Chapter Text
i. ORIGINS
-
Tikki and Plagg were two halves of a whole.
They were like Yin and Yang . They were like black and white, day and night, the sun and the moon. One created and crafted new things from nothing but dust and soil, the other crumbled everything to rubble and debris.
For the longest time, they flitted around the edges of the universe, watching, observing, creating and destroying . Without creation, there was no destruction. And without destruction, there could be no creation. Plagg and Tikki both knew the disasters that could occur if the other wasn’t there to keep in check.
Their powers grew and grew, like yeast causing dough to rise. Eventually someone or something had to control their powers, to keep it under check lest their powers could tear the multiverse at its seam and cause the total erasure of the world as we know it today. Thus, this had led to the creation of the Miraculous where the kwamis were bound to jewelry, and the full brunt of their powers could be harnessed by the bearer.
The old man watched with a curious twinkle in his eyes, watching a blonde boy and a pig-tailed girl enter the school building, and then, he vanished into thin air.
-
Marinette wasn’t suited to be a superhero.
She tugged at her pigtails, willing her head to think of something because it was painful to watch Stoneheart bulldoze into buildings, uproot trees like they were flowers and break power lines, electricity buzzing and sparking. She chewed at her bottom lip, watching Chat Noir swoop and perform all sorts of athletic feats to save those who get caught in the crossfire. Meanwhile, she was standing here, trying not to break into tears and breathe normally.
“Ladybug!”
There wasn’t even enough time to think as a huge chunk of cement tore through the air in a blink of an eye as an extended staff appeared in front of her and punctured through the brick walls beside her. The cement caused the staff to bend, and it looked like the staff was going to break, but instead the cement stopped there before hitting the ground, crumbling into powder and dust in front of her.
Marinette couldn’t believe her eyes, yo-yo slipping from her grip as she covered her mouth, ocean eyes widening in shock as the incident felt like something heavy had hit her chest, knocking all the wind out. Chat Noir grabbed her by the wrist, jumping on top of a building and started leaping across as Stoneheart followed.
“You okay?” He spared her a glance as both of them were running as fast their legs could carry them.
“I’m fine,” Marinette replied a little too quickly to her taste. She was getting a hang of her yo-yo, she wasn’t missing her targets most of the time and she had stopped dropping her yo-yo whenever it started pulling her to her destination.
They cut into an alleyway, trying to lose their opponent, but Stoneheart still pursued. The akuma tore a chunk of wall from the building and hurled it over her head. Ladybug ducked quickly, bracing a hand over Chat Noir to make him follow suit. It sailed over their head, crashing on the splintered stonework.
They couldn’t really move any further— they had reached a dead end, and Marinette was startlingly blank, bleached with fear. She felt her breath clog up in her throat, feeling absolutely useless and Chat Noir stepped forward bravely, his staff extended in front of them like a barrier. Stoneheart roared, stony first ready to grab them before Chat Noir grabbed her again and launched the both of them up into the air.
They flew upwards above the buildings and she could see the top of the buildings— she had to admit that Chat Noir seemed to be really strong despite his lanky, gangly appearance.
“Use your yo-yo,” Chat Noir called out to her as she fumbled for her yo-yo attached to her hip. She distinctly remembered something about how her yo-yo could be modified into a sort of jet pack.
The yo-yo split into gold glowing discs in her hand for some reason and glowing energy materialized. It warped behind her to form two intricately designed, sparkling white wings with ladybug-like elytra over it. They started to flap as she grabbed Chat Noir around his waist to stop their free fall.
“That was amazing!” Chat Noir’s feline eyes wide, cheeks tinted slightly pink as he looked down at the buildings a few feet under them. “I would have become a catcake if you didn’t save me, m’lady.”
“Cat cake? Don’t you mean pancake?” Marinette raised an eyebrow as they landed on the road.
“It’s a cat pun. Pancake . Catcake . Get it?”
“Wish I never had to hear it,” Marinette murmured as she heard a sort of noise behind her. Her fear returned again, Chat Noir’s momentary diversion forgotten. She could hear something rustling, a distinct snapping noise and a loud, resounding crash.
A tree narrowly brushed over her head as Chat Noir ducked, yelping in surprise, cat ears flattened over his head. Stoneheart was standing behind them, nononononono. Her breath hitched in her throat, a lump lodged itself in her throat. Ocean eyes wide with fear, and her yo-yo decided it was a good time to slip from her hand again.
Marinette picked it up quickly, standing in front of Chat Noir, and she then threw her yo-yo. The wire of her yo-yo wrapped around Stoneheart’s rocky ankle— she recalled it could cut through almost any surface except it didn’t.
