Summary:
Time isn't on their side.
Chloé and Tikki must figure out what to do, how to move forwards after Tikki reveals the true gravity of the situation to her.
The pressure falls onto Chloé and a certain Tsurugi.
Chapter: Virtues Of The (Un)yielding P.2
Chloé sighed deeply, she managed to sneak back into the school. Having used the miraculous to enter the school undetected. She felt a little anxious, she knew she still had things to do before going home. She needed to find Marinette and not only give her back the ring, but also talk with her. God, Chloé began to dread on where their conversation may go.
"I'm hungry.", Plagg says, half whining.
Chloé scoffs and rolls her eyes, "Don't be a pig, Plagg. You just ate.", the heiress says, referring to the cookie Tikki had split with him. She opens her sweater, gesturing for him to slip in to hide.
Plagg groans and releases another childish whine. "That wasn't enough! I want cheese!", he says, he jumps up and down mid air, throwing a small fit.
"Urgh, if you stop acting up, I'll get you a nice wheel of that gross stinky cheese you're always having Marinette and Ladybug get for you.", Chloé says, wanting to shut the childish Kwami up.
And it works.
"Really!? You'd get a whole wheel? Just for me?", Plagg says happily accompanied by a toothy smile.
"Urgh, yes, now get in! We have to find Marinette.", Chloé says, urging the kwami to slip into the inside of her sweater.
"Okay!", Plagg quickly does as he's told.
Chloé merely rolls her eyes again, Plagg was certainly becoming more and more of a handful, at first she had thought he was this wise small little god of destruction, but he was in fact, a reckless small little god of destruction. The kwami was adorable, but very annoying. Chloé wondered how Marinette managed to deal with such an annoying chaotic force like Plagg. With Plagg finally in her sweater, Chloé makes to walk, but she pauses when she feels the place Plagg settle into, begin to...vibrate. "Are you…", the heiress pauses as she opens her sweater to see what Plagg was doing against her ribs.
"No…", he says as he looks up to meet her gaze, he blinks a few times.
The heiress raises an eyebrow, "Uh...I'm pretty sure you just-"
"Nothing happened…", Plagg insists, still looking at her.
Chloé sighs and just gives in, she knew what she felt, she was sure of it.
Plagg had just purred.
Kagami sighed deeply. Today was certainly eventful. She'd nearly been strangled, but thankfully she didn't match whatever poor qualities the Akuma's original target had. So, she didn't have to experience getting the life squeezed out of her. Although, she has to be more careful next time. Kagami can't help but think to herself, if she would have avoided getting caught, she would have been able to assist Marinette in capturing the akuma. She needed to be better. She had to do better.
The Tsurugi is stepping down some steps when suddenly, Aurore and Mireille both run up to her, stopping her in her tracks, both frantic and slightly shaken.
"Have you seen Marinette?", Aurore asks first, speaking before even making it in front of Kagami. The blonde's eyebrows were furrowed.
Instantly Kagami feels something in her stomach drop. "No, I haven't. Why?", she responds quickly. Her eyes scanning over the expressions both teens wore. She was trying to decipher what was going on. What made her friends want to search for Marinette so frantically.
"Those jerks totally messed her things up!", Mireille says, cutting in, she wore a sad expression, her eyes were slightly teary. "Someone broke into her locker and just…", she trailed off, taking her bottom lip between her teeth. She hugged her arms to her chest, "...her sketchbook, her books and her phone are totaled…"
Kagami grimaces, she feels her heart drop, she feels it break. She knew how much Marinette valued that sketchbook. She knew how much effort Marinette put into her designs. She feels anger beginning to gnaw at her.
"They fucked everything up...I found Césaire and Lahiffe in the locker room. They insisted they had nothing to do with it but I swear to God, they're so full of it.", the blonde says, anger clear in her tone, her eyebrows furrow even more and her eyes narrow. The blonde was furious, she had befriended the Dupain-Cheng, she had come to really like her company. What had happened to her was terrible, Aurore couldn't imagine the torment that Marinette was being put through, she couldn't imagine what it would be like to lose all her friends and be branded a liar.
It was certainly an unfair situation that Marinette had to put up with.
Kagami clenches her jaw for a moment, she grips her bag's strap tightly, knuckles whitened. "Are they still there?", she asks, coldly. Eyes narrowing, she's had enough of Alya's bull shit. It's time someone teaches her a lesson. Kagami would gladly be the one to teach it to her.
