Prologue
It wasn't supposed to be like this.
He deserved better, right? He was always kind. Helped others. Always acting as the perfect son. He did everything his father desired of him, even if it went against his own morals or wishes. It was always "Yes, Sir." Even if he secretly thought "No, Sir." But there was nothing he could do about it. There wasn't anybody to protect him or to stand up for him. The one person who did left a long time ago.
He had to be perfect, that was his only job, the only thing people asked from him. Seemed simple at first, but it was soon taking a toll on him.
So maybe he wasn't always perfect, but no one knew that, it always happened in the shadows. It was his own little secret. It started out innocent enough, but later the secret became so big that no one could fathom what he was hiding, even from the ones he considered his closest. Meeting up with a face he could put no name on, sneaking out in the middle of the night as a different person.
And God, what a different person he was.
A good person. A free person, someone who finally got what it was like to live! He could do and say everything that was on his mind and people would praise him for it. During the day, that was the case too, but it felt different. Less real and faked. He felt proud of himself and his accomplishments, something he didn't feel often. He had the darkest power of the world literally in the palm of his hands, he could do whatever he wanted with it. Everything, every direction, was possible. But in his mind, only one thing was possible; doing something good. Sure, there were a lot more, darker things to do with such a power like he had, but it never occurred to him. Helping people was his first priority.
Especially with his beloved partner by his side.
A gorgeous girl, plummeting from the sky into his arms and he never wanted to let go of her ever again. She was the best partner, friend, he could ever wish for. She was always encouraging him, just like he did with her whenever she felt like the weight of this job was too much. She was focused, clever, sweet and flexible. He was outgoing, brave, protective and strong. They balanced each other out. Good luck, bad luck. Creation, destruction. Yin, yang.
She was a goddess in his eyes and she knew it. He devoted his life to protecting her, to be by her side. Part of the deal was also loving her, but she didn't seem to take that into liking, though she never strayed from him. She stayed just within his reach with her own flirtations remarks, but never close enough to give him the satisfaction he wanted. There was trust between them, a blooming friendship and he hoped, one day, something more, but she kept being what she had always been; an enigma, a shadow no one could follow or understand. Her distance and lack of reciprocation of his feelings pained his heart, obviously, but he could handle it. Being with her, maybe not the way he wanted to but with her, was better than not being with her at all. Her presence outweighed the heartache.
He tried to let go of her, he really did, but it was hard. You don't just let go of something you hold so dearly. That felt like ripping out your own heart through your chest with unnecessary brutality. Whenever they had to part ways, time seemed to move slower. He couldn't wait for the next time he could see her again, even if that meant that evil was on the loose.
Because that's what they've been doing for years; fighting evil. With no process. A new villain every day, becoming harder with each new one, but defeated flawlessly by their strong team dynamic. And it kept going on and on without any lead towards the source.
Until one day, there was.
And not just any lead. No, it was the actual source coming out of hiding, ready to face the two that had been trying to find him for years. He thought he could outsmart them. That he could easily win against a couple of teenagers.
He was wrong.
Though he was a worthy adversary, they were a force to be reckoned with. No villain ever defeated the magical duo, and neither would he. Even if he was darkness itself. But so was the black cat. There were so many differences between them, he couldn't even count. Or so he thought. It turned out the only difference they actually had was how they used their power. They basically shared the same blood.
Betrayed by his own family, by his own father. "It was all for him," he had said. "To bring her back."
And worst of all, he didn't know. His father's secret was exposed, his powers taken away, his very being under lock and key, but after that, life went on. No one knew who Ladybug and Chat Noir were, still. They defeated him without having to reveal themselves, not even to each other, until this very day. So his father didn't know how much he had truly hurt him. And he would never know.
His curiosity made him learn so much. Secrets were revealed to him, stories from the past had risen up again after many years. His father seemed like the villain, he couldn't blame anybody for thinking that, but he knew what the real story was. He was going to fix it. It only took some time and planning.
A battle was raging inside his head. He knew this wouldn't end well, but there was nothing he could do to stop it. He was going down, deeper and deeper. And he would hurt others in the process if he wouldn't do something, soon. He might want to put his plan into action, but he didn't want to hurt anybody who was innocent, especially not her. He had to further the distance between she had already created.
It wasn't supposed to be like this.