It only served to anger Stoneheart more as the akuma tugged at the wire and threw her midair.
“Well, that didn’t turn out well,” Chat Noir helped her up, glancing at Stoneheart and cringed.
“Tikki said it could cut through most surfaces!”
“Seems like the keyword is ‘most’ here.” Chat made air quotes before dodging a fist.
-
Chat Noir lunged, claws outstretched in an attempt to scratch into the stony leg. He was caught by his tail, lifted up and thrown a few feet across the road, and he landed on the sidewalk, grazing his cheek.
Marinette was trying to collect the string of her yo-yo which refused to be spun around it. A couple of bricks hurtled towards her, and she dropped her yo-yo and quickly flew up, sparkles falling from her wings.
She was really, really bad at yo-yoing.
With a resigned sigh, she dropped down and grabbed the end of her yo-yo, it was laying pathetically on the ground, and she had no idea how to bring it to normal. Marinette hated magic yo-yos. Chat Noir was on his feet again, twirling his staff casually.
Stoneheart didn’t look too pleased, cracking his stony knuckles as he grabbed a part of a broken wall. He sprinted towards them at full speed, the ground rumbling to his every step as the stones rattled and the road shook.
Chat Noir’s ears flattened down on his head, jaws dropping as Stoneheart merely slammed the debris down at the two newly-minted heroes. Marinette grabbed her partner by his neck, lifting him easily and carried him up, pivoting to their left.
“That was too fucking close!” Chat Noir mumbled and squirmed slightly. Stoneheart roared, fists reaching for them but they were safely out of arm's reach.
Chat Noir stuck his tongue out. Marinette still felt her heart pounding in her ears from the close call, she wondered how Chat Noir was so chill about all of this.
-
“I’m not cut out to be Ladybug!” Marinette wailed, burying her face into her hands and she could feel her throat clog up from all the disappointment and guilt and sadness—
( There was just so much blood everywhere.
People were pinned beneath that wall, and she could distinctly smell something metallic in the air and the pavement was smeared red. Redredredred.
Red like her suit.
She felt like she was going to throw up.
Chat Noir looked equally horrified, his earlier playful demeanor had just vanished— his ears flattened on his hair, and his tail lashed nervously.
She remembered how she had triumphantly announced she was Ladybug earlier, thinking maybe she could do this.
She couldn’t.)
She couldn’t breathe.
There was a stabbing pain in her chest, and her lungs were failing her. Was she gonna die? No, she couldn’t. She was too young. Her mind felt like scattered marbles, and her thoughts felt like sand slipping through the cracks of her fingers. Everything was going just too fast.
She couldn’t breathe .
“Help,” she mouthed helplessly at Chat Noir, green feline eyes wide with some sort of emotion she couldn’t read. All she could think was that she couldn’t breathe and she was going to die— she can’t leave her parents, Alya, and her friends— shit, shit, shit !
“Ladybug, take deep breaths with me.”
His voice was firm despite the slight tremor; she never considered that Chat Noir like her was feeling nervous too. She heeded his instruction as he breathed along with her. Slowly, Marinette felt like she was unwinding and her mind was no longer drowning in the sea. She felt clearer and calmer too.
(Chat Noir relaxed along with her once he noticed that she was calming down too.)
She wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. Her cheeks felt wet. She sniffled.
“Hey, hey,” his voice was so soft as he pulled her into a hug. “It’s okay.”
“It’s not.” Her fist curled on the fabric of Chat’s suit, burying her face into his shoulder. “They died, Chat— they died because I failed .”
She felt nauseous upon remembering the smear of blood on the pavement and the twitching hand peeking from behind the debris. They must have been in so much pain, and she couldn’t do anything about it because she was a failure of a hero.
“Not yet,” Chat Noir said, pulling away from the hug and feline eyes looking straight into her.
Ladybug gaped at the sheer confidence he exuded.
“Stoneheart is still out there, and he’s still rampaging the city. And we are the ones with the power to do something about it.” Chat Noir placed his hands on her shoulder. “We’re still here. If we give up, more people will die. We fail when we give up, and we’re not giving up. You defeated Stoneheart once, why not again?”
Ladybug opened her mouth to argue, but the lump in her throat threatened to unfurl. She pursed her lips, clenching her fists at her sides.
“I’m here, m’lady.” Chat Noir brought his fist to his chest. “And I refuse to give up. I’ll catch you when you fall. We’ll get up and fight again.”
Ladybug’s eyes were shining, glassy from the tears collecting. What he had said was striking— she couldn’t really put the word on the sort of warm, resolute feeling blooming in her. He wore a determined smile, extending his hand out to her.
