A Snap in Time

Chapter 4 (Marinette)

"Marinette, wait." Tikki flew out of Marinette's bag and paused in front of her face.

"What's wrong Tikki? I need to get to Luka."

"I know, I just, I feel him!"

"Who?" Marinette asked the small red blob.

"Plagg, I can feel his closeness, I think ... I think he might have transformed."

Marinette stopped in the locker room and sat down on the bench located in the middle of the rows.

"What does that mean?"

"Did you see the new boy today?" Tikki asked. Even though she had no idea who he was, there was something so familiar about him, something she couldn't quite put her finger on.

"Who? The boy at the back of the class? Yeah, I saw him, why?"

"Todays been an interesting day so far and now this new boy shows up and Plagg. Seriously Marinette, I feel like Plagg is here. In this school, it all just seems a little too coincidental."

Marinette considered her kwami's words, and yes, things were a little different today, and she would be lying if she didn't find the new boy curious. She was too busy telling the guys about her date the previous night with Luka that she'd only given him a brief glance.

But those eyes!

Those eyes were something out of a dream. She'd never seen green eyes quite like that before. They reminded her of Felix Graham de Vanily, she'd only ever seen them in pictures but they had been forever embedded in her mind.

"We can figure this out later, Tikki, but for now I need to go and fight the akuma. Luka will be waiting for me."

Tikki wiggled around full of unease.

"It doesn't feel right, Marinette, please be careful." The last thing Tikki saw before being pulled into Marinette's earrings was a very brief nod of her holder's head.

Finally in her super suit, Marinette took a moment to stabilize herself. She felt weird, her nerves were on edge and her stomach was churning with a sick feeling. She was unable to comprehend why.

Taking a deep breath she launched herself out of the window and towards where she knew the akuma was, stopping short when she saw it was a man flying like a pigeon.

"Is everyone cleared from the school?" Viperion landed beside her, Lyre in hands, and looked out at the scene.

"Your sister's fine." Ladybug said, feeling an unusual unease at the interaction with her partner. It made her feel cold, a coldness she'd never experienced before. She liked how professional they were, a battle always consisted of the following; they sat, considered their options, planned and then attacked. Simple. It worked, and most of the time they were done within three hours.

But today, something wasn't right. Something or someone felt missing from their usual superhero party.

"You ok?" Viperion wrapped an arm around Ladybug's waist and pulled her close, feeling the tension in her body.

"I don't know, I really don't know."

Before Viperion could say anything else, a black shadow appeared over them, landing in a crouch in front before standing to an incredible tall height.

"M'Lady, Snake boy." The black cat announced in greeting.

Marinette felt her heartbeat hard in her chest only increasing as she looked into his vibrant green eyes. So caught up in this new male in front of her, she missed the movements of her boyfriend as he launched himself at the newcomer.

"She's not your lady." Marinette had never heard Luka so terrifying with his words. She flinched back at the interaction..

"Bugaboo," the cat spoke again, aiming the conversation towards her, "tell him. We're partners. The unstoppable team."

Another stirring feeling spiralled in Marinette's stomach and the need to vomit came over her. She felt sick.

"I - um - who are you?" Her words were soft and quiet, nothing like the superhero she was. She looked into his eyes willing herself to place a name to the suited hero, but she couldn't even start to think of an idea.

Black cat?

Kitty carnage?

Chaton?

The cat?

Nothing matched him, nothing worked, but she needed to know his name. She wanted to know his name.

"She doesn't know who you are," Viperion spat out, "so give the lady some respect and call her by her real name."

She watched the eyes of the cat glaze over. Someone who appeared to be confident and arrogant seemed everything not. The need to hug him intensely hit her, she felt drawn towards him, to do everything in her power to make it right.

"You're either with us, or against us." Viperion spoke again.

The black cat nodded and crouched down in front of them.

"Right," Ladybug said, shaking herself out of it, "we need to think how we're going to do this. We need to find the akuma and take it from -"

"It's in the bird's call around his neck. Use your lucky charm to help us trap him then I can use my cata-"

"Woah, hold up! Newbie can't come with us. We don't even know if he's on our side." Ladybug flinched at the harsh tone.

"It's for me to decide that," Ladybug said, "what's your power?"

"Cataclysm, it'll destroy pretty much anything I touch when it's activated. It's why I work so well with you, creation and destruction, the yin and the yang." Ladybug felt the cold feeling evaporate as she listened to him speak. There was something there, something more she needed to know about this boy in front of her.

"Tell me what you know," she said, marvelling at the bright smile taking over their new team members face.

"You've got to be kidding me. You're going to trust him, we don't even know where he came from."

"I do trust him, my gut tells me I can."

Viperion looked between Ladybug and the black cat before turning back to his girlfriend.

"It's me or him," Viperion said, waiting impatiently for Ladybug to answer.