Disclaimer in the first chapter. Hope you enjoy!
Whew! It's been ages since I've updated this story, the last time was August 2023...so sorry about that! Life got in the way, and I got back into a fandom I hadn't touched in years.
Samantha Smith belongs to GirlPower54. Other disclaimers in the first chapter.
Chapter 21: Publisher
Juliette would call Renée.
Renée would pick up. "Hey, Juliette!"
"Hey girl," Juliette smiled.
"You were right. Matthew's so sweet. We met for coffee, and we talked a lot," Renée smiled.
"Oh, that's amazing!" Juliette let out.
"Yeah, we're gonna go out again this weekend," Renée smiled.
"I'm so happy for you, Renée," Juliette smiled.
"Thanks," Renée replied.
University Library...
The library would be full of students, working on homework, or assignments. Some were in the process of borrowing books. One particular student sat at a table, writing in a notebook. She had brown shoulder length hair, blue eyes, dark blue glasses and light tan skin. She wore a white and blue striped shirt, black jean shorts and gray slip on shoes. Somebody would soon enter the library with a smirk on their face. It was Derek Stonewall. He would grab the notebook from Samantha.
"Hey, give that back!" Samantha let out, trying to reach up and grab it, however, Derek was taller.
"Let's see what you're writing," Derek smirked.
"It's private!" Samantha let out, trying to reach for her notebook again.
"Is it now?" Derek laughed wickedly. "Too bad, so sad."'Fae cannot lie. However, omitting the truth doesn't count as lying as far as they are concerned.
According to Fae law, a life debt -at least in service to the current Ruler of All Fae- lasts for the term of the current Ruler and not necessarily a lifetime. At the end of the term, the life debt would be fulfilled. A life debt also supersedes other contracts or agreements made.
There are ancient laws of hospitality that all Fae must abide and no Fae is above these laws.
Fae law prevents fae from attacking each other, only if the fae cannot prove the recipient did not wrong the attacker first.' Oh, how interesting!"
"Give it back!" Samantha pleaded yet again.
"Beg for it. Get down on your knees and beg for it," Derek ordered.
Well Samantha was either desperate or upset enough, because she actually got on her knees. "Please, just give it back!" she begged.
Derek held the notebook out, but instead; opened it up, and began tearing out the pages with writing in them. Once those pages were ripped out, he ripped them up even more; leaving the pages with the writing on them into many tiny pieces. Then, Derek threw the notebook back at her. "Here's your stupid notebook back." He laughed as he left the library.
Samantha was practically close to tears, gathering up all the tiny shreds of paper. All that hard work only for it to get ripped up.
A mechanical whir broke the chamber's silence, and ghastly blue light was allowed into the circular room. The moment the light struck the white forms along the ground, the butterflies, now luminescent, took to the air. They filled the dim chamber as a cloud of beating wings, hovering around the figure in the center of the room. It would soon reveal Hawk Moth.
"A potential author, whose story has gotten destroyed by a mean bully? Now that's the perfect target for my akumas," Hawk Moth laughed wickedly as he held out his hand for a butterfly to land on it. Once it did, he would cover it with his other hand, giving it the dark magic it needed to turn into an akuma. "Fly away my evil akuma, and evilise her!"
The akuma would flutter out of the window and fly into Paris, to find its victim.
Back at the library, Samantha had finished picking up the shreds. However because the shreds were so small, pages couldn't be reformed. She held the notebook close, still really upset about the ordeal.
The akuma fluttered down and landed in the notebook; turning it purple.
Samantha looks up, a dark expression forming on her face as the area around her eyes turned a rust color. A purple butterfly outline soon followed.
"Publisher, I am Hawk Moth. I'm granting you the power of making whatever you write come to life. However, in exchange, you must seize the Miraculouses of Ladybug, Cat Noir, Lionne, and Ocelot. Do we have an agreement?"
"Consider it a deal accepted," Samantha replied darkly, as the dark magic consumed her. When it faded, she now had blue hair, dark velvet colored eyes, and her skin was plain white, although there seemed to be words written on her skin. Her outfit is a gray shirt and light gray pants, which also seem to have words written on them. A red mask is around her eyes. Her notebook was now black and she had an ivy green pen as well. Samantha was no more...only Publisher.
"So then I ripped up her notebook into so many tiny pieces!" Derek recounted to Zoltan, who laughed.
