Chapter Text
“Sweetie… Sweetie…”
The voice echoed across the blank void, with each call the blank void became more colourful and the smell of fresh baked goods filled Marinette’s nose.
“Dad…”
Marinette looked around the slowly changing void, she was trying to find the source of the voice.
The young child inside of her awoke after forgetting the sound of this voice for so long, she kept frantically looking round but still saw nothing but colours fill her vision.
“Marinette darling…” A new voice joined the call.
“Mom… Mom.”
Marinette was starting to cry, she could no longer hold back the feeling she had long since forgotten about, as the more the voices called out, the more real they felt to Marinette.
“Where are you?”
Marinette asked, she expected the void to give her no answer… yet.
At that moment she heard, “We are right behind you, Marinette.”
She turned towards the source of the voices… there they were… her parents… just like she remembered them.
The more she looked however the more she noticed the weird details, why did they look out of focus like a photo that has been properly developed and why do they still look the same?
She has changed so much in the many years they have been absent… yet they still look like they did the day they left.
Marinette’s mind could pick endless at how off this reunion was… but she didn’t care… She is getting to see her parents again.
Almost like a dream. That is when Marinette realised what this all was… “Just a dream…”
Yet Marinette wasn’t upset at that moment, more so she was even happier, “I haven’t forgotten you yet.”
Marinette rushes over and hugs the manifestations of her parents, they both feel warm and soothing as they both repeat,
“I love you Marinette.” over and over again.
She keeps hugging them for what feels like forever, until a new voice appears,
“I hope you like the sweet dream… but it's time to join the land of the living emo-bug.”
Marinette could feel her parents fading, as the colourful space they were in started to shift into a bright white light, Marinette gave one last squeeze to the ephemeral figures,
“I love you Mom and Dad.” Marinette said,
“We love you too dear.” These were the last words she heard as her eyes opened and she was back in reality.
Marinette lay there in complete silence, she could still feel the remnants of tears rolling down her cheeks.
She looked to see she was still grasping onto her pillow with both arms,
“That explains the warm hug…”
Marinette mused as she rose up from her pillow, she quickly looked to see she had awoken a few minutes before her alarm.
She smiles as she quickly reaches for her dream journal and does her best to summarise what she could remember about the dream.
She is shocked to find she can remember so much of the details… unlike when she has the nightmares before this.
After she is finished in the notebook, she looks towards her phone and smirks as she quickly turns off her alarm before it could ring,
“Hehe, guess I beat you to the punch!”
Marinette said looking smug at her phone locked screen.
“Patient seems to think her phone is a person now… this is an interesting development…”
Marinette sighs as she hears one of the many voices in her head speak, this one spoke in a belittling cold tone, like the voice was looking down on Marinette and almost mocking her every action.
It was one of the rare voices that Marinette heard.
But even it’s comments could not break Marinette’s good mood as she decide to spend those couple of free minutes on her phone, as she strolled through the many apps she had left dormant on her phone, a new voices joining the groups, as by the time she had finished watching a short on some stupid conspiracy theories, she had at least seven voices adding in their comment to her activities.
Each voice highlighted Marinette’s good mood and even more unexpectedly they each praised the change in attitudes, which only added to the good mood.
Eventually Marinette saw it was time to get out of bed, she knew it was Monday, she could no longer avoid having to get ready for another day of school.
Making her way down the ladder of her bed was the hardest decision she had to make, after getting so comfortable on the bed.
But after a few stretches she was feeling less bad about her lost comfort, as her room still felt nice and warm from last night's visit from Baskerville, Marinette blushes before she quickly regains focus,
“I have to get ready! Can’t daydream just yet!”
One last click of her joints later, Marinette goes about her morning routine as she always does.
She goes around the house making sure there were no robbers or other strange occurrences, but today feels different.
Normally this routine was a chore to do every morning, but today Marinette felt like she had a spring in her step as the house for the first time felt more alive than it has done for a long time.
She didn’t feel the cold presence of the empty house, as for the first time in a long while she walked around the place without any socks on.
She even popped her head into her parent’s room, the encounter with them in the dream, temporarily filling in the holes left by their absence.
As she was finishing off her check of the bakery, she focused on a few of the things the voices were talking about,
“That dream must have been an omen?” One of the more questioning voices said,
“But an Omen to what? Things never normally turn out this good for us.” said a more doubtful voice.
“Let’s just enjoy it while it lasts… we all know something is going to ruin our day soon enough.”
This voice had a more pessimistic tone. Marinette started to turn out the voices as she made her way back to the bedroom.
After giving a quick check on how Tikki was, Marinette looks through the piles of clothes she had mentally labelled her clean pile.
After taking a few of the style critic voice’s pointers, Marinette made her way towards the bathroom with the outfit and towel in hand.
Like everything else the bathroom felt warmer and more inviting than before… When Marinette looked at herself in the mirror, the horrible words were not as loud, as she smiled at her reflection.
After getting dry and dressed, she heard the familiar sound coming from her stomach, “Grrrrr” Marinette sighed, “Time to have some breakfast.”
She said, heading towards the bathroom’s door and back towards the kitchen, she was still feeling the positive buzz of the dream as she closed the door.
Breakfast was once again a battle as Marinette heard each pitch from the voices,
“Let’s have some nice toast… I know the last time we almost set the house on fire… but come on.”
The sleazy voice said, Marinette heard the collective yell of “No way!” from all the active voices in her head.
“Maybe we should have some of that protein powder stuff… we do need to work on those muscles of ours.”
This voice had an annoying cheerful edge to it, like one of those really positive gym trainers, Marinette looked at the protein power that was hidden away in the cupboards.
She started to remember how she would come down in the mornings and see her dad drink the stuff,
“I can really taste the chicken bones, my lover.”
Marinette laughed as she pictured the painful look he had at every gulp of the grey brown mixture.
“Sorry dad, this stuff is not for me…”
Marinette grinned, she was already freakishly tall, she didn’t want to add being freakishly buff to that as well.
“How about some of the leftover pastries from last night… they should be in the fridge.”
This voice had no recognizable traits to it that Marinette was used to with all the other voices.
She goes to the fridge and finds some leftover Madeleines.
Seeing the sweet treat reminds Marinette that last night was real, she had spent what could only be described as a wonderful evening with her sworn enemy, If the resistance found as they would do their fruit… but she can’t lie, last night was one of the happiest moments in her life.
She knew how sad that sounded, but she didn’t care, for the first time in a long time this house felt alive… she could only hope that she could experience it again.
But Marinette returns to the topic at hand as she feels her mind is firmly set on having Madeleines for breakfast.
“Haha, can’t ignore a sweet treat for breakfast… you never change.”
Marinette stops everything she was doing in that moment, cause she didn’t hear those words in her head… she heard them come from behind her.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
She spins around faster than a spinning top, but finds nobody behind her… she scans the room, leaving no corner uncheck, no shadow unquestioned and no sound left to linger.
Yet she found nothing.
“Hello… anyone there?”
Marinette looked for the nearest sharp object as she waited for a response of some kind.
Yet still nothing.
Marinette started to laugh, maybe she had finally snapped… years of hearing voices in her head has finally led to her being able to project it outside of her head,
“I really have lost my mind?” Marinette said out loud as she sighs,
“Nah… I’ve seen crazy people and you my dear aren't one of them.”
The voice spoke again, Marinette looked towards the source of the sound and was shocked to find nothing at all.
“Ggggghost!!!” Marinette cried out as her mind could not explain what was happening before her, she had seen a lot of unexplainable things during the last few years… but ghosts were a completely new ballpark for her.
“It’s rude to call someone a ghost, I think of myself as quite a lively person.”
The voice once again spoke, this time Marinette could tell it was coming from the area by the sofas, she rushed over to the source of the voice and declared,
“Whatever you are… I’m not afraid of you…”
Marinette said, clearly trying her best to hold back the quivering in her tone,
“This is cute… really it’s cute… but that's the biggest lie you could tell a ghost… Marinette… cause the one thing a ghost is good at… it smelling fear.”
Marinette could feel a presence in front of her, as a chill creeped up her spine, “Boo”
She felt these words on the back of her neck as the fear had gotten too much for the girl and she collapsed on the floor.
“Oh fudge… I didn’t mean to go that far.”
A figure now appears from a bright white light. Marinette's eyes focus on the figure's fiery red hair and shiny flued blue eyes.
She was dressed in white and cyan outfit and she had very noticeable white rabbit ears sticking out of her hair.
Marinette felt like she knew this person yet for the life of her, she had had no clue where, just this feeling like she could trust this person with her life, which is a hard thing to earn from Marinette, especially in the first meeting,
“Who are you?”
Marinette said from the floor, still recovering from the jump scare.
The figure smiled, “The name is Bunnyx.”
“Bunnyx???”
Marinette said the name as if it was an insult or something, but before she could make a snarky comment… she realised she and the other members of the resistance weren’t really the cleverest at coming up with names.
“You're one to talk… Shady/Ladybug.”
Bunnyx said this with a smirk on her face as she watched Marinette’s face shift to a look of pure surprise.
“Can you read my mind or something? Is this another one of your ghost powers?”
Marinette tried to cover her surprise at the ghost seemingly reading her mind, by asking the spirit these questions.
But to Marinette’s ever growing confusion, Bunnyx just laughs at her questions,
“Haha, Ghost powers… Haha… Sorry I haven’t laughed this much in so long…”
Marinette once again felt this familiar feeling as she was drawn into Bunnyx’s laugh, how it cracks every few notes like an old record being played for the first time in a while.
“To answer your question, let’s just say I have a way of understanding how your mind works mini-nette …”
For a brief moment Bunnyx’s smile drops, she looks so much older to Marinette… like that simple slip of the tongue had brought with it a world of suffering.
But all too quickly the smile returns, as if what just happened never happened, Marinette was too afraid to ask… something in her warned her not to push the knife in any deeper.
“Why are you here?”
Marinette decided to move the conversation elsewhere; she saw the glint in the spirit's eyes, as if thanking her for moving away from the topic.
“The answer to that question, Stringbean, is for me to know and for you to find out in your own time.”
Marinette saw the smug look on the Bunnyx’s face as she answer Marinette’s question.
But to Marinette’s ears the part she focused on the most was, “Stringbean?”
Marinette said slowly trying to figure out the nickname,
“Yeah… Stringbean, I rarely use people’s names, so I like to give them nicknames and Stringbean works for you, because…”
Marinette immediately knows the answer, “Because I’m really tall.”
Marinette said as she rolled her eyes as Bunnyx chuckled,
“Bingo, Stringbean…” Marinette's response was to just sigh… she could not fault the spirit’s logic on that front.
While the pair continued the Q&A sessions, inside of Marinette an internal debate was going on.
“How can we trust this Spirit’s claims?”
One of the Marinette shouted, “How do we not know they are a spy sent from the Supreme!”
This gets a few of the Marinette’s to gasp.
“I think she is a friend… who could be evil with such cute bunny ears.”
The childish voice interrupted the negative voice's rant,
“Yeah the kid is right, this spirit seems cool.”
The emo voice followed up with, “Besides maybe it’s a sign that my dark chants have been working!”
The negative voice stares daggers at the two, but before it could act… another stops it in their tracks.
“Ye keep saying a' thae negative hings, yit this spirit bein' hee haw bit a braw lassie tae us.”
The Scottish Marinette said much to the confusing of many of the voices,
“Ce que mon ami essaie de dire, c'est que nous devrions peut-être donner une chance à l'esprit avant de vivre la fin du monde.”
The overly French Marinette said, appearing from behind her Scottish counterpart.
“Can anyone else understand these gals?” The sleazy Marinette said,
“I thought we had banished you to the void?”
One of the voices in the crowd said, “Well babe, It takes a lot to get rid of me…”
A sea of groans echo across Marinette’s mind,
“You are a cockroach… how do you even exist.”
The Sleazy voice smugly smiles, “The same way as all the rest of us…” before the voice could continue a loud slam silences all the Marinettes.
“Shut up…all of you… I’m trying to enjoy my fucking morning here.”
As Shadybug makes herself known to the other voices, the room goes quiet.
The only voice who even makes a sound is the childish voices as it waves and says hi to Shadybug.
For a rare moment, Shady cracks a smile and greets the child-like counterpart, but quickly returns to her menacing aura as she makes her way to her spot at the long table.
“Have all of you naysayers forgotten who saved Marinette last night from Haze…”
Shady paused to let the room catch up,
“Have you all forgotten the person who let Marinette have a goodnight…”
No voice dared to answer in fear of what Shady would do to them,
“Have you all forgotten who Bunnyx is to us?”
This one sounded more like a question than a beratement of the group, as if even Shady didn’t know the answer.
“I say we give Bunnyx a chance… Something tells me she will be a positive addition to our life.”
Shady smiles as she looks to see how things are going on outside with Marinette and Bunnyx.
“Don’t mess this up…”
Marinette questioning of the spirit had gotten her nowhere, every question she asked only added more layers to the mystery and the spirit's cool demeanour and cheeky smile only showed to Marinette even more so that the Spirit was playing games with her.
“That’s enough questions for now Stringbean.”
Bunnyx seems to be looking at something behind Marinette as she says this.
“Why? Because I’m getting closer to the truth…” Bunnyx looks confused for a second, before cracking a smile,
“I forgot how stubborn you can be…”
She mutters to herself before turning back to look at Marinette, staring directly into her eyes, unblinkingly.
“You have forgotten what day it is today?” Bunnyx looks at Marinette with a confused expression.
“My birthday isn’t till April 1st? Besides, today is a Monday…”
As Marinette said these words it all clicks into place, “Oh fuck… I’m going to be late!!!”
Marinette burst out, even managing to startle Bunnyx,
“Quickly I need to eat school and get to breakfast!” Bunnyx held back the giggle as she heard Marinette’s word fumble.
“Stringbean, calm down… Focus on one thing at a time.”
Bunnyx’s calming voice manages to get Marinette to slow down.
“Your… You're right, breakfast first… Looks like I’m having the leftover Madeleines then.”
Marinette goes to the fridge and gets out the plate with the Madeleines on, she enjoys the quiet moment with Bunnyx, as she takes in the sweet treat.
She notices Bunnyx’s smile grows bigger with each reaction from Marinette,
“See you, enjoying Madeleines will never get old to me…”
Bunnyx sounded nostalgic as she whispered this, Marinette just barely caught the words, but before she could ask about them, an alarm on her phone reminded her that she was on a deadline.
She finished the Madeleines with a few more bits, after which she rushed up stairs into her room and got her bags.
She checked and found Tikki sleeping in it,
“Awww” she said before rushing over to the mirror,
“Deep breath… Remember she is not here to hurt you… she is not here to hurt you…”
Every time Marinette said the words the less she believed them, but eventually her breathing steady as she said it one last time.
“Let’s do this.” Marinette said as she started to leave her room, “It’s time for another day at school.”
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
No seconds are wasted as Marinette rushes out of her room, she knows time is limited but she knew she had to make it so she had locked up.
So she rushed into the bakery and made sure no window or door was left unlocked,
“Who else would have gone in this kitchen apart from you?”
Bunnyx asked, floating next to Marinette the whole time next to her as she zoomed through the house.
“It’s just…” Marinette stumbles as for the first time someone has questioned her routine, all the voices had never once commented on the routine of things, so to have someone question it was a first for Marinette.
“It’s just part of my routine… nothing more to it, just being something that was drilled into me from a young age.”
Marinette said as she fiddled with the door to the basement.
“By who?” Bunnyx asked, her voice dripping with curiosity.
Marinette gives the ghost a conflicted look but something in her decides to trust the ghost,
“It was my parents, mainly my Dad…he always saw this place as his great treasure… so he took great care of it.”
Marinette felt that feeling of melancholy she was used to sinking in as she thinks back to the happy days.
“I think they were protecting more than just the baked goods…” Bunnyx says this while staring at Marinette.
“Hhh…How do you figure that?” Marinette asked, trying to cover the warm feeling across her face,
“You’ve never met them… how would you know?” Marinette tried to sound aggressive, she wanted to have Bunnyx take back her kind words.
But Bunnyx’s face never lost the warm smile as she smirked at Marinette’s attempt to sound tough,
“You're more cute than menacing to me… besides let’s just say my insight is always spot on Stringbean.”
Marinette sighs she knew it was hopeless trying to understand the ghost.
“Did you check the hatch leading to the balcony?” Bunnyx asks suddenly as Marinette goes to face the doorway out of the bakery.
“Fuck… I forgot…” Marinette in that split second starts racing back up to her room, the sounds of her panicked sprint could be heard by passerby.
Marinette arrives at the hatch, breathless, she quickly finds it wasn’t unlocked.
“That was a close one…” Marinette looks over to see Bunnyx phasing in, “Thanks Bunnyx…”
The dead air was suffocating for Marinette, but Bunnyx quickly replies with,
“Just making myself useful Stringbean, the least I could do.”
Marinette silently thanks Bunnyx as she heads toward the front door.
She exits and then quickly locks up behind herself, she then turns to Bunnyx,
“We are going to lay down some ground rules.” Bunnyx smiles, “Okay Stringbean, let’s walk and talk.”
