A second chance ~to make things right~

Are you Single?

Marinette Dupain-Cheng Pov

Shortly after that draining conversation, as her grandfather had said, she was escorted to a room to lay rest for the time being. "My lord said to give you this. It has all your memory and contacts from your previous phone." the kind maid said. "It's better to not dwell on how they got the data in the first place. Ignorance is bliss as they say." the maid, Bianca, said before walking out. 

Marinette groaned as she lay on the bed, that was surprisingly comfortable. The conversation she had with her actual grandfather was quite draining. "Don't worry Marinette, everything will be alright." Tikki tried to reassure her. "Tikki, in a span of 3 hours, I just learnt I'm adopted, and told a complete stranger who turned out to be my grandfather about the miraculous." Marinette explained tiredly.  

"Look on the bright side. It seems as though he's a helpful and kind person. Someone, you could trust." Tikki reasoned. "I don't trust adults. He's probably going to plan something to make me do his bidding" Marinette said.  Marinette would have been happy at the news a long while ago, but she sighed. The weight of the situation she was in was too much for her to be happy. 

"I think I'll take a nap now. While I still have a chance. Wake me up if someone enters." Marinette said before falling into a dreamless sleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Gabriel Agreste Pov

It seemed as though Gabriel Agreste had been having deja vu more and more. Was this an effect of the miraculous, he would ask himself, getting lost in thought. Whatever it may be, he was to use this newly acquired information to get ahead of Ladybug once and for all. 

"Nightshade, I am Hawkmoth. You've been taunted for being afraid of the dark. I am giving you the power to put everyone in an eternal darkness that you so feared. I only ask that you give me Ladybug and Chat Noir's miraculous." he said to his latest victim

"The eternal darkness shall reign supreme." the akuma answered in reply. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Alya Cesaire Pov

"Good afternoon my little ladybugs. Guess what? We have a special guest with us today. The one, the only Lila Rossi! A.K.A My BFF!" Alya proclaimed while streaming on her blog. She started reading the comments, only to find negative feedback, so she disabled the chat. "Thank you for having me." Lila said sweetly. "So Lila, what amazing trips have you been on this time?" Alya questioned. "Well, I met Prince Ali again and-" Lila was cut off with a large boom.

Alya ran to the windows of the class, still live streaming, and saw an akuma run past the school. "An akuma attack!?" she exclaimed before running out of class despite the yells from her classmates to stop. The akuma was just up the street, destroying everything in it's wake. She hid herself before angling her phone to where the akuma was, only to find him missing. 

"Eternal darkness shall remain supreme!" the akuma yelled from behind her. His arm grazed her lower arm. Alya froze as her surroundings turned into nothing but darkness. "Hello?" she called out, to no answer. She felt cold in this endless abyss, as if something was lurking in the shadows, taunting her. "Hello?!" she screamed as she grew frantic. 

The whisperings grew louder, and taunted her. Mocked her very being. 

~*~*~*~*~

Alya's classmates watched in horror as she crumbled into nothing but ashes and a shadow like form appeared in her place. It was inky black and seemed to have fangs protruding out of it's face. And claws as sharp as knives. "Is she?..." Mylene questioned, holding back tears. Ivan tried comforting her, but was also distraught. The creature started rampaging, destroying everything in it's wake. It bit innocent bystanders, and the class watched in growing horror as they too took on a nightmarish transformation. It spread like some sort of disease. Adrien took this panic as an opportunity to try and slip out to transform. Read: Try. "Oh Adrien! I'm scared. Won't you keep me company?" Lila questioned, backing him into a corner. Adrien had no choice but to stay, the stares of his classmates pressuring him into agreeing. 

'Ladybug come soon,' was everyone's thought, as they barricaded the door, hoping the akuma wouldn't come for them.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Grandpa George Pov

"My Lord, it seems as though this Hawkmoth has been terrorizing Paris for quite some time now. From the timeline we've created, it seems as though he started around when your granddaughter was around 13 years old. Meaning, it'll soon be 3 years since he's started his reign." One of the researchers said, as they were conversing in his office. 

"I see, and is there anything strange about the battles?" George questioned. "Well, it seems as though Ladybug, one of the Parisian heroes, is able to reverse all the damage that happened during the battle. Even death." the man finished quietly. A heavy atmosphere appeared, as those final words sunk in. 

"It makes sense now." one of the other men mumbled, hoping to diffuse the situation. George raised his eyebrow in question egging him on to continue. "Well, you see. In recent years, trips to Paris have grown increasingly pricey, but not enough to raise much attention. We rarely get to see adverts about Paris, which must mean that the Parisian government is doing this to limit the amount of people that enter Paris. Perhaps it's to save face as well. Paris is a tourist city, so if word got out of a terrorist, revenue would drop almost instantly." he concluded. 

The room erupted into mumbling, everyone trying to voice in their thoughts on the whole situation.  George, having enough information, stood. The room immediately quieted, waited for their next order with baited breath. "Continue to monitor the situation in Paris, and report to me periodically. I have something I must attend to." and with that, he was gone. 

He made his way towards the room Marinette was staying in. It had been about two hours since he last saw them, and he wanted to ensure everything was to his only granddaughter's liking. 'Was this the beginning of his favoritism? Probably.'

He knocked on the large doors. No answer. He knocked again, but still no answer. H decided to open the door, only to find the room empty. He assumed she was in the the bathroom, but the silence said otherwise. 

He noted the box that Marinette was carrying was gone, and started to panic. Had she run again? He then took notice of the note that was left on the bedside. It simply read: Hawkmoth. He understood immediately the situation at hand. But one question lay on his mind:

How did she manage to get back to Paris?

~*~*~*~

Word count: 1132 words