The first thing that Luka noticed next time he met up with Marinette for lunch was the look of sheer annoyance across his girlfriend's face. That could only mean one thing…
"...What did Lila say this time?" he sighed tiredly as the two chose a table at the corner of the cafeteria.
"Grrr… Alya was curious to get more details about the two new heroes that popped up, and since she can't talk to Ladybug, she of course went with the 'next best thing'," Marinette made quotation signs, "Lila. Ladybug's B.F.F!"
"What did Lila say?" Luka asked cautiously yet curiously.
Marinette growled, "She was going on about how Ladybug apparently had been planning this all along, how she was gonna replace most of the heroes from the start or something because of how much they all sucked, and Miracle Queen happening was simply a stroke of luck on Ladybug's part. You should have seen the look on Nino's face; he was devastated! Kim and Max didn't look much better, either… and Alya… she looked furious! I'm shocked an akuma didn't show up in the middle of class!"
Luka winced and squeezed Marinette's shoulder in comfort. He was quite shocked… okay, never mind, not quite that shocked that people were still turning to Lila as a source for information regarding Ladybug and the other heroes. After what happened in Hawaii, he was hoping for at least a bit more skepticism to pop up about such claims. After all, Lila had basically implied that Jagged Stone was a creepy, pedophilic goon. Guess he had hoped for too much.
"Wanna burn off that steam with the Tokies?" - Tokies being their nickname for the rest of the Phantom Thieves; it was created so they could refer to them without raising suspicion, and if anyone overheard them and asked, they could easily make the excuse that it was a video game guild - "To be honest, it feels really good every time we go in there and beat up Shadows."
"Yeah, I agree," Marinette nodded, "Plus, we have a 'safe space' to go to if we're feeling any type of negative emotions… though the Shadows being around to beat up helps too," she finished with a giggle.
Luka chuckled in agreement, "So… want to check to see if they're up for it?" he asked after they finished their meals and headed for the park, as it usually didn't have many people out during this time.
As it turned out, the Tokies had been planning to ask them if they were up for it. There was quite the laugh over that, but once they'd settled down, they entered the Palace.
Just as before the group found themselves sneaking through the garish walls of the inner empirical castle. Unfortunately, according to Mona, the only way to get to the Treasure was going through the Trophy Garden, so they tried to find a way around. That didn't work out - the other ways were either too heavily guarded or required extra maneuvering so as to not fall to a painful demise. As they ran down the golden paths, Chance forced herself to not look up at the statues of any of her classmates.
Eventually, they came to the end of the garden, and after traversing through another room and a few more hallways, they came across another large and decorated door. However, instead of bronze, this one was silver.
"From bronze to silver, huh?" Queen murmured, "I'm sensing a bit of a pattern here…"
"Why does this remind me of the Olympics a little?" Panther piped up.
"How much money would you bet a gold door holds the Treasure?" Skull whispered to Viper, who answered, "Ha… I don't have as much money as I'd like to bet on that."
"So if the Treasure is theoretically behind a gold door… what's behind these silver-"
A blood-curdling scream interrupted Fox. The Phantom Thieves whipped around but saw no one in sight.
"What was that?!" Mona wondered alarmedly.
"...Oh, shit!" Oracle cursed, before turning to Viper and Chance, "I think you guys were followed in!"
"Wh-what?!" Chance gasped before another loud scream echoed down the hall.
"If that's the case, this isn't a trap or something from the Metaverse," Joker grimaced, "Let's go!"
"Er-right!" Chance nodded along with Viper as the group sprinted towards the source of the noise.
Tikki and Sass flew on ahead, the advantage of phasing through walls coming in handy. They returned back just as the group made their way out of the Trophy Garden, again. Both of the kwamis looked panicked.
"Chance, it's Nino!"
o~o
The last time Nino could remember running for his life like this was not before all the craziness with Ladybug and the Miraculous became a part of daily life; it was probably around the time that Stoneheart first appeared.
Nothing too unusual had been happening at school that day, though it was hard to hear Lila giving the ulterior reasons for Carapace's - and the other heroes' - retirement. He didn't understand what he did wrong. Ladybug praised him every time he was out on the field. Sure… he may have missed a target when he threw his shield a few times and been a little slow to block some akuma attacks, but overall, Ladybug seemed happy to have him on her team. So what changed? He couldn't figure it out. Besides the obvious Miracle Queen incident, he didn't understand what made Ladybug consider replacing him before that… something wasn't right.
