Burrow to the Past

Chapter 1

"Haaah, finally," Shadowmoth exhaled and looked at the defeated superheroes laying at his feet. "After all these years I have finally defeated my greatest enemies. Who knew that it would be so easy." Ladybug and Cat Noir laid on the cold concrete of Paris' streets, not far from the Agreste villa, their hands and feet tied with thin strings. Normally these could never constrain them, but they were out of luck - quite literally.

"If it would've been easy you wouldn't have needed more than ten years to do it, you devious little insect-bird!" Cat Noir growled. There was still a fighting spirit in him. He wouldn't go down so easily.

"I suppose you're right. But still, this bird just caught the cat. How ironic." Shadowmoth twirled his staff in triumph, his akumatized villain bowing as he passed them. She called herself Lady Luck, her lips and glasses black, her eyes as dark as her akumatized heart. She wore a onesie that was the opposite pattern of Ladybug's, black with red big dots.

"We will never let you win. It's not over yet!" Ladybug said, trying to sit up. But to no luck. She fell straight down again, her hands bruising from the rough asphalt.

"Oh, but it is. You lost and now it's time for me to make my wish." Shadowmoth crouched down, letting his fingers slide across Ladybug's cheek towards her ear as a malicious and triumphant grin grew across his face. With a quick motion he took off Ladybug's earrings, revealing her true identity.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng?" Shadowmoth seemed surprised but managed to regain his posture within a couple of seconds.

Unlike Cat Noir who stared at Marinette, disbelief painted on his face, before whispering three simple words. "It is you."

"What do you mean it is me?" The young woman turned towards the superhero next to her. "You knew?"

His eyes were big and round, his slit-like pupils widened to little black universes. "I didn't believe you when you told me. I thought you were joking."
"What are you talking about? I never told you my secret identity! You know how dangerous that would have been. I don't even know yours and I'm the Guardian."

"Of course you know who I am. After all you were the one who approached me, M'Lady. But if you were telling the truth about you and you know who I am then...", he looked up to Shadowmoth, "father?"

Marinette still stared at Cat Noir. "You know who Shadowmoth is?!"

"Of course, my little croissant," he smiled sweetly and lovingly. This wasn't a gaze she got from Cat Noir anymore. Sure seven years ago he had still flirted with her, but she was a married woman now and she had set strict borders he didn't dare to cross. Normally. "You were the one who told me."

"Why are you calling me 'croissant'?" Marinette asked angrily. Confusion seeped into her thoughts and began to twirl her worldview while the puzzle pieces in her head slowly but surely fell into place. Blonde hair. The nickname. "The only one who calls me stupidly fun pastry nicknames is my husband."

Cat Noir nodded. "I know. Plagg, claws in."

Marinette watched in disbelief as Cat Noir detransformed. She couldn't even protest it because his actions took her by surprise. It was as if everything was happening in slow motion. His superhero suit disappeared and after what felt like an eternity his mask vanished into thin air. Plagg plopped on the ground, hungry and without power.

The only thing on Marinette's mind as soon as she saw those well-known green eyes was that this couldn't be possible. Surely she would have noticed if her husband, Adrien Dupain-Cheng, was Cat Noir. But there he sat, bound by his hands and feet the same way she was, smiling sweetly and sadly.