Marin sat at his desk overlooking the shooting being done for Nino's video, with some seriously bad bags under his eyes, looking exhausted. Everything was going smoothly until Ivan roared and Mylenè screamed out in fear.
"Cut!" Nino called out, annoyed as Mylenè hid under the teacher's desk. Ivan glanced at her guiltily, taking off his mask as he and Adrien tried to calm her down.
"Mylène! That's like, the tenth take, and we're only on the first scene!" Nino complained.
" Fourteenth actually. But who's counting." Alix corrected from behind as Nino began growling in frustration.
Mylène held her head apologetically, "I'm... sorry. I'm gonna do better on the next take, I promise."
"You're playing a hero from the special forces. You're not supposed to get all freaked out!" Nino said as-a-matter-of-fact like.
"I know, but... that monster mask he's wearing is so... realistic and scary!" Mylène reasoned as Marin's face ran red with embarrassment for a moment.
"Did you have to make the mask so freaky?" Alya asked as Marin shrugged his shoulders sheepishly.
"I don't know" He whined, "I stayed up nights watching horror movies for what kind of monster to base it on. But you can't argue with the results." He said as the two looked back towards their timid friend.
"But now you're in the same boat as our dear Mylenè," Alya remarked, making a point as she tapped his other shoulder and he almost squealed had he not covered his mouth.
Ivan smiled, messing around with the mask playfully, "But I'm not a real monster, it's just big ol' me, Mylène. Nothing to be scared of!"
"You ask me, he doesn't even need a mask!"Chloé laughed as Sabrina mirrored her friend's actions, though she looked more apologetic.
Marin sighed as he checked over the agenda he set up.
"Ivan, put the mask back on, you're playing the monster! And Mylène, we need you to stay in character!" Nino order as Ivan quickly obeyed, freaking out Mylenè once more as she hummed a song to herself. Then quickly got scared again she accidentally bumped into Adrien.
"And the Oscar for best pathetic scaredy-cat afraid of its own shadow goes to... Mylène!" Chloé laughed maliciously as Mylenè immediately ran out in tears.
Adrien glared at his childhood friend in annoyance, "Chloé, seriously?"
"Mylène!" Marin called out as then he turned back, looking towards Ivan. For a moment the larger boy looked confused until Marin gestured towards the door. He then nodded in understanding, dropping his mask in the process.
"Mylenè, wait!" Ivan called out as Marin picked up the mask. It was unnerving, looking at it, even though he made it himself. He really hated the idea of being part of what Nino called a spy-action-horror-romance-thrill fest. But honestly, it just seemed like he and Alya just mashed together genres because they couldn't agree on one.
"Epic, Chloé! Just epic! What are we supposed to do now without our leading actress?" Nino asked angrily as his classmate wasn't even giving him the time of day.
Chloé shrugged her shoulders. "Who needs her, anyway? She was a terrible actress."
"Chloé , why are you even here if you're not helping?" Adrien asked in annoyance as Juleka proceeded to continue his touch-ups.
"If you must know Adrikins, Nino asked me to be here because he wanted to know what a judge would look for in a winning entry." She explained as Adrien rolled his eyes. "And what a judge would look for is an actress who wouldn't cry in every scene she's in!"
Adrien sighed, "So? Who's gonna take Mylenè's part now?"
"Um, me of course!" Chloé raised her hand as if it was obvious.
"You haven't even read the script! Besides, Mylenè and Adrien have the most experience in acting, that's why they're the lead roles!" Alya yelled.
"Of course I have! The first scene anyway. I can even tell you that it ends with a kiss between Agent Smith and Officer Jones!" Chloé smiled deviously as half the Marin stepped back, remembering certain events that he didn't want to. He didn't even want to hear the word "kiss" for the rest of his life but, here he was.
"Hold up!" Alya remarked as she rechecked the script, her eyes widening angrily as she saw what Chloé was referring to. "I didn't write that!"
Nino spoke up, his voice now more timid. "Uh... I wrote it. It was just a little tweak. You know, to move the story forward?"
"What!" Alya yelled now insulted, "You edited MY script without even telling me? That's low!"
Nino, in turn, grew annoyed at his friend. "Now wait a minute! You mean our script!"
"Here we go again..." Adrien sighed.
"This sucks! Agent Smith does not need a man in her life right now! Sniffles just got munched right now, remember!" Alya remarked.
"Do you wanna finish this film or not?!" Nino demanded.
"Then let's just make Agent Smith a nurse instead! That'll fix everything." Chloé remarked as everyone stared at her dumbfounded.
