Chapter Idea Credits: @MNcun1, @babypinkloveww, & @justanakuma
I have slightly changed the opening chapter to make it fit with the story. Go re-read it if necessary!
Hawkmoth's POV
I don't understand. I sent an akuma after that girl. She should have been akumatized. She should have fallen under my control. I should have finally obtained the cat miraculous.
I could have won.
Who stopped me?
I glare inside my dark lair. Everything was going so smoothly. The dark magic was trapped in their miraculouses when they were under the influence by Reflekta. It's feeding on their fear, which is the only reason it is still growing.
The childish superheroes think that the dark energy grows only when they transform or use their powers. Fools. The dark energy grows whenever they feel powerful negative emotions. The dark magic simply just hurts them when they use the miraculous, nothing more.
The evil magic doesn't grow from them using the miraculous, the magic grows because their pain is a powerful negative emotion.
They're slowly turning into walking corpses.
I scowl and detransform, watching Nooroo shoot out of my butterfly pin and fall into my hands.
"Master, do you have any food?" The pathetic kwami asks me.
"Quiet Nooroo!" I shout, stepping onto my platform and taking me back to my mansion. "I failed. I failed again."
"Master, you shouldn't use the miraculous for evil. No matter what wish you want to grant, there's always a draw back! It's the balance of the universe!" Nooroo replies, ignoring me.
I whip my head around and glare at the tiny purple kwami.
"You think I don't know that? I'm willing to pay any price to bring her back!"
Nooroo looks at me sadly. "Even if it's your son, Adrien?"
I frown, and turn away. "If my own son is working against me as Mister Bug, then as far as I'm concerned, he's a traitor."
"But Master-"
"-If he's the price I must pay," I interrupt, lightly glazing the tips of my fingers on the portrait of my late wife.
"...so be it."
Marinette's POV
"M-Mister Bug... you knew about me?" I stutter.
I slide my back down my wall, and sit with my knees to my chest. He crouches down next to me, then sits beside me with his back to the wall too. The afternoon sun beams through my window and rests on my skin. He places his hand on my knee, and lets me breathe.
I can barely think. My partner. He knows me. He knows my identity. He knows who I am.
I look up at the blond, and his warm eyes stare back at mine. I open my mouth, hesitate, and then instantly shut it and look away. More tears threaten to fall, and I won't allow it. I'm sick of crying today.
I place my head between my knees and wrap my arms around my head. I start to shake, and my breathing gets faster. My chest rises and falls rapidly. My world begins to spin. I feel like my head is going to blow.
But then I feel his gentle warm touch on my bare shoulder.
I look up at him. He smiles reassuringly. My shoulders drop and I tear my gaze away from him, but he grabs both of my shoulders and makes me look at him.
"Hey..." he mutters. "You don't have to hide your feelings from me."
I shake my head and bring my hands up to my face.
"No, Ladybug is strong. I'm strong. I won't let my feelings get in my way," I whisper with a shaky voice.
He places his finger underneath the tip of my chin and tilts it upwards, making my blue eyes clash with his.
"Having emotions doesn't make you weak."
Just those simple words were enough to make me break down. A sob slips from my lips and I explode in tears, collapsing in his arms. He wraps his arms around me and I cry, holding onto him tightly, digging my fingers into his back and soaking his costume with my salty tears. He's surprised at first, but then hugs me back and wraps his arms around me.
I cling to him and hold him tightly, sobbing loudly. He rubs my back and runs his fingers through my hair, calming me. I feel better when he's holding me, telling me that I will be all right.
He shifts his position on the ground, sitting cross legged and holding me in his lap. I cry for what feels like hours, letting all the stress out. Finally, someone knows. I never knew how good it would feel to let this dangerous secret out.
"Hear my heartbeat?" He calmly murmurs, running his hands through my hair. "Just focus on that."
After a while, my cries turn into hushed tears, quietly letting the last of my emotional baggage off of me. He continues to rub my back, even when my tears have almost disappeared completely.
"How... how did you know..." I whisper, still resting my head on his shoulder.
He smiles weakly. "The similarities were too much to ignore. The similar hair styles, the similar personalities, always late to class, the bad excuses-"
"-late to class?"
I slowly push off of his body and stare at him in the eyes with tiny pupils.
"You... you mean you're in my class?"
His eyes widen. "Oh, yeah, about that..."
"So you saw me everyday in class, and knew that I was your lady?"
He smiles gently. "So what if you're my lady? You're also Marinette. My Marinette. Being Ladybug is just a bonus."
I sigh and hold my shoulders. "So, Mister Bug, no, Chat Noir was in my class all along. My silly kitty."
I find a slight smile creep up on my lips. The idea of his protective green eyes watching me makes me feel warm and safe. He was in my class, so no matter what happened, he would always protect me. Just like Adrien had...
Wait.
Green eyes.
Blond hair.
Tan skin.
My blood runs cold. I slowly bring my heavy eyes up to look at my partner who I've battled so much with. The partner that has protected me. The partner that has sacrificed his life for me. I open my mouth, and my lip quivers as the word is formed on my tongue.
"Adrien?"
Mister Bug blinks. His breaths increase and he struggles to find the right words.
"Oh my god," I mutter. "You're Adrien."
He reaches out for me, but I jump out of his lap and stand with my arms in front of me. I take shaky steps backwards, shaking my head from disbelief and muttering words of shock.
"Marinette please!" Mister Bug shouts jumping out and reaching for me again.
"ARE YOU JUST GOING TO IGNORE WHAT YOU DID TO ME THIS AFTERNOON?" I scream. "ARE YOU JUST GOING TO IGNORE MY FEELINGS?"
