Chasing Ladybug 📸 (A Miraculous Ladybug Fanfic)

A Retelling: 8 | Careful Mistakes

"Mullo, un-squeak." Marinette takes deep, steady breaths as she hides from Shadowmoth's newest villain—Cupid Roulette, a heartbroken love expert with pointy arrows that either drive you crazy in love or madness. She grabs two macaroons from her purse and feeds both kwamis.

"Eat up, Tikki," She instructs.

The red bug eats, annoyed, and wonders why her holder is still using her switching-back-and-forth-between-the-ladybug-and-mouse-miraculous strategy. Yes, it'd been working well for the past two weeks, but Multimouse wasn't necessary for every single fight, and complications didn't stay simple forever.

"Don't give me that look," Marinette says as she peeks out from behind a parked car. Cat Noir's across the street, dodging attacks from the red and pink supervillain. "It's worked so far, hasn't it?"

"I guess," Tikki admits, eating the last bite, and quickly adds, "But why does Multimouse have to be at every battle? Shadowmoth's going to get suspicious soon and, I don't know, maybe try to find out her identity? Which then leads to yours?"

"It's not my fault!" The pig-tailed girl defends. "Either Cat Noir finds me—somehow—before I can transform or that stupid lovesick cat is whining to Ladybug about how much he misses his 'little mouse' and wonders where she is, and then I feel bad."

Tikki glares at her. "You already see him every single night." Not to mention at school when he's unmasked. "You don't have to fight alongside him in battle, except as Ladybug!"

Marinette looks away, unsure of what else to say. "We have a villain to fight. Tikki, spots on!" Ladybug takes the civilian's place. She raises her arm and throws her yo-yo, shouting, "Lucky charm!" She catches a pair of red-and-black spotted handcuffs. "Hmm..."

Ladybug looks around as three things flash at her: her lucky charm, Cupid Roulette, and Cat Noir's staff. An idea came to her and she smiles. She jumps to her feet and revealed herself from her hiding spot, running over to join Cat Noir. "I have a plan!" She shouts.

"Great, what is it?" Her partner yells back, ducking as an arrow flies by his head. "Cats are agile, but I'm getting tired, and trying not to get hit!"

"Actually, I need you to get hit!"

Cat Noir stops abruptly and turns to stare at her with wide eyes. "What?!" Distracted, he doesn't notice the arrow flying at him, and he groans in pain as it shoots into his side.

Cupid Roulette floats down in front of the cat, wickedly smiling, and waits to see how he'd be affected by her power. "Let's see, Kitty... are you going to be a Casanova or a terrible devil?"

The villain's powers are simple. Once hit with her arrows, one of two reactions happen: love crazy (you fall in love with everyone you see, thus being susceptible to requests, even from bad guys) or madness (you hate everyone you see, thus immediately wanting to harm them).

Ladybug sneaks up behind the villain, taking quiet steps, and gets the handcuffs ready. Yes, that's it... keep your eyes on him.

Cat Noir's eyes widen slightly before they softened into a soft pink and a red heart appears on his right cheek. Love crazy. He spots his partner behind the villain and smiles wide. "I love you, Milady!"

Huh, so he's exactly the same... she thinks to herself, rolling her eyes.

"Pretty kitty," Cupid Roulette purrs as she tries getting the cat's attention. His ears twitch and he turns to her sweet voice. "I need you to do something for me..."

Cat Noir starts walking over.

"Take her miraculous—"

"Gotcha!" Ladybug leaps forward and tackles Cupid Roulette, twisting her arms behind her back, and pinches the handcuffs on. She uses her leg to grab the magical bow. "Cat Noir!"