Summary:
Just when Marinette thinks it's over, she finds herself in a sudden fight for her will and her sense of self.
NOTE:
FOR A WHILE I FORGOT AND WONDERED WHY I LEFT , BUT NOW I REMEMBER, THE IMMATURE HATE REVIEWS LEFT BY ANONS WERE ANNOYING. DESPITE LEAVING NOTES, ANONS STILLS READ THE FIC AND DROPPED HATE INTO MY COMMENTS SECTION.
This site is so toxic, I only just came back to drop updates, and immediately am bombarded by hate PMs and comments. Fanfiction is a way of expression, if you don't like the way I express myself through this fic, why read it till the end?
Like there is enough hate in this world, grow up.
NOTE 2:
To my readers who are civil, thanks for reading, I hope each and every one of you is okay during these trying times.
Chapter: Virtues Of The (Un)yielding P.1
It takes them 20 minutes to finally take care of the akuma. Both Noir and Ladybug are eager to return to school. But it's not as simple and quick as Ladybug thought it would be.
"Stop brooding.", Chloé Noir says, walking over to the teenage boy who sat on the cement, arms hugging his knees to his chest. Kim, the boy who had been akumatized merely keeps his gaze down. He says nothing.
Ladybug begins to draw closer, staying behind her Black Cat. She looks on, she ignores the first 'beep' of her earring. She wants to understand what happened to Kim. How he had fallen victim to his emotions. What had set him off.
Noir gets to the teen and kneels down, "Don't beat yourself up.", she says. Sympathy clear in her tone, her expression was softer, gentler and genuine. It was clear that Chloé had no interest in playing coy or being a jack ass.
The boy sighs heavily, he finally looks up and meets Noir's gaze, "How could I not?", he breathes out. "I'm horrible. I...I left her...alone, I didn't do anything...I abandoned her when she needed someone the most.", his voice shakes slightly. "Everyone just...let her down.", his eyes once again look away. His expression was downcast.
Ladybug wears an expression of sympathy for a moment. But her expression quickly changes when she feels her chest ache. Why should she sympathize with him? He didn't deserve any, not from her. She sighs softly, "Noir. Let's go.", she say, her voice is firm, her expression hardens. She begins to turn away, wanting to leave.
But then she hears it.
"Marinette was the nicest person I ever knew. There was just no way she was the person Lila made her out to be. I should have known better.", Kim says.
Ladybug stop walking for a moment, she stands still, processing what she just heard.
Noir sighs and stands up straight. A small frown on her lips. "Don't think too much on it. People like Rossi get caught, eventually.", she says. Her ring begins to 'beep' a little more, she brings her hand up to her line of sight and sees how much time she has left before she loses her transformation. She's got a minute.
"Yeah.", he says bitterly, eyebrows furrowed and eyes narrowed. "But by the time everyone takes their heads out of their asses, everything's going to be even more fucked up.", the teen's nose flares slightly.
Noir can see that Kim's anger was still very much present. She feels that this may just be the beginning of something else. Something that Lila would end up being the center of.
Ladybug on the other hand, feels something familiar starting to bubble up in her chest. She feels her eyes starting to tear up, her vision begins to grow blurry. Her earrings start to 'beep' more frequently. She knows they must go. "Noir, let's go.", she says again, her voice falls quieter, her lips pulling into a frown.
Noir turns to look over her shoulder, she was going to say something, but just as she turns, she sees Ladybug wearing a forlorn expression, she sees tears shining, unshed, glistening in her eyes. She gives in. She turns back to Kim, wanting to leave him one last piece of advice. "Hold it together.", she says and she turns completely around and begins to jog over to Ladybug.
Both heroes disappear.
But not before a few onlookers snapped a few pictures of them.
There's a silence between them. Both had lost their transformations together once they landed in an alleyway. Chloé practically trips and falls to the floor beside the very dumpster Ladybug rounds and loses her transformation behind. It's certainly a little embarrassing.
"Smooth.", Plagg says, teasing as he sits idle by the corner of the dumpster.
Chloé blushes and sends Plagg a warning glare. She sighs and settles into a sitting position, she sits with her back against the cool metal of the dumpster. "Are you...okay?", she asks after a few seconds of thinking over her words.