“So what's your deal? Are you a ghost? Are you a curse? Or are you just the signs that I’ve finally lost it.”
Marinette talks to Bunnyx, paying no mind to the onlookers that give her concerned looks as she talks to the blank space next to her.
“Well Stringbean… I don’t know how to explain what I am to you…” Marinette frowns, but let's Bunnyx continue,
“But I’m not lying when I say that my purpose is for your well being.”
Marinette looks into Bunnyx’s eyes and sees no spark of deceit like in those she had trusted before, instead she is greeted by the roaring fire of pure white hot honesty.
It's so bright Marinette starts to look away as her heart starts to beat and she feels strangely flustered.
“Okay… I’ll trust you… for now…”
Bunnyx smiles as she floats around Marinette, having given up trying to mimic walking with the girl,
“So am I the only one who can see and hear you?”
Marinette asked, trying to bury whatever feelings were growing in her chest.
“Yes…” Marinette noticed the uncertainty in Bunnyx’s voice, she made a note of this as she knew it was pointless to ask at this moment.
“Only you can see and hear me, because we are bonded…”
Marinette once again made notice of Bunnyx’s hesitation.
“In some way I’m like a ghost, I can’t mess with this plane of existence… but that’s not to say I’m a powerless bunny.”
Bunnyx’s rabbit ears twitch, something Marinette finds completely cute.
“Okay I’ve got to ask, Is Bunnyx your real name?”
Marinette saw a mixture of emotions play out across Bunnyx face, shock, confused, laughter and then sadness.
“No… My true name is something even I’ve forgotten… I lost it when I lost…”
Bunnyx once again looked far older than she did in front of Marinette,
“Well I think Bunnyx is a cute name… who doesn’t like rabbits?”
Bunnyx’s face shifts to a new emotion, Marinette only gets a few glimpses of it, but the best word she has for it is “Warmth”
The feeling is quickly replaced with Bunnyx’s usual smile, “Deja Vu…” Bunnyx whispers, Marinette just barely hears the words and feels confused by their meaning.
“What about Tikki? Why can’t she see you?” Bunnyx puts their hand to their chin, Marinette could jokingly see the cogs turning in Bunnyx’s head,
“My best guess is Tikki is still far too weak…she spends too long in chains… anyone would take awhile to recover from that… but she normally is not this slow at recovering, maybe the pieces aren’t meant to go together.”
Marinette heard nothing of the last part as Bunnyx muttering were inaudible as she arrived at the crossing by the school.
“Okay now let’s set some actual ground rules!” Marinette shouted, breaking Bunnyx from her muttering and attracting more eyes of passersby.
“ Rule 1 , No distracting me in class. I’m trying to be a normal girl… I don’t need to add more fuel to the fire.”
Marinette gives Bunnyx a dark look as she finishes the first rule. Bunnyx simply nods, knowing it’s best to save her words till after Marinette has finished.
“ Rule 2 , I need my alone time. As you clearly know I’m an introvert, so my social battery are really small, I can barely make it through school with the need to break down and collapse,” Marinette takes a breath, “So while you are my “Roomate” now, It means I value my alone time even more… got it.”
Bunnyx once again nods, but this time it’s paired with a faint grin.
Marinette should be annoyed with that grin, but some part of her finds it quite hot… Marinette mentally slaps herself as she gets her mind back on track.
“ Rule 3 , Bathroom and getting dressed are no go times… do I need to explain why this is a rule.”
Bunnyx just sheepishly nods her head as Marinette giggles at the bashful expression on the girl’s face.
“Got to remember that… can’t slip back into that old routine…haha.”
Marinette just about hears the words Bunnyx mutters to herself, but has no clue what they mean at all.
“Rule 4, Uh I can come up with new rules when I want to…”
Bunnyx gives Marinette a big smug smile,
“Nice save Stringbean, Nice save.” Marinette’s cheeks go a warm shade of red, as she finds she has no come back for Bunnyx’s smug words.
“So… are we in agreement?”
Marinette tries to reclaim the conversation, but she can tell it is already going to be an up-hill battle.
“One question… apart from when you need alone time, I’m allowed to be by your side even when you're Ladybug?”
Marinette ponders the question before she gives an answer,
“Yes…”
Marinette could feel how weak her words were, but before she could start digging her hole of self-doubt, Bunnyx spoke,
“Deal, I accept your rules… but under one condition, whenever things get tough… Please talk to me Marinette… don’t shut me out…”
Marinette was caught off guard by the use of her name by Bunnyx and so all she can do is speechlessly agree to Bunnyx’s request.
“I’ll hold you to it… otherwise rule 3 will get broken, hehe.”
Bunnyx laughs as Marinette breaks out of her daze and gives them the death glaze, as she makes her way up the stairs of the school.
Marinette wasted no time as soon as she crossed the school’s doorway, she knew where to go and she knew she was on the verge of being late.
“For someone who lives right by the school… How are you always so late?”
Bunnyx questions, as hovers behind Marinette like a water skier.
“Time keeping was never my strongest skill… I seem to just have the curse of being outside the flow of time.”
Bunnyx rolls her eyes, “What Poetic irony…” Bunnyx muses to herself, as Marinette enters the locker room.
A gasp is heard from Bunnyx as she takes in the sight of Marinette’s locker.
Unlike all the other slightly old but still usable lockers, Marinette’s looks horrendous, Bunnyx could easily see the door has been kicked to the point where there was a permanent heel impression and the locker was covered in horrible words, written in scribbled black pen, words like
“Dead Parent?”
“Freak”
“A mistake.”
Marinette noticed for the first time what angry looked like on Bunnyx’s face, the red hair looked almost like fire as it strangely glowed with each controlled breath from Bunnyx.
While the eyes stared coldly at the sight, Marinette was half expecting the locker to freeze up, as she felt a chill emanating from Bunnyx.
“It’s okay… most of those words are old… she hasn’t been around lately to add any new ones…”
Marinette was about to say her name when Bunnyx quickly butted in,
“Don’t say that name, that name doesn’t have the right to pass through that cute mouth of yours.”
Marinette blushes as she forgets what she even came into the locker for, but on cue she is dragged back to reality by the ringing of the dreaded bell.
“Fuck… I’m late.”
Marinette quickly throws her stuff into her locker with a bit too much force, as she quickly makes a beeline for her classroom, all the while she still feels the warm feeling from Bunnyx’s words, as the classroom comes into view. Marinette burst through the door,
“I’m here… I’m here.”
The whole class is silent as they stare at Marinette, all Marinette can hear is the cute giggling of her seatmate among the silence.
“That is one way to make an entrance.” Marinette hears Bunnyx say before she goes silent.
As Marinette makes her way up to her seat, she gives Adrien a passing glance.
She sees the smirk on his face as he clearly wants to make fun of Marinette’s entrance into the class.
“Yeah, smirk all you like, kitty… I bet your morning was any easier than mine.” Marinette thinks to herself as she passes him.
She then gives a quick glance towards Alya and Nino, as the pair seem to be doing the same to her as she passes them.
She then arrives at her seat and is greeted by the sweet words from Alix,
“You always have a way to make mornings so interesting don’t you?”
Marinette’s heart fluttered as she took her seat, hearing those words made up for the clusterfuck of an entrance she just made.
That was worth smiling about in her mind.
Notes:
Introducing the new character of Bunnyx, the mysterious spirit that seems to have Marinette's best interest in their mind.
I can't wait to use them more, hehe.
Next chapter will be from a character who hasn't had much screen time in this series, won't say any more than that.
October is the spooky month and so I'm going to do some short story over the coming weeks for MFW Spooktober, so look forward to them
But as always there probably still a lot of grammar and pacing problems (Did all of the editing of this late into the night), which my eyes are blind to. But If you liked it then you can leave a Kudos and if your crazy a Comment. See ya in the next one.
Chapter 2: The Amazing world of Adrien
Summary:
How about a look at Adrien's morning... He can't have it any worse than Marinette, Right?
Notes:
Finally the second chapter of OD is out. Sorry it took so long.
In a rare moment for this AU this chapter will focus on Adrien.
See ya in the endnotes.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“Smile, you two. This is a happy family photo.”
The voice said with a hint of sarcasm as the young Adrien tried his best to smile for the camera, his toothy grin radiating a warmth in the cold room.
“Sorry my dear, I’ll try harder.” Gabriel said as he ruffled Adrien’s hair, “I should take lessons from this little one.”
Adrien smugly grins at hearing his father praise him.
“Come on you two…” The voice stopped mid-sentence, interrupted by a violent coughing fit.
“Emilie!!” Gabriel is about to rush over to his wife, when Emilie raises her hand to stop him as the coughing fit dies down.
“Please let us just take this photo… Please.” The words reveal the brokenness behind the figure.
Gabriel understood the weight behind those words; they were more a last request than a simple plea.
But to the young Adrien, these words held no weight, these words were just those words to him, these words were the last he would ever hear from his mother.
The sound of the camera’s flash morphs into the familiar tune of his morning alarm as Adrien realised this was all just a dream.
The world around him started to fade. He watched his mother start to fade away like she always does each night, but this time he knew the words he wanted to say. “I love you.”
His Mother didn’t respond with words, she simply smiled and faded into starlight. Adrien spent a few seconds in the void of dreamlessness before opening his eyes to the familiar sight of his ceiling.
He feels a tear roll down his cheek as he just stares at the ceiling light, “I finally got to say it.”
Adrien smiled as he recalled the sweet dream, now free from the misery it once held. Adrien could just enjoy the happy moment they all had as a family.
“Thank you once again, other-me…” Adrien said before enjoying the comfort of his bed for the remaining few minutes he had got in it.
Adrien basks in the warm morning light as it beamed through his window.
It’s mornings like these that make him enjoy the Floor-to-ceiling windows.
But Adrien knows this grace period is limited as his second alarm will soon signal his need to get ready for school.
But he wasn’t going to waste a moment savoring this rare oasis of comfort, he was going to enjoy it all for however long he had left.
At this thought he started to purr, an odd side effect of being the holder of The Black Cat Miraculous caused him to purr—a quirky side effect that, oddly enough, worked wonders with the boys at school.
But he does wonder if Marinette had any side effects? His teammate was a very tightly closed book, compared to the version he met in the other universe.
“Doesn’t she know the ladies love the tall, dark and brooding type.” Adrien mused as he remembers the whisper of students gushing over Marinette’s looks.
“If only you had half the charm I do… Maybe then you would get the ladies. ” Adrien continued to break down his teammate's weird traits as he waited for the alarm to finally ring out once again.
He was halfway into digging into the obvious tension between Shady and Baskerville when the sound of Clair de Lune played on his phone.
He finally gets up in a begrudging fashion and turns off the alarm.
He could no longer return to the comfort of the bed, he was well and truly up.
His time in Eden was finally over and now he was on the path to face the real world that exists outside his door.
“Another lovely start to the week.” Adrien said as he stretched, still feeling sore from yesterday’s fight with Lyeger.
His eyes focused towards the bathroom as he mapped out his morning routine.
Now most people take their time to get ready in the morning… Adrien was not one of those people.
He believed that the time spent on getting ready was time that was wasted not doing other things.
So he has always mapped out his morning routine to a fine art. He looked towards the clock on his wall with a grin.
“Let’s see if I can break my personal best.” He said with an energetic tone.
What followed was the quickest bathroom routine known to mankind.
To the outsider perspective it looks as if the water barely touched him, as he effortlessly sped through his hair and face care routine.
His years of modelling was paying off.
Before too long he was done and returned from the bathroom fully ready for the day ahead. “One second fast,” Adrien said as he looked at his clock on the wall. “New record, hehe.”
Adrien, smug in his victory, went to his desk to record the new time. “Can’t wait to tell Slow Coach that I’m even faster than he is.” Adrien chuckled softly, a faint blush coloring his cheeks.
“I wonder what reactions I can get out of him.” As Adrien thought about it, he heard the tell-tale sounds that his roommate was awake.
“Time to feed the hungry kitty.”
Adrien was of two minds when it came to Plagg.
Firstly he felt he needed to pay the debt of how badly he had treated the kwami as Claws Noir, but on the other hand the small creature was going to eat him out of house and home with how much Camembert he eats in a day.
Adrien was grateful he’d revealed his identity to his father early when raising Plagg; otherwise, he’d have been penniless within a week.
All Plagg ever does is eat and sleep, he had never once said a word to Adrien, not even a bitter remark about how he was an awful human being.
But within that silence told everything to Adrien, he knew he wasn’t Plagg’s first holder not by a long shot, he had heard the tales from other members of Ouroboros about the trail of blood that followed the holders of the Black cat, he was glad to have ended those stories with him.
But with this knowledge he could see why Plagg had no words for him, Adrien could see the signs of someone who had been hurt before.
Maybe that was why Adrien knew he wasn’t… The rest of the thought died before Adrien finished it, he just focused on feeding his quiet roommate.
“Here you go buddy, this one extra stinky today.” Adrien held his nose as the smell was visible emanating from the piece of cheese.
Said cheese was only in existence for a few seconds longer before it was swallowed by Plagg without much fanfare.
The small creature gave Adrien a thankful look before retreating to the sock it called home.
“Guess it was to his liking?” Adrien muttered to himself as he walked away from Plagg, he knew the best thing he could do was give him time and space to heal after centuries of being abused by people like him.
It was at this moment that Adrien heard a soft knock at his door followed by Nathalie’s voice: “Adrien, are you up? Breakfast will be ready in five minutes. ”
“I’ll be down in a second, Nathalie.” Adrien shouted to the door, as he made sure his room was tidied before he left.
“I’ll inform Gabriel; he’s excited to show off his latest creations," Nathalie said in what Adrien could only guess was a cheerful tone.
“I’ll be taking my leave now, nothing else I can do for you Adrien?” Adrien cracked a smile, Nathalie has always been one of the rare spots of sunshine in his life, even during the darker days.
She had always felt like a second mother to him, even when his real mother was alive.
“Nothing I can think of Nathalie, but thanks for asking.” Adrien heard no reply, but he knew Nathalie had heard him.
“Guess it's time for the most important meal of the day.” Adrien said in a sarcastic tone.
“I wonder what’s on the menu today.” He said as he made his way out of the door, letting Plagg have a couple extra minutes of rest.
_____________________________________________
Adrien exited into the large foyer of the mansion. The place had seen better days but that didn’t stop it from feeling alive with all the materials scattered across the floor and walls, creating this explosion of colour that at one point in time Adrien had grown to despise.
But now it reminded him that life is both messy and colourful, when you take the time to look at it.
“Guess he had another wild night of designing.” Adrien said as he knocked a few pieces of sequent fabric off the railing.
Adrien would never admit it to anyone but he loved seeing his father at work, designing outfits. That’s why even during his “Rebellious” he kept on being a model, cause he felt that was the only way he could connect with him after thinking that he had moved on.
“I’m just hoping for a bit of colour… I’m tired of all the white and black.” He joked as he descended the stairs.
He stops for a moment to admire the pictures on the wall, pictures of happy clients, pictures of great achievement and finally in the centre picture of his family.
Adrien knew this wall was the best way to understand his father, and he still scolds himself for even believing the man could be heartless… cause it obvious to anyone that at the centre of Gabriel’s world was his family.
Adrien was so drawn into the fantasy that he almost tripped on a piece of velvet fabric, reminding him that the world was still turning around him, even as stares into the fantasy.
His stomach grumbling seems to further highlight the call for food “I hear you, I hear you.”
But luckily for the ravenous beast, Adrien was now at the doors to the fable dining room, soon that hunger’s rage would be quenched by whatever beyond the doors.
With a swift motion Adrien entered the dining room. The room like the rest of the house has seen better days.
But Adrien can’t argue it does give the room a warm feeling of family. This room will always be special to Adrien, this room held so much for him.
From the many birthdays spent as a family, to the countless family meal nights and being his only company when he felt the whole world was against him.
So Adrien was glad to once again be able to smile at the sight of the long antique table and made his way to the seat closest to where he knew he father would sit. At that moment Adrien did ponder the question, “Where are you father?”
Now the one thing Adrien knew about his father was that the man was never one to be absent from things.
Adrien could think of all the embarrassing ways his father had made him stick out from the crowd.
From being the loudest clapper to always catching the eyes of others with his height during school events.
As a young boy, Adrien felt embarrassed. However, as time went on and his world shattered under the weight of dark deeds, his perspective changed.
Adrien realised the beauty in having a father that cared, especially compared to the likes of Chloé.
Memories of a faded childhood spent playing in this room together, merged with a darker scene of the night Chloé gave him the ring to become Claws Noir. Adrien runs his fingers across the scratches from that same night, they remain there as a scar on the table that he holds dear, but also they remind him to be thankful that he did not sink further down into the abyss of his grief.
“Oh Chloé, where are you now? I wonder.” Adrien could not ponder this thought any long as a series of noise came from the door leading to the kitchen.
With a loud crash came a sudden bust that opened the kitchen door.
Soon followed by the lanky frame of his father masterfully carrying two plates of food.
Adrien could smell the freshly made breakfast, but could not work out what it was that smelled so sweet.
From behind Gabriel followed Nooroo, carrying what looked to be a jug of juice. “Master, why are we rushing?”