Alya sighed, not wanting to deal with her. "Um, I'm sorry. How, exactly?"
Chloé shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know, but I'm sure I'd look amazing in a uniform."
"Oh, come on! We're not gonna rewrite this script again!" Nino sighed.
"We do this and there's no way I'm putting my name on those credits." Alya said crossing her arms.
"Good! Nobody cares about you anyway!" Chloé snapped as Alya grew angrier.
"What?!"
Adrien sighed at the rising tensions, distracted for a moment as Rose handed him a cup of juice. But then grew annoyed again as Chloé took his cup.
"Oh, who cares who wrote what? We've got to film this thing, right?" She remarked chugging the cup for a moment before then spitting it out. "This isn't diet!" Then began yelling at Rose.
"She's right. Principal Damocles is only allowing us to use school until 6 p.m. sharp. Which leaves us 9 hours, 12 minutes and 12 seconds. 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6..." Max said counting down the seconds in precision. Only stopping as Marin placed his hand on his shoulder, with a tired smile.
"Thank you Max, we get it."
"It makes no sense story-wise anyway. The main character's emotional journey goes from mourning to angry. Why the heck would she ever need a love interest?!" Alya asked angrily as Chloé laughed at her.
"Ha, don't you know anything about Hollywood? There's always a romantic interest for the leading lady, anything less is just lame." Chloé laughed as Ivan stepped back into the room.
"You're lame!" Ivan retorted walking back into the classroom. "Mylène is crying her eyes out on the bathroom thanks to you!"
Chloé laughed at his comment, "Me, lame?"
"Yeah, you heard me!" Ivan retorted angrily as he and Chloé glared at each other. Tensions rising within the room rapidly as half the class began to argue. Until Marin caught everyone's attention with a sharp whistle.
"Everyone chill out!" He said, placing himself right in the middle of the tension. "Chloé, you're lame for trying to steal Mylenè's part." He said first as she grew angry. "Fighting isn't gonna bring Mylène back. I'm the producer, and I'm gonna do everything in my power to finish filming tonight by schedule!" Marin remarked uncharacteristically annoyed with everyone.
"The deadline for the Parisian Student Short Film Festival is tomorrow evening, precisely 26 hours, 15 minutes and 14, 13 seconds from now-" But stopped again as he saw Marin glaring at him, sitting back down.
"We still have editing, post-sound, soundtrack, and a bunch of other stuff that needs to get done. First things first, we get Mylenè back."
"But she's terrified of the mask," Nino said.
"I'll take care of the mask," Marin reassured. "I have my sewing kit on me so all I need to do is consult her and edit the monster mask so it's more vanilla. Okay?" He said as Nino nodded.
"The script?" Alya brought up pointing to it as Marin thought for a moment.
"Nino, no kiss. It doesn't make sense if the leads have any no chemistry. Besides, I thought you were above pandering." Marin remarked as Nino spoke up.
"I am, but if we have a shot at winning we need some element of romance."
"A ton of great movies don't have an underlying romantic plot. Just be passionate and you're sure to get noticed for sure." Marin remarked placing his hand on Nino's shoulder, who looked more relaxed at his friend's words.
"What about Mylenè?" Ivan asked, still looking worried.
Marin glanced towards Ivan, "She needs our support so I'm gonna go find her and bring her back."
Chloé sneered at him, "Always trying to be the goody-two-shoes, aren't you, Marin? Good luck finding the filthy hole that scaredy-cat's hiding in!"
Ivan began growling until Marin placed a hand on his arm in reassurance. "Chloé if you have a problem that door is right there, along with anyone else. Does anyone got a problem with this?" He asked, and received a response as no one spoke up. "Good. Just try and shoot some footage that doesn't need Mylenè, Nathaniel did the storyboards so talk to him about it. Rose, Kim, Max, help me out please?" Marin requested at the smaller girl's eyes lit up, having something actual to do instead of just handing out snacks.
Adrien whispered towards Alya after Marin left with them. "What's up with him?"
To which Alya shrugged his shoulders, "He's running on half-sleep after doing all the costumes and watching horror movies."
"Well, not that the kill joy's gone," Chloé remarked crossing her arms. "Let's continue."
"Wait a sec, didn't you just listen to what Marin just sa-"
"Yeah yeah, but do you really think we have time for all that effort when the deadline is in a few hours?" Chloé reasoned, knowingly playing into Nino's insecurity.
Rose stepped unto the girls' restroom first, calling Marin in as she screamed.
"What's wrong!?" He asked as she pointed to the mirror, covered in gross purple slime. He walked towards it curiously as Rose stood behind him.
