Return of a Killer

Cauchenoir

Chat Noir got to the top of the building, only to see Chat Blanc standing over Marinette, trying to grab her one remaining earring. He could faintly smell blood. Chat Noir raised his staff, batting Chat Blanc away with it. The white cat landed on his side, snarling. He still had that manic, feral look in his eyes as he got back up. The detatched earring laid on the floor, abandoned. Marinette hid behind Chat Noir, trembling and bleeding. 

Chat Blanc just stood there, his eyes switching from Marinette to Noir. He reached into his pocket, and pulled out a small purple brooch. Both of them recognized it, since they had seen Hawk Moth in person. Chat Noir knew his father had died for Chat Blanc to get his hands on the butterfly miraculous. His blood boiled in his veins as his grip on his staff tightened. Chat Blanc put on the miraculous, spreading his arms out wide.

" Nooroo, Plagg, UNIFY!" he commanded, putting his hands together. A purple flash overtook him, and when he was seen again, he was Papillanc. And his plan was coming into motion. He could feel the tides of shock, anger, and fear. He reached out his hand, forming a ball of darkness. And before either one could escape, he shot it off. 

Chat Noir's bell turned pitch dark, and he collapsed to his knees. A blue butterfly symbol appeared over his face as Chat Blanc spoke, " Cauchenoir, you've tried to rip what's left of my world away from me, and now I'm giving you the power to do it." Marinette panicked, scrambling away from him as he turned to her, teary-eyed. The negative power washed over Chat Noir, and the grotesque snapping of bones could be heard only seconds before a frenzied cry of torment from Chat as the power shifted his form, drowning out the beep that sounded from the brooch. It was corrupt and broken, having to shatter his body to transform him. 

Marinette was overtaken by terror, no one could save her now. Not Chat, not Master Fu, not even Ladybug. Chat Blanc felt the last pieces of his soul vanish as he extended his hand towards her, " Kill her." he growled. The feral, all-consuming hate still controlled him, and all he could see was every time he had been hurt flashing in his mind. 

The darkness disappated, leaving in its wake a twisted, shadow-black creature. Its paws were bent from human hands, evident from its short, misshappen fingers. It snarled with human teeth and glared with sunken, too-small eyes. It arched its elongated back and flicked the metal tip of its tail. The monster opened its jaws and a roar ripped from its throat, loud and vaugely human. 

Cauchenoir turned to Papillanc. The crazed boy in purple and white was running full speed at Marinette, staff and claws readied for the kill. His brooch beeped. All he could hear was echoing sounds in his head. The wet cracking sounds of his father's skull, Nathalie's glasses clattering to the floor in a pool of blood, the snap of Bunnyx's spine between his staff and his boot, the squelch of Lila's intestines being forced to make the journey down her open throat, the faintest sound of his lady's skin and bones crumbling to ash and rust before she could utter a cry.

The abomination was on top of him in a second, having pinned him to the floor on his stomach. It put its claws through his skin in seconds, ripping a gash into his white back. Papillanc's eyes widened, regaining focus and sentience, morphing quickly into terror. A scream of fear and pain erupted from deep within him, a scream belonging to a boy who had been thrown across Paris for the sake of a woman who was half-dead in a basement. A scream belonging to a scared young boy who just wanted to be loved.

Marinette was paralyzed. This monster had been ordered, even created, to slaughter her where she stood. Chat Blanc said he wasn't going to hurt her, but she was bleeding out by his hand. It was going to kill him. And when he was finished, she would be next. Marinette wouldn't let that happen. She wouldn't let Chat Noir become like Chat Blanc.

Cauchenoir raised its claws again, and Marinette shielded Papillanc with her own body, just like she did with Chat Noir. The transformation was not whole, so maybe there was still some of him in this monster. It stopped when it saw Marinette's blue-black hair, still twisted into a braid that it had made. It took a step back, its head tilted in confusion. It heard a pitiful and shaky sound come out of her mouth, but it didn't understand. It knew the sound meant something, but it didn't know what. 

Cauchenoir stepped back, head tilted and focusing on Marinette. Papillanc's brooch beeped, he only had a minute until Nooroo's power wore off. He had to dispel the akuma. Papillanc reached for the energy of the akuma, and tried to release it. He felt it begin to work, but he felt a painful lurch from his ring hand. Cauchenoir recoiled from the pain, growling. If Cauchenoir had its akuma dispelled that way, Chat Blanc's would be dispelled too. 

Before he could even decide if he would let that happen, the brooch's power ran out.