It's taken me almost a month to update this. Oops...
Also, look out for a Harry Potter crossover from me somewhere in the not too distant future. That should be fun...
"I'm going to hate this. I'm going to hate this. I am totally and completely going to hate this..." Marinette moaned as she and Alya entered the local public library.
"We're just going to do homework, Marinette. Relax." Alya rolled her eyes. "You act as if we're about to go face Hawkmoth himself or something!"
"We might as well be..." Marinette thought.
"We're not just doing homework though. We're doing homework with Adrien!" She squeaked, holding her books and stationery close as if her life depended on it.
Alya sighed. "And Nino too, but let's just completely forget about that in favour of your crush that quite frankly is getting quite ridiculous at this point..."
Marinette turned around to glare at her best friend, but the redhead was completely unperturbed by the glare.
"You're going to have to get over yourself and tell him about your feelings at some point. You can't go on like this forever!" Alya exclaimed.
"Oh yes I can!"
Alya simply sighed again and face-palmed.
"Come on, girl. We've got more important things than crushes to focus on right now. Like homework. Very difficult homework..." Alya gripped Marinette's shoulder firmly with one hand and carried her supplies under her other arm and steered her towards a table near the back of the library.
Whipping out her phone and making sure it was on vibrate (and she reminded Marinette to do the same), she sent a quick text to Nino to let him know exactly where they were.
A few minutes later, he and Adrien showed up with their own books and stationery.
"Hey ladies. Ready to work?" Adrien beamed at them as he set down his things on the table.
"No, not really, no. I hate Physics. I'm terrible at it..." Marinette opened her textbook to the relevant pages and looked at the book in despair.
"I've got no love for the subject either, but I figure the sooner we try to get it out of the way, the better." Alya shrugged.
As Marinette tried to work through some of the exercises that they had been assigned, she felt as if her brain was shrivelling up and her head began to hurt.
The writing in the textbook might as well have been in Chinese instead of French (which was especially pitiful as she was actually half-Chinese and couldn't speak even a single word of that particular Asian language) because as hard as she tried on her own, she just couldn't seem to grasp it.
"Why is Physics so hard?" Marinette groaned exasperatedly, her head slamming into the table, the noise on impact drawing stares and disapproving glances from the other library patrons around them. "Being Ladybug is easier than this..." she thought.
"Ah, it's not so bad, Marinette. What is it you don't understand?" Adrien asked her.
Without looking up, she slid the textbook and her notebook across the table to him.
After examining them for a few minutes, he nodded.
"It's not really so bad. I just think you're overlooking a few things. Alya, mind trading seats with me so I can show her what to do?" Adrien asked the bespectacled girl.
"Sure, Adrien!" Alya exclaimed, giggling as she took in Marinette's horrified expression and whispered pleas for her to stay.
Adrien slid in the chair next to Marinette's and she nearly slid down in her own chair, willing the floor beneath her to open and swallow her up.
"Tikki, help me..." she whispered down to her purse.
Tikki merely giggled and snuggled deeper into the purse.
She shut it quickly and turned her attention back to Adrien.
"Physics doesn't have to be as bad as you (and a lot of other people) make it seem. This exercise is actually pretty easy. Let me explain the first one to you so you know what to do for the others..." Adrien put the textbook between them, pulled a sheet of paper from his own folder, grabbed a pen and started writing as he explained to Marinette, who was doing her best to give him her full attention.
Across the table and unbeknownst to the pair, Alya and Nino high-fived each other under the table and snickered.
Meanwhile, Liliane and her grandfather sat together on the sofa, talking about various things.
"Maman and Papa take care of most of needs and I am grateful for that. What I usually spend my allowance on is my snack stash and hair care." Liliane flicked her hair, proudly showing it off.
"And what nice hair it is too." Vincent reached over to touch it lightly. "So soft and curly. I could never pull off that colour though."
Liliane giggled. "You're right. It would look ridiculous on you! Your hair's not so bad for an old guy though!"
"I am not that old..." Vincent looked indignant.
"You are, but that's okay. I love you anyway." Liliane shook her head amusedly. "Back on topic though... I wish Maman would show me that she loves me sometimes. I'm sure she does, deep, deep down somewhere, but she never shows it! Papa is strict too, but at least he smiles and hugs me sometimes..." she sighed. "I must sound so ungrateful..."
