@quiznaks Here is your Miraculous Ladybug Secret Santa!
It was not a good day for Marinette.
First, she had bombed her history test at school, then had (again) embarrassed herself in front of Adrien by slipping on the steps to her seat and sent her homework flying into his face. Chloe had laughed and mocked her while she struggled to apologize to her crush, but all she could do was stutter over her words and felt like crying in the end.
It was not a good day for Marinette.
First, she had bombed her history test at school, then had (again) embarrassed herself in front of Adrien by slipping on the steps to her seat and sent her homework flying into his face. Chloe had laughed and mocked her while she struggled to apologize to her crush, but all she could do was stutter over her words and felt like crying in the end.
Now, Marinette was Ladybug, fighting a particularly difficult akumatized enemy. She was a victim of Chloe, and Ladybug knew this as it was a girl from another class at her school which Marinette had seen her try to talk to Adrien but Chloe had interfered, calling the girl names and actually looking up the girl on social media to embarrass her. It worked, but led to the girl becoming infected by an akuma. She took the name 'Socialite' and had the ability to entrance her victims by all the horrible things they had done. Of course, Chloe was suspected as her first target. Ladybug had no issue with this personally, and believed it might do her some good, but felt an obligation as a hero to save the bully nonetheless.
"Why, my lady, with a face like that, one could assume you're not a fan of our current villain?" Chat noir appeared beside her as Ladybug was on her way to find Chloe. Her partner against crime looked as careless as ever, messy hair and his 'tail' flowing effortlessly behind him. Ladybug was almost jealous of him, his complete carefree attitude and how utterly open he was with her was refreshing.
"Not particularly, Chat. The only thing we know about her is the broadcast she streamed and called us out. She stated her whole plan, but we still know nothing of what she can do." Ladybug furrowed her brow as they leapt over the rooftops. "It's suspicious, to say the least."
Chat nodded in thought. "Well, she was so kind to give us what little we have, no? And with a name like Socialite, I'm sure we'll know more very soon."
"How unusually insightful, kitty," Ladybug teased as they reached Chloe's home. "But we need to get serious. We don't know where she's coming from-"
Before Ladybug could finish her thought, the akuma in question appeared above them. Socialite was in a fancy looking gown, her hair in a bun pinned by a jewel, with gloved that were typing furiously in the air to holographic screens floating just above Socialite's face.
"So, Ladybug and Chat Noir, you answered my call, though you'll be sure to regret it!" Socialite readied into a battle stance and, much like Lady Wifi who she seemed to draw some inspiration from, threw her screens at the two. Ladybug effortlessly dodged them and spun in the air, throwing her yo-yo to try to entangle the villain. Chat had launched himself at her as well, but missed and instead landed on Chloe's balcony. He quickly recovered and was back on the roof, swinging his baton at Socialite. Ladybug's yo-yo had wrapped itself around Socialite's wrist, and she was yanked closer to the hero.
"Oh, miraculous Ladybug, the savior of Paris, perhaps you're not as mighty as you think..." With a few swift moves of her fingers, Socialite pulled up a strange filed history of Ladybug. It showed a long scrolling list of names, and it didn't take long to see it was of previous akumas Ladybug had fought. "Each of these names are caused by you."
Ladybug's eyes scanned the list for a moment, shock crossing her face. She pushed the feeling back to get through this one fight, she could feel guilt later. Ladybug looked Socialite over instead, guessing her akuma was in the jewel in her bun. She recognized it from the encounter she saw earlier and grabbed it. Socialite, despite her dress, was quite agile and was able to spin and knock it out of Ladybug's hand.
"Chat! The pin!" He nodded and leapt in the air over the two, grabbing it as the akuma detangled herself from the yo-yo, leaving Ladybug free to be ready to contain it. Chat threw it on the ground, smashing it, and Ladybug quickly caught the little black butterfly in her weapon, cleansing it. Chat had to catch the girl who was Socialite, letting her down gently on the sidewalk.
"Good job!" The two heroes fist-bumped, though Ladybug's heart wasn't in it. Chat seemed to notice, a concerned look on his face.
