie... or you. Now, I believe Nathalie has a lesson in Mathematics waiting for you. I don’t think you want to be late for it. I will see you after school.” 

With that, he turned and walked out of the dojo, his hands clasped behind his back.  

__*__*__*__*__ 

There was one set of pictures in the Grimoire that seemed to repeat itself throughout the book. A ray of golden sunlight, gray rocks and their dust, and the features of the animals which the kwamis resembled. These images weren’t on every page, but they seemed to pop up frequently enough to be significant... maybe. 

Marinette was less sure about her plan now than she had been that morning. M. Agreste had shaken her confidence. But she was determined to find a way to heal Mme. Agreste and herself without needing the Wish, because the more battles she was in, the less likely it seemed that they would ever win one. 

There had been another akuma after school that day. Golden Bug and Chat Grise had their normal Miraculous back, and they fought more fiercely than ever, at home with the weapons and powers they were used to using. Marinette had ended up trapped under half the weight of the Eiffel tower, watching helplessly as Chat Grise destroyed the akumatized object and Golden Bug purified the akuma. 

Hawk Moth had been furious, cold and silent in a way that would have frightened Marinette before she got to know him, and should have frightened Golden Bug and Chat Grise, had they only been there to see him. Maybe if they met him, if they heard his side of the story, they would realize that their Guardian wasn’t the hero he pretended to be... and neither were they. 

But Marinette wasn’t a very good hero, herself. The most she’d accomplished in a fight was distracting Golden Bug or Chat Grise (but never both at once) for a few minutes with her pitiful attempts at hand-to-hand combat. She could hold off Hawk Moth’s and her defeat for a short time, but she’d never managed to turn the tide in their favor. 

Just like she was failing now to decipher the images in the Grimoire. 

She’d managed to isolate two repeating motifs, but she wasn’t sure what they meant — or if they meant anything at all. M. Agreste had seemed so sure that her idea was just a waste of time! And maybe he was right. Maybe Marinette should be spending time learning about techniques to use in fights (not that the ones she’d learned had helped much; akuma battles were a different breed of crazy) or studying, so that she wouldn’t fall behind in her classes. 

But the medicine wasn’t working as well as it had before; she was getting worse again, and it was really hard to focus on anything, Grimoire included, today! 

I just need a break, Marinette told herself. Some quiet time to reflect on what I’ve done so far and what I still need to do. Then I’ll know if I should keep looking through the Grimoire or give up, like M. Agreste thinks I should.  

She closed the book she’d been staring at, put it down on her desk, and touched the cover to remind herself that it was closed for a reason, and she shouldn’t open it again until she’d made a decision. Then she climbed up to her balcony, leaving her phone inside, and leaned against her railing, looking out over Paris. 

It was easier to think up here. Being on her balcony had always been relaxing, but now it reminded her of being transformed as Bluewing, standing on the roofs of Paris, but without the pressure of being in a fight, needing to constantly duck and evade and counterattack while an akuma turned kids into dinosaurs or Paris into an unexpected swimming pool. 

Sometimes it was really hard to remember that she was on the good side. She could see why the Guardian had been able to brainwash Golden Bug and Chat Grise so easily; if she thought that Hawk Moth just wanted to terrorize civilians and leave Paris a wreck, she’d be against him, too. She had been, until he got the chance to explain what he was really fighting for. 

Besides, he’d never leave Paris in such a disarrayed state if he ever did win. His Wish would reset the world, making it a better place, a healed place, not a damaged one. 

That alone was worth fighting for, right?

And then there was Adrien... 

Marinette sighed, picking at the petals of the rose plant hanging on the balcony beside her. She hadn’t watered it in a few days, and Adrien had noticed its leaves looking a bit wilted when he’d come by that morning. She didn’t have much time for gardening now, but for Adrien, she would keep the plant healthy.  

Besides, she’d always been fond of roses. 

“What are you looking at?” 

The unexpected question cut through the silence, and Marinette jumped backwards, her heart racing at the familiar voice. Peering around, she readied herself to be confronted by the boy she was still learning how to protect her Miraculous — and heart — from. 

Sure enough, there he was, perched precariously on the railing to her left and wearing an innocently curious expression that she knew she couldn’t trust. 

“Golden Bug? What do you— what are you doing here?” 

She casually leaned against the railing in a very not-Bluewing-like way and got dirt from the potted rose on her elbow. She smiled to cover her cringe. 

Golden Bug looked flustered by her question, half-falling, half-jumping off the railing and stepping closer to her, which blocked her access to the trapdoor, her only route of escape.  

Not good. What if he’d figured out her secret identity and was here to arrest her and take her back to the Guardian, who would try to brainwash her and tell her that Adrien was only a sentimonster and not really human and she should just let him and the other sentibeings and their parents die? And he knew that she knew, and he was just deciding whether to keep things civil or start a fight on top of her parents’ house? 

Golden Bug hemmed and hawed as he tried to explain his presence away, sticking his hands under his armpits and offering her a strained smile. 

“Oh, well, I just happened to be out on patrol, and I remembered you’d been part of the fight against Evillustrator a month ago, and I walked you home after that, but we never checked up on you afterwards to see if you were doing well and— are you okay? Have you been having nightmares or anything? I can recommend a therapist if you need one!” 

A therapist. Just adding insult to injury, wasn’t he? 

“I don’t need therapy,” Marinette hissed. “I am a perfectly sane teenaged girl, all things considered!” 

Golden Bug’s face turned white. “Of course you are! I didn’t mean to imply that— someone as smart as you— I mean, you’re very impressive, and maybe a little bit crazy but still perfectly sane, if that makes sense! I just wanted to make sure that you weren’t hiding any trauma that you could be getting help for! I’m terribly sorry,” he apologized with wide, sparkling eyes. “I didn’t mean to insult you, honest!” 

Marinette pursed her lips, removing her elbow from the dirt in the flower box, discreetly wiped it off, and removed a few tiny thorns from her jacket. 

“I’m not sure if I accept your apology,” she said, and watched as Golden Bug’s face fell. What was he gaining from apologizing before he arrested her? They could’ve been halfway to the police station by now if he hadn’t wasted his breath making excuses! 

“I know, I really messed up, didn’t I?” Golden Bug had the audacity to look at her like he really cared about offending her, like she was someone important to him, someone he never wanted to hurt. 

It was doing wonders for her pulse, which had gone down to about nothing when he’d startled her, and was now fast enough to make up for the time it had spent as a flat line. 

“Okay, you got me. Here’s the real reason I’m here,” Golden Bug continued with a sigh, and Marinette’s heart skipped a beat.  

She knew it! She’d known it all along and had let herself be distracted by his illegally pretty face!  

Golden Bug held her gaze with his as he continued his explanation. “Adrien told me you seemed kind of stressed out recently, and he asked me to check up on you. I’m hoping it doesn’t have anything to do with Evillustrator’s attack or I’ll feel miserably guilty, but no matter what’s bothering you, I want you to tell me, Marinette. I can’t let Adrien’s princess get akumatized, can I?” 

Marinette’s mouth formed a little O as she realized that Golden Bug wasn’t lying. How else would he know about her adorable embarrassing nickname?  

Adrien really was such a sweetheart, to notice her anxiety getting worse and get a superhero to come check on her! It wasn’t his fault he didn’t know that Marinette was sworn enemies with Golden Bug. Golden Bug doesn’t know that, either, she remembered as she realized he was still waiting for her to say something. 

“Thank sweet of him,” she blurted out, and immediately her face grew red. “I mean, you very Adrien nice! To send you me! Gorgeous! Ugh!” 

Marinette groaned, but Golden Bug tilted his head back and laughed, the sound clear as silver bells and sweeter to her ears. She didn’t think she’d ever heard such a pretty laugh before! She wished she could let herself enjoy it, could make him give it to her again and again as she made him feel happy instead of betrayed by the girl he thought he could trust... 

Marinette’s cheeks turned pink as she watched Golden Bug wipe a tear from his eye and beam one of his trademark smiles at her.  

“Thanks, Marinette,” he said, his voice still holding the last trace of his laughter. “I don’t think I’ve laughed like that in a while. Not that I was laughing at you! I guess I’ve been stressed, too, and it felt good to not have to be, for once.” 

Marinette giggled, painfully aware of the dopey smile and blush spreading over her face. 

“I know what you mean. Don’t worry, I’ll even forgive you for earlier, too! Adrien was right, I have been stressed out, and you startled me, but I shouldn’t have snapped at you. I’m sorry,” she said, looking down at the balcony floor. 

Golden Bug’s eyes widened. “Really? I was totally out of line, I know, and I don’t blame you for being upset with me!” 

