#sentimonster ladybug

[soundwaveprime]

Unlike Sabrina and Chloe, both Felix and Nathalie have yet to actually apologize, or take any accountability in Felix's case, for their actions

Sabrina can go for the most part without saying thanks to Daddy cop being a relatively recent episode, but to sum it up, not only did she express clear and genuine remorse and shame for her past actions she actually apologized and took accountability for them unlike Nathalie and Felix.

Then there's Chloe, who has apologized and taken more accountability then Nathalie and Felix combined! She apologized to the heroes during Queen Wasp, express genuine guilt for getting her father akumatized in Malediktator, joined Ladybug in making up for that, and not only apologize to both Ladybug and Bustier in Zombizou but made up for her actions from that same episode by sacrificing herself for Ladybug and giving Bustier a gift in private.

As for Felix and Nathalie...

Felix hasn't apologized or even try to make up for trying to SA Ladybug during his debut, intentionally preventing the heroes from defeating the villains of the day in order to attempt to strike a deal with Hawkmoth, stealing all of the miraculous, willingly giving Gabriel back Adrien's amok/slave-coller alongside said miraculous he stole, murdering the sentimonster he made in Representation, or when he committed an actually fucken GENOCIDE against humanity, an act he took JOY IN DOING.

Hell given how he didn't bother to help out during Re-creation it's clear he has yet to take accountability for being the one directly responsible for Gabriel becoming Monarch in the first place either. Even his 'good' moment in Representation means nothing as he only hints at Gabriel being monarch because Gabriel & Tomoe are interferes with the romance he's trying to start up with Kagami, and for the most part completely comes across as him trying to justify stealing the miraculous from Marinette.

Nathalie meanwhile has yet to apologize for willingly working for Gabriel since the beginning of his reign of tyranny, or more importantly, apologize or express any form of guilt from WILLINGLY MURDERING A CHILD. That's not even mentioning how instead of going to the heroes or police and exposing Gabriel after suddenly caring about honoring Emile's last wish to her, she willingly remained silent about Gabriel being Monarch and still occasionally aid him in his goals.

Hell even her one moment in the finale where she did finally do something good is potentially undercut alongside her 'redemption' thanks to El Toro de Piedra's post credit scene making it so we don't even know if she's really even on the goodside now or if what she did in the finale was really about her making up for her inaction from that entire season.

[moonfly7]

The Sensational Sentibug

The tale of Selia Sancoeur

Recently, I've really wanted to explore what the Sentimonster ladybug incident would be like in one of my AU's, specifically considering how the way I tend to try and humanize Gabriel and make him less cartoonishly evil while still keeping his character flaws(anyone whose familiar with my AUs will know I write Gabe closer to his movie counterpart, where he's a bad dad, but really is just trying to save his wife and not on a power trip or inherently evil) would affect it.

Sadly, none of my current AU's really fit this idea, as even my more cannon-similar AU's just wouldn't provide the setting for what I wanna explore. So, we once again delve into a brand new AU(I know, I know, I have too many. It is my curse. We will survive I swear. Things will get done! ..... somehow!).

The basis for this AU is based on two factors. One, that Nathalie trying to kill Sentibug is just a gut instinct reaction to being turned on and outnumbered, and that, if she had ever stopped to actually consider the implications of what she had created, she would have seen the sentimonster the same way as she views Adrien and wouldn't have tried to destroy her.

And two, in this AU, Gabriel wakes up earlier than in cannon and, worried about his assistant just collapsing in the middle of the fight from her sickness, rushes to create an Akuma as backup and then personally goes with the Akuma to Mayuras side to help. Thus arriving right before Nathalie can destroy Sentibug.

Gabe, acting mostly on his already triggered protective instinct, immediately can't help but see Adrien in the Sentimonsters place, and so he ends up interrupting Mayura and, with the help of his Akuma distracting the heroes, steals Sentibug and her Amok, and then retreats with Nathalie in tow.

Back at the house, Gave first fusses over Nathalie being sick, and then kind of gets into a yelling match with her that concludes with an angry question of "is that what you would've done to Adrien if he got in our way?"(The irony is heavy here) Which makes her fully understand what she almost did. After they both calm down, this leads into a difficult discussion about what to do with Sentibug now.

