Chapter Text
The cool, stale air of the Black Cat’s Sanctuary should have unnerved Adrien as it always did. He couldn’t tell if it was a good sign or if it was just a sign that he had finally gone completely numb from shock, but the jitters that usually accompanied his jaunts into Plagg’s Sanctuary were gone.
Or maybe it’s because being Chat Noir is currently less scary than being Adrien Agreste…
Tears pricked at his working eye only to be wiped away with an angry swipe of the back of his hand. No tears; not anymore. He had bigger things to worry about than his own broken heart. The Adrien that shed tears for Ladybug needed to die if he was to keep his composure going forward.
Taking a deep breath, Adrien’s feet skimmed along the cold black stone beneath his feet, eyes roaming across the faces carved in the stone looking down on him. “You guys feel like giving me some help?”
His voice echoed off the walls, the word help bouncing off each statue like a faint and distant cry. Usually, someone would have stabbed him by now and the fact that a disembodied spirit of an ancient Black Cat was not trying to murder him was disconcerting to say the least.
As his eyes roamed from face to face, from the helmed scowl of Diomedes to the placid glare of Sarutobi Sasuke, Adrien wondered if there was something he was missing; if the Sanctuary was trying to give him a sign he just wasn’t picking up on…
Adrien blanched as his eyes landed on a black marble statue that had never been there before. A tall, lanky figure with messy hair stared back at him, hands crossed over the top of a baton and a strangely sad expression carved into his face.
“At least one statue of me didn’t get torn down,” Adrien muttered, eye trailing down Chat Noir’s statue towards the base. In the hole in the wall between his feet, a yawning hole in the obsidian walls opened to meet him, all light vanishing in the face of a pure, perfect darkness that almost seemed to seep out like a fog.
“Junji Ito, be my guide,” Adrien muttered, setting his shoulders to quell the churning in his stomach as he marched slowly and deliberately towards the black hole in the wall. The hair on his neck raised the closer he got to the hole in the wall, an electric current that felt perversely satisfying pulsing through Adrien’s body. He was equal parts enticed and repulsed by the sensation, the quiet, animal part of his brain screaming at him to run away while something else compelled him to walk into the darkness; towards the danger.
As he crossed the threshold and infinite nothing stretched before him, the wall sealed behind him with a dense thud, plunging him into absolute darkness.
At least Marinette has it just as bad…
When did I get so old?
Marinette ran her hand through midnight blue hair that was just beginning to show flecks of grey, fingertips running over the laugh lines at the corner of eyes clouded with age.
“Moooom, Hugo won’t let me feed Dr. Flufflebutt!”
“You fed Dr. Flufflebutt yesterday; it’s my turn!”
“It is not !”
“Is too!”
“Is not !”
“Is-”
“Boys!” Marinette sighed, sticking her head out from her bedroom to see her twin sons fighting over a terrified looking hamster in a clear plastic ball. “Can you fight over the hamster after you pack your lunches?”
“It’s too late …” A grave voice said as Adrien poked his head in the doorway. “For I...have already fed Dr. Flufflebutt!”
“Nooooo!” Hugo and Louis moaned, slumping over in despair as their father stood menacingly over them, cackling like a madman.
“And I will feed him tomorrow if you don’t get ready for school !” Adrien said, watching his sons trip over one another to run down the stairs on the way to the kitchen.
“Evil,” Marinette chuckled, adjusting Adrien’s green and black cat-themed tie.
“Well, spare the hamster-food, spoil the child,” Adrien shrugged, fingers trailing up the small of Marinette’s back as he tugged the zipper on her dress closed. “Next time they’ll respect the good Doctor’s schedule.”
“When did he become Dr. Flufflebutt?” Marinette sighed.
“Did you not see the hamster studying for medical school?” Adrien clucked, shaking his head in disdain. “It’s like you don’t even know this family anymore.”
“Oh, he’s a medical doctor now?” Marinette giggled, a familiar flutter of butterflies bubbling up in her stomach as Adrien tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.
“Specializes in testicular cancer, actually,” Adrien said, watching the blue and purple hamster ball roll past his ankles. “Pursuing his lifelong love of balls-”
“Hey, I know this is a tall order but can you two be gross on your own time?” Emma huffed, tugging her hair into a ponytail as she brushed past her parents in the hallway.
“Excuse me, young lady, this is my house ,” Adrien said, snagging Marinette around the waist with a soft squeal as he blew a wet raspberry against her neck. “And I will be as gross as I please in it~”
Marinette savored her daughter’s mortified expression as Adrien dropped her back to her feet, smoothing her wrinkled skirt as his hands lingered just a little too long on her hips.
