Marinette placed a kiss on her daughter's cheek for a final time, before heading out into the cold early-winter air. The sun had set hours ago and now the city was filled with a cold bitter air.
"This isn't good," Tikki spoke as the bluenette walked down the street, "If Celeste has the Peacock miraculous and is being controlled by an akuma, everything can go wrong."
"I know, Tikki," The young woman sighed, "I don't like this anymore than you do."
"Just be careful Marinette," The kwami looked at her chosen, "You shouldn't really be doing this. You know that it's not good for-"
"The baby, I get it," Marinette groaned, "I'll be fine, Tikki, like always. I promise."
"If you say so..." The kwami replied wearily before being sucked into the woman's earrings.
Rena Rouge gripped her flute as she tried to concentrate on fighting the sentimonsters, but her mind kept wandering to her son. She wondered if he was ok, or if something had happened to Ladybug when she was taking him and Emma to safety. It wouldn't be the first time an altercation would've happened and it made the brunette worry the longer Ladybug took. She was about to pull out her communicator, when Queen Bee stopped her.
"She's fine, Rena," Queen Bee knocked out two sentimonsters with her weapon, "Stop worrying."
"I know," The fox-themed heroine blushed, "But I can't help but worry."
A white portal suddenly appeared and a young woman dressed in a rabbit themed outfit popped out, interrupting their conversation. She had a slight frown and her brow furrowed as she spotted the battle before smiling at the two heroines.
"Thought you could use some help," Bunnix winked as she blocked an attack with her umbrella, "Now? What's so important that you two are messing up the space time continuum? You know time is fragile."
"What?!" Both heroines jumped in shock, causing the pinkette to laugh.
"I'm joking!" She sighed as she blocked another attack, "But seriously, you two should be fighting sentimonsters, not doing whatever this is!"
Both females nodded and soon their minds were back on the battle, with barely any words being spoken.
Celeste smiled as she surveyed the battle from a safe distance. Her amoks were dealing with the heroes quite well, countering most of their attacks. Luna Moth stood beside her, a smile on the villain's face.
"Everything seems to be going well," Luna Moth looked at her daughter.
"Don't speak too soon," Celeste remained blank, "Ladybug can arrive any moment." 'Because she's already here'. She didn't add the last part because she knew that would enrage her mother. She just stood there impassively watching the battle unfold, waiting for the perfect chance to perform her part.
Her violet eyes scanned the scene as she thought about how she got into this mess. All her life she'd looked up to Paris' heroes. Celeste had always thought that she'd be helping them, never siding with the villains. When she received her miraculous she knew that she'd do everything for justice, no matter what it took. Yet here she was, as fucked up as ever and helping Luna Moth of all people. The opposite of what she wanted.
Celeste chuckled at the irony. It seemed like everything was going wrong for her. Ever since she was given that miraculous, everything went downhill. Her relationship with her mother, her life, everything. She looked at the brooch on her suit. It glimmered in the light as her shaky fingers reached for it.
Everything could be over. She could go back to living her normal life, never worrying about these issues again. Living the average teen's life. If she could just take it off...
Her hand fell to her side. She just couldn't do that. Even if it was something she could blame for the mess she was in, she knew that she was the first chosen Duusu had had in years. And the little kwami's happiness was more important than her selfish thoughts.
The sound of a wire being retracted caught Celeste's attention. She lifted her gaze to spot a frowning Ladybug.
"Sapphire Paonne!" Ladybug yelled as she purified another amok, "You need to stop! This isn't like you!"
'Since when did she get here?!' The teen blinked as her eyes traveled to the white feather floating to the ground.
"You don't know the real me," She answered as she sent another amok out, "And from now on I go by Peafowl."
"There's no way you're being serious!" Rena Rouge threw her flute towards the teen, only for her to catch it, "What happened to the enthusiastic teen who wanted to help the heroes?" Peafowl's violet eyes shimmered in the dim light as she began to play with the blades on her fan.
"She's gone. There's no point in trying to fix me or talking to the old me," Peafowl let out a laugh as a sorrowful smile formed on her lips, "Everything that's been done to me, can't be reversed."
"What do you mean 'can't be reversed'?" Queen Bee growled as she eyed the teen. Peafowl was starting to look dangerous and she could see the blades glinting in the dim light.
Bunnix knew exactly what the teen was talking about and took a step back.