Adrien was obviously affected by the revelation of what his father was. The hungry media couldn't get enough of him, especially when he was a celebrity in despair. They didn't care about the pain he was surely going through. Well, they did care, but only because they could use it for their own benefit.
Chat Noir on the other hand, shouldn't be affected by it. He was supposed to be delighted. The antagonist of their story gone and defeated once and for all. But no one knew about the feelings of the boy behind the mask, or the things going through his head. No one cared to ask. Only his partner.
After their battle, his attitude changed. They strolled around the city every once in a while, but only for the sake of it. It wasn't really necessary anymore. Normally, he would joke around and play, flirt with her in a way to ease the flame for her inside of him, but not scare her away.
But slowly it all dissipated. It was all gone. It was locked away with his father. He had forced it down himself and it made him feel numb. He didn't want it, but he had to.
She noticed. Asked him every day if he was okay. Gave him hugs out of nowhere and whispered to him that it was going to be all right. Without asking questions. Without having to know what was going on and waiting for him to be ready to talk about it.
He was lucky to have her, she was luck itself, but he was not. And he needed to get away from her. The pit he was falling in was going too deep and he knew that she was the last person he wanted to drag with him to the bottom. So he went outside less and less each day. Creating distance between them. And if he did go outside, he tried to avoid her. And if he did see her, he would make sure to not talk to her. And if did have to talk to her, his answers were curt.
She got the message and left him alone. For three months. Yet again, without asking questions. Because that was how she was. Always calm and understanding, even though he was on thin ice with her, he knew for sure. It made him miss her, but he couldn't. It was all working in his favor. His plan was working.
It was then that she met up with him in the night, just like their many meet ups, and the dam broke. She yelled at him. He had never experienced her like this before, and it pained his heart. He was the cause of that.
She hated how he had become. Hated how he treated her, hated how he treated himself. They were supposed to be a team. Heated tears sprung from her eyes. Though he should not care and just walk away, he couldn't. This was his Lady, someone he would give his life for, even if the fire for her was extinguished. He pulled her close to him, not sure what he could do to calm her. The only thing she wanted was for everything to turn back to normal, but that could never happen. He couldn't change anymore.
She clawed at him, her tears having fallen on his suit, desperately asking him to let go of her and to just promise her that he would be the man she fell in love with.
He gulped. That wasn't what he expected.
She loved him.
His dream had finally come true, but it couldn't be. It was too late now. The flame had died out. After all this time, he realized he should have taken the leap, but those things are always thought of afterwards. There was no chance for them anymore.
"It's too late," he had said to her, taking her wrists and making sure she could look him in the eyes. "I'm not like you anymore." He hated lying to her, but he had to. She had to get away from. He had to make her understand.
"What do you mean?" She had asked softly, a combination between a whisper and a whimper.
"There can't be heroes without a villain."
She didn't understand him. She wanted to, but she couldn't grasp the meaning of his words.
"I need to let you go," he continued. "And so do you." That was the truth. A sad one, but the truth.
"No, please."
"I don't want to hurt you."
It finally dawned on her.
There can't be heroes without a villain.
More tears streamed past her cheeks. This couldn't be. How did a dream turn into a nightmare? "You already did."
He could only answer with a nod. He felt stupid, but he didn't know what else to do. She had acknowledged his challenge.
"So," she continued, "you're just gonna play villain, now that Hawk Moth is gone? Him being locked away just gave you the crazy idea that you could do that too with your Miraculous? What would your Kwami say?"
"Don't think you can change my mind," he finally said, feeling that he should say something.
"I won't," she returned, the tears finally dry and her expression filled with determination. "But I won't let you do this. I will fight you when I have to."
He dared to show his teeth in a slight smirk. That sounded like his Lady all right. "I'm looking forward to it."
With that he left. He didn't see her for a few weeks. After that, he did. And it was never pretty.
He never wanted to fight her, but whenever he even dared to lift a finger she pounced on him. He didn't blame her, with all the lost souls with his name written on it, he didn't have a very good reputation. Both being strong contestants, their battles were rough. Her Miraculous Cure didn't work unless something was damaged by Miraculous magic, namely his Cataclysm or her Lucky Charm, so their environment and most importantly, themselves, ended up with big wounds.
Those were the first few weeks of his new life. Well, one of them. He was more than one person, had more than one life. He had gone rogue in one, in the other he lived in a new house, monitored by people who were not his family.
Then again, he didn't have anybody left anymore.
Though there was always one by his side. He was never sure if he liked it or not.