“You sure you have to work tonight?” Adrien purred in her ear, fingers lacing together around the front of her waist. “You’re long overdue for your physical, M. Dupain-Cheng.”
“I...think I have a gap between my production meetings today,” Marinette said, looking up at her husband with a teasing smile. “If Dr. Agreste can fit me in.”
“I think I can find time to give you a-” His lips briefly kissed the back of her neck. “-thorough examination. I’ll see if I can pencil you-”
“Will you two stop necking and drive us to school?!” Emma shrieked.
“She knows us too well,” Marinette sighed, disentangling herself from her husband. “I’ll deal with Her Highness if you can drop the boys off?”
“Long as you remember to drop her off a few blocks away,” Adrien said, stepping back and planting a firm smack on his wife’s backside as she skipped down the stairs. “She’s too cooooooool for us now!”
“ So cool,” Marinette sighed, pulling her jacket from the coat hook at the bottom of the stairs, sticking her tongue out at her daughter as Emma rolled her eyes. Behind her, Louis was hurling cheese wheels at Hugo who snagged them out of the air in their black and red spotted lunch pails. “You know Emi likes her parents.”
“That’s because her parents are actually cool,” Emma huffed.
“We’re cool ,” Marinette said, glancing at Adrien as he walked past, snagging a chocolate milk out of the air before Louis could catch it. “Right?”
“Doctors and fashion moguls aren’t cool anymore, babe,” Adrien said, snagging his son’s around the waist and hauling them up onto his shoulders. “Boys, kiss your terminally uncool mother good-bye.”
Marinette leaned forward, tapping both her cheeks as her twins leaned in, pressing syrupy-sticky kisses against her cheeks.
“Have fun making clothes, Mama,” Hugo said softly, waving over Adrien’s shoulder as he carried them towards the door. As she watched him go, a terrible sense of unease settled in the pit of Marinette’s stomach; as though he was leaving her. As though she would never see him again.
“I’m…” The word sorry hung on the tip of Marinette’s tongue as she reached a hand out to stop her husband from leaving her. Adrien turned, brows creased in concern as he heard her call his name.
“...never mind,” Marinette laughed, shaking her head as the feeling seemed to dissipate. “I’ll...I’ll see you tonight.”
Nodding somewhat uncertainly, Adrien carried their sons like sacks of flour down the hall towards the garage.
“Can we go now?” Emma huffed, shaking Marinette out of her haze.
“Fine, fine,” Marinette sighed, bumping her daughter’s shoulder as they passed a toothless picture of her as a toddler beaming from a photo frame. “You know, you were a lot cuter when you were the boys’ age…”
Marinette paused in the doorway, frowning as she glanced over her shoulder.
“Forget something?” Emma asked, tugging her headphones on.
Yes, Marinette thought, following her daughter outside. She just didn’t know what.
Tom Dupain was not a superhero.
Despite the fact that he was an award-winning baker that could sling a twenty-five-kilo sack of flour like it was made of helium, he was ill-equipped to handle the mess Hawkmoth had made of his city.
That said, he was still very equipped to drive a van; and so long as he could do that, he could do something .
“This way!” Tom called kicking open the back of his delivery van and waving over a small panicked crowd of survivors scrambling over rubble as three large, menacing-looking reptiles slithered along the street, moving with unnatural speed in pursuit of the people. With a mighty series of leaps that seemed almost synchronized, they crashed down on the hapless citizens, dragging them kicking and screaming towards the twisting vines that seemed to choke the life out of the city itself.
Tom scrambled backwards, back bumping against the back of the van as a large, heavy presence settled on top of the car, a shadow blotting out the sun overhead. Trembling, Tom looked up, heart jumping into his throat as his eyes fell on the warped, gangly creature above him.
Hawkmoth’s battered wings spread out, his bulbous, alien head pivoting back and forth as he scanned the street in front of him. The veins on his left arm pulsed and throbbed erratically as it reached down, palming Tom’s bulky frame like he was a doll. Wriggling in Hawkmoth’s grip, Tom watched eight twitching eyes swivel to face him, regarding him curiously as though Hawkmoth were deciding what to do with him.
A flicker of movement drew Hawkmoth’s attention, head turning just in time to see the spinning green shield rocketing towards him. The shield collided with his twitching eyes before he could summon another Cataclysm, sending him staggering backwards as Tom Dupain slipped from his other claw.