Now, if you recall, Sentibug is made from Mayuras devotion to Gabriel and his Cause(that being saving Emilie). and that got me thinking that Sentibug in cannon switched sides awfully fast for a Sentibeing literally created from her commitment to help Gabriel and save Emilie.

Except then I remembered that Sentibug doesn't know what hawkmoths goal actually is. She has no compunctions about betraying Mayura despite devotion to the cause being at the core of her being, because everything she knows about Hawkmoth implies he just wants to rule the world or something.

That's not the kind of thing that a being with a personality based on Ladybugs public facing heroic persona would be behind, and likely not the kind of emotion that would let you create such a heroic character.

But a self sacrificing desire and devotion to help the man you love save his dying wife? That is good enough to build a hero on. And also likely to resonate with Sentibug.

So, my current idea for this AU is that Sentibug is at first furious and refuses to cooperate with them, even after she forgives Mayura(ladybug is very forgiving, maybe too much. So Sentibug is, too) and swears she'll reveal them and their identities the moment she gets a chance. Until Gabriel and Nathalie take her to the basement, and explain why Hawkmoth exists, and what their goal is(in this AU, Gabriel and Nathalie have no idea about the wish having an equivalent cost. Not even an inkling).

After that, though it takes time, during which she stays hidden in hawkmoths lair, she eventually ells them that while she can't bring herself to help them, she doesn't have it within her to stop them, either. Because everything is so confusing and she doesn't know what the right "moral" call is here.

Because without knowledge of the Wish having consequences, their actions are debatably not that bad? Gabriel knows that either Ladybug, or himself with the ladybug miraculous, will fix any damage he causes. He has never done anyone permanent harm as of yet. With all physical harm being erased, all he's doing is harassing Paris in an attempt to save a life. It's still not right, but it's hard not to see the logic there, and harder to argue that their actions have to stop. Especially for a girl whose barely a day old.

Thus, Nathalie becomes a mother to an already teenaged newborn daughter, who takes the name Selia(kind of a mix of the first parts of Sentimonster and Ladybug). Who comes to live at Agreste Manor, as Gabriel is worried enough about Naths condition to insist she move onsite for the foreseeable future(and it's not like she didn't have a room she slept in after late nights working already anyways).

The main focus of this AU is going to be Adrien interacting with Selia, who is an obsessed chat noire fan, but also isn't really sure how she feels about Adrien. They definitely get off on a weird foot, and there journey to friendship, and possibly more, interests me a lot.

Selia integrating into the miracuclass, and the fall out from that, is also going to be fun to explore. As is Selia eventually deciding to join the fight on her new families side, mainly because she's worried about her "Mom" Nath, who is not so easily dissuaded from actively participating despite being sick.

Selia, for her part, is a really interesting character to explore. She's described in cannon as possibly the strongest sentimonster ever, and she has powers that mimic the Ladybug just, naturally. She's also, personality wise, like Marinette if the Ladybug persona wasn't an act. She's strong, confident, and brave. With a sense of justice and a stubborn streak a mile wide.

Selia does figure out how to "untransform" so to speak, into a non-ladybug costume form. Since nobody actually knows how ladybug looks out of the suit since it's known to be capable of changing how you look, Selia looks like a mixup of Nath and Marinettes features. She has a bluer sheen to her black hair, like Marinette, but dies streaks of red in it like her mom does.

Her eyes are still blue, but very clearly Nathalie's shade of blue and not Mari's. She also has a nose closer to Naths in shape. And she's taller than Marinette's civilian form, with more muscle visibly packed on.

Oh, and to make it clear: Gabriel lets Nath decide what to do with the kids Amok. And Nathalie chooses to give it to Selia. To terrified of what she almost did to trust herself with it anymore.

At first, she'll carry it with her at all times. But after a scare where she loses it at school for a little while(Adrien finds it, luckily), she ultimately asks Nathalie and Gabe to help her put it somewhere safe.

