I just re-read the previous chapter and realised Ladybug texts Chat Noir to meet him at "[location]" instead of an actual place. Proofread your work, kids. But also I don't think I can be bothered to change it xD
A note on akumas: I am TERRIBLE at writing action scenes. I'm working on it, but also given that I'm cramming this writing project into the non-existent teeny-tiny gaps in my horrendously busy life, I'm not gonna spend hours making it perfect. This... is what it is. I also just generally don't find the fight scenes especially interesting (have you noticed I'm all about the CONNECTION and EMOTION?), so this is likely to be the only detailed akuma scene in the fic. Sorry! You can safely assume that from now on, there are regular akuma attacks, but unless something plot-relevant happens they won't be mentioned more than in passing.
Ladybug stared down at the thing wreaking havoc on the streets of Paris and decided that she was not, in fact, hero material.
The akuma – that was what it had to be – looked wrong. There was no other way to describe the strangeness of it: the alien way it looked somehow two-dimensional, the brightness of the colours that seemed just slightly off, like a screen that wasn't calibrated right. What had Alya called it? A cartoon monster? Yes, Ladybug could see the aptness of the description. It was in the form of a woman at least ten or fifteen feet tall, towering over the terrified passersby as she screeched in a voice that echoed across the city. Her skin was blue and her strangely globular hair was purple.
"STUDENTS!" she was shrieking. "I HATE STUDENTS!"
Ladybug watched, frozen in a kind of fascinated horror, as she swung an accusatory finger around to various people on the street – most of whom, Ladybug saw, were indeed obviously students. They were cowering behind streetlights or huddled together in the vain hope that there might be safety in numbers. A bolt of light issued from the akuma every time she pointed at someone, and whomever it hit just… disappeared.
"THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!" the akuma wailed. "Every September it's the same! The students overrun the city! They ruin everything!"
A short girl with a blonde bob made a desperate run for it, aiming for a shop entrance, and was zapped into nothingness with a panicked scream. Her companion gave a yell of rage, but didn't last much longer himself. The akuma cackled with glee.
The whole thing felt so surreal. It should have been silly – funny, even. This wasn't some gritty Marvel Universe villain brutally murdering civilians, but a blue woman with a very specific grudge against students. Yet somehow the very absurdity of it all was the worst thing about it. Ladybug felt as though she was trapped in a dream that she couldn't wake up from, no matter how hard she tried, and with the haunting knowledge that if she didn't do something soon, there would be no waking up with a gasp of relief.
"Everything all right?"
Ladybug jumped and turned to be met by Chat Noir's tousled blonde hair and easy grin. Oh, thank God. She didn't have to do this on her own.
"Just… taking a moment to psych myself up," she admitted, looking up into his unnaturally green eyes. "Glad you made it. Do you remember our strategy?"
Chat Noir flashed her a sparkling grin. "I distract, you search for the akumatised object, and whoever can grabs it." It was less a strategy than simple logic, but it made her feel better to remember they had gone over this. He gave her a two-fingered mock salute. "Easy."
Without another word, he leapt towards the akuma.
Ladybug blinked in shock, then shook her head. Crazy cat. But she found that there was a grin on her own face as she followed him into battle.
The fight was a blur of unthinking actions and breathless manoeuvres, Ladybug's heart pounding in her chest as she tried to outmatch the akuma's speed and stay ahead of that judgemental finger. Chat Noir was exceptionally helpful, taunting the woman with silly quips that enraged her into stupid moves more than once, and he was so fast. Whenever Ladybug looked to him he was there, meeting her gaze, nodding as though he could read her mind. She mentally thanked whoever had given her the Miraculous for choosing such a good partner for her.
Still, it felt like hundreds of students and other innocent bystanders got caught in the crossfire, and every one that vanished felt like a bullet to Ladybug's heart. She was supposed to be protecting them, not watching them die! My powers will fix it, she kept telling herself, there's nothing I can do until I've got the akuma, but it was horrifying all the same.
The adrenaline high she must have been riding began to run out as they finally managed to corner the woman in an alley. Even with Ladybug's yoyo string looped around her arms, the akuma wouldn't give up, and Chat Noir narrowly missed four beams of light in quick succession. He yelped at the last one and Ladybug panicked, jerking the yoyo to try and tighten the string.
"Use the power!" Chat Noir called down to her from the wall he was somehow scaling as though a real cat. "Lucky charm!"
Relief and chagrin rushed through Ladybug. Of course! Why hadn't she thought of that? She summoned it and found a pair of handcuffs dangling from her palm. Perfect.
She realised that she was drenched in sweat, her chest heaving, as she stood back from the now subdued akuma. Should I start working out? I am not in shape for this. She shoved the thought down, focusing on the strength of her own fury at the whole situation. She would end this now, before any more innocent victims could be hurt.
"Where do you think the akuma is?" Chat Noir asked, peering over her shoulder. "I couldn't figure it out."
