Marinette hummed tiredly as she sat alone in her classroom, early for once as Hawkmoth had the audacity to send out an akuma at 2am on a weekday. Chat Noir was a no show as always so she dealt with it alone, Minato offering his support from the shadows.
It had been a struggle to get out of bed to head off to class, Minato trying to get her to skip and stay to cuddle more. The thought was tempting, Minato's bedroom eyes making her consider it before she sighed and told him she had enough lates and absences from her daily akuma fights, his pouting driving her to quickly give him a peck on the cheek before racing off to get to class.
Now here she sat, reevaluating her life's choices at forgoing spending the day in bed with the blonde and instead being in class, bored out of her mind.
"Enough with the pouting, you should've just stayed home if you're gonna be miserable. Jeez, humans and their complexities." The teen side-eyed Death, who appeared beside her with a steaming cup of coffee.
How he had gotten it remains a mystery she'd rather not unravel as she took the cup with a narrow look in her eye. The rabbit had gotten into the habit of bringing her cups of his specially made brew, which was less coffee and more ungodly amounts of espresso shots to nearly kill a man with how much caffeine was in it.
Minato had refused the offer of a cup, fearing for his life at the smell alone, which made Death cackle.
The rabbit gave her a once over, a frown on his muzzle.
"You're wearing yourself thin fighting the akumas alone, that useless Chat Noir being no help. Say the word and I'll remove his miraculous once and for all." There was dark promise in his golden eyes, the very shadows around them rising silently. Despite being so small, Death made an imposing figure as he glared with hackles raised at the thought of anything harming his summoner.
"Death, you can't kill Chat. Maybe he has a good reason for staying away?" Even she began to doubt if her once hero partner had any real motive for his absence. Death merely rolled his eyes as the bell rang and students began pilling in, his gaze trained on the children causing his summoner distress.
"Doubtful, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. If he doesn't have a clear motive, then it is my right to remove his miraculous and devour his soul." He nodded, little paws crossed as he sat beside the coffee mug.
Marinette frowned at the ending of his speech, not sure if he was being serious in eating Chat's soul when class started and she turned her attention to the front.
Death was a nuisance in class, seeing as no one else could even see him, he had made it his mission to be a pest. People's work would be ripped apart or pushed to the floor, pencils and pens were thrown across the room or snapped in half.
He made a big mess of Alya's and Lila's desk, breaking the legs with his teeth and kicking their bench. It was chaotic, people scrambling to find their pens and trying to salvage their notebooks as the teacher tried to control the situation.
Marinette merely sipped her coffee as she watched, 's desk splitting in-half as Death jumped on it. The damned rabbit was grinning sharply, eyes glowing as he caused destruction.
She wanted to feel guilty about it, but the whole scene merely made her smile slightly as Lie-la's hair caught on fire and she ran about screaming. Death cackled loudly, sounding like a deranged madman as he made the building shake.
"Ah~ I love the smell of chaos in the morning!" He blew up the door and raced off, probably off to make the school even worse. Marinette didn't have a single care as she leaned back to enjoy the chaos.
"I don't know whether to laugh or be concerned on how your day was." Minato told her as he held the tired teen in his arms. Marinette had texted him to come around at noon, since the entire school was dealing with strange chaos running amok in every classroom, the principal giving the students the rest of the day off as they dealt with the damages done.
Death had vanished at that point, the teen having no clue as to where the rabbit had gone. Something wet poked her hand, drawing her away from Minato's embrace to see what it was. A large wolf-ish dog stood behind them, it's fur nearly black with splotches of white mixed in. And on top of it's head sat Death, holding a cup of tea.
"Ew enough with the human mating habits. Here." He handed off the mug, patting the dog's head in thanks for the ride. Marinette eyed them, a question burning in her gaze at the sight of the two.
"Stop side-eyeing me, Marinette this is Spotz. Spotz this is my summoner Marinette. Hopefully you both get along." Death introduced the both of them, sliding down to lay down on the hound's back.
Spotz wagged his tail, nosing around the teen's hand in search of treats. Marinette giggled as she ran her fingers through his fur, in awe of how soft it was. "How did you get a dog? Aren't you like a foot tall?" She asked him, eyes narrowed in suspicion.
Death merely rolled his eyes, "Relax, I didn't steal him. This is my buddy, and now he's your buddy. Spotz is here for moral support, like a service dog or something." He told her as Spotz shook in excitement.
Marinette hummed at that, giving Minato a teasing look when he pouted at the attention she was giving the hound.
"Wouldn't it be more productive if I had Minato watching my back? No offense." Death huffed at that, leaping from Spotz's back to land on the teen's shoulder.
"In a worse case scenario where he gets possessed or something by an akuma, other then your summons it would be wiser to have someone on the side to help in that case. It's bad enough Chat Noir doesn't show up, imagine if your only human support is compromised and you're out-numbered?" Marinette nodded, understanding his reasoning as they left the area to head back to the bakery.
