The Art of Love (Marcaniel Story)

Chapter 2

An akuma attack was never a surprise but who got akimatized was. Nathaniel was walking home, trying to avoid being hit by the villain; Blast Bomb who was granted the powers to create large explosions from his hands, when he caught Ladybug, Cat Noir and their new helper; Rooster Bold.

Nate had only seen the guy once before, when he, himself, was recruited and given the Goat Miraculous, becoming Caprikid when Chloé was akumatized into Penalteam. Staring at Ladybug as she used her lucky charm, he was estatic to see her using it in person and not akumatized himself.

Rooster Bold used his power of Sublimation. Next thing Nate knew, Ice particles floated from Rooster Bold's hands. Horror laced his face as he saw Blast Bomb sneak up behind Chat Noir, hand extended and igniting.

"Ladybug!" Nate called.

She turned and fear clouded her eyes buto neither she nor Rooster Bold would get there quick enough. His legs moved on their own. Before he knew it, he pushed Chat outta the way but caught the blast of the explosion. A blood curdling scream echoed through Paris. Blast Bomb smirked and kicked Nathaniel outta the way. Now the three heroes were pissed. Really pissed.

Nathaniel tried to pull himself up but a throbbing racked through his head like a sledgehammer being brought onto his skull over and over and over again. His hearing was a painful ring and when he pulled himself into a, somewhat, sitting position, he raised his hand to his ears after feeling something run down his face. When he touched it, his fingers came back sticky. He looked at his fingers and his face visibly paled. Blood. Why was there blood...?! And why couldn't he hear anything?! What happened?!

A sob wracked his body but when he couldn't hear his own cries, it just made him cry harder and panic. He looked up through a blurred, teary vision, to see the Miraculous Ladybugs come towards him. They circled for a moment before disappearing once more.

Ladybug, Chat Noir and Rooster Bold approached him. Chat placed a hand on Nathaniel's shoulder but soon realised that his ears were still bleeding.

"Uh...?! M'Lady...?!" Chat began with concern lacing ever word. "Your Ladybugs are supposed to fix damaged things, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Then why aren't Nathaniel's ears fixed? Shouldn't they've stopped bleeding?"

"How do you know his name?" Rooster Bold asked.

"He was akumatized once." Chat explained simply.

"Oh..."

"What do you-" Ladybug stopped mid sentence as she finally got a good look at Nathaniel's current condition. "Why didn't my Miraculous Ladybugs heal his wounds?!"

"Is it supposed to...?" Rooster Bold questioned once more.

"It fixes anything." Chat smiled. "When Sabrina was akumatized into Miracular, she stole my power and used my cataclysm on my ribs. Once LB used her Miraculous Ladybugs, I was immediately healed."

"Oh. Then why isn't Nathaniel healed?"

"Don't know." Ladybug sighed just as her earings beeped and Rooster Bold's thumb ring sent out a similar warning. "I've gotta get the miraculous back from Rooster Bold and recharge my Kwami. Chat? Could you take Nathaniel to a hospital? Or doctors surgery, please?"

"Sure thing!" Chat smiled as LB and RB ran off before they detransformed. He offered a hand to Nathaniel and the boy gladly took it.

---

Nathaniel sat at the table that night for dinner, with his older brother, Nicolas sitting across from him and their mother sitting at the end of the table.

Nicolas was an ex-army Cadet. He was sent home after an injury had him dismissed for his own safety. Now he had a prosthetic leg. The older Kurtzberg brother now had a career in animation and actually helped on the animation of the Ladybug and Chat Noir movie.

Their mother was a painter. She mainly enjoyed painting landscapes of Paris but would occasionally paint Ladybug and Chat Noir as well as her two sons.

If you asked the family where the father was, they would give you an honest shrug as the man disappeared off to god knows where when Nathaniel was 6. Apparently the man's career was more important than his own family.

Nath didn't like his situation at the moment. His brother and mother met him at the hospital with Cat Noir after being informed. Once the hero left, the doctor examined him and took X-rays and conducted tests, only to conclude that Nathaniel was deaf. When the doctor wrote down the words on a whiteboard, it had shocked him to the core.

Upon thinking of this, he reaches up to the hearing aids that sat in his ears. Tears welled up in his eyes. With the screech of his chair on the floorboards, Nathaniel leaves the dinning room and goes to his bedroom down the end of the hall of the family's apartment.

Falling onto his bed, facing the closed blinds and curtains of his bedroom window, he curls in on himself; hands still cupped around his ears. He eventually let the tears fall down his face as a silent sob wracks his body. He curls in on himself tighter, just hoping he could disappear. The door opens and a figure sits on the edge of his bed.

"Hey, Nate..." A soft voice soothed. His mother. Her blue eyes were filled with love while her wavy redish-orange hair was tied into a messy beachbun on-top of her head with loose strands scattered around her face. "You alright...?"

"I don't like it..." Nathaniel whispered with a whimper. He didn't like his hearing aids. He didn't like how he lost his hearing. "I never asked for this to happen..."

"I know, honey..." She placed her hand gently on her son's hip. "But things happen in life that we can't control. And I'm guessing you knew you couldn't just stand there and watch Cat Noir possibly die before your very eyes, right?"

"... I guess you're right, but I could've died too, you know..."

"I know. Thankfully you hearing too the hit and not your life."

"..."

"I'm going to give you some space to think this over and come to terms with the events as I can tell it was pretty horrific for you. Nicolas and I are just going to be in the living room if you need us, alright?"

Nathaniel nodded and his mother move this fringe away so she placed a kiss on his cheek before leaving and closing his door with a soft click. Nate felt his eyes get heavy and his hands slip from his ears. Sleep was knocking at the door of his mind and Nathaniel let him in, falling asleep almost instantly.