Miraculous Ladybug: Future

The Return Of Stoneheart

Marinette could hear the shouts of the crowd. They were all waiting for her. Her heart pounded, her palms sweated. But, she was incredibly excited. Taking a deep breath in, she walked out onto the runway. 

Cheers greeted her almost immediately. She strutted as if she had no fear. When she made it to the end of the runway, she took a deep breath, and spoke. 

"Hello, ladies and gentleman. Welcome to the show! I firstly want to thank all of you for coming and supporting my designs. Every last one of you mean the world to me!" 

The response was another wave of cheers. 

"I hope you all enjoy the designs that our wonderful models will be putting on display this evening, and I just want to give a big thank you for Dj Nino, who will be putting on most of our music during the runway bit."

Marinette pointed to where Nino was set up in the corner. He smiled and nodded as the spotlight turned on him for a bit. 

"And dont forget to stay for Kitty Sections performance later!" 

The spotlight turned to where, Luka, Juleka, and Rose, stood in the corner. They waved and the people clapped and cheered. 

"And now, without further ado, lets get into the show!" Marinette finished. She turned and walked off stage, feeling light-hearted as ever. 

                                                                    _______________

A storm was brewing. 

There was trouble to be unfurled ever since Ladybug and Cat noir had supposedly defeated the evil in Paris. Sure, they had defeated Hawkmoth, but they had no idea that just across town, in a secluded attic filed with old boxes, one containing an old brunette wig, that someone more evil than him was planning something. Step one in her plan was just now beginning. 

She stood in the center of the room, surrounded by dust that rose and fell in the air, illuminated by the eerie glow of the attic window at the far side of the room. She sensed it. The feeling that someone was experiencing a negative emotion. She found that when she had the miraculous on, she felt it all, the good and the bad. But this bad was strong, strong enough for her to take advantage of. She focused in on it, then sneered. 

"Ah, the troublesome toil of rejection. How pitiful. Im sure I could help him with his...problem."  She uncapped the lip of her staff and caught one of the many small white butterflies fluttering around the attic. She put it in her staff and when she took it out, it was a murky mix of black and purple. 

"Fly away, my little akuma," she called. "And evilize him!"  

                                                                          ______________

Ivan stomped down the street, most passerbys steered clear of him, clearly noticing his foul mood and deciding it best not to come in contact with a big guy like him in that state. He could barely breathe. His face felt incredibly hot. He could not believe that she could just...reject him. After all they had been through? 

He turned the corner and made his way down the street towards his apartment. In his anger, he did not even realize the small purple-black butterfly heading straight towards him. It flew at him, and buried itself into the ring box he was still carrying, the entire box turning black. 

Ivan stood and stared ahead, stunned. What had happened? Thats when he heard the voice in his head. 

"Ivan Bruel, I am Papilion. Mylene broke your heart, again. Would you not like to change that? I am willing to give you the power to be hard like stone, so no one will ever hurt you again. All you have to give me in turn are Lady bug and Cat noirs miraculous. Sound like a deal?" 

He had been through this before. Hawkmoth had akumatized him, when he was still a teen. That had been about Mylene too. But, this was not Hawkmoth. Gabriel Agreste had been arrested years ago. He was in jail. And this voice was female. She called herself Papilion. Who was this?

"N-no." He tried to fight it, to not let it get through to him. But...He felt inclined to listen. Did he want this? He hated himself. " I- cant-" 

Just then, a car came down the street. It was a nice car, someone expensive must have owned it.  Then it stopped in front of Ivan and the driver got out. Chloe Bourgeois stared at Ivan in horror.  "Oh no!" She cried. " Do not tell me he is back!" 

Ivan gave her a pleading look. "Get help!" He yelled before submitting to the power. He dropped to his knees as he became engulfed in black and purple. And then he became larger. 

Chloe slowly backed up and hopped into her car, speeding off as fast as possible. What could she do? 

                                                            ___________

The show was going great. The models were doing great. All those in attendance were having a great time. Multiple times during the show, people stopped by to tell Marinette how much they loved her designs. Adrien noticed how happy she looked. That was great, but he was miserable. 

Hardcore anxiety about modeling and started to set in, and he found himself having a full on panic attack, right before he was about to go on. Great. Just great. He tried to get himself together, to drink water, to pace around backstage, fix and re-fix his tie. He tried taking some medication, but it did not set in fast enough. He drummed his fingers absentmindedly on his knee. Oh god. 

Sabrina came backstage to warn him. "You should probably get up there. After this model, it is your turn. Everyone out there is super excited to see you."  She gave him a small smile before turning away and leaving. Adrien never disliked Sabrina. He knew that everything her and Chloe did back in high school was mainly Chloe, and Sabrina just wanted a friend. But now, he was kind of hating her. Nothing she said made him feel better. In fact, it made him feel worse. 

But now, Adrien pushed all that down and took his position. As his predecessor strutted her way off stage, he took a deep breath and went on. The crowd greeted him with more enthusiasm than he expected. He knew his fans would be excited, but he was starting to wonder if they had all just came to see him, and not Marinettes designs, which made him oddly angry. She had worked hard on those. 

He tried remembering all the things his dad told him about modeling, but he could not because he would have to think about his dad. That was the real problem and he knew it. The source of his anxiety. He was in prison and Adrien still could not get away from the man. Luckily, he did not have to walk far. 

Halfway down the runway the entire thing was interupted by screaming. The next thing everyone knew, a disheveled looking Chloe Bourgeois had barged into the room, wild eyes darting all over. Whispers of shock and confusion filled the crowd. Marinette made her way to the front of the room, taking the responsibility since it was her event. Adrien was almost relieved all eyes were off him, but too nervous to be fully. 

"Whats wrong, Chloe?" Marinette asked, confusion evident in her voice. 

"I did not know where else to come, but I knew half of Paris would be here today. We need ladybug and Catnoir! Hawkmoth has returned and someone has been akumatized!"