How to make lovesquare happen in this setting and more to be answered in this chapter. I have a plan, I say as I try to make this work hah
Adrien looked at the sun about to set on the horizon, his heart thumping in his chest as the star slowly faded from the sky. This wasn't his first transformation, but it was the first time he was going to venture out of the boundaries of the castle. His nerves were trying to betray him, force him to rethink what he was about to do but he shook his head.
He wanted to go, he needed to see the outside world. Being trapped was just so unbearable he was surprised he had resisted that long. And yes, he would have to be extra careful until the sun came out again, but that was why he had been doing calculations with the help of Nino and Kagami. It'd take him three hours from the castle to the nearest village if the approaches of the telescope they had were accurate enough.
Even so, it'd take him longer without getting lost, especially because he didn't know the path throughout the woods. At least he'd travel while transformed, which made him faster and stronger than his regular human shape.
Dusk covered the sky, a sliver of light now fading from sight as Adrien took a deep breath, waiting for the transformation to occur.
He felt the fur growing on his face, covering most of it like a masquerade mask, stretching all the way down his back, torso, legs that were now more like paws while his hands gave away to long, thick black claws. It didn't hurt, but it always made him feel uneasy the first seconds until he got used to his new height and limbs.
Adrien looked at the castle one more time and nodded, turning to the entrance and sprinting towards the woods.
It was, in one word, amazing. Adrien had tested out his night body before, on the courtyard and attacking weeds, but now? To run through the forest, everything was different. He wasn't tripping, his eyes allowed him to see everything with better clarity than if he were a human.
Soon enough he found himself in what seemed to be a clearing, stopping on his tracks as he recovered some air. The weather was cold, but he didn't seem to mind it thanks to his fur, still, he made sure not to step on something out of respect of the place, for it made him feel the presence of magic around him.
"Not bad kid," Plagg said in front of him "you aren't far from the closest village if you go that way."
Adrien looked in the direction Plagg was pointing at. He couldn't' see anything beyond the line of trees, but he had nothing to lose with exploring in that direction.
"Do you know how long it is until sunrise?"
"Hm, well you had quite the fun back there," Plagg snickered "but you are good on time, you could even take a cat nap if you want."
Adrien raised an eyebrow. He didn't want to risk sleeping off and running the chance of someone finding him in his beast state.
"What about the clue?"
"Reach the village and you'll find it," Plagg shrugged and watched Adrien sigh and turn to run towards the direction Plagg pointed out.
"Do you think he'll get it?" he turned towards Tikki, who had appeared right next to him.
"Not at first, but I have faith" she hummed "my soul will be ready for him."
"I still don't think it'll work out."
"That's because you are a little pessimistic" Tikki smiled at him "it won't be easy, but I know she is the right one."
"And how, dare I ask, will she encounter him?" Plagg smirked, "aren't the humans wary of our domain?"
"You could say that," Tikki turned "but I also can play a hand if I wanted to."
They both disappeared, leaving the clearing empty from any presence of magic.
Funny, one would think, that these two creatures were, in their own way, having fun with human lives. As said before, Magic does not follow our morals or rules. Yet sometimes they do seem to align with what is right or wrong.
In Adrien's case, he was closer to the village, yet his form was still that of a beast, so when he spotted the first settlements of the village, he stopped on his tracks. The sky was still dark, which meant he would have to wait until the sun to venture towards it. He walked towards a large pine and rested against it, his sight on the village that grew beyond the moorland. He was excited, the chance to see people, human beings that would talk to him, interact without Adrien trying to figure out where their eyes were.
He was so excited about it that he thought he was not going to fall asleep, but little did he notice he had ended up more exhausted than he thought from his sprint, soon falling into a nap against the tree.
Unbeknownst to him, in the baker's home, Marinette struggled with her thoughts.
After spending the day with Alya, she dreaded the idea of coming back home, because not only would she have to see her father's apologetic smile from the failed courtship meeting and her mother's words of encouragement.
She didn't expect, however, to be met with yet another suggestion of courtship.
"So, we heard Luka was coming to visit," Tom Dupain, Marinette's father, said while they were having dinner.
"Yes, to celebrate his sister's proposal" Marinette fiddled with her bread, dreading already the conversation "papa, Luka and I are just friends."
"I know," he sighed "but Marinette dear, the…pastor passed by today and-"
There it was, the insistence of the damn church (a part of Marinette gasped at the insult).
"I still have time, don't I?" Marinette frowned "I will chat with Luka yes, but I implore you not to mention any courtship, not yet."
Sabine glanced at Tom, who just nodded in agreement. They didn't want to force Marinette into it, but they had seen beforehand when Marinette had been just a baby of a few months, how people who refused the rules of the village would be shunned and sentenced to downright denigrating tasks until they yielded.
The reasoning behind that rule was beyond their knowledge, as it had been something that had been there since they were both children, but no one had dared to check upon the records, as the Church of Blossoms had a strong reign on their information.
"But I could bake something for him, do we still have blueberries, papa?"
"I think so yes, there should be in our storage room," Tom said, and just like that dinner resumed their usual way.
Marinette didn't hold it against her parents for the whole courtship situation, of course not, but she just needed a breather from it. She despised it, where was her autonomy? Her choice? She went to bed with that in mind, aware that if she was going to bake a blueberry pastry for Luka (as she remembered he was fond of that fruit) she'd have to wake a little before sunrise.