Tumbling through the air, Tom only had a split second to fear shattering on the pavement before a black and yellow blur swooped out of nowhere, plucking him out of the air and zipping him across the street. Before he could even realize what had happened, he felt himself tumble along a patch of grass, looking up to see Queen Bee hovering in the air a few feet above him.
“I have a borderline unhealthy addiction to your lemon squares, so please try not to die to these scrubs!” Queen Bee huffed, turning away with a shooing motion. “Scoot! I’ve got a moth to swat!”
“D-Don’t need to tell me twice,” Tom mumbled, scampering along the street as Queen Bee zipped back to where Carapace stood.
Carapace kicked his shield up off the ground, plucking it out of the air as Hawkmoth staggered to his feet, shaking his head as his eyes swiveled to glare at the heroes across the deserted street.
“Hiiiiiii Uncle Gabriel~” Queen Bee cooed, leaning on Carapace’s shoulder and waving at Hawkmoth as a small contingent of Talon Troops mustered from the side streets. “How’s it goin’? Other than...you know...looking like a jack-o-lantern hatefucked Mothra and then puked all over the sidewalk?”
“ You …” Hawkmoth hissed, black hand crackling with energy that arced out, disintegrating parts of the street where it grounded.
“Yeah, that’s right asshole, ” Carapace said, shouldering his shield. “Everybody knows who everybody is...and as long as we’re all being honest here, kicking your bony ass has been on my Christmas list since I was fourteen !”
“Step... aside !” Hawkmoth howled, a wave of black energy washing out from his black claw as he swung it wildly at Carapace. Instinctively, Carapace threw his shield up, catching the stream of howling shadow on a translucent bubble of energy. The green barrier flickered as a tide of darkness washed over it, tiny cracks spidering out from the spot where the energy first struck.
“Oh bullshit!” Carapace groaned, teeth gritting as he tried to reinforce the failing barrier with more energy to seemingly no avail.
“Okay, new plan!” Queen Bee said, grabbing Carapace around the back. “ Drop it! ”
“What?!”
“It’s coming down; just drop it !” Queen Bee hissed, tightening her grip around Carapace’s waist. He met her eye for a split second, watching the black energy wash all around them. In the heartbeat between the drop of the barrier and the tide of energy washing over them, Queen Bee moved, dancing between the shadows that tore at the earth and tugging Carapace along with her. The patch of street where they stood was washed away, a smooth groove dug all the way down to the open sewer beneath them.
“That ring is... so fucking broken!” Carapace panted, gripping his shield tighter to keep his fingers from shaking. “What the hell are we supposed to do?!”
“This...does not concern you…” Hawkmoth snarled, chest wracking with spasming coughs, wings beating feebly and erratically. Warm, glowing red light wafted off the red claw as he held it over his chest, frantically trying to do something but all it seemed to do was cause a length of twisted red vines to grow and flower over his bony chest.
“There is nothing about you that doesn’t concern me,” Queen Bee sniffed, unspooling her chain and twirling it around her head. “You need help with...whatever the hell you’ve got going on over there?”
A low, pained whine wafted out of Hawkmoth’s mouth as the Talon Troop clustered around him, heads tilting this way and that as they regarded their begrudging teammate. Without warning, Hawkmoth lashed out, snagging one of the scaled monsters with his red claw and dangling the creature out in front of him. Hawkmoth’s claw surged with power, red crackling energy surging through the creature as it spasmed in his clutches. The creature’s sinewy, reptilian muscle shrivelled and shrunk as though being drawn through a straw until only skin stretched tight over jutting bones remained.
“I need... no help from you!” Hawkmoth snarled, hurling the creature’s body at Carapace like a lawn dart.
Kaiser Long winced as he felt his creation seep away into Hawkmoth, lip curling back into a disgusted snarl as he watched another gout of black flame erupt across town.
“Not satisfied with what you have, are you?” Kaiser Long grumbled to himself, green energy crackling along his fingertips as he birthed another black scaly egg into existence, tossing it off the roof as it grew and hatched mid-air. “ Parasite… ”
A tickle at the back of his mind drew his attention away from the battle.
You alright? Firebird’s voice echoed in the back of his mind. Felt a little wonky on your end there for a sec.
Fine. Kaiser Long thought back. Gabriel just drained one of my soldiers.
He can do that?
Evidently, Kaiser Long let out a soft sigh through his nose, eyes flickering out over the city. Find what you were looking for?
Just about, Firebird’s mind shot back, a warm, soothing presence washing over him as her power reached out to touch his. Stay safe.