Adrien went back to school, having spent a long time again being homeschooled for obvious reasons, but he missed real school. Missed his friends. They were the only source of happiness he had left, he believed. Going back to school hadn't gone like he wanted to though. People were afraid of him, even his own old classmates and friends. Or maybe they weren't afraid, but everybody just acted differently around him, odd. He didn't like it one bit. His used-to-be-best friend, Nino, was nice enough to him still, but he could see the look in his eyes. The spark of their friendship was gone.
Well then. The decision was easily made.
If nobody wanted him, he wanted nobody.
He didn't bother to try to make conversation or to act civil to anyone anymore. They didn't care anyway, right? Chloé disapproved of his behavior, but there wasn't much she could do about it. So she cut the ties. Adrien wasn't someone anymore she wanted to put effort in.
"So be it," he told himself.
No one wanted to stay by his side. During classes, he sat alone. During lunch, he sat alone.
Until one day, he didn't.
Ah. Sweet, sweet Marinette.
To his surprise, dark hair sat down on the right of him. She stared at her lunch and took a bite of her apple. Then, she turned to him and gave him the darkest glare she could muster.
He never expected Marinette Dupain-Cheng to look angry at him. Chloé, sure, the two shared a raging war for years, but him? She was shy around him, had always been. She was an angel. Whatever grudge could she hold against him? Yes, nobody liked to be around him anymore and there sure were lot of people who considered hating him, but Marinette wasn't one of them in his opinion. He expected her to at the most be scared of him.
Then again, people changed. He did, and so did she probably.
At least, her looks had changed. She had grown a lot over the years since he had met her. She had turned from a shy, sweet girl into a proud young lady. Woman-like features caressed her body, but still having that childish gleam in her eyes. It was so… Marinette.
"I hate you," she said.
Those were words that were never spoken to him by anyone, though he could name a few who would feel the same way. Though, he never knew she was one of those people. And frankly, he didn't want her to be. Which was odd, because he shouldn't care, right?
"Okay." He didn't know what else to say.
"I had the biggest crush on you," she admitted.
Oh. Past tense.
"But I thought you were too far out of my reach. That I wasn't good enough for you. So I let go, and it was hard, but it was the best thing I've ever done because then I could finally see who I really cared about. Sadly, that didn't work out either. Guess that's just my luck." There was a certain sadness in her voice and eyes, like an old memory invaded her mind for a second. He didn't know where she was going with this, but for some reason he was captivated by her words and just had to listen. "When I heard you were coming back to school, I was thrilled. Not because of my feelings or anything, I had long given up on that, but because I was just excited to see you again. To talk to you and see you smile. Because I never gave myself the chance to do so all those years ago. Maybe I could finally give myself the chance to be your friend."
She was obviously upset and he wanted to comfort her, but he didn't know what to do. Touching her didn't seem appropriate, but he didn't know what words to speak.
"You were my friend," he countered after a while.
She shook her head. "I could barely talk to you. I knew a lot about you; collected everything that had your name on it, had your face all over my room, knew your schedule by heart… there is probably a lot more, but that's not the point. I thought I knew you. I thought that I liked this boy so much because of what a great person he was. But I never really knew you. How can you be so obsessed with a guy you barely know?"
Adrien needed some time to process her words. She wasn't kidding when she said she had a crush on him, crush might even be an understatement. This was a clear infatuation. And he never noticed a thing. Not that it would have mattered, because nothing good would have come out of it. She was right. With how she had explained it, he understood what she meant. She had fallen in love with him, but with the wrong him. The not-real him. And it had pained her. Nothing he could do about it now, but he felt like he should in some way make it up to her. He broke her heart. He might not be the person he used to be, but he still had some sense of compassion. It was his job from now on to glue the pieces of her heart back together. If only she would give him the chance. But surely, she would not. She hated him, she had said it herself.
It was a dangerous road. As much as he wanted to help her, he had promised himself to not let anyone close, for the sake of not hurting them.
"I know you're hurt," she continued. "And I completely understand why. You need time to heal and me and everyone else wants to give you that. But please become the way you were. Please become the guy I fell in love with."
The words, familiar and nostalgic, stung like hell.
Apparently there was this girl, and he had held her heart for years until she'd given up. And now, in his moment of weakness and where he's broken, she tells him she hates him. That he needs to buckle up and make sure things go back to normal. No tears, no sugarcoating the words. Just telling the plain truth.
