WITH GREAT SORROW COMES GREAT DARKNESS.
(Evil-Note.- I am a pretty insane guy, and as such, here's a little AU story that has been roaming in my mind for quite a while, which started with the question "What would change with Spider-Man and Ladybug if they suffered the loss of their loved ones, in a much colder and darker take on their stories?" And well, here's what my diabolical mind produced asanswer to that question. Hope you enjoy, and just as a little warning, this one story has a cruder language to the one I usually use on my fanfictions, as well as brief depictions of death and depression)
Peter Parker was sick.
Sick of all the misery and pain he had to endure.
Sick of being insulted and mistreated every single day by almost all of New York.
Sick of being underestimated by all the other heroes.
But most of all, he was sick of the world, which apparently wanted him to be miserable.
He had failed to save Captain Stacy because of a supervillain.
He had lost his parents when he was a child for unknown reasons.
He had lost his uncle when he was a teen because of a stupid criminal.
He had lost his aunt because his nemesis wanted him to suffer.
He had lost the girl he loved because he was Spider-Man.
However, he didn't blame himself or even Leopardon for all that, no, he knew that neither him nor the little annoying creature were to blame for all that.
No, the real culprits were several other people.
And now, as he stood in front of the six graves that belonged to his parents, his Uncle Ben and his Aunt May, and Captain George Stacy and his daughter, Gwen, he clenched his fists and teeth as he shed several tears in frustration, while the rain soaked him to his very core, he swore that no matter what, he would make the culprits pay.
He would make the Avengers pay for not taking him seriously when he asked them for help to take down Doctor Octopus and the Green Goblin.
He would show the world who he truly was.
He would make everyone understand that they had poked the beast and thought that nothing would happen in retaliation.
He would make everyone respect the name of Peter Benjamin Parker.
He would make everyone fear the name of Spider-Man.
But first, he had to find allies.
And he knew just where he could find one.
(A WEEK LATER IN PARIS)
Marinette Dupain-Cheng felt like shit.
Her whole life had gone straight to hell since the moment when she was chosen as the bearer of the Miraculous of Creation and Good Luck.
At first, it had been interesting and actually fun to be a superhero, but as time went on and Hawk Moth became more and more ruthless with each battle, she started to realize that she may have made a huge mistake when she accepted to be Ladybug.
And now it was too late to regret that stupid choice.
Hawk Moth had managed to break her will, her spirit, her body and her mind.
Right when she thought everything was going to be going up for her, her nemesis found out her secret identity and kidnapped her parents in an attempt to exchange their lives for her Miraculous.
However, even if she did surrender her magical jewel, Hawk Moth and his minion akuma killed her parents to make her pay for being a pain in his ass for so long. And then he threatened to kill her.
To her misfortune, Chat Noir had managed to save her and get her Miraculous back from Hawk Moth, and I say misfortune because she wanted to die. She wanted the cold embrace of death so at least she would be with her parents again.
And as she laid on her knees, crying over the gravestone that marked her parents' rest place, a tall, brown-haired person walked up to her slowly and silently, stopping just a few meters away from her.
- Mourning the loss of your loved ones, huh? - The person said in an empathic tone. - I know the feeling, I'm sorry you also had to go through that, young lady.
- Shut up and leave me alone to die here... - Marinette snapped.
- Dying will help you and your parents as much as doing nothing, Marinette. But I can help you do the one thing you can to make sure no one else gets to live the same fate as you and I, as well as make whoever wronged you, regret each and every second of his existence.
- How can you even try to do that...?
- Because I am also the holder of a Miraculous.
In that second, Marinette turned around and saw a teen around her age, smiling empathically at her and offering her a hand. And in his left wrist, she saw a shiny metallic bracelet that had some sort of black-bluish jewel, which made her gasp.
- Yep, that's my Miraculous. - The male teen smiled. - It's called the Spider Bracelet and it gives me the powers of Responsibility and Fate, and right now, I am here to make sure you fulfill your fate, as it is my responsibility to ensure it.
- What fate?
- Stop Hawk Moth once and for all.
- I'm not strong enough...
- True, but I can help you become stronger, strong enough to make Hawk Moth pay for all the pain he caused you.