I’m on a skyscraper a mile away from the battle; I can’t get much safer, Kaiser Long thought, casually sidestepping a car that sailed over the city skyline and smashed into the rooftop where he had been a moment before.
...what was that?
Call you later, Kaiser Long said, fingers splaying out as he pushed his will into his Talon Troops. “Something tells me we’ve underestimated these kids…”
Hawkmoth’s black claw raised, electric energy snaking out from his fingertips and evaporating the Talon Trooper that hurdled in his direction. As the dust scattered, Queen Bee’s black and yellow blur came hurtling through the mist, striking the middle of his red claw as Hawkmoth raised a hand to catch her. With a startled yelp, he tossed her over the small throng of Talon Troops, sending her sprawling in a heap next to Carapace in the middle of a black-scaled mob.
“Okay...new plan,” Queen Bee huffed, chain whipping around to keep the throng of enemies from closing in on them.
“What is it?” Carapace said, shoulder-checking a scaly brute as Hawkmoth waded through the parting sea of enemies towards them.
“I don’t know; we just need a new plan! I came up with the last one!” Queen Bee shrieked, chain snaking around and slicing through a Talon Trooper with a wet squelch . “Hey, is it just me or are there more of these things than there used...to...be…”
Queen Bee trailed off as the two halves of the bisected lizard wriggled and shifted, black goo oozing out of their open wounds and writhing on the ground. The goo shifted into hard black scales, extending into wet, dripping limbs as two fully formed monsters rose out of the remains of one.
“Oh come on!” Queen Bee squealed. “Where the hell is that backup?!”
Duusu’s chest rose and fell weakly, impossibly long eyelashes fluttering as they looked up at Luka. “What’s wrong...never seen a kwami before?”
“Aren’t you guys like…” Luka held his finger and thumb a few inches apart.
“Honey, we’re growers ; not showers ,” Duusu chuckled, trailing off into a coughing fit as they pushed themself up off the fainting couch. “When you’re as old as conscious thought, you get bored of looking the same way all the time. But for once in my life, I’m not interested in talking about myself…”
“Did you bring me here?” Luka said.
“Wanted to talk while I still had the capacity,” Duusu said, leaning back on the couch.
“What’s wrong with you?” Luka asked.
“Not enough time in the world to unpack that question, sweetie...but more recently, that old fashion disaster Gabriel Agreste happened to me,” Duusu sneered, spitting Gabriel’s name like one would dislodge a loogie out of the back of their throat. “Don’t know what he did, but that wretched thing he stuck inside you is bleeding into my power...into our power, as the case may be.”
“Our power?” Luka asked, a harsh ringing noise in his head echoing out.
MY power! Mayura’s howled, voice manifesting like a distant rumble of thunder that rattled the shutters on the windows of the expansive building they stood on. This miserable little pretender is-
Gritting their teeth, Duusu drew their fingers together in a tight line, silencing Mayura before he could continue.
“That should buy us some time,” Duusu said, laboriously sitting up on the edge of the couch. “But if we’re gonna keep his stupid buggy mouth shut, we’re going to need to work together, darling.”
“How?” Luka asked, glancing down at his hands. “They said we were still connected but...I couldn’t call on your power-”
“Because you’re still thinking of it as mine ,” Duusu sighed, pinching the bridge of their nose. “Look...I really wish I could help you out right now but it’s taking all I have to just hold myself together…”
“I’m...I’m sorry,” Luka said somewhat awkwardly. “I’d ask if there’s anything I can do to help but-”
“Well... funny you should mention that,” Duusu said, with a weak grin. “Because I have the craaaaaaaaziest idea…”
“M. Dupain-Cheng?”
Marinette blinked, rubbing her eyes behind her glasses as her secretary rocked back and forth in front of her desk.
“Is something wrong?” Cynthia asked, head tilting to one side as Marinette leaned back in her chair.
Yes…
“Just a bit of a headache…” Marinette muttered with a forced smile. The truth was that something had been tickling at the back of her mind since she said goodbye to Adrien that morning; a quiet and indescribable sense of unease that grew in the quiet moments Marinette found herself alone. It was like listening to a song transposed into a different key; the melody was familiar but it was...wrong somehow.
“Your husband can’t do anything for that?” Cynthia chuckled, placing a stack of papers on the corner of Marinette’s desk.
“He’s a doctor; not a miracle worker,” Marinette chuckled, the word miracle feeling strange in her mouth as she said it. “Are these the designs from London?”