It didn't occur to her until she woke up that she should have checked the storage room because when she entered the room, the jar of blueberries was empty. She squinted as she lit the room more, noticing that the jar was indeed closed tight, but there was no trace of the fruits in it as if they had disappeared by magic.
Which, wouldn't be shocking for Marinette, but she assumed her father had left the jar there while distracted, rather than a magical explanation.
"Great," Marinette frowned and rubbed her eyes. Had she been more awake, she would have noticed the faint scent of vanilla, but the storage had so many spices and fruits, it wasn't her fault to miss out on that clear evidence.
This led her to two options. She could either do something else, but it wouldn't have the same intention of thought… or she could venture to the moorland, where she knew there was a bush of blueberries a little closer to the woods than allowed.
She mused her options. It was still dark but not enough for her to stumble on her feet, and maybe she could be lucky and be done so fast that they wouldn't notice her being so close to the woods. An idea crossed her mind. What if she went with a small disguise?
If she wore something that was unusual, then if someone were to see they would think it was a foreigner. The guard was wary of them, but because foreigners used different clothes from the usual village outfits, they just kept a close eye, until they did something suspicious.
Marinette hurried back to her room, careful not to wake her parents as they still had an hour or so before getting to work, and looked through her wardrobe. In the back of it, there was an outfit she had used a few years ago when she had attended a festival with her parents in a nearby village. Everyone was in costumes and masks and Marinette had been so excited she jumped in glee when she found one that was red with black dots, like a ladybug, like how her mama used to call her.
It felt a little tight when she put it on again, a pair of black slacks that felt more like hugging her legs now and a long red gown that now reached her knees. She would have to make some adjustments later when she had proper light. With it, there was also a mask to cover half of her face, the fabric a little worn but Marinette found it suitable enough. To finish off, she pulled a long red cape that she had made when her father brought her the fabric from one of his trips. It wasn't a bright red, but the scarlet was already not part of her usual wardrobes no one would think it was her at first glance.
Marinette looked at the mirror and was surprised by the difference. The outfit was nice enough, but she still let her hair loose underneath the hood, just to make sure they wouldn't recognize her, and grabbed the jar from the storage before sneaking her way to the moorland.
She knew the shortcuts through the village, but she still found it difficult in the dark to not trip and make a noise, her heart racing when she reached the edge and found no one of the guards around. So, they were doing their rounds on the other side, that was perfect.
Marinette walked with a lot of care through the moorland, her heart skipping when she reached the edge of the woods. She felt the trunk of a sandal tree, one that helped her know the limit, and took a deep breath. She had brought a lantern but still didn't want to risk lighting it up to alert of her presence, so she would have to rely on her memory.
She took a step inside the woods and then another, then another, and soon she was at least fifteen steps inside the forest. Marinette let out a breath of relief and was tempted with her hands until she felt the bush, the leaves familiar to her touch when she heard the snap of a twig, a squeak coming out of her mouth before she slapped it shut.
She hadn't seen the big figure that was resting on the other side, against a tree, but he definitely had seen her. Adrien gulped when he woke up and saw it was still dark but he was no longer alone. In front of him, kneeled next to a blueberry bush, was a person. He couldn't see their face as it was covered by a cloak, but when they turned in his direction his eyes caught a big pair of eyes. He cursed that moment his night vision, for it left no colors for him to identify.
"Ah, I'm sorry," he said, trying to sneak behind the tree, only to realize that the person couldn't see him "I didn't- "
"Are you a foreigner? A spirit?" she raised her hands as if she was trying to put herself in a fight stance "a thief?"
Adrien blinked, the person had stood up and looked around, trying to find where he was but was unable to see him. This made him feel just a tad bold to peak out of the tree and take a closer look at the person.
"You could say that… I've been traveling from the other side of the woods and I was looking for the village-"
"Oh," he saw their shoulders slump in what had to be a relief "the village is not far from here, you have to cross the moorland."
"Oh, oh yes but, I was waiting for the sun, you see, it would be rude of me to just venture in the dark."
"Hm, that is a fair point…mister?"
"Oh call me –" Adrien clicked his tongue, was it safe to say his name? He was, after all, still, a beast at that moment, and the least he wanted was to scare the one person that had found him "Chat Noir."
He heard a snort.
"Seriously? That's your name?"
"Well, I can't be too cautious when someone I don't know sneaks to the woods right…?"
"Well, you can call me Ladybug then."
"Ladybug?" he tried not to sound too amused.
"Yes," she grinned and Adrien found it a little amusing "now if you'll excuse me Chat Noir, I have to finish gathering these berries before the sun comes out."
"Oh? And how come?"
"I have something to bake," Ladybug shrugged, her hands picking the berries to fill a jar she had by her side "and if someone asks, you didn't see me here."
"Is it not allowed to pick berries?"
"Hm, not quite" Ladybug stood and held the jar close to her chest "but who knows, I might see you around the village if that's your destination, have a good day Chat Noir."
"Have a good morning Ladybug" he smiled, watching the girl turn around and stumble her way out of the woods, just as the first slivers of light appeared through the sky. Nick of time, Adrien had to admit, as his fur disappeared from his limbs, his hair turning the usual blond and his eyes adjusting to the human sight. It was still dark so he couldn't really see beyond the moorland, but in the distance, he spotted her, a figure in a red cloak disappearing through the village's gates.
"Ladybug," he smiled "now I see why."
Adrien fixed his clothes and dusted off the dirt from his cloak. If he was going to pretend to be a foreigner from another village, he'd have to use the regular road. Well then, time to see if his plan would work out.
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