Gabe's response is to put it in a concrete brick, then put the brick under Emilie's Coffin, doing the same with both twin rings(after making a replica for appearances sake), for Adrien's safety as well.

But that's later on.

At some point, I will talk about the immediate aftermath of Selia showing up while Marinette is still suspended, and what happens from there when you pit a girl who can't stop lying against someone whose personality was based on an exaggerated heroic persona and is obsessed with Justice.

But that'll be for later. I have drafted and deleted and rewritten this idea like 3 times. So I'm gonna end this here for now, after all of that. Until next time!

[thecoolcatstuff]

Hey people!

Im starting a new multichapter fic. Its my take on a canon divergence post-season 3 Ladybug ep where Sentimonster Ladybug actually survives and is given the chance to live a long and (hopefully) fulfiling life.

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Ill update it once a week (lets hope I can stick to it). Hope you enjoy and dont forget to comment!

[flightfoot]

Chat Noir: “What’s going on?”

Ladybug:  “You're right. There's nothing monstrous about her.  Whoever possesses this controls the sentimonster, she couldn't help but follow orders.”

Ladybug:  “ Sentimonster, you're free now. I won't give you orders, but I ask you, help us grab Mayura's Miraculous.”

Sentibug: “Thank you, Ladybug. I will help you.”

---

Can we just talk about this for a minute? How quickly Marinette jumped from “destroy the amok, destroy the sentimonster, get rid of the threat”, as she’s done every other time the two of them have faced a sentimonster, to “well... this one is different, and might be worth taking a chance on.”

Chat Noir brought it up earlier, which she alludes to.

Chat Noir: But she's so much more elaborate than any of those we've faced before! She's so perfect, there's nothing monstrous about her at all!

Even with them both being used to facing and destroying and destroying Mayura’s creations, both of them pause when faced with one who is pretty obviously more intelligent, more clearly a person than any they faced before. Within seconds of Sentibug ceasing to be a threat, with Ladybug out of “must neutralize threat” mode, she re-evaluates the situation and not only lets Sentibug live, but gives her the item that was being used to control her and makes sure to ASK her to help them, rather than order her to, which she could’ve done.

I guess it’s not TOO surprising, in some ways. Markov’s generally considered by the kids (even if some of the adults were asses about it *cough* Mendeleiv *cough*) to be as much of a person as anyone else, and no one seemed to question Uncanny Valley’s personhood, and Majestia considers her to be her child. I get the sense that in ML people are generally pretty willing to think of non-human beings as “people”, even if they aren’t human.

Still impressive though with how quickly Ladybug and Chat Noir rejiggered from thinking of her as an enemy to considering her a person though, to the point that they were outraged when Mayura destroyed her, even with having only known Sentibug for a few minutes.

Mayura: “I release you from existence.“

Chat Noir: “How could you!?“

Hawkmoth: “Getting sentimental on a sentimonster?“

Ladybug: “Hawkmoth!”

Chat Noir: “You’re the real monster!”

[fixations-101]

“My favorite Miraculous character is-” unless youre about to say Sentibug youre wrong.

[galahadwilder]

Angst: Sentibug Lives. Sentibug Continues Living Sentibug Watches The Birth Of Marinette's Grandchildren's Grandchildren. Sentibug Lives On Forever.

You are mean. I love it.

[familyagrestefanblog]

Now that we have the summary of "Ladybug"

I've read alot that people think the ladybug sentimonster comes from Marinette herself but honestly, this summery makes me think it's anyones BUT Marinettes. Nowhere in this is it implied that Marinette has any knowledge of the Sentimonster prior having to face it, even less that she accepted to releasing it in the first place.

And the there is also this leak from years ago (I think we got it somewhere in the middle of season 2):

And HOLLA does this leak make more sense now! We literally had no idea what was ahead of us when we got this :D

Anyway

If this really is the Ladybug Sentimonster, and I am quite convinced it is, then I believe it is highly likely that it stems from Gabriel himself. I mean, she/it is standing there right with him. In Emilies coma room. AND HE'S NOT TRANSFORMED AND QUITE CHILL ABOUT IT IF I MAY SAY SO!

