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leswansong · 6 years ago

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(Late) Ladynoir July: When Tomorrow Comes

Day Seven: Lucky Charm

[ A03 ]

Word Count: 5K+

AN: What's this? A new Chapter less than a week than the last? Hope you guys enjoy this speedy update!

Marinette groaned at the pounding headache she had awoken too, her eyes struggled to focus on something within her darkened room. Light slowly floated into the room, her eyes slowly started to focus on the small little dust particles that drifted through the rays of sunlight, she struggled to recall what had happened the night before, she cursed herself for drinking so much the night before so that she couldn’t remember that night. Marinette groaned again and shakily pulled herself out of bed and stumbled over to one of her windows to pull the curtain open, a decision she regretted instantly as the light caused her headache to grow ten times worse. She let out a yelp at the sudden pain drawing a concerned red Kwami towards her, she waved the small creature away and muttered something along the lines of ‘I'm fine’ to her before heading over to her small dressing table to get ready for the day.

She stared at her reflection in the small, somewhat cloudy mirror, she had forgotten to remove the very little amount of makeup she had put on the night before to help blend her mask to her face better, at least she had remembered to take that off as it was sitting on the small table in front of her but the rest of the clothes she had gone out in still clung to her thin frame. She sighed to herself and started to brush her extremely matted hair, slowly she started to pull away at the large amount of knots that had managed to form in her hair overnight causing her to wince slightly from the sharp pains of her hairbrush pulling at them but it had to be done.

She gently put down the wooden, horse-hair brush down on the table at turned around at the room, even though it was dark, she could still see the mess around her. It felt a little strange for her to be the only person in the room, she looked around at the remnants of Alya’s sisters visit on the floor around her, she was going to miss them but last night had provided the perfect cover for them to slip out as the guards attention were on the hundreds of people celebrating in the streets and not on the small suspicious family sneaking their way out of the gates. Alya was going to be back in a few weeks, her aunt was going to meet her halfway to pick up the younger girls so Alya could return to Paris. Marinette didn’t know why her best friend wanted to return to Paris, Marinette wanted nothing more than to escape it, she hated the constant fighting in the streets below her window that she could still hear but she knew that she couldn’t, she had a duty to the citizens to stop Hawkmoth and Chat to help him in stopping him.

Marinette sighed and started picking up the small toys that had been left behind, a doll here, a small stuffed animal she had made them several years ago there and a few of their wooden blocks. She picked them all up and placed them in a small wicker basket leaving room for the addition of the view items of clothing they had left behind as well as the two skirts she hadn’t had the time to finish for them, she hoped that she would be able to send it to them but such a large item would prove difficult for her but it was something that she would like to do. She inspected the small doll she had picked up and smiled, she remembered making it for Ella for Christmas when she herself was fourteen. Marinette placed it in the basket with all the others before she pushed it towards a nearby wall.

She picked up another basket and headed down the steps below, today was washing day, she probably had hundreds of baskets waiting for her downstairs, all of them had to be hand washed and hung out to dry before she got to work on mending any new tears in the fabric. She walked down the last few steps and let out a defeated sigh at the sight of the twenty-plus baskets in the entry hall, reluctantly she pulled up her sleeves and picked up another basket before heading to the small laundry room to get to work.

-x-

He descended the large steps quickly and down the large hallway towards the tall green trees and purple and blue flowers as well as the large brown coffin that he had regretfully placed her within… He paused in front of her and placed his hand upon her casket, his wedding ring let out a muted ring against it and he let out a sigh before moving away from it, he had a job to do.

His high priced shoes he was wearing echoed in the large open room, it reminded him how alone he was in his own home, the white butterflies around him were his only company. He raised his finger and one landed atop it, he couldn’t feel the delicate creatures weight but he knew it was there. It spread its wings and returned to the kaleidoscope of butterflies floating around him. He headed into the centre of the room, the early morning light was twisted into light purples and blue on the floor around him. Gabriel’s eyes narrowed at the large stained glass window, its frames were in the shape of a butterfly, it had been his wife's idea, the thought of her brought a smile to his face.

He knew what he was about to do, his first ten Akuma’s had failed but then again, he wasn’t exactly trying, he just needed to know how the cat and bug worked and he now knew that. They were inexperienced with their Miraculous but the Cat, going by Chat Noir, was a skilled swordsman, he had years of training under their belt, Gabriel needed to see just how skilled this… boy was. He knew exactly what Akuma to send out today to test the boy’s skill and hopefully, the Akuma will be more skilled than the Cat eared hero, once Chat Noir was defeated his unskilled partner should be easy to take down, he would squish her like the annoying little bug she was.

