Discordant Sonata

Chapter 25: Romanza (Part 2 of 4)

Adrien had scarcely touched the knob for the next restroom when the door swung open with so much force, it knocked it clean off its hinges. The young man lacked the feline reflexes of his superhero form and was knocked a few meters away, but managed to quickly scramble to his feet.

He looked up and saw Kim– or, rather, not-quite-Kim. He was akumatized.

"Kim!?" Adrien called out. "What happened??"

"I'm not Kim. I'm Dark Cupid. And I really, really hate you." With that, he readied his bow.

-----

Ladybug leaped and swung across the beams and railings of the school's common area, dodging the numerous arrows that Dark Cupid shot at her. She had already figured out that the akuma was most likely in the heart-shaped pin on his chest, but hadn't been able to get close enough to grab it. She'd already summoned her lucky charm, but it had merely conjured a small black cat plushie, which she took as a hint that she needed to go find her partner in order to be able to defeat this new foe.

She managed to retreat and run away from Dark Cupid, finding shelter inside a small broom closet. She unwrapped a cookie and gave it to Tikki, who zipped into her purse to eat her snack.

Marinette peeked out of the closet, then slipped out upon finding it safe enough. Where could Adrien be?? Thankfully, she hadn't gotten that awful ominous feeling this time, so at least she was fairly certain that nothing truly bad had happened to him. So then, what was he up to? Maybe he'd gotten caught up with helping someone and hadn't been able to tear himself away to transform. Or maybe he wasn't even aware there was an akuma yet. Or... maybe Dark Cupid had already...

She shook her head resolutely, trying to dispel those thoughts. No, Marinette, stay positive! Just find Adrien, help him slip away to transform, and everything will be fine!

Marinette slinked from hallway to hallway peeking into each classroom, sticking close to the walls so she wouldn't be spotted from above. As she poked her head into another room, she could see a familiar red cap poking out from under a desk. She scurried inside, then crawled up to Nino, who was breathing fairly hard, but hadn't noticed her yet.

Despite her best efforts to not alarm him, her quiet "Psst," caused poor Nino to let out a frightened, high pitched squeal. He exhaled sharply, stuttered out a small apology, then scooted over so she could hide next to him under the table.

"I need to find Adrien. Have you seen him?" she asked.

Nino nodded, still spooked.

Marinette perked up at the news. "Do you know where he is right now?"

He shook his head, swallowing thickly before trying to explain. "W-we heard a commotion right as class was starting, so of course Alya wanted to check it out. She was so excited to try out her new mini camera— y'know, the kind you wear on your head. She's got it mounted onto her glasses," he said, pointing at his own glasses to demonstrate. "A-anyway, Adrien was outside and he was saying something to Kim– umm, Kim's th-the akuma– but then he ran off before we could talk to him."

Marinette swore under her breath. "You said you were with Alya. Where is she now?"

Nino gripped the fabric on his pants legs nervously. "Well... after that, Kim noticed us and he shot Alya with some kind of black arrow. I freaked out 'cause, I mean, it's a freakin' arrow!? But as I checked on her, the arrow disappeared, and there was no wound. But then suddenly, it was like she woke up or something! She started saying stuff about how she hates me and she was gonna kill me, so I ran away as fast as I could to get help. I tried to hide, but as I was about to call the police, she found me and smashed my phone! I ran away again, but she's been like, hunting me, and like-" he put his head between his hands, "-it is really freaking me out! That person is not my girlfriend! I feel like a caged animal with a tiger who's playing with its food. What's happened to her?!"