#i was tortured too. my bones were broken repeatedly for someone elses amusement and it was fucking horrible

[baldurs-gate-official]

Thinking about Astarion and trauma again (shocking)

He really is the first character I've seen that depicts PTSD/C-PTSD the way he does. He's angry. He's collecting the pieces of himself he had to chip away over the years and figuring out how to fit them back together again, and it's hard.

I rarely see good PTSD rep in media (and C-PTSD is even less depicted/understood). And when I do, it's always the soft pitiable side of it. The side of it that's more palatable and easy to accept. But the reality is that the trauma that stems from such abuse can be vicious, and messy. It can lash out and push people away. Bring out the worst in you, at times. It can be so, so angry.

I love that we see that in Astarion. Both because it's good representation, and because I'm a survivor too. I'm angry. I'm upset. I want to kick and scream about it, but I can't. I feel like I must always remain in control, or that displaying those feelings will only hurt those around me and push them away. I don't want that. I don't want to hurt others or be alone.

Seeing Astarion do those things, being angry and messy over it all... It makes me so happy. He says things to Cazador I wish I could say to my own abusers, with no regard to how others perceive it. He doesn't hold back. And I get to see a character with a very similar kind of trauma do/say the things I only dream about, and not be abandoned for it. He's given the chance to heal and grow as a person, and feel loved. He gets to have a happy ending.

And he gets to be mad. And that's ok.

#bg3 #astarion #text post #cw trauma #cw ptsd #ive never seen a character before with such a similarish past to mine #i feel so seen and understood #i hate that ive had to be silent about it #i hate it so much #it means SO much to see a character with such good CPTSD rep #and see so many people love his character #i recently escaped my own abusers so this sort of thing makes me very emotional #the way he talks about torture too and doesnt try to sugar coat it #i was tortured too. my bones were broken repeatedly for someone elses amusement and it was fucking horrible #years of that #and starvation #among other things #and ive never seen a character before thats been through something similar #ive never even seen a character before this that specifically has CPTSD #ive seen characters who *should* have been written with CPTSD but its as if the writers just googled PTSD and went with that #(C-PTSD comes from continued exposure to trauma over the course of months or years where PTSD is often from a singular event) #(the symptoms differ a bit. and Astarion is a very good example of C-PTSD) #it just makes me really happy. and it makes me feel like people might understand and not blame me for what happened #well. some people do anyway. but. this kind of representation helps a lot with helping people understand #seriously though ive had people act like theyd have fared better in my situation. or blamed me for what happened #how fucked is that???? i want to chew glass whenever it happens #its always people whove never had any experience with abuse too #but they have the audacity to tell me theyre built different or something #q

[brightsun-and-darkmidnight]

Heartbeat: A Fragile Reminder

TITLE: Heartbeat: A Fragile Reminder

CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: Chapter 9 / ?

AUTHOR: brightsun-and-dark midnight

ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine Loki falling in love with a Midgardian and his words to Thor about Jane during Dark World coming back to haunt him. “It would be a heartbeat. You would never be ready.”

RATING:  M for Mature

NOTES/WARNINGS: ~▪︎~FOR THE WHOLE STORY~▪︎~

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Check Masterlist. It's going to be a long read. I try to keep each chapter around 3,000 words.

My Ao3: brightsun_and_darkmidnight

!-!TRIGGER WARNING(S)!-!

So many triggers, read ALL of them!

Swearing. Angst. Death. Depression. Violence. Self-harm. Regret. Carelessness for safety. Doubts. Torture. NSFW. Smut. Fluff. And Of Course- Mischief.

Summary: Public image and Alicia learns how to ask for forgiveness.

 ~ ~ ENJOY  ~ ~

With the Avengers knowing about Alicia was convenient. Well besides having to ask permission like a child… Loki decided to just tell them when he was leaving instead. Alicia claimed he was acting like a rebellious teenager, but she did love when he would spend the night with her.

"Are you going to see your lady?" Thor questioned as Loki walked from his room and straight to the elevator.

"Yes."

Thor asked loudly, as if he was actually going to miss Loki, "When will you be back?"

Loki turned in the elevator to hit the button, "when I am needed."

"No later than Lunch tomorrow! We are going over a mission."

Loki made sure to roll his eyes before the door closed. Loki bought his own cars now that everyone knew he went nearly across the city. Well, more cars. Loki was dressed… casually. A grey button up tucked in blue jeans, and dress shoes. He was picking up Alicia for a little shopping and she promised they would stop by the little beverage stand that he loved. 

Loki loved his new freedom. Being able to see her as he pleased. There were annoying times when they would be called for their "heroic" duties. When the Avengers would call Loki, he had to leave by himself, but Alicia took him to SHIELD…Loki remembered the first time… it was amusing. Everyone was watching him closely. There were at least 10 guards anywhere he went. Alicia was immediately taken to Fury who expressed his disapproval and throwing around Loki's past. Alicia really spoke her mind. At first with the same thing she told civilians, "he is good, he is not under any influence. If he wanted to do bad he would have already. Anyone can wipe their slate clean with an expungement."

Fury didn't say a word and stared her down. 

Alicia was silent for a moment as she stared back. "Even Coulson said Loki lacked conviction."

Fury's eyes narrowed, "His dying last words?"

"You know that Coulson would have recruited Loki. Just like he did with the original Avengers. None of them had a clean slate then. Most of the people in SHIELD were recruited, by Coulson, because they had skills -illegal skills."

"You think because you have a clean slate you can clean Loki's up?"

Alicia's response was a snarl, "No." Alicia inhaled and Loki saw her body relax, "what I am saying is that Coulson did not have a clean slate. He could change people, and if he couldn't, the less desirable parts were directed to our enemies." Alicia gestured towards Fury's computer… "go ahead, we both know I am not innocent. Everyone in the entire world understands there is no such thing as innocence. Those that do are the ones we protect and leave in their blissful ignorance."

Loki already knew Alicia was headstrong but watching her talk against her own superior, levels above her and listening to her grumble as they walked to the training room, Loki kept the smirk under control. He teased her by telling her she was the rebellious one until he met her father, Marcus. Loki was amused at the threats and the Midgardian style of seeing if one was worthy for their loved one to be with. Marcibeth didn't threaten him as much as Marcus. 

Alicia did nothing to stop the threats. However she muttered, "this always fucking happens." She rolled her eyes and went to a changing room.  When Alicia came back she was dressed in all black. A tight sleeveless corset that showed off her chest but was covered with a sheer fabric of a halter top. Belt looped through tight pants and boots that went up to her calf. Loki was looking forward to getting her out of those. As if she read his mind she sent him a glare, forcing Loki to smile. Alicia trained with her father, and she really reminded Loki of water.

