8. Stoneheart
Pu'a Solektra High Lands
The walls of the commander's office are thick tree roots and vines that were naturally weaved together to form a neat dome.
In the room, Alterna's wings beat steadily as she hovered in its center with her hands clasped behind her back.
Her commander and mentor, Takov, an intimidating figure both in personality and stature, faced her with his arms crossed. And although it was not necessary, the man wore his uniform like a badge of honor. He peered at her through narrowed quarts eyes.
She was expecting his disapproval.
"Lieutenant, although you have retrieved the last remnant of Miracle Shrine, you have completely disregarded our plan. Explain yourself," he commanded.
"Sir, the tainted butterfly that attempted to possess me has enhanced my sight. I did what fate demanded of me." Alterna said. She met her superior's piercing gaze without hesitance.
"What did you see?" He asked.
"Dark will soon reappear. We must prepare Creation and Destruction or our worlds will never be the same again." Alterna stated solemnly.
Takov's eyebrow twitched and his pupils contracted, the only sign of his inner recoil. "Impossible. Dark has vanished ever since Light sealed him away."
"I speak the truth." Alterna said with absolute certainty.
"And what of the two human children? They are much too young to face an adversary like Dark."
"There is still time. With the correct training and guidance, I've seen that they are the only ones who will stand a chance. Their compatibility with their Miraculous is one of the best I've ever seen."
"Lieutenant, you can not be suggesting what I think you are. Humans cannot be trusted with any more knowledge than we have already allowed. Has Miracle Shrine taught you anything?"
"We cannot just wait and do nothing! I've seen what would happen. In a few years, we need to be ready. I will present my vision to the King. He will grant me what I need."
Takov sighed, "even so. You will be held responsible. For your sake, I hope the children prove themselves worthy."
Alterna's eyes glinted, "I know they will."
Origins
The school bell rings indicating that the first period is about to start.
"For those of you who have sports, M. D'argencour is waiting for you downstairs to go to the gym," Mme Bustier informs the class.
Ivan stands up to get ready to leave. He takes a piece of paper Kim held out to him. What Ivan reads utterly vexes him.
"The others can go to the library—"
"KIM!" Ivan interrupts Mme Bustier
"Ivan what's happening?" Mme Bustier asks.
"It's Kim!" He points to Kim with his fist.
Kim smirked in amusement at Ivan.
"I'm gonna make him taste—" He raises his fist to punch the cause of his anger.
"Ivan! Go calm yourself in the principal's office," Mme Bustier reprimands.
Ivan growls, harshly crumples the paper in his hand and stomps out the classroom.
In Papillon's hideout, the villain senses his first victim.
"So many negative emotions. Perfect. That is exactly what I need. Sadness, anger... Infiltrate his heart, my horrible little Akuma." Papillon clasps his hands over a blue butterfly. Darkness bubbles and the butterfly is evilized before being released.
"Go on, go! Fly away! And darken his heart!" Papillon swings his cane.
Back at the school, Ivan opens the door to the principal's office.
"What is this young man? Weren't you ever taught to knock before entering? Come on, chop chop, let's start over." The principal sends him back out.
Ivan shakes his head in frustration and goes out looking down.
"Come on, knock," the principal beckons.
The tainted butterfly flies into the paper clasped in Ivan's hand turning it purple.
Ivan looks up, a butterfly symbol appears over his face.
"Stoneheart, I am the Papillon. I am offering you now the power to avenge yourself on those who hurt you," Papillon offered, his temptation grabbing hold of Ivan's frontal lobe.
"Okay, Papillon," Ivan accepted. A purple mist surrounds Ivan's body transforming him into a supervillain.
The principal waits for knocking that never came, "Well, um, are you kno—"
He is cut off by the office door being slammed off by its ridges.
"KIIIIM!" Stoneheart appears.
In the school library, Alya is showing Marinette something on her phone. A loud crash shakes the ground causing Marinette to fall off her chair and other students to panic.
"What was that?!"
Alya grabs Marinette's arm, pulling her up to her feet and to see what the commotion is all about. On the school security footage, a rock monster is shown throwing a car.
"KIIIIM!" It screamed.
There is a hole in the wall where Stoneheart must have smashed through the principal's office. The principal pulls out his phone, "Hello? Police? Give me the police force."
"What's happening? It sounded like Ivan's voice," Marinette said, worried.
"That's crazy stuff. He transformed into a real supervillain," Alya said, excited, "GPS, check. Battery, check. Bye bye, I'm not here anymore." she runs to the library entrance.
"Hey wait! Where are you going?" Marinette calls after her.
"Where there are supervillains, there are always superheroes," Alya says before she leaves.
Marinette turns to look at the security screen again to see the rock monster lift a car.
"KIIIM!" the monster throws the car and it hits the camera cutting off the footage.
Marinette flinches away from the screen.
Gustav's Eiffel Apartment
Marinette sighed, "It won't be long now."
Adrien didn't answer. Instead he stared into space and gently stroked Plagg who was unconscious in his hand.
"What's wrong Adrien?" Marinette asked.
"It's just. That's Papillon, who is also my Father. I barely recognize him like this. Why would he do this? Materialistically, we want for nothing. He is a self-made millionaire. I never thought of him as power hungry before. There has to be more to it." Adrien said.
