Chapter Text
The vines wrapped around my waist and pulled me outside the already broken window. Other vines also held to more students. Between them, was the reporter girl and the princessy one. They were trying to fight against the force of the vines, but there was no use to it. If only they just allowed themselves to be taken, it wouldn’t be as hard.
The vines were full of thorns, my torso was starting to feel pain wherever the thornes directly touched it. That was weird. I knew humans could feel pain, I had watched them react to it for many years. But to be the one feeling it, that was new. I wondered if pain would feel different in a real, human body than what I was feeling.
Sometimes, when I was under the human appearance, I didn’t feel like me. It was like watching someone else move for me, talk for me, and just exist for me. Like watching a movie, but the protagonist was wearing my body. Pain was one of those things that I couldn’t feel for myself. I needed to see other people suffer through it, just like the reporter and the princess were doing at the moment. By seeing them, I could tell what sort of pain was supposed to be happening. And my body reacted to it, even though I didn’t consciusly do it.
The vines brought us to the Eiffel Tower. Why was it that every single akuma decided to make the Eiffel Tower their base? It didn’t make any sense. If you know your enemy is good at fighting in tall places and has a freaking yoyo to pull herself upwards, a tower is the last place you want to go. If I was them, I would go to ground level, maybe even underground. Take away any place she can pull herself to, and boom. You just incapacitated the enemy.
Akumas, as it may already be obvious, aren’t that smart.
The Eiffel Tower was wrapped in, you guessed it, more vines. It was like a plant sculpture. On top of the tower, the Akuma stood. They were completely green, and had vines surrounding them, forming an armor. Even from a distance I could tell they had a small cluster of souls. Maybe 4, 7 tops. Not a good target.
The vines of the Eiffel Tower had little red roses in them. Little from the distance, but the roses got bigger as we approached them. And on top of the roses, civilians slept, caged by the petals. They looked almost calm, as if they were peacefully dreaming. Some of them even wore smiles on their faces.
The Akuma lowered themselves to tend each rose. It caressed the roses, and the humans inside, as if they were little babies. As more civilians got dragged to the tower, more roses bloomed.
The reporter started shouting at the Akuma. Something about how they weren’t going to get away with it, and that Ladybug and Chat Noir were going to kick their asses at any moment. The Akuma giggled as a response. They ordered the vines to bring the three of us closer to them. Under us, three red roses started blooming.
“You are an energetic one”, they said in a motherly tone. They put a hand on top of the reporter’s hair and started petting her, as if that would get her to close her mouth.
“Don’t touch me!”, the reporter screamed, pulling her head to the side. “Once Ladybug gets here, she’s going to defeat you, Hawkmoth!”
Ah, yes. Hawkmoth. The one behind all the Akumas. If you asked me my opinion, the guy was an idiot. For starters, he made use of young people with no sort of influence or power. Hawkmoth also had th ebad habit of giving his Akumas the most horrible outfits, making it instantly obvious that they are an Akuma. If I was Hawkmoth, I would make their clothes and appearances a bit less obvious. Just a tiny bit, enough so that they don’t get recognized as an Akuma at first glance.
But don’t mind me, I am just a demon allowing himself to be caught by the stupidest of all villains. What I do for Marinette and her souls.
The Akuma, enraged by the reporter’s response, dragged their long red nails through her cheek. Some droplets of blood fell.
Time to act, I guessed.
The reporter screamed. I screamed back. The princess had little tears forming in her eyes. I started crying too. I may not be a human, but damn it if I am not a good actor. Move aside Leonardo Dicaprio, I am the one who deserves an Oscar.
And the Oscar just flew by dressed in a red suit and polka dots.
Game time.
The Akuma blew made a gesture with their hand, ordering the vines to drop us onto the roses. The fall was only three meters high, but it still got a cry out of the princess. I controlled every urge in my body to not roll my eyes.
The reporter tried shouting something else at the akuma, but the rose’s smell was already starting to get to her. She yawned, and so did the princess.
The unnatural nature of my body, made me more resistant to the smell than the two girls. While they were already falling asleep, I was barely starting to register the drowsiness.
It seemed as if the Akuma hadn’t yet noticed Ladybug, who was perched on top of a nearby building, talking to her yoyo. She and the cat were probably starting ot formulate a plan to get near the Akuma without being noticed by the vines.
From watching Ladybug closely for a long time, I learned a valuable lesson: she saves civilians, but not people. All the civilians trapped in the roses were just strangers she had to save. The exceptions being her class members and her parents. If you didn’t belong to one of those selective groups, then she wouldn’t directly save you until she performed the Miraculous Cure.
But, if you were a member of her class, she was already going to notice you more than the others. The problem with that was that, although I was in her class and her deskmate, we had only known each other for a day. Ladybug would choose to save the reporter or the princess over me any day.
