Adrien's POV
"M-Marinette?!" I stutter, scrambling backwards until my back hits a wall.
"I told you love, I'm not Marinette anymore. I'm Shadow Princess," She replies, smirking at us.
"You've never called me love," I comment.
She leans in close to my face. "There's a first time for everything isn't there?"
Suddenly the situation hits me. Hard. Marinette is Ladybug. How on earth could I possibly cure her from the akuma without Ladybug?! I need to stall. I need to know if I can get closer to her. I need to know if I can distract her!
"Marinette, please, if you can hear me..." I whisper as I place my hand on Marinette's cheek, "... please know that you're stronger than this."
She scoffs and rolls her eyes, tossing her dark hair over her shoulder. When I can finally get a good look at her, I gasp. Her style is the complete opposite of the normal Marinette's style. She's wearing ripped fishnets with a black skirt and black combat boots. Her eyes are a piercing bright pink. She has a floating golden crown and a black heart under her eye which pairs with her oversized hoodie. For an akuma, she looks surprisingly... casual.
"Why do you look like that? That can't be easy to battle in," I notice, carefully choosing my words, knowing that if I say one wrong thing, I could be dead in an instant.
She smiles and looks down on me, her face filled with confidence and pure evil. She simply crosses her arms and places one finger on her lip and smirks.
"I'm not going to battle. I'm going to go undercover. After all, all he needs now is Chat Noir's ring."
I bite my lip and instinctively hide my right hand behind my back.
Suddenly a purple butterfly outline appears in front of her face and illuminates her features with a bright violet color. Hawkmoth is talking to her, I realize. After a second or two, the outline disappears, and Shadow Princess glares at me.
"Hawkie says he doesn't want me to harm you. I don't know why you're special, but either way, I would watch my back if I were you. Just because the old man doesn't want me to harm you doesn't mean I won't."
Hawkmoth doesn't want to harm me? I'm his fucking enemy. Why on earth would he want to protect me. Am I special to him? Does he know me in real life? Does he have better plans for me?
I shake my head and jump up quickly, realizing I don't have time to waste. I reach my hand out and aim to grab Marinette's earrings. I can bet you anything that's where the akuma is.
She swiftly dodges it and grabs my wrist, throws me over her shoulder, and slams my back to the ground. She then pins me to the ground by straddling my waist and holding my wrists to the floor.
"Don't play with me, Adrien. Do you know why my name is Shadow Princess?" She whispers into my ear.
I stay silent.
"Well, I have the power to travel through shadows, but that's not all," she giggles. "I can send whoever I want to the shadow realm, with no way out~"
"Is that what you did to your parents?!" I cry, horrified.
She cocks her head and sneers with a smile. "They were in the way."
"The Marinette I love wouldn't do this!"
"Too bad I don't love you," she giggles, then hops off me.
I jump up and try to reach for her earrings, but she twirls on her toes and gracefully dodges my grasp. She simply backflips and jumps backwards. I freeze in place, expecting her to hit the wall behind her, but instead she simply winks and dives into a shadow resting on the wallpaper like a portal. I stand alone in the house, shocked.
I gasp and run towards the wall, but it's no use. The shadow is just a shadow to me. I slam my fist into the wall and cry out, cursing myself for letting her slip out of my hands.
"Why didn't you transform into Chat Noir?!" Plagg snaps, flying out of my jacket.
"You heard her! Hawkmoth was watching her every move, which means he could have seen me transform!" I shout. "He could have-"
I scream out from pain, grasping my chest and not finishing my sentence.
"Adrien!" Plagg cries, flying close to me, cornered.
I collapse to the ground on my knees and clutching my heart. Stabs of pain fill my body every time I breathe. My eyes shoot open once I realize what these sharp pains are from.
"It's my glass heart!" I choke out. "It's reforming!"
Plagg freezes. "That doesn't make any sense!"
"What do you mean?"
The kwami flies over my shoulder and grabs something, then flies back into my view. My eyes shoot wide open from shock. It's a blood covered rose petal.
"How..." I whisper, in shock. "I thought she already confessed her love for Chat Noir!"
"Unless her feelings weren't for Chat Noir, but Adrien," Plagg suggests.
"Why would I have my glass heart then?"
"The akuma took away her emotions, Adrien. She thinks that she doesn't have a crush on you, but she really does," Plagg solemnly explains. "So even though she still has a crush on you, her feelings are gone, so she doesn't think she does. That's why she doesn't accept your feelings, which caused your glass heart to reform."
"I thought that when she told me as Chat Noir she loved me, that it would cure her from the Hanakahi disease," I ignorantly reply. "I didn't know she was still suffering."
"Have you noticed anything different about her?"
"She looked so frail when I saw her." I comment, then slowly look up at Plagg with pure fear in my eyes. "So that means..."
"... Marinette is dying." Plagg finishes quietly. "She's been slowly dying for a week and hasn't said a single word."
That day passed in a blur. Everything passed by so quickly. I couldn't get what Plagg said out of my head. Marinette is dying. Ladybug is dying.
