CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE:
VOLPINA'S HOUR
Adrien had never seen Ladybug so afraid.
Then again, they had only known each other for a few days. But that was beside the point.
There was such distress in her voice. Her cheeks were ashen. Her bright eyes darted between Lila and the red kwami Tikki, unsure whether to fight the enchantress or attempt to save her friend.
Adrien could tell Lila's newfound power disturbed Ladybug something fierce. He'd feel the same way if anyone used Plagg for their evil machinations.
The magic bonds ensnaring his father finally came loose, and Adrien pried them off until they vanished into black dust.
The king rose and pointed a finger at their adversary. "Lila, I order you to stop this now!" he bellowed.
"Or what, you weak-minded fool?" Lila spat with annoyance. "You'll shoot daggers from your eyes? HA!" She pointed her own finger at the king, like a phantom judge holding a trial. "There is a new order now: my order!" she called with mad glee. "Finally, YOU will bow to ME!"
Adrien was surprised to see his father trembling.
It only fueled the prince's anger as he stepped forward. "Never!" he declared. "Not to a fake like you!"
Ladybug shook herself from her distress and nodded firmly in agreement.
Trixx rolled her eyes. "Why am I not surprised?"
"Because your mother was a hairbrush?" Plagg suggested from inside Adrien's jacket, sniggering when the fox kwami steamed at him.
Unfortunately, Lila did not take Adrien's statement lightly, for she did not smile or laugh this time. "Fine," the enchantress hissed, "if you won't bow before a queen..." Adrien felt the air prickle with electricity as Lila roared at them: "Then you will COWER before a SORCERESS!"
She snapped to the little red bug next to her. "Tikki – my second wish!"
Ladybug gasped.
"I wish to be the most powerful sorceress in the world!"
Lightning cracked in response. Lila let out a maniacal cackle and opened her arms out.
Tikki reluctantly raised her tiny hands. Sparkles already began to dance around them.
Ladybug dashed between the kwami and her new master. "Tikki!" the princess cried, using her own body as a shield. "Stop!"
"Ladybug, no!" Adrien cried, running over to try and pull her back.
Both of them were too late.
A ribbon of magic shot from Tikki, swerved around Ladybug like flowing water, and hit Lila square in the chest.
There was a flash of light, a blast of wind, and then a sound like sizzling firecrackers.
Adrien felt himself flying backwards, blinded from the explosion.
He heard Ladybug screaming.
The last thing Marinette saw was Tikki's magic dodging her and colliding with Lila.
The last thing Marinette felt was a great, searing blast. It threw her off her feet and into the air.
Marinette screamed as she fell.
When he dared to open his eyes, Adrien froze.
Ladybug was nowhere to be seen, and Lila's entire body was cocooned in a bubble of simmering light, her frame nothing but a white silhouette against the red.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Trixx announced proudly, "give a warm Agrestian welcome for the Sorceress Queen of the Seven Deserts – Volpina!"
The red light turned orange in an instant, and then the fiery bubble burst.
Adrien's breath caught in his throat. The hand his father placed on his shoulder did nothing to ease the prince's shock.
It was as though the girl had emerged from her cocoon fully evilized. A mask of orange flame sat upon her dark green eyes. She wore a long, orange dress emblazoned with black along the skirt and bodice. Her shoulders were emphasized with sharp points, and her new gloves showed off her elongated nails. Fox-like ears – ruffled, dark and jagged-looking – sat on top of her head. In her hands was a long, black reed flute, the tip of which bearing a sinister fox-head.
Lila the enchantress was gone. In her place – grinning so wide it made Adrien flinch – was Volpina the sorceress.
It took all Adrien had to muster a withering glare.
Behind him, he could hear Nino gulping and Nathalie breathing in rapid shudders. And Adrien's father now had both hands on his son's shoulders.
Adrien sneaked a glance past Volpina. All he could see was Tikki hovering in the air close by, fearful and guilt-ridden. But no Princess Ladybug.
Dread filled up inside the prince. Why couldn't he see her? What did Lila... What did Volpina do to her?
"Now," this new girl purred as she landed gently on the ground, "where were we?" She cocked her head over at the four people before her. "Oh, that's right," Volpina giggled. "Abject humiliation!"
The sorceress swung her flute at the group, the fox's head glowing bright orange, and Adrien didn't react in time.
But his father did.
Adrien cried out as rough hands shoved him out of the way, and he skidded off to the side.
When he quickly lifted himself back up, Adrien was met with an appalling sight.
