Miraculous Ladybug: Short Stories

Lady Misfortune (Part 1)

With watery eyes, Marinette looked around at the laughing classmates surrounding her. Even Alya, her best friend could resist a slight giggle. Heartbroken, Marinette pushed through the wall of students and quickly fled to the locker rooms. She made her way to her own locker as she then leaned her back against it and slowly slid down onto the hard ground. Marinette lifted her knees up to hug them tightly against her chest, resting her head on her knees as she wept away with no one in sight to notice. Sadly, Hawk Moth didn't need to be near to be aware of her sorrow. It did not take much time for him to release another one of his evil akumas into the city of Paris. The nasty bug quickly made its way directly to the young teenager's school.

Just a short time ago, the entire homeroom class was discussing Ladybug and Chat Noir's adventures before their literature class began. Marinette, sleep-deprived, was not paying much attention to her own words. In the middle of a small class debate regarding the two heroes, Marinette accidentally cleared up the situation by explaining what had actually happened. Unfortunately for her, only the two Parisian heroes would be able to know what really occurred. Marinette thought that since there was no way out of the hole she just dug herself, she regrettably had to admit that she was Ladybug. That was when the entire class started to laugh hysterically. Marinette was either assumed of just being a close friend of Ladybug's or accused of lying as an attempt to impress the class.

Since Marinette was too distraught and lost in her thoughts to think clearly, the dark akuma was able to easily fly straight into her right earring. Marinette's head raised as a purple butterfly outline began to slowly appear around her eyes. "Lady Misfortune, your entire class mocked you once you had revealed your other identity to them. They all snickered as they said that a clumsy, reckless girl like yourself was completely incapable of being the magnificent Parisian superheroine." Hawk Moth smirked. "Lady Misfortune, accept my offer and together we will show all of Paris what you are truly capable of. The two of us will be completely unstoppable!"

Marinette allowed herself to grin wickedly, "Very well, Hawk Moth. I'll accept your offer. With even more power, I am going to make them all pay for mocking the one who has risked so very much for all of their pathetic little lives!"

〜✿〜

Adrien was feeling a mixture of both shock and panic. He might have been surprised that Marinette had said that she was Ladybug, but he also believed that she was telling the truth. That being said, Adrien was now quite worried about her. After witnessing how harsh the entire class was to her, he feared that even someone as strong as Marinette may allow for her emotions to get the best of her. Without further thought, Adrien shot out of homeroom, which had begun several minutes ago, and ran through the entire school in search for Marinette. With no current luck, he made his way to the main entrance staircase. Adrien thought that perhaps if he allowed himself some time to think, he may be able to come up with places where she may be.

Feeling a presence of another person near by, Adrien felt the need to look around him, including the school's roof. Luckily for him, he was able to catch a glimpse of a fleeing Ladybug. Unfortunately, though, she didn't look like her usual self. Adrien quickly realized that he was too late for his attempt to calm her down. He transformed himself into Chat Noir before going after her, hoping to stop her before she did something she may later regret. "Ladybug, wait!"

Once Chat Noir shouted for her, Ladybug instantly froze. As she stood in place, she was able to hear his quiet footsteps as he approached her from behind. With him in a close distance, Ladybug quickly turned herself around to face the boy, tying his entire body and arms up with her magically enchanted yo-yo. "Ah, such the usual Chat Noir: always coming to my rescue. By the way, it's Lady Misfortune now." She nearly spat at him as she hissed her words.

Chat Noir didn't want to take anything that she was about to say too seriously. After all, it was only Hawk Moth's dark magic talking, not his partner. "Ladyb...Marinette. This isn't you, it's only the akuma." Chat Noir struggled to try to untangle to strings, but his attempts failed. "Mari, once that thing is purified-"

Lady Misfortune chuckled. "Let me stop you there. Just how are you going to do that? The akuma is buried within my earring, you stupid cat." She paused for a moment and rested her pointer finger on her chin as if she was considering something. "Granted, the akuma does goes free if you break the earring. However..." Lady Misfortune smiled evilishly, "...so do my powers. You're not good for anything except for causing destruction, so obviously you can't purify it. And without my powers, neither can I. Therefore, you'll only allow for the butterflies to multiply." She shrugged her shoulders as if it was nothing. "Just face it, Chat Noir! You can't save me or Paris."

The black cat looked a bit terrified, but more hurt than scared. It wasn't as easy as he thought it would be to see his partner in such a horrid condition. Ladybug seemed to love Paris and its citizens much more than she loved herself. To see such a positive outlook replaced with great negativity worried Chat Noir. Granted, all of the akuma victims had wanted some type of revenge. However, he had never seen so much rage and hate as he was seeing now. "Don't you worry, my lady...Marinette." As Chat Noir fought back tears, Lady Misfortune's expression showed a hint of surprise before returning to despisement. "I will find a way to save you and bring you back. No matter the cost."

Lady Misfortune snickered. "Oh, really? I'd like to see you try."