I couldn’t risk it with just being in her class. I needed another way to get her attention.
Cue to the more special, but difficult group. The “wanna be heroes”. All the civilians or classmates who stood up to the Akuma and helped her with her plan. That was a method that guaranteed Ladybug would remember you. And if Ladybug rememberedd you, Marinette would care more for you.
Time to be a hero.
“Hey!”, I shouted at the Akuma. Even though the roses were starting to get to me, I forced myself to stay awake. I needed to help Ladybug, and at the moment, the best way was to distract the Akuma.
The Akuma raised their eyebrow at me, surprised by how I was still awake. They lowered themselves to get closer to me, and just as they had done to the reporter, they started petting me with a hand.
“Yes, my child?”
Child? The civilian under the Akuma was definetely a mother, or someone with mommy issues.
“I know you are busy with taking care of your… uh, roses, but I need your help”
I allowed them to keep petting me. I had seen from the reporter the consequences of not playing along with the Akuma, and I couldn’t risk to lose this opportunity.
“What is it that you need help with, dear?”
From the corner of my eye, I could see Ladybug smiling at me. The cat had just arrived, and she was already giving him instructions. Noticing my stare, she nodded at me before pulling herself to another building, followed closely by the cat.
“I don’t know where’s my mother”, I said taking a leap of faith.
If the akuma was a mother, she would jump at the opportunity to help a lost child, however old that child may be. If it was mommy issues, on the other hand, she would get mad at me for needing my mother. I hoped it was the first case.
“Your mother?”, the Akuma hissed. “Why would you need your mother! I am already here for you, my child. Forget about her!”. The vines around me started swirling nervously, reacting to the Akuma’s anger.
Mommy issues it was.
“No!”, I interrupted her. “I need to know where she is. I haven’t seen her in the roses, and I would go crazy if she saved herself from this one”
“Saved herself?”
The vines slowly started to calm down.
“Yes”, I gulped. “Once we knew there was an Akuma, we started running. But a vine came to us and was trying to grab her. My mother gave me to the vine instead to save herself”
The Akuma growled. Right behind her, on top of the cat’s baton, Ladybug tried to maintain her balance while the baton extended itself to the Akuma, avoiding the nearby vines. One hand was on her yoyo, while the other gestures me to keep talking.
“I… I don’t want her to go unpunished! I am her son, how could she put herself before me?”, I said, trying to sound as hurt as possible.
The Akuma nodded.
“I promise she won’t, my child. How does she look like? I will send my vines to search for her”
Ladybug’s hands were some centimeters away from the Akuma’s neck, which was covered by a necklace of roses. That must be were the damn butterfly was hiding.
“She has blonde hair, but it is cut likke bob. She was wearing a blueish suit, and she had a necklace”
“A necklace?”
“Yes, a rose necklace”
The Akuma’s eyes went wide as they turned around, but it was already too late. Ladybug already had the necklace on her hands.
“No!”
She tore the necklace, freeing the butterfly. In a swift movement, she caught the butterfly with her yoyo and purified it. The Akuma changed into a young woman, probably a university student. As the Akuma changed, the vines started dissolving and the roses became smaller and smaller. The citizens on top of them were still sleeping.
The rose I was stepping on became small enough so that I had to stand with only one foot, trying to maintain my balance. Ladybug casted her Cure, and just like that, the vines and roses were gone. Small ladybugs started lowrering the civilians who were starting to wake up.
I didn’t get any small ladybug.
The rose disappeared and, just like that, I was falling to the ground. Ladybug extended her yoyo towards me and caught me by the feet.
“Hang in there!”, she shouted as she slowly lowered me to the ground.
Once safe, she let go of me and jumped to my side. The cat was by her side, trying to get his baton to the usual size and failing miserably. Her ears made a single beep. I knew that meant she needed to go soon, but Ladybug didn’t inmediately leave.
“What you did today was dangerous”, she complained. Another beep, and she smiled. “But it was also very brave. Thank you in behalf of Paris and us”
“It was a pleasure”
Ladybug nodded and pulled herself to one of the nearby alleys. The cat didn’t leave with her. Instead, he stayed some meters away from me and stared. His eyebrows furrowed and he huffed before leaving too.
I really didn’t like that cat.
Happy with my success, I left the tower and walked to an abandoned building. There, once I made sure there was no one nearby, I allowed myself to let go of the fake body. As if it was made of dust, the body disintegrated, the ashes carried by the wind.
I had stayed too long in the body for the day, and I needed a rest. Thankfully, inside the building, there was no one to pester me while I regained energy.
As I allowed my concience to drift off, I couldn’t stop thinking about the stupid cat.
I was sure I had seen that face somewhere else, centuries ago.
I just needed to remember who it belonged to.