Marinette crossed her arms and shook her head. “We both admit we were in the wrong, then, so let’s put the past behind us and move on!” If only. “Here, why don’t you sit on the deck chair, and I’ll bring you some pastries from the bakery to have while we talk?” 

Golden Bug didn’t know who Bluewing was. And if he didn’t know who she was, that meant Marinette didn’t have a good reason to turn down his offer to talk with him, which meant she got to spend who knows how long alone with him, almost like it was a date! 

But it wasn’t a date. And it couldn’t be.  

Marinette knew she couldn’t afford to indulge her silly crush, or she’d risk spilling all the secrets she had to hold so close to her chest. 

Golden Bug was looking at Marinette with a light blush on his face, but he shook his head like he was clearing it before he spoke. 

“Thank you, but I shouldn’t stay long,” he said, though he did sit down on the chair. “If Hawk Moth or Bluewing sees me spending time with you, they might think we’re together—” Marinette’s face exploded with another blush. “—And then akumatize you, which is the opposite of what I, er Adrien, wants to happen!” 

Marinette looked away. “Right, the exact opposite,” she muttered.  

Why had she bothered offering? She should’ve known this would hurt.  

“Okay, well, I already told you that I’m stressed out, and it wasn’t because of Evillustrator. I just have a lot of schoolwork to catch up on; and I have breakfast tomorrow with Adrien, and who knows who else is coming; so I need to hurry up and finish my work or I won’t get enough sleep; and then I’ll be even more stressed; so maybe neither one of us has time for this and you should just go!” 

Every trace of emotion wiped itself off of Golden Bug’s face, leaving it as blank as a fresh piece of paper.  

“I’m sorry, Marinette; I don’t want to be a bother to you,” he said, and though he kept his expression carefully neutral, his voice sounded almost sad. “Purr haps you’re right, I should just leave you alone and stop making things worse.” 

Marinette squinted. “Was that a cat pun? Even though you’re in your ladybug suit right now?” 

Golden Bug blinked, like he’d forgotten that fact until she brought it up.  

“Oh,” he said blankly. “I guess it was. I’m sorry, I can’t get anything right today.” 

Well, Marinette couldn’t let him leave now. 

“Of course you can,” she insisted with a frown. “You defeated Bluewing and Hawk Moth again today, didn’t you? I’d say you must have done something right for that to happen!” 

“Oh, no, that was today?” Golden Bug collapsed, lying back on the deck chair and covered his eyes with one arm. “I thought that was yesterday!” 

“Pretty sure it was today,” Marinette said as she wondered whether that was right or if she’d been the one to lose track of time. “Even if it wasn’t, you’re not only Golden Bug. I’m sure you did something else today that you can be proud of. Probably came up with a decent pun at some point and made someone smile, at least!” 

She didn’t have time for this! She should be ushering Golden Bug off of her roof and waving bye-bye to that annoying voice that kept screaming in her ear about balcony dates and star-crossed lovers! 

Only, how was she supposed to resist trying to help Golden Bug when he was clearly in need of some friendly sympathy? 

“I don’t pun as much when I’m not transformed,” Golden Bug said, keeping his arm draped over his eyes. “I tried it once and it didn’t go very well.” 

Marinette frowned. “Oh. Well, if you started making puns as Golden Bug, then I guess it would take your friends a while to get used to you-you making them. Just give them some time. And work on the quality of your puns! Clearly, you need to expand your repertoire if you’re forced to dip into cat puns when they wouldn’t make sense.” 

Golden Bug heaved a sigh of a laugh and lifted his arm, letting the green of his eyes peer out at her. “Maybe you’re right. But I think you were more right earlier; I’m wasting your time staying here. I was supposed to be cheering you up, not the other way around! If you’d rather talk to Adrien or someone else other than me, I can just go. Nobody likes bedbugs, right?” 

“That’s a reclined chair, not a bed,” Marinette pointed out. She let her shoulders droop as she stared down at Golden Bug. “You really aren’t bugging me, I promise. But if it would make you feel better, I’ll spin you a tale of my many civilian woes and let you leave feeling like a helpful hero.”  

Golden Bug smirked. “Oh, so you do like puns,” he said gleefully, and his eyes sparkled in that familiar and dangerous way. “All right, let me get up and it’s your turn in the chair.” 

Marinette couldn’t help but smile as he leapt to his feet and bowed low with his arm outstretched, gesturing to the chair.

“Thank you,” she murmured as she sat down and crossed one leg over the other. 

“Okay. Now, why don’t you— hold on,” Golden Bug said. “Lucky Charm!”  

A spotted red mustache fell out of the sky and landed neatly in his hand. He quickly put it on and coughed into his fist.  

“Very well then,” he said in an Austrian accent. “Vat’s been troubling you, Fräulein?” 

Marinette burst out laughing. 

“Are you supposed to be Freud? Your accent is far too French to pull it off,” she said through her laughter. “He’d be more like— like—” she racked her brain trying to remember how to do an Austrian accent. 

“Ah, but you are not any better, are you, Fräulein?” Golden Bug said, clicking an imaginary pen and flipping the page of an invisible notebook. “Now, tell me: ven did your troubles start?” 

“When you landed on my balcony,” Mariette gibed, reaching out to tug on one corner of his oversized mustache. 

Golden Bug squawked in outrage. “Hey!” 

She raised her hands in surrender and sat back on the chair. “Well, I guess they did start with that first akuma,” she sighed. “Or, no. I don’t think it would have been as bad if I hadn’t taken on this stupid internship. Only, I like having the internship? But it’s a lot of work, and then Adrien started going to public school, which made everything less fun. But I still see him in the morning! It’s just, everything is so much, and now I’m behind on schoolwork and I don’t know if I can ever truly succeed because all I ever seem to do is fail, and—” 

She sniffed and rubbed her eye, hoping to hold back the tears. It would be pretty pathetic of her to cry in front of her enemy, wouldn’t it? 

Golden Bug’s face fell. “That’s not true,” he said softly. 

Marinette looked down. “Yes, it is,” she said, clenching her fists so that they would stop shaking.  

It was truer than Golden Bug could know. And she had to keep it that way. 

“No, it isn’t,” he said, crouching down in front of her and looking up at her eyes with the most heartbreakingly sincere, concerned expression. 

He was still wearing the fake mustache. He looked ridiculous.  

Marinette didn't care when he was looking at her like that. 

“Believe me, Marinette. It isn’t. Who got you that internship? Was it your parents? Destiny? Chloe Bourgois?” 

Marinette barked out a laugh, and he smiled. 

“No. It was you. Your skills and your hard work earned you that position. I don’t need to know very much about you to figure that out. You’re one of the smartest people I know; you figured out how to defeat Evillustrator all by yourself and then really managed to do it! Of course M. Agreste would see how brilliant you are and take you under his wing. And, Adrien going to public school? Who made that happen?” 

“We both did,” Marinette said, wiping her eyes, which were leaking against her will. 

Golden Bug shrugged. “He told me the story. I’d say it was mostly you. Seems like no matter what you’re doing, you do your best, and you win in the end. Because that’s who you are, right? You’re Marinette Dupain-Cheng! I know things can look dark sometimes. But I have faith that you are going to pull through. What’s a little homework to the girl who took down an akuma single-handedly? Pretty soon, it’ll be water under the boat! Or bridge,” he said, raising one shoulder in a noncommital shrug. 

“It’ll be water under the bridge,” Marinette agreed, daring to hope that would apply to more than just her homework. Because what would happen after she won, if she won? After she stole Golden Bug’s earrings and Chat Grise’s ring and broke their trust once again? Would they forgive her once they saw what she was doing it for? 

“That’s the spirit. Take it one day at a time, and before you know it, you’ll be all caught up! I could see if Adrien’s father would let him see you more often, too. Would that help?” 

“I don’t know yet,” Marinette said, blinking away her tears and standing up from the chair. “I’ll start with the homework and see how it goes. Thank you. And, uh, I don’t think you need the mustache anymore, do you?” 

Golden Bug reached up and spun one corner of it around his finger. “I don’t? But doesn’t it make me look dashing? Maybe I should keep it a little longer!” 

Marinette sighed. “Look, Goldie, you can pull off being a golden ray of sunshine and the blackest cat of the night, but I don’t think you were meant to have a mustache.” 

“So cruel!” Golden Bug lamented as he peeled the mustache off his upper lip. “Also, Goldie?” 

“You picked a long name,” Marinette said with a shrug. “Would you prefer Bug? Or Goldilocks?” 

“No, see, that one’s what Bluewing started calling me,” Golden Bug said as he tossed the Lucky Charm in the air, creating a spiral of ladybugs that flew around doing nothing and then vanished. “You can’t both call me that.” 