"Please don't touch it, it's probably super gross." Rose pleaded as Marin did anyway. Inspecting it carefully as he started at it. It didn't seem to be any kind of mold, more like...drool? A thicker version anyhow.
"Is Mylenè in here?" Marin asked as Rose shook her head. The two looked everywhere before this. If she wasn't in here, suddenly Marin thought he saw something outside moving around. "Did you see that?" Marin asked as Rose followed him out, now grasping onto his jacket as their eyes both widened fearfully, seeing the school was covered in the same slime that was in the bathroom. Then, they spotted the giant monster baring down as Rose froze in place. Marin had to carry her as the monster tried to shoot them with slime.
Adrien sighed as Nino gave into Chloé 's demands, uncomfortable as Chloé stood far too close with a smile on her face.
"Horrificator, take 15." Alix called out to Ivan as Adrien internally grimaced. Completely against what was coming next.
"Action!" his best friend called out.
"I'm not scared of that Horrificator thingy, Officer Whatever-your-name-is, now kiss me!" Chloé demanded as she wrapped her arms around his neck, almost touching his face as suddenly the door slammed open. Marin tried to catch his breath as he was carrying Rose who was trembling, almost close to tears.
"Cut!" Marin immediately called out as he placed Rose down, passing her off to Juleka he looked around the room for something before locking the door behind him.
Nino stared at his friend in exasperation, "Marin, what gives? We're in the middle of a shoot, and I'm the director, FYI. I say cut, no one else- What are you doing?" He asked as he saw Marin trying to craft something, forgetting to turn off the recording.
"If this is another one of your silly ploys to get me out of the way, you can forget it! Besides, I—" Chloé began to say, but then was cut off as Marin spoke up.
"There's something out and we need to barricade ourselves. Did Kim and Max make it-" Marin began to say, but was cut off by the door being ripped off its hinges. There was a shocking silence as the monster from before roared out loud. Everyone erupted in a panic Chloé stood behind Adrien, who exchanged a glance with Marin before something grabbed him around his leg, starting to drag him into the hall. Adrien dove for his classmate, only a hair-length away from grabbing to his hand, but the monster was faster.
"Marin!" Alya called out as she ran towards the door, quickly helping Adrien onto his feet as the watched the monster take their friend.
"We need to go after them!" Adrien remarked as Alya nodded. Both of them ran out as Nino followed with an excited expression. None of them saw the goo falling down from the window, slowly trapping them in.
Almost everyone ran down the stairs looking up at the goo that now covered the school. "Hey! Anybody here? Marin!" Adrien called out now worried but also looking for a way to escape and transform.
Alya looked down in shock as she saw a familiar armband. "That's Kim's!"
"They vanished!" Nathaniel said fearfully as everyone looked around.
"Or they're playing a sick joke on us." Alix remarked, the two standing close together.
"We need to go to Principal Damocles' office and tell him what's going on! Nino, stop filming!" Alya said in annoyance.
Nino shook his head, looking like a kid in a candy store. "Not a chance! This is just getting good!" Then noticed Adrien trying to sneak away. "Yo, Adrien! Where are you going?"
"I, uh, thought I heard something from the restroom, so I'm going to check it out!" he said before running off as the rest of his classmates went upstairs. He took off his shoe, throwing it to the side as he entered the bathroom.
"What are you doing?" Plagg questioned as hovered before Adrien.
"Leaving a trace so they'll think I've disappeared too." He simply said before Plagg recoiled in disgust after observing the shoe.
"Never complain about me stinking of Camembert ever again!"
"Plagg, claws out!"
Marin struggled against the monster's grasp as he was taken out of the room, and towards the basement. "Hey!" He called out as the monster paid him no heed. The closer they went to the basement, the closer Marin began to see the pods the monster had created, and the muffled voices of his friends coming from them. Having a good idea of what would come next Marin tapped on his messenger bag, seeing Tikki fly out in concern. He nodded to her as she flew back into his bag, taking out the yarn ball that he had used to make the mask. he grasped the end of the string as Tikki flew out of the boiler room, leaving a trail to be followed.
Next thing he knew he was face to face with a three-eyed monster but didn't waver as it placed him into a pod. The monster seemed to shrink down as Marin didn't waver away from its gaze, not even flinching as it covered him in slime. Managing to stick a knitting needle through the slime just before he was completely covered.
"Mr. Damocles? Sir?" Alya asked as she opened the door in disappointment, "Even Principal Damocles is missing..."
