Chapter 7: Violet
A/N: Haha, whoops it's been a month, and just a wee bit more swearing I'm sorry.
Adrien, Alya, and Nino had come to the decision that their talking with Marinette would be minimal until they were comfortable enough to start engaging with her actively again. Marinette felt it was fair punishment for what she had done, though that didn't mean it didn't hurt. Nino and Alya only gave her the most bare words and exchanges, and Adrien straight up just kept silent with her. She still spent time with them, but they talked amongst each other more than they talked with her. It felt terrible, being isolated from her loved ones, but she deserved it, so she took her punishment without complaint.
She would listen as they hung out together and learned a fantastic amount of information about each other over the next couple of days. She assessed of all the things she already knew about her soulmates, and took note of all of the things she was learning about them for the first time, mostly just Adrien, there was only so much information you could exchange as superheroes.
Hawkmoth had been silent for the past couple of days, there had been no Akuma attacks and no suspicious activity at all. Which Marinette was glad for, she knew that Adrien needed some distance from her and having to act as their superhero personas and pretend that everything was fine would be hard for both of them. But it was also nerve wracking, at any moment an akuma or something else could come and hurt any one of her soulmates. The whole issue left her on edge.
Today their class was on their own, discussing fears in order to take ideas and build their script for the eventual movie they would create and submit for a local competition. Many student's voiced very physical things, snakes, spiders, heights and the sort. Marinette found Alya's fear particularly interesting, the fear of people stopping her for pursuing what she wanted to do, and leading her down an unhappy lifestyle. She knew this fear was related to the constant barrage of shame many of the professional reporters gave her for reporting on Ladybug. Many of them called her an amateur and said that she should leave the reporting to the professionals, but she and Alya knew the other reporters were bothered by the obvious favoritism Ladybug showed towards her.
When the fear question landed on Marinette, she thought of saying something simple, something physical like the other students, but before she knew it, all of the truth of her fears came tumbling out to the entire class.
"I fear losing my loved ones. I fear that they may get hurt and that it would be my fault. And even if I were to try and do anything to help them, to save them, I wouldn't be able to, not on my own. It would be futile because I can't do anything right on my own. I fear that my destiny to fail will last the rest of my life, hurt everyone around me, and leave me to live alone," She paused, realizing she was staring at her desk intently, her voice had been low but upon looking up at the class she saw that everyone was watching her intently for her depressing little speech.
She felt shy under their gazes but refused to turn away and risk having to look into any of her soulmate's eyes.
"Next please," She mumbled looking back down at her desk. A hand came from her left to barely rest on her shoulder, she dared a glance at Alya from the edge of her eye.
Alya gave her a soft sympathetic smile that made Marinette feel warm as it was a huge step in the right direction for her to be on good terms with her soulmates again, and it made her immensely happy. She had figured Alya and Nino would be more lenient for they knew her much longer and had created a strong bond between the three of them, but Adrien would take more time, she thought looking at the back of his head as Alya's hand returned to her side.
The students were back to listing their fears, delving a bit deeper into themselves after Marinette spilled her guts to the class. When they reached Myléne the fears became lighter again as she began listing her own, monsters, snakes, creepy shadows, mysterious noises, the list when on and on and on. It seemed almost ridiculous the length of things Myléne had continued listing, until she eventually explained her little song she sang in order to calm down and not be too afraid. Chloé immediately took it upon herself to make fun of Mylene's long, long list.
"How could you be afraid of ALL of that? If I make a loud noise will you run like a rabbit?" Chloé began taunting, Myléne's head bowed in shame at her over sharing.
Someone tried to make Chloé stop but she got up from her seat and began to prowl around. Myléne was stiff and everyone in the class watched Chloé closely, unsure of what she was going to do next.
"So say I was a wolf," Chloé curled her lips as she spoke low and paced "Not a stinky wolf," She sneered at Myléne, who curled more into herself looking down and away from Chloé, "I'm hungry and I'm snarling and ugly, and what do I see but an UGLY LITTLE GIRL TO EAT!" Chloé shouted as she grabbed Myléne's shoulders from behind.
