Book Two: Chapter 10
The First Box
Marinette couldn't sleep. Too tired, too restless, and too damn warm! She kicked off her blankets and made a frustrated sound. Her thoughts churned. She slid down the ladder and flipped on the desk light.
The Miracle box was hidden under the pile of presents she'd made for Adrien years ago. She was still debating if she should gift him any—they were rather embarrassing at this point, but she hadn't had the heart to throw them away. One more decoratively wrapped item mixed in seemed as good of place as any to hide the box temporarily. Her head pounded at the light and she tossed a scarf over the shade to dim it. Tikki hovered close and sat on the edge of the desk.
"Are you feeling okay?"
Marinette shrugged. "I can't sleep after seeing the others like that." More specifically, after seeing their faces when she showed them their Miraculouses. She pulled out the book on Kwamis and thumbed through the pages, not sure how to fix the damage the Guardian, Etan, inflicted.
"I know Master Fu never completed his Guardian training. He wasn't sanctioned to transfer the Miracle Box to me and the other Guardians are within their rights to demand I return it. But Etan is twisted. Kwami are incredible and I can't imagine being without you. Except that doesn't mean the other Guardians will magically decide to let me keep the box. I only have a couple of months left."
Tikki flew at her face and snuggled her cheek. "I don't want to lose you."
Marinette swallowed back the heat creeping up her throat and to her eyes. She refused to cry, but if she gave the box back she wasn't sure how many of her memories it would steal. Would it only be from the moment she became the Guardian? Or would it reach back and erase her time as Ladybug, too? She couldn't forget everything she'd done for the city. What if she forgot Adrien? Integral years of growing into the person she was now, potentially gone.
"These last three years with you have been a gift. I knew it was a risk to become Ladybug again, but when Cat left the earrings... I couldn't say no."
"I'm glad you didn't. You're an incredible Ladybug, and no one can replace you. Ever."
Marinette laughed sadly. "Thanks, Tikki. I don't know what I'd do without you." Maybe she could offer back the box and make a case to keep her memory. She knew who Cat and the others were, yes, but hadn't she at least proved she was capable of protecting the ones she loved?
A shimmer of black burst through the wall in front of them and Marinette jerked back, her chair toppling over with her in it. The healing bruise on her arm protested as she hit the ground.
"Plagg, what are you—" Tikki zipped to him.
"Sorry sugar cube, Adrien needs help. Get over there, now!" Plagg rushed back through the wall. Whatever was happening, Adrien was vulnerable without Plagg.
"Tikki, spots on!" The magic washed through her in a nauseating wave that passed as soon as it began. She really needed to be more diligent about her sleep, but that didn't matter right now. She popped through the roof hatch and jumped off the balcony, her yoyo intertwining with a chimney and catapulting her out towards the Agreste manor.
Without much to go on, Ladybug staked out the house, peering into the many armored windows until she spotted them all clustered in Gabriel's office. Plagg blipped back through the dark to her side.
"You have a plan, right?"
A plan to take on both Mayura and the Guardian? "Not exactly. Lucky charm!" A pot lid and a wide grip potholder fell into her hands, both spotted to match her suit.
"Well that looks...useful." Plagg made a face.
Ladybug attached them to her hip. "I can't break through these windows and everything is locked up."
"Adrien always leaves his bathroom window open a bit. You can go in that way."
She scanned what she could see of the office from their vantage point. Gabriel's face was fierce, but Emilie's looked shocked and sad. Whatever was happening she needed to stop it. Adrien was on the floor, bound up with his back to them. He struggled and she saw blood along his cheek. Panic rushed through her, but she pushed it down. Her duty as Ladybug had to come first, but...
"Plagg, I need you to Cataclysm me inside."
"But I'll destroy half the house."
"Good. I don't want to sneak up on them. I want them to be thrown completely off. You up for it?"
Plan grinned and rubbed his tiny paws together. "Cataclysm!" He poked the corner of the house nearest to them. Cracks splintered out like a spider's web. Ladybug hooked her yoyo string from the roof and jumped out in a wide arc. The walls crumbled in a roar and the east side of the house practically shattered. She swung in, dodging falling debris and skidding into Gabriel's office. She slid right to Adrien and covered him as the house destabilized, quickly breaking the bonds on his hands while she deflected debris. She then darted to Gabriel and Emilie, snapping their bonds just as quickly.
