Babe, happy one year of azulanette. I got you the first ever multichapter fic to celebrate.

Jokes aside, it's officially been one year since I looked at Marinette and Azula standing next to each other and thought to myself "wouldn't it be funny if I started shipping these two." Where did the time go? I've been really trying to write more azulanette fics and I finally have time now that I quit my job (yay). I hope you enjoy this fic but before I get into it, here's some information that I want to establish in the story organically but in case it's not clear:

This story takes place in an alternate version of Earth, so it's not really ML or ATLA.

In this universe, superheroes and supervillains exist

Azula and Marinette are 25

Tartarus is a maximum security prison specifically designed for super villains

Like in the ML Paris Special, Marinette and Alya never met

Azula is Japanese

Marinette is buff because I said so

For nearly a decade, Flairmidable and Princess Justice have been named Paris's most dangerous couple. Everyone knew that on a whim, they would cause chaos and destruction wherever they went and they loved it.

Tonight was no different. The two of them were running along on the rooftops until Flairmidable stopped running.

He was looking down and had a large grin appear on his face. "How pissed do you think we'd make the heroes if we stole 10,000 in diamonds?"

She looked down and saw what he was looking at. It was a jewelry store and even in the middle of the night and this far away, she could see how shiny they were. "Very!"

That was all they needed before jumping down in front of the store. Flairmidable walked towards the entrance, Princess Justice tried to follow him but he stopped her. That's when he told her, "Stay out here, my love. Make sure no one bothers me until I get out."

"Okay," was all she said before standing guard. She heard him pick the lock then open the door. She wanted to go with him but he told her to stand guard, so she stood guard. She didn't know how long he was going to take, so she worried about getting bored. Fortunately for her, she wouldn't have to wait long enough to get bored.

She heard a light thud from behind her, she didn't even need to turn around to know it was Hesperia. He was the only hero who would go after her but she wasn't worried, it had been three years and he still hadn't caught them.

She didn't know Hesperia's secret identity but he was older than her, she guessed that he was old enough to be her dad which only made his inability to catch her and Félix that much more pitiful. If she had to describe his suit, she would say monochrome. His superhero suit was very purple. His dress shirt, jacket, pants, dress shoes, gloves, they were all purple. The only slight variation being his mask, which was still purple but a darker purple and it covered half of his face in a butterfly silhouette.

"Princess Justice, tonight, your days of crime are over. I'm bringing you in."

That wasn't the first time she heard that line and she knew it wouldn't be the last but that didn't change the gravity of the situation. She was still on guard and needed to keep Félix safe, a battle was on the verge of happening and she needed to be ready for anything.

"I don't know if you have a clock but you only have seventeen minutes until midnight. You really think you're gonna capture me in those seventeen minutes." He looked annoyed, which was good, that meant his attention was more on her.

"If seventeen minutes is all I got, then seventeen minutes it shall be." That was weird, there was something off about him today and she didn't like it. She tried to think of ways to handle this. It's not like she could goad him into following her, this was an impulsive decision, they didn't have a rendezvous point planned. It's also not like she could stall, he seems pretty hellbent on capturing her today, which was strange. She had no idea how to handle this situation but she had to think of something and think of it fast.

That led to her mouth working faster than her brain. "I bet your wife has never gotten those seventeen minutes." She hated that she said that and would be kicking herself later but now's not the time for that.

Her foot was already in her mouth, she was too embarrassed to think properly, and the words were out of her mouth, therefore out of her control, she couldn't do anything about it now. Time to fight.

She grabbed the scepter she kept around her waist, and held it up so that it was parallel to her arm and the blue bird design on top. She took a fighting stance and Hesperia seemed to understand this and followed her lead and brought his staff up in a fighting position. One moment, they were having an intensive staring contest, daring the other to move. Next moment, they clashed head on with each other, their respective weapons clashed with a loud bang, making this a battle of physical strength, something that they were both good at, but Hesperia had the height advantage, he forced his body to position right above her, using gravity to his advantage.

She had to concede this first blow, so she backed away and weakened her grasp on her scepter. This caused Hesperia to stumble and almost fall.

