Miraculous Ladybug - Confessions Part 2

Miraculous Ladybug – Confessions Part 2

“Cataclysm!” Chat Noir called upon his special ability to destroy anything he touches.  Bringing his hand around to the tree that he was trapped against by one of Ice Queen’s rings of ice, the tree started to rot and crumble.  By leaps and bounds he quickly made it to Ladybug’s side before Ice Queen, who screamed with rage behind him.  The last black spot on Ladybug’s red miraculous earrings started to blink, indicating that she would soon be transformed back into her normal self.  

“Let’s get you out of here, milady,” Chat Noir spoke in a gentle tone as he scooped Ladybug up into his arms and took off at an unimaginable speed to take her somewhere safe.  It wasn’t until the sudden appearance of Ladybug’s Kwami that he came to a stop.  This was it, with a simple downward glance, he would know the true identity of the girl that he loved.

“Stop!  Don’t look!”  Ladybug’s kwami yelled to him as she frantically flew in front of his face.  She put her tiny hands on his nose, forcing him to go cross eyed by being so close.  “You can’t look, Chat Noir!”

“I… I won’t,” Chat Noir replied, blinking his eyes back into focus.  He wasn’t surprised by her appearance, being that he had a kwami himself.  This was his first-time meeting Ladybug’s kwami, though.  “Is she alright?” he asked about the mysterious girl in his arms.

“Don’t look!” the kwami warned one more time before flying down to pat Marinette’s face.

“T… Tikki?”  Marinette moaned with confusion before looking to see who was holding her.  “Cha… Chat Noir!” she squeaked in surprise and threw her arms around his neck to hide her face against his shoulder.  Having accidently knocked Tikki out of the air, the little kwami landed in Marinette’s lap when Chat Noir adjusted their position.

“I’m not looking… I haven’t seen anything,” Chat Noir spoke, flustered over the situation that he was in.  Unsure of how much more his heart could take, he carried her into an alley way, where he bent to one knee.  “I’m going to put you down.  Don’t worry, my eyes are closed.”  After gently setting her on the ground, he quickly stood back up and turned around.

“Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty…,” came Ice Queen’s voice from the distance.

“I’ll keep her distracted,” Chat Noir started to say as he pulled something out of a hidden pocket.  Marinette wrinkled her nose at a sudden strong odor.  “Tikki,” he addressed Ladybug’s kwami and held his hand out to the side with a piece of camembert cheese.  “I’m sorry it’s all I have.  It’s the only thing that Plagg will eat.”  Having referred to his own kwami by name, and knowing that the kwamis needed to eat in order to have the strength to transform them into their superhero alter egos, he offered it to her before leaving to lead Ice Queen away.  

“T… Tikki, did he see my identity?” Marinette asked back in the alley.

“I don’t think so,” TikKi shook her head and gave a nasally reply as she plugged her nose.  Not being one to complain, the ladybug kwami silently wondered how anyone could eat this stuff. Before losing her resolve to eat she shoved the cheese into her mouth with as few gulps as she could to finish it off.  

“Tikki, Spots on!”  Marinette called just as soon as Tikki seemed ready.  She was anxious to jump back into battle.  It looked like Chat Noir had successfully evacuated the area of civilians and she arrived just in time to watch Ice Queen jump with the intention to send a blade attack at him.  

“Chat Noir, break her skates!” Marinette, now in her alter-ego form as Ladybug, instructed.

Chat Noir was already prepared for action and threw his staff at the appropriate angle to slip between the blade and shoe of her skate.  Rolling under Ice Queen to dodge her attack, Chat Noir grabbed hold of his staff from where it stuck out from her skate, and twisted.  The action threw her off course and Ice Queen came crashing down onto the solid ground.  With her ice skate now cracked, the akuma was released.  

“No more evil doing for you, little akuma!” Ladybug stepped in, swinging her magical yo-yo to catch the little black moth.  “Time to De-evilise!”  

When the akuma was turned back into it’s original white color, Ladybug bid it goodbye.  Not having used the lucky charm that she had previously called upon, a red and black spotted jar, she threw it into the air calling out, “Miraculous Ladybug,” to magically restore all of the damage that had been previously done in the battle.  A very confused Claudette Dubois sat where her alter-ego supervillain form, Ice Queen, had landed after Chat Noir’s attack, appearing to be completely unharmed.