Mireille tenses, she feels a little unsettled by Kagami's sudden change in demeanor, "Uh...K-Kagami-"
"Yeah, they're still there.", Aurore answers, cutting Mireille off.
"Alright.", Kagami says and begins to walk again, this time, with a purpose. She steps passed the two teens and begins to make her way to the locker room. She was going to make sure no one ever messed with Marinette again.
"No, no, no, no…", Tikki whimpered softly, she flew high and as fast as she could, wanting to quickly track Plagg, Chloé, or Kagami down. She lost Marinette. Marinette had succumbed to Hawk Moth's influence. It broke her heart, she knew that Marinette had finally been pushed over the edge. Her beloved master, was continuously being dealt the shorter hand, she couldn't understand why. It wasn't fair. The kwami after a few moments, finally sees the school just up ahead. She was eager to get there, eager to resolve this mess. Tikki is almost there when she begins to hear it. Screaming, panic and terror. It's coming from behind her, below her. She gets the chills. She ignores the urge to turn back to see what her master has done and become, she does not wish to see what Hawk Moth has turned her master into.
"Chloé!", Tikki yells as she spots the blonde texting and walking towards the bakery. "Chloé!", she calls out once more, tears escaping her eyes and rolling down her cheeks.
The blonde looks up from her phone and begins to look around, no doubt trying to locate who was calling out to her.
"Chloé!", Tikki yells out one last time as she finally begins to descend near Chloé.
The heiress immediately turns and finally sees her. The blonde no doubt sees the urgency written all over her face by the way Chloé looks at her, quickly shoving the phone into her back pocket, she reaches out to her with both hands, gently taking her from the air. "Tikki?", She says. "What's wrong?", she asks, her tone filled with concern. The heiress looks around and jogs off to a more secluded area, not wanting someone to see her and Tikki.
The Plagg lump on Chloé merely moves up the sweater, his small head popping out from the Collar of the sweater, "Sugar Cube?", he begins, but he immediately leaves the warmth of the sweater when he sees Tikki's teary eyes. "What's wrong!", Plagg says suddenly and loudly once Chloé rounds a corner and slips into an alleyway.
"It's...Marinette...she's been akumatized.", Tikki begins to cry more. "I'm losing her...my master…", she whimpers out. Crying in the security of Chloé's hands. Hugging the earrings to her chest.
Chloé's eyes widened. "Marinette...was akumatized?", her gaze drops to the earrings in Tikki's grasp. "Wh-What happened to Ladybug? Did Marinette...take her down?", the blonde certainly had many questions. It hasn't even been an hour since the last Akuma attack.
Tikki looks up to Chloé, her eyes gaze deeply into Chloé's own. She grew silent. She began to internally debate whether or not Plagg was right. Whether or not Chloé should know who Marinette truly was. "Chloé…", she says softly. She takes a deep breath, preparing to tell Chloé the truth and the real danger of Marinette's akumatization.
"What?", Chloé whispers softly, her gaze not leaving the Kwami's own.
"Marinette needs to be purged of the Akuma.", Tikki says slowly, "She cannot be akumatized for too long or our bond will sever.", the kwami hopes that this is all she has to say for Chloé to figure out the true gravity of the situation.
And Chloé slowly takes it in.
"Your bond?", the blonde says slowly, eyes narrowing for a moment, a thoughtful expression flooding her face.
Plagg silently looks on, looking between the two.
Tikki sighs once more and helps the heiress put two and two together. "Ladybug...my master...is the akumatized."
The heiress feels all breath leave her for a moment.
And just like that, the situation becomes a lot more dire.
"M-Marinette...is…", Chloé's eyes widen with realization.
But before Chloé has a chance to completely come to terms with what Marinette's identity reveal, the sounds of panic begins to flood in from all directions.
"She's here!", Tikki says with fear. She keeps her gaze focused on Chloé's own. "Chloé, we must act now!"
Chloé snaps out of it, coming back to life. She turns to Plagg only to speak those magic words, "Plagg, Claws Out.", and just like that Chloé stands before Tikki as Noir.
Tikki nods her head, "We're also going to need more allies for this. But I'll handle that part, I need you to locate Tsurugi Kagami.", the kwami says.
