Guest Reviews!
Dark, to your review on Chapter 10;
That they were; unfortunately for them.
Dark, to your review on Chapter 11;
Thank you!
I hope she can! XD
That he is. He's my little bundle of sunshine!
Dark, to your review on Chapter 12;
Yes, they are!
Oof. It would be. Unless if it was a Chat Noir supporter.
Fingers crossed and prayers sent!
(:)
This whole chapter - and I believe the one after it - takes place very shortly before the previous two Interludes. Ie; earlier the same day or the day before.
(:)
My Shelter
- Jordan Feliz
"And then whizz, Ladybug comes out of nowhere with a new superhero behind her, both heading high-speed towards the Eiffel Tower. By the time I got my phone out, she and the new guy were long gone." Alya waved her hands around, beaming at her best friend. "Seems like Ladybug is getting a replacement for Chat Noir, after all. I was right, girl!"
"Maybe not." Adrien shrugged from their right; eyes focused on the phone in his hands. "Maybe he's Chat Noir with new powers of something, so he and Ladybug can keep working together but without civilians getting in the way."
It's a good argument, Marinette thought, watching him carefully for any signs that he was lying, but you and I - or, more accurately, you and Ladybug - know the truth. And that's not it.
"Com'n, dude. Don't act like Dr. Buzzkill. This is great; Chat Noir is finally gone. Hopefully for good." Nino amended, crossing his arms as he fiddled with his bubble bottle. He hardly ever carried it after the Bubbler incident - where he literally forced all adults to suffer in outer space, and to think he thought Chat Blanc was bad - and seeing him clutching it was usually a good sign. Usually.
Now, all Marinette thought think of was, Traitor, while she glared daggers at Nino, snarling to herself.
He wasn't wrong, though. Adrien - Aspik - was Chat Noir's replacement, and Chat Noir really did believe that his gig as superhero was done.
"Well," Marinette shrugged, hoping to continue Adrien's story along, even though she knew it wasn't true, "If it's not Chat Noir, why'd Ladybug get a completely new partner instead of using some of the old temp heroes, like Rena Rouge or Carapace?"
Hesitation.
Alya and Nino stopped in their tracks, staring in shock at each other. Marinette could practically see the gears turning, amusement bubbling up within her chest.
It only increased when Adrien next spoke. "With all these Akumas skilled in experience and danger, and growing in it every day, wouldn't a previous hero be better than a new one?"
Nino and Alya continued to gaze at one another, as if each other's faces held the answer to mystery behind Adrien's words.
"Queen Bee is better than either of the other sissy-temps and that Chat-lamey." Chloé announced, marching past them in anger.
Marinette wasn't sure if she had been eves dropping on them or was just continuing a conversation with Sabrina, her lackey, who was stumbling behind as she mumbled apologizes to everyone she accidentally bumped into while carrying her and Chloé's backpacks in the same hand.
"Well, at least she's better then Chat Noir. Not better then- Wait, wasn't Queen Bee fired?" Alya inquired, tilting her head after the rich teenager.
"She was." Adrien flinched at Alya's blunt statement, still occupied with his phone. "Well, more of laid off instead of fired. But, seriously, why didn't Ladybug choose an old hero?"
"Maybe…" Nino said thoughtfully. "It's a guy with previous training. Someone she's had ready to take over for Chat Noir from the start."
Adrien paused at that, pocketing his phone, frowning a bit. "Maybe. I highly doubt that, though."
"Yeah, me too." Marinette agreed, maybe a bit too quick to be convincing. How could she not agree with every little thing Adrien said? "I'm sure Ladybug's busy; why would she spend so much time training someone as a replacement for someone who had yet to do anything wrong?"
"He did a lot of immature things, annoyed Ladybug, destroyed pretty much anything, and is – was – disrespectful to everyone who disagrees with him! Have you even heard of the Copycat accident?"
"No…" Nino blinked, confused.
Adrien and Marinette both nodded at the same time.
Then, the non-oblivious trio turned to stare at Nino.
"What? What's Copycat?" Nino asked, tilting his head as he frowned. "I don't remember him…"
"It was all over the news a while ago!" Alya huffed in exasperation, tossing her hands in the air. "How don't you remember? It was near the beginning of the akumas; one of the first twenty, actually. You know that statue in the park?"