Myléne jumped at the contact and screamed, Ivan stood up from his spot and yelled at Chloé on behalf of his soulmate. She looked up at him unafraid as Myléne wrenched herself out of Chloé's hands and went running out the door. There was complete silence from the class for a moment before Ivan huffed loudly at Chloé and went stomping after Myléne.
Everyone in the class began booing and shouting at Chloé for her mean act, she simply shrugged and sauntered over to her seat once again.
"And tell us Chloé, what are you afraid of?" Nino growled harshly, his pen tapping in his hand at the notes he had been taking from everyone for the movie, Marinette briefly caught sight of a star next to his notes on what she said.
Chloé frowned at the question, having probably been avoiding it this whole time, as she had yet to reveal her fears. She contemplated her answer in a performance like manner, "I fear a bad hair day, and my daddy losing the vote, but neither of those are ever going to happen," She purred with a flip of her hair, "That, and nothing else."
Everyone was about to retort Chloe's statement, but a roar called out from the hallways, rattling the windows. There was silence as each student looked among each other in fear and question.
"What was that?" Rose whispered from her seat where she was grasping Juleka.
"Something frightening," Sabrina whimpered in response.
"Something ugly," Chloé hissed from where she was curled into her seat, her hands gripped the back of her seat so hard that her knuckles blanched, "Someone should go check it out."
"Well since you're afraid of only the two things that you mentioned, and nothing else, Chloé, why don't you go and investigate the noise?" Marinette challenged, sure that Chloé would make up an excuse as to why she couldn't go so that Marinette could take her place and hopefully try and handle it on her own as Ladybug, no need to get Adrien involved.
"Fine! But I'm taking Sabrina and Kim with me, because it could possibly be dangerous, NOT because I'm scared!" Chloé retorted while Sabrina and Kim both nervously stood up to join her.
Shit. Chloe was prideful in the worst kind of way. Marinette cursed herself as Alix and Max began to yell about Kim's sudden involvement, he calmed his soulmate's outbursts and reassured them they he would be fine before trailing after Chloé and Sabrina.
Everyone was quiet and looking towards the door in anticipation while Marinette racked her brain for some way to leave on her own and figure out what was actually out there. She heard quiet murmurs from her classmates.
"Maybe we should go and get them?" "What about Ivan and Myléne?" "I hope Kim's okay."
A scream cut through the building and everyone jumped up.
"Alright everyone! Out of the room! We're figuring this shit out and we're doing it together!" Alya suddenly shouted, one foot on her desk as she pointed to the door.
There was a pause as everyone remaining considered her command. Nino and Adrien stood up right away and began to move to the door, Marinette quickly followed after them while Alya stood poised still looking over their classmates, one by one they gradually stood up and made their way out of the room. There was a gasp as they all followed behind Nino and Adrien and saw a strange goo dripping down the wall in a mess of splatters. What was worse was the layer of goo that covered the roof and the door opening.
"There's no way out!" Was screamed, and the students huddled closer together.
Alya made her way to the front of the group, she was about to say something to them when another roar was let out, to their left they saw it, a strange purple monster slinking its way across the wall and into an empty classroom.
Various cries of "What is that?" Were let out and Alya leaned in close to Adrien, Nino, and Marinette behind them.
"An akuma," Alya murmured to them, "We need to split up so you two can transform and handle this mess," Marinette tried to hold back her grimace at having to make Adrien interact with her before he was ready, he most certainly wasn't now.
Marinette took a big gulp before leaning back from their little huddle and shouting out to everyone in class, "We need to find Myléne, Ivan, Kim, Sabrina, and even Chloé. We'll do better if we split up into two groups and spread out," There were looks shared among those who remained of the students, unsure of her request even with Alya, Nino, and Adrien grouping around her, but Alix and Max quickly militarized and voiced their affirmations at the plan.
Marinette, Adrien, Alya, and Nino grouped up and headed off to one end of the building while Rose, Juleka, and Nathaniel followed after Alix and Max in the opposite direction, eager to find their missing soulmate.
They entered the silent library and did a quick once over to see if anyone happened to be there, it was empty. Adrien let out a sigh.