"Urgh, that girl-", Chloé recoils and begins to whine, but immediately Tikki cuts her off.
"Kagami is the only other trusted ally Marinette has, Kagami knows her identity, she knows about me and Plagg.", Tikki says a little rushed. "Once you find Kagami, keep her somewhere safe while I get us some assistance. You and Kagami must work together, if you truly care about Marinette like you say you do, than you and Kagami will have to set aside your differences. For Marinette's sake.", the kwami stresses. "Please, Chloé."
The heiress nods without hesitation. "Okay. I promise, I won't let you down.", the blonde begins to step backwards when she sees some people beginning to run into the other end of the alley way. "Go, Tikki.", Chloé speaks once more before she swiftly turns around and makes use of her baton, she quickly extends the metal pole and launches herself away.
Tikki frowns sadly. "I'm counting on you.", she whispers softly.
"Uhgh!?"
"I warned you. I told you to leave Marinette alone.", Kagami growls.
"K-Kagami, let's just...relax for a bit, yeah?", Mireille puts two of her hands in front of her, wanting to calm the angry Tsurugi, urging her to think clearly.
Aurore merely stood by, arms crossed over her chest, she stood against a locker, her gaze only dropping from where Kagami had Alya pinned down, to the part of the floor where Nino laid on his back, groaning. A small smirk curling her lips. Kagami was quick to drop the boy onto his back, using his own momentum and movements against him. Alya on the other hand, was easy, child's play even, Kagami had no issue knocking Alya around.
"Please, Kagami, stop.", Mireille pleaded softly, as much as she hated what was being done to Marinette, she knew they had to stay above the situation, not stoop down to their level. "Kagami, please."
Kagami ignored Mireille, she kept Alya pinned onto her belly, keeping her pinned against the floor, she had quickly grabbed both of Alya's arms and kept them in place behind the brunette's back. She was going to make this painful. "Now, cut the shit, why won't you leave Marinette alone?", Kagami growled as she straddled the teens lower back, her hands kept their tight grip over Alya's wrists.
Alya grit her teeth, eyes narrowing and eyebrows furrowing. She was in a lot of pain. "I-I…I didn't...do this…", the brunette grunts out through clenched teeth.
"You're so full of shit. So fucking-", Kagami was getting more and furious by the second, she was prepared to curse the brunette out, but fairly quickly that changed.
"I came to apologize...to her...I...we know…", Alya manages to cut Kagami off.
And suddenly the atmosphere of the room shifts.
Kagami releases Alya's arms. "Know what?"
"About...Lila…", Alya sniffles softly.
Kagami sucks in a breath. Alya's words sound like a good thing, but Kagami knew that with this event having transpired, things would continue to be complicated. Marinette was far passed the line of forgiving her old classmates. Marinette wouldn't go back to them.
"I think it's a little too late for that revelation, Césaire.", Comes a voice. A breeze blows by the teens.
Everyone turns their attention to the open window, they see Noir sitting on the sill, a firm frown on her lips, her messy unruly curls getting slightly more disheveled by the wind.
"Noir.", Kagami says, eyes narrow towards the blonde.
All eyes were on the blonde haired hero.
For once, Noir didn't have a smug expression on.
"Marinette has been akumatized...it's bad.", Noir says suddenly, getting straight to the point. The blonde notices Kagami's expression fall quickly.
"Oh no.", Mireille says sadly. "She's been akumatized...oh god…", The teen brings her hands to hold the sides of her face.
Aurore is taken aback, as far as everyone knew, Marinette was one of the very few students to avoid being Akumatized. "Oh shit. We should get out of here.", the blonde suddenly stands straight, getting off the locker she was leaning against.
Kagami on the other hand, is panicking internally. If Marinette was akumatized, than that would mean that there would be no way to purify the akuma, nothing would be fixed. They're fucked. All of them. Marinette will certainly be the game changer that Hawk Moth has been waiting for. He's finally done it, he's bested Ladybug, most likely, without even knowing it.
"All of you need to go, immediately, Marinette is not holding back anymore, the akuma's warped her and she's coming for everyone.", Noir finally steps into the room completely. "Get as far away as you all can."
Kagami gets off of Alya, allowing the girl to crawl over to her boyfriend. She falls silent as both teens get off the floor. Both teens turn to look at Noir.