"If she didn't care at all, she wouldn't even acknowledge your existence. I think she is trying, but she does not handle emotional matters well. Not even when she was young. I'm glad Grégoire somehow managed to break through that or the world wouldn't have you. I wouldn't have you, the best granddaughter in the world!" Vincent smiled and his granddaughter smiled back, then hugged him.
Just then, Liliane's cell phone rang to the tune of Jagged Stone's latest song and she glanced at the screen to see a picture of a girl her age with auburn hair in a bob, blue eyes and freckles come up, labelled as Anaïs Bardot.
Anaïs didn't even give Liliane an explanation before she cut off her hello with a: "You are in so much trouble right now Liliane!"
"What? What do you mean I'm in trouble? What did I do?" Liliane asked confused.
"Where the hell are you? You missed ballet class! Your mother came to pick you up, but you didn't show!" Anaïs exclaimed. "Hélène and I could have covered for you if you had let us know you were going to skip..."
"Merde..." Liliane whispered, chills going down her spine. "I forgot to go to my ballet class! I actually forgot to go! Maman is going to kill me! She's going to forget what her job is and outright murder me! Doux Jésus, je vais mourir..." her eyes widened.
The doorbell rang and Liliane dropped the phone.
"Père!" Liliane's heart started to race as her mother's irritated voice came through the door. "Is my daughter in there with you now?!"
"Don't do it, Gramps. Don't open the door. Don't do it if you want me to live!" Liliane begged him.
Vincent sighed. "I am not going to lie to my daughter, Liliane. I am not going to lie to your mother..."
And with that, he went to unlock the door.
In the doorway, stood a clearly angry Simone Lenoir with her arms folded across her chest.
"Liliane Morgane Lenoir, stop that nonsense this instant." Simone's tone was cool as she addressed the teenage girl, who had made a poor attempt at hiding behind her grandfather.
She stepped out from behind her grandfather, looking sheepish as she refused to meet her mother's gaze.
"Forgetting to go to your ballet class. Really Liliane? Really? You should be ashamed of yourself, forgetting your responsibilities like that..." Simone glared at her daughter.
"Oh?" Liliane straightened up, finally looking her mother in the eye. "Just like how you're ashamed of forgetting your own father's birthday? That is much more important than ballet, by the way..."
"Get out, Liliane. My car is parked where it usually is. Wait for me there. We will be talking about this later." Simone pointed towards the door and sulking, Liliane gathered up her things and stomped out.
The door slammed loudly behind the teenage girl and then, it was just the two adults left alone.
"You put entirely too much pressure on that girl, you know." Vincent spoke quietly after a few moments, but there was an undercurrent of anger in his words. "She meant no harm today. She loves ballet. She would never intentionally miss it!"
"She is my daughter, not yours." Simone spoke coldly. "I know how to raise her."
"She is only thirteen years old, Simone. She will not see things the way that you or I would, no matter how much you try. You have her doing so many things. Ballet. Violin. Swimming. I even hear that you want to get her started on another foreign language besides English. At least you let her drop Karate after she earned her black belt... She gets decent grades now." Vincent counted off those things on his fingers. "She cannot... You cannot expect perfection in all of those things! You are never going to have the perfect daughter. If you aren't careful, she will come to resent you and see all of those things as a burden instead of making her well-rounded!"
"The only burden I see here is you."
Vincent stepped back from his daughter, leaning on his walking stick, his expression looking as if she had slapped him.
"What?" he asked as if he couldn't believe the words that had just come out of his daughter's mouth.
Which in fact, he couldn't.
"You heard me, Father." Simone's tone was somehow even frostier than before. "Ever since Maman died, Liliane seems to have taken it upon herself to spend even more time with you. Look at what it is doing! It is making her forget her responsibilities, be late for her appointments... What will be next? Using you as a cover to sneak off with some degenerate boyfriend?! I have a mind to forbid her from coming here!"
Vincent narrowed his eyes at his daughter, for a moment failing to believe that he had helped to produce such a creature. "You wouldn't sink so low..."
"I wouldn't call it sinking low. I call it setting boundaries and enforcing Grégoire's law and mine. You seem to have forgotten about such things in your old age. I only hope you are not going senile. You developing Alzheimer's disease would only make things worse on me right now. That is the last thing I need right now..."
With that, she turned on her (rather high) heel and walked out, shutting the door behind her none too gently.
After a few moments of stunned silence, Vincent sunk into a nearby chair, covering his face with his hands and sighing sadly, wondering exactly what he and his deceased wife had done wrong in regards to their daughter.