"Is something wrong, my lady?" Ladybug peered at him, and sighed. "Come on, let's go somewhere to talk."
The two set off to the Eiffel Tower, choosing to sit upon the top balcony and have a serious conversation.
"Chat... Are we good?"
"Why, of course we are. We're the heroes of Paris, we save the city almost daily."
"Chat... Socialite showed me a long list of names. They were akumas, all of them caused by me. I don't feel like a good person after that. I think... I think I need some time away."
Chat looked taken back by her words.
"But Ladybug, I can't do this without you. You're the only one who can cleanse akumas."
"I'm sorry Chat. But there were so many names. I just... I need some time." She abruptly leapt away, and Chat knew he couldn't change her mind. Once Ladybug did something, it was done. And for his lady to take a break from being a hero, it must have affected her really badly to see all the akumas she caused. Chat, on the other hand, knew he wasn't a good person and while he felt guilty, he also knew that being good was relative. Ladybug just needed some time to learn it as well, and get back in the game.
She would be back soon, he hoped.
~~~~
It had been 2 weeks since Paris had seen Ladybug.
This would be normal if there had been no akuma attacks, but there 3 attacks since Socialite. Ladybug was missing from each one, and since she wasn't there, the akumas kept coming back. Chat was the only one there to fight them, but he couldn't purify them. He was having a really rough time by himself, and he hoped his lady could see that, wherever she was.
Marinette had seen on TV how Chat was struggling without her, but Marinette was still struggling over her own demons of how many akumas she had caused herself. She had been spending all her free time watching the news or laying in her bed lost in thought while Tikki begged her to do something. Sure, Marinette wished she could help Chat and realized it was stupid for her to be this was since she did help all those people, it was the fact she, as Ladybug, the hero of Paris, had caused akumas was a depressing fact. She just couldn't come back out in her mental state right now in case she would cause yet another one. Right now, that was her biggest fear.
Adrien, on the other hand, had much bigger worries. The attacks were becoming too much for his alter ego to handle, weighing down on him physically and emotionally until he snapped. And by snapped, he fell victim to his greatest enemy.
It happened after one of the akumas had multiplied and Chat had to stave it off once more. He ended up badly wounded in an alley, crying and calling for Ladybug with no answer.
Somewhere in the distance, a giant window opened up.
"Ah, the hero who has has fallen so much snaps from the pressure of singularity. Fly, little akuma, and taint his heart!" Hawkmoth monologued, sending a black butterfly to cause terror. It reached Chat Noir, infecting his bell.
"Chat Blanc, you have been stressed by your oppressors too long and left by the one you admire most. Lash out and get your revenge, but all I ask is you bring me the Miraculous of Ladybug and yourself."
"With pleasure, Hawkmoth," Chat Blanc replied, turnign into a copy of his hero self but in white. He set out to find his lady, but with menace in his heart instead of love. Chat Blance found his method of reaching ladybug when he came across a news outlet doing a story over her disappearance. The pulled the microphone from the news caster and turned teh camera to himself.
"My lady- I mean, Ladybug, if you could take time out of your very busy schedule, will you meet me? I'm not the cat you knew, and I believe you might like the new me. Or not, it all depends on if you want to be a hero or keep wallow in self pity more over your mistakes. Meet me at the tower, where we usually meet, and face me like the hero you claim to be!"
He laughed and leapt away, the newscaster hurridly changing her story to this new development. Marinette sat stunned on her couch, and quickly called for Tikki.
"Marinette, I told you this would happen! When you first became Ladybug, remember your first akuma battle? This is going to be much worse! Chat is now an akuma as well as all the ones he couldn't save!"
"Tikki, I'm so sorry. We need to do something. I need to help Chat. Transform me!"
Ladybug leapt from the rooftops of Paris to meet her partner now turned to crime at the Eiffel Tower. She was fighting tears on her way there, chastizing herself for being so stupid to let her personal feelings get in the way of being a hero and letting things lead to this. She found Chat Blanc perched on the rail on the top of the Eiffel Tower balcony.
"Chat..."