Also. With all the drama and screen time for the Agreste family, one shouldn't forget that Marinette/Ladybug is still the Titel character and main hero. And no matter how much development the Agreste family got the show also never forgot to still present Ladybug and Hawkmoth as the core rivalry in this story up til now. Yes other antagonists/Villains came along but she's the leader and main from the good side and he's the big evil since the very beginning.

So if you ask me, if there is any villain who deserves the privilege of getting to create a monster in Form of Ladybug herself, it's Hawkmoth. The MAIN villain, Ladybugs biggest foe and the man who started this freaking war in the first place and swears revenge and doom upon Ladybug in every. Single. Episode.

[flightfoot]

Ladycat jumped off of her partner’s shoulders, enjoying the feeling of the grass beneath her paws. She’d felt it as an akuma, of course, but…

She shuddered. That had not been a pleasant experience. One half of her trapped in that dark, gooey place, barely able to affect the outside world, mostly condemned to watching helplessly, while the other half was trapped under Hawkmoth’s sway. 

Rena Rouge and Carapace ran up to greet her, relieved smiles on their faces, along with-

Reflexively, she arched her back and narrowed her eyes, barely stopping herself from hissing outright. It was that- that- that Replacement. 

“Woah, it’s fine, it’s fine!” Chat said hastily, putting himself between her and the impostor. “She’s on our side.”

Slowly, reluctantly, she forced her fur to flatten. She shot Chat a pointed look, letting out an inquisitive meow. At least she HOPED it sounded inquisitive. Dammit, why did being a cat have to come with such inconveniences as ‘not being able to speak’? 

“Rena found the Peacock Miraculous, and well… I figured we could use all the help we could get,” he said, scratching the back of his neck. “I tried to make one who could fill in the hole in our team, could help bring you back. She was the result.”

She approached the sentimonster version of herself slowly, giving a few cautious sniffs. The sentimonster sat down, bringing herself closer to Ladycat’s own diminutive height. “My creator cares about you a lot, you know,” she said softly. “I saw it, felt it, when he was bringing me into existence.”

…Wait. The sentimonster could TALK?! Of her own accord?!

She looked at Chat again, hoping that her wildly lashing tail and overall jitteriness somehow conveyed the question she wanted to ask. 

“Yeah, that was my reaction too,” he said, chagrinned. “Turns out that the Peacock Miraculous is a lot more powerful than I, or even Fu, understood. It doesn’t just create remote control creatures, or even monsters with animal-level intelligence. It can create actual people as well. As soon as I realized that, I gave her her amok, so no one else could control or influence her. I- I don’t want to be that kind of person, or that sort of- sort of- father.” He nearly stumbled over that last word, still barely believing that it could apply to himself.

WHAT?!

That- Adrien was a- and SENTIMONSTERS were-

Okay, between getting turned into a cat, finding out Chat Noir was the love of her life, that his father’s Hawkmoth, getting turned into an akuma, Hawkmoth being defeated, and now THIS?!

CONGRATS UNIVERSE, YOU WON. DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU WON, BUT YOU SURE AS HELL WON IT.

She flopped over on the ground, closing her eyes. She was done, this day was OVER, good night!

Something poked her. She steadfastly ignored it.

“Uh, is she okay?” Chat asked.

“I’ll take her back to the Guardian,” Rena said, bundling Ladycat up in her arms. “She’s had a long day.”

Chat extended his stick. “I’ll come with-”

She shook her head. “Someone’s going to need to talk to the press, explain what happened, and Ladybug’s not exactly in a fit state to do that right now.”

He sighed, shrinking his stick back down and tucking into his belt. “Alright. I’ll drop by later, after I get this sorted out.”

Rena Rouge nodded, giving him a supportive smile as she headed back to Nino’s place, Carapace just behind her.

Looking down at the hole and the sea of reporters that had started congregating nearby, he muttered, “Whenever that is, anyway.”

Beckoning Sentibug - his daughter - over, he started making statements to the press.