- You sound like him...
- I do, but unlike him, I want to stop all the psychos that are roaming free out there, I want to get rid of all the scum that hurts innocent people like my Uncle Ben and Aunt May were, like your parents were. I want idiots like J. Jonah Jameson to shut the hell up about the stupidities they say of us vigilantes and show them that we're much more than they'll ever even hope to be. And finally, I want to make those who don't stop the criminals from harming others for good like they should, pay for their naïveté. The Avengers, for example, who instead of helping me take down the Green Goblin, Dr. Octopus and several others, they let me all on my own to take on those maniacs, and thanks to that stupid decision, I lost everyone I loved dearly. Basically, what I want is to help you reach your full potential and help you become the heroine you were supposed to become, Marinette.
- How do you know my name?
- That's a story for other time, right now I only wanna know your answer. Whatever you decide to do, I'll be fine with it.
For a couple seconds, Marinette just looked at the ground. Thinking.
She had fucked up big time when she had last donned the Ladybug costume. And now this stranger was not only encouraging her to use the costume again but also join him to get some sort of revenge against several people.
And while she had never been a violent person, she felt rage building up inside her.
Rage against herself for being weak and not being able to save her parents, rage against the world who left her all on her own, rage against whoever had created the Miraculouses, but most importantly, rage against the asshole who had killed her parents, who made her life a hell, who was stupid enough to piss her off.
Thus, Marinette started sobbing in frustration as she clenched her fists.
And as soon as Peter Parker saw it, he smirked in amusement and joy. Then Marinette grabbed his hand and he helped her up as she dried her tears with her sleeve.
- I'm in. - Marinette said.
- But Marinette, this isn't you, this isn't what your parents would've wanted you to do. - Tikki said as she flew out of her purse.
- My parents would've wanted to live! - Marinette hissed. - And now Hawk Moth is going to pay for that...
- Well done, web-head. - Leopardon snapped as he flew out of Peter's hoodie. - You managed to screw her mind and turn her into a mindless puppet for your twisted game.
- I am not a puppet master to toy around with Marinette's life like Madame Web and the Avengers did with me, I am nothing but a trainer for her. - Peter retorted. - I did nothing to her mind but show her what must be done.
- Shut up, you're an evil person, Peter Parker, you're just trying to use Marinette for your vendetta... - Tikki said.
- No, Tikki, Hawk Moth is the only evil person here. - Marinette said. - But soon he will exist no more, right, Peter?
- That I can assure you. - Peter nodded. - But before we can take him and the Goblin out, we gotta become stronger. We gotta make a name for ourselves, to show the world that we may have been kicked down to the floor, but we got back up and returned the hit twice as hard.
- As you wish, you seem to know what we should do.
- Of course I do, but you're a smart girl, you'll find out on the march too.
With that said, Peter smiled at Marinette in a comforting way as he wiped whatever tears she had left with his thumb.
- I gotta warn you, Marinette, this is going to be a long and hard journey, we're gonna do some pretty fucked up shit to achieve our goals, several people we know are gonna get hurt and surely we'll have to kill a bunch of maniacs on the way, so I'll ask you, are you truly sure...? - Peter tried to ask before Marinette put a hand over his mouth.
- Shut the fuck up. - Marinette snapped rather harshly. - I knew that since I said that you could count me in, and though a part of me is hesitating, that part of me got me into this hellhole, to begin with. That naïve, childish, hesitating and stupid part of me was the old, poor, helpless, weak, little Marinette... I will not be her ever again.
- You remind me of myself when I swore that I would never again be the nerdy, weakling idiot from Queens that I used to be. - Peter said. - Well, let's go, we got a shitton of planning to do.
- Can you at least watch your language? - Tikki and Leopardon sighed in defeat.
- Trust me, our language will be the least on your mind once our plans begin.
After saying that, Peter opened the lapel of his hoodie and let Leopardon fly inside it as Marinette opened her little purse to let Tikki in. Then, once both the ladybug and spider kwamis were out of sight, Peter and Marinette started walking away from the Dupain-Chengs' rest place as both smirked in a malicious way, thinking about the future, more specifically, on the demise of Hawk Moth and the Green Goblin.