This is a gift to ShadowLordScorpio on tumblr. They won my art giveaway over the summer, and asked for more Chat Blanc related things.
This is related to my Floofy-eared Chat Blanc AU, and should be considered the first installment in the series of oneshots.
Lightning split the sky, the brief flicker of light spilling across an unconscious woman.
It was the rolling crackle of thunder off in the distance that roused Marinette into consciousness.
The musty stench of age and neglect stung her nose before her eyes could even begin adjusting to the dim light. But she knew right away that she wasn't someplace familiar.
Marinette recognized the plush texture of expensive blankets and a soft bed, but the space around her felt empty, her bleary eyes failing to pick out any shapes in the darkness. No furniture, just empty floor and walls.
Lightning spilled light into the room again cutting a terrifying silhouette against the windows. At first she thought it was Chat Noir hunched over, but there was something different. The edges of his figure looked pale... bleached like bone.
Then everything fell into darkness again but she could still make out his shape now that she knew he was there.
"Chat...?" Marinette tried to sit up and felt her head surge with dizzying pain. "Where am I?" She tried to recall memories, anything to help make sense of her current surroundings.
At the sound of her voice the Chat-like figure turned to look at her. But his eyes were all wrong. Blazing magenta cut through the darkness instead of the pleasant toxic green she was accustomed to.
Marinette saw him pull something away from his mouth and hiss, white fangs glinting dangerously, and suddenly the fetid stench of rotting cheese overpowered the general aroma of dust and neglect.
Rotting cheese. Camembert.
Pain like a pounding hammer rippled through the back of her head, followed by memories. Memories of Chat's disappearance, a worried Ladybug searching for him in the dead of night for weeks, sightings and rumors of a bleached white Chat seen all across Paris. Marinette cleaning out her cheese reserves when Chat failed to visit her for two months straight. Angrily taking the spoiled cheese to the garbage can behind her parent's bakery... the smell had been so overpowering.
Those magenta eyes suddenly brought her back. Back to that alley, back to the creature who ambushed her in the darkness. So scared she stumbled and lost her footing... everything after was blackness.
Marinette reached up and touched the spot on the back of her head and hissed when pain lanced from a tender lump there.
"Chat..." she began again, in her silence he seemed to have returned to scarfing the foul smelling thing in his hands. "Where have you been?"
Magenta eyes fixed on her again, their demonic glow studying her from across the room.
A warm buzzing crawled from the inside of Marinette's jacket to the back of her collar.
"Something isn't right Marinette," Tikki whispered from the back of her neck. "That is Chat. I know because I still feel Plagg. But... he's different. His aura is tainted."
The Chat figure finished licking the rotten smelling substance from his fingers and pitched a bag off to the side. The dim light of the window illuminated just enough for Marinette to recognize it. It was the bag the spoiled cheese had been in when she went to toss it.
"You ate all that spoiled cheese? But you hate cheese." She'd purchased it for his Kwami to eat and recharge whenever he came by to visit her. Chat Noir himself refused to even smell the stuff.
Chat moved from his spot by the window, slinking on all fours towards her, those demonic eyes never blinking.
A sudden wave of fear crawled up her spine making her limbs feel heavy like lead and her blood run cold.
He moved closer, reaching the edge of the bed and continuing to close in on her.
Her breath hitched when Chat crawled over the blankets until he was practically on top of her. His breathing was audible as if he were drawing sharp breaths through his nose, and it took him burying his nose in her hair to realize he was smelling her.
The temptation to slug him was almost unbearable.
This waaay overstepped their boundaries as mere friends, and it was even pushing it a little when he did it to Ladybug. Which she was not right now.
"What the hell is wrong with you?"
"Marinette~," he suddenly purred. But this wasn't the cheerful greeting she was accustomed to; his tone sounded sick and low, almost sinister. "My little friend from the bakery. You stink of... bread."
Well he wasn't wrong. She still lived with her parents even though she was twenty. To make ends meet she worked mornings in the bakery—which would definitely contribute to her smelling like baked goods. Her afternoons were spent running her online custom clothing store.
He pulled away from her and, despite the implication that she smelled bad, licked his lips like he was starving. There was a change in his expression, a sense of lucidity in his eyes that hadn't been there before.
"What happened to you?" She pressed again more firmly.
"Why?" He sneered, finally moving away from her to settle back on his heels, crouched on the edge of the bed. "Are you afraid of me? Everyone else is." He bared his teeth for emphasis and she took a sharp inhale when light reflected off rows of sharp fangs.
"Why are you all white?"
Chat suddenly let out a mocking laugh, "What's the matter? Do you only take your Chats the way you take your coffee?"
"Quit evading all my questions!"
Chat sniffed and stood up from the bed, "If I tell you, you might sic Ladybug after me. I know you're friends with that Ladyblogger after all."
"Hawkmoth akumatized you." She'd had the inkling suspicion the moment she woke up and found him in bleached white leather, but had hoped it wasn't true. His aversion to Ladybug only confirmed her suspicion.
"Au contraire, I akumatized myself."
"And what difference does that make?"
He glared down his nose, a superior expression etched along his features. "It means I am not that pathetic man's pawn."