“Then ‘Goldie’ will have to do,” Marinette said, crossing her arms. “Oh, and, not to pry, but... what was up with that outfit swap? All of a sudden, you were a black cat and Chat Grise was a metallic blue bug? How? Why?” 

Mentally, Marinette was patting herself on the back for taking advantage of this fortunate situation. And to think she’d been so scared at first! 

Golden Bug flushed. “Oh, you noticed! We were hoping to throw Hawk Moth and Bluewing off with that one. I mean, they’re so used to us being like this, you know?” He gestured to himself as he spoke, and Marinette followed his movement with her eyes. “But it turns out that we’re also used to us being like this! It felt more we were giving them the advantage, instead of vice versa, so we traded back.” 

“Oh, well maybe the third time would be the charm,” Marinette suggested slyly. “Besides, the cat suit looked so good on you. Did you have a name picked out?” 

Golden Bug scratched the back of his neck. “Uhhh... no. We hadn’t thought that far ahead, honestly. Since we were on patrol together before the attack, it was more of an impulse decision than I would like to admit.” 

“But you just did,” Marinette pointed out, hoping that would make him spill more and not clam up. 

“Well, yeah, but you’re not the paparazzi or another hounding reporter,” Golden Bug said, tossing her a glance full of something she didn’t quite recognize. “You’re a pretty special girl, Marinette.” 

Okay, that point went to him. 

“W-well, I don’t think— oh,” Marinette gasped as her legs gave out under her. Was the floor unstable suddenly? And had the air just gotten a little harder to breathe? 

No, she realized. It’s the Miraculous’ magic.  

“Marinette!” Golden Bug cried out, stooping over to pick her up and lay her down on the chair again. “Are you all right?” 

“I’m just clumsy,” Marinette lied. “Only I could trip over nothing while standing still, right?” She punctuated her statement with a nervous chuckle. 

Golden Bug did not look convinced. 

“And maybe I didn’t get enough sleep last night,” she added with a sigh. “Or the last week.” 

“Oh, no,” Golden Bug fussed, “Then I’d really better leave and let you get on your schoolwork! You need to get enough rest; this isn’t healthy!” 

“You sound like a mother hen,” Marinette remarked, but she was secretly glad her ploy worked. It wasn’t good for him to stay much longer! 

Golden Bug shot her a withering glare. “Promise me you’ll go to bed early tonight,” he demanded. “Or I’ll make sure Adrien doesn’t come in the morning, and you can sleep in.” 

Marinette gulped. “Fine, fine, I’ll go to bed early,” she said, waving his arms away as she slowly pushed herself up. “Happy?” 

“I guess I have to be,” Golden Bug said, scanning her with worried eyes like she was a porcelain doll and he was trying to find her cracks to put her back together. “And I really do need to stop wasting your time, for real, so... good bye, Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

Pulling out his yo-yo, he looked like he would leave her balcony at any moment. 

But Marinette had one more pressing question she wanted to ask him, even if he didn’t want to answer it. Even if she didn’t like his answer... she had to try. So, she reached out imploringly, afraid to take a step forward while the floor still seemed wobbly to her weak legs. 

“Wait! Before you go, um...” Her voice trailed off as Golden Bug waited, meeting her gaze expectantly.  

Marinette wrung her hands together.  

“Would you consider giving up your Miraculous?” she blurted out. 

Golden Bug froze and gave her a lopsided smile. “Was that your Hawk Moth imitation?” He giggled. “You’re far too good-hearted to pull it off. He’d be more like—” 

“No,” Marinette said, cutting him off. “No. I mean, if there was a reason, like a really good reason, a save-the-world reason, and Bluewing or Hawk Moth told you about it, would you do it?” 

“Would I give up my Miraculous to save the world? I mean, I guess, but it kinda seems like giving up my Miraculous would have the opposite effect, you know?” 

Marinette sighed. “Whatever. Just— don’t write it off, okay? You never know what might happen.” 

Golden Bug blinked and wrapped his yo-yo back around his waist. “Marinette,” he said, stepping closer and putting his hands on her shoulders. She avoided his gaze and hoped he wouldn’t notice the red tinge in her cheeks. “I would give up my Miraculous in a heartbeat if it would save the world. You— the people of Paris mean so much to me. I would never do anything that would put you in harm’s way, even if it would mean never seeing my kw— uh, my friend again. Please believe me,” he pleaded, gently cupping her cheek with one hand and raising her gaze to meet his. 

Well, he would definitely notice her blush now. 

“Okay,” she whispered, meeting his green eyes with her shimmering blue ones. “I believe you, Golden Bug. You are the city’s hero, after all; it was silly of me not to trust you.” 

“Well, I can forgive it this once,” Golden Bug said in a joking tone. “But life has been super crazy ever since Hawk Moth started sending akumas, and even if Evillustrator didn’t give you PTSD or anything, that doesn’t mean the little things wouldn’t build up. It makes sense that you had trouble trusting me; after all, it’s been how many months, and I still haven’t taken Hawk Moth down like I promised I would!” 

Marinette opened her mouth to protest but closed it, confused. Why did she want to defend Golden Bug so much? She was supposed to be his enemy, for goodness’ sake! Not his civilian ally! 

Smiling down at her sadly, Golden Bug continued, “I’m frustrated with myself, too. But that doesn’t mean I’ll give up. Adrien might have been your knight first, but I hope you’ll let me join your army, your highness,” he said, leaning in close and pressing a kiss to her cheek. “From now on, when I fight, I’ll be fighting for you.” 

Well, what could Marinette say to that? 

“Hng” was what her mouth eventually decided on, not that that was very helpful. 

Golden Bug laughed, the sound as sweet and clear as before, and Marinette couldn’t help but smile. 

“Thank you, my knight,” she said, finally freeing her mouth to voice her approval. “I am honored to have you on my side.” 

“And I am honored to fight for you, my princess.” 

With one final overdramatic bow and a kiss to the back of her hand, Golden Bug was finally on his way, and Marinette was left alone on her balcony with her thoughts. 

Golden Bug was half a city block away before she realized there had been anything wrong with her last sentence to him. But when she did, it gave her the frustrated energy she needed to push herself back down the trapdoor to work on her Grimoire decoding. 

And that night, she finally found something. 

#ml fanfic #ml au #bluewing au #rosie-b writing #kwami swap #miraculous ladybug #ml leak free

[lily-drake]

The Demon’s Queen

Chapter Thirteen

First <> Previous

Marinette’s skin was buzzing, but for once it wasn’t in a bad way that was caused by poisons or getting her butt handed to her, though she was now lasting longer and longer on the mats.  No, it was something almost warm and inviting.  She had not been expecting Talia to have been so…understanding.  It was a welcoming difference, just not one she had been expecting.  

“Marinette.”  Talia began, her voice warm and sweet as honey.  “Follow me, I would like to see how well you have been able to keep up on your education studies.”  Marinette perked up at that, quickly following after the older woman.  While the boy had placed her in classes such as: War Strategy, Arabic lessons, and different “fundamental” type classes, she was sure that Talia would allow her to study something else.  

“Marinette, you are a healer.  Though my son understands the importance of this role, he does not fully recognize what it means to you.  You held the Ladybug Miraculous as another part of you for many years, so much so that I have seen the subtle hints of your power coursing through your blood when you battle.  However, you were also blessed by the Miraculous of Destruction as the Guardian of the box.”

“Why does that matter now?  Without my Miraculous I can’t use my magic.”  Marinette asked, pain hidden behind her stoic facade.

“And that my dear, is where you’re wrong.  You are the guardian, you do not need to hold the Miraculi in or hand to weild it’s power.”  Talia explained as she opened the doors to a large library she had never seen before.  “As you were exposed most to the powers of creation, your gifts will lie first and foremost in that of creation and healing rather than death and destruction.  And I assure you, that is not something that should be frowned upon in this line of work.”  

They walked past large shelves filled to the brim with scrolls and ancient tomes until they stopped in front of a shelf in one of the farthest corners of the library.  From the top of the shelf she polled out an ancient tome with no markings on it firm leather cover that could hint at what it was about, but Talia seemed to know what it was anyway.  “This, is my father’s research on past holders and the powers that they maintained long after use and loss of the Miraculi.  I think that you will find the information located in this book rather insightful.”  Marinette took the book, holding the ancient thing carefully as she hugged it close to her chest, as if that action alone would keep it safe.  Talia gave her a warm smile, and gently patted her head, ignoring the way Marinette ever so slightly leaned into the touch.