Somewhere in Paris, a circular window opened, letting light into a dark room in which a masked man stood, white butterflies fluttering agitatedly around his feet.
"Ah. The feeling that despite your best efforts, that you've failed to be a good parent. What a wonderful new host for my Akuma..."
As Hawkmoth spoke, he held out his dark-gloved hand and one of the many butterflies in the room landed on it, contrasting brilliantly against the glove.
He clasped his hands over it and imbued it with dark energy, turning it a purplish black.
As soon as it had completely turned, it flew through the window and soared over the Parisian skyline.
"Take flight, my little Akuma and comfort that utterly disrespected man!"
Vincent wiped his face and made to get up from his seat in the chair.
"I can only hope that Simone doesn't punish Liliane too harshly for this." he though aloud, failing to notice the Akuma flying in through the open backyard door. "It was an accident and she would never de-"
His speech was cut off when the Akuma landed on his walking stick before he could actually get up from the chair.
He sat up abruptly with a little gasp as the Akuma was absorbed into the walking stick.
Vincent's expression instantly went from sad to furious as under his eyes became reddish and the outline of a purple butterfly framed his face.
"Feeling utterly disrespected by one of those who should have the most respect for you? Children truly can be so ungrateful..." Hawkmoth's tone was smooth as he addressed his latest victim, who was already completely enraptured. "My name is Hawkmoth and you shall henceforth be known as Geriatrico. I will give you the gift of taking youth away from those who are undeserving and using it to become stronger than you ever were before. All I ask in exchange is that you obtain two small items for me: Ladybug's and Chat Noir's Miraculouses..."
Vincent smiled, but it was not a smile filled with joy.
It was one of pure evil. Comparable to a sadist about to torture his latest victim.
"With great pleasure, Hawkmoth. Someone ought to teach these young people a lesson about respecting their elders..."
Already lost to the Akuma's control, Vincent stood up as the purplish black mass of energy engulfed him and his walking stick from head to toe.
Liliane sat in the passenger seat of her mother's car, fuming over what she'd overheard her mother telling her grandfather.
She was absolutely furious with her mother. How could she be so cruel? So heartless to her own father? He'd done nothing to deserve it!
When Simone had finished telling him off, Liliane had just barely managed to scarper out of the building and to her mother's car, parked just a few metres away.
It was only a few minutes afterwards that her mother returned to the car and begun to drive off without a word to her daughter.
"Why?" Liliane finally asked after a while. "Why would you ever want to talk to him like that? Your own father? He's done nothing to deserve you talking to him like that!"
"We are not discussing this now, Liliane." Simone spoke through her teeth as she focused on navigating the Parisian traffic.
"Why not? It's his birthday! You could have given him a break! How could you call him a burden? And you think I'm disrespectful?!" Liliane exclaimed.
The car stopped suddenly as a beam of light from the sky hit the street in front of them, turning it into a patch of dirt instead of a nice, paved road.
Simone narrowly managed to hit the brakes before driving into it, but it was no use as the glow covered the entire road, completely turning it into a dirt path.
A figure floated down from the sky in front of them and stood in the midst of the road.
He was an elderly man wearing a dark brown, butterfly shaped mask and his hair and clothing looking as if he'd stepped out of a painting set in the late 1700s with a dark brown, high-collared tailcoat made of what looked to be a combination of silk and cotton with frills at the sleeves which went over a cream and brown striped vest, dark brown pants tucked into knee high white socks and brown shoes.
Grasped firmly in his right hand was a tripod walking cane that looked as if it had been carved out of burnt wood and the carvings in it looked like butterflies.
He cackled before pointing the cane at the car that Liliane and her mother were sitting in, wide-eyed.
"Liliane, we should run." Simone said.
They both ducked out of the car screaming, just as a beam of light came from the tip of the cane pointed at it.
When it engulfed the car and the light disappeared, it turned into a horse and carriage and the man who'd caused it glowed briefly with a black aura, chuckling to himself.
"People these days have no respect for their elders, so I'm going to show them how it feels to be old and a burden for once!" he shouted for all the Parisians who were still present to hear.
Liliane looked at the latest Akuma victim, studying him closely.
She took in the look of his face, and then the walking stick...
"Grand-père?!" Liliane whispered, horrified.
She glanced at her mother, who was holding her daughter's shoulders protectively.
"Just so you know, Maman," Liliane spat. "I consider this to be your fault."
Her grandfather... the Akuma... noticed them just then and pointed the cane at them, its tip glowing.
They ran, narrowly missing being hit.