Princess Justice was going to get him in their next clash. All she had to was–

Before she could finish her thought, Hesperia grabbed her scepter out of her weak grasp. He looked at it the same way a child looks at candy then ran away with it. No one has ever done anything like that before and it left her dumbfounded for a moment until she yelled to no one in particular "what the hell?!" Once the confusion had passed through her, she realized that she needed to go get it. It's not like she couldn't make another scepter but they were a pain to make so might as well chase after the grown man playing keep away.

She followed him and saw that he kept glancing back at her. What was his plan? Why was he acting like this?

Hesperia then made a sharp right and leaped onto the building tops. She almost didn't follow him but then she remembered how long it takes just to make the blue bird design and kept following him. She really wanted to know what his deal was today. She made the same right that he did. Just as she made the turn, the blink of an eye, Princess Justice felt her wrists bound by handcuffs and two large hands grab her shoulders. She couldn't believe it, she had been caught. After all these years of being on the run, she was finally caught.

She turned her head to see who grabbed her and couldn't believe who it was. She almost wanted to curl into a ball of shame, it was her old partner. "Cat Noir?" She hadn't seen him in a while, she actually thought that he quit, but apparently he still went on nightly prowls. He was standing perfectly behind her so she couldn't get a good glimpse at him but from what she could, he still looked the same, short blond hair, bright green eyes, the only difference seemed to be in his costume. She couldn't get a good look at it but it was still its normal black bodysuit but there were hints of purple in it. "Did you put the bell and ears back on just for me? How thoughtful."

He avoided looking at her and tried to keep a stoic face. "Please don't make this harder than it has to be."

"It's not like I'm resisting, I'm just trying to make conversation."

She was met with silence and couldn't help but feel sad. She might've been on the other side of the law but that shouldn't mean anything for Cat Noir. He's always loved to joke around, getting to be quiet was rare. She was about to try again but then noticed that Hesperia jumped down. He lifted his staff and Princess Justice noticed a black butterfly, one of Hesperia's kamikos, fly towards him. That's when she realized that this is how Cat Noir was able to grab her the way that he did and why his suit has hints of purple. She would be impressed if it wasn't so annoying.

After collecting his kamiko, he started walking towards them. Princess Justice knew heroes well, meaning she was about to be forced to listen to a monologue that she was not excited to hear. "Marinette Dupain-Cheng, AKA Princess Justice," Hesperia announced as he ripped her blue bird mask off her face, "you are under arrest. For your numerous crimes including robbery, arson, identity theft, disturbing the peace, kissing in the train station which is apparently a crime, murder-"

"It was actually an attempted murder, the bomb never went off. Get your facts straight." She then stuck out her tongue at him.

Hesperia's face turned red with anger. "It was a murder. The bomb detonated after you left and it killed three people!"

"Fine then, attempted manslaughter." She flashed a grin at him.

"There's no such thing!" His face only got more red.

"Sir," Cat Noir said, trying to steer the conversation back. First he resisted joking around with her and now he was acting as the responsible one? Maybe this isn't the Cat Noir that used to be her partner.

"Right, for your many crimes. You are sentenced to spend the rest of your life in Tartarus prison."

Any other criminal would be scared to hear this news. Being sentenced to Tartarus at the hands of a hero like Hesperia and Cat Noir sounded straight out of a children's comic, a perfect and happy ending, but Marinette couldn't focus on that because of Hesperia's face. He was so angry and she's never seen a person's face get that red in all her life. "After all these years of trying to capture me and you mess up your big moment. How embarrassing for you!" Hesperia's face somehow grew even more red. "Besides, you might've captured me but I know my prince. He's gonna get me out of there before the week is over. Just you wait."

It had been two months since Marinette had been in Tartarus and she hated being there. Everything there was much worse, her schedule wasn't in her hands, she wasn't allowed to wear her usual clothes and the ones that were provided for her were uncomfortable, and she had to eat terrible food. It went against everything that she was used to and it made her life that more miserable. What she considered to be the biggest inconvenience are the power dampening bracelets. Even though she didn't have any powers of her own, she was still classified as a supervillain, meaning she was forced to wear the bracelets that didn't do anything besides get in her way.

The other prisoners definitely didn't make her life easier. Marinette put a lot of criminals in Tartarus when she was Ladybug and even though she gave up her life as Ladybug years ago, these people could hold grudges for a lifetime. This meant Marinette had to keep her head on a swivel at all times.