He looked down at the locket in his hand, it was his own lucky charm, the small painted portraits of his wife and son sat within; they were the reason he was doing this and he was going to bring them back. this silly revolution had taken almost everything from him but he wasn’t going to let it take them, not while he still had the Miraculous. He was going to do everything he could to bring his family back to him and restore order to France, the people were going to stay in their respective classes just as they always had been.

He pulled the small box out of his pocket and opened it to reveal the pointy winged butterfly Miraculous, he carefully pinned it to his shirt and waited. The wave of emotions that washed over him were… awful, many were happy and hopeful, some were downhearted and sad, none of which were particularly strong for his desired Akuma. He needed a different emotion, one that was strong and full of uncontrollable rage, one that wanted to destroy everything around them. He closed his eyes and searched the sea of people, he tried once again searching for his son in that large ocean, he searched in the hope that he would find him and bring him home, so that his boy would be safe by his side but there was no sign of him, if he was still alive he must be out of his reach, a hopeful thought.

He turned his search elsewhere to a stronger emotion that was only just emerging, they were perfect, he had never sent his Akuma after a person feeling disappointment and humiliation before he hoped that this one would prove… useful. A sinister smile tugged at his lips as he called one of the many silk white-winged butterflies down to him, he imbued it full of all negative information it needed for it to turn into the perfect Akuma, before sending it off into the streets of Paris in search of its perfect victim. He waited patiently in the large dark room for the black butterfly to find its target, he bit back the laugh that threatened to erupt out of his throat, today was going to be a great day…

-x-

Ladybug, she was a wonderful ray of sunlight and it was very hard to focus on the rather annoyed Akuma when she was around. Her bright bluebell eyes that were able to bring life to the darkest of souls, and her hair that was darker than those souls. She was brave, intelligent, heroic, then again that last one was kinda part of the job but more than anything, she was perfect even with all her flaws. The way she had stood up to Hawkmoth when he tried to turn the very scared and confused Parisians around them against them was what originally drew him to her but that soon evolved into something more, he knew he was in love with her, her irresistible laugh just everything about her.

He tried not to stare at her as she ran across the rooftops in front of him, he hadn’t meant to take his eyes off the Akuma but he couldn’t stop himself from greeting his Lady when she arrived, now they had to try and track down Darkblade before he got what he wanted. What that was, Adrien didn’t know, he had been a little too busy matching his old fencing instructor blade for blade. He wondered what his old teacher had done to deserve his fate, although it had been years since he had seen the slim man, he found it odd and a little hard to believe that the man that he had never seen angry or even a little bit upset had been Akumatized, something had to have caused the calm man to turn but what?

Monsieur D’Argencourt was highly skilled and Adrien enjoyed his time with the older man, the task of trying to beat the better, stronger swordsmen was a thrilling one, each time he would learn something new from him, something that would help aid him in the next time he would face the older man only for the swordsmen to pull something else out of his bag of tricks for Adrien to learn. It kept what would normally be a boring lesson interesting and it helped him prepare for when he faced an actual fight against someone more skilled than he was. Adrien had been rather disappointed that he hadn’t been able to finish his lessons with him but he kept practising every day until the day came that he would return to the large gymnasium but he had accepted years ago that it would never happen.

Slowly Adrien came to a stop behind Ladybug, she was inspecting something on her yo-yo as he took a few steps towards the edge of the roof, the heartbreaking sight slowly came to view. His eyes struggled to locate something to look at, the hoards of citizens that had been turned into Darkblade's loyal knights stood in the small square in front of Notre Dame and the bumpy roads leading up to the feared Palais De Justice. They stood shoulder to shoulder with their tall, heavy, green bladed axes reaching proudly towards the blue sky above them; a twinge of regret washed over him at the sight and his leather cat ears atop his head droop as well. Ladybug slowly approached the edge of the rooftop beside him, he felt Ladybug grow increasingly more and more upset beside him as she took in the sight of the square, making him feel even worse. He wanted nothing more than to crawl into the deepest darkest hole to hide his shame.

She let out a sigh before returning to sneaking across the rooftops, she had noticed that Darkblade wasn’t among the countless turned Parisians in the street below. He silently followed a few paces behind her, he didn’t dare ask or beg her for her forgiveness yet, not until the threat had been defeated.