He'd gone to the park near the school to clear his mind - and hopefully, avoid akumatization - and the next thing he knew, he was skedaddling with armored monsters on his heels.
THUD!
He collided with the wall and fell to the floor. Dead end.
The armored figure stood above his sitting figure. All he could do was attempt to shield himself with his arms and await, what was likely certain death.
"No, no!" he cried, feeling tears gather in his eyes.
CLONK!
A flail collided into the back of the armored being's head. Both craned their heads to see a bunch of masked folks running over, including… Marinette?
"You stay away from my friend, you son of a bitch!" Marinette - clad in a red and black costume herself - snarled.
"Huh?" was all Nino could say as his brain tried to process what he was seeing.
"Freila!" some sort of nuclear attack slammed into the guard, forcing them to break down, the armor dissolving and reforming into three feminine figures.
One was bigger than the other two; she had a headband and ebony-black wings. The other two were identical; they were similar to will-o'-the-wisps, but they were coal-black instead of some other… more "spiritual" color like purple, pink, or something else.
The leader of this odd group - a young man in a black trenchcoat, wearing a white mask - dashed forward and stabbed one of the Strife's Children with a dagger gripped tightly in his hand. It dissolved into a plume of shadow that quickly dissipated.
"Joker! Get back!" the one with a skeletal mask shouted. With a quick nod, the leader backflipped to his allies and the blond rushed forward, ripping said mask off.
"Persona!" he shouted and a large, simian figure riding on a storm cloud appeared behind the guy, "Seiten Taisei!"
With a twirl of his giant baton, a bolt of lightning flew from out of nowhere, zapping the other Strife's Child and the Discord Deity. They jerked and shook in place, but didn't seem able to move.
"Go, Fox!" the girl with a futuristic outfit shouted, and another man with an intricate fox mask & wielding a katana rushed forward.
"Goemon, strike with Mabufula!" the man exclaimed, a kabuki-esque figure appearing behind him as well, carrying a long pipe of some sort. The figure waved its extended hand swiftly, and the two women were soon encased in ice before they both shattered, leaving nothing but a ghostly scream behind.
The group looked around, possibly seeing if any more monsters were going to spring up before they relaxed and put their weapons away.
"Nino, what are you doing here?" Marinette - or at least he thought it was Marinette - asked him, extending her hand to help him up.
"Your guess is as good as mine, dudette… it is you, right Marinette?"
"...the one and only," she said with a shrug.
"So… who are these dudes, then?" he asked, looking at the rest of the group.
"What? You don't recognize us?" the skull-masked guy said challengingly, "We've met before."
"...We have?" Nino asked dumbly.
"They were defending my girlfriend from the rest of your class, Nino," the snake-masked guy said bluntly.
The DJ blinked, "Huh, Luka? That you, dude?" his head then shot up as everything finally clicked, "Wait a min- You! You guys were the ones accusing Jagged Stone of being a pedo!"
"Technically," the girl in the punkish biker outfit said, "it was your 'friend' Lila who said that… or she was at least strongly implying it. We just made the most logical conclusion based on the information we received."
Nino unintentionally flinched back, eyes flickering between Marinette and the rest of the group.
"...where are we, anyways? I am so confused." he changed the topic.
Marinette sighed, "Nino, we're inside Lila's heart right now."
It took a couple of seconds for Nino to process what the red and black-clad girl said, "...'Inside Lila's heart'?" he laughed nervously, "Uh, sorry, Mari, but are you sure you're feeling okay?"
"She ain't lying, kid," skull-guy said, this time in a more serious tone, "this is how that brat really feels. Your school is nothing but a popularity-building empire for her."
Nino looked caught between wanting to yell at the group and having a nervous breakdown.
"...is it true?"
"Nino, please take a second to think," Marinette asked - no, begged, "Hasn't it ever crossed your mind even once that something isn't right about Lila? Like today in class! You know Ladybug! Do you honestly believe she would really think of you like that?!"
"I…" he hesitated, biting his lip.
"Nino," Luka grabbed his attention, "Ladybug has never lied when it comes to superhero business. If she says the reason she had to retire you was because of Miracle Queen, then that was the reason. If she had any issues with your hero status besides that, she would have told you. If she was really as… two-faced as Lila seems to be making her out to be, then she shouldn't be a hero in the first place!"
