An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Tell me this doesn’t scream Akuma Class Energy
Caline Bustier’s Rules For Taking Care Of Her Students
If Marinette, Max, and Nathaniel stayed up late working on design/tech/art projects, you are to give them a shot of coffee. Just enough to stay up during class, but not too much to cause anarchy and make it everyone else’s problem
Do not touch Nino’s headphones. If he has a day where he wants to block out the rest of the world and you take his headphones, Alya, Adrien, Kim, and Marinette will make it your problem
There are to be fifteen stim toys in the classroom at all times. FIFTEEN
Do not scream, yell, or play music too loudly around Myléne
The words ‘Unexceptional,’ ‘Stupid,’ ‘Worthless,’ and ‘Disappointment’ are not allowed to be said in the classroom
If Juleka mumbles, she mumbles. Do not even think about getting upset when she yells after you tell her to raise her voice
Monopoly is forbidden, whether in board game or app form. If they insist on playing it, they must have adult supervision. No, M. Monlataing is not adult supervision
Nathaniel is allowed to draw during lessons. That is how he takes notes, and if you take away his note-taking sketchbook, Alix, Juleka, Rose, Marinette, and Marc will follow you home. In addition, there must be visuals when presenting PowerPoints. Some students (Nathaniel for example) are visual learners
Marinette, Chloé, and Lila are not to be left alone together for more than two minutes
Kim is not allowed to go downstairs by himself
Alya is not allowed to go out and record Akuma battles that happen during school hours, lunch, or study hall
Do not send Nathaniel alone to grab extra supplies without some form of supervision. Alix does not count as supervision
Adrien is allowed to eat during class whenever he feels like it
If Rose asks to see the nurse, you let her go
If you are sending any of the girls out of the classroom between 10:00am and 10:15am, make sure Ivan and Kim accompany them
If Adrien and Marinette need to leave during an Akuma attack during schools hours, let them leave, no questions asked
If you’re one of those dress code nuts, Alya cannot help her natural curves, and you have no place to to call her out in the middle of class and claim that her curves are a distraction
If any of them are having a panic attack in the bathroom, screw gender and let their opposite sex friend or significant other help them
If Nathaniel starts yelling in Yiddish, don’t bother or interrupt him. Just don’t.
Spiders are not allowed in the classroom, and do not show images of spiders
Markov is sentient and therefore, shall be treated as a human. If you attempt to confiscate Markov, expect many angry family members
If Adrien sounds British, spray him with water
If Marc Anciel walks into the classroom saying Mme. Mendeleiev needs to speak to Nathaniel, do not let Nathaniel go with him
If Adrien gets called in the middle of a test for a photo shoot, do NOT let him go until he is done with his work. Actually, don’t let him leave during school hours, period
In addition to Rule 24, Nino has a binder with multiple incidents of Gabriel Agreste proving he is unfit to be a parent. If you witness Adrien being abused in any sort of way, please fill out one of the blank incident reports
“People. Those are…” Marinette couldn’t quite make herself finish the sentence.
“No,” said Adrien, “They’re… Dreams. They just look like…”
“I don’t know who’s in here, but we need to find them as soon as possible,” said Marinette, rapidly descending the stairs.
Adrien followed her, and they both tried to ignore the suddenly much more unnerving sound of sugar crunching underfoot. It had gotten everywhere. People had been everywhere.
No. Nobody had been anywhere.
This was a dream.
This was a dream.
Marinette silently repeated that to herself. The image could bother her, but she knew it wasn’t real. It didn’t condescend to her like the fake Gabriel had. It didn’t try to bite her like some of the monsters had. It was just unsettling, and she could shove that to the back of her mind.
In the courtyard, the sugar was thicker on the ground, and there were still bits of people, not entirely dissolved into dust yet, balanced on end, or cracked on the ground.
From down here…
“So… I guess they… Disintegrate, afterwards?”
“I guess?”
“Then… this must be more recent, right? Than the ones in the classroom.”
“It would have to be.”
“Then…” she pointed to the entrance to the lockers. “That must have been even more recent.”
A pair of legs, with the torso still intact; she could just make out the beginning of an arm held out to the side.
“Marinette,” said Adrien, suddenly.
“What?”
“You don’t think… What if the villain’s still out there?”
She stopped.
A second passed.
Two seconds.
“I doubt it,” said Marinette, finally. “None of these dreams have been meant to kill you. They… They scare you, and hurt you, but none of them have done anything that really risks the life of the dreamer. Even Max… I’d bet you that as long as he keeps trying he’ll always stay a step ahead.”