I aggressively shake my head and jump back, pressing myself against the opposite wall from him. Fear rests in his face and he steps towards me.
No. He can't be. Mister Bug would never hurt me like Adrien did.
"Don't take another step!" I threaten. "I don't know who you are, but you can't possibly be my classmate Adrien!"
He snarls at me. "Why not?! What's the difference?"
Even if Adrien broke my heart, I still can't help but love him. And I refuse to say I love Mister Bug, even though my heart longs to.
"Adrien is perfect and dreamy and flawless-" I shout, shutting my eyes tight. "And you're just... you! You make dumb cat puns and constantly flirt with me! You're no where near as classy as Adrien!"
"Sorry to break it to you, but Adrien is not perfect," Mister Bug growls with his brows furrowed.
I shake my head. "He's not you! It's not true!"
"What proof do you want, my lady?!" He yells, throwing his arms in the air.
I don't answer. He growls and detransforms, and my room flashes with a bright pink light. I peak my eyes open and watch as Tikki slips from his earrings and rests in his hands. And sure enough, none other than Adrien stands in front of me. The same Adrien I deemed flawless.
"What about this?!" He shouts with his eyes furious. "I am Mister Bug!"
I'm in denial. "N-No, it can't be..."
He stomps towards me and presses me against a wall. With one hand he smudges his concealer and brushes his hair up, revealing dark black magic lines crawling across his face, growing from his earrings. My earrings. The ladybug miraculous sit in Adrien's ears.
"What about now?!" He shouts, with his voice cracking. "Marinette, it's me! I'm Mister Bug! I'M CHAT NOIR!"
I shake my head and look away, feeling his warm breaths on my left cheek.
"Why is it so hard to believe?!" He shouts, tears forming. "It's me, Marinette! It's me!"
"That's just the problem!" I scream, dropping down to the floor and covering my head.
He scoffs. "So, am I not perfect in your eyes anymore?"
Someone knocks on the front door of my house. We both ignore it.
I bite my lip. "No, Adrien, it's just..."
"Just what?!" He shouts, pain filling his voice. "Is it just that I'm not the perfect Adrien that everyone had in their head?!"
"What do you mean?!"
"I never had a choice in who I am!" He shouts, pressing his hand against his chest. "I never have!"
"You just hurt me, and you think you can come back to cuddle with me?! Oh, shut up!"
The knock returns on my door. Still, we ignore it.
I scurry under him and dash away from him. I look up and realize that tears are trailing down his cheeks, but I ignore them.
I stomp my foot against the floor. "Why did you reveal yourself? I told you our identities need to remain a secret!"
He throws his hands up in the air. "I did keep it a secret! That's why I never told you! I protected you!"
"I don't need protection!"
He scoffs and glares at me. "Yeah, like I totally didn't just save your ass hours ago."
"ALRIGHT!"
We both look at my trapdoor and gasp. Alya stands there, peaking her head in with a nasty glare resting on her face.
"I was knocking on your door because I heard shouting and screaming from outside," she informs through her teeth. "and when there was no answer, I barged in myself."
Adrien and I look at each other, then back at Alya.
She steps into the room and crosses her arms, shifting her weight to the side. "Now, you are going to tell me what the hell is going on here and what the hell is happening to y'all."
I give her a confused look, but one glance at Adrien makes me realize what she's talking about. The black lines coming from the dark magic trapped in his miraculous have crawled across his face, with one striking through his right eye, making it glow bright green.
He looks terrifying, but then I look at me, and realize that I'm the same. Dark lines craw and weave across my arm, reaching up to my shoulder and swallowing up the tips of my fingers.
How is the dark magic growing? I thought it only grew when we used out magic. Unless, what if we were wrong...
"Nothing," I hear Adrien reply, looking at his feet.
Alya stops over to Adrien and snarls while grabbing his cheek. "You're going to tell me, Agreste, that this is normal?"
She slaps her hands off his skin and turns to me, grabbing my hand. I flinch at the touch, and she notices.
"So, this black stuff growing on both y'all's skin isn't only ugly, but also painful to the touch," she comments.
I look at Adrien, signaling him for help, but he glares at me and looks away.
"The lines seem to be growing from your earrings," she points at Adrien, "and your ring," she points at me.
Alya crosses her hands and puffs her chest out. "I'm not going to make any assumptions here, but I'm just going to point out some things."
I take a sharp deep breath.
She turns to Adrien and tilts her head up, looking down on the blond. "Mister Bug just 'happens' to appear the day that you switch your ring for earrings."
She turns to me. "Same goes for you."
I bite my lip.
"Anyways," she continues, placing her hands on her hips. "Mister Bug told me that they couldn't switch their miraculouses back because of 'technical difficulties'."
She glazes her finger up my arm, tracing the black dark magic growing on my arm from the cat miraculous.
"I wonder, could this be the technical difficulties he was referring to?" She mutters.
She leans in my face, pressing me against my bedroom wall. She stares at me, peering into my soul. I feel her breath on my face. She looks me up and down, then backs away.
"So, any confessions need to be made?" She asks.
I look at Adrien, who is still ignoring me.
I sigh. "No."
I hate lying to my best friend.
Uh oh, Adrien and Marinette's relationship is rather rocky. I wonder if it will get better... or if it could... I don't know... get worse 🙂
That emoji creepy af tho
also, even though marinette is heartbroken, she still loves Adrien (and unfortunately, still sees him as flawless). she's just mad at him right now.
Anyways, give me female akuma names and powers! I'll credit you first thing in the next chapter!
have yall heard of reverse psychology? Yeah cool! Totally unrelated, but make sure to not upvote this chapter. I mean... unless...