All at once: A miraculous ladybug story
"You, the best hero there ever was, them, the people of Paris, and me, your loyal partner" he kissed the top of her rain-soaked forehead and pulled her closer.
"The people?" she asked as she moved her gaze to the crowd of people standing below. She hadn't even noticed them, and they were chanting her name. She stared at them feeling her stomach fill with anxiety, but then, she looked at Chat Noir. He hadn't been looking back at her but her gaze didn't move. She watched him as he smiled at the city with hope. She looked at him as if no one else in the world existed. To her, he became the sun, lighting up the night sky as if they were in broad daylight. Just like that, everything became clear. He was a lifeline, a rock to lean on, a partner, and he was hers.. Thunder sounded and she felt her heart leap. Sure Ladybug was the hero of Paris, but Ladybug's hero was Chat Noir.. -
This is set in the future where the events of strike back happen on the last day of high school. They're aged up but nothing x rated happens I just wanted to ignore all of the random school stuff.
- Chapter 1: Realization
Adrien's POV:
Adrien burst through his room. He couldn't believe she did it again. Trusted someone else. Trusted the dog miraculous with a complete stranger. He charged into his room trying to contain his anger, but it showed all over his face. His eyes were growing more and more dim these days and appeared stained with a color resembling a glassy moss rather than their usual emerald. He was tired and he was cold though his first summer as an independent young man had just begun. Graduation passed and school was let out only for him to be told he would be spending months with Lila. No college plans, no vacations, no goodbyes to his friends. Only Lila and Nathalie and strangers who couldn't care less about him. And he had been so desperate to escape, that he allowed Felix to go instead. He didn't want to leave Ladybug alone. What a joke. She didn't need him now. And now being Chat noir didn't even matter. With nothing else feeling important, he decided to stand up to his father. Just as his thoughts began to spiral even deeper, he heard a soft sound.
"Adrien there you are! I was getting scared that you had left when I didn't see you at our meeting place!" a familiar bell like tone echoed in his bedroom and he turned around to find Ladybug walking towards him with a soft smile on her face. Yep. He was still nuts about her despite his anger.
"Ladybug?" he questioned her presence.
"So as I was saying I need it back" She held out a small red spotted hand.
"What do you need back?" He asked confused.
"The dog miraculous silly. I gave it to you on the train remember?" her voice grew concerned though her words remained tame.
"But you didn't give me anything… I wasn't on that train… Felix!" his eyebrows creased with frustration. She had trusted him. Him as Adrien. And she had been tricked. That sneaky bastard would pay for breaking her trust like this.
Water filled her eyes and she began to tremble. She gasped lightly in between breathes and Adrien could tell she had begun to panic.
"What? No!?" her eyes shook. Just then her yo-yo vanished from her side. Her breathe quickened even more at the realization. Adrien's chest tightened for her. He wanted to hold her more than anything. "Oh no! the ball- of the dog - felix! He has the yoyo and that means!" her voice grew to a broken shout "He has the miraculous!" she looked as though she might collapse.
"My- ladybug! Please try to stay calm" he leaned towards her wanting so badly to provide her comfort. He met her eyes searching for a way to ease her pain. "Think ladybug there must be a way to get your yoyo back!" his hands gripped her shoulders, keeping her upright. His thumbs rubbed lightly to soothe her. Hopefully it wouldn't be too weird for her to receive this type of comfort from his Adrien self. He couldn't bare seeing her so tense and panic stricken and just stand there.
She took another attempt at a deep breath and fell into tiny sobs again. "If- If- I - I detransform maybe but how-"
Just then he realized he could help if he could find her a place to detransform. His bathroom had a door right there.
"Quick! You can detransform in here Ladybug I promise you're safe." He ensured her
"I -I don't know anymore! What if it's a trap?! What if you're Felix!?" her eyes widened with terror
He touched her cheek gently and pushed her in with the other hand. "If you're going to trust me once, please let it be this time" he said with a final shove closing the door behind her. He could hear light sobs of distress from inside and it hurt him to his core to hear her like this. Her transformation was called off softly. He could hear her talking to her kwami through muffled cries. Please my lady please you're going to get them back. He thought to himself. He was met with silence.
"Ladybug?" he asked
"I lost…" he heard her mumble before he couldn't take it any longer. He needed to be there for her. She had lost them. She needs to know it's me. He forced open the door but she was already gone. He sighed. He'd give her some time alone but he would need to find her as Chat tonight. She would be needing it desperately. Peering around in his room he felt dizzy. They were screwed. They really needed to catch him this time around. Everything had just gotten worse. Why would Felix steal the miraculous? Why would he be working for Shadowmoth? He then heard a sound from downstairs. His father was home. He snuck out of his room to listen. He was on the phone.
