Day 21 - Part 4
Ladybug touched down silently on the rooftop where Chat was. He… wasn't fighting. Just sitting there.
She snuck up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. "What's going on, Chat?"
He wasn't a bit surprised to see her. After all, it's hard to sneak up on someone with heightened senses. "I don't know. I can't figure out what she's doing. She hasn't said a word. I know she sees me, but she's purposefully avoiding me."
"Maybe her name could be a clue." Ladybug mused.
"But I don't know her name."
"Suppose we find out." Ladybug stood up, going over to where the Akumatized girl was. "Hey, you! You'd better give up or we'll have to do things the hard way." Ladybug deliberately used a threat that never worked. Villains didn't just "give up". They always did it the hard way.
"I guess we're doing it the hard way, then." The villain twirled her pencil in her hand.
Ladybug turned back to Chat Noir. "I think the Akuma might be in her pencil."
"I think you're right. Let's get it."
Ladybug began formulating a plan in her mind. "Okay. You distract her, staying out of danger, of course. I'll try to grab the pencil."
"Got it." Chat Noir immediately went to work, throwing lame insults and puns at the villain, solely as a means of distraction meant to give Ladybug a chance to do her thing.
"You're late." The villain hissed.
"Well, it's better to be late than arrive ugly. I spend a lot of time grooming, you know. After all, I am a cat." Chat quipped.
"Stop trying to be funny!"
"I'm not funny. I'm just really mean and people think I'm joking. Probably something in my dazzling smile, don't you think?"
"Ugh. This is boring." The villain had her pencil ready to strike.
One more, Chat. Come on. Ladybug was trying to send her partner a telepathic message to egg the villain on just a bit more.
"Oh, yeah? What makes you so exciting?" Chat asked, a cocky smile on his face.
"If you don't know, I guess I'll have to show you." Pencil touched to paper, and Ladybug instantly threw her yoyo out, wrapping it around the pencil and pulling it back to her. An angry expression took over the villain's face after another unidentifiable emotion flashed across her eyes, going unnoticed by the superheroes.
Ladybug broke the pencil in half and opened her yoyo, ready to catch the butterfly. "No more evildoing for you, little- huh? Where's the Akuma?"
The villain interrupted with a maniacal laugh, pulling another pencil from her pocket. "It's not there, Bug. But I am! I am Scribe, and you can't stop me!" With that, the villain now known as Scribe flew away towards the Eiffel Tower in the distance.
Chat pole vaulted over to Ladybug, who was standing on the Tour Montparnasse, dumbfounded. "Maybe it's in the book?" Chat suggested.
"Yeah. Yeah, it's got to be." Ladybug recollected her thoughts.
Chat flipped open his staff, checking the time. "You go ahead; I'll catch up with you in a few minutes."
"Why? What's wrong?"
"There's someone I have to check on. I'll be back, 'kay?" Chat took off without waiting for a response, but Ladybug knew exactly where he was headed. Back to the locker room.
"Time for the last phase of my plan." Ladybug mumbled to herself. She caught her yoyo on a street lamp, beginning the shortcut she knew to get back to Collѐge François Dupont. Chat Noir wasn't dumb; he would believe Marinette, but he needed proof.
Ladybug made her way back and slipped through the locker room window, noticing Chat's silhouette inching closer.
"Spots off." She hissed, feeling the transformation wither away with a flash of light and a gust of wind.
"I'll be lookout." Tikki said, zipping off to find an empty classroom. She did so in a few seconds, but not a moment too soon. Marinette raced after her Kwami and ducked into the room she would use as a temporary hiding place.
A minute later, she heard the soft thunk of Chat's boots on the ground and his careful footsteps going towards her empty locker. Marinette stayed as quiet as she could, peeking out the window as Chat Noir knocked on the door.
"Princess? It's me." He whispered to no one.
Marinette felt a tug at her heart. She didn't want him to get nervous, but it was part of her plan.
