Caged

The Watering Can

Author's note: The first six (6) chapters will be posted in a span of about three weeks, due to the fact that it's being republished from Ao3, in order to start cross posting in Ao3, FFnet, Wattpad and Tumblr, starting with Chapter 7. For more information, visit my Tumblr page linked in my profile.

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It wasn't a normal week in Paris if something wasn't getting destroyed. This week was no exception. Ruble littered the ground, and giant vines twisted around from a flower shop to Notre-Dame.

Yet, Marinette hadn't had the time to transform. Vines had wrapped her entire body, leaving only her head poking out of the thick, green plant. She shifted, trying to, at least, free one of her arms. But her struggle was useless. Her tension eased, when she saw a blur of black and yellow.

"Chat Noir!" she called instinctively. A clank and a thud later, he was standing in front of her.

"How do you keep getting wrapped up in these situations?" Marinette rolled her eyes. A part of her almost regretted asking for help, but her reasoning part knew she needed her partner.

"Just get me out of here!" she insisted. Chat gave a small giggle, right before calling on Cataclysm. The vines around her evaporated in a black mist. The cat-boy caught her just before she hit the ground, arm wrapped around her back.

"You're lucky I like you, Princess. I might have left you if--"

"Look out!" Marinette quickly scrambled to her feet, grabbing the boy by the bell and pulling him out of the way, into the ground.

BOOM!

A large vine hit the pavement where they had been standing only three seconds ago. Both looked at the plant, eyes wide. Chat's lips quickly curled into a smirk, before looking back at his savior lying next to him.

"I say we're even now," Marinette blinked once, registering what had just happened. Finally, she quirked an eyebrow, and gave him a small smile, saying: "Guess we are."

"We gotta get outta here," he quickly said, standing up and grabbing her, throwing her over his shoulder. Marinette protested for the way she was been handled, but gave up, once he was already running from rooftop to rooftop, away from the battle. A normal person would have gotten dizzy, but the blue-haired girl was used to seeing the world from strange angles already. It still didn't change the fact that being dragged over someone's shoulder was insanely uncomfortable. At last, the leather-clad hero stopped down in an alley, away from prying eyes.

"You should be safe here," the blond said. "Hopefully no one else has been caught." And just like that, he gave a short salute and ran off, back into the fight. Marinette let out a sigh of relief.

"That was lucky," she breathed. Just then, a red blur zipped out of her purse.

"Marinette, the akuma!" the teen gave a determined look.

"Right. Tikki, transform me!" a flash of bright, red light flowed through her, turning her into the most beloved superhero of the city: Ladybug. With a swift movement of her wrist, she sent her yo-yo flying to the nearest chimney, and pulled herself into the air. She swung for a minute, until she was once again back at the scene, Chat Noir standing on one of the towers of the cathedral.

"Nice to see you buzz in, My Lady," he greeted cheerfully. Ladybug raised an eyebrow.

"Buzz? I'm not a bee."

"Ladybugs make kind of a buzz sound. Or would you prefer flutter?" the polka-dotted heroine rolled her eyes for the second time that day. Always with the puns, she thought. "Any idea where the akuma is?"