The proud King of Agreste – the man who bowed to nothing and no one but his own – fell down on both knees with his arms sprawled out in front of him, his forehead resting on the stone floor. A thin membrane of orange light surrounded him like a sparkling body cast. The king winced in pain, trying to fight against the magic holding him down.
Before Adrien could finish registering that, he saw Nino and Nathalie behind the king, bowing like penniless slaves to their mighty empress. Nino managed to spy Adrien in the corner of his eye, his teeth gritting.
"No!" the prince shouted. He rushed towards them... only to leap back when a shot of energy zapped the ground where he would have stepped.
Adrien snapped back to the sneering Volpina.
"Why so concerned, Adrien?" she asked sweetly. "Now you no longer have to listen to your father's harsh rules and arrogant demands. I thought that would make you happy."
Adrien clenched the hand that held his magic ring. "The only thing you've made me, Volpina," he spat, "is fur-ious!"
Volpina blinked at him confusedly.
Adrien only sneered and called, "Plagg, claws out!"
"Thought you'd never ask," the cat kwami purred as he flew into the prince's ring, turning it black.
Adrien felt the familiar wave of green magic. When the skin-tight, black suit and matching mask settled over him, Adrien opened his eyes at Volpina. The whites now glowed green, and the pupils elongated with fury.
It felt good to be Cat Noir again.
Adrien pulled out his retractable staff and spun it in his hands, crouching into a fighting stance.
A sharp intake of breath behind him told Adrien that his father was watching. Looks like the cat's out of the bag, he thought with a mirthless chuckle.
Once she got over the initial shock, Volpina smiled as though she was seeing a dazzling geode inside a cracked rock. "So this is the mask you wear," she mused. "So dark, so dashing, so ferocious..."
"So going to send you running with your tail between your legs," Adrien finished for her as he charged forward.
He brought his staff down with a yell, but she blocked it, forcing him to flip over and strike again.
Everywhere he hit, she parried and tried to land a few blows of her own. Some of them Adrien blocked. Others sent him staggering back, hissing in pain.
Their gruelling duel carried them both off the wall and into the courtyard. The sound of their clanging weapons echoed through the air. The sky above them boomed as though egging the fight on.
Something grabbed Marinette's hand.
She gasped awake as she dangled uselessly over the open, one-hundred-foot-high expanse.
Then she heard a voice she never thought she'd hear again: "I guess you were right – you are damn lucky to have me as a friend."
Marinette looked up into those eyes of shifting amber, and blinked away tears of relief. "Alya."
The redhead gave her with a triumphant grin and pulled her up onto the branches with her.
Marinette pulled the thief into an awkward embrace – awkward only because both girls were clinging to the vines for dear life at the same time.
Marinette blubbered, "I'm sorry..."
"Save it for later," Alya said, her eyes firm with understanding. "We've got a prince to save and a pair of earrings to steal back."
Marinette nodded and spun her yo-yo.
Volpina now used magic against Adrien.
His staff and claws were nothing against her powerful spells, so the prince had no choice but to dive for cover amongst the thickets of shrubberies scattering about the dark courtyard.
As he crawled low along the bushes, he heard Volpina snickering not far away.
"Here, kitty-kitty-kitty," she sang.
Adrien struggled to control his breathing as he peeked around one of the hedges. The sorceress scanned the shrubs further ahead. Those same shrubs vanished into ash with one swipe of her reed flute.
Adrien gulped but steadied his breathing. Volpina's back was still turned to him. If he made his next attack count...
"Come on out, Adrien," Volpina cooed. "There's someone I'm dying to introduce you to."
Adrien grunted and clutched his staff tightly. It was now or never.
With a valiant shout, the prince leapt from his hiding spot and swung his staff in a hard swipe at the sorceress's midriff.
She vanished entirely in a puff of orange smoke.
"Huh?" Adrien gasped, looking around.
He heard a chilling laugh before he felt a sudden jolt of power zap him from behind, paralyzing his entire body.
Adrien cried out in pain, his hands clenching and his back arching. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't move an inch. Orange light covered him completely.
"Hard to tell what's real," came a voice purring with dark satisfaction, "and what's not, isn't it, my darling?"
Adrien scowled at the real Volpina as she stepped around his body and faced him directly.
The sorceress bared her teeth and hissed, "Kneel."
Razor-sharp talons grazed his brain, and Adrien felt his legs give way before he could stop himself. He struggled harder, moaning through his teeth as he tried to resist the order.
