Chasing Ladybug 📸 (A Miraculous Ladybug Fanfic)

A Retelling: 10 | Multimouse

Theo hums quietly to himself as he carefully cuts a picture of his face from an old family photo. He grabs a strip of tape and replaces Cat Noir's face with his, holding the picture close as he smiles. "Soon this will be real," He assures himself, stuffing the make-believe picture into his wallet.

His phone beeps with a notification, an akuma alert. He quickly grabs it and opens his phone to live footage at the Louvre of Ladybug and—unfortunately—Cat Noir fighting Shadowmoth's newest supervillain, Cloner.

"Time to see my lady in action," Theo says to himself as he grabs his helmet and rushes outside. This is his favorite time of the day—when Ladybug's called into battle. It's the only time he gets to see her. He jumps on his motorbike and races over to the Louvre.

Cloner—Shadowmoth's newest akuma—a robot-like creation that can replicate herself as many times as she wants. With each clone of herself, the stronger she becomes.

Theo brakes hard at the sidewalk, just in time to see his lady in action. Ladybug throws her yo-yo around Cloner and her four replicas, trapping them in a make-shift net.

Five tiny mouse-like heroes race up each of the villains and rip off Cloner's akumatized object—a silver belt. Her akumatization falls and she appears as a young girl again.

"Fall in!" The five tiny heroes merged together and combined back into one.

"Gotcha!" Ladybug shouts as she captures the akuma. She purifies it and sets it free. "Bye, bye, little butterfly. Miraculous ladybug!" She tosses her lucky charm—a red-and-black spotted tube of glitter—and it explodes in lights of red and pink. The magical ladybugs fly around, circling and repairing the most damage caused to the city.

Theo stares at Ladybug, lovestruck, and his imagination incases in her a bright, pink glow with hearts and bubbles. He grabs his camera from his bag, taking multiple shots of her as the hero walks to her partner.

"That's my girl," He whispers to himself, and as Cat Noir comes into his lens' view, his arm falls and he glares at the cat. "You don't deserve her." His angry glare turns into confusion as he finally notices the third hero, a girl in a pink and grey suit and her hair in big space buns. Marinette never leaves his side, he thinks to himself, disgusted.

"Thanks, Multimouse," Cat Noir greets to the hero. "We couldn't have done this without you."

Multimouse smiles. "I'm just glad I could help again." She reaches up and takes off her necklace—her miraculous—and her transformation falls, revealing herself as Marinette in front of bystanders and the news reporters.

Ladybug gasps. "No, not again!"

"Oh no!" Marinette shouts with wide eyes. "I'm sorry! Ugh, I'm so clumsy... I can't be trusted with anything."

The bug smiles. "It's okay... but now that you've revealed your secret identity in front of all these people, I-I can't give you the mouse miraculous anymore."

The pig-tailed girl frowns, raising her arm as she drops the mouse miraculous in Ladybug's hand. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Marinette," Cat Noir assures her. "We all make mistakes." He goes to touch her shoulder, and stops. "Nobody's perfect."

Marinette crosses her arms over her chest. "I guess I'll just go home and cry now. Bye Ladybug. Bye Cat Noir." She turns and takes off running, sobbing to herself.

"I'll check on her later," Cat Noir comments to his partner.

Ladybug bites back a grin. "I'm sure you will, Kitty."

As the two heroes part ways—planning to meet up again once they reach a safe distance—Theo stands still on the sidewalk, staring off in the direction Marinette leaves in.

If Ladybug's given Marinette a miraculous before, could there be a chance she knows the hero's secret identity? Why would the bug trust this baker's daughter—again—unless Marinette knew who she really was under the mask?