The Pact Keepers (D&D-Miraculous Ladybug Crossover)

Chapter 2: Warped

Marinette collapsed on her bed, breathing heavily and rubbing her calves and feet, trying to work out the ache from today's Akuma battle.

The Akuma's chest tore itself open as it clumsily gave chase, ribcage folding outwards, fangs as long as Ladybug's forearm dripping with caustic saliva, as it again roared its demands for her and Cat Noir to give up their Miraculous. As it did, a long, lashing tongue shot out of its chest-maw and wrapped around a telephone pole, ripping it out of the ground and dragging it into the gnashing teeth.

Cat Noir slowly staggered upright, his face starting to turn green as he glanced at the Lucky Charm in Ladybug's hands: a gallon of bleach. "Got a plan, M'lady?"

"I would if- LOOK OUT!"

The Akuma's chest-maw opened again, and this time a torrent of rancid sludge poured out, dissolving everything in its path. The two heroes barely got away before the building they were standing on crumbled.

Ladybug tightened her grip on her yo-yo as she began to swing... only for a wave of acidic vomit to splash up and over a large chunk of debris. She pulled up her legs just fast enough to avoid the worst of it, but some of the stinking sludge still landed on her suit.

She screamed, barely holding on to her yo-yo as the acid instantly burned through her costume, gnawing at her tender flesh.

Tikki settled onto Marinette's pillow and gently stroked her hair. "Are your legs okay now? You look like you can walk just fine now, but it still looks like it hurts."

The girl held back a yawn and pulled her blankets over herself. "I'm alright, Tikki. I'm just a little sore."

The little Kwami sighed. "Alright, then. Just... please, be more careful. That Akuma could've..."

Marinette shuddered a little. "I... think we should just go to sleep now. It's 10:00 p.m."

Adrien stared at the ceiling as he lay in bed. Plagg had been silent the whole day. Whenever Adrien had asked him what was wrong, he'd simply ignored him.

"Plagg, please, talk to me."

No response.

"Are you mad at me? Or Ladybug? Are you feeling okay?"

Silence.

Adrien let out a deep breath and turned on his side to sleep when the little cat Kwami finally spoke up.

"Something's... wrong, kid."

"Yeah. That Akuma's acid went right through Ladybug's suit."

"No, I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about... something else. The Akuma... it felt wrong. Like it doesn't belong in this world."

Adrien's eyes snapped open and he sat up. "What do you mean?"

"It's hard to pinpoint, but I think it was that the magic of the Akuma felt like it was being affected by something else. What it is, I can't really tell."