Chapter 1
The Abominable TV show inspired me to do something with them, but I couldn't get anything in my head. I remembered I had left an open ending on the prequel and thought about starting this fic. Have two different fics in mind, but they're not fully developed, so I'll go with the flow. I got at least a few bits, which I can use to work on. At the moment, I only have Lukanette and Yin set as ships, I might in the future add a third one in if I feel like it could work.
"Pound it!" Exclaimed Ladybug and Onyx with their fist bumped into one another's. On the ground sat Gabriel tied up with a hose glaring up at the superheroes, then Ladybug approached the man and got down on her right knee.
"Mr. Agreste, I hope you're ready to face jail time. Because it's going to be a long, long time," Said Ladybug with a smirk, then Gabriel began to laugh.
"You really think you have defeated me?" Questioned Gabriel watching Ladybug furrow her eyebrows, then watched both her earrings being taken off her ears, making her gasp while transforming back into her civilian form.
"Ahh!"
Gabriel smirked watching beside the girl the cat miraculous holder approach the villain to show him the earrings of Ladybug, making Marinette drop her chin in surprise.
"Onyx, I thought we were partners," Marinette asked watching Onyx chuckle and look back at the blue-haired girl.
"Of course we are!" Responded Onyx. "At least you were meant to think that until we caught Hawk Moth or better…...until the plan of infiltrating me into the superhero team would work." Mentioned Onyx placing his fingers over his ring to remove it and transform back into his civilian form.
"You know, those private mandarin classes were good of use to have the plan discussed. After all, you don't know even a word of your own mother language," The raven-haired boy said handing out the ring to Gabriel, which laughed maniacally as he had both miraculouses in his hands. Marinette gasped in shock, then looked beside her the shoulder Tikki sit on her shoulder with her arms crossed.
"Which kid doesn't know her own mother language, that's so embarrassing," Tikki said making Marinette scream.
"Ahhhhhh!" Marinette shrieked up from her sleep, then gazed around in panic to see, she was in her bedroom. Tikki appeared from down the covers to look worried at her holder.
"Marinette, are you alright?" Asked Tikki looking at Marinette breathing heavily, then tried to calm herself down. Tikki approached her holder to nudge her cheek, trying to comfort her. "Did you have a bad dream again?" Questioned the kwami feeling the girl nod, afterward, she floated away from the girl to look at her.
"I dreamed, that Onyx and I had finally defeated Hawk Moth. In the end, it turned out, that Onyx led me on this entire time and handed over our miraculouses to him,"
"That was just one bad dream, Marinette. Jin would never do that. It's very unlikely for him to even know Hawk Moth was Gabriel all along," Tikki mentioned watching Marinette take from under her pillow her smartphone out to look at the time.
"Oh right, I wrote with Luka last night," Mentioned Marinette unlocking the display of her smartphone to see his last message was a kiss emoji. Marinette left Luka's chat box, then saw under his name a few of her friend's names and pressed on the fourth box, which had Jin's name on it, then pressed on the phone symbol.
"Why are you calling him?" Questioned Tikki.
"I want to make sure if he's got his miraculous," Mentioned Marinette. "It will make me feel more relieved,"
"Sure, it's just two in the morning after all…" Tikki commented unsure if it was a good idea to call the Asian boy in the middle of the night.
"Marinette? What's going on?" Asked a half-sleepy Jin.
"I just had a nightmare and I thought it was better to call you. You were in the dream as well and you…...you worked for Hawk Moth and you had used me all this time to make it easier for Hawk Moth to get our miraculouses. In the dream, you even said, that thanks to me not knowing mandarin it was easy to fool me,"
"Okay, I think you were in the REM-sleep phase. Throughout that part of your sleep, dreams, and nightmares tend to feel surreal. All your senses, which are controlled by the same part of the brain, that is active during the day….."
"Is Plagg okay? Do you have your miraculous with you?"
"He's lying on another pillow. He's alright,"
"Good, good. Thank you. Good, this was just a dream,"
"It can happen, that you get a nightmare related to Hawk Moth due to the pressure we've got in the past months. Go get a cup of water and go back to sleep. It will be better this time, otherwise tomorrow I'm meeting Yi before school starts. You can talk to me or even Luka at some point,"
"Thank you, Jin. Sorry for waking you up,"
"No problem. Rest well,"
"Thank you," Marinette responded taking her phone down to hear Jin turn off the call, then Marinette lied aside to look at her bulletin board, which had new images on it, which included her boyfriend Luka, her new friends Jin and Yi, and some pictures from classmates from old occasions.