"Good one, boss. Man, Donnie's missing out on all the fun," the man laughed.
"We don't talk about him anymore," Derek hissed.
"Well, well, well," a sinister voice would be heard from behind Derek.
"Uh, boss?" Zoltan was wide-eyed.
"What?" Derek demanded.
"Behind you," Zoltan squeaked.
Derek turned to come face-to-face with Publisher, who held her pen and notebook in her hand. "Oh ha-ha, real mature. Are you gonna come and beg on your knees for me to fix your notebook? Please, as if," Derek scoffed.
"Oh? I'm the immature one?" she repeated mockingly, "are you sure it's not you?"
"Who the hell are you?!" Zoltan demanded.
"Oh, I'm surprised you don't recognize me, Stonewall. The one whose notebook you tore up, into tiny little pieces? The one who you made to beg on her hands and knees?" Publisher asked mockingly.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Derek laughed nervously. Zoltan's eyes widened.
"Hold on, I recognize her," the man said.
"What the hell are you talking about, Zoltan?" Derek hissed.
"That's Samantha Smith! She's Adelaide's best friend!"
"Samantha Smith has been terminated. I'm Publisher now, and I'm your worst nightmare," Publisher sneered.
"Oh, what are you gonna do? Throw your notebook at us? That's a lame superpower," Derek taunted.
Publisher laughed. "Oh, I can do so much worse," she let out, opening up her notebook, and clicking her pen, before writing something down.
"Derek, we should run," Zoltan let out.
"And why should we?" Derek asked, looking annoyed.
Zoltan was about to answer, when with a puff of smoke, paper airplanes would appear, with their points very sharp. "That's why. She's been akumatized!"
"Oh s*it!" Derek screamed, as he and Zoltan took off, with the paper airplanes flying after them.
Publisher just laughed as other students slowly turned around, confused. Then, the akuma would write something else down in her book, and a bear would appear, growling.
"Uh...nice bear?" a staff member trembled.
The bear would growl, and charge after the staff member, who screamed and began running. The other students dashed off to hide, as Publisher just laughed wickedly as this happened.
"It won't be long before the heroes show up to meet their doom!" Hawk Moth laughed wickedly.
The akuma alert had been set off, and Alya took a look at her phone. "No way! It's happening at the university! I so need to get this on the Ladyblog!"
"Alya, wait!" Marinette tried to call out, but the blogger didn't hear her friend's warning, as she took off on her bike.
"Tikki, I've got to make sure Alya's safe!" Marinette exclaimed.
"Just say the words, Marinette!" Tikki exclaimed.
"Tikki, SPOTS ON! YEAH!" Marinette let out, transforming into her alter-ego: wearing a red superhero jumpsuit covered in black spots and with a black collar/turtleneck. Her yo-yo was wrapped around her waist with a red string. On her face is a red mask with five black spots that are in a symmetrical design, and the waterlines of her eyes are coloured black. Her earrings are red with five black spots in a quincunx pattern, and the bands holding her hair back become red ribbons, resembling a ladybug's antennas or a ladybug flying when she's moving. Her eyes became a vivid azure. She would pose at the end of her transformation.
Adrien would hide in a bathroom, locking the stall. "Time to transform! Plagg, Claws Out!" the male model let out, as his ring would turn black, and gain a green paw print on its face. He has cat eyes with green sclerae, dark green irises, and oval pupils. His hair becomes longer and untamed, and it covers his normal ears. Cat Noir wears a textured black skin-tight catsuit with metal details. He wears matching gloves that have claws on the fingertips and boots with a hidden wedge, silver toes, and paw-shaped treads. He has a golden bell on his neck, connected to a zipper on the front of his costume, and a long belt that wraps around his waist and hangs out from the back like a tail. He wears black cat ears and a black mask around his eyes. He'd pose at the end of his transformation.
Juliette gasped when the alert went off. "Hey, Renée, I'm gonna have to call you back. There's an akuma attack."
"Oh my god, okay, go and hide, I'll call you back!" the young artist let out, ending the call.
"Come on, Leena, let's go! Leena, LET'S ROAR!" Juliette let out, as Leena would be absorbed into the barrette, which turned gold, and looked like a lion's paw. Juliette's eyes turned hazel, and became cat-like, and her platinum blonde hair was taken out of its braid, turning auburn, and becoming straight. Her clothes would be soon be replaced with a sleeveless golden and strapless dress that reached to her knees, and golden arm-length gloves with black claws on them. She also had long black boots, that had a golden lion logo on the back of each boot. A golden belt would be wrapped around her waist, and it had a long, lion tail attached to it. There were two holsters on her dress; each of them contained a dagger. Finally, a golden superhero mask would appear over her face. She would pose once her transformation was complete.