"Okay, I'm going to transform and quickly get rid of this akuma. Luckily it's got a case of steal-itis so you can pretend that I was taken by the akuma," Adrien informed, though it made Marinette nervous how he said it like he would take care of the akuma on his own. Plagg zipped out from his pocket while Tikki popped out of Marinette's purse.
"Roger that!" Nino replied. No one said anything about Adrien facing the Akuma alone, because Alya and Nino knew he wouldn't be alone, but Marinette internally fretted about how he would act.
He and Alya stood where they were in front of the door, everyone was waiting, Adrien was confused.
"Aren't you going to go be lookout for the transformation?" Adrien finally asked what was on his and Marinette's mind.
"Nuh-uh. I want to see what your transformation looks like first hand," Alya answered indignantly, Nino nodded eagerly in agreement.
"Oh," Adrien looked shy at the statement, as did Marinette, though it brought the question of "What did Adrien's transformation look like" to the front of her mind.
She shook the thought from her head and called out for Tikki to transform her, hearing Adrien do the same shortly after her. The power and hum of the miraculous magic washed over Marinette and she opened her eyes to barely catch the end of Adrien's transformation.
"That was so cool!" Alya and Nino cheered.
"Do you always strike a pose at the end? What does that feel like?" The questions suddenly started.
"Focus!" Chat hissed out, he didn't look at her, "Wait a bit to join up with the group after me, stay together," He instructed giving Alya and Nino a quick kiss before peeking his head out the door.
Chat and Ladybug slipped out of the library and made their way to the open area of the school building, both of them said nothing as Ladybug followed after Chat. He was ignoring her, it wasn't good, but it could be worse, Marinette reassured herself. With a leap they landed in the middle of the floor level and were about to run in the direction that the other group headed off to when a scream was heard. Nathaniel, Max and Alix with Rose in tow went rushing out of a room and down the stairs.
"Wait! Wait, Juleka! It got Juleka!" Rose cried out as Alix dragged her along.
"Ladybug! Chat Noir!" Max cheered out as their group all skidded to a stop in front of Ladybug and Chat Noir.
"The akuma's up there?" Ladybug asked pointing in the direction they had just come from.
"Yes and it got my dear Juleka, please-" Rose was cut off as Chat Noir made a leap in the direction the students came from.
"Wait Chat! We don't know-" She realized he wasn't listening to her, and with a small huff went rushing off after him.
With a crash they both entered the room covered in the now grey appearing goo. The akuma was nowhere to be found.
"Chat we can't just go barreling after the akuma, we don't know its abilities or why it's taking people," But he wasn't listening, he left the room passing by her without exchanging a word or a glance in her direction.
Fine. They could do this without interacting. They were superheroes they could handle it.
They rushed down to the rest of the students standing in the middle of the building common room.
"Tell us everything that happened in there," Ladybug commanded.
"We were looking for the akuma, it came out of nowhere and charged after us, we screamed and it just got bigger!" Nathaniel informed between nervous breaths.
"But Juleka didn't scream because she thought the monster was cool, and it got a bit smaller? But then it took her! The monster took Juleka!" Rose finished with a cry.
"Please stay calm," Chat said resting a hand on her shoulder.
Ladybug thought over what they said, the akuma got bigger when they screamed but smaller when Juleka, who loves all things frightening, thought that was cool. She frowned thinking, they were talking about fear in class, it was very likely that the Akuma was one of their class mates, and had abilities tied to fear. But who? Myléne or Ivan most likely, but in their brief glimpses she didn't see any object that could contain hawkmoth's actual akuma.
Ladybug glanced at Chat, hoping he was thinking something similar as he wouldn't listen or talk with her if she tried to inform him. But he was looking past her, where Alya and Nino were shouting and running towards them.
"Help! The akuma! The akuma, it got Adrien and Marinette!" They shouted skirting to a stop in front of everyone and acting out of breath and frightened.
"Chat Noir, Ladybug!" Nino shouted to them, "You're here! How did you get here?"
"We need your help!" Alya interrupted him, not so subtly giving Nino a look that told him not to ask that question, "The akuma, it got Adrien and Marinette!"
"Our soulmates," Nino quickly added.
"Right! Our soulmates," Alya affirmed.
Ladybug wanted to laugh, she knew they were acting, and they were bad at it. It was rather adorable watching them stumble over their words and story.
