Chapter Text
“I can’t believe I’ve actually pulled it off, Tikki. This is a dream come true!”
Marinette threw her hands up as she spun around her pink chair with a face filled with glee. The little red kwami was also influenced by her enthusiasm, floating around her excitedly. Marinette couldn’t contain her excitement any longer, she could not believe that she, Marinette Dupain Chan, had just successfully saved Paris. She was still in doubt of becoming a superhero the second before, but after managing to defeat Stoneheart, it seemed her worries had flew away with the akuma. Tikki was more than glad to see her new master’s smile. It seemed Master Fu was right all along, the girl is a perfect candidate to withhold the ladybug miraculous. Tikki watched how she fought so bravely and came up with a very clever plan while also comforting her friend after he had woken up from the akuma attack. A hero that fulfills the qualities of strength, intelligence and a heart of gold was rare indeed, it would be more difficult to find another one than Marinette. So Tikki was glad that everything had worked out smoothly in the end…
“Just as we were about to celebrate the new two heros of Ladybug and Chat Noir, another devastating tragedy had just struck Praris,”
The news reporter, Nadja, showed up on the black screen with a deep frown and before the duo could even question. The screen shifted into different footages that were caught from different places. Yet they all had one thing in common, it showed how different akumas started to attack normal civilians, forcing them to turn into a replica of Stoneheart, turning them into mindless zombies. The passerby around the victims screamed and ran away as quick as possible but the Stoneheart minions were one step ahead as they caused chaos and panic around the city. Marinette was shocked to say the least. She stopped cheering and focused on her computer screen watching how the civilians she just saved were stuck in another havoc.
“Tikki, what’s going on!? Why are there more akumas?”
Marinette turned her attention back on the little kwami with a frightened look, sweats emerging from her forehead as the news reporter continued to talk about the situation but she could hardly pay attention to the news right now. Marinette was confused, very confused. She thought she was finished and accomplished yet the truth in front of her was like a big slap to her face.
“I don’t understand. I had just deakumatized Ivan! I stopped him,I talked to him, comforted him and I used my lucky charm. I did everything, why are there still more-“
In a flash, realization struck the young fashion designer. Yes, it was true she did use the lucky charm and seized Stoneheart from hurting anyone unwillingly. However Marinette completely forgot to capture the butterfly and deakumatize it, one of the most important detail Tikki had mentioned. With one small mistake, it had already caused innocent civilians to suffer and face the consequences of her own mistake.
Marinette clasped her hand to her mouth, eyes dreading with fear and guilt. Marinette fell back on her chair as her legs weakened and couldn’t withstand the pressure. She didn’t want to hear it, the painful truth but the scene in front of her was just screaming the truth at her. She was the one responsible for this chaos, not Hawkmoth, not Chloe, but Marinette herself. The unbearable guilt was aching her heart, quickening her breathe while tears started to swell up her sky blue eyes.
“Marinette, it’s okay I-it’s not your fault. You’re still new to this superhero thing. It’s okay to make mistakes. You just need to remember next time that’s all!”
Noticing her master’s reaction, Tikki immediately sprinted to action. She circled around the blue-haired girl trying to comfort her with a soothing tone. The last thing she needed was for her new master to feel down and upset with herself. But to her dismay, Marinette didn’t even bulge, she just sat on her chair soundlessly, staring straight at the computer screen. Tikki however didn’t blame Marinette for her mistake. On the contrary, Tikki’s blaming herself for not reminding Marinette about her duties. Everything happened so quickly for the teen girl, not to mention how most of their conversations earlier consisted of Marinette screaming and throwing random stuffs at the kwami. How could Marinette listen carefully to her when she was just straight on Panic mode? Tikki believed that she was the one to blame.
“No, Tikki. This is my fault. I was the one who caused this. I was right, I really am not cut out to become a superhero and now all because of me, I hurt innocent victims.”
“Don’t say that. We can work things out together-“
“Enough, Tikki!”
It was only then did Marinette faced her kwami. Tear droplets slowly rolled down her pale face as more and more followed. She should have known better than to be a superhero. Her clumsiness and forgetfulness will automatically lead to her downfall one day and she’s the least reliable option for the sake of Paris.
