HIAF Chapter 3: The Kitnapper Part 1
Several weeks has passed since the dinner. Ladybug and Chat Noir had grown closer together, improving more and more during each and every akuma attack. Chat Noir's feelings for Ladybug blossomed, and in turn the princess grew more feelings for Prince Adrien as he 'rescued' her from the tower after each attack. Little did they know they had formed a silly love square only including two people.
In their own private time, Marinette and Alya were planning to buy their dresses a week before the ball.
Adrien awoke with a loud trumpet noise blasting full volume in his ears. Immediately springing his torso up, he cried: "I'm up!" But to his demise, the 'music' still wouldn't stop. Rolling his eyes, he ripped the blankets off his body before standing up fully, facing towards the morning call. The boy who was playing the trumpet stood there, the only thing that was moving was his fingers. A black tuxedo which was a tad to big for him loosely draped at the bottom of his torso, while the black pants under the tux looked really tight.
"Nino!" He hissed, tired of hearing the same noise over and over again.
Seeing the prince was up from his bed, he removed the instrument from his lips. "Sorry sir, just doing my job." Nino replied monotonously, as if he was a robot trying to be sarcastic.
"I don't really like it when you call me sir."
"Just doing my job-" he paused, leaning in over to Adrien for a quick moment. "-Y'know, your dad has his ears around the house 24/7! I'm not even sure if I should be trusting you or not."
The prince's tired face transformed into a humorous look. "You don't trust me, your long time bestie? I'm so offended!" He pulled a dramatic pose, placing his right hand on his forehead.
"We've only known each other for a few months, and you call me your best friend?"
"What else would you be?"
"I don't know, maybe I'm supposed to be one of the castle's butlers that your father trusted me with you?"
"I told you, you don't have to worry. Would he imprison his own son?"
"Why are you asking me that question, you know him way better than I do!"
Adrien stopped for a brief moment to think. Would his dad really imprison his own son? Acting very mysterious didn't help the prince to find what his true intentions were. He shook the depressing thought clouding his mind, and continued to chat with the butler.
"Anyway," Nino paused, trying to remember what he was going to tell the prince. "-Oh! Another breakfast buffet. When you're done cleaning yourself up, I'll meet you downstairs so we can go and eat buffet!" His stomach growled after he said that, disappearing behind the door.
Marinette rose from her bed, stretching both of her arms out. The night before, her parents had informed her that they were both leaving to an important meeting, which means she has the whole castle to herself! She looked over to Tikki, who was sleeping soundly on the silk pillow Marinette provided for her. She'd guess Tikki would be there sleeping. After all, she had woken up so early. Deciding not to disturb her, the princess opened the door to her bathroom to brush her teeth. After a few minutes, she came out of the bathroom and decided to go to the balcony to get more of the welcoming sunshine that was seeping through her curtains.
She didn't bother changing, because she's not going to get outdoors anyway. Sitting down on a wooden bench, she enjoyed the sun's welcoming warmth before opening her eyes again. From below, she could see a short girl with long red hair strolling around, not even bothering that her hair was touching the ground.
Fashion and Style these days are weird.
Shrugging, she adverted her direction to a group of kids playing together under a tree, providing them a giant shade to cool off from the sun. Looking at the tree reminded her of how green and colourful the view was.
Oh, how she loved Paris!
She took out her sketch book, and sketched out a new design she had come up with a few seconds ago, using trees and nature as her theme. This was seriously a perfect day for her and the kingdom.
No homework to be frustrated about, plenty of time to draw her designs, and most importantly: freedom. Maybe when Tikki wakes up, she can go explore the kingdom as Ladybug.
She was so happy for no reason, but she loved it. Living in Paris is awesome! Sketching on her balcony is awesome! Being dressed in her pyjamas is awe-
Suddenly, she couldn't see. Darkness flooded her eyesight, and not a single trace of light could be found. Marinette tried to blink her eyes, but no avail.
Sighing, she thought of the only conclusion on why there was darkness. She was being kidnapped.
AGAIN.
Seriously, wasn't there a better time?!