But Volpina, he realized, had purposefully exhausted him during their fight. He knew well enough that his strength was already spent. Adrien grunted as he fell onto his hands and knees, panting heavily.
Volpina chuckled and lifted Adrien's chin with her finger. "You show such spirit and resilience, especially in that outfit," she mused. "I think I'll let you keep it."
She snapped her fingers, and Adrien felt a strong surge of magic engulf him like a brush of freezing wind.
"There," Volpina said as she reached over to the hand were his ring glimmered. "You won't need this anymore."
Adrien's eyes widened. But he was unable to do anything as the sorceress slipped his ring right off his finger and tossed it aside.
The jewel bounced along the ground a few times before Plagg came flying out of its front. The kwami tumbled along the ground with a cry and vanished into the bushes.
"Plagg!" Adrien cried, thankful he could still talk.
"As I was saying," Volpina jabbered on, leaning closer to the prince's face, "I have a very special secret I want to share with you, Adrikins."
"Volpina!"
Adrien's heart soared at the voice.
He glanced over Volpina's head while she snapped around to see Ladybug soaring towards them on her magic yo-yo, unharmed and unhappy.
The princess landed in the middle of the walkway not far from Volpina, giving the sorceress a look that could kill. "Nobody messes with my kitty," Ladybug growled.
To Adrien's surprise, Volpina laughed. "Princess Ladybug," she drawled. "Just the person I wanted to see."
The sorceress raised her flute and shot a beam of energy at the princess.
Ladybug deflected it by spinning her yo-yo so fast it became a glowing red shield. I didn't know she could do that, Adrien thought with a proud smile.
Then his lady let out a defiant yell and leapt at Volpina, sending the sorceress leaping back.
As the two ladies clashed, Adrien was annoyed to find out that he still couldn't move. Now that Ladybug was back, she was going to need all the help she could get to take that witch down.
Marinette struck again and again with all her might, trying to knock Volpina back with every swing. But the sorceress looked more bored than tired every time she dodged or parried each of Marinette's attacks.
After leaping away from a hard blow, Volpina straightened up. "I'm rather disappointed in you, Littlebug," she said with a dramatic sense of regret. "You accuse me of treachery and deceit, yet here you stand as the worst kind of liar there ever was. How does that make you any different from me?"
Out of the corner of her eye, Marinette saw Alya creeping along the shrubs behind Volpina, ready to pounce at the opportune moment.
Just a little more, Marinette thought as she concentrated back on the sorceress. "I'm nothing like you," she spat. "I don't hurt other people to get what I want."
"Do you?" Volpina smirked, beckoning to Adrien behind her. "There's more than one way to strike a mortal blow, and a lie cuts deeper than any knife."
Marinette's face fell as she locked eyes with Adrien – bright blue upon stark green.
The look Adrien gave her was one of fear and bewilderment. Fear at what Volpina would do to his Ladybug, and bewilderment at the exchange of words between them.
Marinette was slightly shaken by that look.
She almost didn't see Alya charging silently at Volpina from behind, her hands outstretched to the Miraculous.
Unfortunately, Volpina's new powers sensed her coming. The sorceress spun around faster than Marinette could blink, and a beam of light shot out of her flute.
Alya screamed as she was lifted into the air above the sorceress's head, the magic wrapping around her like whips burning into her arms and legs.
"Alya!" Marinette cried, her rage rising back up again.
But before she could sprint forward to save her friend, two more figures appeared. Each one hung suspended next to Alya in the same glowing, orange bonds.
Marinette's heart plummeted.
It was a man and a woman, both dressed in common clothes. The man was tall and buff, with an apron strapped across his broad chest. The woman was a splitting image of Marinette: dark bluish hair and a lighter shade of eyes that met the blunette's with recognition, love and concern.
Tom and Sabine.
Volpina laughed cruelly. "Still think you haven't hurt anyone yet, Bug-Eyes?"
Marinette shook her head desperately. "Leave them alone," her voice broke. "They have no idea what's happened. Let them go!"
Volpina only grinned and lifted a finger.
With a great thrust, Adrien flew off his knees and over to her, limp as an old rag doll.
Volpina gripped the prince's face with one hand, forcing him to look up at the three prisoners suspended before them. "Take a good look, Adrien," the sorceress said darkly. "Look at the man. The large arms, the floury apron... Doesn't he look like a baker to you?"
Adrien said nothing, but Marinette could tell from the look in his eyes that he found Volpina's words to be accurate.