Chat's breath caught in his throat at the lack of response from his Princess. He told himself not to worry, that it was fine, she was fine. But his anxiety was rising; it would not let him wait another second. He threw open the locker door only to find it empty.
He began to panic, his breathing ragged as he looked around frantically for any trace of her. Carefully, he closed the locker, causing a folded paper to fall from the vent. He picked it up, impatiently opening it and reading the vague message scrawled in the middle. Where is elsewhere? When did Ladybug come across Marinette? Is Mari still okay? Was she ever okay? The questions were racing through his head a mile a minute.
Chat Noir ran a nervous hand through his hair overanalyzing every possible scenario as usual, but his mental ranting was interrupted.
"Psst." Chat whipped his head around, but nobody was there. "In the window." He glanced towards the nearest classroom window and was greeted with Marinette's sweet smile as she waved at him from inside.
At this point, Chat's head was pounding with fear, the rational side of his brain completely shutting down. He ran to the classroom door, tearing it open violently and heading straight for his Princess. With trembling arms, he pulled her into an embrace, a feeling of serenity washing over him.
Marinette had never seen Chat look the way he did. He was - to put it affectionately - a hot mess. His hair was mussed, his cheeks flush, and he seemed to be shaking more and more with every frantic step he took towards her. He pulled her into a bone-crushing hug, arms wrapped tight around her midsection, and she returned the gesture, nuzzling her face into the crook of his neck.
The pair stayed like that for a time that passed like hours, but felt so quick at the same time. Physical affection was never really necessary with them; they usually resorted to playful banter, mostly in the forms of flirting or puns.
But somehow the rare display felt natural to Chat Noir, as if it was a habit, and an addicting one at that. Marinette had a comforting presence, and Chat thought he could stand there forever, their breaths mixing and absorbing each other's body heat. The warmth she evoked was like a drug to him; it was the thing he had been missing for so long.
Although Marinette enjoyed it as much as her partner, she had been the one to end it.
"Don't you have a villain to fight?" She said, voice muffled by Chat Noir's shoulder.
He paused for a moment, then sighed. "Yeah. Yeah, I do." He slowly pulled away, holding both of her hands and staring into her eyes. "Will you be alright without me?"
"I'll be fine. Don't worry about me."
"If you need me to stay, I-"
"No. N. O. Ladybug might need help out there. She needs you more than I do."
Chat pouted, which Marinette had to admit, looked pretty cute. He resembled a little boy the way his arms were folded across his chest and he exhaled loudly.
"Fine. But don't think I won't be back."
Marinette smiled up at him. "Okay. I'll be here."
Chat walked to the door. "Bye."
"Bye."
Chat Noir was more at ease knowing Marinette was safe, though he certainly wasn't rid of his anxieties about worst-case scenarios and all that. He leapt more freely through Paris, taking in the mid-day beauty of the city as he headed to the spot where the Akuma victim seemed to be.
Marinette just hoped she could make it back before her partner got to where she was supposed to be and wasn't.
"Tikki, spots on!" She let her transformation envelop her, and she barely waited for her yoyo to appear around her waist before jumping onto the ledge and swinging off again, taking the same shortcut she used previously.
Luckily, she was right on time, and tried to appear as though she had been waiting for Chat Noir when he touched down next to her on the roof.
"What took you so long?" She asked the question innocently, as if she didn't know the answer.
"I, uh…look out!" He didn't have the time to finish his statement because Scribe was heading their way.
"The Akuma has to be in that book!" Ladybug regained her focus, letting all other matters go for the moment.
"You're right. We can't get to it easily, though. I think I've figured out her power."
"What do you think?" Ladybug didn't want to admit that she had been paying less attention than usual, so she let Chat Noir put in his two cents and decided to go from there.
"Okay, so Scribe writes a lot in her book, which fits with her name. When she closes it after writing, something happens."
Ladybug began. "So we either need to keep her from writing in it…"
"Or keep her from closing it." Chat finished.
"Right." Ladybug grinned. "Lucky Charm!" She threw her yoyo up into the air, hoping for a less obscure one than usual. She received a balloon in return.
