Previously
"Hey, author, how are you doing? Was that exciting enough for you?" I say. Tikki rolls her eyes. So does the author.
-Plagg!-
"Well, I better get going- love you, Cheesecake," I said. Thankfully, Adrien and his friends were all walking together in the park. I zip out and dive into Adrien's side bag.
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Marinette
I fall into my bed, embracing the sheets like a cat to catnip. After an hour of Alya bouncing Ladybug theories off of me after school and doing homework together, I finally got her to leave. She was making me nervous.
And I didn't learn anything as to why she knew about the attack from the beginning to the end.
For all I know, she wasn't even there!
"Marinette! It's nearly time for patrol! Just a fair warning!" Tikki zips out of her hiding spot in my desk. She's been grinning like crazy ever since school was out. Tikki's usually bubbly all the time, but this is an extreme for her.
She's zipping around the area, mumbling to herself and then quickly asking me weird questions.
"AreyouexcitedtoseeChat?"
"Whatareyoukidsdoingtonight?"
"Areyousureyouaredonewitheverything? Wouldn'twantyoutohavetoleaveearly..."
Tikki swerves right in front of my face and finishes her mumbling: "Well...."
"Uh, right. I... um... Tikki- SPOTS ON!" I eventually decided not to answer. Tikki pouts as she is sucked into my earrings. The sensation of duty washes over me. I climb into the balcony and jump off. Wind whips at my face as I head towards the Arc de Triomphe: our Tuesday meeting spot.
Chat's already there, pacing. I purposely make aloud noise when I jump underneath the monument. He turns towards me.
"My Lady! You feline-ly decided to come!" Chat shouts.
"That's got to be the worst pun yet- and I've heard some terrible puns from you. Besides, keep your voice down! It's 9:30!" I tell him. Tikki is laughing inside my head. What has gotten into her?
"Sorry for being late. I had someone at home and couldn't get them to leave. Shall we get going?" I continue and ready my yo-yo. Chat Noir follows me.
"Plagg! Shut it! What is it with you today?" Chat mutters to his swami in his head. I whirl around.
"Wait- has your kwami been acting weird, too?" I inquire. Chat turns his direction away from his kwami, Plagg, to me. He answers: "Yeah, Plagg's been acting real obnoxious ever since sch-... this afternoon."
"Maybe its not a coincidence... do you think they met?" I wonder to myself. Tikki makes an unintelligible noise followed by a low "noooooooo..."
Chat is rolling his eyes to, but not looking at me. I start running off, remembering the patrol we still had to do. Chat stays right beside me.
"Something's up- Plagg's never seemed so smirky." Chat says to me. Tikki's making an effort to revoke her words. Then she brings up something I forgot about: "Marinette, this is not important! Tell Chat about the Ladybloggers!"
"Oh, that's right! Tikki, we'll be going over this later. Chat, I have to warn you about something. Alya, the girl who created the Ladyblog, is creating a team to reveal our identities. Well, I know they're going after mine... I don't know about yours. Just, watch out." I warn. I nearly run into a wall mid sentence. I make a high pitched sound.
"What- where did you hear that?" he says after my fail. Chat didn't react as snarky as usual. Something like, 'Well, my catfans must need me.' or 'I'll paw-tect you My Lady.' or even 'That's paw-ful.'
"I have my ways..." I jump closer to him. His eyes were wide, but didn't seem like he was in shock of the news, he was in shock of the fact that I knew.
But it quickly washes off.
"Don't worry, My Lady... I'll protect you." he says. We're already at the Eiffel Tower. Nothing seems unusual.
"Let's circle back. It's still pretty early- do you want to go to a bakery or something?" Chat stops jumping and I land beside him. I look up at the stars for a second, taking it all in.
"Ya know, maybe some other time. I really must..."
"Ladybug...." Chat whines and grabs my wrist, "Purr-ty please?"
"Why don't we circle over there and then take a break until 10:30?" I compromise. Chat grins.
"Race you!" he shouts, leaping off into the wind. He flips onto the next building, clearly meaning to show off.
