start notes—
Adrien chooses a ladybug as a familiar (except that he doesn't; not exactly, at least.)
my tellonym: milkisande
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magic
feel the early morning madness,
feel the magic in the making.
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"OF all things, why choose that as your familiar?"
Adrien sighs, for what is likely the hundredth time for that day, watching as the familiar crawls up his arm. He can almost see Chloé's disgusted expression, but pointedly decides to ignore it. "I told you Chlo, it's a she. And I'm not sure why I chose her— I just felt the connection Ma'am Bustier spoke about, and it just happened. I don't get why you can't just accept that."
She raises an eyebrow at his irritated tone, before shaking her head. "It's just that this isn't what anyone expected you to choose, Adrikins," she points out. "I thought you'd have chosen something more majestic, like a lion. Didn't you always like cats?" Chloé shivers, then gestures at his arm. "Choosing some common ladybug… that's not like you."
He just shrugs, exhausted from even trying to protest. She notices his tired expression, then sighs, putting a hand to her hips. "Look, even if you don't believe it, I'm just worried about you," she tells him. "You know that Ma'am Bustier's test is worth a huge chunk of our grade. If you fail to connect properly with your… familiar, then you'll fail." Chloé frowns, and for once, it's a look of actual and genuine concern. "Your dad's never going to let you come back if you do."
At that, he smiles, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. (One she almost immediately shakes away, not wanting any way to bridge her to his familiar. She's always hated insects.)
"Thanks for the concern, Chlo," he starts, before nuzzling close to the insect. "But I don't need it. Ladybug and I are going to crush it."
"You named your ladybug… Ladybug?"
"Says the girl who literally named her familiar, dragon child."
"Hey! Ryuuko's a name fit for a queen! And at least my familiar is befitting of my status. A dragon is all-powerful, royal, and regal. What about a ladybug? What's she good for?"
Adrien shrugs, easily answering the question:
"She's my lucky charm."
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"Alright bugaboo, ready for this?"
As the moon shines through the courtyard, Adrien kneels down and touches the ground with his fingers. Ladybug rests upon his shoulder as he closes his eyes, muttering a few choice unintelligible words to himself.
Then:
"Cataclysm."
The ground shakes and the grass starts to rot, spreading rapidly and intensely… until it stops only a few feet away.
Opening his eyes and walking over to the edge of his spell, Adrien sighs at the result.
"Not strong enough," he mutters to himself, evidently disappointed.
The ladybug crawls over to his cheek, almost as if to give him an encouraging kiss on the cheek.
He smiles.
"You're right," he replies, getting back on his knees. "Let's do this again."
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Adrien spends the next few months practicing.
He spends every waking moment with Ladybug, working with her to improve his cataclysm, then spending the rest of the day spending time and taking care of her (Ma'am Bustier had told them improving relations with a familiar was important; the more trust and loyalty to each other, the better their magic would work together)— but to no avail.
His spell's strength and attack range was still small, with the date of their exam rapidly approaching.
Chloé mouths on about how she was right, how choosing a ladybug was a terrible idea, and how he was going to fail if he continued to stubbornly choose to stay with his familiar.
Usually, the words roll right off his back and he ignores it.
But this time, he finds that maybe she isn't completely off-base at all.
Maybe this wasn't a perfect match, after all.
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Ma'am Bustier tells him to 'talk' to her.
He finds it silly— absurdly so, to speak to a ladybug as if it were a human; but decides to do it as a last-ditch effort.
He leans his head on his arms, watching as the ladybug moves back and forth on his desk.
"Hey bugaboo."
Silence.
"I don't know if you can understand me, but well, we're going to try anyway. Okay?"
Ladybug stops in place, and he assumes it's as good a sign as any to go on.
"I really need help," Adrien starts. "I can't fail this test. It's… let's just say, I'll never become a warlock if I don't ace this."
Ladybug is quiet. (He doesn't expect her to speak, of course, but a flap of her wings or some bzzz would help a lot.)
"Please," he tries to say. "I know you felt it too, right? We're meant to work together. I'll do anything for you to help me out."
