Runaway 🌑 (A Miraculous Ladybug Fanfiction)

Chapter 17 | Clandestine Meetings and Longing Stares

Two Weeks, Four Days Later

"Lucky charm!" Ladybug raised her arm and threw her yo-yo, and it exploded in red and pink lights. A red-and-black spotted leaf blower fell in her arms.

The hero looked around and a plan immediately came to her. Cat Noir's belt and the storm cloud under Cloud Chaser's feet lit up.

"Cat Noir! Throw me your belt!" she shouted as she ran across the street.

The feline ignored her, dodging a gust of wind from the villain. He fell into a back flip and jumped to a lamppost.

"Cat Noir?!" Ladybug called out. "Hello?! Did you hear me?"

"Your voice is loud and annoying, how can I not hear you?" he shouted back, extending his baton, and he swished it through Cloud Chaser's arm, which grew back immediately.

She glared at him. "Oh, is this how it's going to be from now on? We can't even be civil to each other?"

"Look, I don't need your help defeating Cloud Chaser," Cat Noir said as he swing his baton into a shield. He looked over. "I can do this on my own."

"Oh, really?" Ladybug nodded to herself and stepped back, taking a seat on a park bench. "By all means, great hero! Defeat Cloud Chaser without me! I'll just be waiting to fix everything."

"Whatever you want to do, Ladybug." Cat Noir raced back into battle towards Cloud Chaser.

"Ugh!" Ladybug punched the metal next to her and crossed her arms. "Stupid cat! He's not going to defeat this villain without me!"

Two women walking their dogs passed her on the sidewalk, stopping to give her a nasty look. They glanced at Cat Noir, fighting, and back at Ladybug, doing nothing.

"Aren't you going to do something, missy?" the older woman asked as she tipped her sunglasses down to look her in the eye. "Superheroes don't just sit on their ass and do nothing."

"Well, this one does," Ladybug countered, leaning back, and crossed her legs. "This city doesn't even like me! Why should I care?"

The younger woman gasped. "Oh, I swear! This generation is so entitled! Too lazy to work, too lazy to contribute anything to society." She grabbed her phone from her purse, and took a picture of the hero.

Ladybug sighed and shifted her body, turning away from the entitled women.

"How rude!"

"Ma'am, I've been a superhero, protecting this city for four years now," the red-and-black hero said. "I think I deserve a break at least once."

"You're no hero!" the older woman stated as she pointed at the bug's partner. "That right there is—Cat Noir! The one actually doing something."

Ladybug rolled her eyes.

"Did you just roll your eyes at me?"

"You know, I recognize you," the bug said as she stood up. "Last week, you were at that Anti-Ladybug parade in the park. Yeah, what was it you did? Got on stage and threw axes at a picture of my face?"

"I... I..." the older woman fell silent, embarrassed.

"And that speech you made about me," Ladybug continued. "Saying I was incompetent, worthless, a good-for-nothing girl. You wanted me gone, and now you're begging me to fight and protect a city, the same very city you want me exiled from? Make that make sense, lady."

The younger woman grabbed her sister's hand. "Come on, Janet. We don't need to take this. Let's go."

Ladybug raised her arm and waved, then flipped them off before sitting back down at the park bench.