Into the Bugverse

Chapter 5: Dark And Bright Reflections

This was so insane to take in. Marinette was Lady Butterfly, and Lady Butterfly was Marinette. Ladybug felt like she was going to throw up.

"This...this can't be real!" said Ladybug.

"It is real." said Lady Butterfly.

"How did you find out?" asked Cat Noir.

"Oh, I have my ways."

Ladybug all of a sudden demanded why, why would she become someone like Hawk Moth. What drove her descent to full madness.

"You didn't hear me?" Marinette 3 groaned in annoyance.

Ladybug then thought back to what Marinette 3 said. "Parents". "Alive". Those two words. The scarlet hero then looked up.

"They're gone?" she asked.

"Yes." Marinette 3 said, "I lost them a long time ago. Lila turned them against me. My friends, my own family. Everyone. Then, next thing I knew, Mommy took a wrong turn when he was on his way to disown me. What's worse, is that my own father realized too late that I wasn't the cause but Lila was. Since then, I've been tearing Paris apart to seek the ultimate power that I deserve."

"But what would you wish for?" asked Ladybug.

"To make sure that Lila doesn't turn everyone against me."

"But then someone else would take the blame." said Cat Noir.

"Do I even look like I care?"

No, Marinette 3 certainly didn't. She had tears on her cheeks, blackened from makeup, she also had one of the blackest eyeshadow. Her hair was also a mess without the suit. She even had dark circles under her eyes. She looked as if she wouldn't complain if someone snipped her.

"We won't let you." said Cat Noir.

"I don't think so." said Mairnette, "Dark wings rise."

Lady Butterfly then began to leap away. The other three Hawk Moths followed her. They got away. Ladybug began to cry to herself. Cat Noir held onto her.

...

The two Marinettes landed on Marinette's balcony. Marinette 2 watched as Marinette walked down the steps.

"You okay, girl?" she asked.

"No." replied Marinette, "I'm scared. What if...what if I'm like-?"

Marinette 2 pinned her against the wall of her room. Marinette could see the fire in her eyes. She looked as if she was going to either rip her jaw off or eat those words.

"Don't you dare say it!" she growled, "You are nothing like her! You haven't gone through the same things Lady Butterfly's gone through!"

"But I almost did..." Marinette replied, "...you see...I got expelled from my home because of Lila and-"

"It's all in the past!"

Marinette 2 then saw Marinette getting more and more scared. She then sighed, realizing that she's pushing a bit too hard. She then gave Marinette a hug. She hugged Marinette 2 back.

"Listen," she said, "even if you went through the same process as Lady Butterfly, what would've stopped you from being Ladybug?"

"You're right." replied Marinette, "I'm so sorry..."

"It's okay. It's not your fault. Maybe if there's a chance...we...w-we could bring her back to the good side."

At first, Marinette thought about wondering if they even could bring her back. But she didn't want Marinette 2 to see her doubtful side once again. So she hid it, for now at least. The trapdoor opened up, Sabine's smile in Marinette 2's eyes.

"I have supper ready." she said.

"We'll be down soon, Mama." said Marinette.

"Sure thing...M-Mother..." Marinette 2 paused.

Sabine nodded, showing concern for Marinette 2. She then closed the door. Marinette then looked to her other self. She looked like she needed a hug.

"You want to talk about it?" asked Marinette.

"Y-Yeah..." said Marinette 2, "...you see...in my universe...my mother...she's...she's dead."

...

"She mentioned someone called 'Noir Bug'..." Adrien said, fingering his chin, "...who could that be?"

The two Adriens had two guesses. Since it looked like Lady Butterfly, or Marinette 3, comes from a universe where she is Hawk Moth. The first guess could be whoever is this universe's Hawk Moth. The last guess seemed very unlikely, but it could be an...

As if on cue, they heard someone land on Adrien's window. They got up, prepared to fight. All of a sudden then, a person jumped in.

A person had shown themselves. It looked like a mixture of both of his suits. It was like Cat Noir and Mister Bug's suits combined.

It had the padding from Mister Bug's chest and shoulders. His tail from Cat Noir was also there. His bell was also still there, including the collar-like part. His wrist guards were also there as well.

His padding has gone black however, and his spots on them have gone green as well too. His baton was strapped in its usual place, this time having a red glow instead of a green. He even still had the yo-yo, this time however, it was black and green.

"Who are you?" demanded the two Adriens.

"I'm Noir Bug." said Noir Bug, "And you must be the ones they call 'Cat Noir' and 'Mister Bug', am I correct?"

"Maybe?"

"Tikki, Plagg, de-transform."

The suit then disappeared, revealing an Adrien 3, the second theory of who Noir Bug could most possibly be.

"So we're Noir Bug..." said Adrien.

Adrien 3 then began to explain his story. It turned out that the Lila incident not only happened as a worst-case scenario, but it happened so much earlier. Marinette was taken under the care of Master Fu, who began to teach her about the Miraculouses, in hopes of making her a guardian.

However, she suddenly disappeared, but informed Master Fu that she'll be staying with Luka and Juleka, the only two who truly believed in her, not wanting to keep Master Fu crowded. Almost sometime after that, Lady Butterfly appeared. That was when he bumped into Adrien 3. He became Noir Bug, Paris' only superhero.

"I'm sorry that you had to find out that Marinette 3 was your enemy..." said Adrien 2 in sadness.

It did turn out that in this scenario, Adrien 3 actually not only defended Marinette 3, but also got her back into the school, expelling Lila as a result. Marinette 3 and Adrien 3 became best friends and began to date.

"Not sure if I'm going to take her to our next date..." Adrien 3 growled in anger.

"Hey, we could still save her, we think." said Adrien.

"Yeah, don't give up, kid." said Plagg 4.

"Yeah, there's always hope!" Tikki 4 added.

"I guess you're right." Arien sighed, "So, hey, you guys got any room for me to stay?"

________________________________________________________________________________

Thanks for Reading!