Like every single time when the darkness invaded her eyes, she would feel herself flinged across the kidnapper's shoulders as if she was nothing but a dirty potato sack. She had learned to accept it and wait for this person-no-BEAST to put her in the usual tower. After all, she can just transform into Ladybug anyway.
Wait. Tikki's not here with me. Marinette fidgeted for a bit to double check, and found out that Tikki was indeed nowhere near her.
She panicked. No Tikki means no Ladybug, which means no freedom!
...But then again there's Prince Adrien. She relaxed once again. ...Aren't I Ladybug, one of the two protectors of Paris?! What am I doing here, helpless on someone's shoulder?
Without hesitation, she kicked away the arm that was holding her before rolling away onto the pavement below her. If she'd done this before being Ladybug, she would certainly pass out from the sudden impact on the ground. For the first time in her life, she heard the kidnapper grunt. She had never heard anything more beautiful. It gave her a sense of satisfaction of finally getting some noise to push through the lips of her kidnapper.
Thanks to her pyjamas, she ran away easily, without worrying about her un-bonded legs (why weren't they tied up in the first place?) tripping over. As she ran, she lifted the bag from her face. It turned out to be brown, as she expected. gripping the bag with her firm fists, she peered back to see the captive for the first time. Only, the captive wasn't there.
Is the person invisible? Did he/she run away?
Slowing down, the princess cautiously stepped backwards, preparing for the person to jump at her any moment. "Show yourself!-" Marinette slowly held up her fists for defence. Putting her position to use, she then added: "-As the princess of Paris, I may spare you if you do so."
"I'd hate to burst your bubble, but the purr-son's you're looking for is behind you."
She'd know that pun anywhere. Was it really him?
Turning her head slowly, her suspicions had been correct. His familiar face confirmed it to be true, replacing the blurry image of him in her mind with a clear close up.
It was him.
Chat Noir.
Hanging upside-down from a thin tree branch using his legs, he smiled a playful smile towards her. She had a huge urge to punch it off his face, if it wasn't for her confusion at his presence. "You're quite feisty today, ma princesse." He then swung himself onto the grass below him, and walked slyly towards her. She backed away, step by step, following his pace. "Who are you?" She replied, eyes widened, trying to make herself look scared. "..And why are you always kidnapping me?
"Do not be afraid princess. I am Chat Noir, one of the guardians of Paris. I only wish to rescue you from harm's way." He kneeled down in an attempt to kiss her hand. Harm's way? HARM'S WAY?! How, by flinging her over his shoulders carelessly and placing her in an old abandoned tower?
Trying not to pull her hand away, Marinette tried to reason with him. Politely. "I'm sorry, but there are people called castle guards and polices."
Smirking at her sassiness, he decided to reply with a flirty remark. "But I'm sure you'd would want someone like me to rescue you instead." He proceeded to flex his muscles, but unfortunately for him, they weren't even visible beneath his thick leather suit.
Controlling her urge to laugh (especially since she's still mad at Chat Noir for ruining her morning), she tried to reply like how a princess should speak: "Thank you for your very creative way of protecting me my loyal knight, but I think I'll return home now." She noted to herself to ask him why he was so intent on rescuing her in Ladybug form, then turned to storm towards direction of Paris (the Eiffel tower was not far away from here), but was stopped by a sudden force colliding with her head. "Oof!" Falling back, she adverted her eyes towards the thing that had made her fell, but Chat Noir jumped in front of her, blocking her view. Standing up, Marinette moved herself to the side of her hero partner to see the thing she had bumped into.
But it wasn't a "thing". It was a girl, actually. The long haired girl who she had seen on her balcony half an hour ago. She was draped in a long green dress that was torn at the bottom, with matching shoes. Her red hair was sprawled on the ground, moving slightly in the wind; as if trying to fly without wings.
Sobbing, the girl tried to get out the words between her wails. "H-help m-me please!" She fell to the ground, her pale hands cupping her face.
Chat Noir bent down to hold her up before asking the girl what was wrong. The girl just stayed there, sobbing quietly for ten seconds before suddenly reaching for the hero's ring. "Chat Noir, she's trying to get your ring!" Just in the nick of time, the cat hero yanked his hand away before the girl can grab his miraculous. Noticing that she already revealed her true intentions, the Akuma plucked a strand of hair off Chat Noir's head and cackled before twirling herself in her hair and disappearing into the air.