"Yeah, everyone does." Nino rolled his eyes, shaking his head. "It's a tourist attraction, now. Marinette, tell them!"
Marinette's room was situated so that, by standing on her balcony, she had a view into the park nearby. In turn, the park housed the famous statue of Ladybug and Chat Noir. The memento had even been copied by sculptors-in-training, and, when it was done well enough, was shipped to different countries.
Rome, which housed a memorial for all the world-wide Miraculous heroes in the middle of the Colosseum, was one of the receivers of the forged copies. New York had another one, and so did a few smaller cities around the world that Marinette could never recall.
But, being the original, the statue in the park was a tourist attraction, the foreign visitors sitting in its shade, under the protection of the two heroes.
Until some vandal scribbled LOSER on the copper-Chat Noir's forehead. Now, people pointed and laughed at him and gazed with awe at Ladybug. It wasn't fair, wasn't right.
"Yeah." Marinette said quietly, rubbing her arm. "It is."
"Well, that statue was made by a man named Theo." Alya continued. "Reports alter, but one thing is clear; Chat Noir was the one who provoked him to be akumatized; and thus, Theo set about ruining his reputation, and did a pretty good job."
"Hey, haven't we all caused an akuma at some-" Adrien began, but Alya was already continuing.
"I don't understand you, Marinette. I thought you would be on our anti-Chat side. Remember, only about a year ago you called Chat Noir non-legit." Alya accused, narrowing her eyes at her best friend.
Adrien looked over at her, surprised. "You did?"
"Well… yeah, but I changed my mind!" Marinette protested, shooting Alya an identical look. "And didn't' you call Chat Noir 'pretty slick'?"
"I changed my mind!" Alya mimicked her best friend, shaking her head. "I thought he was at the time! That was before he killed everyone I know and love!"
Marinette flinched inwardly; he had killed two of her family; but they were fine now. It was…weird, honestly, how personalities wavered.
"Not everyone…" Nino shrugged, cowering back at the look she gave him. "I mean…uh… Yeah, pretty much everyone. Yeah. Unwilling agreement."
"I knew you'd come to my side." Alya grinned, cuddling up to her boyfriend, who draped an arm around her shoulders fondly.
"You two have the strangest romance I've ever seen." Adrien deadpanned, shaking his head.
"Yep. Those two are weird." Marinette agreed, shutting her locker.
"Oh, just because the woman is in charge of this chemistry?" Alya challenged, snarling.
"Curse of Eve." Adrien coughed into his arm, making sure that Alya heard him.
"Hey! I'm actually in charge of Nino!"
"Well, she doesn't control my life, but…" Nino flapped his hands in hopeless effort to make them understand. "…she scares me."
"Aw, I'm flattered." Alya beamed, smiling proudly at her boyfriend. "I love you."
"Yeah, I love you, too, babe." Nino obliged, giving her a one-sided hug.
"Romantic…" Adrien beamed, grinning at the two, way too cheerful with watching both of them going about their romantic endeavoring.
"Am I the only sane one here?" Marinette complained, throwing her arms in the air as she squeezed her eyes shut.
"No, no, I agree with you." Alix complained from the other row of lockers, glancing over at them. "I'm smart, too."
"Yeah, romance is the worst." Marinette agreed, pouting at the three of them.
Alya rolled her eyes in annoyance, and Nino balked. Adrien just shrugged.
Alix blinked steadily, shaking her head. "No, idiot. I thought you guys were talking about… what you're always talking about. You know, the Cha…whatever. Never mind." Glancing at the couple and Adrien, she bluntly grunted. "But Marinette is right. Ya'll are dorks. Romantic dorks. Le pire genre."
"The kind that doesn't like romance is the worst kind." Adrien returned arching his eyebrow at her in an unsaid challenge.
"Uh-huh. Romance is for dorks. And all four of you – even Marinette – are dorks. So, how about you two get the strings ready?" Alix waved at Adrien and Marinette, a smug grin on his face.
"I do not understand." Adrien frowned, glancing at Marinette, who shrugged in response.
"You know…tie the knot…means marrying…but, before that, you've got to have the strings. You two have gotta date. Get the strings ready to tie the knot. Go on a double date with your other dork friends." She nodded aimlessly toward Nino and Alya, who both nodded together as they stared at their best friends intently.
