the next holders//mlb fanfiction

29//Rune

That night, El can't seem to find sleep. She doesn't understand why though, she just can't. Her mom went to bed already, too, she isn't sure what time it is. She guesses it's around midnight, maybe a bit later. For some reason her thoughts keep going back to earlier today. After she promised herself she'd help Rune, she went up to talk to Autumn. However, Autumn shrugged it off rather fast, as if she didn't really care. El thought it was weird, Autumn usually isn't like that.

El picks up her phone to check the time when she notices a missed text from Autumn.

'u up?'

El takes a while before opening it, questioning whether she wants to respond or ignore it.

'yea' she eventually responds.

'can't sleep?' El sends a second message almost immediately.

'no'

A long pause follows in which they both stare at their screen without sending a message.

'something wrong?' El then asks, she hates talking through a screen, she never knows what the other is thinking.

'idk.' Autumn responds, following with 'yes' almost immediately, but then stays quiet.

'what is it?'

'you won't like my answer.'

'just say it'
'I don't like you staying quiet either'

Autumn types for 3 whole minutes, but sends only 'Rune.' in the end.

'what about her?'

'I can't explain why, but there's something about him I don't trust. I just can't put my finger on it.'

'maybe they're just a bit shy at first, we don't even know why they moved here. maybe he doesn't want to talk about it with people he doesn't know'

'I told you you wouldn't like my answer'

'can't you at least try to give her a chance?'

nothing gets sent for another minute.

'sure'

El starts smiling, even though Autumn can't see that through her screen.

'thanks' El responds, Autumn doesn't read the message.

'see you tomorrow' El adds.

'yea.'

The next day at school, El tries talking to Rune again, and fails again. Autumn is there to encourage her to try again. And again. And again. It doesn't work, Rune is too distant and won't open up. About a week later, when El sits down next to Rune during their lunch break, Rune doesn't bother to scold El or walk away for once. They just sit in silence, eating their lunches together. The next three days they sit together, too, but don't exchange a single word with each other. Then, during their lunch on Friday, Rune finally talks to El. It's more of a question.

"Why do you sit with me during lunch?"

El looks up, surprised by the fact that Rune actually talked to her.

"You seem like a nice person." El answers.

Rune looks at their feet, thinks for a few seconds and answers with a simple "Okay." Then he continues eating his lunch like before.

El doesn't continue their conversation after that and once the school bell rings, they both get back to classes.

During their maths class, when Autumn was trying to help El understand the problem, an akuma alarm went off.

El packs her stuff quickly and leaves the classroom right after Autumn does.

Their alter egos meet each other on top of the school. They can see the villain from there, even though it's several blocks away. It looks like some sort of giant, destroying everything in its path.

"You ready, big bug?"

"Always, little kitten."

The two heroes take off. They use their attacks form different angles, hitting it in different places, but it doesn't seem to notice the heroes presence.

"Cataclysm." Lady Noire says, ready to see if the villain will notice that attack, but Ladybug stops her.

"Don't, we might need your cataclysm later. Let's first find out where the akuma is, that might be easiest if we go unnoticed." Lady Noire nods and starts looking for a possible akumatised object, but can't find any. Ladybug doesn't have luck finding it either.

"Lucky charm." Ladybug says, hoping it will help her in some way.

A mannequin falls down.

Ladybug scans the area but can't find a way to use her lucky charm. Lady Noire notices this "Take ur time, I'll keep searching for the akuma." Ladybug nods, continuing scanning the area.

"You already destroyed my bullies, why are you still mad? Please don't hurt anyone else!" They suddenly hear a voice, it belongs to a young boy, who's standing in front of the giant. The Giant notices the boy, which confuses the heroes as he didn't notice them, but decides to worry about that later.

As the giant tries to grab the boy, Lady Noire jumps in front of the boy, causing to get grabbed herself. Ladybug notices this and sees the giant trying to grab the boy with his other hand. Ladybug jumps in front of the boy, throws the mannequin in the giant's hand and carries the shaking boy.

"I'll be right back." She promises Lady Noire as she swings past her. Lady Noire smiles, trusting Ladybug knows what she's doing.

"What's your name?" Ladybug asks the boy after she finds a temporarily safe space for them to hide.

"Thomas." The little boy stutters.

"It's nice to meet you, Thomas. It seemed like you knew who that was, could you tell me, it might help us bring him back to you."

"He's my friend. I got bullied because I couldn't speak in front of a crowd. They threw stuff at me and he got really mad. He threw some stuff back but then his body was covered in purple fluid and-" the boy stutters again, his eyes filling with tears.

"It's fine, you don't have to explain all of that to me. Do you have any idea where the akuma went? Something important to him that he still has on him still?" The boy shakes his head.

Ladybug thinks for a while "the stuff he threw, do you know where it is?" she then asks, thinking the akumatised object could be in that.

"I'm not sure, he crushed a lot of things on his way. But it should be at the school." The boy says, pointing his finger in the direction of the school.

"Could you try to find it for me? I have to make sure your friend doesn't hurt anyone else. When you see it, just break it." Ladybug asks, the boy nods hesitantly, but starts running towards the school anyway. Ladybug goes back to the villain. She knows Lady Noire could detransform any moment now, meaning she has to be there to catch the victim in case Lady Noire has to make a run for it.

"Do you know where the akuma is?" Lady Noire asks Ladybug, her miraculous beeped some time ago, she'll probably detransform in between now and the next thirty seconds.

"Everything will be fine. That small boy we saw before will release the akuma any second now. When he does, you immediately hide so you can detransform, I'll handle the rest myself." Ladybug informs her partner. Lady Noire nods, knowing that's the only way to keep her identity hidden.

A few seconds later, the purple fluid covers the giant's body, then disappears. A small boy falls down from the air. Ladybug catches him while Lady Noire extends her stick and takes off. Ladybug puts the boy down, tells him she'll be right back, and leaves for the school to purify the akuma and thank Thomas.

She does so, she even takes Thomas with her on a short trip through the air. There, she throws the mannequin in the air to restore everything and watches as the two boys are reunited. When her miraculous beeps, she decides she should go, too. She tells the boys goodbye and leaves for school.