"She's gone!" The hero yelped, covering the finger that held his ring. His green orbs whisked around frantically, cautious of the girl that might appear suddenly and grab his ring. "Ladybug's never late! Maybe there's another Akuma attack in the other part of Paris, but I really need her right now!" Taking this chance and deciding to let the anger melt away, the princess decided to ask him a question she could never ask in her alter ego form. "Why do you need Ladybug this much? I thought you could take Paris on your own before." Instantly, his eyes sparkled like the majestic night sky of Paris.
"I'm sort of new on this hero business, and I it's not like I can handle this alone… Before she came, I was nearly on a verge of quitting being a hero. Ladybug is just so courageous and selfless, she's the reason I continued." He paused, looking at Marinette's surprised face. "By the way... I'll let you on a little secret here, I have the full collection of the Ladybug doll series!" Marinette smirked and hid it, knowing that Chat Noir confessed his secret to Ladybug in a different form. She's only been in the team for weeks, how popular WAS ladybug?
"No silly, I meant why do you depend on her when you already took a few of Akumas on your own before her?"
"Let's just say she handled them gentler than I did."
"Are you implying that you killed them?"
"No, no, no. I used my cataclysm on them."
"That's the same thing! They were innocent butterflies!"
"I only destroyed the darkness. But I accidentally killed one before."
She gave him a small frown.
Chat Noir then added, "That was only the first time I dealt with one before, and it was a risk I had to take. You know how they multiply by themselves in their dark form."
Marinette thought for a moment and nodded. There really was no other way to get rid of the darkness without Ladybug. Makes her wonder why the Ladybug Miraculous wasn't handed to a person better than her, with this much power.
"Speaking of multiplying, I've got something to add." He winked sat her, and continued to speak. "I believe I told you I need to keep you out of harm's way, so I am very sorry for this." In a flash, he scooped her up and this time held her right above his head as he ran. Marinette didn't move out of shock for a few seconds, before squirming and kicking. All she could manage to punch was the air. She HAD to go back to the castle again to Tikki! If she doesn't, she might as well give up her life of heroism when she was this useless while having a miraculous under her care.
After feeling the wind in her hair for one minute, she could feel it stop as Chat Noir placed her in the castle window. "Wait! Please! I have to go back t-"
"There! Snug as a (lady)bug in a rug."
Before Marinette could say anything else, he disappeared out the window into the sky. "ARRGHHH!" she cried out, gripping onto the window sills tightly in frustration.
Yawning and stretching her little arms out, Tikki awoke from a slumber on her silk bed. She soaked in the warmth of the thin ribbons of sunlight travelling through the window curtains, and rested there for a moment, enjoying the sensation. Her big doll eyes scanned across the room, expecting Marinette to be asleep in her bed, if not at least in the room. Where could she be?
"Marinette?" She asked towards the air. After no reply, she assumed with her positive thinking that Marinette had gone for a walk around the castle grounds. Before going to search through room by room, she saw the balcony doors were wide open. Marinette usually closed them when she was done going onto the balcony. Panic poured into Tikki's system as she frantically flew in the balcony. No sign of Marinette. All she could see was a sketchbook and a pen scattered on the ground, with an unfinished drawing of Paris.
She had been kidnapped. Tikki felt guilt rise up onto her for allowing something like this to happen. She shouldn't have eaten so much cookies the day before. But they were so good…. Especially when it's made by the king and queen themselves… She really did admire them baking it by themselves instead of asking their personal chefs to do so.
Shaking her head as if trying to get rid of these thoughts, she flew towards the direction where her mind is set, her wings fluttering faster than usual. Back to the place they first met.
Marinette sighed, still not changing her position since Chat Noir placed her here. She looked out the window and let out another sigh once more, as if it was a dark and gloomy day instead of a bright and sunny one. As she's doing this, she was busy riding the train of thought.
