This chapter took longer than I expected. Between how long it turned out, and real life activities, it seemed to take forever. But here we are!
CW for mentions of throwing up, spiders, snakes, and zombies.
Chapter 10: Worst Nightmares
It was peaceful in the hair salon.
It wasn't often peaceful around Chloe. She always needed to be the loudest person in the room, but today she seemed content to keep her voice down as she chatted with the person doing her hair.
Mylene was happily discussing hair styles on the other side of Lacy. Lacy wasn't up to talking much - she was just focusing on the feeling of having her hair done.
It was over too soon.
"Oh, I was going to ask," Mylene said as they left the salon. "One of the other girls in my theater class is super cool, I was hoping she could come along with us next time!"
"Sure," Chloe said. "The more the merrier."
"Sounds fun," Lacy agreed.
Chloe and Lacy parted with Mylene at the bus station, before walking back towards their places.
"I've noticed you haven't been using the limo much," Lacy said.
Chloe shrugged. "Trying not to use as much gas, plus Pollen enjoys our walks."
They arrived at the hotel, where Andre the ice cream man had parked. Lacy recognized several of her schoolmates, including Sadie.
Lacy waved largely, so that Sadie saw her. Sadie waved back, paid for her ice cream, and headed over.
"Do you think this soulmate thing is real?" Sadie asked. "It doesn't look much like Walt."
Lacy shrugged. "No clue."
"I doubt it," Chloe said. "I think soulmates are-"
Whatever Chloe had been about to say was cut off when both Chloe and Sadie vanished.
Well, Chloe vanished. After a second, Lacy noticed the bird on the ground where Sadie had been.
"Sadie?" Lacy asked, kneeling down.
The bird pecked Lacy's knee lightly in confirmation.
The nose ring seemed to have transformed with Sadie, but Stompp had landed under the bird. Lacy patted her bag, and Stompp flew into it.
And that's when the zombies attacked.
Nathaniel's eyes widened. And then continued to widen.
"You - you're-"
"Yes, I'm Bunnyx. Fluff, counter-clockwise."
The transformation dropped, Fluff spiraling out of the watch.
"But -" Nathaniel continued stuttering. "But you're - I know you."
"Yes."
"And you're a hero."
"Yes"
"But - but I know you."
"Nath, we literally go to class with the daughter of the mayor."
"That's different," Nathaniel said. "You're a superhero."
"Yes, we've established that." Alix sighed. "You're going to be weird about this, huh?"
"No," Nathaniel denied. "I'm just - shocked."
"I can tell," Alix stated. "Anyways, most of the class has been heroes - except Sabrina and Lila, but they aren't here anymore."
"Wh - most of the Class?" Nathaniel repeated. "Marinette? Lacy? Chloe?"
"You already knew about Chloe," Alix pointed out. "But yes. Marinette is Ladybug, Adrien is -"
"Spider!" Nathaniel interrupted. "Alix, there's a spider on your shoulder."
Alix's insides froze.
Spider.
Alix brushed at her shoulder, knocking the spider down.
That's when she noticed another spider climbing up her leg.
"Agh!" Alix shook her leg. "Stop it! Get off!"
The spider clung on, and another spider climbed up her torso.
Someone cackled.
And another Alix walked into the room.
"Akuma," Alix guessed.
The other Alix began laughing.
"Sandboy again," Nathaniel guessed.
"You're worst fear is me laughing?" Alix asked.
More and more spiders came crawling in.
"People in general laughing at me," Nathaniel explained.
Alix stepped up onto her bed to avoid the spiders. "I'm really tempted to burrow myself away from all of this."
"Burrow - you mean time travel?"
The spiders were on her bed.
"Sort of. I'll show you. Fluff-"
"Food," Fluff whined.
"Right," Alix said. "Carrots are in the kitchen. Don't let dad see you."
"Huh?" Marinette responded.
"You're Ladybug," her dad repeated.
"What? Ladybug? Me?"
"We're disappointed in you," her mom said. "You should have told us. I can't believe you kept a secret from us."
"Can we ever trust you again?" Her dad asked. "Can we ever believe a word from you?"
"You-" Marinette started. "I had to!"
Her dad smacked the counter. "There's no excuse!"
"Marinette?"
Marinette turned to find her mom behind her.
But her mom was in the kitchen?
The second mom's eyes focused on the first mom, and before Marinette had a moment to figure out what was going on, her mom was stepping in front of her. She pushed Marinette back, like a mother bear protecting her Cubs.
"Marinette, it's an akuma," her mom said. "Go back into your room and hide."
"Oh, she's not going to hide," not-mom taunted.