"What do you think, m'lady?"
"Hmm…" Ladybug looked around, not seeing anything useful. "I can't find anything." She furrowed her brow, jumping to a lower spot. Her Lucky Vision began to take effect. A hose, Chat's staff, my yoyo. "Okay. I've got a plan. I'll need you to take out the book when I say 'go'."
"Well, honestly, you would make a much more appealing date, but…"
"Chat!"
"As m'lady wishes." Chat grinned, watching Ladybug leap onto the ground and following her.
She stretched the mouth of the balloon over the spout of the hose and turned the handle. The rubber expanded, and after a minute, the balloon looked like it was about to explode. Ladybug twisted the handle back so no more water flowed through and carefully plugged the mouth with Chat Noir's staff.
"Okay, I'm ready." Ladybug gingerly climbed back up onto the roof with the contraption, trailed by her partner, who still had no idea what was happening.
"Why didn't you tie off the balloon? It's going to explode the way you're doing it."
"Yeah." Ladybug grinned deviously. It was all part of her plan. "Here." She handed Chat his staff. "Extend it out to her and let me know when it's above the book."
Chat pressed the button and his staff extended, the balloon getting closer and closer to Scribe as Ladybug went around the other side. Once it was dangling in the air about a foot above the book Scribe held, Chat gave Ladybug a thumbs up. She threw her yoyo out and wrapped it around the mouth of the balloon.
"Now, Chat!" She yelled to him. Chat pulled his staff back, but the balloon didn't go with it, instead letting water flow out all over the pages of Scribe's Akumatized book. She frantically tried to brush the water off, but it wasn't going to work. Scribe tried writing in one of the pages, but it was soaked through, and the paper ripped easily.
"You!" Scribe screamed at Chat while Ladybug, meanwhile, had the perfect angle to grab the book. "Ah!" The book reeled back towards Ladybug, who hurled it back to her partner.
"Go!"
"Cataclysm!" Chat activated his power as the book flew into his charged hand, destroying it.
Ladybug leapt back over to Chat. "Thank you!" She turned back to the purple butterfly fluttering into the sky. "No more evildoing for you, little Akuma. Time to de-evilize!" Hurling her yoyo into the air, she intercepted the Akuma and brought it back to her. "Gotcha!" She released it into the sky again, now a plain white butterfly. "Bye, bye, little butterfly!" Ladybug picked up the empty balloon and threw it into the air. "Miraculous Ladybug!" With a few swarms of magic, the city was back to normal.
Chat suddenly remembered Marinette, who was likely fine, but he wanted to make sure. He began to leave, but Ladybug stopped him by holding out a fist.
"Bien joue!" Chat returned her fist bump and they congratulated each other on defeating another villain.
"Your earrings!" Ladybug put a hand to her ear. There were only two spots left, and one of them was blinking.
"Gotta go! Can you take care of her?" She gestured to the civilian girl sitting on the roof by them, looking dazed.
"Of course."
"You're the best. Bug out!" Ladybug waved to her partner before zipping away on her yoyo, anxious to get back to the school before Chat Noir got there.
Chat walked over to the girl. "Hey."
"Wh-what happened?"
"You were Akumatized, but you're okay now." Chat knelt down, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"Oh. Well, it was kind of silly, actually. I mean, why I got Akumatized."
"Why? If you don't mind me asking."
"Well, some girl stole my diary and read it to the whole class. It had a lot of secrets and things that never happened. Like, I had a crush on this guy and I made up stuff and wrote it in there. But it was super embarrassing and now I know he doesn't like me either."
Chat's ring flashed. He was down to two pads. "Well, you have to face your class sooner or later. Why don't you tell me where your house is and I'll take you there."
"Okay." Marinette would have to wait. He had other superhero duties to take care of and his Miraculous needed to be recharged.
Five minutes later, Chat Noir was back in business. He had gotten the girl back home in just enough time to duck into an alley before his transformation dropped. Luckily, he had an extra piece of Camembert on him in case of an emergency.