Gabriel, still obvious to Adrien sitting at the table as he placed down the plates, answered.
“It’s Monday Nooroo! It’s important to have a healthy breakfast before the school day starts. You never know when the Hunting dogs might attack!”
Adrien could hear the concern dripping from his words. “Master, He’s…”
Nooroo tried to point to Gabriel that Adrien was next to him, but the man was too far in his own world.
“Besides, he needs to eat more… he has been looking a bit pale as of late…”
Adrien was starting to go bright red as a ladybug as he heard all the little things his father had noticed about him.
“Master!” Nooroo finally managed to shake Gabriel from his head.
“Yes, what’s wrong Nooroo?” Nooroo looked at Adrien to see the boy was dying from embarrassment.
“Adrien is already at the table Master.”
Gabriel said nothing as he turned his head and focused on the melting puddle of Adrien as he sank further into his seat.
“Oh you're here already! Nathalie didn’t inform me.”
From the doorway that Adrien entered a soft giggle could be heard, as Nathalie entered the room with her own breakfast in one hand and work in the other.
Then she took her spot towards the other side of the table, so as not to interrupt the father and son bonding on the other side.
Gabriel continues unfazed by Nathalie's arrival.
“Before you ask, I mean everything I said, Adrien.” Gabriel smiled softly as he took his seat at the table beside him.
Nooroo finally places the jug between them both before going to his little den on top of the fireplace.
“So shall we eat, today I’ve made my specialty Pancakes!” Gabriel left the tray covers to reveal the sweet smelling goods, Adrien could only respond by drooling at the sight of them, before both men tucked into them.
The only sounds that are heard for the next few minutes are that of group eating and the tapping of Nathalie on the tablet.
Neither Adrien or Gabriel want to break the silence as they just savoured the moment together.
But after finishing his second pancake Gabriel finally spoke.
“Some of my best yet, don’t you think?”
The question was posed to Adrien, who was still in the middle of chewing and so replied with an awkward thumbs up while the sweet treat went down his throat.
“Are you doing well after yesterday's battle?” Gabriel asked as he looked his son over.
“Lyeger does not pull her punches in a fight and you took quite a few this time…” The concern was glowing in his eyes.
Adrien finished his pancakes before speaking. “I’m used to feeling that pain…” Adrien winces at the words he let out.
“But as long as I can still fight, then I’ll fight. Besides, Ladybug's new miracle thingy, can always patch up the damage.”
Adrien tried to temper his voice. He didn’t want to have a pointless outburst at his father. He could tell his father was just trying to be good.
“Speaking of Ladybug, do you think she is okay? After yesterday's battle she seemed distant.” Adrien thought back to Shady’s behaviour.
“That’s mostly normal for her… Shady was always a bit weird. But she is stupid smart as well and very closed off, so it’s anyone's guess what's on her mind.” Adrien chuckles as he is reminded of Shady’s thinking process, all the different voices she would use.
“Haha, You two make a good team. If only she was more trusting with me…” Gabriel’s smile falters as he looks aways.
“ Give her time, she is slow to trust others and even slower to be friendly… trust me she will come to trust you like I do.” Gabriel’s heart melted as he heard those words from Adrien.
“Thank you, hearing that means I know I’m on the right path to being the man… no father, Emilie knew I could be for you.” Adrien wants to say more when a familiar alarm goes off.
“Guess our time is cut short for this morning.” Gabriel said mournfully as he stacks the two plates together.
“Nathalie has prepared your bag for the day, plus made sure Plagg was comfortable. I’m assuming you want to meet up with Nino, so you can walk to school?” Gabriel smirks as he lightly teased his son.
Adrien stuttered for a few sounds before giving a reply. “Thanks, Yes I do.”
Adrien said this too unnatural, so the true intentions were there to bear. “I’ll be going now… See you for lunch.”
Adrien quickly races towards the door, but stops before fully going out of view.
“Love you.” Was all he said before vanishing out the doorway.
A few seconds later the sound of the front door closing and the main gate opening signal Adrien leaving the mansion.
“To be young and in love? Am I right Nathalie.” Gabriel threw the question towards the working women as he took a sip of the juice in front of him.
“If you keep teasing him… He’s going to hate you again.” Nathalie said as she heard the sound of Gabriel doing a spit take.
“Really… Oh god, What have I done!” Nathalie responds with a chuckle.
“Sir, I was only joking.” Gabriel was wiping the table, as he gave Nathalie the death stare.
“I forgot how bad your sense of humour was… I don’t know why Emilie enjoyed it so much.” Nathalie just smirks before shifting to a more serious expression.
“Talking about the matter discussed last night, I have made the arrangement. It was easy once your name and Adrien’s were mentioned to them.”
Gabriel goes over to Nooroo and tickles the Kwami. “So it’s up to Alya and Nino now to make contact with her.”
Nathalie's face shifts to a look of concern. “Sir, forgive me for speaking out of line. But is it wise to bring someone from that family into the resistance. If the rumours are true then we would be taking a great risk trusting her.”
Gabriel looked sharply at Nathalie with an aura of reassurance and confidence.
“Trust me I have seen first hand the wickedness of that family. But that girl, when I connected with her I felt a fire that burned just as bright as the heroes of the other reality.” Gabriel smiled as Nathalie couldn’t help but join him.
“Things are starting to look a little bright for their future… We can finally break this cycle of control and repression.”
Nathalie smiled as she stood up and took her plate towards the kitchen.
“What are we waiting for? We have a new member to prepare for.” Both laughed as they headed into the kitchen.
_____________________________________________
Adrien was still very flustered as he walked out the front gates. “Why does he have to say it with that grin?”
Pouting, Adrien strolled down the familiar path to his destination.
“Like yeah I talk about Nino a lot, Like yeah I talk about the cute things he does, Like yeah I may think about him at 12am… But that doesn’t mean I like him!” Adrien loudly replied to the empty street, only Plagg gave some form of reply and that was just simple moving to make himself more comfortable in Adrien’s pocket.
Adrien crush had started small on his fellow member of the resistance, It was simply the fact that Nino was the first person to talk to him like a person, Ouroboros had drilled into him that human connection were pointless to the mission at hand, so it was rare to find some to just chat with while on mission… that didn’t end with an attempt on his life.
So when he joined the resistance and found it was a group of idiots barely held together by some duck tape, he felt right at home.
But Nino was that link he had been craving all this time, the boy was so nervous around Paws, but with Adrien he had playful energy that only made Adrien want to tease him more.
The pair's friendship grew fast as soon enough they were walking to school every day and hanging out whenever the resistance weren’t busy.
“I wonder how I can tease him today?” Adrien said, slipping into their Paws’ voice as they imagine the cute face of Nino waiting for him outside their house.
“Maybe I will surprise him, or sneak up and whisper in his ear.” Adrien came up with more ways to tease the boy as he got closer and closer to the meeting point. Soon enough, he could see the icon red beanie, as he put his plan into motion.
“Where is he?” Nino said, trying not to sound worried.
“He can’t have overslept, No Adrien isn’t like Marinette.” Nino said think about his very taller classmate and her inability to arrive on time.
“He’ll show up any second now like he always does… Unless…” Nino's mind started to wander into dangerous thoughts.
“He’s found someone better to walk with to school!” Nino started to panic. He knew him and Adrien were from completely different worlds, Adrien was considered an elite among those in the school and Nino was nothing more than a common grunt.
The only thing that connected them at first was Adrien’s father, Nino had spent house at the Agreste mansion to the point where he knew it like the back of his hand, but the part that he could never figure out was his boss’s son.
Adrien had always been a mystery that caught Nino’s eye, whenever he caught glimpses of the emo prince being moody around the mansion. Alya had joked a few times that Nino was almost Adrien stalker with how much he looked out for the boy while in the middle of resistance meetings.
So when he saw his opening to chat with Adrien, he took it and was surprised when Adrien started talking back.
“So dude, who do you hang out with?” Nino had asked the question, not expecting the sad response from Adrien.
“No one, I mainly just spent time alone…” Nino against all his nerves and voice of self doubt responded with some completely unexpected.
“That changes tomorrow, dude.” This began the routine of the two boys hanging out together before, during and after school. But now Nino was beginning to think the dream had ended, until he heard something whisper softly into his ear.
“Did you think I wasn’t going to show up?”
Adrien enjoys the reaction on Nino’s face with a passion.
Seeing the boy’s mixture of shock, excitement and relief was almost a drug to Adrien, one which he keeps coming back for more.
“You're so cute when you panic…” Adrien stopped before he said anything else. He was lucky Nino was still flustered to notice that Adrien had gained his own shade of red across his face.
Ironically unlike his feisty feline alter-ego, Adrien was too self conscious to actively flirt with his crush.
So in those rare moments where Paws leaks into his civilian self it only leads to Adrien feeling incredibly embarrassed and just wants to panic while fleeing the scene.
But he was once again glad that Nino was too caught up in the surprise to notice Adrien’s quivering lip. “Don’t scare me like that dude… You almost gave me a heart attack.”
Nino tried to sound serious but the grin on his face destroyed the tension of the moment.
“Your smile says otherwise, Sorry I’m late… Lost track of the time.” Adrien said bashfully as he messed with his hair, he couldn’t admit that he took a wrong turn while he was stuck in dreamland, fantasising about Nino… He would die of embarrassment.
After the pair had finally calmed down from the excitement of the moment, It was finally time for the pair to walk to school.
Along the way Nino talked about the latest album from his favourite band and the fight yesterday between the Heroes and the Hunting Dogs.
Adrien wanted to hug Nino, when he expressed concern for Paws during the fight with Lyeger.
But he was just about able to hold himself back, he didn’t want to fluster Nino anymore than he had this morning. Adrien chimed in every so often to the conversation with comments of his own, he was careful not to let slip the fact he had a much more vivid view of the fight.
He was fearful how Nino would react in any way to that information.
Eventually the pair come to a stop when they hear from behind them.
“Hey… Were you guys going to wait for me or were you too busy making goo goo at each other to notice me.”
Both boys knew that Alya was standing behind them and from the tone of her voice she was not very happy with either of them at that very moment.
“ Sorry, Alya. Guess we both got tunnel vision.” Adrien offered an apologetic shrug, trying to cool the rage behind the redhead’s eyes.
Unlike with Nino, Adrien had no clue where to step with Alya.
She was too sharp even for Adrien quick thinking, plus her closeness to his Father led to her being a common face around his house.
But Adrien has always noticed how the girl never drops her guard around him, like the girl saw him as a threat. At first he thought she was gunning for Nino and saw him as a love rival, but that was crossed off when she jokingly said she ships the pair.
No, the look Adrien saw on Alya’s face was one he had seen before… On the faces of those who have encountered Claws Noir.
Adrien stops this thought from taking route. He was just being paranoid. Alya doesn’t know he was Claws Noir? She hasn’t been holding that secret above him? And if she knows, does Nino too? Adrien’s mind was on fire with all these questions, but they were extinguished by a few words.
“Come on Al, stop giving him the Angry dad look, why do you do this to all my other friends.” Nino words affected both listeners differently, for Adrien he felt warm at the fact Nino had come to his aid.
But the look on Alya’s face was more surprising as her face started to match her hair.
“I’m sorry that your taste in boys, just so happens to be the heartbreaker type… Do I need to remind you of the Kim incident.” Alya's flustered shock soon shifted to a smug smirk.
“The Kim incident?” Adrien asked, still slightly shell shocked by the sudden shift from Alya.
“A story for another time. And trust me it will be worth it.” Alya’s smile clearly sent a chill down Nino’s spine as the boy latched onto Adrien’s arm.
“I think we should focus more on getting to school… We don’t want to be late!” Nino released himself from Adrien’s arm as he led the group towards the school.
The trio were now only in spitting distance of the building.
“Guess I teased him too much there. Sorry Sunshine.” Alya said before she quickly followed behind Nino’s dust.
“Hey guys, wait for me! How are you so energetic in the mornings?” Adrien said, still confused about what had just happened.
Lucky he noticed Alya signalling for him to follow, as the trio finally arrived at the school’s steps.
_____________________________________________
Finally the trio were on the hallowed grounds of the school. Françoise Dupont was considered to be one of the top schools in Paris, children of many elite families roamed the halls and many more have been through the same door the trio were now entering.
But underneath the school's high-tech exterior, fancy classrooms and welcoming atmosphere, lay the black rotten interior of corruption to its very core. Other schools used Françoise Dupont as the poster child of corrupt administration.
Adrien recalls the time Alya told him about the school’s shady side, he was horrified when Alya told him all the dirty deals the schools had both allowed and done for the elites.
From rewriting the history of the D'Argencourt family in history lessons to turning a blind eye to countless acts of dangerous bullying.
Adrien had asked Alya why parents would send their kids to Françoise Dupont and her response upset him.
“Cause this school’s name carries weight… For the elites, like you… no offence, it’s just a rite of passage, for the commoners like me and Nino, this school is like the golden ticket to anywhere we want… Just have to survive for three years and you're set for life.”
Adrien is appalled.
He had thought he had seen the worst of it all during his time as Claws Noir, but this was another level to him.
“Don’t look all moppy, Sunshine.” Adrien looked up to see Alya's soft smile.
“This school on rare occasions produces good seeds… Your father is one of them. He’s the reason we got a place at this school to begin with… I own him so much for that…” The weight Alya put in those words still resonated with Adrien as Alya returns to talking about the shady sides of the school.
“Now this is more of a rumour than fact, but it’s heavily suggested Ouroboros is one of the biggest donors of the school… Some chat rooms say it’s a recruiting ground for future members and that even some of the high ranking members went to this school. One post even said the Supreme went to this school back in the day… Oh I would love to dig into the school’s archives, maybe we could finally have a face to the enemy of the Resistance”
Adrien chuckled as he knew how much Alya was spot on with her theory. He was proof of that in action.
Adrien is pulled out of the daydream when he hears the call of the trio's name by two very familiar voices.
“Alya, Nino and Adrien, Sal-u-tations!”
“Hello there fellow classmates.” Adrien knew immediately it was Markov and Max.
Adrien was very used to touching skin with many unique and eccentric personalities due to being a model.
But even he was surprised at the characters in his class. From the sadistic writer, who was an almost unstoppable Kimiko to the almost too down to earth musician, with a jaw filled with some serious metal… And those were just the quiet members that he rarely saw in the halls.
Unlike the meathead amazon swimmer, now she was a character. Adrien had encountered her too many times for his liking and worst of all he knew that he would never see the end of her for one simple reason… Alya had a fucking crush on her!
Adrien has lost count the number of times he has seen the stone faced commander of the resistance turn into a drooling fangirl. He couldn’t even tease her about the crush due to Alya's wicked rebuttals abouts his own crush.
Thankfully the only saving grace was the fact that the meathead was barely in class due to the countless competitions she took part in.
But on the days when she was in, was the days Adrien hated to be around Alya.
Ironically unlike the meathead, who Adrien knew too much about. Alix was more of an unknown to Adrien. The two have rarely if ever spoken, something Adrien has not done on purpose, yet he feels Alix is doing so.
But while thinking about his classmates, Adrien ponders a question. “How did Marinette get into this school?”
Everything he was told about Françoise Dupont does not add to why someone like Marinette could be accepted into its halls?
“Unless it’s her doing?” Adrien remembers Alya saying about how the school turns a blind eye and even assists the needs of those in power?
“Could she really have given Marinette the chance here just to bully her… No, that's low even for…” Adrien stopped before he could finish the idea.
Adrien knew it was best to move on and where better than the classmate in front of him Max.
Max was the stereotypical boy genius. Adrien has only ever talked with Max five times before this morning and each time Adrien has come out both feeling smarter and also feeling dumber.
He was formal with everyone, but he always made an effort to say hello when in passing.
Even as a member of the Resistance, he still greets Paws with the same smile.
Markov on the other hand was too friendly, Adrien was used to the high energy, but other members of the class like Marinette avoided Markov like the plague.
“Hello Max.” Adrien finally said after being stuck in his head for far too long.
“What got Markov all excited this Morning?” Adrien asked while Alya whispered something to Max in secret.
“Well Adrien the reason I am most excited on this day is because of the rumours going around the school!” Adrien suddenly gets more interested in this conversation.
“What rumours? Markov.” He leans in closer to the robot while the others continue their own conversation.
“Well dearest friend me and Max just so happened to intercept chatter from the teachers.” Adrien chuckled at the childish innocents in Markov’s words.
“It seems two new students will be coming into our class!”
Adrien was surprised by the news, transfers aren't uncommon, especially at Françoise Dupont. But the fact these two were coming so suddenly was what peaked Adrien’s interest.
“Got information on them? Markov.” Adrien watched the small flying drone dance around in the air with excitement.
“Hehe. Of course I do, friend. How else can I become best buddies with them…” Adrien would be terrified if it wasn’t for the robot’s cheerful tone.
“So who are they?” Adrien asked, trying to get details.
“Well for one of them, she seems to originate from Italy… but apart from that my sources are a bit illogical on information.” Adrien was surprised to see the robot’s digital face furrow their eyebrows.
“Well some sources have the new girl transferring across multiple schools around Italy and others saying she has multiple legal guardians.” Adrien now understood Markov’s frustration.
