I was supposed to study for my next exams on Monday.
And in all of those 15-minute breaks I had, I dedicated my time to write instead of watching YouTube.
So, here you go. A chapter published a week early.
I didn't have time to proofread so, please forgive me-
*
Her tears shocked her. She really was crying, wasn't she?
She wanted a second chance.
She deserved a second chance.
She gripped her fox necklace.
Lila gently grazed her black earrings.
(Sure enough, just like I thought, I suck at drawing side profiles-)
'Will you lend me your strength?'
She thought.
A dark blue feather floated towards her.
*
"A TOTALLY NORMAL METEOR IS COMING TOWARDS US, GUYS!" Marinette shouted, laughing crazily with her eyes wide open, one of them even twitching, more than just frustrated over all these stupid things happening in her life. She swore if she ever finds that squeaky, busted little ass, that son of goose—DUCKbug, she's gonna yeet the living shit out of him, Detroit smash him into the sun, carry his ashes back to earth, mix them in dog food and feed them to strays-
"Mari, are you okay?" Adrien, asked, a bit worried about his classmate-cum-crush who seemed so—done with life at this point.
"OH TOTALLY! FINE! WHYDOYOUASK!?" She shrieked.
Before Adrien could answer, she shushed him up and continued.
"You know what?" She abruptly turned to him, addressing the blond man in front of him, "You see that?" she pointed at the meteor.
Adrien, the poor boy shocked at this frustrated side of Marinette, could only nod.
"Yeah, that. Well," she turned on her heel, away from the meteor, "NOPE." She shouted, both her hands in the air.
"NOT TODAY, SATAN."
"But Marinette we gotta-"
"Adrien, you know I love you, but YOU GOTTA DRAW A LINE SOMEWHERE,"
Adrien blushed but knew Marinette didn't actually mean those words—NOT THE TIME TO BE THINKING ABOUT THESE THINGS—
HE HAD TO GO GET MARINETTE AWAY FROM HERE BEFORE SHE SNAPPED.
"Bu—"
"YOU GOTTA DRAW A FREAKING LINE IN THE SAND DUDE—"
'Are we really quoting memes here, Marinette-' Nooroo facepalmed from the inside of Marinette's bag.
"Mari—"
"YOU GOTTA MAKE A STATEMENT, YOU GOTTA LOOK INSIDE YOURSELF AND SAY, 'What am I willing to put up with today?'—" she paused and inhaled deeply, first clenched her forehead and then used her fingers to point both her hands at the meteor, in a comical squat position—"NOT FREAKING THIS-"
Too late.
She already snapped.
Welp.
He'd not want to be the villain.
*
It had been five minutes since Marinette's terrifying mental breakdown and with the help of Alya, who assured everyone that Marinette was not on her period, and Adrien, who was bringing Marinette hot chocolate from her parents' bakery, she seemed to calm down.
"Okay, now what about the meteor?" Marinette who was now back to her senses started getting back in her hero mode.
The meteor which seemed to be miles away was now closing in on Paris, the probable sentimonster-creation now targeting the Eiffel Tower.
(I don't know anything about how long it takes for a meteor to hit the earth so I presumed it would still be in the air considering the meteor would be visible only after it crossed the troposphere-mesosphere boundary and it would take it some time and since it is an illusion if you haven't figured that yet- it won't necessarily follow the laws—annnd I am nerding out, right-)
Okay, but like, what did the bad guys have against the Tower?
'Gotta do something-'
Both the heroes simultaneously thought the same thing and, well, when that happens—
"I think I need to go to the bathroom."
"I think I need to go to the bathroom."
The blond and the bluenette whipped their heads in each other's direction and the oblivious pair of idiots blushed momentarily, before turning in the other direction.
"You know, if you guys wanna ditch the city mid-crisis and have a make-out session in the bathroom, you don't have to be that obvious about it," Alya said dryly.
Both the teens' heads exploded and heat rushed to their faces. They somehow muttered out a pathetic, "I-IT'S NOTHING LIKE THAT!"
"B-Besides, you know we see each other as friends, Als." Marinette let out a disappointed sigh.