"There's no time to lose, Occa," Roland let out, letting his kwami out of his scarf.
"Just say the words, Roland!" Occa let out.
"Occa, STREAKS ON!" he let out.
Occa is absorbed into the silver oval hair clip: which turns black and the inside turns a golden yellow. It has 5 rosettes inside.
Roland soon wore a golden yellow suit with large streak spots on the arms, torso, back, and legs that have a thick black outline and are light yellow in the middle. He has a light yellow middle section down his middle that goes slightly down his thighs before curving under him and partly up his butt. Around his waist is a belt-like structure that holds a long tail that is golden yellow with black spots. His tail is very heavy and usually used for leverage, but can be removed to wield like a flail. He wore tall boots that point up to his knees with a black heel and a light metallic yellow toe that are fashioned like paws.
The sole of his boots also have paws on the bottom. His collar is black and goes up his neck; though it comes down in the middle with a diamond shape around the middle of his collar bone. His mask is heavily marked like an ocelot's face with black and white markings on golden yellow. His eyes gain a blue sclera and turn to slits like a cat's do. He has fake ocelot ears including oceli on the back of them. His hair also gets long and shaggier, the longest parts on both sides of his head gain a golden yellow ombre at the ends. He has gauntlets with heavily armored fingers joints and knuckles that end with sharp claws at the ends. He would pose at the end of his transformation.
The four heroes would soon meet up on a rooftop.
"What's going on?" Lionne asked.
"Apparently the akuma is a girl named Samantha, who's now Publisher. She can make things come to life when she writes things in her notebook," Ladybug let out.
"That doesn't sound so bad..." Ocelot let out.
"You really shouldn't say that," Lionne let out. "You never know what an akuma could do."
"Oh right," Ocelot sweat dropped. "So, what's the plan, Ladybug?"
"We need to confront Publisher!" Ladybug declared.
"And then what?" Cat Noir asked.
"We'll take it from there," Ladybug let out. "Now come on, let's go!"
Publisher would be writing things in her notebook, smirking as her creative beings would be attacking the students and staff alike.
A yo-yo was wrapped around Publisher's arm. "Your story is over, akuma!" Ladybug declared.
"Cause as the heroes of Paris, we're gonna save the day, and make sure everyone gets a happily ever after!" Cat Noir declared.
"You don't stand a chance against us!" Lionne smirked.
"And we'll be taking away that akuma!" Ocelot let out, as the four would let out a heroic pose.
Publisher just laughed. "Oh, I won't be alone for long." She would write something down, and would soon be surrounded by the staff and students of the university. They would all have blank looks on their faces.
"We obey only you, Mistress Publisher!" they let out like zombies.
"You shouldn't have opened your big mouth like that earlier," Lionne looked at her boyfriend.
"Sorry, babe," Ocelot let out.
The butterfly outline appeared on Publisher's face.
"I've got an idea Publisher. Why don't you control those lovebirds, Ocelot and Lionne? Put them under your control, and make them go after their friends to take the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculouses, before making them give you their own!" Hawk Moth suggested.
"Oh, what a perfect idea, Hawk Moth," Publisher smirked as she wrote something down in her notebook.
"What on earth is she writing?" Ladybug asked.
Suddenly, Lionne grabbed Cat Noir's arm.
"Cat Noir, look out!" Ladybug shouted.
Cat Noir would push Lionne off of him, as Ocelot moved to attack Ladybug.
"We need to get out of here!" Ladybug shouted, using her yo-yo to get out of the school.
"Right after you, m'lady!" Cat Noir let out, following after her.
"GET THEM!" Publisher shouted, as the army she had would run after the two heroes, followed by Lionne and Ocelot.
After running for quite a bit, Ladybug panted. "Okay, I think we lost them."
"Not only do we have to fight those random people, we even have to fight our teammates!" Cat Noir let out. "We'll never beat them!"
"Don't be so sure about that, kitty cat," Ladybug let out.
"What do you mean?" Cat Noir was confused.
"Stay hidden for now, I'm gonna go get some allies," Ladybug answered.