They were still a robot, even one with as much sense of self as Markov would still yearn for a simple binary logic to how the world works. So this enigma of a girl must have really confused Markov’s programming.
“Anything else or is the rest just as confusing.” Adrien tried to work a bit of humour into his work. Markov seemed immune to their effects as their eyes mirrored a loading bar on a computer.
“There is one more piece of information about them… Their name.” Adrien gestures for Markov to continue.
“Lila Cerise Blanc”
Adrien made a note of the name before shifting the conversation away from Lila for now.
“So who’s the other new student?” Adrien curiously asked. Markov’s propeller spun faster as they clearly got more excited.
“Well luckily this new friend has lots of data on them… Her name is Zoé lee…” Markov then listed stuff off about the girl, but Adrien was listening, he was more focused on that name.
“Zoé… Zoé. Why does it sound so familiar to me?” Adrien thought out loud when it finally hit him and it just burst out of his mouth without a second thought.
“Zoé as in the Chloé younger sister!” Adrien’s outburst got the attention of the others, as they were now invested in this reveal.
“Chloé has a sister?” Alya said a mixture of surprise and bemusement.
“There are two spawns of the devil!” Nino added into Alya’s reaction with his own.
“That is what the data suggest.” Max said clearly not as surprised as the others. Adrien meanwhile was hit with a feeling of nostalgia as he was taken back to his childhood.
He remembers running around a big room, one that at the time for his five year old mind was high in the sky. He remembers playing the knight who tries to save the Princess from a tower.
One protected by a ferocious monster.
There on top of the bed was the princess, her eyes shining gold as she looked upon the young knight.
Her smile was the greatest treasure of all. Adrien paused for a moment and looked upon the smile. “Was this the last time I saw you smile Chloé…”
These words seemed to trigger the memory, as the scene played out once more. Only now Adrien was merely a spectator to the events unfolding.
He watched the young knight go off to save the princess, but at the final moment the memory started to break down and then the monster appeared. Its shape was something Adrien’s mind could not perceive and in the void where something should have been, there was only a mass of black tar like goo, formed into a humanoid shape. The only noticeable features were the glowing golden eyes that focused on the princess’s tower.
It let out an inhuman cry, as it rushed towards the top of the tower and just like that the princess was gone.
Adrien was thrown out of the memory as the monster’s glaze turned on him, looking ready to pounce on him.
As Adrien comes back to the real world. He sees Alya, Max and Markov talking about Chloé and Zoé, while Nino is supporting him on a nearby bench.
“Are you okay? Dud… Adrien.” Nino seems to scold himself before returning back to Adrien.
The others, noticing Nino self scolding, come over to the pair.
“So the princess awakes in his knight's arms.” Alya teased, but the look of worry was clear in her eye.
“My scan shows that Adrien is perfectly healthy… It seems he just got over-stimulated for the moment.” Adrien was unamused by the small drone’s simplification of his underlying trauma.
“When you put it in terms like that it seems kinda mundane…” Adrien forced a laugh to hide the more negative feelings he had at the moment.
“Chloé is a sore topic for me…” Adrien put clear emphasis on those words in the hope of killing any curiosity at this moment.
“I never saw much of Zoé when I played with Chloé… but those two are sisters in the small amount of blood they share only.”
Adrien thinks back to yesterday’s fight with Princess Knight. He saw the mixture of reactions, ranging from shocked to unsurprised.
“It’s a good thing Chloé isn’t around, because Zoé will be dead in a week…” Adrien's words were cold and humourless, he took no effort in hiding the truth in his words.
It was at this point he saw the crowds forming around them. He was fearful any of them could be a thrall of the bee.
“Shall we take this conversation into the classroom… we seem to be picking up a crowd of onlookers.” The others turned and saw that Adrien was correct.
“You three go on ahead. Markov and I have some data to retrieve.” Max walks off with only a simple wave of the hand.
Markov at least gave the group a more human goodbye before catching up with Max.
“So let’s head to class, don’t want to give the vulture any more gossip now.” Alya said as she climbed the stairs, the two boys following in her lead.
_____________________________________________
After the short walk the trio entered the class. To the trio’s shared surprise they were not the first ones in the class.
“Is that Alix?” Nino whispered to Adrien, as both boys did a double take of the sight before them.
On the top desk in her usual place, sat the messy hair girl. She seems to be focused in her own world and didn’t even acknowledge the trio’s entrance.
“That’s rare for her to be this early…” Alya said with an inquisitive look, that lay bare the girl's true desire to get an answer.
“Maybe she got up early?” Adrien said getting only sarcastic looks from Nino and Alya.
“What… Not everything has to have a complex mystery to it.” Adrien huffed as he took his seat on the second row, while Alya and Nino took theirs on the row above him.
“Well thanks captain buzzkill.” Alya replies with her most snarky comeback.
“Besides, you know better than anyone that talking with Alix is like talking to a brick wall…” Nino acted as the voice of logic.
Adrien just looked confused by the words, which was no fault of his own. Adrien had rarely if ever interacted with Alix, not out of spite, just the pair never seem to cross paths, or without the hunting dogs interrupting the day's events.
So it could be forgiven for the boy not knowing much about one of the residences of the top row.
“Well unless your name is Marinette, that is.” Alya said with a knowing smile.
Adrien was sadly too dense to read into Alya’s words, but Nino gave her a knowing look at the comment.
“But speaking of Marinette. Don’t you think she’s the most Interesting member of this class?” This question got both Adrien and Nino’s attention.
“What do you mean by that?” Adrien asked, fearing that Alya knew Marinette’s secret identity as Ladybug.
“Well…” Alya paused as she thought about her response, allowing time for more dread to fill Adrien’s mind.
“Out of everyone in this class, Marinette is the black sheep. She is not nationally recognized for anything, She is not from a wealthy family and she doesn’t have a sponsor like me, Nino or Alix. In a room of shining stars, Marinette is the only shadow.”
Both Nino and Adrien roll their eyes at Alya's use of dramatical language.
“Alya, don’t you think you're reading a bit too much into Marinette’s vibes. She is just a normal girl, I even went to the same primary as her. She was quiet and never really hung out with anyone… due to her weird habit of talking to herself…”
Nino continues to talk more about what he remembers about Marinette from his childhood. “She used to blend into the crowd before…”
“The growth spurt.” Alya answers surprisingly quickly, as both boys notice the red blush on her face.
“That growth spurt really makes her stand out among the class.”
“You can say that again.” Alya mutters while Nino continues to talk with Adrien.
“Do either of you know when Chloé started to mess with her?” Adrien asked and knowingly got shrugs from both of them.
“When I joined the class, Chloé was already bullying her.” Alya said after a few seconds.
“It just started one day, out of the blue, Chloé’s campaign against Marinette…” Nino is unable to find the words to continue.
“But that's all stopped in the last few months, Chloé being M.I.A for a while… Got any info Sunshine.” Alya said, looking hungrily at Adrien.
“Well all I can say is that she cut off all communication with me as well.” Adrien lied to the others.
He knew full well where Chloé was. Before changing sides he had heard the rumour of her promotion into Flower Garden.
But to tell anyone that info, let alone members of the resistance, would not be the wise move for Adrien, besides he’s father already knew this information and so there was no need to spill it further down the tracks.
“Me and Chloé stop hanging out after…” Flashes of the monster from the flashback stop Adrien from saying anything further.
“We just stopped hanging out.” Both Alya and Nino saw the look of fear in Adrien’s eyes and knew not to push any further on the topic for now.
“I don’t recognize the Chloé that everyone talks about in hushed whispers, but I wouldn’t put it past her for being the reason why Marinette was accepted into this school.”
Both Alya and Nino quickly worked out the reason by looks of disgust on their faces.
Adrien sighs, wanting to move on from this topic before anymore bad memories are dug up. “ Early you said Alix had a sponsor?”
Adrien looks up towards said girl. “Who is it?”
“Well officially the Tsurugi corporation is the sponsor… but when you dig into it all… Nothing makes sense about it.”
Alya said with the excitement of a kid telling campfire stories.
“Nothing about Alix makes sense.” Nino dryly adds.
“She suddenly transfers in with no warning. On her first day manages to cause a scene. And she seems to have some very powerful friends… You call Marinette “the black sheep of the class” but Alix is the white whale.” Nino finished his mini rant as he saw the glare that Alya was giving him.
“You said I had the flair for the dramatic, been reading up to impress someone have we.” Alya got the reaction she wanted from Nino, as his eyes quickly darted to Adrien.
Luckily or unluckily, Adrien was too deep in thought to notice Nino’s reaction or Alya’s tease.
“So Alix must be very smart…” Adrien said thinking out loud.
“Haha, That girl is mysterious in many ways but she is surprisingly very simple minded.” Alya added with a smile, as she tried not to get the attention of the person they were talking about.
“Well in most areas… I can think of one where she’s remarkably complex…” Nino added pointing at the seat next to Alix.
“Marinette?” Adrien questions, as both Alya and Nino sigh.
“My dear sunshine, you really are dense sometimes.”
“Yeah dude, have you not seen the way she looks at Marinette.” Nino gets really invested into the conversation.
“Alix around most people has resting bitch face… But with Marinette she looks more like a lovesick puppy.” Nino had hearts in his eyes as he told Adrien this information.
“Beside the pair’s outing are the talk of the school. I’ve even heard about girls following the pair and taking photos to trade. It’s a very active market.” Alya said too informed for Adrien’s liking.
“I’m a fan of the couple.” Nino said defensively.
“You would say that.” Alya smirks as Nino has no comeback for that.
The trio talk some more as they start to notice the classroom starting to fill up with all the usual faces.
Soon enough the room is almost full as the teacher enters. Adrien notices the only empty seat belongs to the usual suspect.
“How late are you going to be today? Bug.” The teacher starts to say “Good morning class, today we…” when the door bursts open.
“I’m here… I’m here.” Adrien hears the familiar voice of his teammate tumble into the room.
Nobody in the class says a word as this was just a normal occurrence for them with Marinette.
This time Adrien does pick up the hint of laughter from the back row. He smirked as it finally clicked what Nino was talking about. Marinette seems to respond back to his smirk with a glare before moving past him and taking her place.
He then hears a few hushed whispers and giggles from the back, his smirk only grew wider as he saved this new information for later.
“Let's see if I can make shady brighten up.” Adrien laughs to himself as his focus returns to the teacher.
“Okay class as I was saying, today we are getting two new classmates, joining us on the journey of education. So would you please welcome Lila Blanc and Zoé Lee.”
Notes:
So that's Adrien's world and we're all living in it...
This will probably be the largest amount of solo focus that Adrien will get in this whole AU. Sorry to burst the bubble.
Hopefully chapter 3 won't have as large a gap... hopefully.
Like always please leave a Kudo and a comment, if you want to. Hopefully I was fine on the spelling and grammar.
Chapter 3: First day in Hell
Summary:
Two new students have a very rough first day...
Notes:
Only took 3 months but chapter 3 is here...
Please enjoy...
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Hell on wheels
“Remember deep breaths…” Zoé kept telling herself as she looked out the window, she saw more and more students walking, she could feel she was getting closer to her destination. “Sweetie… It’s not too late… I haven’t given them the enrolment forms yet.” Zoé turned around to see the human weasel that was her step-father.
Not that she thought badly of him… just the man was the textbook example of a doormat. Everyone seems to just walk over him… her mother, her sister and countless others of the Paris elites, all just use him to get what they want and he gets nothing in return. She wanted him to be stronger, stand up for himself.
So maybe that’s why this whole morning came as a shock to her. There she was mindless going about her routine, she still felt the rush of being Princess Knight even long after the battle. She had taken a sip of heroism and by George she wanted more.
So maybe when her Step-father entered the lounge and announced. “Zoé. I’m letting you go to school.” She did not just do a double take, but a triple take at hearing her father grant one of the many things Zoé had asked for.
Now in the past she knew it was to do with Chloé, but ever since she left Zoé had been dying to make actual friends. So she almost couldn’t believe this was happening. “What?” All the many thoughts and feelings were cramped into that single word as she was still expecting this to be a dream. “After recent events and getting to chatting with an old friend… I think it's time you get out there and spread your wings.” Zoé was too caught up in the excitement to see the slightly saddened look on her father’s face.
“Go on then… School starts in 2 hours and you're not really dressed for the school day.” Upon hearing the comment she looks down to see the pyjamas she was currently lounging around in. Before another word is said, Zoé rushes out of the lounge and quickly gets ready. “Haha, when I was your age. My parents had to bribe me to go to school.”
She was brought back to the present as her step father tried to lighten the mood. She saw the melancholy look in his eyes as she noticed the car was slowing down. “Just a heads up, your arrival has been leaked… Stupid school board, you think I pay them enough to keep information like this safe.” Zoé laughed at her step-father eye roll. “Luckily I used the fake last name, Lee. Remember to try not to let out your Chloé’s little sister. Her name is one that has very different reactions from certain people.” Zoé took notice of the serious look in her step-father’s eyes.
“Also you're not the only transfer… Another girl is joining the class that you’ve been assigned… Be Careful of her…” Zoé took in the information, as she felt the car stop. “So first thing first, take those documents to the Principal, then you’ll be enrolled. Spend a few hours in lessons then I’ll pick you up for some lunch… I’ve managed to get some free time between meetings.” Zoé smiles as she takes the documents out from her step-father’s hands and opens the door of the car to leave.
“Have a lovely first day. Sweetie.” Zoé sees the warm smiles and decides to return it with an equally bright glow. As the door closes he's smile drops. “I hope you're right about all this Gab… She is the only good thing I have left in this world.” Andre whispered to himself as the car drove past Zoé.
Zoé was deeply regretting picking a summer dress for two reasons.
Firstly the wind was sharp as she felt the breeze like an icy dagger pocking. Zoé was clearly too used to the temperature control hotel. She had foolishly believed that spring was a warmer time of year… But with this chill, she would believe it was actually winter.
But secondly and the more pressing reason, all the stares she was getting from passersby. Now Zoé was used to the odd glance her way, she had been used as a trophy at one too many of her mother’s social parties to feel awkward about getting looked at. What made this setting different was the fact these people could be her new classmates!
She wants to make a good impression. So maybe choosing a red summer dress and black thigh-high boots was an odd combo. But she was tired of wearing the many gold and yellow outfits that her mother and sister enforced. She liked the way it clashed with her hair colour. But maybe that was too strong an impression… “Urgh, Why did my step-father spring this on me…” Zoé was too absorbed into her mental plight to notice the hooded figure cross her path until the pair collided and ended up on the ground.
“Watch where you're going princess!” The figure said as they looked Zoé up and down. “Hey… I’m not a princess! She lives on the floor below me.” Zoé was confused if the person was actually mocking her or giving her a compliment. “Wow. But I wasn’t commenting on your social status, that’s something I wouldn’t make a comment on. No, my comment was in reference to how beautiful you look in that dress.” Zoé was conflicted, she wanted to be angry but at what the figure explanation had made sense, so being angry would just be a pointless use of energy.
But the final sentence about her being beautiful sent her heart ablaze. She has rarely gotten a compliment that wasn’t paired with a slimy look or licking of lips from the many rich old men that try to talk with her at her mother’s social parties. This complement felt honest, so honest that the mere act of doubting it was impossible.
“Thank you…” Was all Zoé could reply with, as she tried to get a better look at the figure. That's when she realised this stranger was in fact a very cute girl. “Oh my.” Zoé felt her heart flutter even louder.
Another school… another chance
Lila looked into the bright blue eyes of the princess before her and simply thought how she got into this mess. It was only thirty minutes ago that she was excited to be going to a new school.
She always believed in second chances, but she had long since lost those after the countless schools she moved through in Italy. But Paris was a new type of second chance for her, a chance to be free of the chains that trapped her, due to this stupid curse. It was going to be a fresh start for her. She had a new home, a new name and even a new look.
A part of her still saw herself as Cerise Li Blanc, but she took comfort in still seeing her true name hidden in her new one. What she couldn’t get fully used to was her new look, she was so used to her long flowing hair. So cutting it all off made her feel almost naked.
She still remembers seeing herself in the mirror after she did it, she looked at the wild messy from the not so neat razoring she did. To the unaware stranger she almost looked like a boy, as she had also thrown out all her make-up before this moment.
Who Cerise saw in the mirror wasn’t the girl she once was… she was dead and buried in Italy. No, who she saw was the person she had to become to survive, she saw the lie she must become. The only one she can ever tell.
As she got closer to the school Lila grew more aware of the looks she gained from those who she walked passed. She felt the eyes’ glazes like focused beams of light that slowly and painfully burned her skin. So she quickly raised her hood to shield herself from the glazes.
For a moment she felt safe, but soon enough she felt the memories pouring back in. She was a fool to believe she could lie to herself… She was cursed with that sin to bear.
“Mommy… Daddy sleeping with another woman…” If only I had shut my mouth, this was the thought that kept Lila awake at nights.
From as far back as Cerise or Lila could remember she was cursed to never be able to tell a lie. Many adults and children believed this was just the young Cerise being simply an honest child. Until the day she told the truth about her father, that was the moment her whole world started to crumble. Soon after her father left and her mother never once smiled when she looked at the young Cerise.