"So in this case, Minato can be considered a Liability because he's human?" She asked, grinning at the narrowed look Minato gave her as she walked ahead of them.
Death snickered loudly at their antics, "Unless this Hawkmoth bitch can akumatize animals then Spotz is the prefect backup, besides your summons."
Marinette hummed, letting her human companion hug her from behind as they arrived at the bakery, Death yawning as he leapt off her shoulder to balance on Spotz's back.
"I can smell the hormones in the air from you two, I'll take my leave before I see something regretful. Keep it PG please, I don't wanna see any little ones running around." He cackled at their blushes, grinning like a menace as he vanished off to cause chaos around Paris, Marinette sighing at his antics.
"I can't read this, it's like fancy scribbles." Marinette squinted at the scroll, trying to make sense of the words written on it. Spotz grumbled, nosing along the parchment to try and help her.
'It's written in a language lost to time, young bug.' A soft voice echoed from the hound, blue eyes glancing up at her. Marinette hummed absently, running a finger over the words as she felt ancient magic rush over her like a waterfall.
The Scroll of Warriors wasn't something she could easily summon forth, as it laid deep within her own soul rather then anything physical. Death had spent time teaching her how to bring it up from her soul to the physical plane so she could study it's pages. "It's why the scroll is so rare, not everyone can just summon it's Warriors all willy nilly, it's all about Intent. And pure thoughts or whatever. Soul stuff is troublesome." He had told her, guiding her through the process.
The teen was searching through it's pages to find a Champion she could use for tricky akumas, Death's words ringing in her mind at the thought of Minato being at risk of a mind-controlling akuma, putting her at a standstill of meeting an early demise if she couldn't defeat him.
Spotz was very helpful in pointing out things in the scroll she was having trouble understanding, the hound able to communicate through thoughts rather then actual words.
'It's the Intent, you can't rush Soul magics.' He told her, nose to the scrolls as the words shifted to English. Marinette sighed, resting the pages to the side as she contemplated where her life was headed. Minato was off with Naruto and Master Fu for the day, and Death she hadn't seen for a while, maybe she should be concerned for that. She closed her eyes, debating on taking a nap when a loud roar echoed in the air.
Eyes snapped open as she leapt up from the ground, grabbing the scroll and calling upon Tikki. "Spots on!" The magics surrounded her in seconds, with a new addition added.
"What the?" Ladybug paused, looking herself over in a daze. Gone was her usual red bodysuit with black spots, now she wore a sturdy armoured chest-piece with a pair of loose black slacks and combat boots. Black gloves covered her hands, the knuckles padded with metal and reaching her arms. A large trench coat covered the entire outfit, the color a deep red. She didn't look like her usual self, she truly looked like a warrior ready for battle. The Scroll was attached to her side, along with her yoyo and she could feel it's power flowing into her.
Spotz stood beside her suddenly, body alert at the next noise. 'It's showtime, young Warrior.' He gave her a goofy grin as they escaped her room to go fight the akuma.
Ladybug never felt so..Alive in this moment as she swung from building to building towards the akuma. Her blood boiled for a fight, her very cells buzzing to feel the adrenaline coursing through her veins. Ladybug wondered if Minato felt the same way when he battled, but her mind blanketed at the thought of him hurt and she growled lowly.
There was a rumbling deep within her very soul, a beast howling to break free. She vaguely remembered Death telling her of the side-affects his bond would give her as she used the Scroll more,
"You'll become a Beast of power, whether you use that power for good or not is up to you. After all, it's all about Intent." He had said, staring off into the distance.
Ladybug shook away the dark thoughts from her mind, bringing forth feelings of protectiveness for her people of Paris. She could feel the power within respond to her will, teeth clenched tightly as she barreled right into the akuma, startling those around it. Spotz stood off to the side, unseen by all as Ladybug rolled to her feet and readied for battle.
The akuma was a women this time, ManEater, she is called as she summons large lions and tigers to kill and devour every man in sight. There was so much screaming as the animals rip through people, blood lining the streets. Ladybug growled, hackles raised as she stared down this new danger to her city.
"Give me your Miraculous, or I'll slaughter this whole city and paint it red with the blood of man." There was a ringing in her ears as she ignored the woman, a war raging within as she called forth her lucky charm. Chains of red wrapped her entire body, encircling her fists and chest tightly. With no hesitation, she gave a mighty battle cry and leapt right for the woman, who was also snarling as they met in the middle.
Marinette knew deep down, that this was another person under Hawkmoth's control, but Ladybug felt no remorse as she bashed ManEater's head to the ground with her chained hands, red in her eyes as she lifted the akuma and swung her into several buildings.