As if Hawkmoth had been listening in (and perhaps he was) the glowing outline of a moth burned to life in front of Chat's eyes, and he suddenly screamed.
Marinette watched in horror as Chat hit the ground, and began writhing along the floor. She felt her heart clench at his cries of agony, and even when she clapped her hands over her ears they seemed to penetrate right through her.
Chat's claws gouged deep lacerations into the wooden floors, ripping up bits of splinters, while his boots kicked up dirt and dust. He writhed and struggled on the ground as if someone were torturing him, back arching, tail lashing, teeth gnashing, his pupils blown wide, but focused on absolutely nothing. The moth pattern in front of his face burned even brighter with a cruel intensity.
"No!" Chat snarled into the floor, dragging his canines over the boards. "Nononono—!" His frantic denial dissolved into an unintelligible scream of pain, and he rolled along the ground akin to a contortionist, limbs wildly swinging and slashing anything within reach of his claws. (Which given the barren state of the room, fortunately happened to be more floor.)
Marinette clamped her eyes shut, trying to shut out the horrible image before her. She couldn't watch this. She couldn't watch her partner suffer like this, akumatized or not.
"Tikki what do I do? He needs help!"
The Kwami pressed hot paws to the back of her neck, but it was far from comforting. "I don't know Marinette. Hawkmoth appears to be hurting him, trying to make him submit. But Chat's fighting it."
"And we cant stop this?" Marinette implored.
"He either has to give in, or fight passed it until Hawkmoth gives up."
The torture scene before them felt as though it played out for hours, despite only going on for a few minutes. The sound of Chat's agony echoed through the building and Marinette's head, until she was sure she'd be hearing his screams in her sleep. His claws were digging against the wood so savagely it was a wonder he didn't rip a whole in the floor and fall through.
"Look Marinette!" Tikki cried, slapping her paw against her chosen's neck to get her attention.
Marinette opened her eyes to find the glowing butterfly pattern flickering in strength. It blinked like an old neon light before flickering out completely, leaving Chat to pant against the floor in exhaustion.
"Perhaps it's just as taxing on Hawkmoth to inflict pain on his victims like that," Tikki pondered next to her ear.
With the absence of the glowing butterfly, the pain appeared to recede, and Chat's body went limp. His breaths were labored, rattling in and out of his lungs with effort, and saliva bubbled from the corner of his mouth.
He looked like a wounded animal.
Marinette hesitated for only a moment before surging forward and dropping to his side.
"Chat! Are you alright?" She placed a hand on his shoulder, but he didn't respond. "Oh god, please be alright." Her fingers traced over his ribs, before touching his side.
A shudder wracked his body.
Chat began wheezing like something was lodged in his throat. At first Marinette thought he was choking, until realizing it was akin to a cat coughing up a hairball. Seconds later he coughed an akuma onto the floor amid a puddle of saliva and iridescent purple butterfly scales.
The akuma attempted to take flight, clearly disoriented and flailing in the puddle of drool.
"Tikki, I'm not transformed!"
The Kwami leapt into action, diving at the butterfly before it could escape.
"You owe me for this, Marinette," she grumbled, lifting the slimy akuma to her mouth before adding, "Big time."
Marinette watched as her Kwami ate the akuma. Her mouth curled into a look of horror and disgust.
"I'm purifying it," Tikki explained in a matter-of-fact tone. "I can do that."
A moment later she burped out a completely white butterfly. They both watched it flutter towards the nearest exit.
Kwami and Chosen returned their attention to Chat to find he had passed out on the floor. His suit still shown as white as the moon.
"I don't understand," started Marinette, "Shouldn't that have fixed him?"
Tikki moved to hover next to his face, and placed a paw against his cheek. "Not if he's eaten more than just the one. Don't you think it's odd that we've hardly seen any akumas at all these past two months?"
"You son-of-a-bi—atch of cookies," Marinette swore at the unconscious man.
"Look on the bright side, Marinette. At least we've finally found him. And look how cute he is!" Tikki made a circle and grabbed the tip of Chat's ear between her paws. "He's got big fluffy ears." She giggled and let go before zooming down near his backside and lifting something long and furry off the floor. "And a big soft kitty tail!"
Marinette scooted closer, and pulled Chat's head into her lap for closer inspection.
Sure enough, right where his human ears should have been were two large and floofy cat-like ears. Complete with a couple of piercings on the left one.
"Just because he's cute now doesn't mean I'm going to forgive the hell he's put me through." She pushed the long blonde bangs away from his forehead, noting how his hair was damp with sweat. "I've been worried sick about you," she scolded his unconscious face.
"But look at that face." Tikki returned to tap him gently on the nose. "He looks so helpless."
Marinette cocked her head to the side, Maybe a little. In his unconscious state his features had smoothed out and she could see the gentleness of Chat Noir again. "So how do we make him cough up the rest of the akumas?"
Tikki moved down his chest, illuminating parts of him with the pink glow from her own body, She stopped to touch one of his over-sized lapels and giggled. "I suppose we'll just have to try trial-and-error."
I'll be posting more oneshots and stories for this AU. Let me know if you enjoyed this and would like to see more.