When word got out her family were labelled dysfunctional and those around her grew more hostile to the young girl. School was much worse, as Cerise kept speaking the truth, only to find it kept hurting her more and more. She was always to blame, never the bullies, she was the monster and so like all good monsters she fled. Wherever she went, she was bullied to no end, every new school brought a new step down into the pits of hell, just she still couldn’t lie. When she turned thirteen was the moment she realised that life hates her.
On her thirteenth birthday, Cerise’s mother said the one thing that truly broke the girl's heart. “I wish you were never born…” Those words hurt… Cerise could handle the looks, she could handle the bullying, she could handle the loneliness. But hearing those words from her mother… broke Cerise.
Especially as those were her last words to her… Cerise's final memory of her mother was seeing the look of loathing on her face. That look still haunts her nightmares even to this day.
Sometimes she wished that she joined her mother on the other side, maybe things would be easier, maybe she can finally stop being the universe’s punching bag. But she wasn’t going to give up that easily.
Lila stopped as she tried to centre herself. She had dug too deep into her past, she had picked at countless scars and opened too many wounds. She had to remember that was all in the past now, she wasn’t the same girl she was before. That girl is gone, nobody in Paris knows of that name, all they know here is a girl named Lila.
This was her new start and she was not going to waste it holding onto a past that only wants to hurt her. She was going to make it through high school, she was going to find success and she was going to live a life of luxury. One that she was denied as Cerise. She would make that dream a reality.
Sure she had her worries about Paris. Compared to the peaceful city she grew up in Italy. Paris was a warzone. She had witnessed two of the Hunting dogs attacks in the short time she had been here, both of which had her fearing for her life. But then she came to the conclusion that what’s a little risk in the face of such rewards.
She had done her research, she knew this school would be her fast track to getting a successful life, all she had to do was slide her way into the biggest social group and keep her mouth shut. She had learned from her mistakes, she was going to survive by doing whatever she needed too.
Lila was too deep in thought as she dreamed of her perfect life, so when she mindlessly walked in front of someone, she was violently ripped from the fantasy and reunited with the pavement. Lila took one look at the cause of this accident, she took note of the gorgeous blonde hair and stunning red dress of the girl she had crashed into.
The first thing that came to her mind was. “Watch where you're going princess!” She instinctively saw the girl as a princess, because no normal girl would look that beautiful because they can only exist in fairy tales… Right? “Hey… I’m not a princess! She lives on the floor below me.” It was at that moment Lila realised her thoughts were made verbal.
She quickly tried to cover for her mental slip up, but once again she couldn’t lie and so she told the open truth. “Wow. But I wasn’t commenting on your social status, that’s something I wouldn’t make a comment on. No, my comment was in reference to how beautiful you look in that dress.” Lila watched as the girl seemed to falter at those words before giving off a cute little smile. “Thank you…” Lila was surprised as she saw the girl whisper something to herself as her eyes seem to shine as they stare at her. Lila for the first time didn’t feel put off by the glaze as she felt a warm feeling in her chest.
Both girls stayed silent as they took each other in.
Meeting the serial truth teller
Zoé was so deep in the closet, she had been for most of her teenage life.
She first realised this crushing fact that she was indeed a lesbian when she watched some action movie and came to the realisation while watching. “Wow, she's cute!” Zoé said as she admired the female hero. From that moment on Zoé kept falling down the rabbit hole she had dug herself, she kept getting these feelings more and more for all sorts of different girls she saw on the big screen.
But this was the first time Zoé had gotten those feelings for someone who was real flesh and blood, not just some recording on a TV screen. Zoé didn’t know if it was the stranger’s boyish charm and style with their short messy brown hair, or the cute little hint of feminine like the longish eyelashes and smooth lightly tanned skin.
Zoé was truly envious that this girl looked gorgeous, while also clearly wearing no make-up. “Imagine if she wore some…” Zoé was practically drooling at the idea, she wanted more than anything to give this girl some blush. Maybe brush her hair. Zoé wanted to see how beautiful this girl could really be.
She started to feel even hotter, as her mind started to plan out what she wanted to do with the girl. But at that moment her conscience came in with a bucket of cold hard reality. “Get to know the girl first… You don’t want to come across as a creep do you?” These words were the shock Zoé needed to put these fantasies on ice.
She was rushing too far ahead, she hadn't even introduced herself yet… Years of going to boring social parties had at least taught her one thing. It is vital you make a good first impression, if you want to hit things off with anyone. “Where are my manners! My name is Zoé Lee. Nice to meet you.” Zoé put all the charm she had into that greeting.
She was going to make a lasting impression.
Zoé watched a flash of fear enter the stranger’s eyes, before hearing. “Lila, I’m new here…” Zoé smiled as memorised Lila’s name. “I’m also new here as well… Guess this meeting was destined in the stars.” Zoé went a little bit eccentric as tried to impress Lila.
It was only then that Zoé realised something as she recalled what her Step-father said to her earlier. “Another girl is joining the class that you’ve been assigned too… Be Careful of her…” Lila must be the other girl.
This left Zoé conflicted, on one hand she should take the warning from her Step-father and get away before something bad happens. But on the other hand Zoé saw that Lila was no harm to her?
The other girl looks more like a doe in the middle of traffic than some dangerous monster. Zoé was even more confused why she was told to stay away from her. So for the first time in her life, Zoé decides to ignore her Step-father's warning. “Lila, that’s a beautiful name.” Zoé was surprised to see Lila flinched at Zoé’s complement.
“You think it’s beautiful?” Lila’s question only seems to grow Zoé’s concerns about the girl. “Hey, do you want to be friends… We are both new and I don’t know anyone here… Plus…” Zoé was unable to get all her words out as her feelings boiled over. “Um… Sure.” Zoé heard Lila’s weak response as it felt like the other girl was also having trouble getting her words across.
Zoé responded loudly with. “Yay!!!” Causing the pair to gain many onlookers. “Shhh, You're drawing a crowd. I think it’s time we see the principal, don’t you think?” Lila said as she quickly raised her hood and grabbed Zoé by the arm.
“Lead the way.” Zoé said as she felt her cheeks go red from Lila taking charge. She could tell they were going to be the best of friends. Zoé took in the sights as eventually Lila stopped at the door labelled “Principal” Both girls had finally made it to their destination. Zoé is the one to knock as they wait for a response.
“You may enter.”
Meeting with the principal
The pair enter the lavish office of the principal. Both are equally appalled by the fanciness, compared to the rough exterior of the rest of the school. Nothing in the room looked or felt cheap, whereas the rest of the school did. The walls were covered with grand portraits and other antic paintings, they only seem to make the room feel smaller than it seemed to be. The rest of the furnishing followed this style, making the room feel like it shouldn’t belong in this school.
Both girls finally focused on the centrepiece of the room, where sitting at the large oak desk was the Principal. The man sat there trying to give off the impression that he was busy working, but the sight of luxury cheese and wine clued the pair into what was really going on before they entered.
The principal adjusted himself in the leather chair, his large body causing the chair to scream as she tried to sit in a more formal condition. Both girls just stared at the man, they looked at his suit and just like the room it was too fancy for the person wearing it and clearly a few sizes smaller for him as while he was adjusting the fabric looked to bend and brace to the point of ripping… “Goes to show the quality.” Zoé thought as she was used to seeing men like the principal at parties.
Lila’s thoughts meanwhile were far more honest. “God, he’s a real slimy one.” Lila had seen dozens of principals in her time hopping from school to school, but the one in front of her really takes the cake for being the slimiest of them all. “You two must be the new transfers…” He said in a bellowing voice as if trying to impose his place in the hierarchy.
Both girls took a seat as they watched him painfully bend down to reach some files he had left on the floor. “Knew I put them somewhere… I wasn’t expecting you both so soon.” Neither looked as the man very unflattering mooned the pair as he grabbed the files. “Let’s see Miss Zoé Lee and… Lila Blanc…” Zoé watched as the principal eyes grew sinister as they focused on Lila.
Zoé watched as Lila tried to make herself small as the gaze lingered on her.
Eventually his gaze left Lila as he focused on Zoé. “Miss Lee… Or do you prefer Bourgeois…” Zoé quickly butts in. “Lee… I don’t ever go by that name.” Zoé wanted to gag at even being connected to that name, as she noticed a look of annoyance in the principal’s eyes at being interrupted.
“Anyway… Your family puts a lot of money into this school… Many of the luxuries our students have are thanks to your family donations.” Both girls rolled their eyes at that statement. Both knew where the luxuries were really going too. “Because of this your family has special rules and perks that I allowed. As a way to thank them for their generosity and support in helping provide the best education possible.”
Both girls could read between the lines and neither were too happy with it. “I won’t be needing those rules… I want to be treated like a normal student.” Zoé said firmly as to not give any room for the Principal to misinterpret her words. Once again she saw an annoyed look on the slimy man’s face.
“Please reconsider, these perks weren’t easy to grant…” Zoé could hear the weaselly tone in the principal's voice. She was beginning to grow tired of its sound.
“Didn’t you hear her… She doesn’t want your stupid hush money perks, you old toad.” Lila burst out as she quickly covered her mouth. Both Zoé and Principal turn to look at Lila, Zoé looks at her in awe of standing up for her, while the principal’s dark gaze returns from earlier.
“So the vermin decides to speak out…” Both girls were surprised by the man's callousness as he opened Lila’s file. “So Miss. Blanc. How many schools did you get kicked out of ?” The principal had a grease smile as he waited for an answer. “Fifteen.” Lila answered coldly like she was just stating a common fact. “And what was the reason you were kicked out?” The principal’s smile grew wider as Zoé realised the man was doing this to torment the girl. “Cause I spread the truth that nobody wants to hear.” The principal laughed.
“So the rumours were true… You really can’t lie can you… Haha.” Lila seemed to grow even smaller as the principal just kept laughing. “Well Miss. Blanc… I’ll be honest with you… I can’t stand the sight of you. The only reason this transfer was allowed was because the powers above have wanted you here in Paris… But they never said I had to keep you here.” The principal looked down at Lila as if she was nothing more than an ant beneath his boot.
“One wrong move and you’ll be out on the streets… I don’t have time for trash like you.” Lila wanted to cry, she had left Italy to escape this, she wanted to leave it all behind. “Don’t even think you can start fresh… I’ve already had your file leaked… Now the whole school knows you're a dangerous person.” Lila broke at that moment… It was all over… It was over before she even had a chance to start fresh.
“What got nothing to say… I know you can only be honest with me…” The principal smile was now a disgusting grimace as he was enjoying watching Lila break. “That’s enough.” These words got both the principal and Lila to cast their gaze to the source… Zoé.
“Where do you get the right to belittle this girl?” Zoé’s question was like a bullet being fired into the principal's leg. The man recalled from it before giving a response. “Miss.Lee! You have no right to question my authority.” The principal tried to sound tough, tried to sound empowering.
But to Zoé’s ears these words were hollow, she felt really powerful and this man was a piss poor attempt to match that fear. “Actually I think I’ll use one of those perks…” Zoé breathed in as she emulated the one person she knew could win this battle. “Lila is under my protection…” Both Lila and the principal seemed to be taken back by the statement.
“What? That’s not how those perks work…” The principal seemed baffled by the demand and this gave Zoé the opportunity to claim the high ground. “Oh so you're not going to grant this perk… Well I guess I’m going to have to make some calls… Seems like we give too much money to the school.” Zoé’s threat sounded real to all those in the room, because she knew that fear was the greatest motivator for change.
She watched as the slimy man got out of his chair at a breakneck pace. “Now Miss.Lee don’t be too rash… Your family money is vital to the school…” Zoé wanted to spit in the man’s face at the blatant lie he just spat out. “Only unless my perk is upheld…” Zoé stared directly into the man’s beady eyes, only a few seconds later the man broke.
“Fine! Miss. Blanc is under your protection… Are you happy…” Zoé smiled as she took the papers out of Lila’s hands and placed them on the table with her own. “Here are our enrolment forms… Now we are off to class. Good day to you.” Zoé said as she took Lila’s hand and fled the room.
As the door closed she heard the angry whales of the principal, clearly not too happy with how everything just went. Zoé looked to the still shaking Lila. “I meant what I said… You're under my protection now. I promise you that.” Zoé didn’t know where this confidence was coming from but she felt good.
She had used her family power to help someone, instead of helping only themselves. She took Lila’s hand and went towards the classroom that was listed on the enrolment form. Neither girl said anything on the way as they both didn’t know what to say to each other at that moment.
Class introductions
“She stood up for me…” This was the single thought on Lila’s mind as she let Zoé guide her through the school, both having no clue where to go. But Lila was too hung up on that thought to point that out to Zoé. She was feeling a hurricane of emotions, some of which she had never felt before… How long has it been since someone defended her? How long has she taken the abuse while others just watched her? How long has it been since she felt this feeling in her heart?
Lila didn’t know what the feeling was that appeared the moment Zoé took her hand and ran. It was warm and fluffy, but it felt strong and stable. Had Lila grown up in a healthy family maybe this feeling wouldn’t have been so Alien to her. But now it was here, Lila had no name for it, she just wanted more.
But finally common sense kicked in as Lila dug her shoe in the ground to stop the stampeding Zoé. “I think we should ask someone where to go? Zoé.” This got the other girl to stop and think. “Oh yeah… Guess I acted without moving again.” Zoé laughed, as Lila took a mental image of the girl’s cute expression.
Both then looked around until they saw someone that looked very clearly like a teacher, the pair went over to them, still holding hands. “Hi… You wouldn’t happen to know where class 2B is? We’re new here and are looking for the classroom.” Zoé said with some extra cutesy charm.
“Well aren't you guys lucky… That's my class. So I’m guessing you're the new transfers… This makes my job easier.” The teacher smiles as they beckon the pair to follow them to the classroom. “Can I ask for you guys to wait out here… While I get them settled for your introductions.”
Both Zoé and Lila nodded as the teacher vanished into the classroom. The noise of the classroom soon dies down.
Both girls are suddenly startled as very tall blur zooms past them and into the classroom, soon after the sound of laughing could be heard as both reckon that it was a late student.
Eventually the pair heard. “Okay class as I was saying, today we are getting two new classmates, joining us on the journey of education. So would you please welcome Lila Blanc and Zoé Lee.” They took this as their cue to enter.
Both enter the room to the captivated sight of the sight of the class. Both Zoé and Lila could feel the gazes on them from many of the rows.
They looked to see the faces in the crowd, Zoé attention was immediately caught onto the second row. She looked at the blonde hair boy and felt a sense of familiarity to him. She couldn’t for the life of her figure out where this connection came from. But she could at least tell it went both ways as the boy also seemed to give her a similar look of recognition. Zoé made a note to see the boy later, she wanted to get to the bottom of that look.
Lila meanwhile is accessing the class. She scans the whole room making mental notes for each classmate, ones to avoid and who could be the most dangerous. She was surprised at the cast list before her. She recognizes so many up and coming faces, from famous artists to genius inventors. This class was a gold mine for future connections.
But Lila’s eyes stopped at the back row, her gaze held on the two at the back. Apart from a few near the front most of the people in this class had some degree of fame to them, but the pair at the back were completely unknown to Lila and her late night research.
She noticed how both girls were clearly in a world of their own as neither seemed to acknowledge both her and Zoé being in the class. The pair were whispering to each other and giggling, but Lila felt put off by them… something about the pair just felt dangerous… Lila knew she wanted to stay away from the pair, she felt they would be nothing but trouble to her.
“Now why don’t we have some introductions?” The teacher said as she gestured towards the pair.
Zoé stepped up first to the class. “Hi, My name is Zoé Lee… I’m 15 years old and this is my first time going to school…” This is met with a few gasps and a whisper of “Another home-school blonde… What are the odds?” But Zoé didn’t let the class’s reaction phase her as she kept going. “I’m just a normal girl… I may find all this to be new, but that doesn’t mean you should treat me like I’m fragile or an idiot. I’ve come here to do two things, learn and make friends.” Zoé didn’t hear how cheesy she sounded as she told the class this. “My hobbies are fashion and Superheroes. But I’m open to try anything…”
This got a chuckle from most of the class as Zoé’s introduction started to go off track as she kept listing all the hobbies she tried out, she managed to peak the interest of everyone in the room with all that she had tried. “That’s enough Miss.Lee save some time for Miss. Blanc to talk…” The teacher’s word got Zoé to end her long rant as she turned to face Lila and mimed “Sorry” Before she went back to face the class. “The last thing I will say is I hope that I can help make all of your days brighter.” This statement was not met with laughter as the way Zoé said these words seemed to resonate with the whole class.
Zoé steps to one side as she gives Lila the stage for her introduction.
Lila felt the whole class’ gaze focused on her, she gulped as the pressure built up for her to match Zoé’s intro. She wanted to cover her face with her hood and run. But she knew that wasn’t going to help her, so she steady herself and took one final breath before she started.