“I may had forget this time. But who’s to say it won’t happen again? I know how clumsy and awkward I am, Tikki. I am not superhero material. Sure, this akuma may be able to be stopped. But this is only the beginning! I already create enough disasters in my normal every day life and now I have to face supervillains with 10 times the strength while saving everyone in Paris? It’s just too muc! In fact, this is probably by far the least damage. I…..I can’t do this, Tikki. I told you before, I’m not cut out to be a superhero so it’s better if you find a new ladybug.I’m sorry, Tikki…..”
“Wait,don-“
Tikki didn’t even manage to finish her sentence because by that time, Marinette had taken off the silver earrings. Marinette opened her eyes to find her new red friend had disappeared. She glanced around the room, softly calling out her friend’s name with no response. She looked back down at the earrings on her palm and sighed. ‘It’s better this way. I’m just not suitable for this job……’ Marinette placed them back into the black box carefully with her thoughts slowly drifting away.
‘I may not be able to be a superhero but that doesn’t mean ladybug is out of the picture. I just need to find someone, someone who I can trust on, someone who is reliable and trustworthy, someone who is also very kindhearted.’ She placed the box inside her purse and pondered for quite some time before finally settling on the right choice, the new Ladybug hero.
“And I know just the person…..”
_________________________________________________________________________
“My ladyblog brings us all the latest news about the new superhero Ladybug. It has everything from photos, videos from the fights and most importantly, interviews-which I will have in the future.”
“That’s nice, Alya….”
The two friends walked in the school for the beginning of another day in hell. Alya continued to blather on about her new ladyblog. Ayla was a superhero die-hard fan and with the aid of the video she recorded just yesterday had successfully built up her popularity. Heck, the reason why the two new heroes were so well-known was because of the asset of the video. Ayla seemed to really admire the new heroes, especially the heroine Ladybug. She seemed to have a lot of thoughts in her mind since she just continued chatting away.
“Ladybug was so cool yesterday. Don’t you think?”
“Yeah,totally. But I think you standing up to Chloe earlier when she was being mean to Ivan was even cooler.”
“Girl,it was nothing compared to what Ladybug did.”
Her new best friend unfortunately didn’t notice her sorrowful look with her head held down. Marinette also had a lot in her mind. But her situation was also quite tacky. She needed to find a way to convince Alya to become the new superhero that the town really needs which wouldn’t really be hard considering her enthusiasm in superhero but the true difficulty was to give the miraculous to her without anyone even noticing. Marinette took a quick peak in her bag and let out a short breathe she didn’t even know she held in at the sight of the hexagonal box. The last thing she needed was for the miraculous to be missing or worse fell into the wrong hands.
The duo walked up the stairs while Alya continued her speech about her bew Ladyblog. Marinette knew she needed to act fast before entering the crowded classroom if anything, this was her only chance to give her best friend the miraculous. It’s now or never. So without a second thought, Marinette let out her hand and stopped Alya from taking another step up the stairs.
“Hey, uhm,Alya?”
“Yes?”
“Hypothetically speaking, how would you feel if you actually become a superhero?”
Marinette nervously chuckled after her random question that escaped through her mouth. She watched as how Alya seemed to be taken back by the sudden approach but relaxed after her question. She didn’t bother to shake off Marinette’s nervously sweating palm and used the other hand to rub her chin like a philosopher.
“Well, if you asked me, it would mostly be a dream come true actually.”
Alya smiled warmly at her stunned friend and continued to walk up the stairs, oblivious to her friend’s satisfied expression upon hearing the answer she was looking forward to. Marinette saw how Alya stood up to Chloe for her and how energetic she could be. If anything she was obviously a better candidate as a superhero than Marinette herself, so it’s better to keep it that way.
Without a second thought, she did the ultimate move, she slipped the miraculous box into her friend’s purse and quietly walked back up to her like nothing happened at all. Marinette trusted Alya more than anything, she believed that she would be the perfect hero the city had ever seen, an even better hero than Ladybug herself. She believed in her like how Tikki believed in Marinette. It would definitely be a shame to not be able to see her little red friend again but for the greater good, the sacrifice was definitely worth it. And one thing for sure, she knew that she would not regret giving the ladybug miraculous to Alya. Now, she just hoped that Alya wouldn’t cause a scene like she did when she first saw Tikki.
But little did poor Marinette knew that she had made a grave mistake….A mistake that somehow made everything better than she planned. A miracle indeed…..
_________________________________________________________________________
Marinette and Alya walked into the classroom with soft giggles, mainly talking about Alya’s experience with the akuma yesterday when all of a sudden, Marinette caught sight of a blonde hair boy kneeling down in front of her seat. Totally not suspicious at all.