"Is it just me or does Jin seem more chill at night?" Questioned Marinette watching Tikki shrug her shoulders.
"I think getting angry or anything during the night wouldn't be quite smart. Otherwise, he could be used, when you call him in the middle of the night it could be serious,"
"He's like Luka, older and experienced. He's like an older brother to me. You even admitted, that since he's on our team I'm more attentive and serious, than usual. With this issue with Hawk Moth gone it feels good to have someone mature, yet understanding around,"
"You're right," Commented Tikki watching Marinette lie down to look at one picture, where Jin and Yi stood with one of their hands behind the other holding a drink in their other hand while looking at the fourth wall. "Yi is very lucky to have her childhood friend around her life now," Marinette said adjusting the picture while eyeing the Chinese-descendant girl on the photo glimpsing at the camera with a smile.
In the morning, inside the music classroom, Yi sat looking with a neutral face at the present students that sat with her with their chairs in a circle looking at a brunette woman, which sat in front of them with a baby wagon beside her, where she had her hand in it to take a look on her infant. Present in that room besides Yi was the boyfriend of Marinette Luka, among with his younger friend Nathaniel Kurtzberg, followed by Lila Rossi and Myléne Hapréle from the same class, Wayhem and Jean from another class.
"You all must be the students, that signed in for this support session," The short-haired brunette spoke watching the teens nod. "Alright, for those who don't know me, I'm River Langerak from the TV1 studio. A couple of years ago I have attended the Françoise Dupont as well, before getting into journalism. I'll be the one starting with my background story. You don't have to be afraid to tell yours. Not everyone needs to have a beautiful outgo. I want you all to know, that you're not the only person with this issue. You have each other here with who you can talk about. Even me, a TV icon," Spoke the woman watching the kids nod. "Are you good with me making the start?" Questioned the brunette watching all nod. "Alright. When I was around 10 years old, from what I remember. He was a decent father. I did not ever see him stand out somehow negatively. One thing I know, was, that he liked to drink beer. At that time, I didn't know, what beer was I just could recall, that the scent of it was disgusting for me," River mentioned watching Luka and Jean nod. "My father began to act differently when his drinking habit grew thus causing him one day to get fired at work. During his employment, he was often at home, while my mother was working. He would spend the day watching TV and drinking. He was more impatient, easily irritated by little issues, and would get aggressive if things didn't go his way. The moments he got angry…...had feared me. I had no idea, what was going on and assumed, he had a bad day. But it wasn't that. His consumption had grown and so had his temperament. One time I witnessed my mother getting hit by my father, which made my heart drop and feel fear for the first time when being around him. This wasn't the last time it happened, it occurred more often. I felt, that all this was wrong, but I was young as well. I couldn't convince my mother or anyone else, that we were victims of domestic violence. This event was a mistake we should have prevented, cause it could have had a different ending. This only ended for us, cause one night my mother decided to take me with her and ran off. On the said night, my father had packed my mother to strangle her and I knew this was really bad. I kicked my father against his leg to which my father responded with a slap on my face. He scolded me, then pushed me on my hair, which instead of helping him gain an answer made me cry. My mom split us, then locked herself with me in my bedroom to avoid him entering the room. My father threatened me due to having stood up for my mother and we were in silence in the room. Hours passed, my mother had tugged me in, so I would sleep and when he went to bed, she woke me up and took me with her and we went across the valley to seek help from a friend. Unluckily he found out about us and found us near the hills of the beach. My mother ordered me to run in a different direction to bring myself to safety. On my way, I encountered a pedestrian jogging and I told her, what was up and she called the police. Afterward, I found my mother again and the police looked around for my father…..when they found him, he had fallen off a cliff and he had passed away, due to suffocation," Explained River watching the students nod, then Lila raised her hand up.
"How did he choke? Did he eat sand somehow?" Questioned the Italian confused watching the former student shake her head.
"He choked on his own barf," Commented the woman making Lila warp her face.
"Eww,"
"I think this is why people say, you put a person in a lateral position on a first aid incident," Commented the Japanese girl making River nod.
"Exactly," Answered the journalist. "My father there was alone, according to analyzed he had broke his knee and the amount of liquid he had in his stomach, including the way he lied on the sand for a while made him nauseous and…..puke,"
"How did you feel afterward?" Questioned Luka raising his arm up. "Were you relieved or sad?"
