Careful what you wish for

Chapter 12 (part 1?)

A eerie quite settled in around them. Quicker than they appeared the shadows vanished like a puff of smoke. The world around them became devoid of sound but the unease in the air grew ten times larger.

"What the hex just happened?" Ladybug asked not Chat but more like herself. Her voice sounding impossibly loud as it echoed off the walls.

"I think you just wished our problems away." Chat said, every bit as bewildered as he sounded.

"That's not possible. How is that possible?"

"I don't know but you should get out of here before your transformation wears off."

She arched an eyebrow and stared at him. Her head cocked to the side and her hands on her hips. He looked at her blankly before slightly jolting in realization at his words.

"Right. Sorry."

"Uh huh"

"I didn't mean to-"

"Drop it."

"Ok."

Chat's stupidity admittedly made her feel calm even give the current situation. He always seemed to have a way with calming her down, helping her put things in perspective. He was always doing that, saving her from villains and herself. He was more than just her partner, he was an irreplaceable, invaluable person in her life. Without Chat, she wouldn't be the person she is today.

She was snapped out of her train of thought as said cat tripped and fell with a loud clank.

"Owww" He wined as he sat up and rubbed his shin.

"What are you doing?"

"I tripped over this bottle." He replied and pushed the bottle he had apparently knocked over, away.

It was an old antique bottle. It's shape was like that of an eight and it was horizontally rigged along it's whole, it was decorated with colors of gold, red, green, blue and copper as well as with little gemstones to accentuate it's details.

As it rolled to a stop, it rattled and popped into the air, righting itself and causing Chat to scream and jump into the air himself.

"Did you see that!" Chat shouted, frantically looking between Ladybug and the bottle.

"Get back!"

The bottle began to rattle again, more violently this time, when suddenly a great deal of maroon colored smoke burst forth. The smoke swirled upward, creating a massive ball in the air above them, until the smoke stopped growing and instead began to warp in its center, creating a kind of vortex from which a form started to emerge. An eerie laughter accompanied the body formed in the smoke. It stared at them with chilling, blood red eyes.

"If I wasn't so terrified right now this would be pretty cool." Chat whispered to himself. The words weren't meant for her so she let her focus remain on the new adversary.

"Who are you? What are you?" She demanded.

"Isn't it obvious. I'm a genie in a bottle, here to make all your wishes come true." He said. His voice cold, calculating and full of malice, chilling them to the bone.

"If you're granting wishes, how about setting me up with my Lady here?"

"Really?! Your doing this now?!" Ladybug asked incredulously followed by an aggravated huff before muttering to herself, "Somehow, I'm not even surprised anymore."

"Sorry bug."

"Your the one behind all those strange akumas recently aren't you?" Ladybug asked as she turned her attention back to the supposed 'genie'

The akuma reminded her of an old painting of a djinn she once saw in a book. A wisp of maroon smoke continuously poured from the bottles mouth, rising to connect with what would be the man's waist. From there the maroon bled into a mixture of deep purple and an almost luminescent fire red that swirled together like living smoke on his physical form. It kinda reminded her of a balloon. A thin layer keeping the smoke entrapped. His facial hair looked like that of the genie from Aladdin but upon his head was a tight, long ponytail of ebony. His blood red eyes and pointy teeth made this akuma look like a demon sent from the pits of Tartarus.

"Very astute my little bug. Yes, I must confess, I have played my hand in the creation of your most recent foes since my creation. After all, Hawkmoth may be powerful but he does have his limitations. People wish for flower and I grant those wishes. Albeit with my own little twist. Isn't that right little bug?" His blood red eyes zeroed in on the spotted heroine who instinctively took a step back.

"You're the reason she's like this?" Chat Noir not so much asked as spoke his revelation aloud. "Wait are you behind Marinette Dupain-Cheng's disappearance as well?"

The 'genie' let out an ominous chuckle as a disturbing grin overtook his face. "Name's and faces aren't really my forte kitty. Although I do remember the wishes, perhaps this child was one of the few I heard wish to disappear." It was like some sort of game to him. Some kind of sick and twisted game. "Or something like that." This akuma didn't care about the fates of his victims and while that was not surprising, the joy he seemed to get from the ill fates he caused was unnerving at best.

And while this made he stomach turn and settled a horrible chill in her bones, the effect on Chat seemed worse. He looked ready to puke, his face stark white in poorly concealed terror, but she could see the building anger just below the surface.

"What do you mean." The most concerning thing may have been the lack of emotion his voice held. "What did you do to her."

"Oh it could have been any number of things. One child's wish turned them invisible. Another child's wish, I caused them to ceased to exist. I left one child outside the realm of existence, able to see and hear everything but unable to be seen or heard or even touched."

Suddenly Ladybug didn't feel so unlucky with the results of her wish.