"Don't worry the akuma will be handled," Chat reassured also holding back his amusement, Ladybug noticed.
They calmed down, though quicker than they should have considering two of their soulmates had just been "stolen". No one had time to think over Alya and Nino's claims as the akuma roared again from next to the door to the basement.
They froze and watched as the akuma charged after their group, everyone looked to scatter but Ladybug and Chat leapt before them and blocked the akuma from getting anyone. It veered right hard and leapt up to the next level, shooting out a stream of goo that nailed Chat as he chased after it. It hardened immediately on contact, leaving him stuck to the floor. Ladybug was about to help him out of it but he broke himself free with his baton before she could get near him. He quickly sent her a hard look that told her everything, don't, and she shied away.
The akuma made its way to the students effectively scattering them. Ladybug saw how everyone's panic made the akuma even bigger, confirming her suspicions to the akuma being related to fear.
Nathaniel had been cut off from everyone in their scattering, Ladybug and Chat Noir had both rushed forward to keep the akuma from getting him, but they smashed into each other. Hard and heavy they both fell to the ground with a loud thud and Ladybug felt her head spin for a moment. Nathaniel yelled and she caught sight briefly of the akuma spitting its terrible goo all over him and wrapping him in a cocoon. She and Chat tried to untangle themselves quickly but the akuma was too fast, it crawled across the celling of goo to effectively get away from Ladybug and Chat and dropped down into the basement door at the other end of the building.
Everyone left was silent as the door smashed behind the akuma, shocked by how badly Ladybug and Chat Noir had just done in getting the akuma.
"What the hell was that?" Alix yelled out.
Ladybug bowed her head slightly but Chat simply said, "We all need to head down to the basement after it. We need to stick together, so that it can't pluck us off one by one."
More nervous looks were shared, even by Alya and Nino, before they all gathered together and followed Chat to the basement door. Ladybug followed beside and slightly behind him, silence between them as he opened the door to the eerie basement hall way. The students were aware that something was wrong with the super heroes they looked up to. No one said anything to the other, and Ladybug caught notice how everyone followed behind them a bit further than what would have been preferable for their protection. Alya and Nino were in the back of the group, and it couldn't help but bother Ladybug.
Silence, as the walls of the hallway became more and more coated in goo, Chat was speeding ahead, determined to get rid of the akuma now. Ladybug reached out to tell him to slow down, but drew her hand back knowing it would be to no avail. Slower and slower the student's moved until they stopped at a scream.
It was Alya's.
Chat and Ladybug shot around to see everyone grouping up close to them. The goo was covering most of Alya and part of Nino's hand as he desperately tried to pull her out of the goo. Ladybug caught sight of the akuma pulling Alya towards it and she found herself frozen in panic, unsure of what to do, how to help her soulmate, instead wondering how on earth the akuma was able to get behind their group. Chat shoved past her and the other students, grabbing Nino around the waist and pulling him away from the akuma and with it Alya. Their hand's slipped apart, Nino yelling out as he and Chat stumbled backwards, Alya was completely pulled away and surrounded by goo. The akuma wasted no time escaping through a side door that most likely led to its collection of students.
Chat let go of Nino whose hands had begun shaking. They stood frozen, unsure of what had just conspired before them, Ladybug and Chat fearful for their soulmate, but no body moved for several moments.
Alya was gone.
The akuma had got Alya, their soulmate, the person they were supposed to protect above all others. She was gone.
"Al-fucking-right!" Nino shouted, causing both Ladybug and Chat to flinch at the sudden sharpness of his voice, he turned to them wildly, "This "no-talking" bullshit between you two ends now," He pointed harshly to both of them, "Whatever the issues you two are having in your personal lives should NOT be affecting your work as superheroes! You two need to get your shit together and get rid of that akuma!"
The two bowed their heads in shame at Nino's scolding. If he reacted this badly to one of his soulmates being gone, Ladybug could only wonder how he would be if all three of them were in actual danger.
"I'm sorry," Chat mumbled to him and Ladybug gave her own nervous apology. Nino gave them both a tired sigh, like a parent who couldn't really stay mad at their kids.
Ladybug slowly pulled her head up and looked over to Chat, if she shared her information with him, they could probably form a proper plan together.