"Yeah.", Ladybug says, her voice is much more quieter than Chloé swears she's ever heard.
And Chloé feels her heart ache just a little bit. "Has...Marinette told you...about what's happened?", she asks. She feels that the expression and tone Ladybug took after Kim spoke, was most likely due to how close Ladybug was to Marinette. Certainly Marinette had talked to Ladybug, right? For a moment, Ladybug says nothing. Chloé falls silent herself, waiting for Ladybug to speak first, if she was even going to.
And after a few moments, Ladybug does. "Yeah. I...know everything.", she says slowly.
Chloé sighs, picking up her gaze she turns to her right, her eyes go wide for a moment as she sees Ladybug's bare left hand over Plagg, gently patting him over the head and softly brushing her thumb over his head. It feels weird, Chloé can't help but acknowledge, being so close to a civilian Ladybug, so close to whoever Ladybug truly was under the mask. She collects herself. "Pretty fucked up huh…", her lips parted to say.
"Yeah.", Ladybug answers, quietly.
"Who cares about those idiots?", Plagg says, "As long as Marinette has Chloé, Me and Cheese, nothing can get us down.", the kwami gives the heiress a smug toothy smile.
Chloé feels her cheeks flush, she smiles sheepishly. She was going to speak again but her words died off once she caught a glimpse of another Kwami.
"Quiet, Plagg.", Another Kwami says, floating down towards where Plagg was, a cookie in it's grasp. The kwami settles over Ladybug's hand once it stills over Plagg. "Here, recharge.", the kwami offers to share the cookie.
"Awwww!", Plagg whines as he slips out from under the hand, he sees the cookie in Tikki's grasp, "No cheese!?", he asks quite disappointed.
The kwami nods, "No, you ate all of the cheese my master brought before hand.", The kwami frowns lightly.
And before Chloé knows it, the two Kwamis begin to bicker. Eventually splitting the cookie, but they continued to bicker. Chloé stills, observing the two kwamis. Plagg and…"Ladybug?", she says softly, practically gawking at the spotted kwami.
The kwami looks away from Plagg who was sticking his tongue out only to look up to meet the human's awestruck gaze, she smiles lightly and nods, floating upwards, "Greetings.", she greets the heiress politely. "My name is Tikki, I am the kwami of Creation, the Ladybug Kwami.", she says.
And Chloé is internally freaking out. "O-Oh...Cool...cool.", she says sheepishly.
Plagg smirks, "Chloé here is huge fan-", the kwami begins but does not get to finish because as soon as he begin his sentence Chloé began to reach for him and pokes him twice.
"Shut up, Plagg!", Chloé says, her face growing red.
Tikki merely giggles, she settles once again over her Master's hand. She was certainly enjoying the rapport that Plagg had developed with the human heiress. She smiled fondly as she watched Chloé's finger jab Plagg, her eyes falling onto the hand, she was falling into thought when she suddenly realizes what's before her once her eyes take notice of the golden ring. "Master!", Tikki squeaks and flies up to return to her master's side.
Chloé doesn't hear much, the only thing she hears after a moment is, 'Spots On.', and a flash of light follows after those words were said, and Ladybug suddenly stands up and leaves from her side of the dumpster. Cheeks flushing slightly. "Ladybug?", the blonde says questioningly.
"Uh, I gotta go. Um, Give the ring back to Marinette when you see her okay?", the ravenette says a little quick, "Uh also, good job today.", she quickly spins around and throws her yoyo into the air and she leaps up and disappears onto the roof of a building.
"Wow, She must be in a hurry.", Plagg says as he finally finished his share of the Cookie.
"Yeah…", Chloé merely breathes out. She turns to look at Plagg, "Come on, we should head back to school to Look for Marinette.", she finally gets up to her feet and dusts herself off.
Plagg nods his head enthusiastically, "Sounds like a plan."
Marinette sighs deeply as she enters the school through one of the bathroom's windows, she's quick to de-transform and as soon as she does, Tikki begins to throw questions at her.