"Oh, YOU'RE ON!" I shout back at him. He replies, "WHAT? CAN'T HEAR YOU- I'M TOO FAR AHEAD!"
I laugh and chase him down. Paris lights start to dim and it grows silent. A few stars shine down on us and street lights give a coral hue to the entire city.
It's a great view, but I can't let that stop me from beating Chat.
I spring my yo-yo to a destination in front of Chat, cutting him off for a second while leaping in front of him. He yells something at me, but I'm too far ahead.
Chat races up beside me. I speed on. When we arrive to the end of the street, I bounce almost immediately backwards, performing a triple spin in the process. Boom. I laugh as I soar in the air. Chat bounces a few feet higher than me on his baton.
I finally end up doing one last flip before beating Chat to the Eiffel Tower. I lay down in the field below. Chat nestled beside me. It's not awkward at all, though, the empty silence. It calms me. I forget about Chloe, akuma, and schoolwork for a second. My mind is at ease. Chat sighs next to me. He holds my hand. I don't care though.
It's too much work to move. My eyelids suddenly grow heavier. I don't care anymore.
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A bright light shines in my face.
"Tikki?" I grumble, "Where are you?"
I sit up and look at my Ladybug designed suit. Then I remember about last night.
Oops.
My back aches and I check my yo-yo for the time. 5:43...
I roll to the side and shake Chat violently.
"Chat! CHAT!" I shout in his ears.
"Just give me a second, Nathalie," he mumbles back at me, clearly not awake. Then his eyes jerk open in realization. I giggle, trying to stop thinking about the Nathalie girl Chat's civilian form knows.
"Uh... forget what I just said." Chat stands up and brushes the imaginary dirt off his suit. He stumbles a bit.
"We should probably head ho-" I start. A vicious, evil laugh interrupts me.
"OH COME ON!" I shout at no one in particular. Chat just looks at me and gives me his best smile. I leap off the building, relying solely on muscle memory to keep me alive. Tikki is exhausted, too. She was keeping me transformed all night and I didn't think to bring cookies. This is not good.
"We've got to get this over with quick!" I shout at Chat, "Can you tell exactly where the laughter is coming from?"
Chat points and I follow. The akuma is in a magnificent theatre. Thankfully, it's not being torn to shreds yet.
Chat and I crash into the front door. The akuma isn't there, so I have to follow Chat down the hallway. The lights start to flicker. I hear a screech voice echo down the hallway.
"Just you wait, my pretty, you won't be saying that I can't join your club tomorrow, will you now? As if you'll see tomorrow! Ha! I'll recreate my Ladyblogger group to be twice as awesome as yours!" the voice screams. I can't help but think of the Wicked Witch if the West. Wait- Ladybloggers?
Alya.
"Alya?" Chat and I question ourselves out loud simultaneously. I kick open the door to an auditorium without asking Chat Noir. My luck kicked in; it's the correct auditorium: the one with the akuma. Chat does some sort of gurgle and sigh mixed. Then I look at what Chat's staring at.
The entire auditorium is filled with civilians bounded to chairs. On the stage are two chairs that were torn from the rest of the chairs.
Those chairs bound Nino and Alya.
Nino
I am so confused. I woke up ten minutes ago bound to a chair next to Alya. Some creepy girl with heart sunglasses and green spotted trench coat was laughing maniacally, not realizing that Chat Noir and Ladybug were here to kick butt.
"Hello, Ladybug and Chat Noir, pleased to meet your acquaintance." The evil lady turned around to her new visitors.
Nevermind.
She held out her hand and snarls when Ladybug and Chat Noir just stare at it.
"So, you really want to fight me: the Flixr?" Flickr remarks and charges at them, full speed ahead. Ladybug seems to have just gained sight and bounces to the side. Chat follows lazily.
Unfortunately for them, Flixr brings out a long staff and hits them in their stomachs. They sputter, but still turn to face Flixr. Her staff glows and it's like the ropes glitch as they could on a video game.
Suddenly, her staff stops glowing and the heroes' feet are trapped in what looks like bubblegum. They attempt to pull their legs up fruitless lying before Ladybug looks at Chat. He nods.