She was smooth and calming like a gentle stream. Then she could be as fast and rough as a river turning into a waterfall. She didn't fight to kill, but to knock out or restrain. Marcibeth was not lying when she explained Alicia is more of a hero than an agent. Due to her heroic fighting style and Marcus fierce fighting style, Alicia was barely a match.

Marcibeth explained that Alicia would be a better match for Marcus, "if he was someone else and he hurt a child, Marcus would likely be dead or in my cozy workspace for me to have fun with." Marcibeth waved her hands, "other than that she is so reckless." Then as if on cue, there was a sickening crack and Alicia howling in pain. 

Marcibeth walked as if this was normal. She healed Alicia but chided her, "if you would just go for the kill you wouldn't be this way. You know dad could have actually killed you instead of break your arm. Use this as one of your countless lessons."

Alicia snickered, "But it's good practice for your healing magic." Alicia hissed as Marcibeth made the wound heal faster and Loki swore it healed so fast he was hearing the bones snapping back in place. "Fuck! Marci, no wonder why people talk. You are not pleasant at all."

Marcibeth just laughed and training continued. Loki sat on the sidelines with the now 20 guards. Alicia forced Loki to teach her some of his magic. Loki however wanted her to show what she could do and quickly realized she did not understand how to let the magic flow properly. So they worked on that repeatedly.

They had more dates in public and most of the time Alicia tried to prank him. She tried to sneak up behind him to try and shove ice cubes down his shirt or rub her wet hand on his face from her condescending drink. However, Loki would turn and grab her before she could dart off. He would then force her own hand onto her own face. 

She did get him once by having him taste her ice cream but shoved it into his face. Since that day it was war. Loki would get her drinks but would purposely put too much sugar in them. Then the one time she put way too much salt on his fries that made his mouth dry, she had drank all of their shared beverage. Loki played illusion pranks on her such as leading her to a place with very few people with the illusion. When she would try to touch him, the Illusion would disappear and he would capture her from behind and refused to let go of her till she ASKED NICELY.

Loki was happy when Alicia let him touch her, appropriately. He tried to keep her to himself, and displayed she was hers by giving his colors to her. Everyone left them alone for the most part.

Then moments that had Alicia trying to calmly discuss what happened.

Loki was fully prepared for the argument going to start… as usual Alicia left him in suspense until they were in private of her apartment.

Her hand ran through her hair, "Well.. that's going to get too much media attention."

Loki grumbled, "he had it coming." 

Her long sigh as her body tensed. Then inhale as deep as she could and forced herself to relax. Her fingers uncurled and gently rested along the flat surface of the counter. She turned towards him. "Loki. You can not. I repeat. NOT. Go around trying to man handle everyone that insults you."

Loki remembered turning to go back to their table after ordering their usual iced beverages. There was a man in late 40's, flirting with Alicia. His chair pulled so close he could have just sat in her lap. Alicia pulled her hand away from the near grasp of his hand and tried to push her chair backwards but that hand went to hold her chair still. The man suggested Alicia, or "baby," leave with him and he would "spoil" her better than her current "sugar daddy." Loki scoffed, the man's suit wasn't tailored. Alicia told him she wasn't interested and the man's hand went to her thigh. Alicia used a pressure point in his hand to make him let go so she could back up. The man asked if Loki wanted to join with his new "toy." Alicia slapped the man and tried to get Loki to leave. Loki was letting Alicia push him away then the man told Alica she was a lowlife and needed to be taught a lesson as he went to grab Alicia's hair. Loki's mind ceased to function because his blood had boiled away.

"Well it was actually about you."

Her fingers curled slightly and then relaxed. He looked at her face, and it was reserved only for a calm discussion. Her eyes opened up but her eyebrows were furrowed. She spoke but it wasn't as calm as she usually did, "I could have handled it."

Loki scoffed, "by letting him touch you?"

"It's not like I could have broken something. I am the defenceless, everyday, civilian."

Loki waved his hands to the side then back at his chest, "So you admit you need a need a protector."

Alicia forced a mock laugh, "Well then let me make you food for your valiant act of saving the damsel in distress." Alicia rolled her eyes as she turned to gather things. "I'm sure you're starved since our food supply was severely damaged in the EQUALLY matched battle."

Loki ignored her voice that was becoming more like a growl. She was going to punish him by making him a simple sandwich with terrible deli meat.

Loki trapped her against the counter by pushing himself against her, "I want something delicious…" Loki purred into her ear as he hands go from her rib cage to her hips. However his hands did not hold her firmly as she usually desired. He used his leverage on her hips to pull her slightly backwards so she could feel his growing erection. His tongue was leaving a trail of saliva from her ear to the seam of her shirt. He slid the shirt over so he had access to the place she loved bit. He wasn't being hard but teased the idea with harder licks and letting his teeth graze her skin as he sucked gently.

"We. Need a good image. We need to be role models for everyone. I hate people saying you are this terrible person but you somehow got such a good girl, when I'm not."

Loki grinned as she tried to hide her sexual frustration by making it look like she was mad at the meat for not staying on the bread. He spoke below her ear and earned the shiver he was going for… "Now, Darling..we know how GOOD you are." Loki nibbled on her neck as she left the sandwiches in favor of putting her fingers to use on his clothes, "give me a reminder of how good you are."

Alicia was kissing him and trying to remove his clothes. She stated nipping his neck as she was becoming more frustrated at the buttons that the slit was sewn a little tighter, just at this moment. "That is not the same thing." Alicia looked at the button that would not come free, "You teasing asshole."

"God of Mischief. Now, make me something because I am just starving from rescuing a fair maiden."

Alicia laughed and then growled as she struggled with a very difficult button. Alicia abandoned the half unbuttoned shirt, "how about you get what you started? What my hero so desires." Her hands worked at his belt.

Loki chuckled, "And you are not going to give me energy but make me exert more?"

Alicia growled as she nipped him, "I know how you do not want that food." She was pulling him to her room as she started to remove her own clothing.

Loki got on top of her once she removed everything and trying to fill herself, "going to be bad? Hm? When in the public eye there are...consequences." A rather hard pinch and tug at already perked peaks that resulted in the desired whimper. "Often not always pleasurable and you have to APOLOGIZE. It is good to ASK for forgiveness." Loki was teasing her; running his fingers along her body gently and then pressing firmly on less pleasurable places.

Alicia was still stubborn as she growled,  "I'm not begging."