But what Marinette considered to be the worst part about her time in prison is that she couldn't be with Félix. They both promised to be with each other until the end of time, meaning he would be coming for her. She just had to wait for him, so he could break her out.

That left her now. Sitting at a table during lunch time, picking her food, mentally preparing herself for what it may have tasted like.

"Marinette, he's not coming." There was only one person in Tartarus that would ever have a casual conversation with Marinette so she didn't need to look up to know it was Azula.

Marinette kept stabbing her food as she angrily said "yes he is. He promised to be with me forever."

"You've been saying that since you got here two months ago. He's not coming, you're just making yourself miserable." Azula's words lingered in Marinette's head. She wanted to spit out an angry what do you know? but Azula and Marinette had been talking for years. At this moment, Marinette hated to admit it, Azula did know. But she was still wrong. After everything that she and Félix had through together and picking each other up, there's no way that he would just abandon her now when she needed him.

"He promised me that we would be together forever, so I'm gonna wait, right here for him." Marinette glanced through her eyelashes and it seemed as if Azula wanted to say something but kept it to herself.

Félix was coming for her. He just needed more time.

Another month passed and it was that time of the day when prisoners were allowed outside, Marinette liked to walk around but before she could get to the path she typically took, she was stopped by people who she assumed were twins, seeing as they looked identical.

"We've been waiting quite a while for this day, Ladybug."

"My name is Princess Justice and I have no idea who you are." She used to keep track of the villains she put behind bars but when she became a villain herself, she stopped. It seems that it made her memory hazy on names and faces.

One of the twins took a swing at her but Marinette moved her torso and dodged easily. The other twin tried to swing at her and Marinette dodged again easily and leaned down. Marinette then grabbed the older twin's arm and pulled her down, causing both the twins to fall over.

This wasn't the first time she had been thrown into an impromptu 2v1 with people bigger than her, just use the combined weight of both opponents against each other, it never fails. Another advantage she had is that everyone else here wasn't used to fighting without their power, meaning everyone was at a disadvantage except Marinette.

They all brawled with each other for about a minute until a swarm of prison guards came over.

"Break it up!" A prison guard yelled as several of them swarmed around them. Marinette didn't want to start any more trouble so she just put her hands in the air and backed away from the twins. The twins were handcuffed and were dragged away by four guards while one stood next to her. After what felt like years, she was finally allowed to stand up again, with no help from the guard, and decided that she didn't want to go on her walk as usual today.

More time had passed since that day, three months to be exact, but Marinette still held onto hope. She had been in Tartarus for five months now but love is powerful. Sure she missed her birthday and their anniversary due to her time in prison but they would be reunited at some point. Besides, distance makes the heart grow fonder, as they say, this means when they get back together, their relationship would be better than ever.

There she sat, like clockwork, she was picking at her food before getting hungry enough to eat it. That was the plan at least until another prisoner slapped her lunch tray away.

Marinette looked up and made eye contact with Azula. Marinette shot Azula a look of annoyance for the situation before facing her fellow inmate.

After being constantly harassed by other inmates, Marinette stopped trying to remember their names. There were too many of them and it wasn't worth it. Instead she just used the inmate's numbers to identify them. This inmate's number was 080924, meaning that her name was Inmate 080924.

"Ladybug."

"That's not my name anymore. I'm Princess Justice! Why can't you guys get that through your skulls?"

Inmate 080924 leaned closer to her, trying to intimate her. "You put me in here seven years ago."

"Is that when you first started maturing?"

Inmate 080924 leaned back, keeping her mouth shut and Marinette felt relieved. She tried not to start trouble but escalating situations was an old habit of hers and the people here are always looking for a reason to fight back.

Marinette was ready for their interaction to be done and was about to leave her alone until she said something.

"With a mouth like yours, I'm not surprised your prince charming decided to leave you here."

That made Marinette feel a rage she hadn't felt in years. Pure blinding rage. Despite the tsunami of anger that was in her mind, she managed to keep herself calm. Her face was neutral, almost like nothing had happened. She just turned around to grab her tray behind her.

"Look at that, I finally got her to-" Those were the last words to leave her mouth before Marinette turned around, with her tray in hand, and slammed it against the inmate's jaw. She could tell by the force of the impact and sound that she broke her jaw.

"Look at that, I got you shut up!" Marinette retorted.