"Well, the only way to find out is to ask him." Marinette said.
"He is going to demand I hand over my Miraculous as soon as he sees me," Adrien buries his face into his hand not holding Plagg, "I can't go home."
"But he doesn't know that we know," Marinette rubs his back, "I think this is going to be it Kitty. We have to take his Miraculous before he takes ours."
Adrien takes a heavy breath and steels himself, "you're right. I can't let him continue like this."
Tikki's eyes fluttered. She was lying on something soft and squishy. Human skin, she recognized. She slowly looked up and met Marinette's anxious gaze.
"Marinette," Tikki slowly pushed herself up so that she could sit properly on Marinette's hand. When she saw Adrien holding Plagg, her eyes bulged, "Adrien! You're Chat Noir?" Tikki turned her wide eyes to Marinette who giggled nervously.
"Tikki, what happened? Are you okay?" Marinette asked.
"It's the reveal. Yin and Yang have started to connect together," she explained weakly, "your powers have grown. It takes a lot out of me and Plagg."
"What does that mean?"
"You've both accepted each other which kick-started the first stage of Ek'esik-Sahrafel." At their confused expressions, Tikki roughly translated, "Absolute Trust."
Marinette and Adrien's eyes met in silent understanding.
As Ladybug and Chat Noir, they were partners who heavily relied on each other. In battle, they have fostered a bond of trust in which they put the safety of their lives in each other's hands.
Even so, there was always a wall of uncertainty between them regarding the other because of the unknown variable known as their secret identities.
How could you completely trust someone when you didn't really know who they were behind the mask?
But it happened, in an unanticipated moment, the metaphorical wall had cracked. And they saw each other for who they truly were. That trust they shared as heroes began to bleed through those cracks into their civilian selves.
"We're stronger?" Adrien asked.
"Next time you both transform, you'll have more strength, speed and agility. I'm not sure what it will be like for you Adrien since it's a little different for every Chat Noir, Plagg will explain, but for you Marinette, after the second stage, you'll gain flight."
Marinette imagined herself with dragonfly wings like Alterna and wondered if it would be like that, "for real? How does that even work? I mean, all we did was find out who the other was behind the mask."
Tikki considered what she should tell them. Those who wore a Miraculous, theirs in particular, weren't supposed to know too much in order to keep sensitive information hidden.
Alterna's appearance was a game changer though. If an officer of the metaphysical world willingly chose to expose Ladybug and Chat Noir's identities to human public in order to evoke Ek'esik-Sahrafel, something terrible must be arriving on the horizon.
"I'll explain later, when everything has calmed down," Tikki decided.
Something occurred to Marinette. If she had just allowed herself to be revealed to Chat earlier in their partnership, they may have been able to fight on more even grounds against Alterna.
She turned to Adrien, "if I hadn't been so adamant to keep our identities from each other, we wouldn't be in this mess."
Adrien looked at her as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing, "you can't blame yourself for this bugaboo. This Akuma is by far the most powerful we've ever fought. I'm in just as much fault."
"Actually, she's not a real Akuma," Tikki said, effectively grabbing their full attention, "Or human for that matter."
"What is she then?" Marinette asked tentatively.
"She's a real Fae. I don't know how she got that butterfly, but it shouldn't have affected her negatively. Whatever happened out there, she did it of her own free will."
A still moment passed where Adrien and Marinette could only stare at Tikki.
"You have cat to be kitten me. Faeries exist." Adrien looked up at the ceiling as if it had all the answers, "What's next? Vampires? Werewolves? Wait, no. Werecats? Better. Things are just getting stranger, aren't they Bugaboo?" He looked at Marinette who was spaced out in thought. He waved his hand in front of her face. She blinked back into focus.
"Back when we met Alterna, she called us 'Lady Creation' and 'Master Destruction', she was actually addressing you and Plagg wasn't she? Tikki, she seemed to know a lot about us, why?" Marinette asked.
"Fae are somewhat similar to us Kwami," Tikki started to say as she curled into the center of Marinette's warm palms, "Kwami are Abstract beings, you wouldn't be able to interact with us without the Miraculous. In a way, we are spirit beings in that we can attach ourselves to enchanted objects and channel ourselves through it. Fae on the other hand, operate as both abstract and physical entity. Abstract, being the way they manipulate energy. They are psychic and originally, it is in their nature to protect the balance. That includes us Kwami, especially Plagg and I because we are Creation and Destruction. It's a long story." Tikki coughed and closed her eyes before continuing, "I can guess that Papillion's butterfly has enhanced her psychic abilities to allow her to see your pasts or future."
That was disconcerting.
"Save your energy. You can tell us everything another time." Marinette said.
"Are you guys going to be alright?" Adrien asked, as he stroked his index finger over Plagg's head. He was worried about the dark circles under their eyes.
"We'll be as good as new after we've eaten. Marinette, do you have cookies for me?"
"I'm sorry Tikki, your cookies are still in my backpack at school," Marinette said.
"Same here, Plagg's Camembert is in my locker." Adrien said. At the mention of his favorite cheese Plagg's ear twitched but he didn't wake.
A.N
Paris's reaction will be focused on in the next chapter!
It will include the reveal.
Thank you so much for the encouraging reviews and PMs!