“So… If there is a villain, it’s probably going to ‘accidentally’ miss us.”
“Either way, we can’t just leave, now.”
“No.”
They stepped forward, past the half-intact figure.
--
Adrien shuddered.
Here, in the locker room, where there were solid things for people to lean against… Or be backed up against… There were surviving… statues.
Just statues, just… dreams.
And yet, with so many caught, screaming, their arms in front of their faces as if it would help, it didn’t feel like he was dreaming.
He turned, looking away from the worst of it.
Marinette was staring. “Marinette.”
She shook her head.
“Right. Right.”
She closed her eyes, and took a breath.
She opened her eyes.
“Did you hear that?”
He silently cocked his head, as she put up a finger.
On the edge of hearing.
That wasn’t a man’s voice.
He turned, trying to catch the sound a bit better.
Crying. Coming from the boys’ bathroom.
Silently, not knowing why they were sneaking, they stepped towards it.
One step, two steps, three steps…
They were outside the door.
They looked at each other.
Marinette shrugged.
He put up three fingers.
Two.
One.
They pushed the door open.
Adrien came face to… well, back of head, with… Himself.
Or… Chat Noir, that is; a statue of sugar, caught in the action of running forward.
Beside him, Ladybug was frozen, too, turned to look at him, clearly shouting something.
He stepped forward, noting as he did so that Chat Noir’s right hand was missing, and, as he turns… Ladybug’s ears have been mangled.
No ring. No earrings.
There was another sob, and he turned.
And blinked.
What he registered as another statue, is a person; A regular, living person, with their back to him. The shirt, a pale blue, almost white, blended with the surroundings, but the red hair should have caught his eye.
He stopped dead.
This was… Wrong.
Of all the people who could face a nightmare… It shouldn’t have been her.
Neither of them quite knowing what to say, they stepped forward, as if to take the place of the statues of themselves, though Marinette wouldn’t have known how perfect the match was.
She was curled in on herself.
They look at each other again, only a few feet behind her.
Adrien shrugged.
He softly knelt down behind her, and reached out a hand for her shoulder.
//
It feels like he’s sinking, inevitably, into a dark ocean.
There’s nothing.
Not the nothing that Lila had, where he could feel flashes of sharp emotion occasionally, but was otherwise quiet.
Not the nothing that Plagg had, which was something, but slowed down to a pace where it was almost imperceptible.
Not even the nothing of not touching anyone.
It felt like every feeling she had had been gutted.
“Miss Bustier?” he says.
There’s a flicker, as she shifts at her name.
“Miss Bustier?” repeats Marinette.
She shifts again, and it feels like an engine struggling to turn over.
“Please,” says Marinette.
Her fist clenches on her knee.
“It was me,” she says.
“What?”
“I… I did this.”
“You… No.”
“Everybody… Everybody. And… And I gave Hawkmoth the Miraculouses.”
“No,” says Marinette, “You didn’t.”
He can hear the edge of anger in her voice.
“I… I did.”
“It’s a dream,” she says. “All you did was get caught in it.”
“You weren’t the Akuma. The Akuma wasn’t… this,” he says. “The real Akuma… It makes people live their nightmares.”
He can feel her struggling to process it.
“This… This is a dream?”
It’s not like waking up.
It’s like… It’s like finally making it to the surface, when you’d been drowning.
She heaves a breath, as if she really had been drowning.
Still… Metaphorically floating in the ocean, but that was still far better.
He stood up.
//
He looked at Marinette.
They still had more people to help.
--
She fumed.
One false move, and her most powerful nightmare had suddenly fallen so far it was almost useless.
It had been perfect; no extra effort to maintain it, no moving parts, and best of all, it assumed Ladybug and Chat Noir would lose, which would have sapped the energy of the ones that were coming for her. And now…?
Ladybug and Chat Noir were going to break out in a minute or two, Chloe had shattered another three nightmares, and Adrien and Marinette looked like they were rapidly acquiring more of her raw fury.
She’d hoped that maybe they’d go through something she could treat as an exit, but the only exits had been on the way to her, and that… Even for a dream, didn’t make enough sense.
It didn’t help that her familiarity with the school made it harder to change things about it.
So now what?
Now…
Now she had to go for broke.
Marinette and Adrien were standing up.
Chloe was midway through breaking another nightmare.
She couldn’t afford to wait any longer. She needed to go for broke now, rather than waiting for something else to go wrong.