"Marinette, her ring! Your ring! The ring!", Tikki began to speak quickly. "Did it just change? Did you see it change? Mar-"
Marinette rose her hands up and took the Kwami into them, "Tikki, sh, quiet down.", Marinette says softly as the kwami relaxes in her grasp. "It just changed, Plagg gave me a weird look when it happened.", she explained, certainly the fact that the ring changed for Chloé was significant.
"Oh this is good. Good.", Tikki says, but then a somewhat hesitant looks appears on her face, "Oh...but then...Kagami won't be…", she trails off. "I was hoping Kagami would bond with Plagg…", Tikki sighs.
Marinette hums, her eyes scanning over the Kwami's facial expression. "Bond? Is...Is Chloé bonded to him, to Plagg?", her eyes widened for a moment, her lips parting in awe. There was a chance that Chloé was to be her Black Cat after all. "Does that mean Chloé is...the one?"
"Yes and no.", Tikki says. "Chloé has formed a bond, but it's not completely set. You'll know when it is, trust me. Just like when you'll know when the bond isn't. The bond is, as the balance is. Chloé bonding with Plagg, will mean her bonding with you too and vice versa. You'll know the moment someone becomes apart of the balance.", the kwami explains. Tikki was a little excited, but a little disappointed that Kagami wasn't able to form a bond as quick as Chloé did. It wasn't that Tikki had anything against the heiress, she just preferred someone that wasn't at risk for being a loose cannon. Where Kagami was organized and critical, Chloé was all over the place. "Let's not jump to conclusions just yet.", Tikki sighs. "Let's give it a little more time, she suggests.
Marinette nods. "Okay."
Classes were all cancelled. Not such a surprise there. Usually after Akuma attacks, students were dismissed early. It sort of just became a school policy. So the majority of the students were out and about, gathering their things to get ready to go home for the day.
Marinette sighs softly as she walks through a small crowd of students, wanting to get to her locker so that she could get her school work. She feels an odd feeling suddenly wash over her, she felt watched. She tries to ignore the feeling, but it seems to only intensify. She gives in and turns her head and she sees a few students staring at her, her old peers. Among them, Alya and Alix, both were giving her odd looks. Then there was Rose Julika and Kim. The trio stared at her with shame. It made her feel uneasy. Something happened, she was aware of that much, what? She wasn't sure and didn't know, but she might get some answers from Chloé when she sees her later tonight. Marinette looks away after a few moment and continues to make her way to the locker room.
There's hardly anyone left and by the time she manages to get to her locker, the last few students had left. She was alone for a moment. Reaching out she grabs her lock and puts the combination in, she feels that weird unsettling feeling return, she feels it intensify and suddenly weigh heavy on her, she feels her stomach growing knotty. She manages to take her lock off before she hears it.
"Marinette.", a familiar voice says her name from behind her.
Marinette tenses heavily, she feels her heart speed up. She swallows thickly. She hesitates for a moment, she thinks as quickly as she could, wondering why someone was approaching her here, while she was alone. She takes a deep breath in and slowly and cautiously begins to turn around. Alya stands before her, her expression was unreadable. It made Marinette uncomfortable. Sapphire eyes flicker from left to right, wanting to see if there was anyone else around.
"Marinette.", Alya says her name again.
And Marinette brings her gaze back to Alya's own, she sees another expression settling over the brunette's face, she sees something akin to forlorn and somber emotions flooding her face. "What do you want.", Marinette asks a little wary, she keeps her guard up. Eyes narrowing slightly.
"I...can we...talk?", Alya says, voice growing shaky by the moment.
Marinette raises an eyebrow. She begins to think back to what Kim had said. Could it have happened? Has Lila been caught in a lie, did they figure it out? Marinette falls silent for a moment, falling into thought. She processed this, the fact that Alya was here, standing in front of her without spewing insults or threatening to hit her. Unless...Surely, there was a catch. Maybe it was a trap. Maybe Alya was merely pretending to be civil and even if in fact Lila was caught and Alya was here to apologize...she couldn't just accept it, she couldn't accept anyone's apology, it's not that simple anymore.
Marinette's lips pulls into a frown, "I can't.", she says, firmly, forcing herself to keep it together.