Relieved that it was over, Ladybug turned out of reflex to bump fists with Chat Noir as they did after every encounter that they had won.  However, Chat Noir didn’t raise his fist to hers in return.  Rather, he stared at her in contemplation.  At her look of concern, he offered a charming smile.  Before either could react, his disguise started to dissipate.

“Looks like the cats out of the bag,” Adrien said with a nervous laugh as he raised a hand to scratch the back of his head.  He watched as Ladybug’s stare changed from one of shock, to disbelief, and her cheeks turned red before she suddenly ran away without a word.

~*~*~*~*~*~

The next morning, Marinette refused to get out of bed.  She’d hardly slept at all after returning home.  Of course, the incident at the arena had been all over the news.  Her parents had been relieved to see her, but were worried that Adrien hadn’t brought her home.  She simply explained that they had become separated during the commotion.  Feigning being tired, she’d dodged their questions and had gone straight to bed.  Her beloved crush, Adrien, was Chat Noir…  How could that be?  How had she missed the signs?  All this time that she’d been fighting as Ladybug, Adrien had been by her side as Chat Noir… It all confused her.  Adrien and Chat Noir were nothing alike.  Chat Noir was an uncontrollable flirt…  Adrien was a gentleman.  As Marinette, she could hardly speak properly in Adrien’s presence.  How could she continue her leadership role as Ladybug in their superhero duo knowing that Chat Noir is Adrien?  

A knock on her door startled her and she pulled the blankets over her head with a moan.  Soon her father’s deep and gentle voice filled her ears as he entered her room.  “Adrien stopped by last night after you had already gone to bed,” he said after sitting on the edge of bed.  “He was relieved that you had made it home on your own and apologized for having become separated from you.”  After a short pause, as if expecting her to respond, he continued.  “He seems like a respectable enough young man, but if he did anything to you…”

Hearing the threatening tone in her father’s voice, Marinette sat up suddenly to cut off his thoughts before he could put them into words.  “No, dad!  Adrien didn’t do anything!  He was trying to evacuate everyone to safety and we got separated.  I’m just…  not feeling well.  Last night was…  really scary.  Can I please just stay home?”

Mr. Dupain stared at his daughter, full of concern, before bringing a large hand up to gently caress her cheek.  He could tell how shaken she was by last nights events, though he wouldn’t know the full truth behind her distress.  “Alright,  I’ll call the school and let them know you’ll return on Monday.”

Thank goodness it was Friday, Marinette thought.  It meant she wouldn’t have to face Adrien for three whole days.

Or so she hoped.

That did not mean, however, that she wouldn’t see Alya just as soon as School was over.  

“Come on, girl, you can talk to me,” Alya insisted after Marinette continued to sit on her bed looking down heartened.

Marinette just shook her head.  “Alya, I can’t…  I’m sorry.”

Being the clever girl that she was, Alya quickly concluded that this didn’t have anything to do with the attack at the Arena.  At least, not directly.  “You know, I wish I had been there!  I could have gotten some amazing footage for my Ladyblog.”  Marinette’s lack of interest in the subject confirmed her suspicions and Alya continued.  “It’s about Adrien, isn’t it?”

“What?  No!  I mean…  Why would you think that?”

Alya gave her friend a knowing smirk.  “Because Adrien wasn’t himself at school, today.”

“He…  He wasn’t?” Marinette tried not to act too interested, but of course her best friend saw right  
through her.

“Of course, Chloe kept going on and on about how cool Ladybug was when she was taking on the Ice Queen, but rather then respond Adrien seemed really distracted.  I mean, I know he likes Ladybug and all, but…”

Before Alya could finish her sentence, Marinette suddenly cut her off.  “What if Adrien found out Ladybug’s identity?  Do you think he’d still like her?”

Taken back for a moment, a thought come to Alya’s mind and she eyed her friend with presumption.  “You think that Adrien won’t like you?”  Alya drew closer to and put her hands on both of Marinette’s shoulders.  “Don’t be silly, you can’t give up like that!  Who knows who Ladybug is and what are the chances of Adrien figuring it out?  Besides…  that’s like…  a celebrity crush!  What are the chances of you ever meeting or having your celebrity crush falling in love with you?”

Alya meant well, of course, and Marinette understood her point, but.  “um, Alya…  Adrien is my celebrity crush.”  Marinette reminded her.  True he wasn’t a superhero like Ladybug, but he was a famous model.  But then again, no, he was a superhero, too.  He was Chat Noir.  Dejected, Marinette hung her head.  It was all getting confusing.  What if Adrien found out that she was Ladybug, and was disappointed that Ladybug wasn’t someone else?  She couldn’t explain that to Alya, because Alya didn’t know that she was Ladybug.