“Hey, what are you doing?!”
That brought back the attention of the blonde boy. He looked back instantly with a horrified look. Marinette didn’t even waste a second as she hurried back to her seat to see what was going on. The new boy didn’t get to explain at all as Marinette immediately glared back at him with an angered frown.
“Why did you put gum on my seat?!”
“No! I was jus-“
The boy was cut short by the laughter of the two meanest girls in class. Without a doubt, Chloe and Sabrina must also be involved with this and it only just enraged Marinette some more. She had already been through a heck of a day yesterday, the last thing she needed was the disturbance and annoyance of the bullies that had been haunting her for years. She was so used to and tired of it, she didn’t even have a single card anymore. Marinette looked back at the scared blonde boy and sighed,”Just go.”
“I was just-“
“Please for the love of god, just leave me alone!”
The boy didn’t expect such a reaction from Marinette but he knew he couldn’t explain right now when she’s already so heated. All the words will just fly away anyways so it’s better if she cooled down first. The boy backed away and watched the girl placed a tissue on the gum before walking back towards his seat, fully ignoring the roaring laughter of the two girls.
Saved by the bell as one would say because Miss Bustier walked in the classroom before the boy could drown himself in shame and guilt. He kept his head hung low, refusing to meet eyes with the blue-haired girl who had just got humiliated. He awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck and sighed in despair. His little actions however raised the attentions of his new classmate.
“Why didn’t you tell her it was Chloe’s idea, dude?”
The blondie looked at the boy with a red cap and answered truthfully,”I’ve known Chloe since I was a little kid. I know she’s not perfect but I can’t just throw her under the bus. She’s my only friend here.”
Before he could even catch a glimpse of the classmate’s reaction, a friend popped up in front of him without any notice. He looked back to be greeted with a friendly smile coming from the boy in the red cap.
“I’m Ninno. It’s time for you to make some new friends,dude.”
Adrien softened his gave and relaxed his posture before taking the hand of his new friend with a soft smile.
“I’m Adrien and thank you…”
_________________________________________________________________________
“Ivan Bruel-“
“*Crash*”
“Mylene!”
What responded to Miss Bustier was a noise far from human. An enormous stone like creature came crashing to the door making several girls screamed in panic and boys immediately rushing out the door. Stone heart looked around in search for the timid girl that he was targeting in the first place
Mylene tried to run away with the others but she was too late. Stone heart gripped onto her waist with half of his force to avoid accidentally hurting the girl he loved. But it seemed the damsel in distress wanted to be away from him as soon as possible,judging by her clearly displeased reaction.
“Let go of me,Ivan!”
Mylene tried to push the huge stone monster away and break free from his hold but to no avail, Stoneheart didn’t even move a muscle or stone in this case. Most classmates had already fled the scene or hiding underneath their tables, not wanting to be exposed to the akumatized super villain.
“I’m not Ivan anymore.I’m Stoneheart.”
“Why are you doing this?”
So you and I can be together forever
Stoneheart lowered his volume and softly whispered since he finally noticed the petite girl’s worried face. He gently caressed it with one of his stone finger to calm his love down which wasn’t very effective considering how rough it was. He also loosened his grasp on the girl’s waist, careful without any intention to hurt her at all. This however didn’t go unnoticed by Mylene. Mylene was shocked to say the least. She watched the news, she saw how intimidating he was when facing strangers. Yet despite his low effort, the Stone monster was trying his best to not frighten her which if anything was quite touching to Mylene. Mylene was petrified of the monster,true, but she wasn’t afraid of Ivan at all. So his warm gesture reminded her of how Ivan used to treat her and his friends. Gentle and sweet.
“Daddy, the monster is back. Please send help at once!”
But as always, Chloe just had to be a killjoy and ruin the moment for one of her constant tantrums. She wasn’t very good at keeping her voice down. It was like she wasn’t even trying at all. This didn’t go unnoticed by everyone and obviously not Stoneheart. So with a scoop and some banging noises from the flipped chairs and tables, Chloe got captured as well.
“Aaaaaahhhh!!!”
The spoilt princess screamed in the highest pitch possible while moving around, refusing to take hostage. And then everything happened so quickly, it was just a blur.
Stoneheart smashed against a concrete wall with the two girls in his hands and jumped down from the building accompanied by wall scraps and dust contaminating the fresh air. All there’s left was nothing but echoing screams and shouts from the poor hostages.