"Shut up!" Marinette yelled.
"You should tell her," not-dad added. "Tell her what a liar you are!"
"How dare you talk to my daughter like that!" Her real mom said. "Marinette, whatever you're going to do, get away from here!"
"I'm not leaving you!" Marinette said.
But I need to transform, her brain said. I need to leave to transform.
"Go!" Her mom barked. "I've got this!"
"The akuma is either Sandboy or has the same powers," Pegasus reported. "It's throwing Paris into a panic."
"Fear based powers?" Kota asked. "Today? Seriously?"
The transformed heroes were gathered on the rooftop of the hotel, hidden behind a Shellter as they planned. Absent was Bunnyx, who would come if they needed her, Queen Bee, who had yet to reappear, Chat Noir, for reasons unknown, and Stampede, who was still a bird.
"We need a plan," Roi Singe stated. "Preferably one that does not require fighting the giant spiders."
"Arachnophobia is one of the most common fears," Kota piped up.
"Also, there's the zombies," Carapace added.
"Necrophobia is less common," Kota said. "But it's what I have."
"Wait, what are all of your worst fears?" Rena Rouge asked. "So we're prepared. I'm always afraid that I'm going to be responsible for something happening because I didn't speak up, you know?"
Ladybug hesitated a moment. "Failure, mostly, at least when I'm Ladybug."
"Same," Roi Singe admitted.
"Fear of failure - that's Atychiphobia," Kota stated.
Everyone gave her a strange look.
"You know your phobias," Pegasus stated.
Kota shrugged. "It's an old interest of mine. I'm necrophobic, as I said. So yeah, the zombies are my fault."
"Mine is loud noises," Lis Tigre said.
"Phonophobia," Kota said. "I've always wandered - do you have sensory problems?"
Lis Tigre nodded.
"I'm afraid of hospitals," Pigmy added.
"Nosocomephobia," Kota said.
"I'm aichmophobic," Pegasus said. "I don't like sharp things."
"That'll be fun to work with," Ladybug muttered. "So far we've got loud noises, hospitals, zombies, failure, sharp objects, and not being able to help."
"I'm also afraid of failure," Ryuko added. "I have thought about it, and I believe it's my worst fear."
"I'd have to say my worst fear is losing my family," Viperion stated. "Which, thankfully, doesn't seem to actually impact them, just create an illusion."
"That is consistent with Sandboy's other attacks," Ladybug admitted.
"We're not going to talk about this later, right?" Carapace asked.
"This isn't leaving the rooftop," Ladybug confirmed.
"Why, what's you're fear?" Roi Singe asked.
Carapace shifted his weight. "Well, depression, probably. And we are not talking about why."
Rena Rouge looped her arms around Carapace. "I'll love you no matter what."
"Okay," Ladybug said. "So those are the fears we'll personally be facing. Just remember - sometimes the best way to overcome fear is by sticking together."
"If someone is afraid of failure, perhaps they should stay back," Pegasus suggested.
"But we need Ladybug," Rena Rouge said.
"It'll be alright," Ladybug said. "We managed last time. Okay, first up - we need to find the akuma."
"Deploy Tikki the second?" Rena Rouge suggested.
Ladybug nodded, pulling out her yo-yo and deploying the drone.
"Pegasus?"
"Markov was affected by the akuma and doesn't seem to be functioning," Pegasus reported. "I am not totally sure why."
"Okay," Ladybug said. "Do we have any way to figure out where the akuma victim was originally?"
"Already looked into that," Pegasus replied. "No."
"So we have to search all of Paris?" Kota questioned.
"Better get started," Ladybug said.
Bunnyx watched the fight in real time as Nathaniel sat next to her, bucket over his head.
"If you can time travel, why are we waiting on the fight to end?"
"We're not waiting," Bunnyx replied. "I'm watching. I want to make sure they don't need me."
Around her, images from different times and places played. Bunnyx could tune out anything, when she was focused, and right now she was focused on one. She wasn't sure if she could help against the new akuma - if anything, she'd make the spider problem worse.
"Why not look at the ending?" Nathaniel suggested.
"Because - because I'm still not sure if I should," Bunnyx admitted. "Time Travel is complicated. If I skip to the end and they lose, can I just rewind it or would that complicate things? I keep asking fluff-"
"Fluff?"
"My kwami. They power the miraculous, so they should know how it works, but I can't get a straight answer out of them." Bunnyx ran her hand in front of her face in annoyance.
"What is a kwami? Like an alien, some kind of magical creature?"