They headed towards the direction the knights were facing, Palais De Justice, an old home to the former Kings and Queens of France and the new home of the feared Tribunal, even he hoped he would never meet the people who governed it, they oversaw the sentencing of the people who would meet the sharpened blade of the guillotine. Once they had decided your fate there was no way to escape it, you were going to die, maybe it was before you even saw the tall wooden platform that the dreaded blade sat atop but there was no escaping it, your fate was sealed. Adrien didn’t know how many people he had grown up seeing at parties had faced the Tribunal, he hoped it wasn’t a high number and hoped it was the low low number of zero but he wouldn’t bet his life on it.

They slowly approached a small church that sat outside the grand building, Ladybug threw her yo-yo towards one of the peaks of the bell towers and swung herself towards the small rocky roof beside it. He followed her and landed silently on the uneven tiles, behind her. From the rooftop, the taller bell towers of the Sainte-Chapelle loomed tall into the sky, his eyes followed the even taller spire into the blue sky where a dark cloud was starting to form, they were definitely in the right place.

“So…” he trailed off, “How do you want to do this?”

His eyes narrowed and he scanned the large, closed steel gates. The people who were normally camped out in front of those gates watching were strangely missing leaving the area silent without their demanding cries.

“Where would you say he gets his powers from?” Ladybug asked, she too was scanning the empty courtyards.

He frowned to ponder her question, “His… His sword, I guess…” he replied sounding a little unsure.

She nodded in response, “We need to get to it then, if it is where he gets his powers is of course then its most likely the transformed Item,” she explained.

He nodded his head before turning to look at her, he took a deep breath and let the word soup flow out of his mouth. “Ladybug… I’m sorry, I- I shouldn’t have let him out of my sight, none of this would have-”

She smiled sweetly at him causing him to stop in his tracks. “Don’t be Chaton.” she whispered, his heart leapt at the new nickname, she continued, “I might have been a little upset that he got away from you but I know you didn’t let him.” She placed her hand on his shoulder in support and his feelings of guilt slowly melted away at the slightest sign of affection.“So? You ready?” she asked, drawing his attention back from the small daydream that had started to play inside his head. He looked over and noticed her yo-yo was swinging rapidly beside her as she prepared to throw it towards the chapel’s bell towers.

He nodded and watched her yo-yo launch across the large gap, it wrapped itself around the strong brickwork and Ladybug gave it one sharp tug before swinging across, leaving him to follow her like the lost kitten he was, he was so in love with that girl...

-x-

Marinette landed awkwardly on the chapel roof, she spread her arms out to try and balance herself out, her eyes looked up at the steadily growing void black clouds above her, she did not doubt that it would soon cover and all of France by the rate it was growing. She felt her hands shake slightly from the fear slowly rising with her, she had no idea what this Akuma wanted or what his powers were. From the brief overview she had gotten when she arrived, he was skilled with the long greatsword Hawkmoth had gifted him and had almost beaten her incredibly skilled partner in a one on one fight although she knew that Chat would never admit to that.

Her eyes scanned the rooftops, they were covered in the green, axe-wielding knights that had been turned but she saw no sign of the red, sword-wielding one they were looking for. She frowned and turned towards her partner as he landed beside her, he too was confused as to where the Akuma had gone, the only option was that the Akuma had headed into the building. She dreaded the thought of searching all of the rooms and corridors below her for it, she sighed and continued across the tall pointy rooftops in search of Darkblade but of course, there was no sign of the dreaded knight.

Slowly she started to lose hope of ever finding the Akuma, she had run back and forth across the rooftop several times looking for the metal-clad Akuma so many times she was starting to grow dizzy at all the turning. She froze in place and looked up towards the sky, the growing black cloud was still growing, her eyes followed it off into the horizon, the familiar blue was gone, it had been completely replaced by the horrible black void above her head. Marinette wanted nothing more than to give up at that moment, Hawkmoth knew that he had the upper hand with his Akuma hiding from the two heroes and Darkblade was showing his true power. Marinette didn’t know what would happen with the large black void above her but it was something bad, she didn’t want to see Darkblade's goal fulfilled but she was helpless in stopping him. She slowly she started to feel herself cry and she felt herself drop to her knees. She struggled to keep the tears back, now wasn’t the time for crying, she had to focus on the task in front of her.

Chat moved to stand beside her, his clawed glove rested on her shoulder giving her some hope to cling to.

“Its okay Bug… We’ll find him, I promise, we just need to look at this with a fresh set of eyes,” he explained.