See, the thing is, Marinette didn't know about Adrien's sudden developments and didn't want to weird Adrien out AND embarrass herself further, so, to save both of their butts, she conjured up this excuse.
Adrien tried not to show his heartbreak. He succeeded.
He wanted to come clean about his feelings to Marinette by this evening, after school. He really thought that Marinette liked him as well.
I mean, what other explanation could there be to her shyness and stuttering around him? He looked it up and it also made a lot of sense that she had a crush on him, since, well, whenever the two of them were together, Alya always seemed to be more sly than usual. And more teasing as well. Also, he acted that way around Iris too. And he did use to like her.
The stuttering. The awkwardness. The cute blushes. None of them were because of him.
Marinette didn't see him as more than just a friend.
Guess he was just being delusional.
Hah...
To even think someone as kind, caring, beautiful and awesome as Marinette could fall for such a goofball, nerdy geek with free daddy issues like him.
That dream was unreachable.
He realized, though, that right now he had more important issues than trying to sort out his love issues. He quickly masked his sadness and ran into the nearest empty bathroom stall.
"Plagg, Claws Out!"
Chat Noir leapt out of the window and ran towards the meteor. He knew this was not a natural occurrence. There had been no forecast about this at all and nothing about this sudden development was mentioned on his favourite astronomy show. The people clearly had no idea that a meteor was going to fall, lest they wouldn't still be in Paris. This had to be a sentimonster. And to take care of that huge meteor, he had to find out the amok and release it. He hoped Iris wasn't late as she was back then during the battle for his miraculous.
"HEY! LOOK AT THAT!" Some random civilian suddenly pointed out a finger at a blurred figure, flying through the air, flying straight towards the meteor.
Chat's mouth hung down as she did something unbelievable. She flew head-on into the giant fireball and tackling it with her hands, pushed it hard and sent it flying straight into the atmosphere again.
The crowd of Parisians cheered as the female hero descended, slowly and gracefully making her way in the middle of the bunch of people, said citizens clearing a small circle for her to stand in.
Chat did not get a good feeling about this girl. She just saved the city but he didn't like just one thing about her. It just doesn't sit well with him,
The look in her eyes.
She was smiling and interacting with the crowd, but the look she had in her eyes did not match her smile.
Her eyes were vengeful. Filled with hatred. Guilt.
Was she really a superheroine?
"Who is this girl!? It's crazy! She just sent the entire meteor back into space with her bare hands! Are you another one of Lady Iris' chosen?" A reporter asked, rushing over with his camera and microphone, practically shoving it in her face.
"Lady Iris? No. I am Volpina! Your new and best superheroine!" She smiled sweetly.
"V-Volpina! Amazing!" The crowd swooned and ooh-ed.
"Oh! Look it's Chat Noir!" Volpina said, flying up to the roof onto which Chat was and grabbed him by his arm, bringing him down, "Well, now that another one of my kind in here, I am here to make a promise. No matter who wants to harm you, I, Volpina, will keep you safe!" She rejoiced.
Chat didn't say anything.
"Now, if you'll excuse us, we need to talk about some things." She cooed slyly and whisked Chat away from the awed Parisians.
Once they were secluded, she said, "It's nice to meet you, but I think introductions can wait. Darkbug is on the move." She suddenly said, very seriously.
"What are your powers?" Chat asked sceptically.
"Flight and super-strength," Volpina replied, easily rolling off lies from her tongue.
Before Chat could reply, a third person joined the duo, wearing a semi-dark green outfit with a long streamlined collar, laced with gold, swirls of black and gold running over her abdomen and her shoes being black, again lined with gold. Her face mask was a tech-inspired one, basically, a black square-shaped lens covering her left eye only, leaving the right side of her face exposed, and her hair were shaved from the left side, whisking all of the hair over to the left side (kinda like Demi in 'I really don't care' but green and black from the tips) of her face.
Chat knew Iris had to be an amazing fashion designer if she could come up with these designs.
ON THE SPUR OF THE MOMENT-
Like damn, that girl had talent.