"CHATACYSM!" Chat yells and swipes at his feet. The bubblegum dissolves into black bubbles at his touch. Ladybug resets her stance. They both look so tired.
Flixr giggles lightheartedly. She points her staff at Alya. I want to shout, 'No, wait- Hit me, not her!', but my mouth is bound, too. So I settle quickly for a wiggle and grunt. She doesn't hear me. The staff lights up again and I seize the opportunity to experiment. When the ropes glitches again, I easily pull my arms out of the bounds and slide Alya's chair behind me. An army of flying slugs charges into the area Alya was just sitting in.
Ladybug doesn't notice and shouts, "LUCKY CHARM!!!"
A screwdriver falls from the sky and she doesn't even question it. Chat doesn't look like he cares anymore; his eyelids are so low. Ladybug looks around the room. She explains a few things to Chat and they're off. Ladybug perches up on a ledge and tosses the screwdriver to Chat, who takes off his belt and ties it around the tool.
He throws it back. Ladybug swings over the akuma once and throws the screwdriver at the staff, perhaps hoping to break it.... She tries once again. The staff starts glowing again. And once again, it's aimed at Alya and I. The light flashes and everything becomes a blur. Ladybug leaps at us. The screwdriver discarded. A trampoline appears. Lady's yo-yo tangled around me.
Suddenly, I'm flying out of the theatre, pulled by Ladybug.
I hear a few beeps coming from Ladybug.
"Nino, close your eyes!" she orders. I obey, but can still see a bright pink light going up from her toes. The yo-yo string disappears and suddenly, I'm free falling. It takes less than a second for me to crash into the ground and my eyes fly open in reflex.
I see familiar pink capris. As I slowly look up, I see the white shirt and black jacket I see everyday. It also belongs to someone I thought I had a crush on.
"Marinette?" I squeak. Oh my God. Marinette is Ladybug.
Marinette is Ladybug.
"...you're... you're... you're LADYBUG!!!" I shout.
Marinette looks frozen; unsure of what to do. First, she covers my gaping mouth. Then, her eyes widen and she starts muttering: "Oh my gosh. It wasn't supposed to go like this- happen like this. What have I done? Gosh, I'm so dumb... so dumb... so dumb...."
A mutated dog flies next to Marinette's head. She starts calming her down.
"Marinette, it's... going to work out okay. You're not dumb at all. You had to protect your friend..."
Is it just me, or is this getting awkward?
"... now Nino over here is about to blow up with questions, why don't you help him up?" the creature continues, and Marinette snaps out of her coma-like state. She stands up.
"Uh... hey Nino," she grabs my hand and pulls me up.
Oh. My. God.
Marinette is Ladybug.
It makes so much sense, but the waves of shock won't stop hitting me.
That's why she's always late to school. And gone during akuma attacks . And nervous when talking about Ladybug, well, herself.
Her eyes fall towards the ground, unsure.
"Well, I guess..." She hesitantly started. I intervene and hug her. She tenses for a second and I get unsure on if friends usually do this, but then, she melts into it.
I spot the floating mutant in the corner of my eye and I whisper into Marinette's ear, "What is that thing?"
Marinette steps away from the hug and laughs.
"Nino, meet Tikki. She is a kwami which means she helps me transform."
'Tikki' falls into Marinette's hands on cue, and somehow I understand it- I mean she- is exhausted. Marinette's head leans back and she groans. She leans up against the alley's wall, but then jolts back up again.
"Do not tell anyone," she orders, suddenly getting serious. I nod viciously.
"Promise?"
"I promise." I say.
"I need to transform again... we can meet up after school to work on our... project." she says. I just nod.
Marinette
Nino starts nodding at me. His eyes are still wide, gripping the information I have just given him.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Nino asks sincerely. I smile. There's the kind Nino that I know.
"You can go home for me and arrive at school unharmed." I tell him. He chuckles nervously.
"Yeah, yeah, okay," he mumbles. I wave at him and give a half smile to say goodbye. Then, I walk away.