She nodded, “Yeah… Just… Where could he be?”

“Maybe in the building below,” he offered with a shrug.

She smiled and nodded again, “We won’t find him in time, that cloud… I don’t know what will happen when it reaches across France but I- I really don’t want to find out…”

He nodded, “Maybe I… Should…” He raised his hand indicating that he was referring to his power.

She frowned, “Maybe… But you know-”

“It’ll take a lot out of you, yeah, that's why I haven’t done it yet.”

She sent him a small but sad smile.

Sending out the cure took a lot out of her even when it was a small amount of damage, she had at first tried to hide it from Chat, she didn’t want him to worry but soon it started to take her toll on her. The large wind and storm damage Stormy Weather had caused had started Chat’s suspicions as he watched her limp away from the fight when he hadn’t seen her get hurt during the fight and the next Akuma, The Bard, she couldn’t remember their Akumatized name only that they were an upset popular street performer had been her ultimate undoing, everyone had been reverted back to the way they had been previously and there wasn’t going to be a repeat of the story she heard when she was younger where people had danced themselves to death but the sheer number of people the bard had turned was too much for her, she had collapsed after the cure had done its job and couldn’t bring her weak legs together long enough for her to stand so she had been forced to admit to Chat what was really going on.

They were now really careful on what they destroyed and a building would certainly be one of the things that would push their luck.

Chat held his hands down to her to pull her to her feet, she gladly took them and with one sharp and skill full tug, her feet were once again standing atop the roof tiles.

“So Bugaboo? Ready to search inside?”

She closed her eyes as a soft breeze brush against her face, “Yeah Chat lets go.”

-x-

Marinette looked down at her Lucky Charm, she had no idea what to do with the sabre, she knew Chat would but he was currently engaged in a sword fight against the Akuma they were trying to defeat. Her eyes frantically searched the room looking for something, anything to use against the steel-clad Akuma before they landed back on the heavy sword in her hands, she sighed as she considered the stupid thought that crossed her mind before closing her eyes and accepting her fate. Her eyes reopened and she raised the heavy sword, she had no idea how to hold it or even wield it but she needed a distraction so Chat could either snatch the sword or use his ability on it, whatever worked, they just needed the sword destroyed.

“Darkblade!” she yelled drawing the Akuma’s attention, “I challenge you to a duel,” her voice was a little shaky towards the end of her sentence but she tried to stay strong.

The Akuma turned sharply towards her and smirked, “I accept,” he hissed back before charging at her.

The Akuma was clearly extremely skilled, Marinette was constantly trying to defend herself from his fast attacks, he was pushing her closer and closer towards the unsteady roof tiles near the edge of the roof, she was losing ground quickly, he was pushing her back two steps with every swing of his greatsword; she had no idea how she was managing to parry his strikes but she was. Her eyes frantically looked around for her partner, he was slowly sneaking up beside the distracted Akuma, she pulled her eyes off of him as quickly as she could but Darkblade had noticed. He turned his head towards her partner causing the Cat to freeze, Marinette saw her opening and quickly wrapped her yo-yo around the blade, she had seen what the sword did with one touch and she didn’t want to join the hundreds of people around her. With the yo-yo wrapped tightly around the giant blade she stomped her foot down on the loosely hanging string pulling the sword from the Knights had and sending it to the floor where it broke into a thousand little pieces, the black butterfly rose from the ashes like a phoenix.

Marinette let the Akuma float up into the sky above her a little bit before she threw her yo-yo to catch it, an action she had repeated so many times already that it was starting to burn itself into her brain. Her yo-yo sprang open releasing the purified white butterfly into the cloud above her. Her eyes returned to the now kneeling Akuma, his Akumatized form had disappeared leaving a tall, thin as well as confused man with a moustache in its place. She sent him a saddened smile before helping him to his feet, he hung his head in shame and started towards the guards that were going to help him off the roof and would assist in helping him escape the mob that would try and kill him once they found out who had been the one to cause so much damage.

Chat walked up beside her and looked down at the sabre in her hands, she spotted a smirk form across his lips out of the corner of her eyes, “You know... I could teach you how to use that, it might be useful in a fight,” he offered.

She too looked down at the spotted hilted and silver bladed weapon, “Maybe one day…” she replied.

He nodded and she let out a sigh, “I don’t know how much it's going to take out of me…” her voice trailed off.

“I know bug… I’m here..”