Marinette stared up at Talia, her blue eyes still unable to hide the questions and curiosity she tried to hide.  Though it was obvious that Marinette wanted to ask her something, she stayed silent.  Talia didn’t say anything either, waiting to see if the young woman would break or if she would hold herself back.

“Thank you Ma’am.  I will study this carefully.”  There it was.  Talia simply gave a light dip if her head before turning and escorting Marinette out of the room.  Talia watched as the young girl turned down the hall towards her quarters, and smiled.  Marinette’s steps barely made a sound.

__________

“What do you mean you can not take the box back?”  Damian seethed as he glared down at the three Guardians before him.  “Is it not your original responsibility to obtain and keep these jewels safe from others?”

“It is Demon’s Head, however the box no longer belongs specifically to me.”  Grand Guardian Su-Han stated calmly.

“Do you truly expect me to believe that you have no way to remove your curse from another yourselves?”  Damian demanded, leaning back against his throne.

“Not unless you wish for her memories to be completely erased.”  Damian kept his face passive though he was burning on the inside.  How was it that the only options here were for his protégé to either keep their curse or lose their memory of everything to be set free?!  While it was true Marinette losing her memory would make molding her far easier, he did not wish for her to lose what made her great; her intimate knowledge of battle and unwavering need to become better—even if the need was driven on an attempt to escape.

“If you can not fulfill this properly then I wish for you to renounce Marinette from belonging to your Order.  She belongs to The League of Assassins now and no one else.”  The guardians shared a look amongst the others before staring back at The Demon’s Head.  They did not want to give up one of their own, but if Damian was anything like Ra’s al Ghul, he would not hesitate to attack their temple.  If they had more time, they would be able to defend themselves from such an attack, but they were still recovering from their sudden return and thus were too weak.

“If we let you have the young Guardian, will you promise not to harm our sacred temple while we rebuild ourselves?”  

“Tt.  I am not as cowardice as to attack while you are defenseless without cause.  And I have no cause.”  Damian replied flippantly.

“Very well.  I, Grand Guardian Su-Han, relinquish my pupil Guardian Marinette Dupain-Cheng to her new mentor, The Demon’s Head, Damian al Ghul.”  There was an invisible power that hung in the air around them, swift and strong.  Nothing big happened, there was no light show, no gusts of wind, no strings of fate.  Yet, it was magically binding all the same.

“Your presence here is no longer required.  You will be allowed to safely travel back to your temple.  Now leave.”  Damian may not have been able to rid himself of the cursed box, but he no longer had to worry about The Order of the Miraculous trying to retrieve her.  He knew the power given over him didn’t do anything, it gave him no power, it was simply a promise that they would not interfere.  But it filled its purpose nonetheless.  

Damian watched the guardians bow before swiftly leaving the throne room in one smooth motion.  Once he was alone Damian slowly stood from his throne and walked back to his quarters.  

“Looks like your attempt to get rid of us didn’t work out too well, huh Kit.”  Plagg laughed as he flew into Damian’s hair as soon as his door shut.

“Poor Dami.”  Trixx mocked from the bookshelf.

“I normally like rich and powerful men”, Kaalki began, “but you are the one exception.”

Damian sighed in annoyance.  How Marinette handled the childish beings was beyond him.  Plagg laughed, rolling around his hair like a normal cat would do with catnip.  He watched from the corner of his eye as Tikki sat atop the doorframe, glaring down at him with hatefilled eyes.  She didn’t say anything, she didn’t need to.  Damian knew what she thought of him, and he knew that that opinion would not be changing anytime soon, Damian didn’t care.  

With one last sigh, Damian got ready for bed.  He had promised his mother that he’d take Marinette out to the village tomorrow, he’d need to be prepared in case she tried to run off.  And he had no doubt that she would try.

Next

Taglist:

@sinoffalsejudgement @peachmuses @myazael @snnoww26 @dur55 @tip-tap-tired @ledalasombra @jennifer-rose123 @kylamai @plz-excuse-my-inner-gay @stella17luna @meduarts @toodaloo-kangaroo @valeks-star @crazylittlemunchkin @achaoticmess1 @queenz-z @doll246 @aespades @liquid-luck-00 @a-slytherinish-gryffindor @demigraceling-blog @kashlyn @castle-bookworms-world @a-classic-bookworm @wheredoesonegetnameideas @ascetic-orange @night-ngale @0anodite0 @strawberryfire17 @laurcad123 @firestorm0316 @aksartisticlife 

#maribat #daminette #romantic maribat #romantic daminette #damian x marinette #marinette dupen chang #damian al ghul #talia al ghul #the league of assassins #damian is the demon’s head #the order of the guardians #mlb x batman #dc x mlb #kwamii #mental manipulation #assassin training #assassin marinette #things be happening

[milarqui]

Scarlet Lady: Zombizou

Directory | Prime Queen

“As requested, I looked into whether or not the Bee or Cat has ‘extra’ powers,” Master Fu said, passing the pages on the Grimoire as Adrien looked on, his mind still on the events of the previous day.

“Hm,” he noncommittally said, distracted.

“There is something here, but…” Fu continued, fingering the characters in a page underneath a picture of Marigold's top. “It's unclear, as usual. Something about powers manifesting in times of great need. But my training didn't include decoding ancient vague posts.”

Fu shook his head.

“From what I gather, it's dependent on the holder to unlock any new–”

That was when he noticed Adrien was not paying his full attention.

“Is something on your mind, Adrien?” he asked, shaking him off his mental elucubrations.

“Huh? Ah, no, nothing! Thank you for updating me, Master!” he quickly replied, standing up to get ready to leave. After a few words of goodbye, Adrien left the shop and closed the door behind him.

“You didn't tell him you think Goldilocks might be Pigtails,” Plagg pointed out, and Adrien looked away, uncomfortable.

“Uhh…” he said, trying to find an answer that would actually work, only for Plagg to nod at him.

“Good choice. If you find out her identity, you'll have to give up your Miraculous.”

“Well, that's dumb. And shouldn't it be the other way around?” Adrien pointed out. “Giving the Black Cat to a noob at this point would be a disaster. Either way, it's not like I have proof. No need to involve Master Fu.”

“Right…” Plagg awkwardly replied.

—

Meanwhile, at another house near Françoise Dupont, Marinette was talking with Pollen on a similar matter.

“Pollen, should I try to find out Chat Noir's identity?” she asked her Kwami partner, who nodded with a grin.

“Whatever you think is best!” she replied.

Pollen was not up to date with current protocols, needless to say.

—

The next day, all of Marinette's classmates were ready to celebrate the day they had been preparing for the past weeks.

“I drew Mme. Bustier as a superhero for her birthday,” Nathaniel explained, “cuz she's always solving problems!”

Their teacher's birthday.

“I wish her solutions included less hugging,” Nino replied with a deadpan look.

“My gift is to thank her for the meditation minute,” Mylène said as she got her present on the table. “It keeps me calm.”

“Yeah, free nap time is awesome!” Kim added, causing Ivan to roll his eyes.

“Kim, that's not the point of meditation,” the gentle giant pointed out.

“I, for one, am a big fan of our morning compliment time,” Lila said, sparkling as she twirled around with a smile. “Isn't it great to start the day exchanging compliments?”

We all know why you enjoy it, Alix, Max, and Nathaniel thought as they thought of the latest such event.

—

Three days before

It was morning compliment time, and Mme. Bustier had picked two girls she could tell were having some difficulties with each other (or, as her students would put it, hated each other's guts) so they would say nice things about each other. Maybe this would help them become friends!

Or so she thought. because, as it turned out, people had the ability of making insults sound like praise, and neither Chloé nor Lila were shy about it.

“Oh, Chloé, I love how confident you are in your makeup skills,” Lila said, grinning at the Mayor's daughter, “despite being a total amateur!”

“Hmph! Well, I love how entertaining it is when you lie about having an amazing life even though you're a total nobody!” Chloé fired back.

“O-ho! You know, it's really brave of you to wear so much white when your fake tan is so runny.”

Chloé glared at the smirking Italian girl… while Mme. Bustier kept smiling, oblivious to what was really going on.

—

“What about you, Marinette?” Adrien asked. “I'm sure you came up with something awesome, as usual.”

“Heheh˜” she giggled, pulling out the box she had prepared. “I got her favorite shade of lip balm, and I made a makeup back with the first thing Mme. Bustier taught us: ‘If we want to change the world, we must all learn to love each other’.”

“AWW!” several of her classmates said.

“Isn't that lesson kinda… juvenile?” Alya asked with a grimace, which Marinette answered to with a side-eye.

“Well, she's been teaching some of us since we were six,” she replied as she put things back in place.

“Hey Chloé, what did you get Mme Bustier?” Sabrina asked with a smug look on her face.