Loki hummed, "that is one way to go about those consequences...but I'm just reminding you, things get better with an, apology" Loki was slowly coaxing her to orgasm and just as she was starting to spasm he pulled fingers from inside of her and circled the entrance instead. "or worse without one." She whimpered and Loki could feel her muscles clenching a few times until it stopped. Alicia tried to bring his head towards the meeting place of her spread legs.

Loki crawled up her and pressed his body to hers, almost slipping into her. "Doing what you want and not apologizing gets even worse punishment."

All of her appendages tried so desperately to pull him but he held her hands out so they were pulled towards the bed posts. He conjured ropes to her wrists and let her go. He hovered over her and smirked at her groan. Then her legs tried to lock at the ankles around his waist but Loki easily separated them.

"Don't make me completely restrain you. Because I will." Loki's hands ran up the insides of her now still legs. His eyes met hers, "do you remember our agreement?"

Alicia gasped before she answered, "Say red if it's too much."

"Good… and the other thing?" Loki let his fingers firmly circle her clit.

"If I'm good.." Alicia moaned as Loki replaced his fingers with a silver tongue. "If I'm good I'll be rewarded!"

Loki went back to using his fingers and asked, "are you being good?"

Something mixed with pleasure and frustration escaped her parted lips.

Loki chuckled,  "I'm sure you understand how the PRESSUREjust builds until, you apologize and ASK for forgiveness."

Her legs were bent and tried to pull him towards her need. Loki leaned away to rest on his knees, "I warned you." Loki grabbed her ankles and watched as she was spread before him. She was already wetting the sheets from her pleasure..or lack of. As soon as Loki let her go she tested out the restraints. 

Loki's hands and mouth were all over her body as his cock rubbed against her slit.

That word he craved fell from her lips but he pretended not to hear, "did you say something?"

"Please… please. Loki." Alicia begged. "I'll be good, I promise!"

"If you are good...what do you want as a reward?"

"You to bring me pleasure." Alicia whined, "please?"

Loki hummed, "since you are asking so wonderfully and know just what you want…" Loki chuckled, "well I think we want the same thing…"

Her eyes were closed tightly, "Put your cock in me." Loki ran his dripping cock along her very slick folds. Her eyelids were not creased anymore, 1"please put your cock in me!"

"You will have whatever you ask.." just like the first time, she took his breath away when he merged their bodies. Loki gave her many orgasms until she cried their safe word. Loki held her as she shivered in the aftermath of pleasure. Then he felt her magic surge from an oncoming vision. She suppressed it and whined his name. What perfect timing… she was exhausted already. "If it is not a serious vision I will only get a few things." She nodded and Loki summoned a flat book, papers and writing utensil. "Just let it happen Love." Alicia sat up with everything in her lap. Her eyes got the lost bright look and started to draw.

Alicia drew Jane at a conference with many displays of her algorithms and diagrams. Loki understood Jane was proposing making a biofrost so Earth could trade easily with the other realms. Alicia filled out a ton of information on those diagrams. So much that Loki could persuade Fury into the idea before this happened.

Loki took the things from her and let her fall onto the pillow. He cradled her head and told her to rest, that he would be there for her. Loki felt her go to sleep immediately. Loki held her and as he drifted to sleep he came up with a speech to persuade Furry.

#Heartbeat: A Fragile Reminder #loki #check triggers #check description #chapter 9

[notoriously-blonde]

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] 

The Forgotten, Chapter 7: Stupid Thoughts

Read on AO3 here

[Summary]  Life is hard for teenagers. Growing up, learning to be responsible. And thoughts, those are distracting. Especially the stupid ones. Even more so when to figure out weird, timeline, magic stuff. And when an akuma is based off of one.

--------

For a few seconds, Marinette was frozen. His words not registering properly. Then, all at once, it was the only thing occupying her mind. Whatever she came here to tell Adrien and Tikki completely lost to the void that has destroyed her life.

After a week of isolation, and emotional torture, someone had finally been able to see her! Talk to her and hear her!

...but they have no memory of you. Pessinette, the She-devil she whispers to her.

“Do I know you?” Pessinette continues to torture Marinette with his words.

‘No one realizes you were gone, what makes you think they ever can?’

Flashes of memory run through her mind, egged on by Pessinette.

No pictures of her in her parent’s house.

Tikki having no memory of the last three years together.

Chat Noir not remembering who Ladybug is.

Adrien not remembering who Ladybug is.

Adrien not remembering her.

“But they can see you now!” Optinette’s voice rings through like a sweet chime. “Plagg and Adrien can see you, can hear you. Can talk with you. You can finally get to help them bring you back! You can tell them that there are people to bring back!”

“Hey... are you okay?” Adrien’s voice breaks her from her thoughts, and Marinette looks up to see Chat Noir, crouched down in front of her. His eyes full of concern.

She hadn’t realized that she can curled up further upon registering his words, until her body loosened up.

“Yeah, thanks Cha-...” Her sentence trails off as she remembers what happened a few hours ago. This boy in leather, her partner, her silly, adorable, goofball of a partner is Adrien Agreste. The love of her life. The boy who has sacrificed himself for her safety and the safety of Paris. Repeatedly. The boy who she has pushed away over and over, in favor of… his other self. Her eyes widen. How could she have forgotten this! If even for a few seconds, how could she forget this! And! Since the akuma last week, he’s been through even worse. He even has bruises! Maybe even broken bones, or a concussion! All because she was stupid…

“Nope, what happened was not because you weren’t stupid. That akuma was on the down low and had powers to make it so that no one could remember them or who they were. Just because your nature is to help people doesn’t mean that when it goes wrong it’s your fault!” Optinette’s voice sounds from afar.

Honestly, she doesn’t want to. She just wants the pain to be over. She can’t handle being so emotionally tortured anymore. But, then… how could she ever help Adrien again? The citizens? Could there be another Ladybug if she gives up? Could she just leave the earrings and move on without costing the world everything?

No, she couldn’t do that to Tikki. To Adrien. To Paris. She must fight on.

Adrien’s, now neon green, slitted, Cat eyes, framed by a dark helmet, bore into hers; which are sure to be a dull blue, almost white, after all she went through.

He does know her. And it’s a very long story, but they aren’t exactly short on time. If she’s going to come back, she must tell them everything.

She should probably start talking... Adrien is starting to shift on his feet, his eyes no longer locked on hers, but darting around the room. He’s anxious. The poor, sweet boy.

“It’s a long story.” She begins, smiling slightly when his eyes snap to hers again.

“But, first, I should answer your question...” his head cocks to the side, his cat ears flopping with the movement, the tufts of hair making the gesture more adorable. “Yes. You do know me. Just... I-you... you can’t-“ her voice cracks and she can’t voice anything else.