(Earlier—
"Marinette? What are you doing?" Nooroo groggily got up and looked over his chosen's shoulder (where he accidentally fell asleep and his chosen let him sleep in her pocket for warmth so that he doesn't freeze himself. What? even they could be wholesome at times!).
"Designing outfits for my future chosen."
Nooroo equipped a (ಠ_ಠ) face.
"W H Y ?"
"BECAUSE! I can't let my chosen run around in ridiculous neon-coloured costumes, looking as if they stole their colour schemes from off-brand 90's children show logos. I mean, LOOK AT PUPPETEER IN SEASON 1-"
"WUT-"
"AND SIMON SAYS- WHAT WAS HAWKMOTH THINKING! WHAT ARE WE IN, A KIDS' NURSERY RHYME SHOW!?"
"Mar-"
"AND LET'S NOT TALK ABOUT PARTY CRASHER. Please. That one was a disaster."
"..."
"Also, what the hell is wrong with the dude, making Laura Nightingale wear that—that disgrace of an outfit-"
"Also, what's up with Antibug? Does he have NO sense of originality?"
"...I don't know what to say anymore but—" Nooroo looked at her in disappointment.
Sighed,
And slammed his head into his hand.
It was truly a wonder how he wasn't flatter than Oikawa until now.)
"Well, looks like I am no longer needed, here." The green-clad girl laughed.
She had dark skin and red eyes—how cool is that—and her personality seemed to be pretty rock-punk type. I mean, with the extensive and bold half-shaved hairdo and the vibrant green dress, what else can you think of? She was gorgeous. (Author-san's opinion.)
"Thank you so much, miss—"
"Its Volpina."
"Ah, ok, Volpina. Lemme just introduce myself, fellas. It's Techna. I can minimize or maximize anything, except humans, for a short period." She smirked.
"Oh, I see! Lady Iris gave you this power to minimize the meteor then. Wonderful! Too bad I sent it back to space first. I wanted to see you shrink it!" Volpina groaned.
"Whatever does the job. At least you helped us keep Paris safe!" Suddenly the thick African accent of Techna was gone, indicating that Lady Iris now took over.
"Oh, so am I speaking with the Lady Iris?" Volpina jumped excitedly, stars in her eyes.
Embarrassed, Iris stroked the nape of her neck, "I'm not that special. Also, I am so happy now that we've got another ally. That way, Chat won't have to do all the heavy lifting himself—"
"M'lady, how many times have I told you that you're helping me a lot. I am not doing nowhere near as much saving as you do—"
"Anyway, what were you two talking about?" Iris, though Techna, smiled at Chat and asked the duo.
"Oh." Volpina dropped her voice, "I saw Darkbug. He was here." She said.
"What!?" Both the heroes yelled in unison, voices laced with worry.
"Where?" Iris asked.
"On top of a secluded building, near the Seine."
"We have to stop him." Chat said, still untrustworthy of this new so-called superheroine.
"Right. I am pretty sure Mayura, the holder of the peacock miraculous was with him too. They both went separate ways."
"I think we should split up. Chat, you can go with Volpina and stop Darkbug. I can take Techna in the direction of Mayura. If the need arises, I'll akumatize another chosen to help Techna." Iris suggested.
"Couldn't have said it better myself, Lady Iris." Volpina smiled again.
"...I don't trust you." Chat said.
"Chat—"
"M'lady, its an intuition. And cats are rarely wrong about these things." Chat said demurely.
"...Go easy on her. And be careful."
"Right."
"Go ahead, Chat Noir. Follow this Darkbug who no longer exists. And you, Iris. Try to find Mayura when she doesn't exist either. From now on, the reign of Darkbug has ended. From now on, the time of Shadowbug has begun."
*
Chat and Volpina were jumping across rooftops when the latter suddenly cried, "LOOK! IT'S HIM!"
Chat, without saying a word, threw his baton at the black-clad figure, only to have him disappear on contact.
"What—?"
He was suddenly knocked down on the ground, Volpina's bodyweight pinning him.
"Well, you sure fell for that easily."
"I—knew it—" he choked out.
"Honey, simply knowing won't do you any good. You dropped your guard."
"Who are—you?"
"I told you, didn't I? I am Volpina."