"Anyone seen Adrien?" Nino questioned, as he, Alya, Nathaniel, Alix, Sabrina, Ivan, and Chloé stood in the principal's office.
Chloé was repulsed at the goo on the windows as Juleka looked on in amazement. "Cool."
"We're trapped! I'm going to call Daddy!" Chloé panicked, dialing her phone quickly.
"Dudes, you know cellphones never work in horror movies," Nino stated as everyone else tried but to no avail, the goo seemingly cut off the signal. "Told you so!" He remarked as someone else appeared behind them.
"Hey, you all having a party without me?" Chat Noir remarked playfully as Nino's expression lit up.
"Chat Noir in my movie!? That'll be so legit!" He remarked continuing to record. The hero looked around for a moment.
"Is Ladybug not here?" He asked, now worried as Ladybug wasn't answering his calls.
"I tried to cut through the goo, but it's no good. So, looks like we're trapped inside the school for now. Just stay put and try to relax, guys. All we have to do is find a place for you all to hide so I can find somewhere for Ladybug to get in and save your friends. If he's trapped outside the school then we're going to have a problem.
"Finding the missing peeps and solving this crazy mystery with Cat Noir and Ladybug... This movie's gonna be so awesome!" Nino remarked as Alya sighed.
"If only we could find a lead..." Chat Noir murmured as he heard Alya call out from the second-floor balcony.
"Hey, what's that?" Alya pointed out as Adrien turned around for a moment, all of them crowding around a piece of red yarn sitting atop the stairs that had looked to be leading towards the basement. Nino recorded Chat Noir inspecting it as Ivan spoke up. "That's Marin's yarn."
"Yarn?" Nino questioned as Ivan nodded.
"He used it to make my mask, and he brought it today if it got messed up." Ivan explained as Chat Noir followed it's trail with a smile.
"Looks like your friend is pretty crafty." He complimented as they now had a trail.
Ladybug stepped into the classroom where he saw the monster standing over Juleka and Rose. He noticed as Juleka was smiling at it with a bright expression. He threw his yo-yo towards the monster, grabbing it's attention as he called out. "Run!"
But Rose couldn't move, paralyzed in fear as Juleka looked conflicted. Ladybug sighed for a moment, then using his yo-yo's momentum to swing across the room towards the girls, grabbing one of the nearby juice bottles that Rose brought. Quickly shaking it and dosing the monster as he carried Rose and grabbed Juleka's hand. He jumped down to the first floor with both girls, placing Rose down as he turned towards Juleka. "Where's everyone else?"
Both had no idea as they stayed in the room the entire time. But next thing they knew there were screams coming from the principals' office. Ladybug immediately stood in front of his two friends as Chat Noir was sent flying and the monster quickly tried to escape, having already captured a few of their classmates.
Ladybug dove, catching Chat Noir in his arms before he could hit a wall, avoiding eye contact as Chat Noir looked up at him in relief.
"Nice to see you could make it." He remarked as they both spotted the monster heading down into the boiler room. The only ones who were left were Rose, Juleka, Alya, Nino, and Ivan.
"That thing runs on fear, the more scared people are of it, the more powerful it gets." Ladybug informed as Nino ran up to him alongside Alya with both of their phones out.
"Ladybug too?! Double legit!"
"Ladybug, would you mind if I took a few photo's for my-" but Ladybug cut her off, pushing aside her phone much to her disappointment.
He turned towards Chat Noir, "Any leads?" He asked, already knowing the answer.
Chat Noir nodded, "Seems like one of the kids left behind a trail of breadcrumbs for us to follow, metaphorically speaking." he remarked, gesturing towards the red yarn. The two nodded un understanding as the hesitantly walked down the stairs with their classmates following closely behind.
"Anybody in here?" Chat Noir called out.
"Ladybug, it's me, Chloé Bourgeois!" Chloé called out as Chat Noir walked towards the pod.
"Don't worry! We'll get you out of there." Chat Noir tried to reassure.
"Well, hurry it up already!" Chloé snapped back, pissing off the hero slightly.
Ladybug walked towards the center of the room, "Is everyone here? Mr. Damocles? Alix? Nathaniel?" He heard everyone who was missing, all except one. "Adrien?!" He called out, but then heard his muffled voice in the distance.
"Yeah yeah, I'm fine!"
Ladybug sighed, but flinched slightly as Chat Noir called to him, "What about Marin?"
Ladybug quickly responded, "Yeah, we've got everyone! Just try and calm down, we'll find a way to get you out of there!" he promised as he sensed the monster. Looking above him he saw it, narrowly evading it's goo blasts.