Chat falls back, his eyes wide with terror. But not terror of her. Terror of how he couldn’t even recognize someone he supposedly once knew.

“You- you might want to go sit down somewhere more comfortable. It’s going to take a long time.” He nods, and shakily stands up and shuffling over to the futon. As he flops down onto the futon, Plagg releases the transformation and zips off to Tikki.

Taking this opportunity, she takes a few deep breaths, steeling herself for the sure-to-be emotional rollercoaster of recounting her life and the past week.

As she stands, Adrien calls over to Plagg, his eyes never leaving where he last saw Marinette. Though, she isn’t there, instead sitting on the floor right before him; but he doesn’t know that. “She’s still here, right?”

Why he would think she would disappear if he couldn’t see her escapes her understanding, but she hasn’t really seen how Plagg and Adrien interact. It should be fun to see how it plays out. So, she sits quietly, listening to them talk.

With a sigh, Plagg glances over to Marinette from his place with Tikki, then turns his gaze on his young wielder. “Yes, she is still here.” He then returns his attention to his counterpart.

Both Tikki and Marinette can’t help but giggle a bit at Adrien’s dumbfounded expression.

“Why can’t I see her then?” Adrien finally tears his eyes from where he probably thinks she is and crosses his arms as he questioningly raises an eyebrow at his kwami.

“Because I’m a god and you aren’t,” Plagg huffs out, “now, leave me be.” Tikki giggles at his response. Marinette only cocks her head to the side, her eyes sure to be glinting with amusement.

Adrien looks slightly miffed, but soon, a smug smile crosses his lips, “Tikki?” He asks, “can you see her?” His eyes never leaving Plagg’s in a silent challenge.

Tikki looks around the room, then sighs dejectedly. “No... I can’t see her... I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to be sorry, Tikki.” Marinette mumbles, not intending for anyone to hear it, and is surprised when Plagg looks at her sadly before returning his attention to his charge.

“Why is that, Plagg? She’s a god just like you.” Adrien’s voice is laced with smugness, obviously thinking he’s won so easily.

“Well, technically, we aren’t gods, per se-“ Tikki tries to start, but neither cats are listening. She’ll have to ask Tikki about it later, she’s always thought they were gods. What else could they be?

“One: goddess. She is a goddess. Two: That’s because I’m better than her.” Plagg puffs his chest out.

Tikki hits him

“OW! Okay, fine I’m not better than her... most of the time, I just have better eyesight!”

Tikki hits him once more.

“What? It’s true!” Plagg defends, pushing away from Tikki and rubbing his tiny abused body.

Tikki huffs angrily but doesn’t give chase. Plagg eyes her warily, slowly drifting back to her.

“Well, if no one else can see her...” Adrien let’s his sentence trail off, his smirk widening with Plagg’s eyes.

“No! Don’t. Just... No.” Plagg zips close to Adrien’s face, squeezing his cheeks, glaring into his eyes. “I haven’t eaten yet.”

Adrien raises his other eyebrow, “I didn’t even use the powers. You don’t need to recharge.”

Plagg scoffs, “I have you my amazing eyesight! Do you know how exhausting that is?”

Adrien cocks his head to the side, “You’ve never complained about it before.”

“This is different!” Plagg defends, squeezing his cheeks even more.

“I don’t believe you,” Adrien’s smirk widens even more, “Plagg, Cla- “

“No!” Plagg clamps his paws over Adrien mouth. Angry, green cat eyes glaring into amused, green, human eyes.

This has been going on for too long. No matter how amusing it is to see them banter like this, it gets annoying pretty fast.

“You know, Plagg, you could just be a translator.”

Wait, translator. She isn’t speaking a different language! She shouldn’t have said translator! She should have said medium. Or something like that. Just repeat her words to Adrien.

She opens her mouth to rephrase what she said, but Plagg turns to her and narrows his eyes.

Great, now Plagg hates her idea. She should just lea-

“Actually, I have a better idea.” He’s turned back to Adrien again.

“I could just translate for you.”

Awesome. Now he’s using her own words against her.

Adrien screws his face up in thought. Making her breath catch in her throat. What if he hates that? What if he thinks she’s stupid! What if-

“Fine. But I don’t think it’s quite translating. She can hear me, right?” He pauses, “It’s more like repeating her words.

“Which,” Plagg seems smug, “is what translating is. Just repeating one’s words to someone else so that they understand it. I’m just not changing anything.”

Adrien is silent for a moment. “Alright, I’ll give you this one. What do you want?”

“I’ll let the first comment slide, but what do you mean by: ‘What do you want’?!” Plagg’s asks incredulously, throwing his arms into the air.

"You never do anything without wanting something in return." Adrien says, scratching Plagg's head.

"NOt true!" Plagg shouts, batting away Adrien's hand.

"Give me one example of you being selfless." Adrien says smugly.

Plagg is silent for a moment, glaring at his charge.

“That’s what I thought.” Adrien says, sounding like he just won a battle.

"Anyway, just give me more cheese." Plagg says, turning away from Adrien.

"Okay." Adrien agrees with a light laugh

“Perfect,” Plagg then turns his eyes to Marinette. “Start talking.”

“Plagg!” Both Adrien and Tikki shout

“... please."

Raising a brow at Plagg’s antics, an invisible-to-all-except-Plagg brow, Marinette starts relaying her life, starting from the beginning.

The day Hawkmoth rose. How ladybug had failed at first. How, the morning after the akuma attack, while at school, she saw this one kid-who looked to be friends with her school bully, Chloé - sticking gum onto her seat. Or, that’s what it looked like. Then, at the end of the school day, he had explained everything to her. She had fallen in love with him in that moment.

Plagg makes a gagging sound when he finished relating that bit of information, asking why this part is important. Tikki and Adrien both scold him.

She forges onward.

After that, she explains how, with this huge crush on this boy, - another gag - she had obsessed over him. Made him a present for his birthday. How she got so nervous around him, stuttering, mixing up her words.

She related every single interaction to them. Of course, Plagg has complained and begged Adrien to transform when got to Story Weather. That was only a fraction of her stories.

“O-Kay? Um, well, that’s all... nice? How does this relate to you knowing... me?” Chat asks, his head tilting again. Creating an oh-so-adorable picture of a battle-hardened kitten full of pure curiosity.

“Ah, um, well...” Darn, even now - when he doesn’t remember any of those interactions, it’s almost impossible to get it out.

“I-I-...” gosh darn it Marinette, just blurt it out! She shouts internally to herself.

Chats eyes are wide.

“I said that out loud, didn’t I?”

“Well... not so much as said it as... shouted it?” He cringes a little when she slaps her hands over her face.

“Ugh! Okay, bear with me... bear with me.” She takes a few deep breaths.