"I have finally won. Our plans earlier may have failed but this…this one is even better. Felix is a great ally. And Ladybug…" and then the rest was muffled behind the closed door of his study.
Plan? Ally? Ladybug? No way. It can't be. There was no way he could deny it but the realization somehow wouldn't sink in. He had to have been discussing something else. He couldn't be-. His father could not be Shadowmoth. Adrien's eyes welled with tears and his breathing changed pace. No. Stop. Keep it together. Everything was happening so fast and now this. Now he had to be against his own father. He didn't even give himself time to process the information. Instead, he decided he needed to get the hell out of there. The cat miraculous could not be in the same house as Shadowmoth. Not now. And despite the pain of this information, it gave him a lead. A lead to help save Paris, and help Ladybug. Now he had an advantage. He crept back into his room and took a restrained breath.
His shoulders shook. Dammit keep it together Adrien, he thought. He struck the corner of his desk a kick. Urgh. With his fists clenched he stood there, silently staring into space. Breathe in, five, four, three, two, one, breathe out, five for three two one. He couldn't say anything for a few minutes.
"Plagg. This is serious." He broke the silence.
"We need to be smart about this Adrien" the kwami responded.
"All this time… Hawkmoth" his voice felt detached from himself.
"You mean Shadowmoth now" Plagg corrected
"I don't give a shit what he calls himself now Plagg. He could be Whatever moth he wants to be but he'll always be a lying piece of-" his fist hit the wall leaving a small indent.
"Woah there kid, relax." Plagg grew concerned for Adrien's anger. Adrien composed himself and scratched his forehead.
"I don't have school in the way. I don't have my friends waiting on me. My.father thinks I'm in London with Nathalie. I already know the major players in this fight. I could really have an advantage" he spoke through his teeth.
"We can talk about this if you want. Not as Chat but as Adrien. It's a lot to take in buddy" Plagg grew more worried for his holder, watching him carefully.
"No Plagg. Not now. This is more important. I need to find out how to stay hidden. Where to stay." He thought deeply. Just then he remembered that his father had a few apartments across the city reserved for them to stay in when they had photoshoots that would require overnights. He also remembered that they hadn't been under his name in order to protect himself from crazed fans. It was the perfect escape. He would find one as Chat noir, remove all traces of the Agreste family ever staying there, and hide out for a while. He opened his top drawer, hands shaking, and rummaged until he found the old key to apartment 422 of Le Orchard apartments. Without thinking he gathered his pajamas, underwear, socks, and every non-Agreste branded item of clothing he could find. He shoved what he could into a bag and called on his transformation.
Ladybug's POV:
Ladybug felt defeated. She flung through the city as if on autopilot and landed on her roof. She knew the box would be empty when she got there but she needed to see for herself. She swung open the trap door and detransformed onto her bed. Her eyes blurred as she approached her drawer. Empty. It's going to be empty. She carefully opened her drawer to find her empty box. All of the slots were open but no Kwamis remained. Gone. Lost. She felt hopeless. And on top of that she had no one to rely on anymore. All of her friends including Alya were leaving, and Chat probably hated her. They had gotten into a nasty spat earlier and she could tell he had seemed angry ever since. Why did she have to push people away? Why was she always so cautious? She thought back on the argument.
Memory from earlier that day:
"Oh yeah? Why don't you risk seeing me without my mask then Ladybug?" He spewed. The name sounded poisonous in his mouth. No pet names this time. She couldn't believe he would ask this when he knew she wanted to protect him. Just then, a massive, studded fist blasted full speed at them. She pulled Chat close to her and swung them both to safety on a building nearby. They had been fighting a group of miraculous resistant sentimonsters, all clones of a single sentimonster called "Strike back" and she had made a comment about how she was willing to take risks to fight them. Apparently, Chat disagreed.
"I told you Chat all it would take is for one of us to be akumatized and he could find the other one of us. I'm doing it to protect you and you know that!" She shouted.
Shoving her away from him he faced the city with his fists clenched. He turned to face her again, a look of disbelief on his face. "I don't need your protection!" He gasped "We could never be akumatized!" He raised his hands to emphasize his words. Suddenly, his suit seemed white and his eyes lost emotion. He flashed back to normal and Ladybug caught her breathe. She saw the memory of his akumatized self often when they argued, and it only made her drift further away.
"You have no idea what you're talking about/" She cried her eyes avoiding his.
"Right. Because you never tell me anything." He sneered back. "We're supposed to be a team, you and I. That's how master fu had it and he was right. He let us work together and he didn't hand out miraculous like candy!" his voice raised to a shout. He seemed so angry. She hated fighting with him.
"That was a low blow." Her voice sounded small but remained tense. "And I've needed to gather a team as the guardian. We still hadn't won after so long I didn't know what else to do! Im doing my best Chat Noir. Besides, I thought I told you already you are my partner. Our partnership is different than all of the rest of the team!" She spoke through her teeth, hurt by the comparison between her and the previous guardian. How dare he.