"I was…..I don't recall the right sentiment from that time. I was…...shocked, disappointed, sad….I had doleful mixed feelings from, what had happened. My mother assured me, I could talk with her about it. It all happened out of an accident. I didn't need to feel bad about his death. It had been a sort of punishment he received for what he has been up to lately. I accepted that and in a couple of months, I got over it. I grew used to living alone with my mother and one day when she got promoted we came here to Paris. Here I made my life, got into one of Paris' most prestigious schools, I have started a family on my own…," River commented looking at the crib, where her baby was with a smile and reached her hand into it to pass her hand gently over the kid's cheek.
"Awww," The students moaned adoring the presence of the young baby.
"It's really wonderful, how positive you have developed yourself after that incident in your past," Myléne commented earning a smile from the brunette. "Not everyone has good experiences in the future after an incident like that,"
"I was lucky to have my mother and one of her best friends around me. I did have a different picture of men from their experiences, but at school, I got to know many other students, including my husband and I've got as well a different sight as my mother or her friend," Mentioned River. "Alright, I think I already said enough. It's now your turn. Who's brave enough to make the first step?" Questioned River looking at the group to see, who would pipe up for their story. Luka raised his hand up making the woman smile and pick him.
"Luka, right?" Asked River earning a nod from the boy. "Tell me your story,"
"I'm Luka. I'm 18 years old. I came here into this session because I heard about this from a friend and I knew two friends from here, so we came together here,"
"Okay, what part of your family is missing?"
"Well, it's my father," Responded Luka. "When I and my sister Juleka were around the age of 6 or maybe 7 he died in a car accident. He was under influence of alcohol. He also was abusive towards us, mostly my mom and me. Juleka was most of the times spared by him, cause we would take her under protection. When I grew older, we met Orlando, a cousin of my late father, and offered her money to help her sustain us. My mom rejected it and stated she didn't need any money. She could handle us without any help. He accepted this. He was somehow good friends with my father, but when he heard about how he threatened us, he felt ashamed and didn't really interact with anyone, until it somehow became convenient in a family meeting. Growing up without a father now was probably the best for me. I was at the school a sort of rebel, cause I couldn't get rid of the anger I felt from the trouble at home I…..well spent my anger out on other people, until Wayhem got punched at the school by me and his parents heard about my story. My chaos at the school made my mom give me house arrest and this led my parents to fight. My mother asked him for the divorce and he angrily left. He was gone for the entire night and when returning home he crashed against a wall and died. I can't recall how I felt upon his loss. All I knew was, that my mom and Juleka needed someone in the household to be the patriarch. Knowing, that I was the big brother I had set myself in mind to be a better son and with help of an educator I made it. Major aspects, I really needed a male idol, that my father couldn't be. That place was taken for a while by the educator and some help came from my mother as well. Otherwise, I've looked for help from somewhere else. My mom could raise us both well without a father around. It has worked out well for us all," Luka told to the present students, which nodded.
"If the accident back there didn't happen, what did you think your life would have been if you all had to go through the divorce process?"
"I don't know exactly. I never thought about it," Responded Luka.
"On most occasions, I'm familiar with, things could have evolved worse. Many divorced parents do fight a lot about the custody of their children. Just each story evolves differently," Mentioned River making Luka nod. "Who wants to tell their story?" Questioned River looking at Kagami and Yi's direction, which exchanged looks, afterward Yi raised her hand up making the journalist smile. "Go on,"
"My name is Yi. I'm 16 years old and my father passed away last ye…..two years ago, actually. He had a heart attack and…...well he was suddenly gone. I had a difficult phase at the beginning. It happened shortly before we moved here. I didn't know anyone here. It made it difficult for me to focus on myself or anything around me. Someday I was introduced to Kagami, who lost her dad as well in a similar way as I did. With her, I got to know how it felt like to be in a mute situation as I was at that time. It was like….it happened outta nowhere. I wasn't ready to let him go. It just…...happened. He had no health problems, he watched, that he had well-balanced nutrients as he spent large part of his day sitting in front of the computer at the work. He was supposed to live long enough. During the first months, I opened myself slow up to my close friends, to my family and I allowed to let my feelings go. Life wasn't over yet. My mother and grandma are still around, my new friends, my boyfriend. There are still moments, I wished my father was still around and I could ask him for his opinions or help. Alternatively, my mom and Jin are my biggest help with this issue, which I'm glad to have. From a few students from here, I have heard their story already and I'm glad to be able to talk about them. And you Mrs. Langerak, I see you pretty often on TV and I did not imagine, that behind you there was also a dark story," Stated Yi making the brunette smile.
"It's alright. It's not such an important detail of my life. I'm after all 26 years old and this happened over 10 years ago. It's a, how should I consider this…...a forgotten story," Commented the journalist making Yi smile a little. "Got something else to add or should we continue?"