Okay, it’s right there. All she has to do it blurt it out. That’s all that needs to happen.

“I...” She drawls, trying her best to force out her words. “Thatboy-well-he-uh-Hewas...he was-is,was-nois-you.” She blurt’s out, cringing, waiting for his response.

“Ah.” That sums it up. “I, I didn’t actually get all that. Could you-could you repeat that. Slower, please.”

She takes a deep breath. “It-it’s not important. Not now. Just, in my timeline, you are in my class, and have been for years.”

“Okay...” He scrunches his eyebrows together in thought and frustration.

“Marinette.”

“Right, thank you.” Even with erased memories, he remains polite. Why must he be so good? “So, Marinette, we are classmates, and now I know about the crush/love of your life. Were we this close in the original timeline?”

“Ah, well. Sort of?” Her voice squeaks.

“Anyway,” He Shakes his head, more blonde tufts poof from his ears, “tell me about the akuma attack a week ago.”

She tells him about the attack. How, she was startled by something-that escapes her mind-and then, when she had tried to go to school, she was confronted by a weird man with even weirder glasses.

“Wait, that sounds like that weird akuma I took down about a week ago - darn, I still need to get a name for him - anyway, that’s when my headaches started too!”

“Yeah, weird guy. Anyway, when he touched me, he had screamed, then walked away. That when I became like... this...” She trails off, gesturing to her entire ghostly body.

“Yeah...” Chat trails off, looking at her with sad eyes.

“So, Anyway, no one can see me, or hear me, and I can’t touch or move anything. Except for a few small things and even then, only for a few seconds. I can go through anything, and just a few hours ago, I found something that I think can help to bring me back.”

“Like, actually bring you back?”

“Yeah!”

“Marinette, I’m not sure if we can bring you back without Ladybug... speaking of which, do you know about Ladybug?”

“Ah,” her body goes stiff, all her ghost-like muscles freezing, “Yeah, Ladybug is pretty big. She has her own blog. Huge amounts of fans.” She says a little timidly.

“Okay, okay... do you know what happened to her?”

There it is, the question she was afraid of - kind of, maybe, not really? “Yeah, She, uh, she attempted to protect me. But... she...” her voice goes quiet, her eyes beginning to tear up. Why can’t she just tell him that she’s Ladybug?! It would save so much time! So much confusion.

“Hey, it’s okay. It’s not your fault.” He tries to hug her, but his arms go right through her. While it makes her sad to remember that, she appreciates the sentiment. “Right, sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

“Just after the akuma had touched me, she had shown up. She tried to attack the akuma. But when she got within reach...” She swallows back a sob. She couldn’t save herself. Couldn’t see that that man wasn’t right, that he wasn’t normal. She should have recognized the crackling energy around him. She should have been fast- “

“Hey, it’s not your fault. You couldn’t have wanted this. You couldn’t have wanted her to fade into what you are suffering from.” Chat - Adrien - says, reaching out for her, but unable to touch her.

--------

“So, uh, would you happen to know why Tikki would still be here, if it was Ladybug who was transformed.” Adrien asks.

Marinette’s already ghostly pale face drains further of color, her eyes blowing wide, “Oh... I - um, well...” the words stumble out of her mouth before trailing off. She’s awkwardly pulling on her fingers, her gaze settling on the floor between them. Adrien can’t help but feel guilty about causing her discomfort. He’s just about to change the subject when she speaks again.

“I have no clue. Akuma are... weird?” She’s quiet. Quieter than she had been before, he really had to strain his ears to hear what she said.

Then, Marinette finally looks up to his eyes again. She looks so vulnerable. So breakable. So very sad. And all Adrien wants to do, is to wrap her up in his arms. To tell her everything is alright. That people love her...

That he loves her.

Wait, where’d that come fr-

His thoughts are cut off by Tikki’s shockingly loud, horrified gasp that tears both their gazes to the kwami instantly.

Somehow, without any of them noticing, Tikki had drifted over and alighted on Adrien’s shoulder. Tikki’s arms are both gone. Like they were never there. Like she was created without arms. If anyone had walked in and looked at her, not having known her before, they would have thought she never had arms. It’s a very disconcerting and horrifying sight for all three of them.

Then, suddenly, in the blink of an eye, Tikki’s arms are back. Red, stubby, arms. Complete with the tiny paws. Nothing wrong.

Adrien stares at the newly returned arms. Then, he stares at Tikki’s stare. Reluctantly, he looks over to Marinette. Her eyes are wide open. Her gaze filled with terror, looking at the little goddess. Why she would be feeling anything toward Tikki, he has no clue, but it does give him an inkling of who she is as a person. Someone who cares about everyone. Someone who, given the right opportunity and means, would sacrifice herself for random strangers.

He shakes his head to bring himself back to reality. He barely knows Marinette. Whether or not they knew each other before doesn’t matter right now. Because right now, something is wrong with the kwami of Creation. (Wait, if she embodies Creation, what created her. And then what created the being that created her? No, no time for a brain breaking loophole)

They cannot lose Tikki. For if she is gone, shouldn’t everything else disappear?

“Chat - Adrien...” Marinette quickly corrects herself, “why did her arms fade?” Her eyes have locked with Tikki big blue eyes. Both sharing unshed tears and looks of horror.

And, honestly, he has no idea. No idea why she’s fading. He has no clue how they can bring Marinette back without Ladybug. And if Tikki is starting to fade, whatever that means, that means that Ladybug would cease to exist. Which would bring creation to a stop. And destruction would rein. That cannot happen.

And... he has absolutely no clue why she would ask him that.

“I...” He trails off with a sigh, “I have no idea. I don’t know, Marinette.” He’s pretty sure he can see his own body because he’s so detached. Everything sounds far away. Colors are dim. Everything is fuzzy. Nothing makes sense.

Except for one thing. He knows that he wants to engulf this transparent girl, and tiny red thing in a bone crushing hug. But he knows that he can’t. For some reason.

Then, the girl’s eyes shift from the red being’s eyes, and everything snaps back to reality so fast that Adrien is certain that he received whiplash.

Marinette’s eyes are focused on his now, bluebell boring into acid green. Her expression is no longer one of sadness and horror. But one of determination. A stark contrast to everything else.

“I think I might have an idea.” She says, her voice almost dripping with venom. Why she would use this tone, he has no clue. But her eyes are lined with tears, and he notices her fingers slowly moving across her earrings. Hesitantly cupping them, then releasing them. Her fingers never leaving the surface of the smooth stone.

Huh - those earrings... they seem... familia- whatever his thoughts were going to form are cut off by a splitting headache. Persistent in stopping most brain function.