"Please hurry, m'lady," Cat Noir begged.
Not long after, Ladybug would return with Viperion, Ryuko, Rena Rouge, Carapace, Pegasus, Polymouse, and Purple Tigress.
"You think we'll be able to handle everyone with just the 9 of us?" Cat Noir asked.
"We've got this," Ladybug smiled.
"Well, I trust you, Ladybug," Cat Noir smiled.
"I'll activate my power when you give the word, Ladybug," Viperion said with a smile.
The 9 heroes would go and confront Publisher, who smirked. "Seriously? I've got your teammates, plus the entire university under my control? You think you can beat me with only 9 of you?"
"We trust Ladybug and her plans," Rena Rouge said, placing a hand on the spotted heroine's shoulder.
"Come and try to take our Miraculouses then," Ladybug smirked.
Publisher growled. "Well, I can take all of your Miraculouses for Hawk Moth! Get them, my army!"
"As you command, Mistress Publisher!" the army let out, and led by Lionne and Ocelot they would begin their attack.
"Mirage!" Rena Rouge let out, as she activated her power, causing mirages of all nine of them to appear, about a dozen of them.
Publisher growled at this.
"Can you find the real us?" Ladybug taunted. "LUCKY CHARM!"
Magical ladybugs surrounded the yo-yo, before an item materialized. "WHOA!" A giant vacuum cleaner would land on the ground.
"A vacuum cleaner? What am I, a cleaning service?!"
"What an interesting Lucky Charm," Ryuko said.
"Any ideas on what to use the vacuum for?" Cat Noir asked.
Ladybug would look around, trying to figure out what to use the vacuum on. The pen would be lit up.
"Any ideas, Ladybug?" Pegasus asked.
"Pegasus, make a portal for me," Ladybug responded. "Polymouse, distract Publisher with your clones. Ryuko, get her notebook wet so she won't be able to write in it."
"On it, Ladybug. Multitude!" Polymouse let out, dividing herself into millions of tiny clones.
"What the?" Publisher growled.
"Water Dragon!" Ryuko let out, transforming herself into water, and throwing herself at Publisher.
"HEY!" Publisher yelled as she tried holding up her book, only for it to get wet. "NO!"
"VOYAGE!" Pegasus shouted, making a portal for Ladybug. "It's all on you, LB!"
Ladybug would step into the portal, and vacuum up the pen.
"You're ruining everything!" Publisher yelled.
"Sorry, not sorry. CATACLYSM!" Cat Noir shouted, touching the already wet book, causing it to turn into dust, and the akuma to flutter out. As it did, the army would freeze in place.
"No more evildoing for you, little akuma," Ladybug began as she opened up her yo-yo, and began spinning it around behind her expertly. "Time to DEEVILZE!"
She would capture the akuma as it was trying to escape, but it had no match for Ladybug's yoyo. "Gotcha!"
She turned to release the now purified butterfly. "Bye-bye little butterfly. Okay, this is gonna be heavy...but...MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!" she shouted, throwing the vacuum cleaner into the air. Magical ladybugs would go around Paris, fixing all of the damage that Publisher has done. It went past the army, and would free them from the spell they were under.
"Whoa, head rush..." Lionne let out, rubbing her head.
"What happened?" Ocelot asked.
Polymouse would call her clones back to her, as she and the nine heroes would hold out their fists. "POUND IT!"
"POUND IT!"
Under the fluttering wingbeats, Hawk Moth growled and his cane creaked under the pressure of his grip. He clasped a hand over his brooch, and his voice rumbled against the metal walls. "Curse you all! I will get your Miraculouses! One day!"
The purple ooze would go over Publisher and turn her back to Samantha, as her pen and notebook would be restored.
"What happened?" Samantha asked, confused.
"You were akumatized, but it's okay, we saved you," Ladybug said, handing the girl her notebook and pen back.
Samantha gasped in shock. "Oh my god, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"
"All good," Cat Noir shrugged.
"We should get going," Ladybug said.
"Yeah, I should go too," Samantha stood up. "Thank you guys!" With that, the young girl left.
"Is it odd that I can't remember what happened?" Juliette asked Roland.
"It is," Roland sighed. "It's like my mind's drawing a blank. But hey, maybe I'll recall them after spending some more time with you."
"Oh, Roland," Juliette gushed, pulling him closer for a passionate kiss.
And scene! Please let me know your thoughts. Should I also upload this story to A03?