"We didn't know.", Alya says.
It's a shit excuse from Chloé's prospective. Noir immediately shuts her down. "Shut up.", she says coldly, "You're responsible for your actions. Just cause 'you didn't know', doesn't suddenly rectify what's happened. You can apologize all you want after all this, if me and Ladybug are even able to fix this mess. You can beg her for forgiveness, but I can certainly tell you with certainty, you're a terrible friend. All of you are."
It's harsh, Noir doesn't hold back. Everyone falls silent while Alya and Nino digest Noir's harsh words.
"Now, get out of here, I'm a little tempted to smack you around myself.", Noir threatens.
Alya and Nino silently leave without wasting too much time.
"I suggest the two of you head in any other direction, as long as you aren't caught with them. After all, Marinette's after them.", Noir suggests. It's definitely the least heroic thing a hero could possibly ever say.
"Y-Yeah.", Mireille says, she quickly turns to her side and grabs Aurore's hand, already tugging her towards the door. She then turns to Kagami, "C'mon, Kagami, we have to go, quick."
"No.", Noir raises a hand. "She stays here. There's a chance Marinette may listen to Ms. Tsurugi.", the hero sighs softly when both Aurore and Mireille give her odd looks.
"B-", just as Aurore begins, Kagami ends it.
"Go, both of you, I'm sure Noir will take care of me.", Kagami breathes out. She wants nothing more than to just have both girls leave the room, she knew why Noir wanted her alone. Or at least, hoped she did.
Both teens gave in and nodded.
"Text us.", Aurore speaks once more.
With that, both teens finally leave. The room falls into a silence, they wait a moment to make sure they're alone.
"Tikki will be getting help for us.", Noir breaks the silence first. She avoids meeting Kagami's gaze, she feels weird, talking to the girl. She knew Kagami hated her, she wasn't subtle about it.
"She's probably getting more miraculouses. Problem with that is, we're going to have choose holders to assist us...people we can trust and people Tikki will approve of.", the Japanese heiress says, she brings a hand up to her face, she pinches the bridge of her nose. So, this was what it was like to be in Marinette's shoes. Having to deal with situations like these, all the time...alone.
"We don't have much time before Marinette and Tikki's bond suffers the consequences.", Noir sighs out, she runs a hand through her messy hair. "It's a no brainer who's going to be Ladybug.", the girl adds. "Tikki said you were the only other Ally Marinette trusted."
Kagami swallows thickly, she nods. She was going to have some big shoes to fill today. Being Ladybug was much more complicated than being a black cat. It required a lot more thought and critical thinking, one wrong move and both Kagami and Noir lose. Deep down, she was scared. She was inexperienced. Wielding a miraculous was something she'd done before, but all those times she wore a miraculous beside Ladybug...she wasn't fighting against someone she cared about. Before Kagami could fall deeper into thought, a hand places itself over her shoulder, pulling her from thought. She slowly turns to Noir, she sees sympathy and sincerity.
"We can do this.", the miraculous wielder says softly. "We can save our Ladybug, our Marinette."
Kagami is hesitant, she hates it. Feeling like this. Feeling uncertain and unsure. She felt oddly underprepared. "Marinette doesn trust too many people.", Kagami says softly. Her eyes searching Noir's own. "I had my doubt about you."
Noir remains silent. Listening.
Kagami sighs and completely turns her body to Noir, to...Chloé.
"You really do care about her…", Kagami's breathes.
Noir frowns for a moment, she looks away and removes her hand from Kagami's shoulder, she thinks. "So...you know who I am?", she asks, her gaze still averting Kagami's own. She avoids the few words Kagami said.
"Yes. I do.", the heiress admits quickly. Marinette kept her in the loop, Marinette truly trusted her and so did the kwamis. Kagami was well aware of who played as Marinette's black cat whenever she didn't. She had some reservations about Chloé. She was afraid that Marinette was setting herself up to get hurt again. But clearly, Chloé was being genuine.
Chloé sighs and she returns her gaze to Kagami's own, it was certainly quite the situation they were in. "I guess I'm not going to be the only awkward one after all."
The ravenette sighs, "It doesn't have to be awkward. We share the same objective. We both want to save Marinette."
Chloé nods, "Yeah.", she moistened her lips and looks away. "Definitely."