He flops down onto the futon, taking short breaths to remind his brain how breathing feels. After a few minutes, thoughts begin to reform, normal brain function returning. Taking a deep breath, he tries to remember the last few seconds, but comes up empty.

“-ien!” A girl’s voice breaks into his mind. “Adrien! Are you okay?!”

Slowly, he opens his eyes, just noticing that they had closed. In front of him is a girl, long raven blue hair done up in pigtails. White shirt, grey blazer. Pink jeans. Big, blue eyes filled with concern. A few tears falling from her cheeks. Her hands clutched to her chest. A bright, white, painful aura surrounding her. He blinks a few times, sure that he was seeing an angel. For, a being of such beauty and possessing an aura of such whiteness could only be an angel.

Unfortunately, after a few blinks, the aura dies down, and he recognizes her. Marinette. That’s her name. They had been taking about something. What was it...?

Right! She asked him why Tikki was... fading, was it? Yeah, fading. Wait! Fading. Didn't she describe what happened to her as fading? Maybe, maybe not, I have no clue. Anyway! Ladybug was hit too! That means that she’s a part of the faded... forgotten? Part of the forgotten? Anyway- I’m saying that too much, but! Tikki is fading too! That means that she’s still connected to Ladybug, right? It must be that. Ladybug and Marinette were both hit by that akuma. Fader! No, not good enough. It needs to be something else. But now I know sort of where to star-

“Adrien!” Marinette shouts, and he snaps back to reality once more.

She has gotten close now, and he’s much colder. “Right, sorry, I spaced out for about, I’m fine. Thank you.”

Marinette eyes him skeptically. “Right...” She trails off, letting him know that she does not, under any circumstances, believe him at all.

“Anyway,” wow, he really needs to figure out a way to stop saying that so much, “you said that you have an idea of why she’s fading?”

“Well,” She drawls, “I said I might have an idea.”

“Same thing. Shoot.” Adrien sits up and leans toward Marinette.

“I - well - you...” She sighs forcefully, like he was annoying her, she opens her mouth a few times again, but no words come out. Grumpily, she sighs again.

“What are you trying to say.” Adrien can’t help but tease her, plus, her grumpy face is absolutely adorable!

“Never mind about that.” Marinette says, shaking her head, her face morphing into a vulnerable state. “Now, about my idea... I... Okay, you have to promise not to be mad.”

“Why would I be mad? It’s not like you wanted any of this stuff to happen.” Adrien asks, cocking his head to the side, confused as ever.

She didn’t do anything wrong! She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time!

“It’s not that simple. It’s so complicated! I just need you to promise, please.” Marinette’s eyes and tone are pleading.

“Okay, yeah, I- “

Before he gets the opportunity to make his promise, something - no, not something - well, technically something, but he knows what the something is - but words. If his magically enhanced cat eye vision isn’t misleading him, those were words. Two of them: “GO AWAY!”-crashes through the apartment window, and grazes Marinette’s head before colliding with the floor, causing it to crack and splinter.

Great. Absolutely splendid! Another akuma. And this one broke Master Fu’s window. The best.

Releasing a heavy sigh, Adrien stands up, brushing off stray pieces of glass. “Tikki, come with me please?” He asks, making his way to the broken window, where screaming and crashing is coming from.

“What?! Are you crazy? I can’t do anything without the miraculous! It’ll be too dangerous!” Tikki exclaims, her normally calm demeanor forgotten.

“Please Tikki?” Adrien puts his clawed hands together in a pleading manner, one he has only seen in his secret anime shows. Like Gabriel would ever knowingly let his son watch those, nor learn this mannerism.

Tikki glares at him, the tiny being trying to be intimidating. But, reluctantly, she agrees. No one can resist the puppy eyes.

“Yes!” Adrien practically jumps to the ceiling in excitement before ushering the kwami into his collar.

Then, with poorly controlled enthusiasm, Adrien jumps through the broken window to go fight the akuma, this time with a little bit of luck on his side.

--------

“The Thinker. Oh, Hawkmoth, why can’t you come up with better names?” Marinette mutters to herself, looking at the akumatized person hurts her brain. But she must do it. If only to keep watch for Cha - Adrien and Tikki. Dang, it’s still so hard to think of Adrien and Chat Noir as one person. But she will persist.

The Thinker has already done his whole, “I am The Thinker! Give me your miraculous, Chat Noir!” Thing that every single akuma or villain ever depicted ever has done. The Thinker is dressed in a green robe, with gold lining, and a high collar. Upon his arms, are two metal gauntlets, which fire off the thoughts he forms. Each gauntlet is black, with gold swirls all over it. Upon his head, sits a helmet like thing. It’s like a mixture between a bald cap and a helmet. But it’s textured like a brain. Whenever it glows, which is every other second, a new formation of thoughts is ready to be fired.

Well, thoughts is a bit of a stretch. They’re just words, which, depending on the word/sentence, do different things. For instance, ‘destroy’, well, it destroys whatever it meets. Erase, disappear, begone, go away, etc. all do basically the same thing that destroy does. Others are freeze, stop, die - that is a really concerning one, freaking psychopath - fly, turn around, and many others.

His face is uncovered but is completely blank. Like a mannequin. Also, it’s purple. Hawkmoth, always with turning people’s skin a different color. Only the rare exception of akuma victims don’t get a different colored skin. Or completely different body.

For the past ten minutes, Adrien, as Chat Noir, - Yes, much easier to think of it that way - has been dodging everything sent his way, while the thoughts just fly through her. They don’t leave any weird aftertaste, so that’s confusing yet relieving. She does not want to know what a person’s thoughts taste like. Especially a corrupted person’s.

She’s seen Adrien fight before. In the normal timeline, he wasn’t nearly as good. He would dodge most hits, and block others, but some would get through. He was more agile on his feet than she was. Though, being infused with luck, she got hit even less. What Forgotten Adrien can do… It’s astounding. Not once does he get hit. He doesn’t even pull out his baton to deflect an attack. It’s all dodging. He is more agile than she could ever hope to be on her feet. In the air though, she could give him a run for his money, but not on her feet.

There are some that come close to hitting him, but his reflexes come out on top.

The Thinker hasn’t been giving Adrien the chance to come closer, since he’s been bombarding the superhero with thoughts from the second he saw the black clad boy.

So, when The Thinker stops using one of his gauntlets, effectively halving his attacks, Marinette is instantly suspicious. She hopes Adrien is too. Looking closer, Marinette sees that The Thinker has his right gauntlet tucked up close to his chest. An eerie green glow emanating from it, Marinette becomes even more suspicious and concerned. She scoots closer to Adrien.

