"I'll start over one hundred times if I have to. All I have to do is win once." Gabriel shut his eyes angrily. This is impossible, I should have won.
I'm sorry, Emilie. I'm a failure.
The window lens on his sanctuary began to close, signifying the bitter defeat. He clenched his fist. How had he lost again? Surely Moolak had been a villain too difficult to beat. Ladybug used nine other superheroes, and he couldn't get one of their miraculouses. One!
He dropped his transformation and stood in the dark. Nooroo and Duusu floated beside him in silence. They knew better than to speak.
What would Emilie say, Gabriel wondered, if she could see him now? Trapped in his obsessive fantasies. Trying endlessly to save her, and failing every time. He needed to try harder, to find a different method of attack, anything to stop that cursed Ladybug and her feline partner.
That thought stopped him. Where was Chat Noir today? He knew for a fact that Moolak hadn't captured him in hero or even civilian form- he would have sensed the miraculous if it was that close to him.
If only he could discover their identities. That would be his best bet, allowing him to form a new method of attack and be one step ahead. He had money and fame and power and resources.
He needed someone to discuss these issues with, but it couldn't be Nathalie, not right now. She was still frustrated with him, he knew, and he also deserved it. Perhaps, in the morning when she was calmer, they could discuss putting more effort to this cause.
They couldn't defeat him much longer. Some day, he would win.
Even Su-Han had noticed the chill between Ladybug and Chat Noir recently. Recently, he'd done his best to ignore most of the... incidents- even he had known better than to step in for those, because most weren't even incompetent hero-ing (was that a word? No? Well, Su-Han just made it one.), they were just teenagers being teenagers. He should have swapped these holders out for adults when he had the chance.
But the real problem lies with Chat Noir. Recently, Su-Han knew, he's been starting to feel excluded, missing fights or just show up to them completely miserable. Even Su-Han noticed the changes- he stopped with the flirting and the puns. Some people swear they saw Chat Cataclysm part of a building (or smash it with his stick, the story differs from person to person) while he was supposed to be fighting the SentiBubbler. (Su-Han wasn't certain about that one, because he hadn't been in Paris at that time.)
But today was the last straw. Ladybug used nine villains to defeat 'Moolak', when all they needed was two. But the second one was off doing God-knows-what and the guardian couldn't even call him because she doesn't know his identity! That was too much, even for him.
So he marched into the sewers, where he knew Ladybug would be meeting the holder of the snake miraculous. It was surprising that they were using a secondary location, but when he didn't see that blue-haired kid at his usual spot, he figured out what was going on. This was Ladybug's last stop, and her most private one.
Viperion was on time. Ladybug was not. Su-Han had to wait for her for hours, while he watched the blue-haired boy- Lucas? Luka?- do the same. He looked absolutely miserable.
This only went to prove his point.
Just before midnight, Ladybug slid into the sewer at last. Collecting the other miraculouses was no easy task, and it had taken a bit longer than usual since there were so many and she had been so careful. Even so, Luka was still waiting patiently for her. He was always waiting on her.
This isn't fair, she thought. I don't deserve him.
She hated keeping secrets from him. Hurting him. She still didn't feel comfortable talking to him one-on-one. It was so unfair to him.
Even so, she wanted to talk to him. He had been acting a bit strange lately, and she was wondering whether it had to do with the akumatization of his parents, his sister getting a miraculous, or his breakup with Marinette. She just wanted to check on him and make sure he was doing okay. She also wanted to apologize for how she treated him during the fight- making him try one hundred combinations on that lock- and remind him that he was doing a good job. She was sure he would understand. He always understood.
"Hello, Luka," she said softly, blushing. She even forgot to use his hero name. She wasn't good at talking when she was nervous or flustered. But this had to be said. She had to show that she cared about him. "Thank you for all of your help today."
"It's no problem, Ladybug," he replied calmly. "All in a day's work." How he could be so calm about things, she had no idea.
"No, really," she pressed after taking a deep breath. "I… Trying every possible combination? That must have been really hard, even if it only took you a hundred tries. It was a crazy idea to begin with, and I shouldn't have expected that much from you."
"Thank you, Ladybug. But you know I'd do anything for you- for the team, for Paris." He gave her a sincere smile that could have melted the Sun. Seriously, she nearly turned into a flustered puddle right on the spot.
"A-are you sure?" Ladybug stammered. Dang it, why was she stuttering? Luka nodded, not seeming affected. "O-okay, but I also wanted to check on you, Luka- uh, Viperion. You've been acting a bit strange lately, and I wanted to make sure you were ok."
Viperion's smile turned from sincere to sweet, but was Marinette imagining things or did he turn a bit paler? "It's very sweet of you to check on me, Ladybug. But please don't worry about it, okay? I'm perfectly fine." He waited until Ladybug nodded before he smiled at her again.
"Scales Rest." He slid the bracelet off of his wrist.
"Thanks, Luka," Ladybug said, blushing awkwardly as she reached for the miraculous, but before she could retrieve it, a blur of red and black bounded forward and grabbed her wrist.
"Well this really takes the cake!"
"Grand Master Su-Han?" Ladybug managed to get out, stunned by his sudden appearance. She looked up into his stern face. He was clearly upset.
"Nine!" he shouted, and in the second before he continued, Ladybug was certain that he had lost it. "You used nine Miraculouses to defeat a single villain when all you needed was Chat Noir and his Cataclysm!"