"Alix!" Marinette cried, back straightening in surprise, horror rippling across her features. "You-you…don't just… you can't…that…lupid…stupid… Alix!"
Adrien just stared at her for a moment before reacting. "Alix…just…stop. It's…that's…"
Alix shrugged, easily skating a circle around the two. "Just saying. You two would make the coolest power couple."
"Alix!" Both cried, Adrien more laid back as he simply groaned it, shaking his head as Marinette screamed it, red as a stop light.
"See? Adrien is water or whatever and Marinette is fire. You…complete each other. Anyway, gotta go, losers. Class." She skated backward, gave them a salute, then turned away and left.
How she walked up the stairs to class with skates on, Marinette would never know. The girl even wore them when she slept – they had learned during a sleepover – and would skate around during gym with them on.
It was a common theory that they were super-glued on when Kim and Ivan worked together to try to pull them off. And Alix had just watched with amusement.
Her smug personality was annoying, but nobody judged. Because Alix was feared by the entire school.
Alix was the kid in Collége Françoise Dupont that was heard about in every corner of school. It wasn't Chloe or Adrien, though they were both well-known and almost everyone was aware of their presence; it wasn't Max with his sharp intellect that won the school many prestigious awards, wasn't Nathaniel and Marc with their comics – which were now being sold at stores across Paris – and was not Alya with the Ladyblog or Nino with his stellar DJ skills. And it wasn't Marinette, the class representative who stood up to Chloe and was the daughter of the owners of the best bakery in France, knew Jagged Stone and designed not only his album but also some of the newest outfits and had her designs praised highly by both Audrey Bourgeois and Gabriel Agreste – even if she hadn't read their compliments in Style Queen.
No, the person known school-wide was Alix. Small, yes, but strong. She beat the school's-long-term-arm-wrestling-champion with one arm literally tied behind her back. She punched Theo the sculptor in the face when he tried to woo a thirteen-year-old girl. She could do one-handed-pushups and handstands, already had taken her driver's test and was just waiting until she came of age to get her license, knew more languages then anyone, and could literally skate off walls.
Legend had it that whatever she predicted came true; that she once held all of her classmates above her head could fly a boat, plane, or helicopter if need be, worked with Ladybug and Chat Noir multiple times, could fit fifteen cookies in her mouth, and was head gymnast for five years straight before she got bored. Of course, most of the final list were just rumors, but some of them had been proven true.
Young and lithe as she was, she held herself up tall, making all fear her. Those who were small but acted large were often feared, and Alix only proved the theory.
Only her friends didn't cower from her, and only a select few were her friends.
Namely, her class minus Chloe and Lila, who she called a whimpy drama queen. Causing Lila to burst into tears, weeping in sorrow.
Alix responded by telling her to stop acting four, and to take her hand out of the cookie jar before she got caught, earning confused stares form the class and wails of misery from Lila. And later on, she might have seen high-fiving Marinette and, five minutes after that, was spotted munching on a whole bag and three boxes of Dupain-Cheng bakery goodies.
In short…never question Alix's skates. She was way too creepy and cool to question. So… they didn't question or else they would probably die. Do not question her.
"She's so weird." Adrien voiced aloud, squinting after her. "How long have you been in the same school as her?"
"Seven years." Marinette shuddered, recalling all the feats Alix had performed in that time.
"As long as you." Alya responded staring after the short girl. "And I'm terrified of her."
"Six years." Nino nodded to Marinette. "Well, maybe it was seven, but I never noticed her back then."
"It was seven years for you, too." Marinette told him, arching an eyebrow. "We've been in the same school since we were in preschool, remember?"
Nino hesitated, before his eyes widened in realization. "Right… so, yeah, seven years."
"I don't understand how you survived her for that long." Adrien deadpanned, leaning back from them. "How, even?"
"She's better then Chloe." Marinette shrugged, closing her locker fully.
"Oh, yeah, totally." Nino agreed.
Adrien sighed at their antics, shaking his head. "Chloe's not all bad…"
Alya shrugged, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "We're not saying she is – though she is – we're saying Alix is just better."
Adrien looked desperately like he wanted to facepalm.
"Com'n, Adrien, she was joking. Tell him, babe." Nino begged, staring at his girlfriend with large eyes
"I wasn't joking." Alya teased, nudging her boyfriend playfully. "Let's just get to class."