And it's just what he needed.
Screw distance.
He hugged her. She was taken aback by his reaction to her words, but she didn't push him away. This was the best, and maybe only, chance for both of them to heal. To help each other heal.
This was the start of their friendship.
Ever since then, they had lunch together until the end of the year, until they graduated. They'd become better friends over time. She sat with him during some classes. He would go to her place sometimes, or she would come with him. It was just them. Nobody still dared to speak a word to him. Everyone considered Marinette brave for trying to get Adrien to come out of his pit of darkness, but she didn't care what they thought of the odd pair. It was funny, really. He pushed everyone he cared about away to make sure he wouldn't pull anyone with him. And then there was this girl who dove in head first without any fear.
He loved it. Loved her.
It took him a long time to accept it, but it was as clear as day to him. This was love. At least, he thought so. He wasn't sure anymore what love really was like. It was weird to him to admit that such a feeling still existed. A new flame was burning inside of him and it was burning for her, and for her alone.
But she had given up on him a long time ago. Would she still give him a chance?
Only one way to find out.
They were in her room. They were tangled on her chaise, reading a comic together that she had bought a few days ago. She was sitting in between his legs holding the comic, his arms lazily hanging next to him. His hand slowly trailed her freckled arms, softly caressing her skin until he reached her shoulders. Her breath had hitched.
"Adrien?"
Instead of answering her, his hands moved to the side of her face, tilting her head backwards so she could look at him. He took a second to admire her beauty, the twinkle in her eyes, before dipping down. He didn't know what he should expect. He was sure she would question what he was doing and push him away. That was his number one guess.
He didn't expect her, right after they parted, to drop the object she was holding, to turn around in one swift movement, to push him down until his back was taut against the surface of the chaise, to climb on top of him and to press her lips against his with much fervor, the comic long forgotten on the floor.
Hands moved to places they shouldn't be. Hips were grinding. Nails scraping. Giggling. Shaking breaths. It was pure wetness, heat. It was a long time of pent up emotions. Unsatisfied feelings returning. And it was wrong.
They both knew that.
It wasn't love; it was need, lust, yearning for love, on either side. They secretly knew it, but it just couldn't come through in their heads. He needed her. She was the light of his life, the only one who truly got him and helped him. He didn't want to let go of that. Not like he did with the other person he'd held so dearly. After all, she had already sealed her fate. She agreed to stay with him the moment her lips had touched his for the first time.
Marinette was loved by a lot of people, not just him. But he wasn't loved and it showed. While, for instance, Alya and Nino loved to spend time with her, it always seemed Adrien's presence soured the mood. Marinette didn't let it get to her though, she would hold his hand and calm him with a soft squeeze. To show him that she, just like him, didn't care about the others. It was all about them.
People expected that, whatever they had, would end as soon as it started. In all honesty, even Marinette's parents had their doubts. Considering Adrien's… history, they weren't sure if they would be a match. Or actually, they weren't sure if Adrien would be a good influence on their daughter.
But it didn't seem to matter to them. They had each other and that was enough. For the first time, everything seemed to fall into place.
And they shared a lot of firsts together.
Their first kiss, a long time ago in her room, was needy, hot and lustful.
Their first time making love was actually quite romantic. They had grown up, but the burning need was still there. Things would easily escalate, movements too fast, wanting to be as close as they could be.
Their first time apart for a long time was because of college. It was tough for them. They studied similar things, but it took a lot of their time, time they needed to see each other. They had made sure to make up for all the time they'd lost.
Their first time being together again, they moved in with each other and got married. A perfect house for a young couple deeply in love. It had all it needed to keep the façade up. Even for themselves.
Their first time working together was at the beginning of the miraculous journey of their fashion-business company. Right now, they're as rich as they can get. Successful, renowned and one of the biggest companies in the world. All ran and monitored by the Agrestes.
They were the power couple of Paris; successful, seemingly happy together and living the best life in everybody's eyes. They kept believing in the lie that was their happy life. Everyone fell for it, even they did.
No one knew though what was really happening inside their heads.
A war was on its way.
And no one, not even they, could stop it.
And this is the start of this new story! I've been DYING to write this for so long, and now I've finally done it. Chapter 1 is already planned out and will be posted fairly soon (I hope!). So, I hope you enjoyed this little taste. Tell me what you think of it and your thoughts on what you think the story will be like! I'm curious!