This time she initiated the hug, throwing herself into him because his words were just so encouraging, and she wouldn’t expect it out of a literal stranger. Chat Noir stumbled a little back but didn’t fall as his arms wrapped around her.
She couldn’t let him down. She couldn’t let the people of Paris down. She must’ve been given this earth shattering power for a reason right?
She was going to try again. And she was going to succeed.
-
Chat’s cataclysm arced and crackled around his fingers like a snake as he plunged it into the ground. The pavement immediately turned black, cracks running through it, and he could hear something distinctly whisper in an ancient language he couldn’t understand.
It felt potent, it felt overwhelming— the black energy had caused the ground where Stoneheart was standing to crack and splinter, eventually trapping the akuma with its hands above ground.
Ladybug grabbed the purple energy infused paper, crushing it into pieces as a dark butterfly fluttered out of it. She caught it with her yo-yo, cleansed it off its energy and threw the Lucky Charm into the air.
A swarm of ladybugs rebuilt buildings, cleaned blood stains, brought people back to life and removed all signs of the akuma. Chat Noir let out a sigh of relief.
He helped up Ivan, who looked a little disoriented but otherwise fine. The ambulance and police had arrived on scene immediately— the paramedics rushed over to Ivan’s side
“What the hell happened?” Ivan groaned, hand over his head and supported by two paramedics on his side checking over for signs of shock.
“You’ve been akumatised,” Chat Noir recalled when Ladybug had briefed him at the start, and he put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “We’ve defeated the akuma though, and you are no longer under its control. Everything’s a-okay .”
Ivan frowned at the new terms thrown at him, but his shoulders slackened upon hearing that there wasn’t any lasting physical damage. The paramedics escorted him over to the gurney for a quick check-up just in case he was hurt in a way not visible to the naked eye.
“Ladybug! Chat Noir!”
Chat Noir spun around to see Roger standing in front of them, face stern and arms crossed over his chest. He didn’t look too pleased with what had conspired clearly, and Chat Noir recalled that in some of his comics, heroes weren’t just accepted by the people that easily so they were considered to be vigilantes .
“You do know vigilantism is against the law and I could legally arrest you,” Roger began, tipping his hat slightly. “But since both of you successfully saved the city, I’ll close one eye and leave you free if only you don’t come in the way and let the professionals do their job.”
Chat Noir scoffed to himself— typical . Roger would have been a pancake if Ladybug hadn’t caught him when Stoneheart flung him across Paris. This always happened in comics where the cops refused to trust the heroes even if they have proved themselves over and over again.
( The god of destruction was like black ink blot, darker than the darkest shade of black with green, unblinking, fluorescent eyes.
Lazily, the feline explained, “You and Ladybug are the only ones who are fully equipped to deal with Papillon. The rest will be just killed— cops, heroes without Miraculous. It’s funny how punny humans are, you know.”
Adrien was feeling a little cautious, debating on whether to go wash his face because he was probably seeing things because there were no talking cats who dubbed themselves as the god of destruction. Or he was dreaming so pinching himself also sounded as an equally appealing option.
But the ring on his finger was real as real can be— he could feel the cold of the metal seeping into the skin in contact.
If he was chosen to protect Paris from whatever supervillain that may be thrown at them, he was willing to fight for Paris just so others do not have to get hurt. )
Ladybug sputtered incredulously, “ what ? But we’re the ones who could do anything about all of this— like normal weaponry won’t stand a chance against all these magical villains!”
“If you won’t stand down, we’d just have to arrest the both of you,” Roger replied coolly, starting to unbuckle the handcuff attached to his utility belt.
Ladybug immediately grabbed Chat Noir by his arms, her wings starting to flutter as they ascended into the sky to make their escape. Roger angrily waved his fists, yelling at them, but they were too far up for even Chat’s sensitive ears to pick up on.
Chat Noir elbowed Ladybug playfully, tone light. “Already breaking the laws, m’lady?”
“Shut up,” Ladybug replied indignantly, turning red though Chat could catch a glimmer of a fond smile. “Or else I’ll drop you.”
“Please don’t. I actually don’t want to get stuck with Roger, and it’s also nice here, y’know.” Chat raised his hands in surrender, and Ladybug smiled triumphantly.
They finally came to a stop at the top of a roof when Ladybug’s earrings started to beep, warning that her transformation was going to run out.
“Hey, we’re still going to continue to save the city right?” Ladybug asked before leaving.
“Of course, m’lady, it would be selfish to just abandon them, wouldn’t it?”
“Yeah,” Ladybug agreed before Chat Noir leapt away with the help of his extended staff.
