Be Myself

Be Myself - Chapter Twelve

Tikki scrambled out of the way, as Adrien ran to the back of the locker room and quickly transformed. As Pest stomped over in his direction, looking for Adrien, Chat Noir ran to the nearest window, flung it open, and called out: "Go! Run Adrien!" before turning back around and facing Pest. Without anyone noticing, Tikki flew to Adrien's shoulder and held on tight.

Pest scowled and screamed: "Give me your Miraculous!" She lunged at him, and he jumped out of the window to regroup.

"Where's Ladybug?" He asked himself, trying to reach her through his pole cell. He waited a couple seconds before angrily sighing and putting his phone away. "She's not answering. I can't defeat Pest without her!"

He muttered to himself, ignoring Tikki, who was still clinging to his shoulder. Tikki summoned all her willpower, and started climbing to Chat Noir's head, while he was running and dodging Pest's attacks.

She finally reaches his head and screams in his ear: "Chat Noir! I need you – Ladybug needs you!"

He skids to a halt, trying to find to talked to him. Behind him, Pest closes in.

"No, run away now, find somewhere safe for us to talk first!" Tikki called to him. He turned, spotted Pest ready to strike, and ran into a nearby building – one of the only abandoned buildings in the heart of Paris.

The building was two floors, and before Pest could spot him, he jumped through an exposed hole in the wooden ceiling – to the second floor – and jumped behind a stack of boxes. A few seconds later Pest appeared, searched the room for him, and couldn't find him.

She growled. "Fine, I'll catch you later, kitty. I've got a different bug on my list to swat." And elegantly jumped out of the nearby window.

Chat Noir sighed. "I really hope she's after Adrien and not anyone else..." He paused, realising there's supposed to be someone else here he's supposed to talk to. "I didn't mean that! I-"

"Am Adrien, I know." Tikki said, releasing her hold on Chat Noir's head and flying into view.

"Oh you're... Ladybug's Kwami!"

"Yes I am, my name is Tikki!" Tikki explained.

"Why are you here and not... with Ladybug?"

"Ladybug, well..." Tikki sighed, deciding to put Marinette before her Kwami rules. "Ladybug... is Pest."

"No way! Ladybug is-"

"Shhh!" Tikki reprimanded him. "We can't have the crowds worrying." She flew to him and tried to fully catch his attention.

"Ladybug's miraculous is still in that building – Pest hasn't noticed it yet, and you need to grab it." She said to Chat Noir. "You need Ladybug to win. Only the true Ladybug can capture Akumas, but if you give the Miraculous to someone you trust, and they have a caring heart, they can wield the yo-yo, and use the Lucky Charm!"

Chat Noir nodded, and noticing Pest was still out of his line of sight, took his chance and exited the abandoned building, and headed back to the school, jumping through the window he left the locker room with earlier, entering the room for a second time in the last hour.

He walked through the room, trying to spot the earrings.

"Argh, I can't see them." He said to Tikki.

"I think it's over here." Tikki replied and flew over to Marinette's locker. Chat Noir did a quick search and yes, he was quickly able to spot the small, glittering jewellery lying meekly on the floor. He gingerly picked them up, and held them in his hand. The pink background of the rings glimmered, and he recognised them as Marinette's.

"These aren't Ladybug's... hers are red and with black spots." He questioned.

Tikki was quick to rebuff him: "Your ring is normally silver – but when you're Chat Noir, its black with a green paw, isn't it?"

He paused, before nodding.

"Alright." He said. "Who do I give this to?"

"Ladybug needs to be female, or the civilians will become suspicious." Tikki said, trying to help Chat Noir narrow down the list. "Someone who has a selfless heart, and cares about others."

Chat Noir thought.

"What about Alya?" He asked himself aloud, knowing she would be a great Ladybug. He carefully thought about it, and remembered the conversation she had with Lady – uhh Marinette last time they spoke together:

"Then I guess we're done then."

Being the only other person near the locker rooms at that time, he was easily able to hear their conversation. He frowned, realising Alya wasn't in the right state of mind to become Ladybug. Right now, she's being motivated by selfishness, the exact opposite of what Ladybug stands for.

On the other hand....

"I'll be here when you're ready to talk. See you soon."

"No..." Chat Noir muttered to himself. "Could she really... But she's been so bad before... She's tried to amend herself..."

He continued to stammer with confusion. Tikki grew increasingly worried as the minutes slipped past, before deciding to try to help Chat Noir decide.

"You need to go with your instincts, Chat Noir." Tikki instructed him. "Even if this person you're talking about has done wrong, the Miraculous doesn't care about what you were like in the past, it focuses on what you're like now, what your values are and what you want to be."

Chat Noir made up his mind.

"I guess... I better go give this to her." He said. Tikki nodded, flew to his shoulder, and held on tight. And with that Chat Noir sprung through the air...

... and headed off to the house which holds the next bearer of the Miraculous.

Hiya, I'm back! Sorry for the delay – I had to write three massive essays in the span of four days (among other schoolwork) – which took up most of my time. There's only a few chapters left: WE'RE ALMOST DONE!!

It's been a blast to write 'Be Myself' and it shocks me to know there's only three chapters left, because it feels like I've been writing this for... well forever!

I hope you guys enjoy reading these stories as much as I love writing them 😊

See you soon!

But for now...

Peachy out! 😊