“Ugh! Uh…” Chloé groaned as she tried to find an answer, but Marinette interrupted.

“C'mon, Sabrina, you know Chloé didn't get anything just like every year since Cours Preparatoire.”

“Whatever,” Chloé said, looking away and crossing her arms. “All that nonsense about compliments and love? Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!”

“What a shocker,” Marinette sarcastically replied as she opened her locker and put her present inside. “Caring about someone other than herself would require Chloé to have a heart.”

“Um, of course I have a heart? I could even buy yours,” Chloé replied, causing Marinette to roll her eyes at Chloé’s stupidity as she closed the locker.

—

The door to Marinette's locker opened again, but this time it was Chloé at the other side, marker in hand, as she grabbed the box.

“I can't believe I have to take my own cap off my own marker,” she complained. “What I go through to make sure Dupain-Cheng knows her place.”

—

“BON ANNIVERSAIRE, MME. BUSTIER!” the class cheered as their teacher entered the classroom, looking at the small pile of presents on the table.

“You're all so sweet, thank you!” the teacher said, smiling and blushing at her students’ generosity.

“Oh, Marinette made that one!” Alya said, pointing at the present that was closest to Mme. Bustier, who gently opened it… to find a box with an ugly scribble made with marker and covering what looked like a beautiful sewing of a sentence she could barely make out.

“Huh?! What's this?” the teacher asked, showing her students the contents.

“WHAT?!” Marinette shouted, turning to glare at Chloé. “I know you did this, CHLOÉ BOURGEOIS!”

Mme. Bustier raised her hands, trying to calm her student down.

“Now, we don't know that it was Chloé–”

“Of course it was Chloé!” Marinette interrupted, pointing at the blonde's face, who wasn't even bothering to hide how pleased she was. “Just look at her smug face!”

“Seriously, Chloé?!” Alix shouted.

“Why do you have to make everyone around you miserable?!” Nino yelled.

“Students, calm down. We don't want to be upset on my birthday, do we?” she asked, before checking the box over. “Well, I think it's a wonderful present. And I'll be able to think of both of you when I use it!”

Something inside of Marinette… snapped.

“Ex-CUSE ME?!” she shouted, unable to comprehend what was going on. Mme. Bustier looked at her student and walked up to the door.

“Marinette, would you come with me, please?” she gently asked, opening the door to the corridor, as Marinette slouched in shock.

“What is happening right now?” she mumbled.

“Alya, don't let things get out of hand while we're gone,” the teacher commanded, and Alya nodded.

“Oh, I'll keep us right on track,” she replied, as everyone else in the room aimed their death glares at Chloé… who suddenly realized she might have made a miscalculation as thirteen people made their best to drill holes into her with their eyes.

—

Hawkmoth had noticed it. How could he not? Such anger was usually the type that produced the best Akumas.

Yet… he also noticed who was this angry, and he knew all too well what had happened every other time an Akuma aimed at Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

But… it might be his best chance.

He sent the butterfly.

“Please let this be worth going after the girl for,” he said as he saw the black Lepidoptera vanish through one of the windows in his lair. “No risk no reward, I guess.”

—

As soon as they were outside, Mme. Bustier put a hand on Marinette's shoulder… who wasn't feeling placated at all.

“Chloé vandalized my work and I'm getting punished?” she asked, morose.

“Don't be silly, Marinette. You’re not in trouble.”

“But you are punishing me,” she fired, making Mme. Bustier lift her hand. “You're giving Chloé credit for my gift. My time and energy and hard work. That's punishing me.”

Mme. Bustier remained silent for a moment, and for that moment Marinette thought she might have got through her…

“... as class representative, I want you to be a good example for the class.”

Nope, she hadn't. Marinette felt her eye twitch.

“Chloé is capable of great things, but she only thinks of herself because she doesn't know how to love.”

The twitching became more intense.

“But you can show her how! You just have to forgive Chloé!”

Something snapped. Again.

This time, it was any kind of self-control.

And Marinette glared at her teacher.

“ARE YOU ACTUALLY KIDDING ME?!” she yelled, for once in her life completely furious.

“Marinette–” Mme. Bustier tried to interrupt, but Marinette didn't care.

Chloé had stepped on her berserk button, and Mme. Bustier had not only done the same, but acted as if it were perfectly good.

“NO! Chloé did this maliciously! And she's not even SORRY!” Marinette continued yelling, her frustration pouring through. Almost ten years of her teacher mollycoddling Chloé, ignoring everyone else's requests in favor of favoring the mayor's daughter, had accumulated. And with the dam burst open, she just released it all. “All ‘forgiving’ her does is tell her that no matter how awful she is, she'll get away with it! Or even be praised for it!”

“That's–” Mme. Bustier attempted to stop her, but Marinette was on a roll, and no teacher was going to stop her.

“And what about me?! Why should I ever do nice things when I'm told to suck it up when my efforts are spat on?! Why do Chloé's feelings matter more than mine, the wronged party?!”

“Now, listen here–” Mme. Bustier said. Marinette could recognize the teacher was getting angry. But Marinette recognized something else.

She did not care.

“Well, I'm done! If you don't want to punish Chloé, fine, I can't make you! Just like you can't make me pretend Chloé isn't the meanest, rudest, most despicable person I've ever met!”

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng!”

Oh, resorting to full names? Marinette's subconscious noted. Time for the coup de grace.

“All that's necessary for evil to succeed, is for good people to do nothing,” she said, giving the teacher a look as she walked away. “And you did nothing, Mme. Bustier.”

With such Parthian shot she left, not wasting the time to look back at her teacher. 

Mme. Bustier had sowed the wind, and now the harvest had included hurricanes.

And, as she walked off, Marinette gave a sigh of relaxation. That had felt amazing.

—

Hawkmoth realized that his original target had somehow managed to get rid of her negative feelings - or, at least, enough of them that she would be hard to Akumatize. But right next to her was another potential target… one that was angry with his original target.

“Well, switching from the girl to someone upset with the girl is marginally better, I guess,” he said, ordering the butterfly to move for the new target. “In for a penny, in for a pound. I mean, I already sent out the butterfly…”

—

“Chloé, you're worse than Hawkmoth!” Alya yelled.

“You've caused half the Akumas in Paris!” Alyx shouted.

Not that Chloé cared.

“Is it my fault that I'm better than all of you?”

“Just because your mom forgets your birthday doesn't mean you get to take it out on Marinette or Mme. Bustier,” Sabrina venomously fired, causing Chloé to turn to her former friend, furious.

“How dare you?! I don't have to sit here while you spill my life story! Keep your big mouth shut, Raincomprix!” Chloé yelled back, putting all her stuff back into her bag and then moving to leave the classroom, just as the door opened to let Marinette in. “Out of my way!”

“Hey!” Marinette shouted as Chloé shoved her aside.

“Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!” she grumbled as she left the classroom. “Where does she get the gall–huh?!”

“Zombizou, I'm Hawkmoth.”

“Oh, great,” she complained. First her moron classmates and now she'd have to deal with her moron sidekicks and her moron teacher.

“Your student spoke so hatefully towards you. I'll give you the power to spread love and compassion in exchange for the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous,” Hawkmoth said, and Chloé decided to carefully get herself out of the way to avoid getting caught in today's nonsense.

“I won't stop until everyone on Earth feels the love!” the teacher declared as Chloé reached the stairs. “Starting with Marinette Dupain-Cheng!”

Chloé stopped.

Now… maybe she didn't need to leave so fast…

—

“GOOD NEWS, EVERYONE!” Mme. Bustier said as she reentered the classroom - but this was clearly not their teacher.

“Wha–?!”

“Mme. Bustier?!”

Because… to be honest, what her teacher was wearing now was making Marinette's eyes water. The teacher's usually loose brown hair was now tied in a green-gray bun held together with two massive needles, her face had a pink domino mask over her face, and her outfit was now black with a large pink heart on the torso and more hearts spread over it.

Marinette liked pink as much as the next girl, but this was an abomination.

“From now on, everyone is going to hug and kiss and feel the love!” the Akumatized teacher declared, causing Alyx to grimace.

“But not, like, literally, right…?” she asked.

“Starting with my role model student, Marinette! MWAH!”

“AH!” Marinette shouted as she jumped aside, while a small black heart slammed just behind where she'd just moved away from. “What the heck is that?!”

“Tch. Missed.”

“Mme. Bustier!” Rose shouted. “Snap out of it!”

“I'm not Caline Bustier anymore! I am Zombizou!”

Quickly, the students grabbed their backpacks and tossed them at the Akuma.

“Sorry for this, Mme. B!” Nino shouted while jumping off his seat.