"Is that really how you see it ladybug? Because it hasn't felt like you have for years now. I've been in the dark for years" he had been moving towards her, leaving merely inches between them.
Suddenly she felt the strong urge to slap him in the face and kiss him at the same time. She hated when they were angry with each other, she hated how he wasn't understanding, and she hated how it put her emotions into a twist. "I can't always trust that you won't get emotional! Your powers are so much stronger than the rest of the team and I'm afraid of your feelings towards me! They could make you lose control and" she started but was cut off as he interrupted her
"I was chosen to be Chat Noir. I know what I'm doing! And I work so hard to be your other half: to work with every plan you create, read every thought you have and every move you make in battle. You know it works best. I'm not even talking about a romantic relationship, I'm talking about defeating Shadowmoth for crying out loud! And I can't believe you think that… you don't think I care about the goal too?" His voice broke slightly. She hated seeing him like this. She wanted to scream and tear her hair out but she knew he would just fling himself off the ledge and head into battle. He never stayed long to resolve anything.
"Of course I do- I" She thought of the fact that it wasn't only his emotions she had to worry about. He would be so easy to fall in love with. She had done it every time they lost their memories and in multiple timelines. She needed to distance herself to prevent the end of the world.
Just then her mind played tricks on her again. The desperate look in his eyes iced over with blue. Her fingers dug into her arms as she crossed them tightly around herself. "Look I was chosen to be guardian. Let me do my job" she spoke coldly.
"ah yes. Avoidance. As always" and just like that he was gone, flying towards the sentimonsters. She wanted to cry. She wanted to sit on the roof top, detransform and cry. She hated this. She hated what she had done to their friendship.
And now that she was back in her room, detransformed, looking at the empty box she felt even worse. She lost everything. She began to cry. She wanted to escape. She wanted to be away from all her responsibilities, but she knew she couldn't. She wanted to be able to breathe but everything was happening so fast that it felt impossible. In addition, she missed her partner, her friend, her Chat. She wanted to see him and have them forget about the fight. Through choked tears she called on her transformation and left her house. The buildings appeared blurry through her teary eyes but she blindly made her way towards their spot, their meeting place. Maybe he'd show, maybe he wouldn't. She really didn't know but it was worth a try.
Adrien's POV:
When he arrived at the complex, there was no one in the lobby. His mind was dazed and concentrated at the same time. He made his way to the stairs and climbed each step thinking about how he was going to pull this off. What if someone saw him as Chat here? He would have to arrive only at night and sneak out of the window when he needed to leave. Everything he did now would have to be extremely careful. The fourth flight of stairs seemed longer than the rest as he reached the top and entered a hall full of golden doors. "421, 422" he mumbled as the shiny green numbers appeared before his eyes. He inserted the key and it struggled at first. He was always bad with keys, but his shaking hands weren't helping. At last he heard a click and he went inside. The room was as he remembered: boring, tan walls, with boring grey furniture. A large king-sized bedroom where his father slept and a tiny pull-out couch where he slept in the living room. Only two pictures hung on the walls- one of him and his mother, and one of his mother alone, smiling in a sunhat. He took the photos down, sighed, and threw them into the garbage can next to the fridge in the kitchen.
"Claws in" he muttered as the small cat kwami appeared.
"If I do recall I hid a cheese stash somewhere in this kitchen" He went flying around the room in search of his hidden surprise. "Found it!" he came out of the smallest cabinet carrying a freshly molded wheel of camembert.
"mmmm delicious" Adrien replied sarcastically. "well at least I get a bed this time." He spoke gloomily as he headed towards the bedroom. The curtains were heavy and pitch black, so as not to let any light into the room. Maybe this was his secret lair when we were away here. Adrien thought. It was a heavy thought to have. His heart thumped a little at the thought. So many lies. So many secrets.
He set his bag on the floor and opened the shades slightly. He could see the Eiffel tower in the distance. Ladybug. He thought suddenly. He should tell her what he found out, shouldn't he? Then again, the idea of her knowing scared him. She would go straight for the mansion. She would try and face him herself. He couldn't let her do that. Not when she was so vulnerable. He also couldn't risk telling her how he knew yet. It was all too risky. And they learned a lot about risks these past few days. He would gather some information first about where he went when he akumatized victims, what his patterns were, and what his weaknesses were. He couldn't bare the thought of her risking her life and it being his fault. He then remembered the state she was in when she left his house. He bet she was at their spot.
"Have you finished your snack Plagg? I think I'm gonna need Chat Noir to find Ladybug." he looked over at the small figure halfway through his meal already.
"one seco—" he cried but before he could even finish Adrien had already called on his transformation and crept through the window, ready to find her.