"...W-well…" Nino stuttered, trying to think of a counter-argument.
"Listen, Nino, you may not want to believe it, but right now, we're in another reality as viewed through Lila's eyes," the girl with the red cat-suit said solemnly, "...This is her true nature."
Nino slowly turned his head, gazing at his surroundings. If what these people, what Marinette, was saying was true then that meant…
"...Who are all of you guys anyway?" Nino demanded.
"Guess you can say we're a group of people that changes the hearts of criminals and brats like Lila," the techno girl said with a shrug.
"Then… so Lila really was… lying?" the last word came out as barely a whisper.
"I know it's painful," the fox-masked man said, a sympathetic look in his eyes, "but this is the truth. The sooner you accept it, the better."
"I...I…" Nino breathed, feeling his chest tighten.
There was then a scoff and the sound of footsteps, "You still don't believe us? Fine," he felt someone grip his arm firmly, but not painfully. Looking up, the punkish woman was staring down at him, "Then why don't we show you?"
Marinette gasped, "Wait… you want to take him there?!"
"If it means he finally snaps out of it, then yes."
"You sure that's safe? He doesn't have a way to defend himself here," Luka pointed out.
"Well, then we'll just have to avoid fighting until then," another guy, the one with the sharp silver domino mask, spoke up. Everyone turned to him in attention.
"...It's risky," another voice spoke. Nino looked around to find the source, "but luckily security hasn't blown through the roof yet. I think it's okay." Nino finally found the source, coming from a strange, bipedal cat creature. If he already wasn't familiar with the Miraculous and other crazy things of Paris, he likely would have freaked out again.
"Wait, where are we going?" Nino asked, looking back at Marinette, "Mari-"
"Oh- please don't call me that!" Marinette exclaimed suddenly, then blushed, "I-I mean, we don't use our real names here is all. I'm Chance here, and Luka's Viper."
Nino blinked. If this situation couldn't get any weirder.
"I'm Queen," the woman introduced herself, "The rest of us are Skull, Panther, Oracle, Mona, Fox, and Joker."
"...Okay, but again, where are we going, Ma-I mean, Chance?" he quickly corrected.
"...You'll see," Chance grimaced.
"Come on, we need to do this quickly," Queen insisted, tugging Nino along as the group moved back down the hall.
The group stealthily led him down the corridor until they came to two sets of bronze double doors, which they easily opened.
Nino had to shield his eyes slightly as they stepped out into a bright garden area. As they walked through, Nino grew increasingly confused and unnerved, peaking upon them reaching the newest of the statues.
"...Why does Lila have statues of our classmates here?" Nino demanded.
"Technically, these aren't just statues of your classmates… these are your classmates," Mona corrected.
"...What?" Nino whispered.
"At least they are in Miss Rossi's eyes," Fox explained, "She sees your class not as people but as trophies to be won over with her silver tongue. So that's exactly what they are here."
"And before you get your hopes up, kid," Queen gripped Nino's head and spun it to look to the right, "You're here too."
Nino's expression was one of utter shock when he spotted himself standing next to Alix and Mylene's statues. Glancing around again, he then, "...Then where's Alya or Adrien… or even you , Mar-Chance?"
"Well, it's easy to explain why I'm not here," Chance said with a frown, as they all started to exit the garden, "In case you forgot, I never believed Lila. In her head, I haven't been 'won over' yet. As for Alya… we don't know. She should be here somewhere, but we don't know where. And Adrien… he's here, but..."
"Lila views him as her slave," Skull deadpanned.
"What?! What, do you think my bro's some sort of pushover?" Nino angrily accused as they snuck down some more hallways. Sure, he knew his bro wasn't one to rock the boat (particularly if any of those situations involved Chloe), but he knew when to stand up for the right things!
"Given what we know, yeah," Skull riposted as they reached the silver door, "We'd love to catch you up, but it would be much easier to just show you."
With that, they opened the doors and the scene before them… oh, dear.
o~o
AN: So... I bet most of you didn't see this coming! We have another Parisian stumble into the Metaverse and it's our good boy Nino! Looks like he's about to get the reality check of the century in these coming chapters.
R&R and see you next time!