The brain helm is glowing the same eerie green, which helps connect the dots for Marinette. Whenever the helmet glows, thoughts are being arranged into tangible letters and words. Then, they get sent to either gauntlet, ready to be fired at whatever The Thinker wants.

Now, it could just be continuously glowing due to The Thinker bombarding Adrien. But she’s been watching the fight for the past 12 minutes. This eerie green glow has never shown up before.

So, if the gauntlet and the helm are glowing the same shade of green. That can only mean one thing.

Whatever the next thought is to come out is going to be from that gauntlet. And, see if as no other words/thoughts have flowed that shade of green, this could mean that this next one is potentially going to be extremely dangerous. And imbued with akuma magic. Which will do serious damage to Paris’s only superhero.

Because The Thinker has reduced his attacks, Chat has found his way closer to him. Which is most likely what he wanted in the first place.

When Chat is close enough so that the attack will be nearly impossible to dodge, he stops all attacks, his gauntlet and helm glowing even brighter.

She yells for Adrien to move, to get away! But he doesn’t seem to register her words.

So, Marinette jumps in front of him, utilizing her ghostly non-weight to propel her at faster speeds than her yo-yo could, just in time for The Thinker to fire off his cat-astrophic thought.

Oh, if she ends up getting through this, she is so telling Adrien that. Maybe he’ll get a kick out of it. Heaven knows she needs to hear his laughter again.

Floating in front of her love, she closes her eyes, suppressing her instinct to get out of the way! She prays to whatever being is out there. To all the kwami. To whatever created the kwami.

Please! Please, just this once!

Then, suddenly, an overwhelming cold envelopes her body. Making her shiver uncontrollably and collapse to the ground. But she doesn’t black out. She hasn’t even felt anything that come close to this since her winters as Ladybug. This, though, this is worse.

--------

Since he jumped through the broken window, Adrien has been focused on two things, and two things only. One: protect Tikki at all costs, and two: find and break the akumatized object.

The first thing is easy enough, as long as Adrien keeps himself safe, the Embodiment of Creation is safe. He just hopes she can hold on.

And, with luck magic enhancing his already more than normal abilities as well as Magic-Cat reflexes, it makes it all that much easier to dodge and weave between the rapid thoughts.

The second one is a little bit harder. Though, finding the akumatized object is moderately easy.

It’s a helmet, textured like a brain. It glows every time a word is fired at Adrien - well, Chat Noir.

No, the hard part of all of this was getting close enough to get a hold on the helmet. The Thinker, as Hawkmoth so usually, foolishly dubbed his new minion, has been bombarding him with thoughts, his thoughts running rapid. Heh. He’ll have to tell Marinette that one. Anyhow, the thoughts have been keeping him at a frustrating distance. Close enough to see the details on The Thinker, but too far to even try to touch him.

Then, finally, after what felt like an eternity, The Thinker’s attacks halved in frequency; making it much easier to get close. But he isn’t taking the bait.

Not until what seems like a minute has passed (might have been more, Adrien’s sense of time has been skewed since he jumped out the window), he inches closer, seeing as the Thinker hasn’t upped his attack frequency again. Which, quite frankly, is weird. Adrien would much rather pounce on him and get the entire fight over with, but this akuma is frustratingly defensive.

‘Just use a Cataclysm.’ Plagg chimes in, making Adrien stumble a bit. Seriously, it’s still hard to get used to Plagg talking to him while transformed, even if it has been a few days since it first happened.

‘Plagg, if I use it, it would leave me with 5 minutes to end the fight, and I don’t think I can pull that off.’ He sends off to his kwami, frustrated at the stupid akuma.

‘Ugh.’

‘Yeah, yeah, tell me about it.’ He sighs, weaving around another suicide thought. It’s really concerning what this guy thinks about. Maybe he should set the victim up with a therapist.

The thoughts are slowing down in frequency, giving Adrien the chance to get even closer. ‘Maybe I can use a Cataclysm. It should end this fight. I just need to get this much closer.’

‘Just jump him already, your part cat!’

‘Key Word part, I’d like to keep in touch with my humanity.’

‘Oh please, being a cat is so much easier and funner.’

‘Not helping!’

Plagg only snickers, which makes a weird static-y noise in his mind.

‘Also, it’s more fun, not funner.’

Plagg scoffs, ‘I’m literally a cat made of energy, I couldn’t care less about punctual grammar.’

Shaking his head, he takes a few steps closer, readying his leg muscles for jumping. He glances at the helmet, planning his route of pouncing, but the glow the helmet is emanating keeps him from jumping. Also, the akuma has a glowing gauntlet pointed right at him.

‘I should have paid more attention!’ Adrien silently shouts as he digs his heels into the ground, intending on getting enough friction to jump out of the line of fire.

‘No duh!’ Plagg says, a hint of annoyance in his mental tone. Then, out of the corner of his eye, a flash of movement catches his eye, successfully putting a stop to his movement, his eyes wide.

‘Someone just jumped in front of you!” Plagg seems to shout at him. And, honestly, his brain can’t form any thoughts now. Neither can his body move.

All because Marinette jumped in front of him. Trying to block the attack. And he can only watch as The Thinker’s eerily glowing thought rockets off toward Marinette. He’s ready to plan her funeral, or his own. Maybe he should move.

But nothing matters, because the attack slams into Marinette.

Or, well, it would have slammed into her if she had a physical body. It also should have just flown right through her. But not this time. No, this time, the glowing words seep into Marinette’s body, tainting her bright white aura a deep, semi light green. Making her look like a proper ghost.

He snaps from his reverie and take a step closer to her. Her eyes are closed tight, her mouth twisted in determination.

But she doesn’t seem hurt.

He takes another step closer. This time, instead of a gradual cold surrounding her, it’s a steep drop off from the normal air temperature, making it extremely uncomfortable to be within even a meter of her.

So, instead of stepping closer, he attempts to speak.

“Wh-“ the cold surrounding him at the moment makes his mouth feel like it’s burning.

Marinette snaps her eyes open, and their gazes lock. Her big blue eyes making the cold just ever-so-slightly more bearable.

Marinette scrunches her eyebrows, confusion written all over her face, but relief clear in her eyes.

‘Kid! She is asking what’s wrong. Don’t leave her hanging.’

Thank goodness he has Plagg to tell him the obvious.

‘Thanks, Plagg, I totally did not know that.’

‘Glad to help!’

Adrien rolls his eyes, then clears his throat.

“Umm... i-“ it’s so hard to say things! So, Adrien settles on gesturing to her whole body.

With even more confusion, Marinette glances down at her body, back up to his eyes for half a second, then they snap back to her body; raising her arms, and craning her head to look at her entire body. Her eyes are curious and wide.