Did Chat Noir really intended to protect her from danger? It does make sense, because it just so happens there's always an 'Akuma Attack' on the newspaper headline that coincidentally happens every time she gets kidnapped. Even so, why would he even want to rescue only her? There's plenty of princesses that lives near the town. What's the specific reason? She searched through every single possibility in her mind, and in the end, she concluded that her parents hired him to protect her. Through the method of kidnapping. If that were true, her parents had a lot of explaining to do.
"Marinette!" a sweet voice rang in her ear.
The princess turned around, and as soon as she saw it source of the voice, her lips curled up joyfully, her eyes shimmering like the moon's reflection in a river.
"Tikki!" She squealed, rushing over to the tired Kwami. "Do you need any food?"
After huffing and gasping a few times, Tikki smiled, saying she's alright. "Hurry, we need to transform! There's an Akuma near the castle grounds, and we need Ladybug to purify it!" Smiling at Tikki's eagerness, Marinette immediately shouted: "Tikki, spots on!" The familiar transforming sequence began, and once it's done Ladybug leaped out the window, enjoying the smell of freedom as she jumped.
Chat Noir looked around cautiously as he slowly walked around. He felt guilty for leaving the Princess stuck in the tower, but that was the only way to keep her safe. He had guessed the Akuma had came from the direction of the Eiffel tower, as that was where Marinette had walked towards before bumping into the girl. He then smirked, thinking of the fact that being in Chat Noir's form had revealed another side of the princess to him. She was more confident and sassy than she was when he's in his normal prince form. She reminded him of Ladybug, they were so similar. Could they be sisters?! Maybe. He added it to his collection of Ladybug theories. Perhaps when they are closer the heroine could tell him.
He walked a little more before jumping on a tree and sat there to think. He then remembered that the Akuma had plucked a strand of hair off of him. What was that for? Shivering, he thought of many possibilities the Akuma could do with his hair, including the theory on how she could turn it into a voodoo doll. He had to stop her! If only Ladybug was here. He could search one direction while Ladybug went the other way.
"Looking for me?"
Immediately, Chat Noir's entire guard was up. He faced towards the ground where the Akuma stood. "Y'know, I must tell you. Sitting in a tree doesn't really do the job of finding someone does it?"
"But it did lead you to me."
"Did it? Then you're gonna regret this." She thrusted her left arm in the air, and between her fingers it seemed she was clutching a strand of blond hair. his hair. Chat Noir jumped down on instinct, and tried to hit her hand that was holding his hair with his staff. She pulled her arm away to dodge. Missed. "I was gonna go easy on you, but you made me quite angry. Too bad!" She thrusted her arm out again. He gulped, hoping what she is about to do wasn't as bad as he thinks it is. Even so, he was curious. What was she going to do with just a strand of hair?
A few seconds passed. Nothing. Was she just bluffing? Chat Noir looked around to see if anything was different. Suddenly, he felt tingles all over his scalp, and his head felt heavier and heavier as it tingled. Something soft wrapped around his arm and body, bonding them together. He felt it wrap tighter and tighter as he struggled. Looking down, he discovered it was his own hair doing this.
"My bad hair day is over as soon as I get everyone's hair worse than mines!" She opened her mouth to laugh again, but was interrupted by a kick in her back.
"Sorry I'm late."
Ladybug glared at the Akuma now on the floor trying to get up. Filled with joy, Chat Noir exclaimed, "Ladybug!" The red and black polka dotted heroine averted her gaze from the Akuma to Chat Noir. she smiled when she saw his face, but the corners of her mouth went back down when she saw the situation he was in. "Looks like someone's having a bad hair day." she chuckled, walking towards him to help. "Haha. Can you at least get me out of this hairy situation?"
Ladybug smiled at his joke. "Gladly."
She cut him loose through a hard shot with her arrow, but when she turned around the Akuma was gone. The two heroes gave a look towards each other, and only one word slipped out of their mouths.
"Oops."
Thanks for reading! There's a second part to this chapter because I realized it would be more than the word limit I usually put. Don't worry, I'll post the next chapter VERY soon. I know the exact story on what I'm going to write in this story, so I will update more quicker! I'm so sorry for the one year hiatus, I always hated it when fan fiction writers just don't finish their unfinished piece of works, so I'm not planning on doing that any time soon. I'll try my best to finish the whole story!
See you later!