She raised her hand, carefully snagging every dream, and with an almost delicate motion, picked up the ball of suffering.
Now… All at once.
--
One last reassurance given, they made for the door, but before they could arrive…
There was a sensation like they’d been dropped, but… dropped into the same place they’d left.
But… Not the same place.
The Ladybug and Chat Noir statues were gone.
The sugar on the floor was gone.
The locker room was as full as it had been, but the people in it were alive.
The light was dim, shadowy, but more real, in a way she couldn’t quite parse.
She looked at Adrien.
“We’re back?”
“I… I think so.”
“Your voice is back.”
He blinked, and then nodded.
There was a sound of commotion from the courtyard.
They had a job to do, and for reasons she didn’t fully understand, apparently Adrien was willing to this with her, despite not having a Miraculous…
Maybe she should consider giving him one.
--
Nobody who was really there to observe it would fully understand what was about to happen, or, for that matter, register what was happening well enough that a more knowledgeable sort could piece things together.
Of course, it wasn’t exactly helping matters that most of the students around the courtyard weren’t even in the front row, and those who were were only in the dim light that came through and from the haze of empty dreams above.
--
The Akuma, who even Hawkmoth hadn’t come up with a satisfying name for (but would have called herself Nightmare, if pressed) had just brought everyone back, including the not-entirely-real Ladybug and Chat Noir.
Nightmare, to a new viewer, which, in fairness, all present were, didn’t exactly look like anything so much as a storm in human form; her skin, or… body suit, perhaps (her old clothes weren’t there anymore, to say the least) looked like a dark cloud, a bruised purple with occasional flares of light beneath the surface, and, in a line up her chest, a glowing fracture, bright enough it would be painful to look at. Instead of hair, it was as if her head itself was smoking.
All things considered, anyone looking at her would immediately suspected Hawkmoth, and, of course, they’d be right.
She held a ball of nightmarish pain and suffering in her hand, which looked even more like a storm than she did, since it wasn’t bound to one shape.
It wasn’t quite big enough to change the past the way she wanted it yet, so she prepared to face down Ladybug and Chat Noir.
--
“I thought something was wrong,” muttered Ladybug, remembering the strange way the fight they’d just been in had gone.
“Cats have a sixth sense for that kind of thing, and mine was prickling,” agreed Chat Noir.
--
Nightmare grinned, trying to project confidence. She needed to win this fight, and she needed to make it look absolute to the viewers.
“Well then?” she said, voice a discordant choir.
Ladybug and Chat Noir looked at each other, but while they were readying themselves, there was a scream.
“Sabrina!” roared Chloe, rushing forward.
Sabrina wasn’t here right now.
Nightmare barely even turned, snapping her fingers. A thin wisp of the storm in her hand made Chloe stagger, mind suddenly fractured into three nightmares simultaneously. As far as Nightmare was concerned, it was probably overkill, but Chloe had been a thorn in her side for the past several minutes. With any luck, she’d be so overwhelmed by the raw experiences running through her head that she’d be useless until the fight was already over.
She’d expected Ladybug to capitalize on the momentary distraction, and, apparently, so had everyone else, because she was able to easily bat away the yo-yo as it came for her head.
There was a satisfying thrum of fear at that, but she needed more.
--
Marinette and Adrien, slipping through the crowd to stay out of her line of sight, whispered to each other.
“Any idea where the Akuma is?”
“It has to be in the ball, or something to do with that line on her chest.”
“Neither of those sound good.”
“Well? Do you have anything better?”
“What if it’s like Dark Owl again, and it’s somewhere else?”
Marinette looked up at the cloud of dreams above them, which almost blocked out the sun.
“If it is… We won’t be able to find it in time. The good news is that if she relies so heavily on nightmares, she’s probably not meant to fight directly. Like… Like Sandboy, or… The Puppeteer?”
“She doesn’t look like she’s weak in a straight fight.”
Marinette grimaced. “I know. If we do it right, though… It won’t be a straight fight. All we need to do is break the Akuma, and ‘Ladybug’ should be able to fix it.”
If she could use a Nightmare-Ladybug’s Lucky Charm to reset things, surely a Dream-Ladybug could purify an Akuma.
Adrien looked back at the fight, and… His expression sank.
--
It was about 30 seconds ago.
Chloe, shaking on the floor, knew, even discombobulated as she was, that she needed to get up.
It was hard to concentrate over her mother’s sudden return, her closet burning, and Adrien getting angry at her, but…
She finally managed to find the hand on the floor, and the fingers twitched.