"Run!" The initial destruction of the house forced Mayura to guard Etan, but now that the large debris had settled, she leaped out.
Ladybug defended with her yoyo shield. She kicked broken plaster at Mayura, forcing her to cover her eyes. Ladybug bounced back and ushered the Agrestes out faster. Adrien limped.
"I can't run." He held up his ring. Right, she needed to get him somewhere to transform.
"Get him out of here! Save our son." Emilie begged as Gabriel ushered her out without hesitation. A muscle pulsed in Adrien's cheek as he looked away from his dad.
"Trust me." Ladybug wrapped her yoyo around Adrien's torso.
He winked. "Always."
She swung him around her in a circle, got momentum, then shot him out the gaping side of the house and into the hedges. She didn't have time to watch and see if he landed right, or if he transformed. Mayura was back on her. The Guardian didn't recover as quickly, his head was bleeding, and he leaned heavily against the couches to regain his feet.
Mayura ripped open an electric panel behind a painting. How had she known it was even there? Ladybug threw her yoyo, but not before Mayura yanked a bundle of wires and the lights cut out. Immediately a red light pulsed, and shutters shut along the undamaged wall.
Lasers beamed through the plaster dust. Ladybug flipped back and over two of them just before a sharp whistle of air followed by a pop. Mayura had activated the house defenses. Great, just what she needed.
She skidded to a halt but misjudged her distance. The Guardian grabbed her from behind, his hand reaching to her earring. She jerked her head back, cracking against his nose. He yelped but didn't let her go. She dislodged the pot lid from her hip and dropped it on the floor, then kicked it at Mayura. She sidestepped the lid right into a laser's path. Something hissed into her side. She gasped at the impact.
The Guardian pinned Ladybug's arms down. He couldn't reach her earring, but she also couldn't reach the second half of her lucky charm. Mayura's gait changed after the hit, but she was no less determined as she approached Ladybug.
She struggled. The Guardian shouldn't be able to hold her! Her strength should trump his, but somehow, he was overpowering her. She kicked out at Mayura, but she avoided contact easily enough.
"You've been charged with improper possession of the first Miraculous Box. By order of the Guardians, you, Marinette Dupain-Cheng—"
Ladybug gasped. They knew? How? She tried to turn away. No. Don't react. She couldn't let on that he was right. She kept her mouth shut and didn't give in.
"—will relinquish all Miraculouses within your control to me," The Guardian finished saying. Mayura reached out.
A rush of shadow followed by the sharp crack of a staff and Mayura was soaring back into the laser guarded security. "Ladybug won't be abdicating anything today, Guardian."
"Cat Noir! Behind you!"
Mayura released a feather from her grasp onto the spotted pot lid.
"What? No." Disbelief colored Ladybug's voice as the lid bubbled up and reshaped into a nightmare straight out of Beauty and Beast's enchanted Disney castle, except this metallic collection of walking kitchen gear was spotted like her.
"Little baker's daughter, looks like it's your time to be cooked." Mayura commanded it to attack. It lurched forward at Cat, slamming an arm made of frying pans over him.
"Cataclysm!" Cat jumped and spun back, letting his destructive touch remove the Sentimonster's arm. It didn't seem to notice and charged at Ladybug. She couldn't break the Guardian's hold, and he didn't flinch back.
"Ladybug!" Cat chased after, another Cataclysm on his hand, but he was too slow. The Sentimonster swung. Its arm swept up at the last second, barely missing her. It tried again but couldn't strike.
Cat caught up and bypassed the Sentimonster, attacking the Guardian. He jerked back from Cat's darkly glowing hand. Ladybug felt her freedom and didn't hesitate, jumping atop the Sentimonster and using the matching potholder to cram over its augmented head. With it blinded, she broke the lid and the feather floated free.
"No!" Mayura darted forward, but the Guardian reached her first.
With the feather de-evilized, Ladybug only needed to call out the words to reset the house. She was running low on time, the slow warning beep already counting down in her ears. Cat crouched at her side, ready to strike.
"I've protected this city for five years. I won't stop until Paris is safe. Mayura, return the Peacock Miraculous."
Mayura laughed. "Once we're rid of you, I'll happily turn over my Miraculous to Etan. You're the real threat, Marinette. Not I."