“Just need your stamp of approval,” Cynthia said, watching as Marinette pored over the gowns. Her eyes scanned each one with practice that had come from almost thirty-five years of professional design, nodding thoughtfully to herself as if quietly agreeing with whatever thoughts flitted through her mind.
“Not what I would do...but then again, not everyone is me,” Marinette said, paging through the gowns. “I don’t want to needlessly stifle anyone’s creative-”
Marinette froze as she lifted the last piece of proof, eyes falling on a daring red and black spotted dress that clung to the drawn model’s frame like a second skin. Marinette’s mouth dried up as the sea of freckles along the model’s skin seemed to glimmer at her like glowing stars. Her eyes traced the image for a long moment, mouth drying as the figure’s eyes seemed to be staring up at her with an accusatory fire; as though it were demanding to know why Marinette was just sitting there.
Marinette didn’t realize she had stood up until she noticed Cynthia was staring at her strangely.
“They’re...they’re good,” Marinette said, hastily grabbing her keys from her purse. “I’ll um...I-I’m actually going to take an early lunch; maybe have Adrien take a look at me.”
“O...kay,” Cynthia said, watching Marinette stumble out of her office, ignoring the concerned looks she got from the Coccinelle office staff as she passed. A warm, uncomfortable sweat started rolling down the back of her neck as she walked down the expansive staircase, smiling half-heartedly at the people who stopped to greet her.
The thick, heady smell of pollen wafted over her as she stepped into her Paris office’s atrium, the lush palette of flowers in garden planters seeming excessively bright in the afternoon sun that streamed through the tall glass windows. Even the fresh air as she burst through the tall glass doors, dodging out of the way of an intern with an arm full of fabric, felt wrong.
It was...warm. There was no snow on the ground...why wasn’t it snowing? Why wasn’t it cold? It was supposed to be...supposed to be…
The answer fell from Marinette’s mind as she walked down the street, beating the familiar path towards her husband’s practice.
Adrien walked in darkness.
For how long and how far, he couldn’t be sure. The cold, dark hallway that pressed in around him the deeper into the Sanctuary that he went had stretched on longer than he could count. His watch no longer worked and he quickly gave up on his attempt to track time himself. The only way he knew that time had passed was the fact that he was so unbearably hungry that he was ready to eat his own arm. His mouth had gone dry a long time ago; a coppery taste on his dry lips made him wish he had smuggled some chapstick in with him to alleviate the ache.
At least being half-blind didn’t matter so much in a place where he couldn’t even see with his working eyeball. And as much as his head spun from hunger, he found a way to keep plodding on, one foot in front of the other even as the air in the corridor seemed to grow staler and staler with each breath he took.
“Bet Marinette’s having the time of her life…” Adrien groused, stoking the bitterness he felt towards his former girlfriend and partner just to feel something other than pain and mind-numbing boredom. “Yeah...I’m sure she and Tikki are having a tea party…”
His voice didn’t even echo as he leaned against the smooth wall for support. “No...she’s fine. She’s got to be fine...she-”
Adrien’s voice died in his throat, lungs seizing as the air that had grown so thin and so stale suddenly seemed to leave. He gasped, croaking as his chest struggled to squeeze breath out of the hostile atmosphere. Sliding to the ground, he felt his vision swim even in the darkness, fists feebly beating against the walls as the persistent pounding in his head grew even more and more frantic.
Oh God, Adrien thought, surrounded by the sounds of his own pained choking. I’m going to die...I’m going to...to…
Raising a hand, Adrien feebly punched the wall in front of him, his hand wetly smacking against the stone.
No…I can’t...I can’t…
A cold, slimy sensation ran down his throat as though his lungs were filling with brackish seawater. He gagged, wretched, fought against the sensation of being drowned in mid-air until-
Adrien took a deep, gasping breath as air returned to his lungs all at once, like a gag had been removed. Coughing, he slowly pushed himself up off the wall, shaking his head as he realized that the hunger and thirst that had dogged every step seemed to disappear.
“...this your idea of hospitality?” Adrien croaked to no one, lying on his back in the middle of the floor. “I knew you liked me...but a cheeseburger would have been nicer...just saying…”
Lifting his head, he found the corridor had brightened ever so slightly, a dim, flickering green light in the distance drawing his attention.
“That’s...probably something horrible, right?” Adrien said, pushing himself up onto his feet. “Let’s go see what it is.”
Luka blinked. “...what?”
