Hey, guys. I'm so sorry for not updating yesterday. I had some real issues with this chapter, it was exceptionally difficult to write and took twice as long as usual. I hope it will have been worth the wait for you though and I fully intend to post what I think should be the final chapter tomorrow.
Thanks again for reading. Enjoy the chapter.
Chapter 8
Despite the late night, Marinette was up pretty early the next morning, and the good mood she had been in all week was still going. She danced around her room getting ready for school, listening to the radio. While she was tying up her hair, she sang into her hairbrush along to a catchy pop tune. The song was abruptly cut into by a news report.
An akuma attack is currently taking place at the Pont des Arts. Citizens are warned to keep clear of the area. Standard Operating Procedure. Chat Noir is already at the scene and it is expected that Ladybug's arrival is imminent.
The report ended as quickly as it began. Marinette's mood took a slight dip at the thought of an akuma attack and the inevitable delay it will cause in her getting to school. I won't get to see as much of Adrien today, she thought sadly, but then her heart perked up at the thought of seeing Chat again so soon.
"Well, I guess there's no time to waste. Can't leave my kitty there on his own," the hovering kwami raised an eyebrow at her friends use of the words 'my kitty' but chose not to comment. "Tikki, spots on!" she cried as the usual light show took place around her transforming body.
MLBMLBMLBMLB
He had only been there for about ten minutes but Chat Noir already felt out of his depth with Hawk Moth's latest victim.
The akumatised person was at least twelve feet high, and nearly as broad. His flesh seemed to be made of volcanic ash and lava, a constant flow across his skin which would drip on the floor, burning holes where it went. As he walked, his footsteps burned into the ground and behind him were piles of smoking rubble where buildings had once stood. The heat rolling off of the behemoth was palpable, even from as far away as Chat stood. The akuma was screaming and roaring, not seeming to have much to articulate. While the cat hero hadn't discerned what exactly had caused this man to fall prey to Hawk Moth, it was apparent that he carried a lot of rage, and wasn't particularly picky about who he exercised it on.
Chat dodged, flipped and skidded out of the way of several large blobs of lava, desperately trying to find out where his akumatised item was, and trying to find a way to get closer to this goliath of a challenger.
Luckily, that was when ladybug swung in. He had never been happier to see her in his life. She landed next to him and stood, slightly crouched, spinning her yoyo like a shield, battle ready.
"What's the situation?" she asked the blonde hero, matter of fact and ready to fight.
"Well, as you can see, he's enormous and extremely destructive," Chat once again leapt out of the way of the molten rock. "But I can't get anywhere near him. I can't tell what his item is, or how we're going to get close enough to figure it out."
"Come on then," Ladybug said, looking resolute. She even had a small smirk on her face that could have been a grimace. "We haven't been training for nothing. We've got this," she winked at her partner. "It's not really that much different from what we were doing last night."
"No offence, but I think I'll take my chances with the bubbles, Bugaboo," Chat quipped, but pulled his staff out and prepared himself to charge in once again, spinning his baton into a shield to block a shower of fire.
The bluenette rolled her eyes. "Come on kitty cat, don't you think this is the purr-fect opportunity to show off your paw-some skills?" Chat grinned in delight.
"My lady, you have no idea how long I've been waiting to hear you pun. It makes me paw-sitively giddy."
Ladybug pushed Chat's face away from where it had gotten close to hers and turned it towards the hulking mass of fire and rock before them.
"Focus now, gushing over the lowest form of humour later," she ordered, and without another word she was off, circling around to the other side of her target, just like they had practiced the previous evening. Inside however, she felt a lightness at the ease with which she and Chat could talk now. She didn't need to hide so much behind her take-charge confidence that was all mask. She could be a little bit goofy Marinette as well, and he still seemed to like her.
On his part Chat was over the moon. If he could have danced right then, he would have. He finally felt like he was getting to know the girl behind the mask, seeing more of her real personality. He had fallen in love with the vulnerable, uncertain girl who had taken up the mantle of superhero, squashing the fears that he had seen in her, because she needed to be brave. And she was, undoubtedly brave. But now he was learning more, and not just the dry facts that she had supplied him with, but the way she had loosened up around him some, becoming more playful and passionate. Especially when she mentioned the things she cared about. He had never been more in love with this girl.
But right now, there were more pressing matters. And taking care of this little - okay, big - situation wasn't going to be easy.
The heroic duo faced the akuma victim, one on either side of him. Dividing his attention was definitely a good thing as it kept him distracted. He was big and strong but didn't seem to be the brightest bulb in the box. Figuratively speaking of course, because, you know, he was made of fire so literally... anyway, that's beside the point.
Regardless, being separated like this didn't sit well with Chat. His primary objective, whether Ladybug liked it or not, was to keep her safe. At the end of the day, she was the one who would purify the akuma and set Paris back to rights. And boy, did it need setting back. The destruction was the worst the pair had ever seen. It just wasn't something that he was able to do. That was all her. But there was an advantage to this set-up. If Chat could keep the akuma distracted, then he would not even notice ladybug. She'd still be safe, even if she was out of Chat's reach.
MLBMLBMLBMLB
It was an hour later, and despite both working hard, and the two of them communicating effortlessly across very large distances - they couldn't get close enough to talk very often, while also keeping the giant in check - they still hadn't located the object where the evil butterfly was hidden. The two heroes decided to make a tactical - and very brief - retreat.
"Enough is enough. We don't seem to be getting any closer to ending this thing. I'm ready to use lucky charm," Ladybug sighed. Both of the teens had managed thus far to avoid any sort of injury, although it had been a close call once or twice. Chat Noir nodded his agreement.