“Ah! OW!” Zombizou yelled as she got slammed by multiple heavy backpacks.

“Get out, quick!” Marinette ordered, and everyone followed, knowing that putting distance between themselves and the villain was their best option to survive.

“You won't escape my love!” Zombizou declared. “MWAH!”

And the heart flew… straight into Sabrina's neck.

“AH!”

“Hahaha, smoochies my poochies!”

—

As the class ran, Sabrina almost tripped down the stairs and held onto the rail, her face flushing.

“I… is it suddenly very hot in here?” she asked, trying to stay on her feet as her mind clouded.

“Huh?” Adrien asked, wondering what had happened to their friend.

“‘Brina?” Lila asked in a worried tone.

“Can you keep going?” Adrien asked.

“Try to make it to the nurse's office at least!” Lila encouraged, even as Sabrina sat on the but stairs.

“Lila…” Sabrina mumbled… before she tackled Lila, her pupils somehow replaced with pink hearts, and pushing her to the ground. “Kissou~!”

“Wah!” Lila yelled in shock, and stunned as she was, she was unable to keep Sabrina from… kissing her in the cheeks.

“Sabrina! Stop smearing your lip gloss all over me!” Lila begged, embarrassed. “Now's not the time to realize how amazing I am!”

But then, when Sabrina stopped kissing her, Lila had the same pupils, and she tackled the closest person - Mylène.

“Kissou~!”

“Ah!”

“Mylène!” Ivan shouted, worried about what was going on, but one thing was clear: this was starting to get out of hand – particularly as Mylène started to turn around.

“It's contagious! Don't let yourself get kissed!” Alya warned him... but Ivan chose to stand at the bottom of the stairs, as the three girls tried to rush him, shouting 'Kissou~!'.

“Go! I'll hold them off!” Ivan shouted.

“Ivan!”

---

Nathaniel ran to the Art Club room: he knew that splitting from the rest of his class was tempting fate, per every horror movie he had seen, but he had to do something! His friends there were unaware of the newest threat!

“Quick, you have to hide!” he shouted as he opened the door. “There's an Akuma, and–!”

“Go on, Nathaniel,” his teacher's Akumatized form's voice sounded right behind him. “Tell us all about the Akuma.”

He wasn't the type to throw ugly words around, but he felt that this time, he totally deserved to be able to do so.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU–

Unfortunately, he got hit by Zombizou's kiss before he could utter that aloud.

---

As his classmates ran upstairs to avoid all the kiss zombies that had suddenly sprung out, caused by Zombizou's power, Adrien realized he had the perfect excuse to get away and transform.

He faked slowing down and looked away, so Nino would be unable to see his face as he lied like a rug.

“Oh, noo, I–I feel faint. I think I– ugh, ki–kissou–”

“Dude, I love you but not enough to makeout with your zombie, stay away!” Nino warned as he followed Juleka to the top floor.

…

He wasn't going to go into how that sounded like. He had enough trouble already.

---

“I'll find you sooner or later, Marinette!”

“Kissou~!”

“You'll have to accept my love!”

“Kissou~!”

“Whether you like it or not!”

If she weren't an Akuma, she'd have probably been piled on by a zillion police officers already.

---

“I don't want to make out with strangers!” Max moaned in distress from his perch on Kim's back, as the survivors of the group holed themselves up in the locker room.

“What do we do?!” Alya asked, still shaking from the shock of everything that happened in the past few minutes.

“We're gonna hide until the heroes fix this!” Marinette ordered, while internally aware that that meant only Chat Noir would be there to do anything.

“Hey.”

“FUCK!” Marinette yelled after the 'heroine' suddenly showed up from within a locker. “Scarlet Lady, what the HECK?!”

Then she realized something was very much out of place.

“Why are you hiding in a locker?”

Scarlet Lady looked on, silently, before turning around and waving her hand.

“Anyways~”

“She ignored me?!”

Though, Marinette wasn't sure why she was that surprised – it wasn't as if Scarlet Lady ever paid attention to anything that wasn't her ego.

“Kissou!”

“Kissou!”

Everyone turned to look at the room's inner window, horrified to realize it was swarming with... well, the kiss zombies created by Zombizou.

“Oh no, they found us!” Kim yelled.

Scarlet Lady ran to the outer window and opened it, pointing upwards.

“Quick, we need to get on the roof!”

The students looked at her, suspicious.

“Why's she suddenly so helpful?” Alya asked, a sentiment shared by everyone else. Scarlet Lady never did anything that didn't benefit her.

Of course, they were completely right in being suspicious.

If I want a front row to the Akuma getting Dupain-Cheng, I'll have to stay with the group for now, the 'heroine' thought, hiding her evil grin from her classmates.

---

Fortunately (and no thanks to Scarlet Lady), the entire group managed to reach the roof, and much more fortunately, Chat Noir landed just next to them as they took a breather, and Marinette pulled out her phone to check the situation.

“Hey everyone! Let's hold off on the usual greetings, yeah?” Chat Noir suggested as Marinette opened her TVi app.

“Hordes of kissing zombies are spreading through Paris – ah!” Mme. Chamack reported, only to get interrupted by Zombizou, who turned to look at the camera.

“I'm coming for you, Marinette! And Chat Noir, Scarlet Lady, and Marigold!” the Akuma declared, and Marinette quickly turned it off, in shock.

“S–She's after me?!” she said, stunned.

“Maybe we should give them what they want,” Scarlet Lady added, and everyone else turned to glare at her.

“Don't even think about it!” Max shouted, clearly angry.

“You'd have to get through us!” Kim added, just as angry as his best friend.

“Come near her and I'll throw you to the zombies myself!” Chat Noir threatened.

“Aw! Guys!” Marinette replied, although she wasn't as happy as she should be. Though ditching me would make it easier to transform.

“Kissouuuu!”

“Kissou!”

“They're getting on the roof!” Nino alerted.

“What do we do now?” Rose asked.

“Over there! A bus!” Marinette suggested, pointing at the large vehicle. “Think you can drive, Chaton?”

“About as well as anyone else, ma belle,” Chat Noir answered, as he tried to think on how to reach it from their current position. “One of us has to throw my belt back to the roof and the other has to catch it–”

“I'll catch the belt!” Scarlet Lady offered, and Marinette and Chat Noir looked at each other.

“Super sus,” they both agreed.

Chat Noir jumped down to distract the zombies after giving his belt to Alix, and they all quickly used it to slide down a cable that led near the bus.

Unfortunately, it wasn't fast enough, and...

“Please hit Zombizou extra hard.”

“Kissou!”

“MAX!”

“For being top tier uncomfortable!” their genius classmate said, having moved away to keep the zombies distracted from Marinette just long enough for her to escape.

“Ho–kay!” Kim exclaimed, grabbing Marinette and putting her on the improvised zip line. “Gotta go fast, 'Nette!”

“Wait, what–” and Kim shoved her down. “AHHHHHHHH!”

Scarlet Lady pouted.

There goes my chance to throw her to the zombies.

Then Kim turned, realizing she was still there, and pushed her off the roof.

“Hurry up and save everyone already!” he shouted.

“Wah –!”

“Kissou!”

As he got grabbed by the zombies, Kim noted that he was glad Max wouldn't remember what happened.

---

Thankfully, Marinette's sudden travel down the line was brief, and Rose was there to help her down, while Chat Noir jumped between vehicles to keep the zombies' attention away from the bus.

“Hey-yo! Don't you want to kiss me?!” he taunted, as he happily noticed Marinette was safe(r).

“Kissou!”

“I've got you, Marinette!” the blonde girl said.

“Just be careful behind you, Rose!” Marinette warned, and the two of them ran towards the bus –

“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” Rose yelled as one of the zombies grabbed her wrist.

“Rose!”

“LET HER GO!”

Juleka's shout was accompanied with a mighty punch that forced the zombie away from her girlfriend.

“Juleka!” Marinette added, as the goth girl pulled them into the bus, and Rose hugged Juleka.

“My hero!” she exclaimed, unaware of the mark left in her right arm.

“That was an awesome right hook!” Alix complimented, and Juleka looked bashful

“I've been, uh, practicing.”

That was when Chat Noir jumped in, and after a few false starts he managed to make the engine run.

“If we get to the Eiffel Tower, we can lure the Akuma out,” Marinette suggested, and Chat Noir nodded.

“Hopefully, Marigold had the same idea–”

“AHHHHHH!”

“Rose, Juleka!”

“G–Get back!” Scarlet Lady shouted, backing off, as Rose turned around.

“Kissouuuu~”

None of them had realized Rose had been hit with a kiss, and she had just given another to Juleka. They had a zombie in the bus!