“Yeah...told you it was craaaaaaazy,” Duusu coughed as a distant rumble of thunder echoed across the treetops. “Listen...I don’t know what Gabbikins did to us, but I’m one of the main links to the power of Emotion to this world. Now...I’m not feeling all that hot right now...I don’t know if I can die but boy, would that suck. For me and...probably for the rest of your reality too. Maybe...can’t say...but it would really suck for me which is... mostly what I care about.”
We’re wasting our time! Mayura’s voice thundered, a dark crack of purple lightning arcing across the sky as a tremor ran through the building. Release me! I’m the only one who can-
“I swear to me!” Duusu hissed, pushing themselves up and drawing a line across the sky with their fingertips. The oncoming storm blew back, the dark clouds billowing away as the distant roll of thunder subsided. “That... stupid moth just won’t go away, will he?”
“No...I don’t think he will,” Luka said, leaning on the balcony as he watched the storm slowly start to roll back in. “Thing is...he’s been with me even before Mayura was a thing; before Hawkmoth akumitized me. He just...didn’t have any power until now.”
“You thought by pushing him down you could get rid of him?” Duusu said, chest wracking with a dry, wheezing cough. “That’s not how it works, honey. You can’t just put on a happy face and ignore all the ugly stuff you feel...you gotta confront it before it gets the better of you.”
“It’s gotten the better of me,” Luka sighed, shaking his head as he gestured out at the churning purple storm. “I never...I never wanted to hurt Adrien but I...sometimes I wished he would just go away...or fall in love with someone else...anyone but her …”
Luka stared down at his hands, flexing his fingers as his head tilted to one side. “...is this really all I am? Just...someone who loves Marinette?”
“Look...I get it,” Duusu said. “Trust me, I’ve been around the block a few hundred times and I think I know exactly who you are...you’re a nice guy. And that is not a compliment. You go out of your way to make sure that everybody is happy and everybody gets their needs met except you . And I know you think that makes you noble and heroic but honestly it just means you’re pouring out of an empty jug that never gets refilled. I mean, hell, you went and got akumitized trying to keep everybody happy.”
“So I should have just said no ?” Luka said, shaking his head.
“I think it’s high time you start taking charge of your own life,” Duusu said, tilting Luka’s head towards the darkening storm that billowed in over the forest. “Before he does.”
Taking…charge? Mayura’s voice sneered, a shadowy shape slithering out of the clouds and streaking towards the balcony. Luka backed up as a missile landed at his feet, a wriggling mass of black and purple smoke slowly taking form.
“You’ve... never taken charge of anything before you had me!” Mayura snarled, his humanoid form taking shape. It was strange to see his own features twisted into an ugly snarl, but standing outside himself, he could see why the other heroes didn’t like him very much. Mayura took a shaky step forward as Duusu’s hand stretched out, thin, glittering chains snaring around Mayura’s shoulders and dragging him to the ground.
“Even now, you’re too weak and indecisive to do anything but mope! ” Mayura spat, straining against the bonds. “All you do...is feel sorry for yourself! But you never try and make anything better! You need me!”
“Aw, you were doing so good until you said that,” Duusu said, coughing gently as a thin trickle of sweat rolled down their face. “I-I’m gonna need some help here, pumpkin!”
“He can’t help you,” Mayura growled, thrashing against the chains as he slowly started to inch his way closer to Luka who seemed chained himself and unable to move. Thick, purple clouds seemed to press in all around him, making his head spin as he tried to keep his thoughts straight. “He can’t help anyone ...but me... I can fulfill Marinette’s dream... I can be the kind of person she needs! I can destroy... anyone and everyone who gets in the way of her happiness...that Bourgeois bitch ...that meddling little fox…”
A spike of anger rose in Luka’s chest as Duusu fell back on the couch, panting heavily and looking up at Luka with pleading eyes.
“Kid... please …” Duusu panted as Mayura’s hand reached out to snare around Duusu’s neck.
“Oh no...he’s mine you little creep,” Mayura giggled as Luka teetered backwards, grabbing the ledge as he fought to stay conscious. “And he is going to do everything I tell him to do...hell, he would kill his own family if I just said the word...break his sister’s pretty little neck with just a snap of my-”
Mayura’s hand froze inches from Duusu’s face as a firm grip snaked around his wrist. “...what?”
Duusu looked up to see Luka standing over Mayura, hand gripping his wrist as a cold, resolute look of fury darkened his gaze. “...no.”
Mayura blinked, lips trembling in fury as he looked up at Luka in disbelief. “...what? What did you just say to me?!”
“I am done letting you use me,” Luka snarled, dragging Mayura over to the railing and slamming his wrist against the bannister. Mayura hissed in pain as chains burst from the railing, binding the akuma’s arm to the ledge. “I am done being jerked around.”
