Of Gods and Royalty

Chapter 66: How funny's that?

Adrien's POV

A blood curdling scream sounded from the other side of the door. Marinette! I opened the door so fast it hit the opposite wall but I hardly noticed. Before me stood...

"Marinette?" My chest squeezed. Her black and purple attire was proof enough. She'd been akumatized.

A purple outline covered her face. She froze for a moment.

"Of course, I'll retrieve them. I know them all personally." Her face distorted into a savage grin. "After my fun."

The butterfly glow around her face dissolved. I gapped as her outfit flashed and receded. She seemed normal enough besides the dark aura still plaguing her.

"So disappointing isn't it?" She cooed. "Of course you're used to that aren't you? Little Miss perfect has become... something else."

"Marinette." I put a hand up as I slowly backed up against the wall. "This isn't you."

"I'm sorry pure little Marinette isn't here right now." She gave a sickly grin and advanced towards me. "There is only Corruption."

"No." I shook my head but kept to my corner. Her eyes lit up a little as she looked up at my eyes.

"Ha! You're Chat Noir." She pointed to my raised hand. "How funny's that? Right under my nose the whole time. Where's Plagg?"

"Adrien we need to go!" The kwamii warned flying just above his head. "Hawkmoth has given her too much power, she's nuclear!"

"Cute." The wounds on her wrists shimmered. The ones she'd claimed came from a dream, of course! That was the first warning sign, had hawkmoth been slowly corrupting her? Two streamers of pure and utter darkness melted from them. She held them like whips, though from the way they floated, they seemed to have a mind of their own.

"I bet your father would be disappointed by you too." She taunted. She's just trying to get a reaction, I reminded myself.

"I bet your parents would be worried out of their minds." I took a tentative step forward.

"Adrien, this is a dangerous game, you don't want to play." Plagg interrupted but turned to Marinette. "He's right though, Cheese Cake will be devastated."

She faltered and the streamers shimmered to a vibrant red for all of a moment.

"She's not with me," She rasped. "Alya...Talk to Alya..."

A growl ripped from her throat and the whips materialised back to its natural dark void colour. She raised them and they seemed to act as tentacles reaching for me before I could act. Ducking and weaving I ran from the room towards the stairs. Had she just fought the akuma? Was that possible or was this simply a trap? Either way it was Alya and Nino's room I burst into. They sat at the bench, three kwamii floating before them.

"Marinette's been akumatized." I slammed the door shut and hurried over to them.

"Wait, you're..." Alya raised an eyebrow as Plagg zipped from my pocket.

"There's no time!" A red and black kwamii squeaked. "Ladybug's out of commission. Reina Rogue our fears have been confirmed."

"How powerful is she?" Alya turned to me.

"She seems to ba able to change her outfit from her normal attire to a super villain one. Those wounds she got from her dream they create her main weapon, whips. Hawkmoth gave her the name Corruption. She kept shouting how she wasn't perfect." I shook my head and frowned. "I think it's my fault."

"That doesn't matter!" The turtle kwamii interrupted. "We have Tikki, here but we can't risk letting her onto the field. It's hard to explain but that's off the table we have no idea what will happen if a new ladybug faces Marinette."

"We need to contact Queen Bee." Nino chimed in. "Mari's the only one who knows who she is though."

"Not exactly." Ladybug's kwamii, Tikki shook her small head. "You need Chloe."

"Chloe?" We all looked at Tikki as if she were insane.

"We don't have time for this." Trixx, the fox kwamii shouted.

"You need to transform." Plagg floated over to the window and pointed out. "Or little Miss Corruption is going to have miraculous number one."

We hurried over to it and watched as Mari... Corruption used a ladybug themed yoyo to travel down the street. Most upsetting of all though was the cocoon of darkness wrapped around Chloe as she floated after the villain.

This wasn't just a villain. This was a trusted friend. A trusted friend who knew everyones secrets. A villain who knew everyone secrets.