Enjoy!


She was the Destroyer and he the Creator, but maybe they got it wrong all along.

It turns out that sometimes everything needs to burn down before it can grow, and even the most beautiful life can quickly turn on itself.


Inferno Oeuvre

by thepeacockandthebutterfly

Well aware of his father's stern eyes on him, Adrien flicked his finger at the dirt-filled pot before him. He felt the potential for the soil to hold and nourish life, reaching for that spark and pushing at it. It flooded through him like a warm torrent as green pushed through the surface and bloomed upwards. A heart shaped flower formed from the tip of the plant, hanging over like a heavy pendulum. He stepped back, sweat beading his forehead as he panted for air. Creating life from nothing was always harder than speeding up the growing process.

Give him a seed? He'll have it in bloom with the snap of his fingers.

Give him a dirt-filled pot? He'll need to expend a lot more energy to get anything going.

"Good," his father said, nodding slightly before standing, "Nathalie, Adrien may be taken to school now."

Adrien leapt to his feet in excitement, snatching up his backpack from where it laid, fully packed, against his bedroom door. "Thank you, father!" He ran past his father, hurrying out the door and leaping into the car that waited outside. The Gorilla started up the car, dropping Adrien off in front of his school.

After looking both ways for any non-powered humans, Adrien walked through the illusion that protected the elite powered school. He was running late for Creation, aka his favorite class, so he practically ran into the elevator to bring him down. After entering his handprint powers security check the elevator began to shift, bringing with it a distinct smell of smoke. Confused, Adrien tapped his foot as he waited for the doors to open. The smell of smoke vanished at the same time as the doors slid open. He walked into the classroom just in time to see his best friend, Chloe, sneering at a new bluenette that cowered on the floor.

She sniffed, sneering at the smaller girl. "Freak," Chloe spat, before turning and sauntering over to her seat.

Adrien frowned, looking after the blonde before turning to crouch beside the bluenette. He heard her whisper quietly, "I knew this would happen," clutching her head in her hands, "all I can ever do is destroy."

Adrien felt his heart go out to the shaking girl. He tapped her on the shoulder lightly, intending to reassure her. He was surprised when she spun quickly out of her fetal position into a low crouch.

Spooked blue eyes met his green, glittering with what were likely unshed tears. Adrien found himself mesmerized by those eyes. He almost didn't notice the sparks popping off of her defensive body.

"Are you okay?" he asked cautiously, guessing that she had been the reason for the smoke and not wanting her to get set off again.

She lowered her eyes, taking a deep breath. The sparks fizzled out. "Yes, I'm fine," she said, the words halted and a bit short. She got to her feet, walking over to Tikki. They spoke quietly for a bit, Tikki's face looking disappointed.

The girl turned and walked past Adrien to step into the elevator. She turned quickly and made eye contact with him. "Thank you," she said.

The elevator doors closed in front of her with a ding, magically portal-ing the girl back upstairs.

Adrien shook his head quickly, trying to forget the image of huge blue eyes in front of him.


Marinette stood before the second elevator that led to her Destruction class. Part of her wanted to just leave, especially after the disaster that had been her Creation class. Luckily, Tikki had allowed her to leave and skip the class that day.

"Here goes nothing," she muttered, stepping into the elevator and descending into her second magic class.

The first thing that hit her was the darkness. The classroom smelled like a deep forest, torches around the walls providing the room with a gentle light.

"Miss Dupain-Cheng?" an unfamiliar voice asked.

Marinette turned to see a taller man, probably her teacher, with black hair and eerie green eyes looking at her. "Yes, sir."

He nodded slowly, smirk spreading across his face to reveal slightly sharper teeth. "I hear you've got a talent right up my alley," his face shifted into an imperceptible expression, "Tikki said someone was mocking you for it."

Marinette's expression hardened. "My power is difficult to control."

"What you need is a proper outlet to use your skills." Her teacher, Plagg, walked over to a row of boards. "In this class, I allow my students to just use their talents. No matter how much destruction you cause, I just want you to use them. This society teaches us to be scared of our potential, I want to teach you to be empowered by it." He touched the first board, a bubbling darkness surround his hand. The color of it was pitch black, no light at all visible. The board vaporized under his touch, disintegrating into black ash before falling away entirely.

"Whoa," Marinette whispered, eyes round.

Plagg smiled at her. "My power rivals yours in sheer dangerous power, and is probably quite a bit more volatile. Tikki has been working with me on control for years, and I still haven't mastered it! But I can go out in every day, I can teach a class of children," he paused, eyes locking with Marinette's, "I am not scared of my ability." He gestured to her, indicating to have her try it out.

Marinette opened her palm, a fluttering flame blooming over pale skin. She formed it into a rough ball, lobbing it at the next board. Slowly, methodically, she began to destroy every board, flames roaring around her. It hit her, suddenly, that she was surrounded by fire.

With a screech, she fell to her knees, rolling up once again.

Plagg sighed, just looking over the destruction. He could work with this. He stepped into the flames, pulling Marinette to her feet. "You're okay, calm down."

"All I can do is destroy," she said, tears leaking from the corners of her closed eyes, "isn't that awful?"

Plagg sighed again. "My power is solely able to destroy, but I have accepted it. What you don't see is your power's potential."

Marinette just shook her head stumbling over to sit in the corner and twirl her fingers, working on her control once again.

"Adrien," Plagg snapped, irritated with his inability to get through to Marinette, "come here."

The blond hurried over, turning to look where Plagg pointed and instantly realizing what was wanted of him. Adrien reached into the living matter that remained of the wooden boards and pulled, effectively extinguishing the flames as flowers and leaves burst from the burned surfaces.

Marinette watched from her corner, eyes locking on the delicate blooms. Her flames twisted, swirling into bright fiery flowers that mimicked the living.


Hey, sorry it took me a while!

I have a poetry collection that will be published in August that I'm currently editing (my poetry instagram is /emilyharveypoetry) and I also have a novel in progress!

I hoped you all liked this chapter and the bit from Adrien's perspective!

Reviews:

Cinder: I have a plot in my head, but it won't get more gripping until later on

FlameDragonHime: Thank you! (I love your username)

Guest: There's a lot of switch ideas that will be coming into play here, yes!

Uselesswerewolf21: Thanks!

OtakuGamer200423: Hahaha, I hope this fed you well

Whovianeverlark17: Thank you so much :)

DiamantefofInha: Thanks!

TheDreamerOfImpossibleThings: Hey, it's nice to see you again! I always love seeing your reviews and I'm happy to see you excited about getting into another one of my stories! It's definitely hard to keep the motivation to keep writing chapters, but I always come back for the readers :)