“Hello… I’m Cer… Lila Cerise Blanc, I’m 16 years old and this is the 16th school I’ve been to.” Lila paused to let the shocked reaction of her new classmates playout. She faltered for a second as she felt someone grab her hand, she looked to see Zoé now standing closer to her. She took a deep breath and continued on with her intro. “Paris and this school are a fresh start for me… People have probably heard the rumours by now… Heard that I’m a dangerous person… But the truth is that I’m none of that. I’m just an honest girl… who is cursed to never lie.” This also got a reaction from the class.
“Want proof of it…”
Before Lila could say anything the teacher raised their hand as a sign to stop. “Well come see me at lunch…” This got a laugh from her classmate, something Lila didn’t expect. “Tell us about your hobbies…” Lila heard from the back row.
“Well I kinda dabble in a lot of things… Never really found something I can put my passion into yet… But I’m hoping to find it here.” Lila ended with a bow as she was surprised to get a round of applause from the class. She felt the warm feeling inside her chest once again as took in the claps.
“Okay that’s enough… Girls, you can take the seats at the back.” The teacher pointed to the row next to the two mysterious members of the class. “I really am a trouble magnet…” Lila thought as Zoé led her up the rows to their seats. Lila gave the pair a closer look as they seemed to do the same. But that was all that was exchanged, as the teacher got started with the lesson.
Finally a moment of normality.
Notes:
So that's Lila and Zoe, these two will play a great roll later in the fic.
Hopefully I don't take another 3 months to release the next chapter... Hopefully.
For the past 2 months I've released a lot of fics, And I'm currently working on my 40th fic... Which will be the pride fic. So it's unlike that I'll be posting any fic in May depending on how long it takes to write this years pride fic. But who knows maybe I'll even surprise myself.
But as always there probably still a lot of grammar and pacing problems, which my eyes are blind to. But If you liked it then you can leave a Kudos and if your crazy a Comment.
Chapter 4: Lunchtime with the hunting dogs: Part 1
Summary:
The hounds take Marinette on a lunch date... What the worst that can happen?
Notes:
In addition to Shoujo Brave having Pseudo weekly chapters, ordinary days is going to have some weekly updates.
Hopefully I'll get the last chapter out for September.
Please enjoy a peak into Kagami's brain.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“Any longer and I’ll drag them both out myself…” The impatience was very clear in Kagami’s tone, as she tapped her foot looking at the time on her watch. “This should be the exact time that I should be having lunch… Any longer and we have to sit next to other people.”
Kagami sounded more like a bratty child than the leader of the Hunting Dogs, but her chilling presence and smart wear was still enough to remind others not to cross her.
“Gami, I know you better than anyone, You’ve already booked the whole place for this little lunch date of ours.” Kagami’s companion finally chipped in after she was too busy chatting with some girls on her phone.
Juleka could read Kagami better than most and this fact infuriated her, because yes she had done exactly what the tiger had said and bought the whole restaurant, but she wanted to see the looks of surprise on everyone's face as this fact is revealed at the location. But Juleka knew her too well and so she could only expect two looks of pure surprise… If only they would show up.
Kagami was starting to grow restless, maybe if I transform into Shatterscale that would get them out sooner.
“No, then I would waste time with a pointless fight.” Kagami squashed the idea before it could take any roots, but it did make her think more about the reason she was here today.
After Alix’s talk yesterday Kagami had grown worried about Marinette’s selfcare. Alix had talked about how isolated the girl was, how she seemed to be eating quite poorly and how she was wrapped with nightmares.
Kagami, seeing Marinette as a part of her horde knew she needed to do something and so came together this lunch time outing, or as Juleka kept referring to it as “A Lunch-time threesome.” Kagami only glared at Juleka’s comment, she knew better than to fuel the tiger’s games.
But was surprised to find that Juleka had tagged along, even after the teasing remark. “Maybe I should pop in and pull the pair out.” Juleka said as she slowly raised from the bench.
“No…” Was all Kagami said as she broke eye contact with the entry way and looked at Juleka. “You only want to make a scene and may I remind you that the principal reports to the Supreme and if they find out we are making too much noise…”
Kagami doesn't need to finish as Juleka quickly sits back on the bench. Guess even she can be smart sometimes, Kagami thought as she finally returned to looking at the entry way. She then saw something that finally broke her frustration, students!
A whole sea of them came flooding out of the doorway, like a colourful sea of styles. Kagami’s eyes quickly glanced over all of them, trying to find her targets.
“Nope… Two unknown girls. Nope Adrien Agreste and two others.”
She was like a machine, even in the large crowd she could pick out all the unique characters, until she got her target.
Standing above most of the crowd was the familiar sight of messy hair and darkened eyes of Marinette and from the flustered look on her face it was clear Alix was deep in the crowd, pulling her along. Kagami now needs to act fast if she wants to finally catch the pair, after all this long waiting.
Luckily for Kagami both girls were going in the other direction to the crowd, so it was very easy to simply cut the pair off before they could vanish into one of the many backstreets around the school.
She also knew that Juleka would block any attempt to retreat into the school and so Kagami was smug in knowing that she had the pair in her claws.
So at a great speed she was able to cut off the pair as they finally emerged from the crowd of students. Marinette had a look of surprise, while Alix was clearly annoyed at the sight of seeing Kagami. She knew the little puppy was protective of Marinette, but that only made the game more fun for Kagami.
She watched as the pair tried to backstep into the school, but was met with the open arms of Juleka lunging out of the crowd, with a few shrieks from some of the other girls in the crowd.
“Oh little one, do you think you could escape me that easily?” Kagami was smug knowing she had Alix and Marinette right where she wanted them.
The look of frustration on Alix’s face was sweet. With the glare in the azure eyes and the mumbling of a few curse words under her breath.
But the look of pure worry on Marinette was far more satisfying, she was like a lamb in a Wolf’s den, she was trapped with no way out and the look of fear said it all. Kagami wanted to capture this moment and frame it, so she could stare at the beauty in this expression for all time.
But even she had to admit there was a certain beauty that no picture could capture and so she would just have to hold on to the memory for now. She made note of the quaking lip, the darting eyes between her, Juleka and Alix and the hand grasping onto Alix’s like a child with an emergency blanket.
Kagami wanted to stay in this moment but she knew lunch was only for a short period and so didn’t want to waste it.
She let the silent last for a few more seconds before she continued. “Besides, don't think you can escape us like last time, we only want to get to know more about your dear Marinette.” Kagami had a sharp smile as she said this, she was so close to dropping the facade and claiming Marinette for her horde.
But then she heard it. It was a sharp but clear growling sound, the animal instincts in Kagami knew straight away what these growls were saying. “Mine!”
Out of the three, Alix always seemed to be the one who least embodied their Miraculous, Kagami knew of all her tendencies and Juleka was almost more tiger than human in the way she acted.
But Alix always seemed like the odd one out, she never fully had those moments unlike the others.
Kagami always felt like maybe this was due to the dog not being Alix’s true miraculous and that deep down Alix’s body knew this. As Baskerville she had her wolf-like moments, but Alix was very clearly human in most of her nature.
That was until Marinette showed up, something about the girl brought out the tendencies miraculous of the dog in Alix. From her need to have Marinette’s affection to it being very plain how much she adored the girl. Kagami had joked about Alix being a love sick puppy… but that statement was far more true than even she could imagine.
So now seeing the sight of Alix growling at her with her eyes glowing with an animalistic aura, that screamed a look of “touch and face the consequences” as she bared sharp canine like teeth.
But then suddenly the growling stopped as it was clear to Kagami that even Alix was surprised at what just happened.
The girl seemed to look inwards as if trying to find the answer, but was clearly frustrated at the lack of one. Kagami felt the desire to tease this more as she leaned in closer and watched Alix’s fangs flare up and the aura return to the eyes as the beast took over once more.
“Guess hers is more of a protective nature.” Kagami mused as she leaned back, satisfied with her investigation… for now.
“Both me and Juleka took time out of our day to come and see you both.” Kagami lied as if not for this lunch time planned, the pair would be lounging at home.
“Plus doesn’t Marinette get a voice in this.” These words got a cute "Meep!" from Marinette as she clearly wanted nothing to do with this conversation. “Don’t you want us here?” Kagami asked with a smile that was more like a trained weapon.
Marinette was easily swayed by it as she nodded yes to Kagami’s question, much to the annoyed sigh of Alix next to her.
Kagami was able to take charge when suddenly the group's attention was drawn to Juleka.
Unaware to even Kagami, Juleka had managed to sneak up behind Alix and Marinette and quite suddenly took Marinette into a hug in front of Alix.
The action was so fast and sudden that even Kagami was speechless in the face of Juleka pinning Marinette within her chest. Kagami took notice of the panic cries from Marinette as the taller girl tried to escape the grip.
But Kagami knew very well that once Juleka had something in her grip, death was the only viable escape. “Careful… I can’t remember if I put a bra on!” Juleka’s tease got Marinette to calm down as Kagami saw the faint flash of red cheeks on the pale girl’s face. “Wow you're so warm… I could get used to this heat.” Juleka said with a purr, as Kagami noticed the orange eye of Juleka looking more tiger-like and an almost feral smile was on her face.
Thankfully Marinette couldn’t see the smile due to being face first in Juleka’s abs or otherwise the girl may have a panic attack. But Kagami's attention was drawn away from the commotion of the two taller girls as she looked upon Alix.
If Alix’s animal instincts flared up with Kagami then with Juleka they were in full control. If it wasn’t for knowing the girl since she was small then Kagami wouldn’t even recognize her at this moment.
She was more animal than human. Her teeth were on full display as she showed off all her fangs with any ounce of hesitation, but what was more chilling and even managed to send a chill into Kagami’s icy heart was the eyes. They were no longer the azure blue of Alix, they were the blood soaked red of Baskerville.
Those were the eyes of a killer and they were staring right at Juleka without even a glint of hesitation. “Juleka… Let go of the girl.” Kagami was quick to act, she knew bloodshed was on the horizon if nobody did something soon. “But she is so warm…” Juleka said clearly not taking into mind the looming aura of death from Alix.
“Jules please.” Kagami in a rare moment burst out a simple plea to her friend.
These words had an effect as Juleka’s grip weakened as she looked at Kagami with a face unseen from the girl, but the only witness was Kagami as Alix was lost in the bloodlust and Marinette still had her eyes closed as Juleka flung her towards Alix, like how you give a dog a treat.
Alix on instinct started to lick Marinette, causing Marinette to laugh. It was a few moments before both girls realised what just happened and quickly separated.
But that was enough time for whatever effect Kagami’s plea had on Juleka to sink back down into the void of Juleka's mind. Kagami used this lull in the group to finally take control of the conversation.
“So shall we have lunch as a group?” Kagami phrased it like a question, but in reality it was more an order that both Juleka and Alix knew was wise not to disobey.
Kagami smiled as she watched all three girls nod in agreement. She didn’t even need to use the full force of her aura to get her way. “So where shall we eat? Any suggestions?”
Once again these questions were just tricks, Kagami had already picked the restaurant and had even booked it.
She just enjoyed giving people the sense that they were in charge, she did this with everyone from as small as the passerby on the street to as big fish like her mother or even the Supreme on rare occasions. She got her kicks from the subtle manipulation and took pleasure in seeing the blissful ignorant of those she fooled. But something caught her off guard in that moment, something she didn’t expect to happen in her carefully laid out web of control.
“Where do you want to go Kagami?” Marinette asked shyly, like she was just saying words someone else had told her to say. Kagami was stunned by this question, unlike her trick question she could feel no malice or mischief behind the words. The question Marinette had asked was pure and held no ill will at all.
This was a sight Kagami had believed was unseen in this world. She didn’t know what to do? Does she spin another web? But why, there was no need to lie in this situation at all. So this left her with one other avenue… be honest.
“Well actually I know this nice restaurant… Plus I may have already booked us a table…” Kagami felt awkward as she honestly told her plans to Marinette and Alix, even Juleka had a smirk at the sight of seeing Kagami be so honest with other people.
“So how far is the walk?” Marinette asked but was only met with laughter from all three girls.
“Who said anything about walking?” Kagami said as if the words were acid in her mouth.
“We will be getting there by car.” Kagami said as a beeping was coming from her phone. “And it looks like our ride is almost here.” Kagami said with a smug smile as she looked at Marinette's confused face.
Just like many aspects of her plan Kagami had even planned for transport.
She wanted to show off to Marinette and she knew the best way was to give her a ride in the Juzumaru.
The Tsurugi company had its fingers in many industries, one of the biggest was car manufacturing. Kagami could easily say that most of the Tsurugi’s power came from this branch. Something her mother never failed to mention at major events or parties.
But Kagami won’t lie as seeing the Tsurugi brand cars in every city she visits gives her some small spark of joy.
But back to the Juzumaru, this was the flagship car of the whole company. Every piece of technology that was in the works was in this car, self-driving AI, hack-proof and fully armed to defend its passengers. The Juzumaru was more than a car, it was a weapon.
But all this would be impossible to tell from the exterior which screamed Tsurugi craftsmanship from the chrome red metal body and black tinted windows to the silent roar of the engine as it approached the group.
Kagami looked smug as she watched Marinette’s jaw drop as she was taken back by the luxury car before her. “Get used to this feeling, because I’m going to spoil you more, my sweet Usagi.” Kagami had to hold back her desires, or she too would face the wrath of the hound, she only just managed to save Juleka from.
But Marinette was the gift that kept giving as the curiosity in the girl made her venture towards the driver’s window. Kagami, feeling a little cheeky, tapped a button on her phone and waited to see Marinette’s reaction to the driverless car she was about to enter.
Marinette’s reaction was better than she had hoped as the tall girl collapsed into a pile at the sight of the driverless seat. “Ghost… More Ghosts! Ghosts are so common.” Marinette kept rambling about ghosts as Alix helped her up.
“No silly Usagi.” Kagami was starting to like the nickname due to Marinette rabbit-like jumpiness. “There are no spirits involved, just a highly intelligent AI assistant.” This explanation seems to only confuse Marinette more.
“Kagami… You're confusing the poor girl. Why don’t we continue this in the car?” Juleka said as she opened the door, she then ushered Alix and Marinette inside before she gave Kagami a sly smile.
“You really are pulling out the big guns, guess I need to up my game as well.” Juleka said before entering. “Oh trust me… I’ve only just begun.” Kagami said with a straight look of determination as she was the final one to enter the car.
Not long after the car began to drive to its destination, leaving only a few starstruck onlookers.
The inside of the Juzumaru was very much like the outside, sleek and fancy.
While it was clear that both Juleka and Alix have ridden in the Juzumaru before from their relaxed posture on the seats. Marinette on the other hand was trying to make herself as humanly small as possible, something that was quite hard for a girl of her height.
Kagami softly chuckled at the sight as she said across from Marinette and Alix. “We should be at our destination in a matter of a few minutes.” Kagami said as she put her phone away. “Where is the restaurant?” Alix asked as her stomach clearly also asked this question as well.
“I heard about it from a business partner and I just had to see if they were correct.” Kagami said with no clear signs of aberration, she wanted to keep the reveal a surprise to both the little pup and her Usagi.
As the drive continued the trio started to talk about their mornings, Alix went on about the new girls in class, Juleka talked about how she chatted with a lovely barrister before she met up with Kagami and lastly Kagami talked about her morning routine as if she was trying to show off to Marinette about her work out routine.
But the only person who never spoke at all was Marinette, she just sat there, trying to be nothing more than a bystander, but that only made her stand out more as she kept mumbling to herself. Eventually Kagami decided to drag her into the conversation.
“So Marinette, how was your weekend?" Kagami did have a double meaning to this question, she remembered Alix as Baskerville spending the Sunday evening with her and so she wanted to test to see how tight lipped the girl is, but also to see if the girl would give a reason for her being in the back alley.
“I had a mostly lazy Sunday… but then I had to pop out and get something, but I kinda passed out and was helped by a charming stranger.” Kagami noticed the blush on Alix’s cheeks at the comment. “Oh dear… Then it’s a good thing we drove to the restaurant… I wouldn't want you to collapse on us now.” Kagami almost sounded like a mother as the concern in her tone was very real.
“What about your par…” Before Kagami could ask her next question, the car stopped and a robotic voice announced “We have arrived at the destination.”
It was loud enough to cause Marinette to jump.
“Dam guess we have to change the venue.” Kagami said to herself as she was the first to exit the vehicle and onto the street.
Once more Kagami took in the reaction of Marinette as she stared at the restaurant before her.
It was clear in Marinette’s mind that they were going somewhere small and forgotten, but that was not Kagami’s style.
Like everything else about Kagami her taste in restaurants was nothing short then grand. She wouldn’t settle for anything less than a 4-star restaurant and even then she was picked about which was her favourite.
One of her hobbies was to search all of Paris to find those restaurants worthy of her capital, especially when she was looking to impress someone she wishes to keep in her horde.
So Passionné was the perfect place, even the name spoke of Kagami’s burning passion to claim hold of Marinette’s heart.
Said girl’s lip was quacking, she clearly knew of this place, “You really are a fascinating gem.” Kagami mused as she grew more interested in Marinette, clearly upper class culinary knowledge, but as Kagami’s research had concluded, she was too poor to even step foot in the place.
“Can we pick somewhere cheaper… I don’t even think I can pay for a glass of water.” Marinette said with sweaty palms as she pushed her hair back.