That started a fight between the two of them. Marinette was used to ending fights quickly but not this time. She wanted to take her time with this one.

It didn't take long for prison guards to swarm the area and various shouts of "no fighting" rang through the air but Marinette didn't care. She didn't care about insults about herself but disrespecting Félix was personal. She kept dodging elbows and fists while throwing out her own. It was rowdy and chaotic for about another minute until all the lights suddenly shut off and a loud buzz rang through the cafeteria.

Marinette could hear the other inmates collapse with a thud, almost one by one, in seconds and she knew that the room was filling up with sleeping gas.

Inmate 080924 fell asleep in her grasp and she knew that she couldn't fight the gas for long. No matter how hard she tried to blink the sleep out of her eyes, every part of her body was screaming to go to sleep and that was a fight she lost in ten seconds as she also collapsed to the floor.

Marinette woke up with a start. She felt like she was in danger but when she realized she was in her cell, she tried to calm herself down. This wasn't the first time that the prison guards used the sleeping gas nor would it be the last but she hated it everytime. The effects only lasted for an hour but it always felt like more, making it harder to keep track of what time it is. Another terrible side effect is headaches. Marinette couldn't tell if the sleeping gas or the fact that she would always fall or if the prison guards didn't handle her gently when she was asleep but the headaches were horrible.

Either way, Marinette still persisted. All these inconveniences, all this pain, it was going to be worth it. When Félix comes for her and they're reunited. Any one of these days now.

Today marked the six month anniversary of Marinette's time in Tartarus and the days were only getting harder.

Ever since Marinette broke Inmate 080924's jaw, the other inmates learned just how to get under her skin. Practically every day, someone would say something horrible about her relationship and every time she lost control and fought them. She still never lost a battle but she spent several days in solitary confinement, bloodied, hungry, lying on the floor, just counting the minutes until Félix would save her.

She was getting frustrated but she couldn't allow herself to get mad at Félix. She was stuck in Tartarus, it's not like just anyone could break in and it's not the end of the world, the love she had for Félix made her tough and this pain that she went through made it easier to eat the food they served. No matter what, their relationship could survive anything. Even half a year apart and even when people are destroying her body. It was depressing but it wasn't permanent.

That left Marinette where she is now. In bed, trying to relax but that was when she

Her cell door opened and Marinette happily ran out and saw the chaos in front of her. Most of the prisoners had broken out of their handcuffs and were using their powers freely. This must finally be it, all that waiting wasn't for naught. Fèlix was finally here to get her out.

She looked around on where he might be but was met with Azula making her way

"Look, I told you he'd come for me!"

"Actually, I did this."

"What?"

"Yeah, got myself in trouble, overpowered the guards, took off my handcuffs, then started this riot." Marinette was dumbfounded. It had been six long months since she was originally put in prison and in just one morning, Azula managed to do what she had been hoping for by herself. "Anyway, let's go. This riot won't distract the guards long before they activate the sleeping gas again."

Azula tried to lead the way out but Marinette took a step back. Slowly walking back to her cell. "I really appreciate this but I think… I think I'm just gonna stay here, just in case Flairmidable comes here later today. It is the crack of dawn, after all. He's probably just waiting until tonight to come get me."

Azula followed her back to her cell. "Marinette…" Marinette opened her hand, she didn't recognize what she was holding but it released a gas she could recognize very well at this point. "I'm sorry but you'll thank me later" were the last words that Marinette could hear.

The familiar smell of sulfur filled Marinette's nose and she knew that she had maybe five more seconds of consciousness left in her body. She had to think of something quickly. She had to figure out how to stay so that way Félix could find her. She was still in her cell meaning if she was quick enough, she could use her bedsheets to tie herself to the cell bars.

She turned her head to look at her bed but it was already too late, she had already fallen asleep.

First ever multi-chapter azulanette fic, let's go and I forgot to publish this on time. I'm excited for this and I really want this fic to be understandable if you haven't seen ML or ATLA. I don't know how good this'll be but that's why we experiment. Another part of this experiment is that I'm going full ADHD with this. Meaning I have notes for this fic, I know how I want it to end, but that's it. The rest I'm figuring out along the way (and in true ADHD fashion, I forgor to post this).

I also learned a lot about the French justice system and prisons writing this. I really had no idea that prison uniforms don't exist in France.