“You...you...you can’t !” Mayura spluttered, swinging his free hand and catching Luka in the side of the head. He rolled with the punch, snaring Mayura’s other arm and slamming it against the bannister as well as chains rose to hold it fast.
“Just like that ,” Duusu said, a proud twinkle in their eye as he watched Mayura struggle and fight against the bonds that held him in place. “This is your show sweetie...it’s about time you ran things, don’t you think?”
“Don’t listen to him!” Mayura said, a pleading edge creeping into his voice. “Luka...we’re strong together...we’re useful together...Marinette likes us-”
“Oh will you shut up about Marinette!” Luka roared, voice echoing across the trees as the darkening clouds slowly started to dissipate, a clear morning sun streaming down on the balcony. “Holy shit, I didn’t know it was possible for you to make me hate someone I actually care about! I am so fucking sick of you acting like she’s the only person in the world worth caring about!”
Mayura actually reeled back as though he had been struck, blinking up at Luka in disbelief as though he had uttered some terrible blasphemy his mind had trouble processing.
“To be completely honest, I’m just a teeny bit pissed off at her right now,” Luka said, heart thumping almost painfully in his chest as he paced back and forth across the balcony. “I mean shit, my family almost died because she decided to work with Hawkmoth and not tell me! I’m stuck listening to you for the rest of my life, thanks to her!”
“She...Marinette didn’t...she had no idea that…” Mayura mumbled, trying to regain some of his composure. “It wasn't her fault. You shouldn’t...you shouldn’t be angry at her-”
“Well I am !” Luka laughed, running his hand through his hair. “I am... so angry at her...and so disappointed at her...but you’re right about one thing.”
Duusu looked on as Luka loomed over Mayura’s kneeling frame, fists clenched at his sides as he glared down at the trembling akuma at his feet. “ You weren’t her fault...you’re mine . You might be Hawkmoth’s creation...but you’re my akuma. You’re me... and I think...I think I’m gonna try and get a handle on myself.”
“I think I’m starting to get the hang of this!”
Rena Rouge gave a halfhearted thumbs up as she kickflipped over a reptilian monster’s head, watching Monarch’s sword neatly flashed from its scabbard, slicing the creature from shoulder to hip. The Talon Troop howled in pain, clutching at its wound in pain as the heroes ran on, down the familiar streets towards Marinette’s house.
“Any sign of her?” Rena Rouge called back to Monarch whose eyes scanned the streets with the flickering butterfly-shaped overlay hovering over her face.
“I’m...having some difficulty sorting out who is who,” Monarch said, wincing as the combined fear and panic of Paris’ populace washed over her. It was like the city was awash in a symphony of discordant music, and Monarch had to listen very hard to pick out the different instruments.
Skidding to a stop, Monarch’s head snapped to one side as her eyes widened in sudden realization. “This way!”
“Is it her ?” Rena Rouge asked, scampering after Monarch as she turned down an alleyway.
“No...but I think we just found our backup ,” Monarch cried, rounding the corner to see a small contingent of Talon Troopers gathered around an entrance to a sidestreet. Through the writhing mass of black scales, Rena Rouge could see a familiar streak of purple hair as a broken flag-pole with a tattered tricolore billowing in the breeze.
“ Come on!” Juleka howled, standing between her mother and a mass of sneering monsters, fear and anger blended together into a cocktail of adrenaline. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw one lower itself, ready to lunge and sink its cruel teeth into her neck-
Suddenly, the air shimmered behind them, and a low snarl filled the street. Turning around, the Talon Troop came face to face with a tall, luminescent kitsune that towered high over their impressive heights. Glowing purple flames flickered in its eyes as nine tails whipped and lashed back and forth, an indescribable heat coming from the creature. Its jaws opened as a blood-curdling howl sent a cold spike of fear straight through Juleka’s heart. The monsters bared their teeth, hissing in anger, confusion, and fear as they slowly slunk backwards, their reptilian brains recoiling from an apex predator that seemed to have its sights set on devouring them.
The fox lunged with a snap, and the creatures scurried backwards, slinking down through a nearby sewer grate and out of sight, leaving Juleka and her mother staring up at the fox in fear.
The air shimmered again and Rena Rouge stepped forward, brushing her shoulder off with a smug little smirk. “Can’t believe they bought that.”
“It was rather impressive,” Monarch said, jogging up to Juleka. “Are you alright?”