"They are magical creatures born from a concept or idea," Bunnyx explained. "They have immense power, but not the ability to control it, so the power was tied to the miraculous, where humans can command that power, so it's controlled. Without that control - well, you've heard of Atlantis, right?"
"But if you're sharing this power, how much control do you really have?"
"Complete control," Bunnyx answered. "Miraculous magic is intention-based."
"So the kwamis don't have any control on how you use your powers?" Nathaniel asked.
"No," Bunnyx said. "Otherwise Mayfly wouldn't be able to do what she does."
Bunnyx turned her attention back to the screen, and reached up to move the image to where Ladybug was now.
And then froze.
"Wait," Bunnyx muttered.
"Okay," Ladybug said, her voice sounding tired as it came through the comms. "This isn't working."
Kota, who was fighting off five zombies while trying not to puke, had to agreed.
As Kota whacked one zombie away, a skeleton jumped on her from the rooftop. She screamed, bucking as she tried to knock it off, and ran right into another zombie.
"Agreed!" A somewhat-panicked sounding Lis Tigre yelled. "I feel like my head is going to split open."
"We need to regroup," Ladybug said. "Rena is frozen, for some reason. Carapace, are you recharged?"
"Yeah, I can make sure she's okay," Carapace replied. "Go regroup."
"I'm going to need help," Kota said. She managed to to knock off the skeleton, but the zombies still surrounded her.
"I see you."
Kota didn't get a chance to ask where are you? before Ladybug's Yo-Yo was wrapped around her torso. A second later, she was off the ground and flying behind Ladybug.
They landed on the hotel again.
"You know the zombies will just follow me?" Kota asked.
"We'll handle that," Ladybug said. "Any idea where the akuma is?"
Kota shook her head. "I tried to stay on the search path, but couldn't fend off the zombies. Ugh, I think I'm going to throw up."
"We need a new plan," Ladybug decided.
Nathaniel had been laying down, bored, as Bunnyx watched the screen.
And then he bolted straight up.
"Don't knock the bucket off," Bunnyx said.
"I made fan art of you!" Nathaniel blurted.
"You did," Bunnyx said.
"But - you're- and I - you encouraged it!"
"Did not!" Bunnyx argued. "I just - look, you're a great artist, and maybe I wanted to see what I looked like in your style. Maybe."
Nathaniel plopped back down with a sigh, and Bunnyx sat down next to him.
"When Marinette saw those drawings I did, I felt really bad," Nathaniel said. "I hadn't wanted to share that with anyone, I was so worried she'd think I - I don't know. She didn't get mad at me though, but I felt - I wish that hadn't happened."
"That's why you tried to move on from your crush on Marinette," Bunnyx remembered.
"Yeah," Nathaniel said. "But everyone was making fanart and stories about Ladybug, I thought it was different. Now it looks like I've got to apologize to her again."
"Honestly? Everyone in the class has a problem with pushing boundaries."
"Except you."
Bunnyx nodded. "Except me. Not that I'm perfect, just not as interested in all that stuff."
"Lucky charm!"
The words recalled Bunnyx's attention to the battle, just to see the lucky charm land into Ladybug's hands.
"Looks like I'm up."
The pair of spotted roller-skates landed in Ladybug's hands, and she and Kota stared at it blankly.
"Um," Kota suggested.
Ladybug blinked. "I'm not sure-"
"I am!"
Bunnyx walked triumphantly through the burrow, umbrella over her shoulder.
"Of course," Ladybug said. "Bunnyx, can you use your powers to hunt down the akuma?
"Already done, minibug."
"Okay, just because older you called me minibug doesn't mean you get to."
"But I'm taller than you."
"Am not!"
Bunnyx straightened up, and Ladybug straightened up, and realized that, yes, Bunnyx was now taller than her.
"How?"
"Growth spurt!"
"Nevermind," Ladybug muttered. "Where is it?"
"I sent M- Pegasus, the coordinates," Bunnyx replied. "We should be getting a portal... now."
Right on cue, a portal opened up.
"Alright, let's go!" Ladybug said.
"Aren't you forgetting something?" Bunnyx asked, and held out her hand.
"Huh?"
"The skates," Bunnyx said. "They're for me, aren't they?"
The akuma - who was Sandboy again - was sitting in the park, eyes closed. It would be easy to sneak up on him, except that Ladybug landed loudly.
The akuma's eyes didn't open, but the spiders, snakes, and zombies crawling out around him all turned towards them.
"I can't do this," Ladybug complained. "Not with my fear."
"That's what I'm here for!" Bunnyx said, patting Ladybug's shoulder. "Kite?"
Kota handed over her kite, and Bunnyx pulled the string from under it.
"Watch and learn."
And then Bunnyx was off.