She only stays in place, before flying upward and landing on his nose.
He can't see her without crossing his eyes together, and laughs.
The ladybug flaps its wings, then crawls on his shoulder.
Adrien smiles. "I'll take that as a yes, then."
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The day of the exam, Adrien is nervous.
He's put all his trust and faith into his familiar, but he's not that confident she's done the same. (If she even could— honestly, Adrien was starting to think all of this familiar stuff was more insane than the fact he could destroy things with his fingertips.)
"Next… Mister Agreste, and his familiar a—," the announcer coughs, then almost confused, says the next words. "A… ladybug. Okay, then. Please show us what you've practiced."
He kneels downward, and touches the ground.
Ladybug crawls down, lying upon his fingertips. (Almost as if she were holding his hand to guide him.)
He closes his eyes, whispers the words, and feels the magic course through his veins, moving to his hand.
It's a calm, swirling, black, as usual.
Nothing new.
But then:
An explosion of deep, scarlet, red.
The sudden attack lightning shoots through his body, and he feels almost every part of himself buzz with untapped energy.
It's like nothing he's ever felt before.
He almost falls back, before noticing a girl in red stand in front of him.
Why does she look so familiar?
The girl grabs his hand and pulls him up, then orders him. "Keep chanting."
Adrien does. It's overwhelming, he's almost thrown over, but somehow, he shouts the words.
"Cataclysm."
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The exam arena is covered with smoke.
Adrien vaguely hears someone say a spell to clear the air, but he's fallen over and almost loses consciousness.
The last thing he sees is Ladybug, crawling over to his cheek.
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When Adrien wakes up, the first thing he notices is the lack of weight— however light it is, on his shoulder.
He immediately panics.
"Where's Ladybug?"
The doctors tell him to calm down, to rest, but he can't. Not now, not yet, not when he had unanswerable questions about his familiar and the girl and how it all tied together.
Someone takes out their wand, and casts a spell for sleep.
He passes out.
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Ma'am Bustier is there to greet him the next time he wakes up.
"Are you feeling better, Adrien?"
He only nods, then clutches his head. "What happened?"
She stays quiet for a moment, staring him in the eye, before calmly beginning to explain to him. "Your cataclysm destroyed the whole arena."
"What…?" Adrien looks up at her, disbelieving, before shaking his head. "No, I… I never meant for it to become that strong. I just lost control, see, there was this girl and Ladybug, she… Ladybug. My familiar, where is she?"
"You don't have a familiar, Adrien—"
"What do you mean, Ladybug was right there and I have to know if she's okay… if I hurt her during that blast or…"
Ma'am Bustier grabs him suddenly, effectively calming him down. Her smile is kind, and he finds his feelings of panic slowly ebb away.
"Ladybug was never your familiar."
"I just said no, she's…"
"Ladybug is human."
"What?"
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Ma'am Bustier explains to him that no warlock could have done such intense damage alone; even with a familiar, such heights of destruction was unheard of.
The only way that was possible were if two extremely powerful magicians had created the spell together.
She tells him that Ladybug had never been his familiar.
He doesn't know what to believe.
A sudden knock on his room, and in enters a young girl, about his age, nervously looking down at the floor.
She's barefoot and links her fingers together, her clothes a dark red, in sharp contrast with the blue of her eyes.
From her hunched figure, Adrien can almost see who he'd spent the past few months with.
"I don't know if you can tell it's me, but…"
Adrien smiles softly, and takes her hands.
"Ladybug."
"Adrien."
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end notes—
my brain juice is running out… but we r halfway thru and there is absolutely nothing in this world that'll make me stop now. (my work and studies might be yelling into the void but yk what i deserve FUN) !
anyway i hated this but that's the ~joy~ of monthly challenges you cant edit them until the month is over amirite :'))) hskdfjs but dont worry tomorrow is gonna be better i actually have a plot in mind for that one & i think it'll be a good read! but yea, as always ::
thank you for reading! ( ´ ∀ `)ノ～