After a few seconds, she looks back up, her eyes narrowed. For a second, he wonders if she’s mad at him for not saving her.

‘Woah! That is one crazy aura right there!’ Somehow, Plagg manages to say everything in just the right way, at just the right time.

Then, Marinette looks over her shoulder, a small smirk growing into an evil one with what she sees.

Standing just a few meters back, The Thinker is frozen still, his jaw to the floor, his gauntlet clad arms hanging useless by his side. Adrien cocks his head to the side, curiosity clear to anyone who looks at him. He wonders if The Thinker can see her, and if so, then what he sees.

When he looks back to Marinette, she has her back to Adrien, eyes set on the Akumatized civilian. Then, Marinette takes a few steps toward the Thinker, and, with an amused smile creeping up on Adrien’s lips, The Thinker snaps from his frozen, shocked, terrified, baffled state and takes a few steps back; his baffled expression morphing into one of horror.

‘Duuuddee’ Plagg drawls.

‘Okay, seriously? That’s Nino’s thing, don’t steal it!’ Adrien sends back to Plagg, offense clear in his mental voice.

Adrien watches, conversing with Plagg for the next few minutes as Marinette and The Thinker go around in the scariest game of tag ever. He can’t help but laugh every few minutes.

After another few minutes of The Thinker running from the floating, green mass of thoughts turned against him that is Marinette, his smile widens even more. Hawkmoth’s symbol hasn’t shown yet. Maybe Hawkmoth is terrified of the floating traitor mass too?

The Thinker starts to panic even more, his running turns into sprinting, his breath becoming even more labored, arms flailing. But Marinette doesn’t slow down, she easily keeps pace with the frantic Akuma. Never straying from just a meter and a half away.

In his haste to get away from Marinette, The Thinker fails to take in his surroundings.  Now, they are fighting in a flat area of the city, cars destroyed, and civilians evacuated. But Adrien is just standing, looking like a father watching two children play a game of tag, reminiscing about the good old days. The Thinker doesn’t realize that he’s sprinting straight for Adrien, probably because his hidden eyes are stuck on the green mass following him from over his shoulder.

Shaking his head amusedly, he unsheathes his baton, getting ready to intercept the absolutely terrified akuma. Maybe, just maybe, this interaction will give Hawkmoth night terrors and he won’t send out an akuma for at least a week. Is that plausible? Probably not, he didn’t stop when he possessed a child twice. Or when he accidentally created a Thanos type akuma with an infinity gauntlet. (“We don’t talk about that one, kid. Let it go. You can rest now.” Plagg had said as he was trying to take in what had happened when he was trying to process what had happened after the fight). Will that stop Adrien from dreaming and hoping? No.

Suddenly, The Thinker crashes into Adrien, snapping him from his thoughts, and The Thinker releases an unholy shriek is absolute terror. But Adrien doesn’t let The Thinker reestablish his dignity, and brings his baton down on the Thinker’s head with a sickening crack. The Thinker crumbles immediately to the ground. His shriek slowly dying on his lips until all is silent.

Adrien just stands there, looking down at The Thinker, baton frozen where it had met his head, ears still ringing from the sheer volume of The Thinkers shriek. Adrien only just barely registers that Marinette is standing by his side, laughing uncontrollably.

After a few seconds, as Adrien is regaining his bearings and recovering from Plagg’s mental laughter, Marinette’s laughing settles down into giggles. A few moments later, Marinette crouches down next to The Thinker’s unconscious body, and rests a hand on his helmet. The green aura seeps from her hand into the helmet, then the helmet explodes, shooting black particles of destroyed helmet and green and black sparks shooting off every which way. With the explosion, the corrupted butterfly is sent flying toward Adrien, then it collides with his leather clad chest.  With three pairs of eyes watching the butterfly, it slowly slips from his chest and falls to the ground.

After a few seconds of looking at the unmoving akuma, Adrien looks up to Marinette and sees amusement in her eyes. He then gasps theatrically, collapsing to his knees. “Ow! That hurt. Why would you do such a thing?” His gaze is on the corrupted butterfly, but he keeps an eye on the transparent girl out of the corner of his eye.

Marinette lets out an unladylike snort, and a small giggle comes from his pocket. Even Plagg snickers at him. Adrien can’t help but smile.

“Well, Tikki, this is where we come to my plan.” Adrien says and Tikki pops out of his collar, curiosity written all over her face. “I’ve been thinking. Plagg can destroy quite a bit without me. More so, actually. So, I was wondering, do you think you can purify and reset without your miraculous?”

Tikki looks pensive for a few seconds, then she looks back to Adrien and nods. “I’m willing to try! I’m not sure if I’ve done it before, though.”

“That’s okay!” Adrien reassures her.

‘Oh, this is the best part, watch closely!’ Plagg says, just a bit too much like a game show announcer.

‘Wait, do you know what's about to happen. Tikki just said that she doesn’t know if she can do it.’

‘Nah, that’s just her being insecure about what happens next. But, really, it’s absolutely amazing! Now shush, I’m watching!’

With a fond shake of the head, Adrien turns his attention to Tikki.

Tikki floats down to the corrupted butterfly, and rests a paw on it; like she’s apologizing to it, before shoving it into her mouth. If the twin looks of amused terror from both Adrien and Marinette bothers her, she doesn’t let it show.

A second later, her spots and eyes glow white, all Avatar the Last Airbender style and, shocking them all, except Plagg, looks up the sky and opens her mouth. A white beam shoots forth from her mouth and eyes into the sky and when it goes away; a purified butterfly flutters out of her mouth. Tikki looks up to Adrien with big, adorable eyes full of vulnerability.

And all Adrien can think about is a “Ding!” Sound accompanying her mouth with the purified butterfly flying away.

All is silent. No one knows what to say. Plagg just keeps laughing like a maniac.

“That…” Adrien starts. “Was amazing!” He finishes, pulling Tikki in for a hug. “You are the best, most adorable thing ever!”

“Thanks!” Tikki replies with a giggle, nuzzling his cheek. Her insecurity seeming to have vanished partly.

After a bit of nuzzling, Adrien separates from Tikki and tells her to hide in his collar again, stating that. “Someone could see her.”

She complies and settles in his collar once again.

He looks up to Marinette and sees her silently shaking.

“Not. One. Word.”

That only gets her to burst out laughing

“Okay, we need to get going.” He says with a sigh. “We have a baby crib to see!”

‘Doesn’t that require breaking into someone’s house?’ Plagg asks, being the voice of reason for the first time ever.

#ml #My Writing #The Forgotten AU #TF