Ladybug tried to suppress the anger building in her chest. She tried to respect the guardian, she really did. But his constant insistence on the "old ways" and persistent questioning of Ladybug's judgement after showing up out of nowhere rubbed her the wrong way. Ladybug and Chat Noir had been doing this for months on their own, and they did not need Su-Han's approval. He didn't have a miraculous himself. How would he know what they needed to win a battle? He just stood on the sidelines, safe, and criticized what they were doing while they were working their butts off! He simply refused to leave well enough alone.
"I had to, Chat Noir was missing!" Ladybug explained defensively. Luka just stood by helplessly, snake miraculous clutched so tightly in his closed fist that his hand was turning white.
Su-Han's face scrunched up. He clearly did not think that was an acceptable answer. "What do you mean missing? You can't just let the holder of the most powerful Miraculous go about as he pleases! What if he started making his own decisions, or acting out, like Shadow Moth?!"
The hair on Ladybug's neck bristled at the suggestion, and to her, the sewer suddenly felt a lot colder. Oh. My. God. First of all, Su-Han was really starting to get on her nerves. But other than that? Acting like Shadow Moth? How dare he? How could he even think such a thing?
"Cat Noir? Act like Shadow Moth? Wow. Are you blowing this out of proportion just a little?" snapped Ladybug. She wasn't even trying to keep the sarcasm and bitterness out of her voice.
Su-Han glared at her unpleasantly, like how-dare-you-talk-back-to-me. "Not at all," he insisted. "In fact, you should find out who Cat Noir really is, so you can have better control over him, to… neutralize him, if necessary."
Ladybug growled. She hated how Su-Han was talking about her Kitty. Talking like making his own decisions andgoing about as hepleased were bad things? Control him? Neutralize him?! What the actual heck?! How could Su-Han act like Chat Noir was just a puppet on a string? No, he was a human, with feelings. He was her partner, and they were equals.
Either way, she could not fulfill Su-Han's request, for reasons of her own.
I might as well destroy YOU, ME, OUR MEMORIES... EVERYTHING!
MEGA-CATACLYSM!
She hugged herself tightly. Was it just her, or did the sewer become even colder? She wanted to go into a corner and cry. Discovering her partner's identity was out of the question. She couldn't bear to see him like that ever again.
Give me your Miraculous so everything could go back to the way it was.
Regaining her confidence, Ladybug shot back, "No way! We can't know our true identities! It would be too dangerous if Shadow Moth got a hold of one of us!"
Things were purr-fect until Hawk Moth found out about everything.
She did not mention that Shadow Moth had gotten a hold of one of them before. Su-Han could never learn of Chat Blanc. If he knew how powerful the miraculous of destruction could truly be, he'd take it from Chat in an instant.
Give me a hug… MARINETTE.
"I. Do not. Care." Su-Han spat in her face, emphasizing each word. She pulled away. "Deal with this problem quickly, otherwise I will take his Miraculous the next time I see him! And I'll choose the new Chat Noir myself!"
"A… a new Chat Noir?" Ladybug whispered in horror. She couldn't even imagine it. "No, you can't do that! I need Chat Noir."
I'm not Chat Noir anymore. I'm Chat Blanc.
"I can do that, and I will. You may be the guardian, but I'm the celestial guardian, and therefore I am above you. You need a Chat Noir."
Ladybug felt a free growl rising in her throat, wanting to fight back, but she realized she could not win. She knew how valuable it was to have Su-Han as an ally. She barely knew what she was doing, and she didn't need any more enemies. She could find a solution, she always did.
It was our love that did this to the world, m'lady.
"Wait, wait, I have an idea. If only you know who he is, would that be enough?"
Su-Han paused to consider this. "I… I suppose so. But I warn you, if you can't control him…"
Ladybug bit back her response. "I get it. Chat Noir will be replaced."
Su-Han frowned and nodded, satisfied that his demands would be met, then grunted and hopped away.
"Are you really going to do as he asks?" Luka questioned. His concern was obvious in his voice, which Marinette found to be very cute- uh, I mean sweet, she corrected herself quickly.
Ladybug hesitated, before saying, "I don't have a choice. I can't fight the Celestial Guardian, and I can't lose Chat Noir. If you don't mind, Luka?" She offered him the miraculous. He nodded. "I'm sorry. Looks like I'm gonna need you again after all."
She felt bad for asking him to do this for her even after midnight, but she couldn't lose her Kitty. Not again.
Luka nodded again, this time in understanding. He took back his miraculous and transformed into Viperion.
This was gonna be a long night.
A/N: Read and Review! Here's a bit of Lukanette before all of the major Adrienette happens. (If you don't like Lukanette, please keep to yourself and just wait, because this episode has THE most Adrienette. I ship both personally, but I would prefer the love square to be cannon.) Also, it really annoyed me how Su-Han talked about Chat Noir, and I really wanted to have Ladybug stand up for her partner. This chapter was pretty fun to write. Hope you enjoyed!
Review Responses: Again, chill guys, I don't actually fully believe in the sentimonster theory. I'm just using it for this specific fanfic. I don't know why I even have to say this, but please relax and stop commenting on it. If you don't believe it, just ignore it or consider it an AU. Everyone has their own opinions but please stop saying bad things about my story in the reviews just because it follows a specific AU. Thanks to those who are being respectful. Also, no, this FanFic does not have any Lukanette. Luka and Marinette will not get together, Adrien and Marinette will, just like in the episode. :)
Also if any of y'all are waiting on me to update my other stories, I swear I will soon! I've just been super busy recently. Thanks for your patience!
See 'ya next time!