"Ugh. Finally." Plagg groaned dramatically, flopping on the ground.
Adrien pulled the cheese out and waved it under his Kwami's nose. Plagg opened his eyes wide and accepted the Camembert, finishing it in one gulp.
"Charged up?"
"Yep." Plagg said, mouth full.
"Good. Plagg, claws out!"
"Wait, I thought we were don-ahh!" Adrien ignored his Kwami's protest and transformed, hurrying back to finish the rest of the school day with Marinette. He saw her walking back home, probably to get Emma back, and he joined her.
"Hey, Princess."
"Hi, Chat." She reached out to push the patisserie door open, but Chat beat her to it.
"Ladies first." Marinette rolled her eyes, but there was a smile on her face.
"Hey, Maman." She said, walking inside.
Her mom was running the cash register at the time, so she greeted them first. "Hi, Marinette, Chat Noir. Emma is in the back room."
"Oh, yeah." Marinette said, suddenly remembering her other responsibility besides saving Paris. She went into the back and exchanged greetings with her father, picking a sleeping Emma up off the table carefully and starting up the steps to her room. Chat followed her, unsure why she was going upstairs and not back to school.
Marinette noticed her partner following her to her bedroom. "You can leave now, Chat. Unless you want to help me with my homework."
"What about school?"
Marinette raised an eyebrow and looked at the time on her phone. "It's practically dinnertime, Chat. You're welcome to stay for dinner, though."
"Oh, no, I can't stay. Thanks anyway."
Marinette smiled. "Sure. See you later."
"Bye." Chat Noir went back downstairs and out the door, secretly wishing he had more time to spend with Marinette and Emma.
That night, Marinette was having a lot of trouble focusing on her homework. Usually Tikki would provide some encouragement, but Marinette couldn't risk it. Even though Emma was a baby, it was too dangerous to let anyone know her secret identity.
She stumbled through a few long hours of physics, geometry, and literature homework, anxious to get to bed. But of course, as soon as she finished up and packed all her books in her bag for the next day, Emma started crying. Marinette flopped back onto her bed with a groan muffled by her pillow, but she cradled Emma in her arms and went downstairs to the apartment.
She found Emma's bottle on the counter and searched around for the tin of formula. After a few minutes of searching, she knocked softly on her parents' bedroom.
"Maman?" A moment later, Sabine appeared from behind the door.
"Yes?"
"Where did you put the formula?"
"Oh, dear. I think I left it downstairs. I'll get it for you."
"Thank you, Maman." Marinette sat down in a kitchen chair, rocking Emma in hopes that she would stop crying. Hopefully it wouldn't disturb Papa. He got kind of edgy if he didn't get his beauty sleep.
"Here you are, sweetie." Marinette's mom said, yawning, when she returned with the tin of formula. "Do you need help?"
"I can handle it, Maman. It's okay. Go back to bed."
Sabine chuckled at her daughter's attempt at independence. "If you say so." She blew Marinette a kiss before ducking back into her room and turning off the light.
Marinette set Emma down on the cushioned chair so she could make her some formula. She took a scoop of powder and put some water in the bottle, mixing it together. Once it was ready, she decided to take Emma back to her room so she wouldn't wake her parents. After all, they ran a business and had to get up early in the morning. She just had to go to school.
A little while later, Emma was fast asleep, as was Marinette. Marinette dreamed of Adrien again. She was holding hands with him and walking through a park somewhere. It looked like some fairytale land. She looked away from dream Adrien for a second, and when she turned back, she was with Chat Noir, not Adrien. And they were back on the candlelit rooftop with the roses, where Chat had confessed his love to Ladybug, but in the dream, it was Marinette he was with.
Marinette awoke with a start from the dream. More like a nightmare, she thought. Though perhaps not as bad as the time she accidentally told Chat she loved him so he wouldn't figure out her identity. But as long as it was only in her mind, it would stay that way. That's all it was. Just a dream.