(Read the rest on AO3)

-------

Adrien sat in a chair at the police station, staring at his feet. After Rena and Carapace had left with LadyCat, he’d had to spend the next couple hours at an impromptu press conference, going over everything that’d happened, explaining that Sentibug was NOT Ladybug and no, she couldn’t turn everyone Catwoman had turned into felines, back into people (after the kind of day he’d had, he was ashamed to admit he’d actually forgotten about that) but that Ladybug would be back soon. 

And then the police had started investigating the mansion and trying to locate everyone who might have been involved. Including Adrien. Which meant he’d had to go back to the mansion and pretend to be totally ignorant of everything that’d happened, all while leaving Sentibug behind for the police to process.

He’d rather have been back at the press conference, explaining for the fifth time that NO, Ladybug had had no involvement in Sentibug’s creation process, and YES she was a real living person and needed to be granted full legal rights, as per the recently signed international treaty on “The Rights of Artificially Created Persons”. 

Hm. Note to self: try to get into contact with Majestia. She’d been the treaty’s biggest champion. With her being Uncanny Valley’s mother, she’d probably have a better idea than anyone else on how to navigate the legal system.

By the time the cops had finished interrogating him, night had fallen. No one really knew what to do with him. They seemed satisfied that he hadn’t been helping his father, but that didn’t help with finding him a place to stay. Amelie wasn’t answering her phone (and it’d take her several hours to retrieve him anyway), Nathalie was in a coma, and Gorilla… actually he had no idea where his bodyguard went when he wasn’t looking after him. Did he even HAVE a home of his own?

Roger walked in, looking up from his clipboard. “Adrien? Someone’s here to see you.”

He blinked, thinking through the possibilities. Rena Rouge? She could make herself look like anyone she wanted, if she wanted to get him out of here, she could. Or Master Fu? Maybe he could claim to be Adrien’s godfather.

“Adrien? Oh you poor dear! You- wait, Tom, don’t crush him!”

Tom loosened his hug, setting Adrien down gently. “Oh- uh- whoops?” he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

Adrien just gaped at them. Which was only partly because he needed to regain his breath after having it crushed out of his lungs by Marinette’s dad (seriously, the man could give Gorilla a run for his money in the strength department). “What are you doing here?” 

Don’t get him wrong, he loved talking to Marinette’s parents, they were really cool and awesome and made him feel warm and happy just by being around them (not unlike Marinette herself), but why would they be here now? 

A familiar face peeked around the corner. 

“Sentibug?” he asked. Okay, this was just getting more confusing.

“Um… could you call me Bridgette?” she asked shyly, twirling one of her hair ribbons nervously. “I got to talking to them,” she gestured at Tom and Sabine, “and I- I think that’s what I’d like to be called.”

He smiled at her, though inside he felt a small pang. He hadn’t even thought about her name, with everything going on. “Sentibug” was just the shorthand he’d made up in his head. “Of course! Bridgette sounds great,” he assured her.

Bridgette shot him a relieved smile. It took him a minute to realize he was smiling back. 

She- she valued his approval. A lot. Of course she did, he was her father. He’d valued his own father’s opinion a lot as well.

His stomach clenched. He used to value it, at least. After finding out the truth, he-

He still cared. But he was trying not to. His father wasn’t worth it.

“Tom and I were at another part of the station, filing a ‘Missing Person’ report,” Sabine said. “Marinette went out to the park this morning during Catwoman’s rampage and never came back. We’re hoping she just got hit by one of the akuma’s beams, but…”

“But you’re not sure,” he said, his heart dropping. Three days. It’d be three days until they could say for sure that Marinette was okay. And that was assuming nothing bad happened to the cat-people in the meantime! What if one of them escaped, like Ladycat had? Granted, none of the rest SHOULD have superpowers, but cats were tricky! Who knew what they would get up to?

“We ran into Bridgette here just sitting around, waiting for the police to decide what to do with her,” Sabine explained. “No one knew where she should go - it’s not like they know how to get in touch with Chat Noir, and even if they did, can he take her in? He’s just a boy himself.”

“I- I’m sure he’d figure something out,” he said. He couldn’t convince himself. He was 14, he couldn’t even access most of the money in his bank account without a Guardian’s permission, how could he take care of someone else?