It clenched, slowly, aggravatingly slowly, into a fist, and then—
She was back, and still mad as hell.
Ladybug and Chat Noir were hovering in the air, seemingly locked in place, their faces showing only pain, as they struggled against whatever deadly force held them there.
She’d slowed Chloe down, but hadn’t stopped her.
Chloe stood up, and with all the protective vengeance she could manage, which was quite a lot, started running towards her again.
Sabrina’s back was to her, which meant-
She leaped.
--
In the instant before something large and human-shaped slammed into her, Nightmare was exulting in the unnerved fear the sight of Paris’ heroes was instilling in the crowd. Despite the input it required, she was still taking in power faster than she was using it.
She was getting close, and would only need a minute or two more…
And then Chloe had leaped on her back.
She’d staggered, and her concentration on keeping Ladybug and Chat Noir in place faltered.
They dropped, even as she reached an arm over her shoulder, and ripped Chloe off.
She slammed to the ground, and Nightmare pulled up a foot, and—
The breath rushed from Chloe’s lungs as her foot made contact.
“Chloe Bourgeois,” she said, twisting her heel slightly in Chloe’s stomach.
She snapped her hand back out, and Ladybug and Chat Noir were rapidly returned to their floating position.
“So persistent. Maybe I should show everyone what happens to normal people who try to fight me!” she said, calling out to the crowd around her.”
Oh… Chloe, so sad that more people didn’t like you. It would have made this hurt them so much more.
“Leave her alone!” came Adrien’s voice, as he rushed into her line of sight.
“Bold words,” she said, “when I can certainly break her spine if I stomp hard enough. And believe me, I can stomp hard enough.”
“Even bolder words,” said Adrien, hovering somewhere between fear and bravado, “when you’re about to lose this fight.” Impressive, really.
“And how, exactly, am I supposed to lose?”
She should have realized that she had five enemies, and only had eyes on four of them.
--
Marinette leaped forward, her hands wrapping around the storm.
Storm was the right word, as what felt like an electric current flooded her body.
She couldn’t let go, though, not when this seemed to be the source of her power.
Her teeth gritted involuntarily.
She pulled, and felt the resistance as the Akuma pulled back.
If it hadn’t been her pulling…
But it was.
“No!” she yelled, as Marinette held onto it.
She fell back, rolling in an effort to keep it away from her.
And then out of the corner of her eye, there was a flash of red, and Ladybug was plunging a hand into the fracture in the Akuma’s chest.
Something seemed to snap, and the Akuma began to dissolve.
Marinette didn’t see whether she finished, as the ball disintegrated into her, and the pain hit in earnest.
“What if it rains? We didn’t care
She said that someday soon
The sun is gonna shine
And she was right, this love of mine
My Valentine”
My Valentine - Paul McCartney
I have a new ship! Thanks to @baneismydragon, who brought up the idea on Discord and now I can’t stop thinking about it. They are so sweet and kind and the thought of them together brings me joy. Hope you like it!
An AU where Miss Bustier is Hawk Moth. Imagine Marinette finding out that the mastermind was her teacher this whole time.
Madame Butterfly: So, you’ve figured out my little secret. I’d expect nothing less from my brightest student… Next to Max.
Marinette: H-how could you do this?! All this time, you’ve been akumatizing your own students? And son?!
Madame Butterfly: Oh, my little Picasso is quite aware of what I’ve been doing. Max may be the class genius, but Nathan is… Let’s just say he’s very good at chess.
Marinette: You know I can’t let you two get away with this.
Madame Butterfly: Well, let’s compromise, dear… If you don’t tell anyone about this, I’ll give you an automatic A+ for the semester.
Marinette: … Throw in a couple of late passes and you’ve got yourself a deal.
Madame Butterfly: Excellent! Wings Down. Nooroo, remind me to print up those passes.
Nooroo: Yes, ma’am.
Marinette: But how did you get Nathaniel to go along with you?! He loves superheroes!
Mme. Bustier: I promised him something no teenage boy could resist… A later curfew so he could spend more time with his new boyfriend!
Marinette: You fiend!
Mme. Bustier: That, and I may have given him a Miraculous of his own, but I’m not telling you what it is.
Marinette: You win this round, Mme. Bustier. But I will expose you.
Mme. Bustier: Good luck, dear… Oh, and remember to read chapter two.
How would Scarlet Beetle Ms Bustier react to canon Ms Bustier?