-
Felix had been frantically calling Adrien for the past thirty minutes as the news channel recounted the akuma attack in the background.
“—two new vigilantes going by the name of Ladybug and Chat Noir were first spotted at the football field of Collège Francoise Dupont engaging the villain, Stoneheart. They managed to successfully defeat them and erased almost all the damage created by the villain. However, the doubt still lingers on who they are? Or what do they want from us?”
Felix stared at the photos of the Ladybug and Chat Noir who looked no older than fourteen displayed in the corner of the television screen. His eyes lingered momentarily on Chat Noir before he dialed Adrien again, but his phone quickly switched to voicemail and was asked to leave a message.
“If you or someone you know have any information about them, please inform the police—“
Felix shut off the television, a frustrated noise escaping his throat as he called Adrien again. Adrien wasn’t picking up at all, and Felix was worried sick. Did he get hurt? Was he caught by the new supervillain? He knew that going to public school was a bad idea.
He could hear the door knob shake and click open.
“Adrien! Where the hell were you all this time?”
Adrien obviously didn’t share Felix’s anxiety, he let out a high-pitched awkward laughter as his fingers tangled into his golden curls.
“Hiding,” Adrien replied, switching to rubbing at his neck. “I’m perfectly fine. Not hurt or anything.”
“I called you so many times, you didn’t pick any of them,” Felix accused, anger yet to satiate.
Adrien fished out his phone from his satchel, screen shattered and looking slightly bent out of shape, and he smiled sheepishly. “You could say it got leveled in the akuma attack.”
Felix sighed. “You still have a spare phone lying around that was given to you last year right by the way.”
“Yeah, can back everything up into the new phone,” Adrien replied, opening a drawer and taking out the spare phone still in the box it was bought with.
“You know, Adrien, honestly, you should be a little more careful with these things,” Felix started to speak, but Adrien wasn’t really paying attention. “But I’m glad you’re safe.”
Adrien smiled at him. “It takes a lot more than just an akuma to knock me down, Fé.”
“Where were you hiding anyway?” Felix suddenly asked, Adrien’s eyes nearly popped out of its sockets.
He laughed awkwardly again. “School,” he said a little too fast.
Felix wasn’t all that convinced— the school had made all its students return home and no one was allowed to remain in school.
Adrien wasn’t even a good liar to begin with. ( Between the two of them, Felix was the one who did all the lying. All Adrien did was smile and nod along.)
Felix decided to change the topic because Adrien didn’t seem like caving in anytime soon even if he decided to prod.
“So did you see the news? The one about the vigilantes?”
Adrien frowned momentarily, freezing from peeling the protective plastic over the phone. “Heroes, Fé. She and her partner, Chat Noir , saved the city.”
Felix snorted at the statement. “I like your optimism, but not everything works like your comics and anime, Adrien.”
“But you said superheroes don’t exist before. But they do now,” Adrien argued.
Felix shook his head. “Yes, superheroes don’t exist. There are probably some strings attached because this is… very convenient. There’s always a price for this kind of situation.”
Adrien scrunched up his nose and corrected firmly, “ Superheroes , Fé. You ought to be more grateful— Ladybug saved all our asses.”
“I am,” Felix replied. “I’m also being cautious at the same time.”
-
“That’s so not fair!” Marinette grumbled, face red as she looked away from Nino.
They were back at school for afternoon classes. Felix was not returning for afternoon classes though as he had to help their father with something.
“Pinning me down doesn’t mean you win, Marinette.”
Adrien watched Nino and Marinette bicker for a little while before the both of them burst into laughter, and Alya rolled her eyes fondly at the two of them. Adrien didn’t say anything though, just feeling content to be included.
After Nino had deemed Adrien to be not like Chloe and had Adrien explain the bubblegum incident, Marinette and Alya had welcomed him in with open arms. It was nice to have his thoughts be heard and have his opinions matter.
The only other person it mattered to was Felix.
“Adrien,” Nino shrieked from a quick tickle attack from Alya. “ Help me!”
“I’m coming,” Adrien replied back, joining in the tickle fight between Nino and Alya.
“You fucking betrayed me!” Nino wheezed in between laughter as Marinette had firmly pinned him down onto the desk and Nino only was able to submit to the merciless tickle attacks from Alya and Adrien.
It felt nice to be included even if Adrien wouldn’t admit that loud.
(He shoved the dark thought to the back of his head about whether he actually deserved it for another day. After all, the day had been pretty eventful, he wasn’t being selfish for wanting to relax right.
He probably was.
He shouldn’t be ruining the moment with his own issues.)
tbc~