She'd seen what Peafowl had witnessed in her burrow and it was something that could change lives. She'd seen how Peafowl had grinned and bear her problems, never asking for help, holding the world on her shoulders.
With all those memories and a miraculous mixed with half an akuma, she was a dangerous combination.
"I've been broken for so long, that I don't even know what's wrong anymore!" The teen's deranged laughter filled the room, as tears formed, "It's like I live in this endless nightmare, not caring about anything until I snap! And when I snap...I get ugly pretty quickly!"
The four heroines backed away from the half-akuma as she continued to laugh, gripping her hair. Luna Moth stood beside Peafowl, a smirk placed on her lips. She knew exactly what her daughter was doing.
"Like mother, like daughter," Was all that left the villain's lips.
"That's one twisted kind of similarity," Bunnix's nose scrunched up, "You're daughter's become a slave to her own emotions. Don't you care!"
"If you truly loved her then you'd undo this," Ladybug glared at Luna Moth.
"You don't think I've tried!" The villain growled, "It's beyond my control! Only Ladybug can purify her. That's how it works, I send it out, Ladybug removes the evil. Even Gabriel Agreste knew that."
Peafowl looked at the bickering heroes and villain, regret filling her insides. Her eyes traveled to Ladybug and she could see that the female's stomach was rounded and larger than usual. A gasp escaped her lips. She was placing an innocent baby in danger, a baby that had nothing to do with this. A tear escaped her violet eyes.
She shouldn't have gotten so caught up in this mess, now she was the cause of it. It wasn't her miraculous, not anything else. She did this. And now she had to fix this.
"I'm so sorry..." Celeste's voice filled the room, "I just- I-"
Silence filled the room and everyone's gaze fixed onto the teen, who had become very quiet. She's stopped laughing and tears fell down her cheeks. The more the girl sobbed, the more she returned back to herself. Her hair had turned a slight shade of brown, her eyes were green and her skin was back to its normal hue. She looked at the heroes and smiled.
"Ladybug? Rena Rouge? Queen Bee? Bunnix?" Her smile was genuine and she rushed towards them, tackling them in a hug.
All of the sentimonsters vanished immediately and the room became still. The four heroines shared a confused look, while Luna Moth growled. This wasn't part of her plan...
"I'm so sorry," Celeste breathed as she hugged them tighter.
"For what?" All the heroines asked as they hugged the teen back, finally coming to the conclusion that she was safe.
"For this," The teen's irises flashed purple and in a blue flash, herself, Ladybug and Rena Rouge were gone.
Chat Noir frantically leaped over the Parisian rooftops, hoping to get to the scene on time. He was just finishing up, when he's gotten a news alert and immediately transformed to help take down the city's latest threat.
"Hey," Carapace landed beside him, "Did you hear about the attack?"
"I was just on my way there," Chat sighed.
"What's got you so bummed?" Carapace raised a brow.
"I don't know why, but I've just got this bad feeling," Chat's green eyes looked into the distance.
"Mmm," Carapace nodded, "Me too. But we're gonna have to go there, even if we don't like the result."
A white portal opened up and Bunnix popped out, with Ryuko and Viperion.
"Chat! Carapace!" She smiled, before frowning, "What took you two so long? Queen Bee needs backup and Ladybug and Rena Rouge have gone missing."
At the rabbit themed heroine's words, their communicators rang. All the heroes answered them.
"Where are you guys?" Ladybug raised a brow, "Queen Bee, Rena and I need you here."
"Where were you two?" Bunnix asked, "Didn't Peafowl kidnap you two?"
"No, she teleported us to another area, then disappeared," Rena's voice sounded, "Apparently she's taken the horse, monkey and just about every other miraculous."
"She's done what?!" All the heroes' eyes widened.
"She's taken the miraculouses," Ladybug massaged her temples, "But please hurry, we need you guys here. And Bunnix?"
"Yes?" She answered.
"Please try and stop this," Ladybug sighed, "Try and see what Peafowl's done in the past week."
"Got it," She grinned, "I'll just take these guys to the battle. Is that all?"
"Should be," The bluenette sighed, "Good luck!"
The call then ended and the heroes began to act.
A/N: Sorry once again this is short, but it's because I needed to cut this chapter in half. Ugh! Plus homework is becoming too much these days! But this chapter is actually shorter than usual. :/ Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this week's addition and I promise that next week will be longer. Cause a lot is going to happen ;)
Thanks for all the support guys!
D.L.D