"And the woman?" Volpina offered. "Such a pretty little thing, isn't she? The hair, the eyes, the thin mouth... Oh, wait a minute! That looks awfully familiar!"
"Stop it!" Marinette shouted. She couldn't... She wouldn't...
Adrien's eyes fell back on Marinette. Her heart capsized upon seeing the revelation on his face. Of course Sabine looked familiar to him.
Tears welled up in Marinette's eyes. "Please," she pleaded. "Let them go – let them all go!"
Volpina released Adrien and sneered at the blunette. "Why do you care, Ladybug? They're nothing but common peasants to you." She raised an eyebrow for emphasis. "Or are they?" The sorceress lifted a hand and curled her fingers inward.
Alya cried out as the bonds around her tightened, digging into her flesh. Tom's face contorted in pain, and Sabine's fearful cry was enough to turn Marinette's blood cold.
It was too much for her to take. "No!" she cried, reaching out to them. "Don't...please!" She fell to her knees, hot tears blinding her vision. "I'll do anything."
Adrien squirmed. "No, Ladybug!"
Volpina sneered. "Anything?" she asked with a hint of surprise. "How about... we let your beloved prince in on our little secret?"
"Leave... her... alone!" Alya hissed at the sorceress, her face turning plum from the crushing force of the magic rope.
Tom and Sabine cried out once more, and Marinette knew what she had to do.
She nodded in defeat.
Alya and Marinette's parents gasped as their bonds vanished and they collapsed onto the ground.
Suddenly, Marinette felt her knees leave the ground and her body arch back. The air grew hot and thick around her.
"Stop!" Adrien cried.
"It's time to come to grips with reality, my sweet," Volpina purred at him.
With a snap of her fingers, the energy encompassing Adrien dissipated, allowing him to regain full control of his body again.
But now Volpina had her arm on his shoulder as she pointed her flute at Marinette's hovering form. "Say hello to your precious..."
A bolt of energy hit Marinette square in the face, and her mask vanished completely.
"... Princess..."
Another bolt, and Marinette's red-and-black bodysuit was gone. Her old, dark purple top and long beige pants were all she wore now.
"...Ladybug!" Volpina finished triumphantly.
One final bolt send Marinette's yo-yo flying from her hand and clattering to the ground like a discarded toy.
Then the magic holding Marinette lowered her onto her feet.
Trixx popped out of hiding and jeered, "Or should we say... Marinette?"
Now everyone was staring at the dismayed blunette: King Gabriel and Nathalie and Nino, the former two aghast, the latter wincing; Alya, her amber eyes filled with sorrow and regret; Marinette's parents, gaping at their daughter as though she had come back from the dead.
And Adrien... those cat-like pupils slowly shrinking, his mouth parted in his futile attempt to find the right words to say.
Unbeknownst to anyone in particular, Plagg crouched low in his hiding spot within the brambles of a nearby bush. His glowing green eyes widened at the entire ordeal, and his little fanged mouth hung open.
Princess Ladybug was Marinette. And Marinette was... well, not Princess Ladybug.
Plagg groaned. "Why am I always the last to know everything?" he muttered under his breath.
"Well, what do you know, Adrien?" Volpina said cheerfully. "She's nothing but a petty baker's daughter – a street rat who used magic to try and make her fairy tale dream come true." She snickered and looked over at Marinette. "Are you absolutely certain we are nothing alike?"
Tikki fluttered close by, her big eyes filled with sadness and pain.
Marinette could no longer hold back the tears, and she lowered her head in shame.
Then she heard light footsteps coming towards her. Two strong but gentle hands caressed her shoulders.
"Marinette...?"
She looked up at him reluctantly.
The skin under Adrien's dark mask was pale, but his tone spoke more of worry than confusion. His eyes softened as he looked over her, his throat bobbing.
Marinette couldn't blame him. This was the girl she had always been; the one Adrien thought was just a false identity created by a princess who wanted more out of her life. It made her all the more miserable.
"Adrien," she said as she laid her trembling hands on his chest. "I'm so sorry. I wanted to tell you... I tried. But... I just... I'm just a –"
"A filthy little liar," Volpina finished with venom in her voice. "How can the prince possibly love someone who's lied to him about everything from the get-go?"
Marinette's eyes burned with vigor. "No, that's not true!" she shouted at Volpina.
Then she took Adrien's hands in hers, despite the fact that they were still shaking. "Adrien," she pleaded, "I only lied about who I was. But my feelings, my love for you..." She paused to breathe and spoke more softly, "That part of me is true – from the bottom of my heart."