Ladybug had seen Alix skate before, but not like this. She was nothing but a blue blue, ducking under and skating around the fears crawling from the akuma. The string threaded through the monsters, tripping them and tying them together.
Within moments, Bunnyx had the akuma trapped by the fears. A second later, the butterfly released.
"Skates, please," Ladybug said.
Bunnyx handed them over, a grin on her face.
"Miraculous Ladybug!"
The cure swept through the city. The fears around them vanished as Ladybug purified the akuma.
"Pound it!"
"I should head home," Kota said. "See you tomorrow?"
"You mean today?" Bunnyx asked, gesturing at the sunrise.
"You're kidding me, right?" Ladybug groaned. "I didn't realize the battle was taking that long!"
"School today is going to suck," Kota muttered. "See you then."
As Kota bounded off, Bunnyx turned to Ladybug.
"I want to apologize," she said. "I - I could have intervened earlier, but I - I guess I'm still nervous using my powers? What if I see something I'm not supposed to?"
"It's okay," Ladybug replied. "I get it. Time travel is tricky, you're doing great."
"Thanks," Bunnyx said. "Oh, by the way, do you know where Fu lives?"
"Yes, why?"
"I have something I need to ask him. Text me his address?"
"Uh - okay?" Ladybug's earrings beeped. "Gotta go, see you at school."
"Or don't! You deserve the day off!"
"I'll be fine!"
Marinette reached the door to her apartment, and stopped.
She was very much not fine.
What had her parents figured out? Did they suspect her? Did they suspect something worse?
"Oh, Tikki, what am I going to do?"
Marinette leaned her head against the door. Tikki watched her with concern.
"I think it might be time to tell them the truth," Tikki finally said.
Marinette nodded. "Yeah."
I really don't want to do this.
Marinette straightened up, took a deep breath, and opened the door.
Her parents were sitting in the living room, look somber and tired. Her dad perked up slightly when she walked in.
"Good, you're safe," he said.
"You didn't have to wait up for me," Marinette replied.
"We wanted to talk to you," her mom said. "You're not in trouble. Take a seat."
I'm not in trouble, I'm not in trouble, I'm not in trouble...
Marinette sat down.
"You know you can tell us anything, right?" Her mother began. "I don't know what it is you're so scared of us finding out, but you can tell us. I promise."
"And even if you don't," her dad continued. "We won't hold it against you."
"We love you, Marinette. No matter what."
Marinette stared at her hands, surprised to feel a tear running down her cheek.
"I have a secret," she said. "But that secret getting out isn't my worst fear. I think - I think I'm afraid of rejection."
"We know, dear," her mom said. "But we won't reject you."
"You know I had a falling out with my father," her dad added. "When that happened, I knew I would never treat my kid like that."
"Thank you," Marinette muttered. "I think I want to tell you two something."
"We're ready whenever you are."
"I'm Ladybug."
And that, of course, was when the akuma alarm went off.
Phobias listed above are:
Necrophobia: fear of death/dead things (zombies/skeletons in this case)
Arachnophobia: fear of spiders
Atychiophobia: fear of failure
Phonophobia: fear of sound
Nosocomephobia: fear of hospitals (I think it's canon that Sadie has this or something similar, but it wouldn't be her worst fear)
Aichmophobia: fear of sharp objects
And the fears I chose for each character:
Marinette: fear of rejection as herself (based on her original fear in "Sandboy", her problems confessing to Adrien, and her reaction to Lila) and fear of failure as Ladybug (which is probably tied to rejection)
Alya: fear of having the ability to stop something and not (which is based off of her insistence to always take a stand, the Majestia quote, etc)
Nino: fear of depression (will be developed more later probably)
Chloe: fear of disappearing/being invisible (based on her need to be loud)
Nathaniel: fear of people laughing at him/judging him (which could be why he reacted so badly to Marc initially, why he always sits in the back, part of why he was akumatized)
Sadie: fear of being helpless, shown via being stuck as bird (which happened in canon, but the being stuck as a bird is just representative of the fear of being helpless)
Juleka: fear of loud noises, due to my personal headcanon that she has sensory problems (which has influenced how I've written her in this story and in Kota)
Luka: fear of hurt to his family, born from the extra responsibility he has
Alix: fear of spiders (as mentioned in Kota)
Lacy: fear of dead things (not necessarily death, and this is just a random phobia not particularly influenced by her character)
Max: fear of sharp things (same as above)
Kim: fear of failure (will be explained in the next chapter)
Kagami: also fear of failure (due to her mom's abuse)
Rose: fear of hospitals (inspired partially by her backstory from Guiltrip)