"I'm done," Responded Yi, then River looked at the other students and Wayhem raised his arm up in the air earning a smile from the journalist.
The door of the classroom was opened up to reveal Nino's head, which looked into the place, then waved at Luka.
"Oh sorry dude, I had no idea you were busy," Spoke Nino earning the attention of the adult, which looked back at the Moroccan boy. "Hey…...you're that journalist Alya's a big fan of," Commented Nino, then shrieked as Alya appeared beside Nino bumping her head by accident under Nino's chin to glimpse into the classroom.
"Is that….why didn't you tell me River Langerak was in here?" Questioned Alya looking at her boyfriend, which was patting his chin.
"I don't know. I assumed it was an actual teacher," Nino responded watching the journalist wave at the duo and Alya just ran in to embrace the woman tightly, surprising her.
"What a surprise," Spoke River. "The girl from the superhero blog,"
"Are you still on maternity leave? I haven't seen you on TV for a really long time. Almost a year I think," Alya asked taking her arms off the adult.
"I will return in two weeks. By that time, my husband took a month of paternity leave to be around our daughter. Our parents will be around as well when they can, so we can work for a few months. If needed I can request my boss to extend my maternity leave again. I just offered to jump in for another work pal, who got into paternity leave as well, because at the moment they couldn't find quick a substitute with a formation," Explained River making Alya nod. "How's your blog doing? I haven't seen you using it in a while,"
"I didn't have quite anything special to post, so the blog is currently on a hiatus. Hawk Moth hasn't akumatized anyone yet nor shown his face. The Interpol already has the notice of Gabriel Agreste's task as the perpetrator for all this chaos. He's certainly hiding somewhere to avoid being spotted by pedestrians or anyone else," Responded Alya. "We're all moving on with our lives as we're used to. We just wonder sometimes, if there's gonna be an akuma attack someday or not,"
"He might be planning something bigger or he simply has done a break to think. That man sounds like a continuous danger to the citizens. He doesn't seem like someone, that would give up easily,"
"Perhaps that dude knew he fucked up and took an end to his life. It would be the best for all," Commented Nino shocking the adult along with Alya.
"I don't think he's capable of doing that by himself. I believe, if that had happened the kwamis of his miraculous would have returned somehow. I don't see a reason, why they shouldn't return," Guessed Alya. "I'm not a psychologist, but I think with logical thinking it doesn't make any sense for him to do that," Pointed the girl out, then heard the school bell ring to announce the call into the break.
"Give me a moment, I have to dismiss the group," River warned getting up to watch the students, which were observing the situation begin to pick up their baggage. "I know we didn't do a lot, but if you want, you can all return in the afternoon to the second group. There we have enough time to discuss anything you need," Suggested the journalist watching the students nod and walk toward the exit. Luka passed by the baby crib to see the infant sleeping, then smiled. Afterward, Myléne, Kagami, and Nathaniel stopped by there as well.
"A cute, little girl," Commented Myléne making Kagami nod, then wide her eyes enamored as the baby yawned, making the girls go aww.
"How old is Miss Bustier's child? Hers is younger, right?" Questioned Luka watching Nathaniel shrug his shoulders while admiring the infant.
"You know…..it's kind of crazy to think, how someone's capable of leaving someone alone with a baby this age," Commented the redhead making Luka nod neutrally.
"Worse, there are even people, who leave them all alone somewhere," Myléne added glimpsing at the students around the baby, then watched Kagami nod.
"Some people want to have kids so bad and are unable to have them. Then there are other kinds of people, who get them and…...well, that happens," Spoke Kagami.
Luka left the place to follow Yi to the outside of the classroom, then the duo encountered Marinette along with Marc and a third person waiting for their friends on the outside.
"Good morning, Marinette," Greeted Luka approaching the girl, which embraced her boyfriend with a little smile. "You're okay? I saw your message,"
"I'm over it. I told Jin, what was up and he listened," Answered Marinette making Luka nod.
"He's coming up here to meet Yi. She came along with Kagami into the session as well," Pointed Luka out making the blue-haired nod.
Yi had approached the duo, while holding her smartphone in her hand, then waved at Marinette.
"You two don't mind, if I wait here. Jin's coming to meet Luka," Mentioned the Chinese girl making Marinette nod.
"I'm good," Responded the baker's girl, then they looked at Marc, which was talking with Lila and Nathaniel. "How was the session for you two?" Questioned Marinette earning the attention of the two classmates.