She blanched. Cat grabbed her hand.
###
Ladybug's hand was stiff and trembled in his. He tightened his grip in case she did something stupid, like hand over her Miraculous now that they knew her identity. They could deny it right now, but they'd find her civilian form and prove it soon enough.
"Why are you doing this?" She asked, her voice steady even as he worried she'd give in. Her earrings were continuing to blink in lethargic alarm. He was too panicked to feel time pass correctly.
"You taint the people around you, convincing them to follow you anywhere. I can't let you manipulate this city right into your lap like you manipulated Gabriel."
Cat stilled, but he forced his breath to stay even. Was Maryua—Nathalie—doing this because of Father? They'd been almost inseparable before Mother returned. But once Mother was back, Nathalie had lost some of the hard edge to her personality, almost as if she'd lost her purpose.
"I... That's not true. I only want to protect this city!" Ladybug half-yelled.
Cat tugged her arm. "We need to go." Slow or not, her earrings were still counting down.
The Guardian smiled. "No use keeping secrets anymore, Ms. Dupain-Cheng. So let me share one of mine. You can't fix the Miraculouses. They're bound. For good."
"What?" Cat said at the same time Ladybug said, "No."
The Guardian pulled a thick book from inside his robe. It looked to be a gilded old tome with leather bindings. He opened it to reveal a handful of small jewels and trinkets, anything from cuff links to hair ties, charms and rings. "This is the fourth Miraculous box. Smaller than yours, yes, but full of dangerous creatures. Kwami with powers that don't belong to this world. Antt with immense strength and crushing power, Coon who puts any thief to shame by simply walking through walls and locks. These Kwami shouldn't exist. They're overpowered. Even shackled to a Miraculous jewel hasn't stopped their chaos." He held out his hand to the crumbled half of the room and the missing wall. Cat felt his ears flatten. The Guardian picked up a small vial and crushed it in his free hand. It glowed.
"No, wait—"
He streaked a finger along the false book's spine. It turned pale, losing vibrancy as it seeped inside the tome. Sharp crackles sounded, like ice breaking deep in a river.
"That's how you cracked the others." Ladybug lurched towards him. Cat held her back. "Cat. Get that Box. Miraculous Ladybug!" The magical ladybugs rushed in in a fluorescent flash of light, but they, too, seemed sluggish compared to their usual vibrancy. Still, Cat pounced. He swiped at the Guardian. Mayura yanked Etan out of the way. The shards of ceiling and wall disappeared under his feet as he pivoted towards her. The Guardian laughed.
It was taking too long for the building to repair.
Cat ignored the ladybugs and chased after them. Mayura spun the Guardian away, but Cat feinted right, then extended his staff straight into the Guardian's chest, knocking the air out of him. He went down hard, and the box skidded from his hold. Ignoring Mayura, Cat leaped at it, cradling it to his chest and rolling away. Mayura let him and instead gathered the Guardian into her arms and sprinted out the last of the healing wall.
"Cat?"
He spun back to Ladybug and held the fourth Miraculous box up in triumph. Her eyes were wide, dilated, and wild. "Ladybug?" Her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed. He ran and slid on his knees catching her, the box abandoned beside them. "Love? What's wrong? Ladybug?" Her earring beeped a final time and the magic failed. His Marinette lay helpless against him. "Wake up, come on. Tikki?" Tikki had spit out of the earrings, but she fell to the floor unmoving just like Marinette.
A door opened behind him and he jumped to an attack stance. Father shoved Mother behind him and glared at Marinette.
"You've betrayed her identity. I hope you understand the consequences of that," Cat warned.
"He was threatened, tortured. Please, we only want to find our son." Mother's voice shook. "Is she… is she okay?"
He ignored her last question and swallowed a lump of panic in his throat. "Your son is fine, Ladybug got him to safety. We'll discuss this another time." He bent and scooped Marinette into his arms.
Father set his shoulders back and looked like he was about to say something.
Cat ignored him and instead Cataclysmed out the office window—mostly out of spite—and jumped through with Marinette and Tikki safely tucked into his arms.
Author's Note
I'm so happy I'm able to share a bit of fun fanfiction with everyone right now. May your days be full of wondrous distractions and vicarious adventures!