Which was when Alix jumped ahead and grabbed Rose by the shoulders, keeping her at arm's length.

“Hngh!” she grumbled, struggling to hold her off.

“Alix!” She was doing a lot of yelling her friends' names, wasn't she?

“Kissou! Mwah!” the zombified Rose mumbled as she tried to kiss Alix.

“Everyone! I'm trusting you to protect Marinette! And to get back at Hawkmoth and Zombizou for this nightmare!”

“Mmwah!�� Rose kissed Alix, sealing her fate, as Marinette was pulled out of the bus by Alya and Nino, followed by Chat Noir and Scarlet Lady, as they finally reached their destination, still followed by zombified Parisians who were eager to try and kiss them.

“Kissou!”

“Kissou?”

“C'mon, c'mon, faster!” Alya shouted as she pressed the button to open the elevator's doors. They did, and–

“No–!”

“Kissouuu!”

“Mwah!”

“Alya!”

“Get off of her!”

The zombies had lied in wait, and too fast for Alya to avoid before they kissed her. While Chat Noir and Nino were able to force them away, it was too late.

“Alya–!” Marinette cried out, kneeling next to her best friend, and Alya gave her a wan smile.

“Hey, it's okay,” she replied. “Chat Noir and Marigold will save us. So keep yourself safe.”

“For both of us, 'Nette,” Nino added, holding Alya's hand.

“Nino?!” Marinette asked in shock, and Alya gently shoved her towards the elevator.

“You two...” Alya started, then she thought it better. “You better take care of my best girl, Kit-Kat.”

“Of course,” Chat Noir replied, and Scarlet Lady pouted.

“Uh, I'm still here too, you know.”

Nobody cared.

Not when the situation was so dire.

Chat Noir pulled her into the elevator and closed the door, pressing the top floor button.

---

“Don't forget our deal, Zombizou!” Hawkmoth said, glad that he was safely ensconced in his secret lair.

“They won't escape my kiss by hiding out at the Eiffel Tower!” his latest Akuma promised.

He knew it was close! Those Miraculouses were already his!

---

Nino could notice when his girlfriend's resistance to the Akuma's effect collapsed, as her face blushed and her eyes turned into those creepy heart-like pupils.

He sighed.

“It's not the first time we've been in trouble together,” he said, as Alya tackled him.

“Kissouuuuu!”

“Yeah, yeah, 'kissou' or whatever.”

---

As the door closed behind her, Marinette felt her eyes tear up, and looked down to hide them from Chat Noir.

The pain... it felt like her heart was tearing itself apart.

“Why?! Why didn't they protect themselves?!” she cried out, sobbing as the tears cascaded off her eyes and hit the elevator floor. “How could they sacrifice themselves for me?! I HATE THIS!”

“Hey!” Chat Noir gently said, lifting her head and cleaning her tears with his thumb. “Marinette, no one saw it as a 'sacrifice'. They protected you because they love you.”

And when he smiled, so softly and beautifully, her heart forgot for a moment its pain.

“And that's why I'm going to protect you too.”

“Chat Noir...” she replied, stunned. Had he... did he just...

“But also don't get sloppy because I have zero faith in this 'helpful' Scar,” he whispered, making her feel a bit of whiplash from the change of matter, but she had to agree with him.

---

After the long climb up, the elevator's door finally opened, and they were at the tower's highest terrace. They should be safe there, but...

“Damn, they're here too!” Chat Noir complained as they realized there were a few zombies there as well.

“It's not too many, stay sharp!” Marinette told the others.

Here's where you get what's coming to you, Dupain-Cheng! Scarlet Lady thought... and she tossed her yo-yo at Marinette.

Chat Noir, however, had been ready for this, and blocked it with his staff.

“What do you think you're doing, Scar?!” he shouted.

“Chat Noir, look out!” Marinette warned.

In his haste to protect Marinette from Scarlet Lady, he had forgot about the other dangers in the tower.

And the zombies promptly swarmed him.

“AH!”

“CHAT NOIR, NO!”

Chat Noir was able to force them away from Marinette and block their advance with his own body and staff... but his face was now covered in kisses.

“Chat, don't leave me!” she begged, tearing up again.

“Hey, Princess, don't cry. Everything is going to be okay,” he replied, still smiling.

“You don't know that!”

“Marigold will defeat Zombizou, and Scar will fix everything.”

“You haven't even heard from Marigold!” she exclaimed, feeling guilty. “How do you have such faith in her?!”

“She's the best partner in the world, Marinette,” he replied, and the glint in his eyes told her he knew much more than he ought to. “Believe in her like I do.”

“Chaton...”

“If you're done with your spappy moment,” Scar interrupted, tensing the yo-yo rope, and Marinette turned to face her. “Now that all the roadblocks are out of the way, you'll finally get what you deserve for making fun of Chloé!”

She tossed the yo-yo again, but Marinette dodged it (silently thanking her work as Marigold for it).

“Hold still!” Scar shouted.

“Where are your priorities, you menace?!” Marinette angrily yelled, furious that she had just caused her to lose Chat Noir to the zombies.

Not that Scar cared.

“I'm gonna hand you over to the grossest zombie I can find–”

“Kissou!”

And Chat Noir kissed Scar in the cheek.

“Huh?”

Marinette took advantage of the distraction to slip back into the elevator room.

“Ew ew ew, cat lips!” she heard Scar yell, but Marinette had something else in mind.

“B–Buzz On,” she mumbled, and felt the transformation take her.

But it was too late. She collapsed, sat with her hands over her head, as she realized what just happened.

“Scarlet Lady... Scarlet Lady's infected... she can't reverse the Akuma...” she mumbled. She was all alone now... and she had no way to fix what the Akuma had just caused. She... had she lost? “Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god–”

“HAHAHA!”

And, of course, just to make things worse, Zombizou showed up.

“Marinette, Marigold, come out come out wherever you are! Witness the final triumph of love before I claim the Miraculouses!”

She couldn't do anything.

She might be wearing a Miraculous... but, right now... she needed an outright miracle.

“What can I do, what can I do?!” she mumbled, and in her despair, her shock, she imagined as if bees were buzzing around her. “I have to... I have to...”

And, like a dam that had overfilled... something burst from within her.

“AHHHHHHHH!” she screamed.

She didn't know if it was pain, or shock, or just plain need to yell out her feelings for everyone to know.

But what sprung from her was an explosion of light.

And suddenly... she knew she could do it.

She had found her miracle.

---

The explosion of light blinded all the zombies surrounding the elevator cabin, and forced Zombizou to cover her eyes.

“WHAT IS THIS LIGHT?!” the Akuma yelled, surprised at the sudden turn of events. She had finally cornered Marinette, and then this had happened. Her sweet hearts were now rubbing their eyes and collapsed on the floor, and so they were out of place when the door opened again. “Marigold, YOU–”

But there, she stopped.

Because Marigold's costume was now, somehow, shining. Black and gold had moved around the surface, with her leggings going from gold to black while her sleeves did the opposite. And she was twirling her top around, looking at her with an impassive face.

“Why–?! What's with that suit?!” Zombizou yelled, but Marigold didn't answer.

She threw her spinning top.

“BEE BALM!”

And suddenly everything was swarming with bees.

But when Zombizou realized the bees were not attacking her, she laughed.

“Ha. Hahaha! All that flashy light and it did nothing, Marigold–”

“Where am I?”

Zombizou turned to look at her sweet hearts... which were no longer under her control!

“Wasn't I at work?”

“What are these glowing bees?”

“WHAT?! My SWEET HEARTS!”

“Marigold freed them from your influence?!” she heard Hawkmoth shout.

Before she could react, try to bring them back under her love –

“Venom.”

“Wai–!”

Too late.

Zombizou became paralyzed.

And the nightmare was finally over.

---

“No fair, why does she get a new look?!” Scar complained.

Nobody cared.

“Wow, you unlocked a new power!” Chat Noir exclaimed, his eyes sparkling in joy as he took in her partner and her new uniform. “I knew you could do it! You really saved the day! How'd you pull it off?!”

Marigold... didn't answer.

She just bonked her head on his chest.

And...

“M–Marigold?!”

… she sniffed.

What happened?

---

As Scar finally deigned to do her work and use the Cure, Mme. Bustier was brought back to normality, and the woman collapsed on her knees as she realized what had just happened.

“Oh no, I... I let my negative emotions take over, how terrible!” she moaned in distress. “I'm terrible.”

“Hm,” Marigold joined in, turning to look at her. “Then I guess that means nearly all your students are 'terrible'.”

“What?! No, that's not–” the teacher protested, but she was interrupted by Chat Noir.