"Okay, now this is getting gross." Chat Noir remarked, staring at the slime dripping onto his shoulder. The two heroes just narrowly evaded the monster before Chat quickly had enough. "Cataclysm!" He called out, activating his power. Using his destructive abilities to rust the support pillars, easily trapping the monster in place with a victorious smile on his face. "Now," He remarked, landing near Ladybug. "What do we do about this? Can't get any closer without getting blasted with slime."
"Lucky Charm!" Ladybug called out, receiving guitar strings from his yo-yo. His stomach sank as he realized what he probably had to do. He looked around the room, seeing all he needed, and passed out what everyone needed. While he placed Chat Noir in the seat of a make-shift set of drums, he started working on something.
"So that's your plan?" Chat asked curiously as Ladybug glanced towards him.
"We're going to sing."
"Sing?" Chat questioned.
Ladybug nodded, "You all know Smelly Wolf, don't you?" Ladybug called as everyone nodded in confusion. They all sang together, playing instruments as the monster began to roar, starting to shrink.
"It's working!" Chat Noir called out as the monster grew tiny. It was still timid, scrambling towards them as it jumped into Ivan's arms.
"That's the same button I gave to Mylène!" Ivan observed as Ladybug nodded, already having realized this was his classmate as he took the button.
"No more mischief from you little Akuma. Time to purify!" Ladybug said as he swung his yo-yo towards the possessed Akuma, capturing it in one motion. Then opening it once more, watching the newly purified Akuma fly away. "Bye-bye, little butterfly."
"Miraculous Ladybug!" Ladybug tossed his lucky charm into the air, returning everything back to normal.
Ladybug and Chat Noir pounded their fists together victoriously, "Pound it!" as Nino cheered getting the ending he wanted as Chat Noir and Ladybug split, their miraculous starting to beep.
On the roof of the school, Chat Noir grasped Ladybug's hand.
"Hold on a sec-" Chat Noir said as his partner turned towards him. "I wanted to tell you something the other day on Valentine's day." He said as he triggered both of their embarrassing memories. "Ladybug, I-" He started to say, but almost immediately Ladybug uncharacteristically covered his mouth.
"Anything involving, that day, is off-limits, understand?" Ladybug said seriously, staring at him dead in the eye.
Chat Noir pushed his hand away, ears flattening, "Why?" then noticed Ladybug's face redden fiercely.
"You don't remember what happened, so you don't get to question this. Okay?"
Chat Noir stared at him, "What happened?" But then question only made his partner more embarrassment, which only made Chat Noir all the more curious. "I'm serious, what happened on Valentines da-"
"Stop it Chat!" Ladybug warned, but Chat Noir couldn't help but want to tease his friend.
"C'mon, at least give me a proper reason and I'll drop it." Chat Noir promised as their miraculous beeped again.
Ladybug hesitated for a moment, rubbing the back of his neck for a moment before glancing back at his friend sheepishly. "Because we're friends?" He said sincerely as Chat Noir instinctively tried to cover his smiling giggles.
"You're adorable!" He bluntly said, then burst out laughing as Ladybug just stared at his partner.
"Friendship over." Ladybug said, then jumped away using his yo-yo, leaving Chat Noir to roll around in laughter.
Nino groaned slammed his face into his desk the next day at school. "We didn't make the cut! He said the monster was a horrible replica! Completely unbelievable! No joke!"
"Don't worry, bud. This is how all good movie directors start out." Adrien offered.
"Yeah, couldn't have anything to do with the fact that the mayor is Chloé 's father," Alya remarked as she then saw Rose hugging Marin. The two smiling at each other as Alya leaned between Nino and Adrien. "Looks like those two are getting closer." She said playfully.
"Whaat?" Nino said lifting his head, looking back at Alya completely, jokingly insulted. "I can't believe her, everyone knows I have dibs!"
Adrien then turned towards his friend with a shocked expression, "Nino, you like Marin?"
His two friends then stared at him, exchanging a glance before Nino said in a serious tone. "Yes." Which Adrien believed without question.
Notes:
- Story changes, slightly. But Horrificator's name was never said...because she couldn't speak.
- I wanted to go more into Ladybug using guitar strings, as he knows how to use them in practice. For reasons. But I couldn't find a way to put that in, so it'll probably come up next season. ;)
-Adrien's feelings will be brought up again...next season. Basically, a lot more stuff happens next season and concludes in season 3. (Chat Noir and Ladybug fluff is cute okay? Let me have this)
- I am so close to making Ladybug a tsundere... :3
- Alya and Nino in that ending tho. Wonder were that'll go?