“So we volunteered,” Sabine continued. “It’s better than just sitting home worrying. If we can do something to help another kid in need- how could we not? Roger mentioned that they weren’t sure where to place you either, so we thought we’d swing by and ask if you’d like to stay with us? It’s fine if you don’t want to or have some other idea of where to go-”

“No, I- I’d like that,” he told her breathlessly, hardly believing his own ears. “I’d like that a lot.”

She held out her hand. “Welcome to our household, Adrien- for now, I mean. Until things are sorted out.”

He nodded, taking her hand. Maybe things would be okay.

-----

Marinette blinked her eyes open. 

She quickly shut them again. Ugh, why’d morning have to be so BRIGHT? Attempting to shut out the light that was streaming through her eyelids, she covered her face with one of her hands.

Only to feel something small and furry whack her face.

Small… furry…

AUGH A MOUSE HAD DROPPED ON HER FACE DURING THE NIGHT GET IT OFF GET IT OFF!

Huh, actually that sounded kind of tasty…

WHAT. WHAT WAS SHE THINKING. WHY. 

She bolted upright, letting out a noise that barely even sounded human.

And landed on her four soft, furry little paws.

Oh, right. That’s why she hadn’t sounded human. 

“Sleeping beauty awakens,” Alya said, sounding amused.

Marinette took stock of her surroundings. Small room, bed in an indent, Ladybug and Chat Noir figures holding hands-

She looked away, glad that cats couldn’t blush. (Catboys could though. She’d made Chat blush many, many times.)

Oh nice, Alya’d left up a word processor for her! 

Carefully, doing her best not to hit multiple keys (and failing, but not so often as to make it illegible), she typed ‘Where Adrien? What happened Hawkmoth?’ then sat back, exhausted from the amount of effort and concentration even just typing THAT took.

“Gabriel’s in jail, awaiting trial,” Alya told her. “Investigators are still combing through everything, but from what little we know, it looks like he’s going away for life. Adrien’s staying at your house. He texted Nino about it last night.”

WHAT.

NO. 

THIS WAS A DISASTER.

HE’D LOOK AT HER ROOM AND SEE HER WALL OF ADRIEN PHOTOS AND FIND HER DIARY AND THE CHEST OF PRESENTS SHE’D MADE FOR HIM AND THINK SHE WAS A CREEP. SHE’D HAVE TO MOVE AWAY TO ICELAND AND CHANGE HER NAME TO “BECKY HAUSTINGER” AND PRETEND SHE SPOKE NOTHING BUT ICELANDIC. SHE DIDN’T EVEN KNOW ICELANDIC HOW WOULD SHE ORDER THE FABRIC FOR HER FASHION DESIGNS?!

A voice cut through her panic. “Breathe, Marinette. In, and out. In, and out.”

Slowly her fur flattened, her breaths growing slower and more controlled. 

“It’ll be fine,” Alya said reassuringly. “He already saw those photos, remember? Adrien was fine with it. I doubt he’ll be poking around in your room much anyway, that’d be weird. And we’re talking about Adrien - your PARTNER, Chat Noir. Do you really think he’d freak out about anything he found in there?

Oh, right. He wasn’t just Adrien, was he? He was Chat as well. And Chat- Chat, she couldn’t see doing more than maybe, possibly laughing at her more absurd eccentricities, and even then, not in a mean way. He wouldn’t hold it against her.

“That sentimonster version of you’s staying with them as well,” Alya continued. “Her name’s Bridgette, by the way. No one else knew what to do with her, so your parents decided to take her in as well.”

She didn’t know what to think of that. She still had trouble wrapping her brain around the idea that she had a twin, sort of. Who was Adrien’s daughter. 

Okay, time to stop thinking about that before she freaked out again. That could be dealt with later. How putting off thinking about it would help, she didn’t know, but DAMMIT she wasn’t ready to deal with that right now.

“You want to visit?” Alya asked, giving her a knowing look. 