“Exactly. Feeling things like anger or sadness or jealousy is normal, and nothing to be ashamed of,” the hero stated. “How we react, how we use these emotions, is what matters.”

“And the only one to blame for taking things too far is Hawkmoth,” Marigold finished, before the two of them jumped off as her timer began to beep.

And the teacher was left alone with the last of the group.

“Scarlet Lady, you're friends with Chloé, right?”

“Huh?” the 'heroine' said, before realizing what was going on. “Oh, uh, of course! Best friends!”

The teacher approached her, and put a hand on her shoulder.

“I'm so glad she has you as a good influence,” she said, and Scarlet Lady looked nervous as she did so.

“Uh, thanks?”

“Chloé's friends aren't being very nice right now, so I was worried.”

“Oh, that's no big deal,” she declared, smug. “Chloé only surrounds herself with the best after all! They're just being dramatic.”

“Thank goodness!”

And the teacher hugged the 'heroine'.

“Thank you for not leaving Chloé alone.”

“Heheh, yeah, sure.”

---

Marinette mentally sighed in relief as she saw all of her friends and schoolmates milling about, as if they hadn't been struck by the latest Akuma.

Save for the fact that they were actually talking about said Akuma, it was all good.

“Did you wake up before the cure went out?” Mylène asked Alix.

“I saw bees and then ladybugs!” Nino told Adrien, who was nodding with a smile.

“G–Good morning, everyone,” she timidly interrupted.

“Marinette!” her friends exclaimed as they realized she had just arrived.

“Thank you all for protecting me yesterday and...” she sighed again. “I'm really sorry. When Mme. Bustier pulled me out of class, I went off on her. So it's my fault she was Akuma–”

“You really did that?” Ivan asked.

“That's amazing!” Alix and Nathaniel exclaimed together.

“Awesome,” Juleka added.

All of them were actually sparkling.

“H-Huh?!”

Marinette was so shocked she could barely show her shock at how... well her classmates had just taken the news.

“Mme. B didn't hold back pictures even though she knew I was in the bathroom,” Juleka explained, retreating back into her shell.

“And she let me do Chloé's work for years and never stepped in to stop it!” Sabrina added, angry at the reminder of what she had done in the name of her 'friendship'.

“If you mess up a little, she sends you to the Principal,” Ivan joined in, “but I knew I'd look like the bad guy if I said anything negative about the 'nice' teacher.”

Marinette was surprised to see everyone nod to Ivan's words. It was as if everyone had been in the same boat as Ivan regarding their teacher...

“No one blames you for losing it on Bustier,” Adrien said.

“Not when she was letting Chloé get away with bullying you again,” Nino added.

“We'd dive in front of a hundred Akumas to protect you!” Alya offered, smiling.

“Thanks, but PLEASE DON'T!”

She had already been traumatized enough. She didn't care to repeat the experience.

---

When Mme. Bustier arrived to her off, she found a small box with a card where Chloé thanked her for putting her ahead of the others.

Unfortunately, Mme. Bustier didn't realize the real meaning of it, and accepted it as proof that she was right about her student.

---

The Mime

Welp, the memetic molester of Akumas just passed through. Glad to see her leave, not so glad she never learned the lesson.

Apologies for the lateness, I have too many things in hand and too little time to work on them. Still doing this, though, just as the SL comic enters its finish line.

So, that's 514 pages, 205324 words, 1108074 characters.

I'll do my best to get the next chapter ASAP!

#scarlet lady the novel #fanfiction #milarqui #long post #adrien agreste #chat noir #marinette dupain cheng #marigold #adrienette #caline bustier #zombizou #scarlet lady is better than canon

[fullymechanized-consoomer]

Ice Hockey is the most slept on sport in North America because it’s history is one of batshit nonsense and drunken antics that miraculously crystalized into diehard traditions. For example: The famous Stanly Cup:

Not the big column underneath, the actual Cup itself is just the little dish affixed on top, and everything underneath is just there to record the previous holders. This thing has been around since 1892 . There are 3 Stanly Cups: the OG Stanley Cup made in 1892 is positively ancient and fragile, as such it’s kept locked away in a vault. In its stead were made 2 “representations” of the OG Stanley cup: The Presentation Cup - which replaced the original in 1968 and is the one you see everyone holding, and the “ Permanent Cup” - itself a spelling corrected representation of the Presentation Cup housed in the Hockey Hall of Fame when the Presentation Cup is not available. Why would the Presentation Cup not be available? Because it is straight up the only trophy given out for the entire league, and as Hockey tradition dictates it becomes the custody of whichever team wins for 100 days during off-season, at which point they have full custody to pass around the Cup. The Presentation cup has been used as a chip and dip dish, wash pan, and a baptismal bath. It’s also been peed in, stolen, lost on road trips, and had to be drudged out from a lake when the Goalie in charge of it for the day decided to see if it could float (it does not). Yet through sheer grit, no matter the battering, carelessness, and indignities the Cup suffers, each time it finds a way to be returned, buffed, re-waxed, and sanitized.

#Hockey #NHL

[redtippedfox]

So idk if this has been asked or answered already but what causes the original corruption or what can cause it and how does it work?

When a Miraculous is Akumatized there is a security feature to keep the kwamis safe from the corruption of the negative Akuma, sort of a boundary that keeps them safe but keeps them trapped in the Miraculous as well.

When a Miraculous is broken, the magic and written rules of the Miraculous are left vulnerable and dangerous to the holder. Magic will leak out of the Miraculous and affect the holder, that is why it is very dangerous to wear a broken Miraculous.

When a Miraculous is broken, and reconfigured to the point the ancient laws of the Miraculous that had been written in the Miraculouses are shattered. This leaves the kwami of the Miraculous and the Miraculous itself very vulnerable, it is open to all types of corruption.

Monarch shattered the safety and laws of the Miraculous when he reconfigured the Miraculous and separated the kwamis from their Miraculouses.

So when he placed a mega-Akuma, into the reconfigured Miraculouses. The Miraculouses sucked the Akuma into their form allowing them to recreate their true forms but they were now corrupted due to the negative energy from the Mega-Akuma. The kwamis are affected by the Mega-Akumas magic and it breaks their minds to the point they become dark versions of themselves.

Then Monarch placed the corrupted Miraculouses on the very emotional holders, this will cause the holders to have a small meeting in their heads, kinda like how Hawkmoth talks to his victims. The corrupted kwamis will offer a deal and twist their holder's mind in order to have a host. Once both the holder and the kwami make a deal the holder is transformed by the corrupted Miraculous.

Now for the corrupted:

Abilities that Corrupted Miraculous holders have

-Super speed

-Heightened hearing

-Sharp claws

-Sharp taste/sense of smell

-Extra powers

-Hunting abilities

-Sharp eyesight

-enhanced super strength

-Sharp fangs

-Animalistic tendencies

-Multiple use of power

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous tales of ladybug and chat noir #miraculous au #timey wimey…uh oh au #ask me #timey wimey lore #corrupted miraculouses

[a-flaming-idiot]

Now onto the Butterfly-Adrien design for my Senti-Mari AU: Psyche!

To cut a very long story short in the AU, after defeating his father, taking his miraculous, and handing it over to Master Fu, Chat Noir ends up stealing the Butterfly Miraculous back to protect Marinette from a new monstrous threat. With just the Butterfly Miraculous, he is the hero Psyche. He was also the one to akumatize Alya into Artemis during the same event that led him to first use the stolen miraculous.

I wanted to go for almost the complete opposite of Hawkmoth, as Adrien is actively trying to distance himself from his father as much as possible, even while using his old miraculous. So, I went for a much softer look with much looser fitting clothes and a rather extravagant mask and cape combo. And much brighter and lighter colors all around, even in his staff. I also went for a softer look for his Akumas/Kamikos along with his Akumatization mask. A lot more use of the swirl patterns that are on Nooroo that get completely lost in Hawkmoth and even Ladyfly.

Fun lore about the name, Psyche in ancient Greek means both "Butterfly" and "Soul". Along with being the name of a goddess and the partner of Eros, the god of romantic love. And of course in modern English, "psyche" can refer to the human mind. All things I thought went well with Adrien as the new Butterfly Holder. The Ancient Greek themeing mainly was meant to match with Artemis, Alya's akumatization, since they have a big BroTP in this AU with Artemis as one of his go-to akumas. And I thought of Artemis' name first.

Hope to further expand this with more lore of this AU and more of Psyche's akumas.

#miraculous ladybug #senti-mari AU #adrien agreste #butterfly Miraculous #miraculous ladybug fanart #Miraculous AU #Flame Draws #Akuma #Akumatization #Psyche