Not sure how she knew, Ladybug pointed at the bag held across the woman's chest. "There. Want to do the honours?"
Grinning – and somehow not nearly as sweaty as she was; that was patently unfair – Chat Noir lunged forward, his gloved hand held high, ready to Cataclysm the bag.
Just before his claw-tipped fingers made contact, something flashed over the akuma's face. The glowing outline of a purple butterfly seemed to hover over her skin like a mask. Her eyes unfocused, and then she rasped, "Hawkmoth has a message for you."
Chat Noir and Ladybug froze.
"What did you say?" whispered Ladybug.
What was so alarming about those words? The akuma had addressed them a few times during the fight – mostly to air her grievances about students – but there had been something strangely… direct, almost intimate, about this speech.
The woman's unnerving, unreal eyes looked straight into Ladybug's. "Hawkmoth is the master of the butterfly miraculous, and he warns you not to test him. If you hand over your miraculous jewels to me right now, he is willing to broker an agreement."
"An agreement?" Ladybug echoed incredulously. Who does this guy think he is?
That purple butterfly flashed once more. "I was but a test," the akuma warned. "Hawkmoth will not hold back. Surrender your miraculous and you, and the city of Paris, will not be harmed."
"Listen, lady," Chat Noir began hotly, surging forward again, but Ladybug held up a hand. The searing rage she'd felt during the fight at seeing those poor students murdered had subsided, and a cold, determined anger had taken its place.
"You tell Hawkmoth," she hissed menacingly to the akuma, "that we'll be willing to 'broker an agreement' when he surrenders himself to us and hands over his miraculous. Until then, Ladybug and Chat Noir" – she gestured at herself and the boy behind her – "will defend this city with every bone in our bodies. He can throw what he likes at Paris, but we are its heroes, and we don't intend to take our duty lightly."
She let the words hang in the air for just a second, and then she turned to Chat Noir. "All yours, chaton."
He gave her a startled glance at the term of endearment, which she pretended not to notice (where had that come from, anyway? It had just slipped out), and then let that wicked grin slide across his face again as he focused his attention on the akuma. "Au revoir, madame."
And the bag turned into dust.
The triumph that surged through Ladybug was short-lived; she had forgotten to account for the little black butterfly that was the real akuma, even though Tikki had warned her about it, and she and Chat Noir had to make an undignified exit in pursuit of the insect. Luckily, they caught it before it got far, and Ladybug performed what felt more like an exorcism than the 'purification' Tikki had called it. The butterfly turned white and flapped away, perhaps relishing its freedom.
"That," said Chat Noir, stretching, "was awesome."
Ladybug gave him a dirty look. "And you," she informed him, "are insane."
In a conveniently abandoned alleyway, she let the transformation drop. As Tikki coalesced from a beam of light, Marinette found herself shaking.
"What is it?" Tikki squeaked in alarm, hovering anxiously around her and trying to look into her face.
"It's – never mind. I'm fine."
She felt sick, though, and the idea of going back to the café and facing Nino and Alya was increasingly unappealing.
"Is – is it always this hard?" she burst out, not looking at the kwami but staring at the old stone wall in front of her. "To watch people die?"
She kept reliving the moment when that blonde girl had tried to run and not made it. It didn't matter that she'd seen the girl reappear from thin air – seen her and her companion hug each other with delighted relief; Marinette still knew what had happened. Ladybug and Chat Noir had saved the day, but it was horrifying to know that someone out there was willing to do something like this to achieve his ends. Hawkmoth. What did he want? Who was he? How could he possibly murder innocent civilians without blinking?
Tikki glanced down the alley at the busy street, where already everything seemed back to normal, and then settled on Marinette's shoulder. She weighed barely anything, but the touch was reassuring nonetheless.
"Marinette," she said gently, "it's because you find it so hard that you make a good Ladybug. I've had many, many humans wield my Miraculous over the centuries, and—"
"Centuries?"
"—I've learned that compassion is the Ladybug's biggest strength. Someone ruthless, someone who can coldly calculate the value of a human life and then utilise it, will never be able to wisely use the power I grant. I know that this is a big responsibility, and it always weighs heaviest on the wielders who care the most. I'm sorry, Marinette."
Marinette considered that, chewing her lip. "So that's a no, then? It doesn't get easier?"
"Think of it as weight-training," Tikki suggested. "I don't think it will get lighter, but you will get stronger and more able to bear it. Does that help?"
Marinette thought of Chat Noir throwing himself into the battle with little or no care for his own safety, and her own words – mostly bravado and the heat of the moment – to the akuma. We will defend this city with every bone in our bodies. Deep down, she knew it was true. She'd chosen this path, and she'd see it through; she didn't have to do it alone. She just wished she didn't feel so damn tired, when it was clearly only the beginning.
Still, she smiled. "You know, it kind of does."