"The akuma, it's somehow related to fear, when we're scared of it, it gets bigger. But if you aren't scared of it, or at least show that we aren't afraid of it, it gets smaller," Ladybug quietly informed him, "If it gets small enough we can easily grab it and break whatever item is containing the butterfly," She frowned, "But I didn't see it with anything."
"A pin," Chat replied, just as quietly, he pointed to his head, "There was a pin on the akuma's head, it's small and hard to notice but it's there."
It felt immensely good to hear him talking to her, actually acknowledging her.
"It's Myléne," Rose suddenly whispered, they both turned to her, "She always has pins on her headband, it must be her," She explained.
They stood together in thought over the information exchanged.
"Stinky Wolf," Nino said quietly. Everyone looked at him in question, "Stinky wolf, that's the song Myléne sang to calm herself when she was scared, if we sing it to the akuma, then it could shrink."
There was a nod of agreement between everyone before Chat and Ladybug led the way to the door that contained the Akuma. With a twist and a shove the door opened and they entered the akuma's nest to find frightening cocoons of hardened goo all standing up in little towers around the room. The remaining students gathered together tightly and remained behind Ladybug and Chat Noir near the wall. A gurgle was heard and they watched the akuma move and drop down before them amongst its pillars.
"Chat you need to trap it!" Ladybug yelled as the Akuma lunged for her.
He leapt up to the pipelines as she hit the akuma hard with her yo-yo. It stumbled back with a high yelp as Chat called out for his special power and swiped across some pipes. They broke and fell down and around where the akuma had stumbled. It tried to escape the newly formed cage but it was trapped. Chat slid back to the group.
"Now everyone, sing!"
And they sang, it was rather bad and off key but it was effective as the akuma began to shrink, smaller and smaller until it was the size of a rabbit. They ended the song as Ladybug and Chat Noir began to approach the akuma. It moved away from them and curled into itself, now being the one who was frightened. Ladybug calmly plucked the pin off of its head, now much more obvious to see, and smashed it against the ground. Like routine the butterfly emerged from the broken object and Ladybug used her yo-yo to grab it and quickly purify it.
The now white butterfly flew away and a sparkle of Ladybugs cleaned the basement room of any remnants from the akuma. All the students from their class appeared from their cocoons and groaned from the sudden change in atmosphere. Myléne appeared in place of the monster, curled into herself on the ground, she turned to Ladybug and Chat Noir with a dazed look. They helped her up and Ivan came rushing to her side asking her questions if she was okay and fretting over her general wellbeing.
Chat walked over to where Nino was fussing over Alya, no one noticed as they were too busy rejoicing with their soulmates and friends. They would however eventually notice if Marinette and Adrien were gone for much too long.
"We all should get out of this basement," Ladybug announced pointing to the open door.
There was a murmur of agreement as the basement was dark and eerie and students were technically not allowed there, they slowly shuffled up and out the door. Alya and Nino keeping towards the back of the group and Ladybug and Chat watching over all the students until only Alya and Nino remained in the doorway. Ladybug and Chat quickly ducked behind the door and released their transformations to follow behind as Marinette and Adrien once again.
With a light tug while they kept moving, the door closed completely and they trailed after Alya and Nino, trying to appear inconspicuous. All the students grouped together in front of the door that led to the basement, chatting over what had happened with the akuma. No one noticed how the little soulmate group suddenly became full, nor how they shoved past the group, eager to end the day and have their own talk over what had happened. Though it was immediately noticed with much disappointment that Ladybug and Chat Noir had suddenly split, leaving the class once again alone in the building. Leaving Marinette once again, forced to isolation with her soulmates.
A/N: Haha I said this was the last chapter, but I lied, it isn't. We have one more chapter after this one as this one was getting too long and felt more like a stepping stone towards the actual resolution I wanted. Also heyy the whole reason I added the Akuma part was to have Nino scolding Ladybug and Chat Noir, 3,500 words in, *sweat*.
As you could probably tell I changed a lot that happened in the actual Horrificator episode to fit how I was telling the story, also I never actually rewatched the episode even though I kept meaning to. Anyways, one more for realsies last chapter after this one.