I feel a hand grab my wrist. I swing around.
It's Nino: "Hey, you're pretty cool dude, I mean, Mari. Good luck!" Nino sprints away. A small grin tugs at my face. I too sprint away towards my house to get cookies.
The sunrise begins, reminding me that it is the morning and not the middle of the night. I jog up to my house and creep inside.
"Quick, Tikki, get what you need!" I whisper into my bag. Tikki spins out of the bag and flies into the display of chocolate-chip cookies. She grabs two and scarfs them down.
"I'm good!" Tikki states, shoving the last crum of the cookies into her mouth.
"Tikki, SPOTS ON!!!" I cry. It takes a split second for me to transform and gracefully escape from my house. I yank out my yo-yo and start swinging. It doesn't take long to find them. The area is swamped by little ponies. What happened here? I let myself fall into the theatre auditorium.
Chat has the akuma pinned to the ground.
"Ladybug, catch!" He throws her sunglasses at me and I break them. A small, purple butterfly flies out. I capture it in a second with my yo-yo.
I also find the screwdriver conveniently by my feet. I throw it up into the air, completing the typical routine of saving Paris and everyone in it.
The teenage girl crumples to the ground and becomes herself again. Chat leaps down to me.
"Pound it," we chime and help the poor girl up.
"Wha- What happened?" she stutters. By the way everyone in the auditorium is looking at her, she probably already knows the answer.
"You were akumatized," I start, "Don't worry about the thing with the Ladyblog. You're special and can help me specifically. Would you like to meet for a small interview?"
She's blushing, but looks straight at me.
"I think I'll be okay. Thanks for the offer, Ladybug, but I'll pass." She walks away. I get ready to launch my yo-yo to my house when Chat grabs my wrist.
"Wait! My Lady, can we wait around a bit before the morning begins?" he pleads. I frown at him.
"Chat, I'm sorry but I have stuff I need to do. I didn't get to finish a few things before we left last time"- despite Tikki's wishes- "and I need to talk with someone. I'll try to interrogate my kwami-"
Tikki screeches into my head: "Wait- what? Nothing's different!"
"-and you can interrogate yours. Something's up. I'm sorry." I manage to twist my hand from his grip and he whined.
"Just a few minutes- please?" he whines. I mentally groan and nearly leap away when Chat enlarges his eyes to create my weak spot: puppy eyes.
"Chaaat.... Stop it..." I moan. His eyes continue to bear their adorableness onto me. I wince. He poutsace more and I give in, sighing.
"Fine. Only 5 minutes. You're welcome." I beckon him to follow me to the park. He gives his pesky signature Chat grin and follows me.
I sit down. My knees are sore after falling from the sky in my civilian form and my back aches. Chat sits next to me.
"Is that scar you got okay?" He gently places his hands on my face, observing the cut from the last akuma. I let him and nod.
"Yeah, it's fine. All I had to worry about was my identity. I found make up eventually." I glance at Chat. He's lost in his own thoughts.
"Is something up, Chat? You can always share with me; I'll always be there for you." I ask, watching him rotate towards me slowly.
"No.... No, everything's okay. I dunno... I've been thinking about this for a little while now; I wish that I knew you as your other half, too."
He's still begging for sharing identities. I look at him sadly "Chat..."
"I'm not talking about revealing our identities- I just,"
He pauses, looking at me, who is staring at him blankly.
"Ugg! I just wish that I could know the part of you that you say isn't there when you're Ladybug: the part of you that's hidden! I just wish.... I love.... I'll come up with something by tonight!" Chat stands up, shaking his hands for emphasis.
"Chat?"
He runs out of the park, leaving me on the wet grass from melted snow. I hope he's okay. That was such a random outburst.
But, he has a point.
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Sup guys! How did you like the chapter? That's good. (I hope)
So I was coming for my daily typing of the day today and found that I have 206 reads!!! I can't believe it! I thought, at most, I would get, like, 30! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!
What do you think now that Nino knows Ladybug's identity and Alya knows Chat's?
Please comment, vote, and share!
Doodler out! 🐖