Adrien continued to stare at her, and Marinette thought for a moment that everything they ever had vanished as quickly as her Ladybug mask.
Until the prince said with a tiny sparkle in those alluring green eyes, "Well... It does explain why you bake a mean quiche."
Hope kindled again in Marinette's chest. Up ahead, she caught Alya smiling.
As the prince and the baker smiled thoughtfully at each other, Volpina groaned like she was about to throw up. "Ugh! Enough of this."
An invisible force shoved the couple away, their hands tearing apart. They both landed hard on their backs upon the stony ground.
Stars danced across Marinette's vision as she tried to sit up.
"Now that I'm the queen," Volpina announced so everyone watching could hear, "it's my royal duty to dish out a suitable punishment for you, Marinette."
"Sweetheart!" Sabine cried fearfully.
"Leave my daughter alone!" Tom barked in protest.
Within seconds, their magical bonds returned and they sank to their knees.
The sorceress twirled her flute and brought it up to her lips. The tune she played was sombre and cold, like the bellowing of a fierce wind. The tip of the flute – surprisingly – glowed blue.
Marinette crawled away from the sorceress, her eyes wide.
"The judgement," Volpina declared with a triumphant grin, "is a one-way trip out of Agreste... forever!"
"No!" Alya cried, rushing forward.
Adrien scrambled to his feet. "Let her go!" he shouted.
Volpina merely swiped at them with her hand, and they both flew backwards.
"Please, master!" Tikki begged, flying up to the sorceress's face. "Don't do this!"
"Silence, slave!" Volpina hissed. On her ears, the Miraculous glowed bright red.
Tikki winced in pain and shrank away reluctantly.
Volpina smiled and continued, "The venue chosen... is the ends of the earth!" With a heavy swing, she flung the ball of blue light right up over Marinette's head.
It exploded into a spiraling vortex of cloud and frigid air, sucking up everything underneath it.
Marinette screamed as hurricane winds hoisted her high up and spun her out of control.
She barely heard Adrien's own scream over the howling air. He was saying her name, calling out to her.
Marinette's tears flew off in several directions into the twisted blue haze.
Plagg gasped as the swirling storm cloud swallowed the girl up in one gulp.
Without thinking, the black-cat kwami zipped out of his hiding spot and flew right into the vortex, going straight for its gaping mouth.
He quickly realized just how strong this storm was. Plagg's ears drooped.
"What made me possibly think this was a good ide-AAAAHHHH!" The kwami shrieked as the wind sucked him in, and he vanished beyond the vent horizon.
Volpina stood proudly while the magic portal shrank back into the sky.
Adrien's scream was like music to her ears. "MARINETTE!" He looked so desperate, trying to fight his way to the portal to save his worthless beloved. But Volpina's magic kept pushing him back, making his efforts all the more futile... and entertaining.
Trixx hovered over to Volpina and waved at Marinette's disappearing form. "Goodbye, see ya!" she called cheerfully.
Volpina waved as well. "So long, ex-Princess Ladybug!"
The clouds conjoined together and shrank into a swirling dot, and then there was nothing but silence.
The redheaded street rat Alya looked less like a cunning jewel thief and more like a broken-hearted teenage girl. Nino, the prince's snivelling manservant, wrapped his arms around her as though it would relieve her of her pain.
The loathsome baker couple embraced each other, the woman weeping in her husband's arms.
Gabriel looked so un-kingly, gazing up at the sky in distress.
Nathalie had a hand on Adrien's shoulder, like a mother trying to comfort her son.
The prince himself went slack and fell to his knees, staring out at the empty space where Marinette had once been. Those cat-like eyes of his were devoid of that valour, that brashness, that compassion. Now they showed pure, agonizing disbelief.
Finally, Tikki buried her face in her hands and broke into soft sobs. Tiny droplets fell from her bulbous eyes like sparkling diamonds.
Volpina had never seen a more beautiful sight to behold.
That annoying little pest is finally gone, she thought with a surge of wicked hysteria. Gone, gone, GONE!
The Miraculous is mine. The kingdom is mine! The WORLD is mine!
Volpina let out a maniacal laugh. Thunder and lightning erupted around her in response, and the dark purple sky instantly changed to blood-red.
Then Volpina turned towards her cowering prisoners. Her dark green eyes turned yellow from the ultimate power coercing through her veins.
Adrien immediately stood and tried to shield his friends. Nino drew Alya closer.
But the sorceress's shadow engulfed them all.