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Adrien sighed in frustration as he collapsed on his bed and covered his face with both arms, lying on his back. This day had just not gone according to plan at all with is bad luck piling on and getting the better of him. Generally, he was very good with his Mandarin studies; always ensuring he devoted time in his day to practice and study, he never received less than a B+ on any exam. However, with akuma attacks on the rise and the constant running around to photo shoots or fashions shows or some other industry event he just didn't have the time or energy to study for today's exam and he received his first ever F. This led to Adrien being chewed out by his tutor at length about his recent performance in class thanks to the former. And then his father's reaction when he told him…Adrien was still trying to push it out of his mind to no avail.
"They just never seem to get it, Plagg!" Adrien groaned to the kwami, escaping his front shirt pocket before he could be crushed under the weight of Adrien rolling over to his stomach to bury his head in folded arms. Another muffled complaint escaped from the frazzled boy that the kwami couldn't understand.
"You might want to speak up, mumbler," Plagg snapped at his ward, giving a shifty glare before flying over to sit atop Adrien's golden head. "You also have not fed me my daily required portion of Camembert," the kwami scolded before tugging at a lock of hair, causing Adrien's head to spring up, "You know you need to feed me at least six times a day!"
Adrien felt the heat of anger creep up his neck. Cheeks puffing out and turning red as his kwami's complaining was the last straw that finally broke this camel's back. It had been a very long time since he had felt such strong emotion overcome his sanity. "That's all you care about!" Pushing himself up to stand and reaching up to snatch the tiny black cat off his head. "You only car about food and yourself when I am the one taking a verbal beating today."
Pacing back and forth across the floor, Adrien let out a guttural snarl. "Adrien, I- that's not true!"
"It is! And I have had it! I need you to leave me alone for awhile, Plagg. If you're so hungry, go feed yourself. I now need to go study harder than ever since I would like to avoid even more disappointed glares from my father."
Upon releasing Plagg, Adrien began to fiddle with the ring on his finger. Sliding it to the edge, but not quite completely off his finger.
"Adrien, you need to calm down! It's not the end of the world."
"Oh, really? When I am fighting akuma every day, losing sleep, and failing my classes it might as well be! I can't have these distractions right now."
As Adrien determinedly began to slide the silver ring of his miraculous off his finger, Plagg cried out, "Adriend, d-" before being cut off by the broken connection of the ring leaving its owner's finger and being thrown onto the bed. After bouncing off of the plush comforter and dropping onto the floor, it rolled under the bed and laid to rest in a dusty corner."
The golden haired boy clenched his fists and with a tightened jaw stomped over to his desk, opening his electronic dictionary and switching it to practice mode, all the while grumbling to himself. Just as he looked down to begin the bonus assignment that would balance out his latest abysmal grade, the dictionary's screen flashed and the drained battery icon popped up on the screen before going completely blank. A tormented moan escaped Adrien's lips as he threw his hand in the air and rolled his head back.
As Adrien squeezed his eyes shut with exasperation and pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger, he did not see the black butterfly come floating through his open window to alight upon the drained device. By the time he had opened his eyes to look down at the work that needed to be done, the insect had been absorbed into the device and the familiar feeling of transformation was welling up inside of him before bursting forth to alter his form. This transformation felt different though, the usual light hearted mischief of his Chat Noir transformation was not present, but something dark and hateful. It took only moments before Adrien heard a husky voice echo in his head.
"Hello, Linguist. I am Hawkmoth."
Marinette gets transported to another world whenever she works on a new project. This time, Alya had requested a hip new pair of pants inspired by her and all of Paris' favorite heroine, Ladybug, to wear for the exclusive interview Marinette had promised her best friend just yesterday. Not that the spunky girl knew it was Marinette she would be interviewing for her blog when she begged for the perfect outfit to conduct the one on one chat in. Knowing how important the Ladyblog is to Alya, Marinette relented and got right to work scouring the city's fabric stores for the red and black material she would need to emulate her own trademark spots when transformed. With a furrowed brow, Marinette worked her designer magic as she pinned pieces of fabric to the dress form and concentrated making the sketch down at her side a reality. The radio was blasting the latest and her new favorite Jagged Stone song and she mumbled the lyrics along with the tune, her singing muffled by the pins she held between her lips.
As the song ended, the radio transitioned to breaking news and Marinette hardly noticed what was going on she was working so hard. It took Tikkis tugging on one of her pigtails and whining in her ear to get her attention away from her latest work in progress. "Marinette, are you listening? Something is happening!"
"Ow!" Marinette scowled as the pins fell from her lips and gently pricked her hands. "Wh-what is it, Tikki? Did you have to pull my hair so hard?"
The kwami's antennae bobbed as she shook her head floating over to face Marinette from the front. The teenager was pouting as she rubbed the left side of her . "Listen to what's happening on the radio. Breaking news from Bibliothèque Sainte-Barbe!"
"We are down by one of Paris' largest libraries to report to you live about the ongoing situation. Another attack is being wrought upon our city by a new antagonist this week. We will keep you informed as the story progresses."
"Oh no, Tikki. We have to do something!" Marinette leapt to her feet, the small bug like fairy ascending with her. "What do you think we are up against this time?"
"I don't know, Marinette. But it doesn't sound good."
"The villian has emerged from the building and is heading this way!" The reporter shouted through the radio before letting out an agonized yelp. "何が起こった？ええ、僕は日本語お話している？”
"I think I have an idea of what's going on now. We better get going and fast! Tikki, spots on!" Marinette felt the warmth of her transformation engulf her body, emerging from the light as the Miraculous Ladybug. "Time to save Paris."
As she climbed onto her roof from the skylight of her lofted bedroom, Ladybug wondered who had been transformed this time and if she would know who they were. With a flick of her yo yo, she swung off, heading to battle the chaos that was becoming all too regular an occurrence. Despite that, the thrill she felt at the thought of this new challenged set a determined smile on her face as she jumped above the hordes of citizens that were gathered at the perimeter of the block the library is located on.
Ladybug descended gracefully, emerging from the crowd of onlookers and feeling determined to end this battle quickly alongside her wily partner. The akuma had retreated back into the building, and the black cat that was almost like her shadow was nowhere to be seen. Ladybug did a quick stretch before sighing in resignation that she would have to get this started without Chat Noir's assistance, hoping it wouldn't be long before he showed up.
"Bring it on Akuma."
She charged up the steps to bust open the building's doors only to see the brightly hued figure with its back towards her floating above a group of people cowering in the corner of the room. The akumatized person held what looked like some sort of electronic device in his hand. The group of captives looked at each other with frightened expressions before being hit with a beam from the device. The room erupted in a cacophony of tongues all jumbling together in one confused and horrified sound. The akuma was turning the library into a veritable Tower of Babel.
"Hey!" Ladybug called out as she stepped further into the the library. "What do you think you're doing?"
The akuma spun around, a malicious grin twisting the normally handsome features of a face Ladybug knew well. A face Marinette looked at shining from her computer screen and hanging on her walls. The face of her classmate, friend, and crush, Adrien Agreste.
"Oh no," the heroin gasped as she took a step back and clenched her yo yo in her fist, "I did not prepare for this."