Chat Noir had wanted to be free. It was the only thing he could remember before... before he woke up in front of his Master. He remembered making a deal for his freedom, and every time he thought of it his blood boiled.
This wasn't what he wanted.
He was surrounded by watching eyes once again, though this time those eyes wouldn't hesitate to kill him. Akumas crawled throughout the dark hideout, their suspicious glares boring permanent holes in Chat's confidence.
Hawkmoth sauntered in front of him, leading the way with his confident smile contrasting with his broken nose. Chat Noir stumbled after him, the temporary bandages on his side feeling like they were digging into the wound, making the pain even harsher.
"We have a healer," Hawkmoth said, and at the sound of his voice a few of the akumas skittered away, "I'm not stupid like that I.F. girl assumed."
Chat had a few things to say about that, but held his tongue. The memory of the horrid pain that had spiked through him when he disobeyed made him shudder.
The hideout that Hawkmoth had taken him to was underground, shaped kind of like sewer tunnels. It had the lingering sharp tang of blood, and Chat decided he didn't want to know what it came from. The walls seemed to occasionally have pockets carved into them, and a strange musty smell mixed into the sharp tang of blood every time he neared one.
Beneath his claws, the ground was covered in what felt like moss but looked like rugs. It was a strange and unnatural substance, but Chat didn't dare ask Hawkmoth what it was.
Akumas passed by on either side, the tunnel too narrow for them to stray too far away. Though Chat noticed that while many pressed themselves as far away from their Master as they could when he walked by, some snarled at him. The few that were brave enough to do so crumpled to the ground and moaned in pain as soon as their Master looked at them.
They didn't stop writhing until Chat and his Master had passed by.
It made him sick.
Chat wanted to run away, to find the exit and to escape into the freedom of a busy city. But fear and a spark of loyalty held him back. Loyalty that wasn't his. He wondered if his Master had a way of controlling his akumas' minds, but decided against it, given Hawkmoth's need to torture his subjects.
The tunnel slowly widened, until Hawkmoth stopped and grabbed Chat's shoulder.
"Here he is, Lekar," Hawkmoth said swiftly, before turning back the way they had come, "I must go and gather strength for the next faze of the plan. This is my latest akuma, Chat Noir. Keep him safe from... the others."
And with that Hawkmoth sauntered away, leaving Chat gaping at the enormous cavern he had been left in. The walls were smooth, unlike the rest of the hideout, and the smell of blood seemed to only amplify. In the center of the cavern lay an operation table, a few chairs, and a desk. Strangely, there weren't any supplies.
Then Chat saw the creature.
It was humanoid, with a human torso and two arms and legs, but that's where the similarities between the two ended. It's head was a huge syringe, and it's arms and legs were both made out of different medical equipment ranging from the stickers they give little kids to the knives they use to slice you open during an operation.
"What— What are you?" Chat asked, backing away towards the tunnel. The creature tilted it head-syringe thingie. How did it even see without eyes?
"Why, I'm Lekar of course," it replied calmly, though it was walking steadily towards the cat. Through his panic, Chat noticed that the creature was limping, and it looked as though one of its legs was longer than the other.
Chat was about ready make a run for it. But the pain in his side and Master in the only tunnel leading to what he knew was freedom held him back. This creature was the doctor apparently, so he should try and do what it asked.
"I know I look scary," Lekar said, even as he reached the cat and grabbed his arm with robotic looking hands woven together with stitches. They looked like the kind that someone would use for a wound.
"But you're no longer the norm either, you know. I'm not the strangest thing around here."
Chat was taken aback. It's quite an uncomfortable feeling when a man made of medical equipment calls you stranger than him. Chat glanced down at his cat-like body, wondering what was so strange about it. His feet were shaped like overly large cat paws and every inch of his body was black.
That wasn't weirder than a medical man was it?
"Well," Chat said, his voice faltering when the man pulled him toward the operation table, "I'll take that as a compliment. It's purr-ty nice down here, but I'd rather not stay."
Lekar said nothing in reply, instead he pushed Chat onto the operation table and forced him to sit. By now Chat was shaking slightly from pain and nerves. He hoped that whatever that horrid creature was going to do to would be fast. Or that he would get knocked out for it.
But silence was the only thing that occurred for the next minute. Chat's tension slowly unraveled as he tried to convince himself that this was the healer, not an enemy.
"Hmm," Lekar seemed to be studying Chat's entire body, not just his wound, "You seem to be a fighter. What a shame. I would like some company down here. ...What's this?"
The medical man pointed to Chat's hand with a popsicle stick fingertip. After he had stopped staring at the creepy hand, Chat looked at his own.
A ring lay innocently on his finger. It was silver with a paw print in the middle of its circular design. When Chat tried to pull it off, it stuck fast, and small pricks of pain coursed through his hand when he tugged even harder.
"I... have no idea," Chat murmured, "It's just miraculously sticking to my hand. Do you have any idea what it is?"
Lekar paused, his strange limbs hovering midair. "I'm not an expert when it comes to that sort of thing but... it might be your weapon. Just as my tools are a part of me, your weapon is a part of you."
Chat pondered over how a ring could be a weapon for a long time while the medical man did some sort of checkup on him.
Could it turn into a sword?
Did it shoot cats at people?
The possibilities were endless, and Chat found himself getting strangely excited. If he was a fighter, maybe that's one way he could become free, by force.
"Okay," Lekar said after a few more minutes of asking Chat random health related questions, "Let's look at that wound of yours."
Why hello, reader.
I know, I know. I said that I would make this chapter longer, and I'm sorry that it isn't. I've been busy working on another MariChat story as well, plus three others that are for other ships.
Have a Miraculous day!
YOU ARE READING
My Imaginary Friend \|/ Adrienette/Marichat AU
Hayran Kurgu"You're not real," He whispered, remembering all of the times that he had 'played' with her as a child. She giggled. "Of course I'm not silly. Or at least I wasn't, until now." \|/ "Rise, Chat Noir," Hawkmoth growled triumphantly, "And serve me." "...