“I think we are now,” Anaraka said, slowly pushing herself up off the ground with a wince. “For now…”
“We’ve been trying to reach a shelter all day,” Juleka panted, wiping the sweat off her brow. “Took a wrong turn...and the Jurassic Park fan-club ambushed us.”
“Do you know where they’re taking people?” Rena Rouge asked. “We’re looking for someone, but if Hawkmoth has already grabbed them-”
“All I know is that those plants seem to be sucking people up,” Juleka said with a small shudder as she inched away from a thick, pulsating vine that draped over the side of one building. “To where, I don’t know...but that bigass tree probably has something to do with it, right?”
“That would be my guess,” Monarch said, glancing at Rena Rouge. “What do we do with them?”
“Don’t suppose you got another akuma for me to use?” Juleka chuckled, catching her mother’s look of concern. “Oh...yeah, Monarch is the new Hawkmoth, but like...awesome.”
“I think I only have two shots at this,” Monarch said, fidgeting with her Miraculous. “And as capable as you were, I don’t want to forego a chance at recruiting someone with a more useful skillset...not that playing electric guitar isn’t useful.”
“Honey...maybe we should just head to the shelter,” Anaraka said, touching her daughter’s arm gently.
“No...I’m sick of just sitting around and letting these creeps take over my city!” Juleka huffed, turning to Rena Rouge. “Come on...help me get my mother to the shelter and then...I don’t know...there has to be something I can do!”
Sharing a glance with Monarch, Rena Rouge took a beaded bracelet off her wrist. “Well...now that you mention it-”
A low hiss drew Monarch’s attention back to the mouth of the alleyway where a shifting, snarling wall of black scales seemed to be gathering.
“Looks like our friends are back,” Monarch said, stepping forward and drawing her sword.
“Don’t think they’re gonna Naruto cosplay this time,” Rena Rouge said, stepping in front of Juleka with her staff extended. “Let’s head out.”
Monarch’s eyes narrowed behind her mask. “...we’ll be too slow with the four of us,” she said grimly. “Take Juleka’s mother to safety first; send word when it is done and I will go and meet you.”
Rena Rouge eyed the encroaching mass of monsters warily. “You sure you can-”
“Do not be concerned about me,” Monarch said, teeth flashing as she aimed the tip of her sword at the nearest creature. “I have no intention of dying here!”
Monarch lunged with the skill of a practiced fencer amplified by superhuman strength, skewering the beast between its eyes and withdrawing before its companions could surround her.
Not yet... Monarch thought to herself. She skated under a swipe of a claw, slicing the hamstrings of a Talon Trooper as she spun away, keeping her back to the alley in case she needed to make a quick getaway. A cursory glance over her shoulder and she saw the hem of Rena Rouge’s tail round the corner, Juleka and her mother nowhere to be seen.
Whipping around, she saw the thick, black tail a split second before it slammed into her chest, sending her tumbling across the courtyard and bouncing off the wall with a grunt.
Not yet, Monarch thought, pushing herself up with her scabbard as she angled the tip of her blade towards the encroaching monsters. I’m not...dying... yet!
Through the haze of adrenaline and fear, she failed to notice the small, floating blue feather tumble out of the sky, catching itself on the tip of her blade as she swung it forward. A surge of blue energy wafted out of the tip of her blade, coalescing and taking the form of a hulking, one-eyed monstrosity that brought an immense spiked club down with a crunching smash that flattened both the concrete and three Talon Troopers in front of her.
Monarch and the monsters blinked in confusion as the glimmering blue oni stood between Monarch and the monsters, shouldering its club and baring its fangs at the creatures that clustered around, hissing in fear and confusion.
“Whoa...this party’s getting crazy, huh?”
Monarch looked up to see the back of a flowing blue cape patterned like a peacock’s feathers billow in the wind as a figure fluttered down from the rooftops, landing in front of her in a low-crouch. A form-fitting blue and purple body-suit hugged his frame, disappearing into dark blue boots. His gloved hands were wrapped around the hilt of an enormous fan the size of a claymore and emblazoned with the same sparkling blue and purple pattern as his cape. It shimmered and sparkled in a dizzying and dazzling display of light that seemed to disorient the small contingent of Talon Troops that surrounded them.
“Mayura?” Monarch asked as the figure turned to reveal a pair of familiar-looking blue eyes framed by a dark blue domino mask. His eyes were familiar, but shone with a kind of brilliance Monarch had never seen before.
“Mayura’s not really my style anymore…” The hero said with a pearly white grin. “Name’s Bluebird...nice to meet you.”