Miraclebound | Miraculous Guardians Book 2

Chapter 4: Dark Visions and Hidden Truths

The darkness clouding his brain was deafening.

Almost as deafening as the screams of terror exploding from Ladybug's mouth as he rushed her, swinging his gigantic wand and summoning another ensnaring bubble at the girl. Chat tried to intervene, but he was far too distant to redirect the attack or do anything other than just stand there and cry out a fruitless warning.

"THIS IS FOR LYING TO ME, LADYBUG!" he heard himself yell, the anger pulsing through his veins, though he could not recall what he was angry about. "FOR EVERYONE LYING TO ME!"

"Nino, STOP!" Ladybug yelled, vaulting over the bubble, swinging her yoyo hesitantly, fear--or were those tears--glistening in her eyes. "This isn't you! Fight back! You can beat this!"

"NO, I CAN'T!" The words erupted from his mouth once again in a furious snarl that sounded a lot more like a dog than a human. "I CAN'T BEAT HIM! HE'S--HE'S EVERYWHERE! IN MY HEAD! IN MY BRAIN! CONSTANTLY! I CAN'T...GET AWAY! AND--IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!"

"NO! NINO, DON'T--" Ladybug's screams were cut off abruptly as he swung a second bubble at her and it made contact.

"LADYBUG!" Chat's strangled shrieks were interrupted as Nino whipped around and blasted him from existence as well.

All the while, the cold laugh echoed through his brain, rebounding like a drum against his skull. In an instant, he could see Hawkmoth standing before him, grinning evilly. Nino gasped, trying to stumble away but finding his body unresponsive. There was a flash of lightning and Hawkmoth disappeared, only to be replaced with Gabriel Agreste. Nino opened his mouth to scream, but no sound came out. A moment later, Hawkmoth was back and so was the wicked smile, a look of pure malice and evil.

"I'll find you, Carapace," the man spoke, his voice as cold and as evil as it had ever been. "No matter where you run, no matter where you hide, I will find you."

A huge swarm of butterflies rose from behind the villain and dove for him. Nino let out another silent scream as he was pelted from all sides by razor-sharp wings...

...and then he was gone.

"LADYBUG!" he shrieked at the top of his lungs, eyes shooting open and adrenaline rocketing him to his feet so quickly that both his hat and his glasses went flying, the latter dropping lopsidedly off of his nose and the former hitting the desk before him. He was panting so heavily that he barely felt his hands reach out to grasp the table desperately or heard the startled exclamation from Adrien who had promptly (and with cat-like reflexes) sprang away the moment Nino had decided to announce his return to sanity.

"Welcome back, Nino," Ms. Bustier sighed, frowning slightly from her position near the chalkboard, pointer extended to explain something she'd written. "I trust you had a pleasant time fantasying Paris' beloved superheroine and are now ready to focus on today's lecture?"

Nino's face burned as roars of laughter erupted all around him and he couldn't make himself turn to see Marinette's expression--or even Adrien's for that matter. Fixing his glasses and cap, he sunk embarrassedly into his seat, moodily brushing off Adrien's attempt at a comforting gesture and folding his arms grumpily.

"Hey, man, you okay?" the blond whispered out of the corner of his mouth the moment Madame Bustier's back was turned.

"I'm fine," Nino answered through clenched teeth. "Just a nightmare, that's all."

"Some nightmare!" Alya butted in, leaning up to invade their personal bubble. "I've had nightmares and none of them have ever resulted in me waking up screaming Chat Noir's name before!"