She smiled and nodded before taking a few short steps towards the edge of the rooftop, she liked watching the small little bugs working their way across the city fixing the damage that had been caused even if she hated the feeling of her slowly growing weaker and weaker from it. She took a deep breath and called the words, releasing the large swarm of small little bugs over the city, she felt its effects almost instantly and her legs wanted to collapse underneath her, the words of encouragement Tikki had told her replayed in her head, her body will get used to it, in time, she just needed… time…

-x-

Slowly he moved to stand beside her, the small ribbons in her hair floated gently in the wind, the hundreds and thousands of Ladybugs worked their way through the streets, a lot of people had been turned, more than they had seen, he was concerned as his partner was slowly growing slightly weaker beside him and slowly she started to sneak over closer to him so she could use him as support and so she didn’t look weak in front of anyone. A crowd of people gathered underneath them shouting their praises towards the two heroes, he smiled down towards them and waved but Ladybug didn’t, she did smile at them but her eyes were fixed on the horizon, towards the large and what seemed like an endless forest of trees.

“Ladybug?” he called, snapping her out of her spell, “Are you okay?”

“Do you-” she cut herself off and shook her head, “nevermind…” she muttered.

His smile dropped slightly and he stopped waving at the crowd below to turn towards her, “What is it Bug?”

Her own smile dropped, “Do you ever wish that this…” she trailed off, “I don’t know how to explain what I’m trying to say… But, the fighting among the people, the constant squabbling over every little thing, do you ever wish that it would all end.”

He frowned, “Honestly, I- I-” a sigh escaped his lips, “I don’t even know why there… was a revolution…” his voice got quieter and quieter with each word, resulting in her asking him to repeat himself in a louder voice. Reluctantly he did and in a much clearer voice, “I don’t even know why the Revolution is even happening…”

His eyes met the floor and he waited for her to laugh at him, he had tried to find out what had caused the king to lose his head, why his home had been stormed. He knew the Tribunal had control of who was going to face the blade but he didn’t know why they were going to meet that fate. Stray newspapers weren’t all that helpful, they only held a small part of the full story, and he had yet to find someone to fully explain to the very sheltered him what had happened to the world he had known.

But Ladybug didn’t, he watched her face turn into one of sadness then one full of concern. Silently she grabbed ahold of his wrist and pulled him away from the large and still growing crowd below them, he followed without question, he didn’t know where they were going but soon he realised that they were heading towards those large green forests. She pulled his baton from his back and handed it to him, he knew they would be going quite far because she waited for him to bend his legs for her to jump onto his back, something that she didn’t do often but something he didn’t mind, especially because he now knew what calling the cure did to her, he was surprised that she had been able to go so far without collapsing but he definitely didn’t want to push her to that. He waited a few seconds for her to get comfortable before he extended his baton. They moved slowly at first as it took them several short strides to build up the momentum that they needed to make a speedy getaway, but soon the wind was rushing past their ears as they moved past the last several buildings before they vaulted over the wall and into the trees.

Adrien continued on a little bit further before they came to a stop. He helped Ladybug across to one of the large tree limbs for her to stand on before he clambered onto the branch after her where she pulled him down to sit on the branch next to her. They watched the trees sway side to side slightly from the soft breeze, the leaves rustled against each other blocking out most of the loud sounds from the busy city just a few short leaps away. Adrien had forgotten how quiet the world was, living in Paris for so long had certainly taken its toll, visits to the family summer home had completely disappeared when the Revolution had started, he missed that place, the large lake, the birds and the annual hunt he would go on, everything he considered normal.

Ladybug let out another sigh, "How have you…”

“My father, he locked me inside the house when my mother… that was a few years before… but it got worse when the fighting started, I wasn’t allowed to even go out to the garden…” he trailed off and he realised that he had said too much.

He was surprised at how much information she had managed to wiggle out of in such a short amount of time, the night before she had paid for drink after drink for the two of them, each time he got slightly drunker and got him to offer up more and more information. He thought he was smart with how he was able to wiggle information out of her but she was proving to be a god at it.

“So…” she trailed off, “How much do you know about what happened?”

He shrugged, “All the recent stuff… about a week or so before the first Akuma but nothing else.”

“Really?” she replied sounding surprised, “I guess I have a lot to fill you in with then…”

Adrien didn’t like the sound of that, he wondered just how much he had been stopped from seeing throughout the years. He adjusted how he was sitting and prepared for the history lesson she was about to give him.

“So…” she started while biting back a yawn, the cure was really starting to get to her, “It all started with…”

Made for @ladynoirjuly2019

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