“You know what you need?” Alya decided it was time to change the subject.  “You need to get dressed so that we can go out and have some fun,” she suggested.  “Let’s get your mind off things!”

~*~*~*~*~*~

After quickly washing up and getting ready, Marinette found herself being dragged out the door.  “Don’t worry, Mr. Dupain and Mrs. Cheng.  I’ll take care of her!” Alya told her parents in passing.  

“Alya, where are we going?” Marinette wondered out loud.

“I thought we’d go to the movies!  There’s a new one out that looks really interesting!”  

With that, Marinette soon found herself at the theater.  It was easy to soon forget about her worries, having a night out with a friend.  The movie was a romantic comedy that left Marinette feeling oddly hopeful.  She concluded that she’d just have to make sure to keep her identity as Ladybug a secret until she’d made Adrien fall so much in love with her as Marinette that he didn’t need Ladybug anymore.  

As she and Alya walked out of the theater, chatting lively about ideas for their future romances, Marinette explained her thoughts.  “So if I can make him fall deeply in love with me, then he’ll forget about Ladybug, right?”

“Of course!  That’s the spirit!  I believe you can do it! But first, we have to get you to the point where you can speak with him.”

At Alya’s reminder over her communication problems, Marinette sighed.  “That’s true…  but hoooowwwwww….”  

Marinette’s sentence was extended into a scream as she suddenly found herself being swept away, off her feet, at an unbelievable speed.  

“Watch out!  Are you okay?  Hold on to me and I’ll get you somewhere safe!”  

Marinette looked in surprise at her captor…  or presumed rescuer.  “Adrien!”  She cried in shock, quickly covering her mouth as if to take back what she had said.  It wasn’t Adrien, it was Chat Noir…  whose identity was supposed to be a secret from her, as Marinette.

After setting Marinette to her feet, Chat Noir looked at her quizzically.  “Who did you call me?”

“Oh…  uh…  Sorry.  I mistook you for a boy in my class…  I didn’t mean to.  It’s just that…,” Marinette stammered before thinking to herself.  Come on, girl…  get yourself together.  You can do this…  “Wait, Alya!  Where’s Alya?  What’s going on, Chat Noir?  We have to save Alya!”

“We?”  Chat Noir looked at her in surprise.  “You should stay here where it’s safe, milady,” he picked up her hand and kissed the back of it.  “I’ll go find Alya.”

Blushing a deep crimson, Marinette pulled her hand away.  “Why are you such a flirt!  I thought you liked Ladybug!”

Taken back by Marinette’s sudden assertiveness and reminded of his precious Ladybug at the same time, Chat Noir smiled.  “Of course I do.  But she’s not here right now.”

“So that makes it okay to flirt with me?”  Marinette spoke up without hesitation, only to become annoyed when Chat Noir continued to smile at her.  “Don’t you think she’d be upset over how much you flirt?  Adrien isn’t like that at all!”  Marinette once again covered a hand over her mouth and turned away from him.

“I wonder what’s taking her so long?” Chat Noir started to say, waiting a moment for Marinette’s response.  When it didn’t come, though, he continued.  “Ladybug is late…  I wonder what is taking her so long.  I can’t do this alone.”

“Well why don’t you go find her then?  Maybe she’s already saving Alya.”

“Hmm?  Maybe?”  Chat Noir started to say…  but he couldn’t help but wonder.  “So, you like Adrien?  Did you know that Ladybug likes Adrien Agreste, too?  She was really worried about him last night at the arena.”

At his words, Marinette’s back stiffened.  It was slight, but Chat Noir noticed the change in her posture.  “Why are you telling me this?”

“You know, she’s my partner, and I need her.  It doesn’t matter to me who she truly is.  Whoever she is, I’ll still love her.  Wouldn’t it make our partnership easier if we knew one another’s identities?  I wouldn’t have to worry like this until she shows up, because she’d always be by my side.”

Marinette slowly turned to face him.  What should she do?  She wanted to be mad at him.  He was a flirt after all.  But, wasn’t it always herself who he flirted with…  As Ladybug or as Marinette.  Did it matter?  And why must they keep their identities secret from each other?  Besides, they were wasting time like this, Alya could be in trouble…  

Chat Noir could see the resolve in her eyes and his faith grew that he was right about her identity.  “Let’s go, milady,” he said with confidence, offering his hand for her to take.

“Tikki, Spots on!”