Whenever Monarch was defeated, we thought that everything would go back to how it was before. We thought we could express ourselves freely. We could feel what we wanted to feel. And we were able to. Just not for long. Lila Rossi as we know her, but...
The streets of Paris stretched out before me, bathed in an eerie darkness that seemed to swallow the very essence of the city. It was a nightmare come to life, like Chat Blanc all over again. And at the heart of it all stood Pinky Promise, a villain whose name sent shivers down my spine, but also makes me want to laugh all at once.
I could feel the weight of despair pressing down on me as I searched desperately for any sign of my friends. Alya, my best friend and confidante, and Chat Noir, my loyal partner in the fight against evil – they were my pillars of strength, the ones who had always been there for me when I needed them most. But now, they were nowhere to be found, lost to the darkness that threatened to consume us all.
I called out their names into the empty streets, my voice echoing off the silent buildings, but there was no answer, only the chilling laughter of Pinky Promise as she emerged from the shadows.
Her form flickered and shifted with each step, taking on the shapes of those I loved most. First, Alya appeared before me, her familiar face twisted into a grotesque mask of emptiness.
"No," I whispered, my voice barely more than a breath. "You're not Alya. What have you done with her?"
But Pinky Promise only laughed, her voice a cruel mockery of the warmth and laughter that had always defined my friendship with Alya. "Your friend is gone, Ladybug," she taunted. "Lost to the darkness, just like the rest of them."
Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes as I watched Alya's form fade away, replaced by that of Chat Noir. My partner, my friend – now nothing more than a hollow shell of his former self.
"Chat?" I choked out, my voice trembling with grief and disbelief. "Is that really you?"
But there was no warmth in those familiar green eyes, no hint of the playful grin that always lit up his face. Only emptiness, as cold and unforgiving as the night itself.
I felt a wave of despair wash over me as I realized the truth – I was completely alone, trapped in a nightmare of my own making, with no one to save me from the darkness that threatened to consume me whole.
But even in the depths of my despair, a spark of determination flickered to life within me. I couldn't give up, not now, not ever. With a fierce resolve burning in my heart, I squared my shoulders and met Pinky Promise's gaze head-on.
"I won't let you win," I declared, my voice shaking but strong. "No matter what you do to me, I'll never stop fighting. Because that's what heroes do."
Pinky Promise's laughter echoed through the empty streets, a chilling sound that sent shivers down my spine. "You're a foolish girl, Ladybug," she taunted. "But mark my words – your time will come, and when it does, there will be no one left to save you. All that will be left is you and Hoaxer, and when that time comes. She will kill you."
With that she lunged at me, "But before you get the honor of meeting her, you owe me something. You see, we've met many, many times, Ladybug. In fact, you were one of the main reasons why I was always akumatized." Her appearance flickered again, changing into Chloe Bourgeois.
I gasped, "Chloe- but you were supposed to be in New York. You were sent there whenever Lila was expelled."
She morphed back into her golden and orange silhouette, "Daddy tried to send me away, but before I left, a friend of mine came in contact with me. In fact, Cerise is the one that helped me find Hoaxer." Cerise? Who was Cerise? Chloe never mentioned anyone by the name of Cerise.
"Whose Cerise?" I ask skeptically. Could she be this Hoaxer person?
"Cerise was Lila. Always was. And now she's Hoaxer." Pinky Promise smirks, "You'll never find her. That's the only reason we agreed to tell you who she is. I would say, you'll see her soon, but she intends to draw out your torture and make you suffer."
With her last sentence the fog lists from around us, revealing what it was hiding. I gasp, tears springing to my eyes. I cover my mouth, holding back the bile in the back of my throat.
There were severed body parts strewn across the streets. Bodies both male and female torn apart. A child's head rolls across my path, her lifeless eyes staring up at me. I turn to the side empty the contents of my stomach.
"If I were you, I would look up." I feel the smile in Chloe's voice. I know I shouldn't listen to her. Whatever is above me is bound to be just as gruesome as what's in front of me. But I look anyways.
Above me, floating in the air are Alya's, Nino's, Adrian's and Chat Noir's bodies. I tear slips from my eyes. They aren't just dead unharmed bodies. Their eyes are scooped out, every one of their fingers broken, legs and arms bent at the wrong angle. And they were smiling. It wasn't a normal smile, it was a smile cut into their faces, pieces of flesh handing off in jagged edges.
I fall to my knees, looking up at their mangled bodies.
"This isn't real. Not yet anyways. But this is what the end of Ladybug will come to."
I wake with a scream. A cold sweat covered me, soaking the bed and blanket.
"Marinette! You're in your room! You're safe!" Tikki says, hugging my cheek.
A knock on my door startles me and I quickly shift my gaze to the floor.
"Marinette, is everything alright up there." My mom calls up to.
"Yeah Mom. Fine. I just ah tripped on air, and it startled me." I yell, back my voice shaking.
"Okay, go back to sleep. School starts in four hours."
"Okay, mom." I whisper. School started at 7:30. Which means I had slept four hours.
"What was it about this time?" Tikki asks.
"The very first Hoax that we faced." Chloe didn't battle with us much as Pinky Promise, she just kept shape shifting into people we loved, or well she made us think that she shape shifted into them. It was all just an illusion, an introduction, a hoax.
I throw the blankets off me and strip my bed, throwing the sweat filled fabric into my laundry basket. From there I go check my e-mails for any new commission requests. Sure, enough forty-two e-mails awaited me.
At least I had something to keep me distracted before I had to get ready for school. There was no way I was going back to sleep. I probably won't even sleep tonight. But I guess that's the life of the new Ladybug.