_________________________________________________________________________
“You have no idea who you’re dealing with. My daddy, the mayor will bring in the police, the army, the entire Calvary.”
Chloe ranted to the stone monster non stop about the direct consequences for Stoneheart while blabbering about her father’s high status,etc. But with all due respect, nobody really gives a single fuck about what she said. Not just Stoneheart, even Mylene was getting bored and sick of her complaints. For a second, Stoneheart really considered just throwing her across the right then and there.
“Don’t forget the super hero,lady.”
Chat Noir jumped down and hit his silver pole on the big stone’s head with all his might. But it seemed he had completely forgotten about his lesson just yesterday. With every hit, Stoneheart will just grow bigger and stronger in size. Now, Stoneheart was twice as larger than he was before.
“Oops.”
“Super incompetent, you mean.”
“You’re not really helping,you know?”
Their bickering was interrupted as Stoneheart’s eyes flashed in a brighter color followed by his deep chuckle by the amusement of this pathetic hero. (Sir, didn’t you get beat up by the same pathetic hero just the day before?)
Before anyone could even question it, however, the ground started to shake rapidly followed by the rumbling noises coming from all different directions surrounding the young cat hero with the noise pollution.
“Don’t worry, my minions will keep you occupied.”
“Oh no.”
“Oh no indeed, you blockhead.”
“Chloe, just please stfu.”
_________________________________________________________________________
Different from a normal person would react, faces filled with panic and rushing to seek help, there’s an unordinary girl who seemed to be more thrilled than ever. She hurriedly grabbed her phone, taking pictures of Stoneheart’s back as he left the scene. Alya looked back as soon as he was out of sight, ready to explore the good news with her new friend, only to see her hiding behind a table.
“Come on,let’s follow him.”
“Oh no,you follow. I’ll go find a safe place to hide. Especially away from the lost control stone beast.”
“ But then you’re gonna miss Ladybug and Chat Noir in action.”
Alya tried to persuade her friend to come along with her to check out the epic fight that it was sure to occur any second now. Unbeknownst to Alya, Marinette actually had something else in mind. She looked back at Alya’s bag right next to her. The same bag that contained the ladybug miraculous was just at her reach. She reached out to grab it. She should give it back to Alya immediately but something was stopping her….why? Someone deep down in her heart was telling her to stop for this should be her miraculous and that she was chosen for a reason. That she should keep on believing in herself. It was tempting really but Marinette understood herself more than anyone. If she actually did take it back, all there’s left would be nothing but chaos…It’s better if she handed it to the rightful owner so Marinette made up her mind.
“Maybe you and Ladybug will be better off without me.”
“If you say so.”
Alya didn’t bother to think twice about Marinette’s speech and her gesture of handing her bag back to her. If she said it’s fine, then why wait? Without further ado, she stormed off and rushed towards where Stoneheart may appear to get her nice scoop of ‘tea’. Time is money, you can say.
“Wait,your bag!”
Marinette followed her close behind, also rushing towards where the akumatized villain may be.
_________________________________________________________________________
Chat Noir was struggling to keep up with these numerous villains all at the same time while fighting alone. Unlike Ladybug, he’s mostly more brawn than brains. He had the skills and charm of a superhero with the lack of clear plan strategy. But even if he did have higher intelligence, he couldn’t even be able to think throughly with all these Stonehearts attacking him in every corner. Another Stoneheart threw their punch at Chat Noir which Chat Noir successfully dodged by jumping but the one beside the previous Stoneheart tried to clap him in between. Chat Noir used his pole as support and bounced off far away from the duo only to meet eyes with another one.
“If you hear me Ladybug, I could use a little help right now!”
Chat Noir shouted out loud with a clearly triggered and exasperated voice. Triggered by the impatience of fighting alone that long with no progress in sight,exasperated by fighting alone for so long with no progress in sight. Sweats started to form on his forehead and his breathe hitched with his aching lungs. Oh well, at least his dad is rich enough to afford medical bills.
“Yeah, where is Ladybug?”
Just around the corner of a building very close to the fighting, a young blogger was recording a video with her phone in hand squatting behind a trash can , ready to capture the exclusive footage of the fighting and show it off to all her loyal viewers. But to her disappointment, her favorite heroine didn’t show up at all. She was nowhere in sight and it was obvious to see that the villains had the upper hand at the moment which of course was definitely not a good sign.