"I didn't get the chance to say anything yet," Commented Lila making Nathaniel nod.
"Me too, but we got to hear Mrs. Langerak had an abusive dad," Commented Nathaniel making Marinette nod.
"Is she still in there?" Questioned Marc making Nathaniel nod. "I always wanted to have an autograph from her," Mentioned the raven-haired teen making Lila smile and grab Marc on his arm.
"Come, she's still in there. You can ask her for one," Offered Lila guiding a slightly unhappy friend into the classroom.
"I'm not good with words you know,"
"Oh don't worry, you got this," Lila promised disappearing into the classroom with her friend.
"It's quite amazing how those three have formed one of the cutest trios out of our school," Admitted Marinette making Luka nod.
"Everyone can learn from their mistakes and get better. Whether they had good or bad intentions," Added Luka.
"Jin says something different. It basically means the same thought," Mentioned Yi making Luka nod.
"Yes, he claims, that certain circumstances can lead people to follow other directions," Mentioned Yi, then looked along with Luka at the side to see Jin appear by the stairs, arriving the second floor and waved at the trio.
"Good morning," Greeted Jin approaching Marinette and Luka first, with who he did a fist bump. Afterward, he moved to Yi, which embraced him. "Good morning, Yi," Greeted the tall boy, then sensed the girlfriend peck him on his cheek.
"Good morning," Yi responded getting down from his arms, then looked at the couple beside them. "You okay? Jin told me about your dream,"
"I'm fine, thank you," Responded Marinette, then Luka waved at Nathaniel, so he could approach the group. "Okay at the moment, we're alone. I think I can live with this idea of us knowing each other's identity. We figured out Jin's by accident, Luka knew mines and at some point, Yi brought up this topic and we accepted it,"
"In case of an emergency, it's good, that we can protect each other easier. I'm glad for the two times you called me out from Lila and Marc's presence. They don't know, that I'm Super Snake and I'm not quite good at lying," Stated the redhead making Marinette nod.
"I get you. Look, we still have no clue about Gabriel's whereabouts. I had yesterday a terrible nightmare about, that we got defeated, because for whatever reason Jin there apparently knew Hawk Moth long before he got the miraculous and of course the nightmare felt so real, that I really thought Jin had betrayed me," Marinette commented making Jin chuckle along with Yi, then Marinette frown. "Oh now you're laughing!" Commented Marinette, then Jin moved his hand up to hold her back from talking.
"I'm sorry. Hearing this a third time just sounds ridiculous. Dreams sometimes have that issue," Commented the Chinese boy earning a nod from Yi.
"During a class camp, I had a dream of my father and he suddenly began to scream like a goat, just because in the middle of the night Zeynep had been scrolling through Facestargram and opened by accident a reel," Mentioned Yi making Nathaniel snort at the imagination. "See? It's more ridiculous. It doesn't even make any sense,"
"I usually have dreams of how my comics should work like, otherwise I don't remember anything else," Stated Nathaniel, then heard his two friends walk out together from the classroom, then saw Marc with his smartphone in his hand, while Lila gazed at it as well.
"Guess, who took a picture with the journalist River Langerak," Mentioned Lila watching Marc show the group his selfie with the adult woman, making the group smile amused at Marc's success.
"The best part is, he did ask her on his own," Lila commented nudging her friend, which smiled a little.
"It was thanks to you, Lila. Thank you for giving me confidence," Said Marc making Lila smile, then the school bell rang again. "Oh we gotta go back to class,"
"Come on Marc, we've got lessons with Mrs. Mendeleiev," Mentioned Yi making her desk mate nod, afterward Yi looked at her boyfriend. "Shouldn't you be actually at the university right now?"
"The first session starts at 9. I still got time to get there," Answered Jin. "I did not expect to not be around you for this much,"
"We will get to that, don't worry. The only thing you can do is wish me luck for the science test in the third lesson," Suggested Yi making Jin nod, then shared a hug with the girlfriend.
"Good luck. You will do great," Jin said earning a smile from Yi, which went on her tiptoes to lean her forehead on Jin's. Afterward, Yi went after Marc leaving her boyfriend back, which glimpsed at his friend chatting with Marinette.
"We gotta go too," Marinette said looking at Nathaniel and Lila, which looked at the remaining students. "Will you eat lunch at my parent's home or have you gotten another idea," Questioned Marinette making Luka shrug his shoulders. "Come, it will be fine,"
"Alright, I'll be coming," Responded Luka making her smile and peck him on his lips.
"See you later!" Marinette said departing after her classmates, then walked beside her class's shy artist.