She gave an affirmative meow. All of this had been hard for her to take in, but… how much worse was it for Adrien? He’d just lost his only remaining parent and his home, on top of everything else. She wanted to check in on him, make sure he was doing… maybe not okay, but at least not worse.

Padding over to the balcony, she gently pawed at the door. Alya opened it, grinning. With a leap, she bounded off towards the bakery, sending dozens of Parisians scrambling for their phones to record “Super Nyan Kitty” in her wake.

-----

It only took her a few minutes to bounce her way home. She’d gotten good at moving around the city fast, though her main method of locomotion was usually swinging via yo-yo, rather than jumping around like she was on the moon. Even if she hadn’t known the way, it wouldn’t have been hard to find the bakery. The divine smell of baking bread spread for miles.

She stopped bouncing as she approached the front, not wanting to be too obvious. Peeking in, she could see her parents manning the bakery as usual, with her father baking and her mother at the register. She meowed loudly, pawing at the front door, but being careful not to scratch it. No sense messing up its paint job, she didn’t want to give her parents extra work.

Mom looked over, frowning. She blinked. “Oh my.” Slowly she opened the door, giving Marinette plenty of time to get out of the way so she wouldn’t be knocked over. Of course, Marinette used the opportunity to dash inside, as she’d planned.

Her mom reached out a hand for her to sniff. She did so cautiously, mostly for appearances’ sake, then pressed her head against her mom’s hand, purring all the while. She hadn’t realized how much she missed her mom until she’d gone a day without her.

“Do- do you think-?” Her papa said hopefully.

Sabine nodded, tears in her eyes. “I- I hope so. I think Marinette has returned to us!”

Marinette gave out the loudest purrs she could manage, her little body vibrating so hard she could barely walk. She couldn’t let them know just how intelligent she really was - most of the people-cats had only above-average intelligence, not human-level intelligence. She didn’t want to give away that something was different about her if she could help it, at least not as Marinette. Too easy for people to connect the dots between her and Ladybug that way. 

But she could still give comfort to them as best she could, and show she recognized them and the bakery. Give them what comfort and reassurance that she could.

Footsteps pounded down the stairs. Marinette’s ears pricked up. 

“Adrien! Bridgette!” Mom called out. “Look who’s here!”

Adrien’s eyes widened, staring at her. “L- uh- who do you mean?” he asked hastily. 

“We think this is Marinette,” Papa said, picking her up and stroking her. She became a liquid in his arms. “She made quite a racket at the door. I don’t know how she got out of the cat camp, but it doesn’t surprise me. She’s a clever girl, even as a feline.”

Adrien’s eyes widened for a moment, before softening, as he looked at her with the most adoring, lovestruck expression she’d ever seen on his face. She looked away, glad she couldn’t blush. The increased volume of her purrs betrayed her feelings anyway.

“You have no idea,” Adrien muttered quietly, the corners of his mouth twitching as he suppressed a smile.

Gently, her papa put her back on the floor. As soon as her paws touched the tile she shot towards Adrien, meowing excitedly. 

Her papa chuckled. “That’s Marinette, alright.” She glared at him. He put up his hands.

Adrien bent down. “You okay with being picked up?” She nodded frantically. 

He brought her close to his chest. She rubbed her face against it, purring contentedly, listening to his heartbeat. Her partner was here. Even after everything, he was still here. 

Another hand stroked her. She looked up inquisitively.

Bridgette looked back at her, blinking curiously.

She narrowed her eyes. She still didn’t know what to make of this girl. 

“I’m glad you’re back,” Bridgette told her quietly. “He really cares about you, you know. I- I felt it, I was created from it.”

Marinette looked down, kneading Adrien’s arm subconsciously. He winced, but didn’t try to dislodge her. Bridgette was just created to help. It wasn’t fair to take out her anxieties on her. It still felt strange having a copy of herself running around, but… well, twins existed, and none of this was Bridgette’s fault at all.

She got up, balancing on Adrien’s arm, and leaped onto Bridgette’s shoulders. It startled the girl for a moment, but she quickly regained her balance. As Marinette purred and rubbed up against her ears and face, Bridgette quickly started giggling, Adrien following suit.