“Look out!”
Chat Noir’s voice sounded urgent and scared that made Alya finally snapped back to reality but the next thing that faced her was a white car coming straight towards her. Alya didn’t even have enough time to flee away from the incoming vehicle. The last thing she could do was to scream at the top of her lungs.
“Aaaahhhh!”
Thankfully, her scream was answered by Chat Noir’s pole that stopped the car from smashing towards the girl. However, that also led to a different problem, Chat Noir was now armless with no weapon in hand. He also noticed that the girl was still trapped and needed saving. Even though he tried to reach out to her as soon as possible, the monsters were one step ahead and caught him right between their fingers.
“Help!Somebody!”
Alya continued screaming as she watched her last hope of a superhero was captured by the Stone beast. She was left there stuck between a heavy car and the wall all by herself, left there to rot. She needed to escape quick! But there was no one that could save her now. It was only then did the realization struck her accompanied by the fear that she should have been aware of sooner. She was helpless, alone, and a goner.
Marinette was stunned by the sight before her. She had saw everything, how the car struck Alya, how Chat Noir tried to save her yet got caught as well and how Alya was in terrible danger right now. She needed to get help! Right now! But from who? There’s no one else except her. If nobody act soon, her new friend will die! She needed help! Someone reliable, someone trustworthy. Anyone will do! But no, she’s all alone with nobody to seek help to.No….She was wrong…….’she’ will help.
With no time to hesitate, she acted fast. She needed the miraculous, she needed to transform, she needed to save her friend, she needed to help Chat Noir, she needed to save Ivan, Chloe, Mylene as well. She needed to be Ladybug! But………
Where was the miraculous?
Marinette searched through the bag yet the hexagonal box was nowhere to be seen. But that’s impossible! She remembered putting it in Alya’s bag! If it’s not here, then where could it possibly be? Just right before Marinette started panicking, a voice called out from behind her that startled everyone.
“Woah, with that lousy parking, you’re gonna get a heavy fine!”
A swoosh of wind flew right by Marinette’s ear, blowing through her blue hair tips. The sudden wind surprised the girl and caused her to shut her eyes in reflex. The wind was soon followed by a few banging noises and Marinette could even determine that noises also included some quick footsteps.
Marinette blinked her eyes a few times, adjusting to the brightness when her sky blue pupils finally landed on the mysterious newcomer. The white car that was previously squashing Alya had been thrown to the side with Alya sitting on the ground looking up at the new superhero with wide eyes and dropped jaw. However, Alya still held her phone up high recording the super hero who had just saved her and now lending their hand out to pick them back up. Marinette’s reaction wasn’t any better at all, she was speechless and awkwardly standing in the middle of the street while taking in every detail of the new superhero that was far from her expectation.
The late comer wore a red skin tight suit with black spots with a pair of high heel zipper boots and a black belt with pockets to contain their yo yo. They dressed like Ladybug(Marinette) herself but they added a few more layers and accessories. They wore a opened black jacket with red spots(imagine Anti-bug’s outfit) that only which to the top of their stomach with rolled up sleeves. Followed by a pair of black leather gloves with small red spikes.
Their appearance was quite different than the previous Ladybug as well. Unlike Ladybug’s mask that showed off her diamond blue eyes while fighting, their eyes holes were fully covered with white like the ones you see in old versions of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, making their identity more of a mystery. They had short fluffy black wolf cut that goes to their shoulders with long strips of hair just loosely dangling out beside their faces but their hair inside and hair curtains were all wild cherry red, resembling their lipgloss color. The red lipgloss brought out their light skin tone just as light as Snow White and as beautiful as the fairest one of all. No one could determine the hero’s true gender due to their non gender specific appearance but either way, everyone could tell that this new hero was certainly a sight for sore eyes.
“Everything is going to be okay, I promise you.”
They flashed a reassuring grin at Alya and held her up gently before noticing the blue haired citizen. They looked back at her and spoke firmly with a mild-serious tone,” It’s too dangerous for you girls to be here. I’m deeply impressed by your courage but it will be better if you stay safe. Wouldn’t want another ‘traffic’ accident, you know?”
The hero threw the Ladybug yo yo and wrapped it around a street lamp and warned them, “ Stay safe,” before pulling themselves up and jumped around different buildings following the direction where Chat Noir had been dragged to, leaving the two teen girls alone with the same question in mind :
Who is this new hero?