I woke up the next day with terrible nightmares. I barely had the energy to get ready for school. I didn't even notice till I arrived at school that I didn't brush my hair. So that leaves me where I'm at right now: at school, no energy in my body, messy hair, and with a heart of glass. Could my morning get any worse?
Spoiler alert: yes.
The teacher is talking about some history lesson in the past. I sit in my seat, dozing in and out of sleep, only paying attention to the parts of the lesson that I'm awake in. But, no matter if I'm sleeping or focused, I can't help but feel the feeling of someone staring me down from behind me.
And that someone is Shadow Princess.
No one seemed to notice that Marinette was acting different. Alya complemented her new outfit and seriously liked the fishnets. Nino liked her dark makeup. I couldn't help but remain quiet the whole time Marinette was talking to us, because she's not Marinette. Why can't anyone see that?
I look around at my classmates. The day continues like everything is normal. Students are scribbling away with number two pencils in their hands. The steady sound of the clock above the classroom continues to tick away. The smell of fresh wood floats around the room as a student sharpens their pencil.
"Adrien, what's the answer to the question on the board?" My teacher asks, snapping me back into reality.
I jump up and peer at the board, ignoring my heavy eyelids begging to be closed. I quickly scan the question. We're currently in Human Geography, which is my best subject, only because my father made me study it along with several other subjects before I started public school.
"The Domino Theory," I sigh, bored beyond believe. "if one country was forced to accept a communist system, then neighboring countries would be irresistibly susceptible to falling to communism."
"Correct, Adrien," My teacher replies, but its obvious she wanted me to get the question wrong so she could lecture me to pay more attention.
"Great job, Adrien!" I hear a voice behind me call.
I turn my head and I am greeted with bright pink eyes staring deep into mine. Marinette smirks and winks at me. I feel my stomach drop in my chest.
"You're super smart, you should tutor me after school today," she teases. "My parents aren't home, after all."
"Marinette!" The teacher snaps. "What has gotten into you?!"
Marinette simply shrugs and smiles.
The class continues. I face forward, now wide awake. I need to do something about this, and soon. Who knows how long she's going to remain peaceful? Eventually Hawkmoth is going to lose his patience and order her to speed things up, which will not end well. I need to talk to her. Alone. But how can I do that?
My eyes light up as an idea hits me.
Class ends and we have a five minute break until the next class. I turn behind me, ignoring Nino and Alya, and tilt my head and return Marinette's smile. For once, I'll have the upper hand.
"Hey Mari, do you like me?"
She scoffs and rolls her eyes. "Why would I ever like someone like you?"
This gets both Alya and Nino's attention. Alya quietly gasps and Nino remains silent. They both stop talking and look at me concerned, but I continue to stare at Marinette. I want to explain everything to them, but I can't. It's only a matter of seconds until Marinette starts coughing.
And almost like on cue, she doubles over and starts violently shaking from her coughing. I watch as a petal slips over her mouth and she slaps her hand over her mouth in shock. I grab her wrist and force her to look at me.
"You look sick. Here, I'll walk you to the bathroom," I quickly announce, then without wasting anymore time, I drag her out of the classroom.
She stumbles behind me, coughing up more petals by the minute. We burst into the girl's bathroom and Mari falls to her knees over the toilet, coughing up petals and thorns. The slick tile floor quickly fogs up from her hot breaths. She grabs onto her throat and looks at me with pure fear, but quickly whips her head back to the toilet and continues to cough up more blood.
After awhile of her hacking echoing around the bathroom, I cross my arms and straighten my stance.
"Alright, Shadow Princess, how can I get my Marinette back?" I ask, trying to sound stern even though I'm terrified beyond words.
Marinette grips tight to the toilet and a purple silhouette of a butterfly appears above her face. It's Hawkmoth. After a minute, the butterfly outline disappears and Marinette looks back at me.
"Help me find out who Chat Noir is. Then, and only then, will Hawkmoth let me go," she mutters under her breath, revealing her softer side.
I bite my lip. I run through my options in my head and then set on a choice, ignoring Plagg violently shaking his head from inside my jacket.
"I know who he is," I begin, "but you need to promise me something too."
She stands up and crosses her arms, shifting her weight. "Fine. What is it?"
"Tell me who Hawkmoth is."
Marinette cackles and shakes her head. "Hawkie wouldn't even accept that bargain in the first place."
"Fine," I bicker. "Then just... let me take care of Tikki while you're under Hawkmoth's control."
"Please do," she snickers, and pulls the precious kwami out of her purse, cruelly flicking Tikki in my direction. I gently catch the pink kwami in my hands and carefully slip her into my jacket.
Suddenly a purple highlight of a butterfly once more returns in front of Marinette's eyes. She then looks at me with the bright violet outline still floating in front of her eyes.
"He wants to know how you know about Tikki," she forwards to me, but then stops mid sentence, and looks at me again. "No. Actually, he wants to know how you know I'm Ladybug."
I smirk and cross my arms.
"Tell that old man that I know a lot more than he thinks I do."
Irony!! We love that here 😌
sorry for uploading late again!! i was watching the first season of miraculous and got totally distracted. man those first episodes really were bad lmao
Anyways, are you reading my comic "Red String" on my Instagram? If not, make sure to check it out @chats_lady !!
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