“Nonsense, I would never expect you to pay, my dear Usagi. Consider this my treat…” Kagami didn’t finish these words as she simply flashed a smile at Marinette, which only seems to make the girl tremble even more as both Alix and Juleka chuckle.
“Are you paying for us as well?” Alix asked cheekily, Kagami responded with a glare as she didn’t even need to vocalise her answer to Alix, who whimpered like a puppy at the sight of her eyes.
“You both have enough money to afford this place, I’m simply allowing Marinette to join us in tasting the food.” Kagami’s words had a controlling edge to them, that felt like chain wrapping around Marinette’s neck, giving the girl no way out of this lunch with these three.
“Shall we enter, our table should be ready.” Kagami said with a gesture as the group all headed inside.
Lunchtime had only just begun.
Notes:
Sorry this arc has taken as long as it has to come out but the end is looking near.
Next time we see things from Juleka's point of view...
Hopefully there no major errors (probably is...). But If you liked it then you can leave a Kudos and if your crazy a Comment.
See yar next week.
Chapter 5: Lunchtime with the hunting dogs: Part 2
Summary:
Now it's Juleka's pov... Hopefully everyone makes it out alive.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
A server wasted no time in seeing the group to a table.
Juleka took the lead, she wanted to claim her spot on the table first. After a little more guiding the group was finally at the table, on one side there were two chairs, but on the opposite side was a large sofa built into the wall.
That was the seat that Juleka claimed as she dragged Marinette along with her. “Sorry shorties but me and Marinette need all the room we can get.” Juleka said with a devilish smile as both Kagami and Alix glared. Marinette had no reaction as she was too caught up in the moment to even have the brain power to react to Juleka's sudden play.
“Your logic is sound… Your methods on the other hand are less so.” Kagami said with a sigh as she took her seat across from Juleka, Alix taking the one across from Marinette, with a sad look in her eyes, clearly she had wanted to sit by Marinette. “You get to sit by her all the time.” Juleka said as she leaned towards Alix. “You can at least share her for a little while.” Juleka said as she watched Alix holding back the growl, Juleka felt her own impulses purring at the cute face Alix was making.
She loved seeing this side of her smaller teammate and she was going to savour every moment of it. Kagami coughed sharply to get both of their attention. “May I remind you both this is a public place… so save the game of cats and dogs till we are away from the eyes of others.” Kagami sounded like Juleka’s mother or what Juleka thinks her mother would have sounded like, she had long since forgotten that woman’s face along with anyone who shares her blood.
Juleka crushes this line of thinking. “This is about me winning Marinette, not digging up my shitty past.” Juleka said as she felt the black veins hidden beneath her hair and make-up flare up, as she tried to mask the pain with a smile. “Guess I need to take my mind off of things… And I know just how too…” Juleka said as she looked towards Marinette who was too busy fiddling with the napkin, then listened to the trio's conversion.
Her smile was now twisted with the tiger within her, as she looked upon Marinette the same way a tiger looks upon a deer in the wild, with an animalistic hunger.
Juleka used the situation of the server bringing menus to get closer to Marinette. “Oh you have to try this set…” Juleka said as her hand touched Marinette’s legs.
She was thankful that the girl wore jeans with holes in them as her fingers were able to glide across the exposed areas and cause a bit of colour to enter Marinette’s cheeks. But Juleka wasn’t fully satisfied with this reaction as she wanted more and so she leaned into Marinette’s ear and started to whisper in a sing-song tone.
“Hey why don’t you get that set and I’ll get this set… and then we share…” Juleka flicked her tongue into Marinette’s ear, as she watched the girl almost jump out of her skin at the feeling that must have been felt on her ear.
“More… I need more.” Juleka felt her heart racing, she felt the tiger within her wanting to pounce on Marinette and tear her to pieces. Juleka was lean so close to Marinette that her head was resting on the girl’s shoulders, neither of them were focused on the menu as Marinette was completely flustered by Juleka’s actions and Juleka was more focused on Marinette’s pale neck.
She was drawn to the sweet smell and snow white colour. She felt her fangs forming as she wanted to take a bite, right here and now. She could picture Marinette’s screams, she could see all white table cloths forever being stained a glorious shade of crimson red and the looks of shocks on both Kagami and Alix’s pretty little faces.
With every passing second this reality grew closer to existence, Juleka did nothing to stop it as this was what she wanted, she wanted to keep the memory of Marinette pure in her mind. It was the right thing to do for an angel like her.
Juleka opened her month, her large fangs in plain view as she was about to take a bite.
But suddenly a glass fell off the table and suddenly the moment was lost as the group all were drawn to the glass falling. Juleka quickly recomposed herself as she realised how close she was to letting the animal win, she was taken aback, she felt her breathing stutter as she tried to calm herself, was she scared?
Did she actually fear for a second that her actions might have caused her to lose another loved one!
Juleka was thankful that the others had noticed her internal struggle. Alix and Kagami were too focused on picking up the shards with a nearby server and Marinette seemed to be focusing elsewhere as she looked slightly above the table, it almost looked like she was speaking to another person as her face seemed to gesture in annoyance every few seconds.
This all gave Juleka plenty of time to process the moment beforehand.
Juleka was many things, she was a world famous musician, she was a member of the hunting dogs and she was a killer.
Killing a person was not a foreign idea for her, she can count the dozens of missions where she had the joy of ending another, when she first started she took no joy but overtime she realised it was maddening to keep the animalistic side of herself hidden.
Why try to hold onto a cleaner version of reality, when everyone is just going to leave you all along anyway. Juleka felt the bitter thoughts from before reappear but this time she was unable to bury them as she feels her past leaking through the cracks in her mind.
She remembered long ago the girl she once was, she was happy, she wasn’t alone and she wasn’t a monster. But then she remembers her… Now she knows who Marinette reminds her of, it’s her!
Juleka could feel the scars all over her body aching as if even the mere mention of this girl caused them to cry out in pain.
Marinette had her smile, Marinette had the same glint in her eyes and Marinette had that same doleful look. No wonder Juleka wanted to capture Marinette at that moment, she was trying to fix the mistake of her past.
The more her mind recalled the girl, the more the image started to bend and distort. The once beautiful blue eyes became a twisted shade of red, her golden hair had become faded as the tips were as white as snow, her skin was now ghastly as she looked more like a ghost than a living being and her once charming smile was now a menacing smirk that could drive anyone insane.
The memory was a poison and she could feel herself growing closer and closer to death with every moment she thought about her. With every second Juleka recalled the girl who she had long since lost her true name as Juleka had drowned out the girl with countless others in the hopes to wash away the poison, but Marinette was so much like her that Juleka couldn’t help but bring up the past and so was forced to swallow the poison before her.
The only reason Juleka didn’t kill over at that very moment was due to the sharp kick she received from under the table from Alix.
“Yo Pervert, what are you ordering? We’ve been waiting for five minutes.” Alix said with the annoyance clearly on her face as Juleka turns to face the tomboyish yet cute female server. “I’ll have the set B lunch… and your number to go please.” Juleka smiled as she watched the server go a sweet strawberry red as she watched the server hastily scribbled something down before leaving.
Juleka’s eyes linger on the tomboyish server as she tries to use the cute tomboy as a way to flush out the poison in her mind.
“Maybe food might clear my head?” Juleka questions as she starts to listen in on the conversations at the table.
Most of the conversations were pretty plain. Alix was talking about the new girl some more, she said how one of them gave both her and Marinette a look before they took their seats. Marinette added how the blonde haired one reminds her of someone, Juleka noticed the fearful twinkle in her eye as if the person in question brought up a lot of bad memories.
Kagami meanwhile just sat there like a fisherman on a quiet lake, Juleka had seen this face before and it only ever meant that Kagami was planning something. Now normally Juleka would be all for it, but after her little episode she wasn’t really in the mood to play games.
Honestly she just wanted to leave, but she knew weakness was something that a hunting dog could never show. She knew the price weakness can have on the battlefield, she has seen one too many operatives die due to this mistake.
Some at the hands of her leader. Sometimes Juleka thinks that if she wasn’t chosen to be a member of the Hunting Dogs, how different her life would have been? But she knew there was no point dwelling on that fact, she found it pointless to be hung up on the what ifs and she just had to keep going until she was finally allowed to die.
At some point during internal debt the server had been and placed her start in front of her.
The dish was forgettable as Juleka saw it as nothing more than a waste of food. It was flashy, but the size made it nothing more than one mouthful for her. As she ate the starter she only had one comment. “Bitter.” She sits there as the bitter taste lingers in her mouth, slowly getting worse as if it was corroding her taste with every passing second.
Juleka is taken away from the torture by a tap to her shoulder, she turns her head to see it Marinette looking sheepishly at her.
“You said you want to try some of the other sets… so here.” Marinette said weakly, like a school boy's love confession as she slid her plate over to Juleka.
Juleka’s mood lightened as she looked at the cute sight of half of Marinette’s starter on the plate.
Back when Juleka had made the comment to Marinette, she was joking. She had been to this restaurant a couple of times before with other girls, so she already tasted the whole menu.
But the sight of seeing Marinette actually caring made Juleka feel warm inside. The feeling helped with the poison and made her feel lighter.
“This girl really is an angel.” Juleka thought as she took the half and ate it. “Sweet.” For the first time she actually enjoyed the starter in front of her. Juleka started to smile again as she actually started to join in on the conversion.
It was at this moment she noticed Kagami’s plan swing into action as the main course arrived.
Kagami sprang to action the moment the server left the plates on the table. “So Marinette, where are your parents?” Kagami’s question was sharp, Juleka had seen this technique in integrations when she was Shatter-scales, so seeing it done without the mask made the feeling even more terrifying.
She felt bad for Marinette as even full grown men have cracked under the pressure of this stare. “They are gone…” Marinette said with a mixture of fear and confusion.
Now Juleka understood where the fear was coming from, but the confusion she could not. Was Marinette confused by Kagami’s question… No, she wouldn’t have given an answer if that was the case.
But the confusion in Marinette’s eyes was at something else, Juleka used all her understanding of facial tells to summarise the confusion was more in Marinette’s own answer.
As if even Marinette doesn’t fully know the answer to her own question. “Gone where? People don’t just vanish without a reason.” Kagami continued to play the integrator as she took a bite from her meal. “They are gone…” Marinette repeated, now Juleka heard something in the words. She heard a robotic tone to them, as if these words were placed into Marinette’s head.
Juleka started to ponder this thought,did something happen to Marinette’s parents? and then someone placed this response in Marinette’s head to stop her questioning things, but why use such a vague reason? Is it only going to draw more questions? Unless that was the point!.
But that would take a very twisted mind to even begin to think of something so cruel. Juleka took a bite of her dinner as she thought more on this line of thinking. “Do you know when they’ll be back?” Kagami questions now had a more considered edge to them as it’s clear Kagami has also picked up on the strange nature of Marinette’s answer.
“They are gone…” Marinette now had tears in her eyes, but the girl didn’t seem to notice until they dropped onto her food. “That is enough Kagami, you're making Marinette cry.” Alix was quick to jump in to stop this before Marinette broke any further, but Juleka could also see the same worried look in her eyes that reflected in Kagami’s.
Juleka knew her eyes probably had the same look as the three girls all looked at Marinette as she just ate her meal, every so often she would look happy as she was enjoying her meal, none the wiser to the trio shared growing concern about her.
“But if anything suspicious happened to Marinette’s parents then Kagami would have known about it.” Juleka thought to herself, she knew Kagami well, she knew that she had already done a full background check on Marinette after the first time they met.
So for her to not have anything makes this even more mysterious and all this only seemed to make Juleka more interested in Marinette as once again the girl slid her plate over to her.
Once more Juleka found Marinette’s meal to be far more tasteful than her own. “This girl must have the magic touch.” Juleka laughed as she noticed the conversation had finally moved on as dessert arrived.
Juleka took this time to ask her own question to Marinette. “So Marinette, have you ever dated anyone before?” Juleka’s question stops the girl in the middle of her bite as she processes what Juleka just asked.
Juleka takes note that both Kagami and Alix also seem keenly invested in hearing this answer. “Well I did have this crush on this one girl… But never, who would want to go out with me?” Juleka took many things away from that answer.
Firstly Marinette really needs to improve her self-worth if she thinks no girl would be into Marinette. Juleka has dated countless girls and even she thought Marinette was hotter than all of them and secondly, Marinette may be the densest girl alive.
Juleka hoped Marinette was just playing dumb to the fact she has got three girls all fighting for her affection. Juleka chuckled as she watched Alix face palm and Kagami just sigh. “Did I say something wrong?” Marinette said as she looked towards the empty side of the table with a confused look.
“No dear, you said nothing wrong.” Juleka said as took a spoonful of her dessert and enjoyed the sweet taste. “Now you have to try this dessert, Marinette!” Juleka said without even waiting for a response as she shoved the spoon into Marinette’s mouth.
“It tastes lovely doesn’t it.” Juleka said as Marinette nodded.
“Hey no fair!” Alix said as she shoved her spoon full of dessert into Marinette’s mouth. Marinette’s reaction was far larger as the small girl jumped onto Marinette’s lap to even reach her mouth and was now sitting quite happily on her lap waiting for Marinette's response.
“Do you like it?” Alix said almost oblivious to how close she was to Marinette.
Juleka smiles as she finds the pair to be the sweetest dessert of them all. It was at this moment Juleka noticed something next to her bowl, a piece of paper with a series of numbers and a name.
“Charlie”
Juleka smiled as she looked to see the tomboy blushing as she watched the table along with another worker.
Juleka does a cute wave which gives the girl a massive smile. “Guess I know who I’m having for dinner…” Juleka said as she heard the tiger purr with agreement as she placed the number in her trouser pocket for safe keeping.
Lunch was finally over, but there was still time left for them to hangout.
Notes:
See you next week for the final dogs pov.
Hopefully this chapter is fine. Didn't have much chance to look through it before coming to publish it.
Chapter 6: Lunchtime with the hunting dogs: Part 3
Summary:
Finally we have Alix's side of things and we get quite the big reveal.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
The moment was finally upon them to pay the bill, this was finally the moment Alix was looking.
From the moment Kagami and Juleka ambushed them outside the school, Alix had been plotting her chance to escape with Marinette. She knew the right moment would have to be done when neither of them would expect it and that’s when Alix knew it had to be done during the key moment of paying the bill. See Alix knew her teammates very well and so she knew their quirks.
Firstly she dealt with Juleka. If she left her in the game then neither Alix or Marinette could out run her, so Alix taking advantage of a passing comment made by Juleka, during a quick trip to the bathroom, found the server named Charlie and planted the idea to give Juleka her number during dessert. Alix was surprised how willing Charlie was to do this and so she watched the dominoes fall as she noticed Juleka pocketing the number for late. Alix knew this would give her the advantage now thanks to Juleka’s mind being more focused on the server girl.
Now that the hardest part was done, Kagami was relatively easy to handle. Alix knew of some of Kagami’s tendencies, mainly her love of hoarding. One of the biggest things she likes to hoard was money, Alix guessed it just a very dragon thing to do? But Alix could use this to her advantage as she knew Kagami had a hard time paying the bill, she has spent hours in the past watching the internal battle as Kagami tries to pay.
It led to the shared agreement by her and Juleka to never make Kagami pay, cause once she starts she wouldn’t stop till she finally paid, however long it takes her too.
So Alix simply had to say three words. “Kagami can Pay.” She watched as Kagami’s eyes flashed gold with primal anger, but Alix was already a step ahead as she waited till a server was by the table and so with a second delay. “I’ll be right over with the bill.” The server said as they zoomed off.
These words were like an ice cold bucket as any rage in Kagami was quenched, cause she was bound by her honour to pay the bill. Alix smiled as she acted on the next step of her plan, during dessert she cleverly moved closer to Marinette when she gave the other girl a taste of her dessert.
This was all done as a ploy to be closer to Marinette when she said. “Would you look at the time… Me and Marinette need to make our way back to school now!” Alix said as she got up and quickly took Marinette’s hand.
Finally her plan was all coming together.
What followed next was the easy part as the pair quickly left the restaurant. Juleka was too busy making kissy faces at Charlie and Kagami was honour-bounded by the task of paying the bill to get up and follow the pair.
Alix wasn’t going to be cocky, as she knew the risk of potentially mis-calculating and turning back to see a pissed off dragon and tiger running after her. But when she turned back to see nothing, she let out a sigh of relief as she reduced her pace to a more walking speed as she felt Marinette bump into her as she was still being carried by the momentum.
“We lost them!” Alix said excitedly as she was proud of her successful plan. “Did we really need to run for half a mile…” Marinette was out of breath as she was still gasping for air. “With those two, half a mile is a cake walk. But my plan worked so we don’t have anything to worry about them interrupting the rest of our lunch together.” Marinette blushed as Alix once again took her hand and the pair continued at a walking pace.
“So where do you want to go?” Alix asked sheepishly, she wasn’t like Kagami who plans everything down to the letter, her plans are full of holes and room for flexibility. But she wasn’t like Juleka either, she would have a list of places to take any girl she had with her at that moment.
Marinette was Alix’s first crush, so much of this was clearly new to her.
