Whenever Monarch was defeated, we thought that everything would go back to how it was before. We thought we could express ourselves freely. We could feel what we wanted to feel. And we were able to. Just not for long. Lila Rossi as we know her, but...
"Don't be bemused it's just the news, Nadja Chamack here today with Ladybug and Chat Noir." She smiles into the camera then faces us, "What do you have to say about this new villain Hoaxer?" She stares at us intently, her brown eyes begging for our answer.
Chat Noir speaks up before I can say anything, "She's nothing but a hoax," he winks at the camera, "She's just a mini villain no worse than Monarch, me and M'lady here can take her on any day."
Nadja smiles at us before delving deeper into the topic, "So, you're saying her most recent attack was an easy battle to win?" She leans forward into her seat waiting for our response.
This time I answer before Chat Noir can, "You misunderstood what he meant. What Chat Noir was trying to say," I elbow him in the side, "was, we will defeat her and continue to protect Paris. She appears to be less of a threat compared to Monarch, but we can never judge too soon." I end with a small smile.
She smiles back at me before pulling up pictures of our most recent battle with Hoaxer, "Will Paris ever be safe to be what it once was before?"
The answer to that question was no. We greatly underestimated Hoaxer, and it was far too late to go back and change what was said. That interview was ten months ago, and since then, Chat Noir and I have fought against Hoaxer and the Hoaxes she makes. I have no idea how but, she has access to all the miraculous except for four, mine, Chat Noirs, Bunnix's, and Argos. The power of creation, destruction, time, and amokization.
Since the miraculous were destroyed and their powers shoved throughout every ring from the Agreste brand, they have no holders. Yet, Hoaxer only shows powers from the miraculous. Nobody owns an Agreste ring anymore, we asked them to be disposed of. The only thing that I can think of is she has an original ring. A ring like Monarch had that allowed him to transfer powers into the people he akumatized. There were only two people that I know of who willingly worked with Monarch, his assistant Nathalie and Lila Rossi, better known as Cerise Bianca. Nathalie is in a hospital, near death and has been like that for nearly a year, and Cerise can't be found anywhere in Paris.
Trust me I've looked.
Speaking of Paris, it still looks the same. Perfect. It's perfect sky, perfect weather, perfect foods, perfect smiling people. It's all a mask, a mask that hides what we feel in order to not get Hoaxed. We thought Monarch was bad, Hoaxer is a million times worse. She's ruthless, she doesn't give out measly powers like Monarch did. She gives her victims murderous powers based on whatever made them feel negative.
Last week there was a woman who got fired from her job at a pharmacy, she was obviously angry, so Hoaxer got to her and gave her the power of any illegal drug. You didn't have to take the drug, you just had to be within a one hundred feet radius of her and you would overdose. We had over five hundred casualties that day. One of them being Chat Noir.
We need help, and not just help outside of the suits, we need to stop Hoaxer. That's why today at 5:30 a.m. I contacted four major hero groups hoping any of them would contact me back or randomly pop up during a battle. I contacted the Justice League, Young Justice, Titans, and the Bat Family.
Right now, its 11:00 p.m. and I'm in an alley, hiding from everyone I know and love, crying. I cry for the people that get caught in the battles, for the people who died repeatedly, for the people that suffer because I can't defeat Hoaxer. I cry for Chat Noir, for Alya, for Adrien, for my classmates, for my Mama and Papa, and yeah, I cry for Chloe.
If Cerise is truly behind all of this, then it's my fault. It's my fault because I called her out, it's my fault because she got caught. It's all my fault.
I sit in the alley tears rolling down my face with two words repeating in my head.
My fault.
My fault.
My fault.
My fault.
My fault.
My fault.
"My fault. It's all my fault, Tikki." I rasp out, "All of it. Hoaxer, if she is Cerise than it's all my fault. I pointed out her lies. I got her expelled. It was me." I lean back against the wall and cradle my head in my lap.
"Oh yeah, forgot about that time when you forced Lila to lie to the whole class." A new voice says, startling me. I look up to find my best friend standing above me, concern in her eyes.
"Alya, what are you doing out here?" My voice cracks a bit.
"I could ask you the same thing. You see, I was out looking for my best friend, only to find her sitting in an alley crying and talking to the Kwami that couldn't possibly be out and about seeing as she's trapped in your earing's." She points to said earing's that are currently on the ground next to me.
"I forgot about that." I mutter and grab the earing's, putting them back in," I'm sorry Tikki, I wasn't thinking when I took them out." I hold out my hands for her to sit in.
"It's okay Marinette, I understand that being ladybug can be very difficult, especially with a villain like Hoaxer. Just don't give up on yourself, or on Ladybug. Master Fu chose you for a reason, Marinette." Tikki looks up at me and gives me one of her smile's that always seem to cheer me up.
"Couldn't have said it better myself." Alya winks at Tikki.
The alley is dark and cold, at least now that my adrenaline is down it's extremely cold. A shiver runs down my spine and my teeth chatter, "I think we should get home."
"Okay, girl. We should definitely go home Ladybug style, cause if your parents hear you come in, they will ground you from your sewing machine." We giggle.
"Yeah, you're right. I guess it's a little late." I look down at Tikki in my hands, "You ready?" She nods her head.
"Tikki! Spots on!" A flash of light envelops me before I transform into my suit. Only this isn't my suit. This is a completely different suit that looks exactly like Shadybug's suit did whenever she was well, Shadybug. The hair is the exact same too, dyed red and up in space buns.
"Woah." Alya breaths out, "What happened to your old suit? This looks like the suit that the other ladybug from the other dimension wore. What was her name? Shadowbug? Sha-"
"Shadybug, her name was Shadybug. I didn't do this to my suit, it just changed." I look at Alya fear coating every part of me, "What does this mean? Did I turn evil?"