The heiress can see something in Chloé gaze, a longing, distant look. She knows what that look is. What it means and maybe if she had paid more attention to the blonde heiress, she would have caught this. She would have noticed sooner. "You care about her right?", Kagami asks.
"Of course I do.", Chloé answers quickly, turning back to the teen in front of her. "I want nothing more than for her to be happy...to just...be okay.", she tenses slightly. She was upset. But she needed to hold it together.
The ravenette sees Sapphire eyes water up slightly. Lips part to speak but just as she begins, Tikki cuts in, flying through the open window.
"You're both here, that's good.", Tikki says with relief.
"These two are the Cat and Ladybug?", Another kwami comes in, followed by two more. Each carrying their jewels.
"Yes, this is Kagami, she will be my temporary holder until we purify the akuma.", Tikki floats over to Kagami to introduce her. She then shifts over to be between Noir and Kagami. "and this is Chloé. She is going to be Plagg's chosen if she decides she's willing to take up the responsibility of being the black cat of destruction."
"Chloé?", Wayzz nearly choked. "Oh my...oh the master will certainly-"
"My Master trusts her, Chloé has changed, she is not the same person she was back then.", Tikki defends the blonde. "I also trust her, she's done nothing but bend over backwards for my master."
Wayzz seems hesitant, he relents. "Okay, okay.", he says, sighing.
"Now what?", the orange kwami speaks. "From what we've been filled in it seems like a losing fight. Just the two of them, no offense."
"Now, now, Trixx, I'm familiar with Kagami-San, she is very skilled and clever, I believe she has what it takes.", a familiar kwami speaks, one that Kagami certainly knew.
"It's not about having what it takes. It's about strength in numbers, just these two, against that whole mess out there...they'll lose.", Trixx stresses. "Marinette's akuma will be stronger, despite being physically separated from the miraculous, she is still a miraculous wielder and that fact alone, makes her a powerful threat."
Tikki frowns heavily, she knows they have little options, she knows that the odds are starting to stack against them.
"This is going to be hard. But I think we need Nino and Alya.", Trixx suggests. "I know they're both apart of the source that has caused your master such grief, but right now, those two have the experience we are in desperate need of."
Tikki turns to Kagami and Chloé, both teens looks displeased with the suggestion.
But they didn't have much choice.
"Okay. Fine.", Tikki yields to the idea. Accepting it.
"What!?", Both Kagami and Chloé yell out in sync.
Both girls began to talk over each other, arguing against Trixx's proposal.
But Tikki was calling the shots here.
"Enough!", Tikki yells out, speaking over the teens. "Both of you!"
Both teens fall silent.
The kwamis are all a little surprised by Tikki's take in initiative.
"Both of you will seek those two out, as for where Longg goes, I'm sure one of you can think of one more Ally.", Tikki speaks with authority. The kwami needed the humans to follow directions, she needed them to think with open minds. She hated the idea as much as they did, but they had very little options. "We need to work together."
Chloé and Kagami share a glance, both reluctant to give in. But they do.
"Okay.", Chloé says first.
Kagami merely nods, unable to say the words.
This certainly got a lot more complicated than any of them wanted it to get.
Everything is dark.
She cannot see, yet, she knows where she goes and what she does and to whom she does things to.
She feels a mix of emotions. Yet...she's unable to express it, she feels her face, stiff and expressionless, she feels her lips stuck in a tight line, she feels something covering her eyes, wrapped around her head. She feels everything, but is unable to do anything but allow herself to be swallowed up by everything. She feels like she's trapped, trapped in her own body. She's compelled to do these things, going through the motion of swinging her sword around, striking people down, or simply granting those 'she' found worthy enough, 'knighthood'.
She's trying to fight it.
She could hear everything, the screams, the pleas. But she could do nothing. She could only listen and feel.
Feel.
Feel.
Internally she drowns in the darkness, alone, surrounded by an ocean of echoes of panicking voices. She's smothered and weighed down, her emotions and burdens anchoring her, keeping her tethered down at the very bottom of the dark depths, preventing her from surfacing. It's like a dream.
All she can do is reach out to faint light that seemed to be too far out of reach.
All she can do is try to scream, only to have her voice muffled out, almost as if her head was stuck underwater.
All she can do, is feel.
Feel.
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.