The Scroll answered her Rage, summoning forth a Champion to aid her as the lions and tigers ran amok. Ladybug tilted her head to the side as a bullet whizzed by and decapitated the head cleanly off a random lions body, her eyes turning to see.
There on the highest ledge stood a small rabbit, cloaked in a trench coat and wearing silly goggles. Clutched in it's paws was a strange looking rifle. The ringing paused in her ear, and a jolly voice rang out to her.
"Golly! There's so many cats here! Keep your eyes on that akuma Master!" The rabbit transformed. A much larger one took it's place, hefting a machine gun upon it's shoulders and waving in glee.
"Gunner is on the job!" They bellowed, launching into the fray and causally slamming the weapon into an unlucky tiger. Ladybug rumbled in excitement as the summon came closer to watch her back, the lanky rabbit much better at offense as he blasted away any straggling animals that got to close.
"I'm gonna finish off ManEater, think you can get rid of these guys?" She asked him, tightening her hold on the chains as the akuma struggled. Gunner grinned, barely reloading his weapon before nodding his head.
"Yeah! With Spotz here it's gonna be a breeze! I'll keep the collateral damage low for ya Master!" He told her, uppercutting a wayward lion in the jaw and bashing its head down. Ladybug turned her attention to ManEater, a growl echoing from her clenched teeth as she dragged the akuma off to finish the job.
Her mind raced at the thought of Minato being killed or injured by the akuma, hands tight on the vibrating chains as she entered a clear area. With ease, she snatched the akumatized weaopn, a whip how dull, and snapped it in half to release and capture the butterfly. Ladybug's eyes trailed over the dazed woman, offering a hand for her to take.
"You're okay now, lets get everything sorted out." Her tone was soft, the Rage within calming to a simmer as she channeled her kindness outward. Helping the woman up, she gave a calming smile and released her Miraculous Cure out upon the city, healing and returning it to how it was before.
Those killed were revived, a huge relief to everyone involved as Ladybug returned the woman to her family. She was of course concerned for the reason, apparently the woman's fiance was caught cheating with multiple woman and calling himself a woman-eater, which caused the woman to become enraged and become ManEater.
"Jeez, humans are so weird." Gunner appeared at her side as they watched the woman break-up with her fiance. Ladybug merely hummed as she got a better look at the summon.
Other then being a tall anthro rabbit, he was also dressed to the nines like a real gunslinger. Gunner's fur was mostly black with the occasional splash of blue mixed in. He had saber-like fangs hanging from his upper-lip and pure white eyes staring at her. "Could you maybe get Death? I need to ask him something." The Rage wasn't totally gone as the summon nodded and vanished, taking Spotz with him. Ladybug ignored the reporters arriving, swinging her yoyo out and launching herself away.
The need to see Minato, to feel him, was over-powering her senses. An injured whine escaped her as she searched for the wayward Hokage, finally finding him with a group of people.
The edges of her vision blurred red as she fought with herself to not harm anyone, waiting in the shadows for him to be alone before launching her yoyo and ensnaring him.
With ease she reeled him, grabbing at him gently before pressing him into the wall and nudging her nose against his pulse. The rumbling purr of the Rage echoed from her body as she took him in, the scent of blood fresh on him as her hands roughly searched his body for any wounds. Minato leaned into her, face tucked into the crook of her neck as he felt her energy through their bond.
That need was back, he tangled his fingers into her hair and tugged her face up towards his. Ladybug growled, eyes flashing red before he engulfed her into a searing kiss. Her spine tingled as she pressed deeper into him, sharp teeth nipping roughly at his lips, drawing a gasp from him as her wicked tongue snuck in to explore.
The Hokage was pressed harder into the wall, Ladybug grasping roughly into the brick as Minato tugged at her hair. The hero whined into his mouth, digging gouges into the solid brick as she pressed into his hold. Even though he towered over her, the new strength from Death's bond gave her an edge as she kept him pressed tightly.
There was clashing of teeth as Minato pressed harder, growling into her whimpering mouth as he tried to devour her, their bond vibrating with energy as Marinette let go of her transformation and was toppled to the ground. Minato caught her, pressing another deep kiss to her lips before finally pulling away. The two stood, catching their breath as they calmed down. Marinette gasped softly, blood and drool dripping a bit from her mouth as she wiped it away, Minato's eyes following her every move. He looked hungered, like he wanted to eat her alive, and Marinette would have let him.
"Ugh, please don't have sex right here infront of my salad." Death's voice broke them out of their daze, turning their attention to where he stood with both Gunner and Spotz. Gunner whistled in awe, jaw dropped at the display. "Gee whiz, it reeks of hormones and blood. Ya'll kinky for real." He grinned before de-summoning himself back to the Scroll.
Death eyed them warily, "Let's go home before ya'll cause a scene straight out of a porno."