Alya's expression fall further, she seems surprised that Marinette denied her the time to talk. "Marinette please-"
"Just-", Marinette cuts the brunette off, "-leave me alone.", her voice trails off and falters, she clears her throat and turns around, wanting to get her things so she could just get out of her and go home.
But once again, things just aren't that simple.
As soon as she opens the doors, a little more of her world is lost. She opens the metal locker door only for everything to tumble out of it. It was a mess of ripped paper, covered in...Sapphire eyes quickly spot the origin of the liquid, a carton of chocolate milk laid on the floor beside her foot, beside her…
Marinette's eyes slowly begin to widen as the gravity of what just happened starts to process in her head. She feels a suffocating feeling start to smother her. Before she knows her, hot salty liquid is already running down her cheeks. Her chest tightens and she feels like she's about to throw up.
"Oh G-God.", Alya gasps from behind her hands.
She'd invested a lot of her time, a lot of her heart and happiness into that torn up book...what was her beloved sketchbook. It was something that was always just there, something she clung to, something she relied on, even when she fell into a creativity drought. It was always just there whenever she wanted to flip through the pages to reminisce on the nicer times when her creativity was overflowing. It was a reminder of the good times.
Marinette releases a shaky breath as she stares at the mess that were her things.
"Oh shit, Marinette-", Alya begins but doesn't get the chance to finish.
Marinette spins around and just bolts, running past her and out the door at a speed that not even Alya's ever seen her run. Marinette slips away quickly. All her frustrations, anger and overflowing negative emotions, she's just barely keeping them at bay.
"Marinette! Marinette!", Tikki yells, but the voice disappears when Marinette drops her bag on the steps of the school, she just keeps running, her legs kept pushing her forwards, she didn't even begin to ache yet. She grit her teeth as tears continued to escape her eyes, as they kept rolling down her cheeks. It wasn't fair, it wasn't fair, she mentally chants to herself. Why does she have to lose everything? Why does she have to keep losing things? She was doing so good, she was feeling better, everything looked like it might become bearable. But then this…
And with this loss, Marinette finds herself starting to think about everything else. Losing her friends, losing Chat Noir, having to change classes, having to find another Black Cat, having to continue to deny herself any sort of emotional release because of how dangerous it was for her to get a little angry or upset. Everything begins to weigh on her at once.
It wasn't fair.
Marinette runs, she runs and runs, she pushes herself once she starts to ache and burn. She runs until she can't remember how long she's been running. She runs until she can't recognize where she's at.
"IT'S NOT FAIR!", Marinette screams out as her legs finally give out somewhere, she ends up falling right onto the ground, she slides on the grass for a second before she throws her tantrum, she reaches to her earrings and takes them off, throwing them in a fit, launching then into a patch of grass. "FUCK!", she curses as she then reaches to the floor and just attacks it, she begins to rip the grass off the dirt ground, her nails and hands growing dirty from the dirt. She continued to grunt and growl out of sheer frustration. She couldn't take it anymore, why was she still being targeted? She left the class, she kept her distance, she did nothing wrong. Why was this still happening to her?
"Why do bad things happen to good people?"
Marinette stops her assault against the torn up ground suddenly, her hands and clothing were filthy. She sits up onto her knees, lifting her gaze to face forwards. She sees Tikki in the distance, she sees her kwami frantically moving her mouth, but she can't hear anything that the kwami is saying.
"You've been fighting a losing fight against the true villain of your story. You've been outmaneuvered by her, everyone you've ever done good by has simply cast you aside, all of them, deceived so easily by someone they hardly knew. They cast you, a person of so many virtues, aside."
The words echoed loudly in Marinette's head.
"Princess Virtue. I will grant you the power to judge and punish those who lack the qualities and traits that make the ideal Virtuous person, Virtuous. For those who lack honesty and lie, they will never speak again, for those who lack bravery and are cowards, they will be turned to stone, never to move again. For everyone that has betrayed you, will feel your wrath."
Marinette feels herself succumbing, yielding. She finds something in the darkness beginning to take over.
She finds comfort.
Sorry about any typos.
Feel free to drop comments and critiques, just no hate, please, there's enough hate out here as it is, fanfiction is supposed to be a safe space, let's try to keep it that way.