SB&IB!Mme. Bustier: … Let me get this straight. Your Chloé… The class bully, ruined your Marinette’s gift… And you expect Marinette to forgive her?
Canon!Mme. Bustier: Well, of course. Chloé just needs to be shown the love her parents-
SB&IB!Mme. Bustier: No! What that girl needs is some one on one therapy, not a free pass that says, “Oh, what you did was fine! Keep doing whatever you want, because everyone will forgive you!” You’re helping to raise a- I don’t even know! But that is not the way to treat kids like Chloé! Yes, her parents never gave her love, and that’s their fault! Your students are not obligated to coddle and downplay her treatment of them!
Canon!Mme. Bustier: Well, Chloé’s been getting better-
SB&IB!Mme. Bustier: Tell that to the dozens of people who were injured on the train she crashed! And another thing? Why do you never punish the instigators?!
Canon!Mme. Bustier: Excuse me?!
SB&IB!Mme. Bustier: I’ve looked at your incident reports, and they’re a bit sus, lady.
Canon!Mme. Bustier: Now, you listen here-
SB&IB!Mme. Bustier: No, you listen here! You are not fit to be a teacher! You’re toxic, and students don’t need people like you in their lives! Someone who makes them think that them getting beat up is somehow their faults! You are an embarrassment to those in the education field!
Madame Butterfly, Giselle (Who's her villainous wife), having a nice pleasant lunch with their son Monarch and his boyfriend Prince Paon, while one of their akumas and sentimonsters wreaks havoc on the city.
Then Ladybug and Cat Noir interrupt their lunch, which upsets them. Can't a villainous family have a nice day out?
Ladybug: Hand over your Miraculous!
Madame Butterfly: Ugh! Can’t I spend the afternoon with my gorgeous wife, my darling son, and his boyfriend?
Ladybug: Not when you’re wreaking havoc across the city!
Chat Noir: Uh, quick thing. How do you both have the Butterfly Miraculous?
Ladybug: Yeah, answer that first.
Monarch: It was a whole thing back when we had the Rabbit Miraculous for a brief period.
Ladybug: You what?!
Monarch: Yeah, you should keep track of your stuff. Anyway, if your done hassling family, why don’t you just leave?
Chat Noir: I think you know we can’t do that.
Giselle: Okay, dear. You asked for it. *Whips out her Glock*
Ladybug: Whoa!
Chat Noir: Easy! Wh-what Miraculous do you have?!
Giselle: None. I just have a Glock. It gets the job done when I’m robbing some mansions. And it helps me make my point.
Madame Butterfly: Hell yeah, it does.
Giselle: Babe, not in front of the heroes.
Monarch: *Covering Prince Paon’s eyes* Or me!
Just doing something over here, ‘cause I can’t stop thinking about this au~
Poly WLW ship becuase I say so and I love Giselle, and Maison
So Ms Bustier was a supportive chaotic activist in her youth? Respect. What’re the chances there’s a timeline where she learns who Monarch is and does everything except call the cops until it’s the last option?
Bunnyx: Let’s see… *Opens up a burrow window*
Caline:*Notices an Akuma fluttering toward the locker room where Juleka is still crying* Not this time, Nathaniel. *She calmly walks over to the Akuma and slaps it to the floor before stepping on it and pouring her coffee on it*
*Meanwhile*
Monarch: … Did this lady just…
—
Caline: *Noticing Nathaniel left his locker open, she’s about to close it, only to notice a small bag of origami butterflies on the shelf* … Yeah, no. *She takes the bag and pours her coffee all over the origami butterflies* And that takes care of that.
—
Nathaniel: *Trying to catch Nooroo who’s bouncing all around his bedroom* I knew those strawberries were suspicious! Nooroo, get down from there!
Nooroo: *Flying around on the ceiling* NEVEEEERRRR!!
*Meanwhile*
Caline: *Sips her coffee and writes ‘50 days since last Akuma’ on the chalkboard*
Monarch, gets an akuma to possess Ms Bustier’s hairband after she been stopping his akumas for two months now: “Hi, you seem like a really great teacher. You just want all your students to get along, right?”
Mme. Bustier: ... Nathaniel, is there something you'd like to talk about?
Monarch: Wh... You... Ah, come on! Gimme this one time!
Mme. Bustier: *Sips her coffee* You know, my office hours are open during study hall. If you're going through some troubles at home, we could discuss them then.
Monarch: ... Sure.
Mme. Bustier: Okay. By the way, have you finished your homework?