“How about ice cream?” Marinette said with a nostalgic smile. “Let me just check my app?” Marinette then added as bought out her phone and after a couple of pings, her face lit up. “There is ice cream being sold in a nearby park!” Marinette said as now she took the lead and guided Alix towards the nearby park.
Alix was captivated by the determined look on Marinette’s face. “Dam you really love ice cream don’t you.” Alix joked as Marinette replies with “Oh hell yeah!” This got Alix to chuckle as both soon found their goal of the fabled ice cream vendor.
Getting to the ice cream man was remarkably easy, unlike with Andre this seller wasn’t a local celebrity and so there weren’t crowds surrounding them as Marinette and Alix got close to him.
The man lit up at the sight of the pair, perhaps business was quite slow that day? “I’m guessing you girls are here for some ice cream!”
The man was enthusiastic as he got up from his small seat and stood in front of his cart. “Welcome to Glasco’s Ice cream emporium… If you want a favour then I’m sure to have it. Who needs romantic ice cream when I can give you the flavour your heart truly desires.”
Both Alix and Marinette smiled at the man’s energy, both could tell he was very passionate about his trade. “I think we both would like to challenge you to that.” Alix said with a confident smile, while Marinette simply nodded.
“Finally people who understand me.” The man jumped up with excitement as he opened his cart and started rummaging around. Marinette and Alix were surprised how deep the cart really was as they watched the man's whole body enter the small cart.
The whole time the pair could hear the man talking to themselves. “Maybe this flavour… No she doesn’t seem like a rhubarb type. Maybe Strawberry? No, the smaller girl needs something sweeter to match.” The man spent a solid minute or two in the cart, Alix was half tempted to leave but Marinette was completely invested in the thematises of the ice cream seller.
“Found the perfect flavour!” The man suddenly let out as he re-emerged with two cones with very colourful flavours on them.
“For pinky I have this lovely Blue moon ice cream with blackberry swirls.” The man hands Alix the blue ice cream as he turns to face Marinette. “And for her tall girlfriend, I have this wonderful Candy Cane Ice Cream with cookie dough inside.” Marinette admired the pinkish ice cream before the man’s comment clicked in her head.
“Oh we are not dating… I mean we are not dating yet… I mean we are just friends… Arrr, fuck this.” Marinette quickly ran off leaving both Alix and the ice cream man very confused.
It didn’t take Alix long to find Marinette, the girl’s height made it so she would always stand out even if the park was crowded.
So Alix soon found sitting on the fountain edge, she could easily see the conflicting thoughts going through Marinette’s head as she watched her eyes dart back and forth as she looked to be arguing with someone?
“Marinette! Are you okay?” Alix said as she felt a dip of her melting ice cream go across her hand. Marinette almost seemed to jump out of her skin at the sight of Alix. “Why are you worried about me?” Marinette said fearfully as her ice cream was dangerously close to falling into her lap.
“Why shouldn’t I be?” Alix asked as she didn’t understand why Marinette believed she should be angry with her. “Cause I’m playing with your feelings…” Marinette said weakly and without looking Alix directly in her eyes.
“You know I have feelings for you?” Alix said with a tone of pure surprise. “Yeah and I know that Kagami and Juleka also feel the same… I’ve known for a while.” Marinette said with her cheeks flushed red as she looked on the verge of crying.
“But why does that mean I should hate you?” Alix said as she moved in closer to Marinette. “Cause I don’t know if I’m worth all this love…” These words sounded so broken and hollow coming from Marinette’s mouth as her eyes looked just as hollow to Alix.
“How can anyone love me… I’m a monster.” Alix didn’t leave those words to hang as she hugged Marinette with full force. “You are not a monster, I will never believe that.” Alix said as she felt Marinette start to cry. “My love for you is genuine and I think you wouldn’t be so conflicted if you also didn’t feel that way.” Alix could feel Marinette’s heart beat, she felt the warmth of Marinette’s body consume her and she heard the soft laugh of Marinette as Alix’s words seemed to ring true.
“I hate the fact you're right… But would you be able to love me if you knew every side of me… My mind is full of so many voices, it’s a mosh pit of options in there.” Marinette said as she pointed to her head.
“Then I’ll just have to make all of them fall for me now won’t I.” Alix said with a smile that very easily pierced Marinette’s heart. “So do… Do you… do you want to date?” Marinette asked as it clearly took so much out of her to say those words.
“You already know my answer… I don’t think I even need to say it.” Alix said as she hugged Marinette harder, but now Marinette returned the hug.
Eventually both girls separated and looking at the ruined state of their ice creams decided to go get a new one from the vendor, but this time they went holding each other's hands, happy that the feelings were finally out in the open.
After giving the eccentric ice cream man another go the girls were eating their scopes on the way back to school.
After a couple moments of silence, Marinette is the one to break it. “So what does that make us then? Like are we girlfriends or are we with something else?”
The tall girl’s puzzle face was only slightly undercut by the ice cream around her mouth. “I think for now we should just go with the flow… There is no point in rushing into things that neither of us know about.” Marinette stops as Alix can tell she is surprised by her grown up response.
“Wait, does this mean I’m your first girlfriend!” Marinette said with a mixture of joyful and smug smile, Alix wanted so badly to wipe it off her face but found she liked the smile on Marinette’s face.
“I promise every day with me you’ll always be smiling.” Alix whispered to herself as Marinette was still caught up in the moment. “Well I’m also your first girlfriend too, so I guess we both have that honour.” Alix tried to defend herself but Marinette just smugly laughed as took a lick from her ice cream, seeing this gave Alix an idea.
She waited till Marinette was in range and quickly took a lick from her ice cream. Alix saw the flustered look on Marinette's face as she licked her lips.
“It tastes just as sweet as you.” Alix’s words only further seem to turn Marinette to a poodle of goo.
“Haha, I have no idea how to take it slow…” Alix said to herself as she was proud at how easy it was to make Marinette swoon.
The pair continued this little game of teasing each other as they walked back to school. As they get closer they start recognizing faces from their class.
They see Adrien and his two friends (Alix never bought to remember their names) hanging out in the park, Adrien seems to be intensely listening to the story of the boy in the red hat.
As they got close to the school grounds, a car pulled in and out came the two new girls. Both were laughing and smiling about something and were paying no mind to any one around them. “Guess those two have hit it off.” Marinette said while Alix nodded, as the pair watched them enter the school grounds.
Soon enough the school bells ring and students start appearing from all sides. “Well it’s time for class! Let’s go before the rush hits us.” Alix said as she took Marinette’s hand.
Both girls smiled as they entered the school, neither paying attention to all the looks and whispers being passed around.
Because today was just another ordinary day for them and nothing could ruin it… Nothing at all…
Notes:
Next week: ?????
That's the only hint I'm going to give.
Chapter 7: Dark epilogue
Summary:
Dark times are coming...
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Meanwhile somewhere far away from the streets of Paris, the howling shrieks were the background sound to a dark interrogation.
“I’m telling you! I’m not a rat! Why would I leak information about Ouroboros out to the public?” A man cried out in a dark room, he was tied to a chair and heavily beaten. The iron smell of blood was blocking his nose after taking quite a few beating on it. “I’ve been loyal to the supreme, why would I discard all that to risk this.” The man kept begging, but before he could say anymore, the door to his prison swung open in a violent haste.
Out of the blinking white light stepped a girl. She looked young, almost too young, but as the man’s eyes started to adjust he noticed more finer details about the girl.
While she looked young due to her small height, eyes looked far older. They were large and unblinking as they glowed between shades of pink and blue. Her sickly blonde colour hair was very long and haggard as she dragged it across the floor with no care. But the detail that unnerved the man the most was the girl’s skin colour, she was ghostly pale but her whole body was covered in black pulsing veins that only clashed more with the pale white of her skin.
She looked almost like a doll, but a doll that had been forgotten and left to rot in a room for decades. Even her outfit was like that as it looked at one point to have been quite a lovely dress, but now it was covered with red stains and rips all over. As she walked barefoot over to the man, he finally realised who the girl was, she was the Thorn Princess, she was the leader of the Flower Garden.
Whatever fear the man had at that moment was heightened to a level he had never felt before. “Please, I'm begging you! I’m not a rat… But I know who it is! I’ll tell you everything.” The man begged for his life as the Princess just placed her finger to her lips and “Shhhhh” the man, his cries for help were silenced in this simple action.
“Haha haha, that’s exactly what the last guy said.” The Princess started to smile, but there was nothing normal about this smile, as it had a twisted childlike madness behind it. “But you see all the other rats screamed your name? So what makes you think that you can hide that aspect of yourself?”
The Princess looked at the man as if she expected an answer. “Well…” But before the man could answer, a sharp chain wrapped itself around his neck. “Nothing you can say will save your soul from what I’m about to do… You're going to talk, but only what I want to hear.” The Princess said as a pink cube formed in her other hand.
But then suddenly the door opened once again and the figure that entered was none other than the Supreme.
The Supreme’s very presence blocked out all light from entering the room as they entered.
All the man could see was the glowing red eyes as the void of darkness grew closer to him and the Princess. As it got closer the man could make out faint details like the midnight blue cloak of the Supreme or the silent movement of the Supreme as they swiftly reached the pair.
“Greetings, oh Great One!” The Princess bowed before the Supreme in a childish gesture. “Hehe, what a pleasure to see you, Thorn Princess, I hope you don’t mind me interrupting.” Every distorted word that left the Supreme’s mouth left a sickly feeling in the man's stomach.
“Oh no, not at all! In fact you being here makes things even more joyful!” The Princess said in a sing-song tone as jumped up and down in joy. “Before you entered I was just about to melt the rat’s brain so all the lovely truth would just pour out.” The Princess said, as the man wanted to vomit at knowing what fate almost had in store for him.
“Your methods of information extraction are second to none my dear, but let me try something.” The Supreme said as they leaned in closer to the man, now he could more of what hid behind the hood as he saw the twisted smile hidden beneath all the darkness.
Then he heard five words that “It was all for nothing.” As he felt a hand reach out from the void and grab his heart. The cold touch sent him into shock as he couldn’t process what was going on, his brain was screaming as his whole body flailed around, yet that same hand held the man into the chair, forcing him to feel every second of the pain.
“I’ll talk!!!! Please!!! I’ll tell you everything I know!!! Just make it stop!!!” Both the Supreme and the Princess started to laugh at the results.
“I’m just the middle man, okay! One day I got a letter telling me to provide information about Ouroboros in exchange for being rewarded. At first it was only small things like supply routes or a few message logs, but then they started asking for more! Like names of higher ranking supporters and then telling me to leak the information online.” The man kept going on and on listing all the things he had done.
“If you want I can get into contact with them! I can arrange a meeting. Would that be enough to earn my redemption…” But before the man could say anymore the shadowy hand around his heart finally grabbed his heart and swiftly crushed it.
The man only had a few seconds to process the action as he looked at the twisted faces of both the Princess and the Supreme. “But I gave you what you wanted…” He said before he keel over with his eyes white and his face locked in an expression of pure terror.
“The only reward for a rat like you is sweet sweet death.” The Princess said as the Supreme hummed in agreement.
“Now why did you truly want to see me?” The Princess said as she turned to face the Supreme. “Hehe, can’t I just see my favourite little Princess without there being a reason?” The Supreme said as their distortion made the words sound even more comical.
“No” The Princess said bluntly with a smile as she walked out the room with the Supreme right behind her.
Both exited the dark room and were greeted to the familiar sight of the Princess’s prized greenhouse. “You only ever make house calls when it’s something important.” The Princess said as she tended to a nearby flower. “Hehe, you know me so well… I’m here because of the situation in Paris.”
At these words the Princess dropped what she was doing and had her full focus on the Supreme. “Now you’ve got my attention.” The Princess said with a small smile.
“A few of the heads have told me of your frustration with what is going on in Paris?” The Supreme posed it like a question, when in reality they knew full well this is what the Princess was thinking.
“Oh, indeed. I feel the Hunting Dogs are making a mess of things in Paris, if I had my flowers on the job, then all the Miraculous would be ours in a week.” The Princess said with a level of certainty that even made the Supremes laugh.
“Oh? In what way are they making a mess? Do be honest.” These words were the ticket the Princess needed to let it rip.
“Well firstly, the dogs are taking too long. It's been four months and yet the heroes are still standing? Secondly, Shatterscale’s plans are ineffective! She seems to attack randomly and retreat when they’ve got them on the ropes? And thirdly, Baskerville…”
This is the only point the Princess held her tongue, she knew of the Supreme’s attachment towards the hound, but nobody knew why? She only knew the last person who questioned met a fate similar to the rat they just killed. “Baskerville is what?” There was a playful and yet deadly edge to those three words, as the Princess quickly covered up her mistake. “ is completely fine, the fact she hunts down the ladybug holder with such passion… is truly inspiring to our cause.”
These words seem to lighten the mood around the two. “You haven’t mentioned lyger yet?” That name unlocked a fury behind the Thorn Princess’s eyes as her smile dropped. “What do you mean? Why would I need to mention my sweet little kitty? Sure she is reckless, but she’ll come crawling back to me… She needs me… just as much as I need her.” The smile on her face was one of pure madness, for a brief moment she no longer looked human as she clearly pictured the scene in her head.
“So what do you suggest we do with Paris then?” The Supreme’s question pulled the Princess out of her fantasy, as she smiled at the open door before her.
“Let the garden take control of things, I promise within one battle we will gain more results than the Hunting Dogs have done in four months.” The Princess said this with an air of confidence, like she knew it was going to happen.
“Not only that… But we will actually search for the Miraculous of the Bunny, I know how important the search for it is and so I will level the city if need be to find it. No cost is too great in getting it back, your great one.” These words seemed to strike a chord with the Supreme.
“Hmmm, It is true that Miraculous is something the dogs seem to have forgotten about… but to have you both in the city would spark too many eyes. The other heads are already a bit jumpy thanks to all the rats.” The Supreme was deep in thought as they weighed every version of the scenario in their head.
“Well… maybe we should do a trial run? You allow me to send one of the flowers to Paris and if they can provide better results in one battle with the heroes, then you give us control of the mission.” The Princess’s idea would quite sound to the Supreme’s ears.
“Has the Flower Garden ever failed before, unlike those wild dogs?” Princess just loved to get any slight she can towards the Hunting Dogs in, as she watched the Supreme actually think about her whole idea for a trial run.
She watched the glowing eyes weigh up the pros and cons and after a few moments focus back on the Thorn Princess, with a clear answer in their mind.
The next few moments were dead silent, not even an insect dared to buzz as the Supreme stood there about to reveal their answer.
The Princess looked with anticipation as she hoped her pitch was enough to sell her leader on her plan.
“Things are going in ways even I haven’t predicted… Events are happening sooner than expected. Perhaps this may be the stone that weighs things back in my direction.” Thorn eventually deciphered from the Supreme’s cryptic wording for the go ahead on her plan.
“Thank you oh Great One! Paris will be bathed in fire and you will have all the Miraclouses in your possession.” Thorn jumped around with glee as she ripped a few flower heads from a nearby planter and danced around with them.
“Quite merry are we.” The Supreme said with a hint of humour among the distortion. “Oh truly, Not only will I get to one-up the hunting dogs, but to return to my home turf… and burn it to the ground is my childhood dream, come true.” Thorn’s expression was one of pure malice as her eyes had a dark fire behind them.
“My only question to you. Who are you going to send? Remember they need to do a much better job to truly win my approval of the garden taking command.”
The Thorn Princess looked into the Supreme’s eyes with a childlike puzzlement. “Well I can’t go, Maybe Snapdragon? Oh wait, she is busy dealing with Shanghai. Maybe Hyacinths? She has connections and I know she came from Paris as well! But she is a wild card and I need results! Well of course they were staring me right in the face! False sunflower. I’ll send her right away, she has never failed a mission and is not afraid to get messy. Haha.” Thorn starts to laugh as the Supreme quickly exits, while leaving the Princess to tend to her garden.
“You’re not the only one who can rewrite the script, Bunnyx.” They said while admiring the blood moon before them outside. “Dark times are coming.”
Notes:
And with that Ordinary days is finally finished, sorry this took over a year. It kept getting bumped down in my priorities.
I don't know when I'll get around to the next fic in this series, September and October are already being prepared for in terms of fics.
But the next chapter in this AU will happen sometimes inn the future and I promise it won't take a year to come out... like this one.
I'll see you in the next one.
Hopefully there are no major errors in this chapter
BooMooM on Chapter 1 Sat 05 Oct 2024 08:24PM UTC
Comment Actions
WickedKitty666 on Chapter 1 Sun 06 Oct 2024 11:08AM UTC
Comment Actions
BooMooM on Chapter 2 Tue 14 Jan 2025 01:16PM UTC
Comment Actions
WickedKitty666 on Chapter 2 Wed 15 Jan 2025 06:51AM UTC
Comment Actions
BooMooM on Chapter 3 Fri 25 Apr 2025 01:02PM UTC
Comment Actions
WickedKitty666 on Chapter 3 Fri 25 Apr 2025 02:49PM UTC
Comment Actions
BooMooM on Chapter 3 Fri 25 Apr 2025 03:16PM UTC
Comment Actions