Chapter Text
Nathaniel stepped into the burrow. Bunnix waved him over to a window into a timeline.
"Is this one bad?" He asked, already knowing why she called him here.
"Yeah, but I'm not sure how to fix it," Bunnix murmured.
"Let me watch."
"You sure?"
"I can help think of ideas!"
Bunnix bit her lip before rewinding the timeline.
---
Marc adored Nathaniel. He was the love of his life! Marinette had done him such a big favor with introducing the two.
Nathaniel was the paragon of perfection. His shy smile, his dazzling eyes, the cute way he sticks his tongue out when he draws! Marc didn't understand how anyone could not like the guy!
Unfortunately, they weren't boyfriends yet. But that's okay! He'll get there soon enough! Nathaniel already felt comfortable enough around him to lean his head on his shoulder! That's a win in his book!
The discussion of romantic interests came up between the two of them while writing their next issue.
"Have anyone you'd want to date?" Marc asked, tilting his head, lowering his voice so only Nathaniel could hear him. He hoped Alix didn't come up. She had been hanging out with Nathaniel so often lately. Marc wanted to kill her, leave her body rotting somewhere in some ditch so she could never steal Nathaniel from him again-
He shook his head clear. Damn intrusive thoughts. They had been there since he had been aware of Nathaniel's existence but they had seemed to increase in frequency the more he hung out with him. A small price to pay for Nathaniel's company.
The redhead hummed, "I mean, I guess Marinette. She's really nice! Who wouldn't want to date her?"
Marc's breath hitched. His eyes slowly trailed over to Marinette. For the first time in his life, instead of admiration filling his body when looking at his cousin, he only felt disdain. He wanted her to disappear. Why did Nathaniel want to date her and not him? It was unreasonable.
His thoughts were interrupted by the art teacher asking if he and Marinette could get some supplies from the storage closet. Numbly, he agreed, walking through the empty hallway with the girl.
She smirked at him, "Someone turned a little red whilst talking to Nathaniel."
He huffed at her, "Shut up."
Marinette giggled as she entered the closet, reaching up to grab the needed supplies. "You know, he used to have a crush on me. Maybe you should hurry up before I steal him from you!"
And Marc saw red.
"Just kid-" Marinette didn't get to finish her statement as Marc grabbed her by her pigtails and threw her to the ground. She grunted as her body collided with the floor. "M-Marc?!"
"Sorry, Marinette," He kneeled over her body, pulling out the knife he kept with him for self-defence purposes, "I can't allow you to do that."
Her eyes widened, "Wait, Marc!" She screamed as he plunged the knife into her stomach. Marc didn't react, pulling the knife out and repeating the action. Each stab gave him a sense of euphoria, so he kept doing it, over and over and over again.
Marinette let out a weak cry, turning her head to the open door, "H-Help-"
"Help's not coming," Marc stated coldly, "Now, you'll never have the chance to take Nathaniel."
"M-Marc?" A familiar voice stuttered from beyond the doorway. The brunette turned his head to see Nathaniel standing there in shock.
Marc smiled, standing up. He was lucky his hoodie was red. No one could tell the difference between its normal state and its blood-soaked state. "Nathaniel!" He cheered happily.
Nathaniel backed up against the railing, "W-What did you do?! Stay away from me!" He turned to run but Marc had already closed the distance between them.
Marc shoved him down to the ground, straddling him. "Oh, Nathaniel. You know I would never hurt you." He swiped a hand gently across Nathaniel's cheek, leaving a blood trail behind. "I love you too much to do that."
"M-Marinette was your cousin!" Nathaniel whispered, "Didn't you love her too?"
Marc smiled, staring lovingly into his eyes, "Not as much as I love you. She was going to get between us. I couldn't let that happen." The boy he was talking to let out a small whimper.
Marc leaned in for a kiss. As he relished in the experience of finally kissing Nathaniel, he raised the knife and hit Nathaniel with the handle in the back of his head, effectively knocking him out.
He swung the unconscious body onto his shoulder, taking the stairs down and out of the school.
Tikki flew out of Marinette's pocket. "Marinette!" She cried helplessly.
"T.." Marinette didn't have the strength to finish the kwami's name, her eyes closing shut, never to open again.
When the dead body was discovered, the news labelled both Marc and Nathaniel as missing. Only after they reviewed the camera footage did they label Marc as both a murderer and a kidnapper and Nathaniel as his assumed captive.
Tikki did eventually find a new holder, but since they were so inexperienced, the Akuma took them down easily and Hawkmoth gained the miraculous.
A bad ending.
Only Bunnix knows what happened to that universe's Nathaniel, kept locked up inside a basement of an abandoned building, forced to cater to the whims of a delusional Marc.
---
Bunnix had paused the timeline before Nathaniel could see his counterpart's fate. She really didn't want him to see that.
"Can you send an anonymous tip to the police to arrest him?" Nathaniel asked after a moment of silence.
"No. He hadn't done anything illegal in this universe until that point."
Nathaniel bit his lip. He wandered over to another window.
"Isn't this universe's Nathaniel like that one's Marc?"
---
Marc was in his room, bored out of his mind. He wanted something to happen.
He immediately took that wish back as a portal opened in front of him. Nathaniel stepped out of it.
"N-Nathaniel?"
"Not yours, murder boy," He responded.
Marc jolted at that, "M-Murder?! I'd never do that-"
The other Nathaniel raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms (Fuck, he wish this guy didn't look exactly like Nathaniel, that was really cute). "Don't lie to me. You've thought about it before."
Marc shifted his gaze into his lap. He gave off the impression of being guilty, but Marc never regretted any of those daydreams. Anything for his Nathaniel after all.
"Look, I'm gonna tell you right now, your Nathaniel isn't into murderers," The boy stated, "But… There are other universes. I can send you into one where you can release your murderous desires all you want."
Marc perked up at this.
Nathaniel reached out a hand, "We have a deal?" Marc enthusiastically grabbed it and shook it like crazy.
"Good," Nathaniel fell backwards into the portal, taking Marc with him.
Marc looked up to see ruins everywhere. Nathaniel smiled at him, "Welcome to a zombie apocalypse AU. You're going to have to fight a lot to keep you and this world's Nathaniel alive, but I have a feeling you'll like that."
Marc peered past him towards what he assumed was this world's Marc. He met Nathaniel's eyes, "I'll stay here."
The redhead nodded, turning to other him, "Ready to go?"
The other him beamed, "I've been wanting to go back to how it used to be."
Nathaniel grinned back, "Then let's get you to your new home."
The two went back through the portal. It closed shortly afterwards.
Marc turned to the sound of a gunshot. This world's Nathaniel (His Nathaniel now) fired another shot into a zombie's head before turning to him, smiling, "Hey, babe. I got you a new gun." He tossed a pistol at the brunette. Marc caught it with relative ease, shooting at a jumping zombie behind Nathaniel.
"Watch your back, hun!" Marc smiled back.
He was going to enjoy it here.
---
Bunnix fist-bumped Nathaniel as he returned from the timeline. "It should be alright now!"
She opened up a window to his original timeline, "Alright, now shoo. The Akuma attack in your universe is almost over!"
Nathaniel shot her a finger gun, walking into a window. Bunnix closed it afterwards, smiling.
Another job well done.