"Ah! Ladybug!" He whipped around and strolled over to her, baton at his side. "So happy for you to finally join me, after weeks without you. I was afraid you wouldn't show up."
"Chat, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have let Socialite get the best of me, I didn't know it would lead to this."
Somehow, Chat looked angry and sad all at once. His hand stroked his bell, and he turned around.
"I don't want to fight you Ladybug. I know you were pretty shocked, but everyone makes mistakes. You're not perfect."
"I know. I don't know what came over me. But Chat, let me help you." Ladybug reached out for Chat's hand, but he yanked it away.
"It's a little too late for help. There were so many akumas for me to fight alone, you could have helped at any time. The only thing you could do now would be to hand over your Mirculous. You don't deserve it."
Ladybug knew this was the akuma talking, but it stung nonetheless. She recalled how she reacted when she first got her Miraculous, not wanting it at all, but she also thought of how far she's come as a hero. She's done so much, and it filled her with pride. Chat was right, she wasn't perfect, but she was Ladybug still, and it was her duty to save Paris no matter what.
"I won't fight you Chat. I know how to fix this." Ladybug flung her yo-yo out to where she knew there was a swarm of one of the akumas Chat faced on her own. It was a little boy named Tall Tale, a giant, and it was easy to find the original since he was laughing while commanding the rest. He was an easy take out, too, tripping him and ripping away his hat and shredding it. She healed the boy, who was still tall for his age, and all the others affected.
Next was a girl who took the name Surreala. She looked like a Picasso painting, all disheveled and mismatched. She was a bit harder to find, as her and her clones were spread around. It took maybe an hour of fighting clones to find the original, and Ladybug had to use her lucky charm to get a mirror to help her. Surreala was vain, and she ended up entranced by herleft enough for Ladybug to rip up her chocker. She ended up being a girl Ladybug's age, whose clothes were mismatched just as she was as her akumaself.
Marinette had to detransform and feed Tikki some cookies she always carried, but was quickly back in the game.
The final akuma was much harder. They were None Binary, an androgynous person who looked neither male nor female and was dressed in an similar fashion of yellow, white, purple, and black, with a cape. They were the most recent akuma, so their clones were still frozen. Ladybug found the one moving one, but had to fight them one on one. It was hard, and she couldn't find the item she needed until she realized: it has to be the cape, which she guessed must actually be a pride flag. She pulled it off and ripped it, cleansing the akuma. The person was still androgynous, and Ladybug left them to go find Chat once more.
He was still on the Eiffel Tower, seemingly right where she left him. He stared at her before stroking his bell again.
"So, I saw you beat the akumas that were left around in your absence." She nodded, a little out of breath.
"Chat, I'm not fighting you. Please, try to fight it. I know you're strong enough to do it." Once again, she moved towards him, but this time he didn't fight it. She put her arms in his shoulder, and looked in his eyes. "I also won't give you my Miraculous. But I think I know how to save you anyways."
Chat squinted at her. "How?" He sounded defeated, tired, and a little angry still.
"Like this." She pushed Chat Blanc back, snatched his bell and threw it on the ground, stomping on it to release the akuma. Before he could react, she cleansed it and released him from Hawkmoth's grip.
"Ladybug? I- I-"
"It's ok Chat. I'm sorry I left you alone." They quickly hugged, and didn't let go for awhile. "I never should have left you, regardless of what happened. Almost losing you made me realize that it doesn't matter how many akumas there were, we may be heroes but we all mess up."
"Oh my lady, I shouldn't have tried to fight all those akumas myself. I should have waited for you."
"Chat, you were being a hero. That's what we do. And I'm hapy you did, it helped me with my own demons."
They finally let go, and looked at each other. "I don't know what I would do without you, my lady."
She laughed. "Well, I think we saw what would happen. Real question, what would I do without you?" She smiled at him, and sighed. "Come on, kitty, you need a break. Let's hope things are quiet for a bit, for your sake."
The hugged again, but instead of moving, they just sat down and talked for hours, about their feelings and being heroes.
Lucky for Chat, it was quiet for a week. But when there was an akuma attack, Ladybug was right there fighting as a hero of Paris once more.