Marinette beamed. This- this is what they’d been fighting for this past year. To laugh and have fun, no threats overhead. To just be kids.

-----

Three hours later, Adrien and Tom left to visit Nathalie. She was still out cold from Hawkmoth’s magic, unfortunately, but they were allowing visitors at least. 

Bridgette and Ladycat stayed behind. Ladycat may be well-behaved, but the hospital still wasn’t going to allow kittens into the hospital.

Which left the two of them staring awkwardly at each other. 

Ladycat meowed at her. 

Bridgette meowed back.

Ladycat face-pawed.

Bridgette flushed, looking away. It’d seemed like the right thing to do at the time.

She admired the kitten - the girl - she was modeled after, who so many people loved so, so much. But she didn’t really know her all that well, beyond the glimpses she’d gotten of Adrien’s memories. With the little time she’d spent with her, she could tell that Marinette was affectionate and cared for Adrien and her parents, but not much beyond that. There was only so much she could glean about the girl, with her being stuck as a little kitten, barely able to communicate.

Instinctively she rubbed the Lucky Charm that held her amok, a nervous habit she’d picked up yesterday while waiting at the police station. If only she could understand what Marinette was saying, put herself in her paws, get to know her better. She could almost feel the tile floor under her furry little paws, her tail flick, her-

Wait.

She could actually feel those things.

Blinking, she looked around. Everything was suddenly ten times bigger than it used to be.

She looked up. Ladycat looked back at her, eyes wide. <What- how- WHAT?!> Ladycat sputtered out in a series of meows - yet Bridgette could still understand what she was saying.

<Turning into a cat’s that easy?> Bridgette said wondrously. <Why doesn’t everyone do this?>

<Most people can’t just turn themselves into cats> Ladycat said flatly. <I’m still not sure how YOU could>

<I- I was just thinking about wanting to get to know you better, to understand what you were saying, and then suddenly here I was> Bridgette confessed.

Ladycat put her paw up to her chin. As a kitten it looked less ponderous and more like she was posing for a tiny fashion shoot. <You were holding something at the time> she said, giving Bridgette a questioning look.

She nodded, answering Ladycat’s unspoken question <Yeah, it’s your Lucky Charm. It’s- it’s my amok.>

Ladycat blinked slowly, trying to process that. She nodded thoughtfully. <An amok can be used to control a sentimonster - what if it can do more than just that? What if it can be used to shape one as well? And if the sentimonster in question possesses their own amok->

<Then I could change myself at will!> Bridgette meowed excitedly.

The door opened. “Marinette, are you okay?” Sabine asked worriedly. “I heard all the meowing and I feared-” She blinked. “Marinette, who’s your friend?”

Marinette meowed, brushing against her side. Bridgette leaned into the contact, enjoying the way Marinette’s fur felt against her own.

Huh, come to think of it, she hadn’t paid attention to what her own fur looked like.

She gave herself a quick once-over. She’d expected to be a copy of Marinette, looking like a little grey kitten, but instead…

<Huh. I’m black?> she meowed questioningly.

Marinette nodded. <It surprised me too> she admitted. <Maybe because Chat Noir’s your father?>

She considered that, and shrugged. It felt weird while quadrapedal. She could move her front legs freely the same way she could use her arms as a human, so it mostly consisted of dipping her head and hoping it looked different from nodding. Turning around, she circled near Marinette again, comparing herself to the other kitten. <I’m smaller than you> she concluded, surprised. <I only come up to your shoulder!>

<Yeah, that seemed weird to me> Marinette admitted. <You look a lot younger too>

“I’m sure this is a fascinating conversation,” Sabine said dryly, “but could you take it down a bit? We can hear your meowing down in the bakery.”

The two kittens blinked, then gave short, affirmative meows. Sabine blinked in surprise, but smiled. “I’ll come back with some treats for the two of you once we’re done with the lunch rush,” she said. “You two have fun!”

Marinette and Bridgette looked at each other. <Want to see some cool climbing spots I found?> Marinette meowed. 

Bridgette grinned, flicking her tail. <I might have a few ideas myself…>