"Yeah, I think we need to find a way to incapacitate him and then see if we can't find his akumatised item," Chat allowed. He had also realised the futility of their current course of action.
Ladybug threw her yoyo in the air calling, "Lucky Charm!"
She held out her hands expectantly, looking up to where she had thrown her yoyo then quickly launched herself backwards as an anvil fell to the ground in front of her.
Chat looked over to see what her luck had brought them to fight the akuma victim. "An anvil? Who are you, Wile E. Coyote? Planning on dropping it onto his head, LB?" Chat smirked to himself.
Ladybug looked around her, her vision greyed out so that certain items in the vicinity that would be helpful would be highlighted in her vision in a ladybug pattern. Nodding, a plan of action formulating, Ladybug readied herself. She shot Chat a hand signal indicating that he should use his Cataclysm on the ground between the akuma and the Seine.
She knelt in front of the anvil and tied her yoyo string around it. Then she grabbed the yoyo and took off in the opposite direction from the river. I hope my yoyo really is indestructible, she thought to herself.
As she began to circle the hulking mass of magma, she distantly heard a cry of "Cataclysm!" and knew that she had to hurry. Ladybug doubled back towards the Seine, bringing the string of her yoyo around the fiery creature and drew him closer to Chat, the anvil and the river. Luckily, her string seemed to be holding strong and not burning to a crisp as she half feared it might on contact with the fire. She made it back to the anvil just as the ground behind her began to crack and crumble into the water.
"Chat, we need to push this anvil in. We need to get him wet," Ladybug instructed as Chat leapt forward to help her. The crumbling earth helped them and they didn't need to push the dense lump of metal far before it was falling into the water. Her string went taught and the akuma began to inch his way towards the Seine before he lost his balance on the destroyed earth that Chat Noir had created.
"Time to cool off, ugly," Chat called to the now partially submerged akuma, as the lava began to harden. As the flames died down and they could finally get close enough, they spotted a leather bracelet around his wrist. It was the only item on him that they could see. How it hadn't burned up was a mystery. Magic, I suppose, concluded the black cat hero.
"That must be it," Ladybug exclaimed, and Chat jumped onto the still steaming shoulders of the downed villain. The blonde sliced the bracelet with his claw, serving to remove it from his opponent's wrist and to release the purple butterfly from within. Having already retrieved her yoyo, Ladybug swiped the akuma out of the air, purifying it and releasing it.
"Bye bye, little butterfly," she cried as a beautiful white butterfly fluttered away. The spotted hero then gave a despairing look into the river after her lucky charm. How was she supposed to fix Paris (and there was a lot of Paris that needed fixing) if she couldn't reach her lucky object? And even if she could reach it, how was she supposed to throw it into the air? But maybe there was another way, and certainly worth a shot before she decided to take a dip.
The bluenette threw her yoyo into the air once more and cried, "Miraculous Ladybug!"
Once more luck was on her side. I can't believe that actually worked, she thought to herself as swarms of ladybugs and pink and white lights swirled across the city. Then she heard a beep coming from her earrings. Ladybug suddenly realised that she was on her last spot. Her time was almost up.
"Sorry Chat, I've got to go." She looked briefly back at her partner, a small smile on her lips. The two held out their fists.
"Pound it," they cried in unison.
"See you later, Bug out!" and she swung away.
Since Chat had a little more time before his Miraculous ran out, he stayed to help the poor man find his bearings. He was a large man even in human form, and it turned out he had an affinity for breaking things. I can definitely relate to that, Chat thought to himself. After one too many times of being ridiculed for knocking something over, the man had become a catalyst for the evil insect and turned into the destructive force that he and Ladybug had just defeated.
Chat consoled the man and sent him on his way before realising that he needed to find a place to transform back into Adrien. He dreaded to think how late he would be to school this morning. Hopefully his father wouldn't find out.
MLBMLBMLBMLB
Ladybug landed in a secluded alleyway, feeling a little worse for wear but happy with how well they had worked as a team during that attack. It was the best they had ever worked together. She smiled as she leaned heavily back against a wall, hidden from the main street by a large dumpster. They had practically been reading each other's minds, the way they flawlessly fought, practically two parts of one entity. It had been amazing.
The spotted hero sighed to herself, exhausted and knowing that she would have a hard time explaining just how late she was to school. There was only one lesson before lunch, and she still had to make it back there. It was almost as if Hawk Moth didn't care that she had grades to keep up.
Chat Noir was dog tired, ironically enough. He chuckled internally at his own joke. On top of that, he was having a hard time finding somewhere to drop his transformation. Finally he found an alleyway that seemed quiet enough for his purposes. No one noticed as the dark shadow ducked down between the buildings and made to hide behind the dumpster there. No sooner had he slipped behind than he realised he wasn't as alone as he thought. His first inkling that there was someone else there with him was a blinding flash of pink and white light.
Hi eyes widened when he saw the petite figure of one Marinette Dupain-Cheng before him. His brain shut down.
Marinette had just detransformed when she heard a small gasp behind her and turned fearfully to see Chat Noir stood frozen to the spot, staring at her, eyes wide and mouth hanging open. I guess there's no way that he missed me changing back from ladybug, is there?
She wasn't as upset as she would have been a week ago though. The two of them had become so much closer over these past few days, both as Ladybug and as Marinette, and any fear she felt at him learning her identity had diminished significantly.
However, the dumbfounded expression on his face was bringing back her buried fears. He looked so shocked, but she couldn't tell what else he felt. Happy? Disappointed? Indifferent? No, probably not indifferent... she thought.
"Chat, are you o-o..." She stuttered to a stop as the alleyway was filled by a flash of green light.
