With Good Tidings

~ With Good Tidings - Chapter 12 A ~

(chapter 12 is made up of 2 parts)

With Good Tidings - Chapter 12: Lila Liar Pants on Fire (Part 1)

The akuma hissed angrily, from where she was pinned to the floor by a cat paw boot and an extended baton. Ladybug anxiously checked the classroom, before deciding it was safe to drag the akuma out into the courtyard.

She noticed the whole school was watching from the raised walkways, and someone had even figured to call the police in, she noticed, seeing the forms of Officer Raincomprix and a couple others she never personally met. The evil Lady-Scream, they'd dubbed her, was bound up tighter than a christmas ham in the yoyo string. Everywhere she looked, received the darkest, most disturbed glare that Ladybug had ever seen.

This girl had problems. Big ones.

"You'll pay for this, Ladybug," the akuma glowered, pure and unbridled rage seeping from her voice.

"No, Lila," she replied. "You've gotten away with your little lies for far too long," the hero bent down to meet the akuma's eyes. "I'm going to do this for your own good," she spoke with authority. "Because honestly, the embarrassment of being called out on your bullshit by Ladybug is enough to make most rowdy Akumas pull their heads in," she said, "But you," her face contorted into a shit eating grin, "You're not just some 'average rowdy akuma' now, are you?"

Lila growled. "You've got that right, bitch," she laughed, it was cold and creepy, and even Chat shuddered. "I'm Hawkmoth's go-to akuma fodder," she preened, but her akuma form just made it into a creepy Ladybug that was leaking black slop from its orifices. A Ladybug that was completely devoid of colour.

"Now, I can withstand being called most nasty names, but one thing I won't stand, Lila, is you calling my lady a bitch," Chat adjusted his stance, his grip loosening on his baton a slight fraction.

"Chat...! No don't!!--" Ladybug's shout was just that slight fraction too slow. The akuma whirled around in a deathroll, detangling herself from the yoyo, and drove both her feet into the bottom of Chat's jaw, lifting him from the ground in one spectacular mess. Yoyo in hand, Lady-Scream forcibly pegged it at the ground, behind her, so that she was between it and Ladybug.

"Where's your quirky quip now, huh?" Lady-Scream laughed coldly. She took a step towards Ladybug, who took three steps back, hitting the solid brick wall behind her. It startled her, the crowd gasping in horror, her only warning that Lila had moved. She sensed something flying towards her, and she instinctively strafed to her left, the monochrome fist slamming into the wall where her throat had been not five seconds ago.

Ladybug drew back her right leg, and kicked out, catching Lila's shins. The akuma dropped to the ground for a brief reprieve, and Ladybug bolted, deeper into the school. As she ran, she spotted Chat still lying there, unconscious. She turned her attention back to where she was running, down the corridor, and past the science rooms. The akuma's snarls could be heard getting closer, as she ran. Then suddenly the echoing stomps stopped. Ladybug peered around the corner of the science room door, cautiously. It was too quiet for her liking. Then suddenly, she heard a loud, rumbling crash noise, that sounded eerily like a corridor being caved in. She crept from the cover of the door, trying to discern which way the cave-in was.

She felt a searing pain erupt through her middle, as a white with black spots boot connected with her, and sent her flying into the empty science classroom. Her back collided with Mme Mendeleiv's antique chemical cupboard, the old cedar splintering like toothpicks and the glass shattering everywhere, like confetti strewn at a party. She could smell chemicals, she trusted herself enough to know that some of the chemical containers had ruptured under her sudden weight.

She bit back a scream, as shards of glass pierced Tikki's protective layers. She whispered a string of profanities, that melded into apologies for her kwami.

"That...wasn't fair," she gasped, taking a step from the wrecked cupboard, an iron nail had stuck into her back, and it stung as it was pulled out by her movement.

"What's the matter Ladybug? You said you wanted to play! What's the harm in using a couple cheat codes from time to time?" Lady-Scream sneered, as she walked closer and closer to the wounded hero. Her right hand outstretched, poised to grab the hero by her throat. "You're about to lose this game, and I'm going to have so much fun dancing on your grave!" she giggled, a shrill, high pitched noise that shouldn't have ever left her mouth. The purple outline of Hawkmoth's influence appeared around the akuma's eyes.

"Shut it Hawkmoth!" Lady-Scream snarled, "You can come and get the earrings yourself after I've had my fun slamming this worthless glorified barbie doll into the ground!" she reached out, quick as lightning, and grabbed Ladybug by her throat, slamming her back into the wrecked furniture. Ladybug gurgled out a wet scream, as the nail imbedded itself back into her chest, gouging the original hole deeper.

"Wow, your screams!!" Lady-Scream swooned, "Such emotion! Could they be screams of joy? Who am I to prevent one from having the time of their life!?" she laughed, her eyes boring into the struggling hero before her, as she drew back her arm. Ladybug watched as the akuma handled her by the scruff of her neck, bracing herself for the nail. "I told you you'd get yours, Marinette!!!" The akuma screeched, beginning to throw her back into the broken chemical cupboard. Everything seemed to go into super slow motion at that point, as Marinette's heart skipped a beat, when she heard her civillian name leave Lila's lips. "I mean, who else could you possibly be? No other girl would be seen dead with pigtails! And definitely no other girl had the gall to call me out on my untruths!!" The hand at her throat tightened harshly, "And now that I know this, I will take absolute pleasure at watching the light leave those pathetic blue eyes of yours," she sneered.

Marinette's heart filled with horror, as Lila's blank black eyes glared at her, cold and unfeeling. She wasn't sure what scared her the most. Chat Blanc, or Lila.