Adult-FanFiction.org : Cartoons

Redemption	By : Cat_Eyes Category: +M through R > Miraculous LadyBug Views: 2815 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug. Miraculous Ladybug is the intellectual property of Thomas Astruc and released by Zag studios. No profit was made writing this story.

Chapter List
- 13
- 14
- 15
Marinette was late to school the following morning. She barrelled into class, and promptly tripped over her own feet, sprawling onto the floor with a clatter. Madame Mendeleiev glared, wordlessly, down at her in disapproval.
'Sorry,' Marinette hissed, before scurrying into her seat.
Madame Mendeleiev snorted, then resumed going over her revision questions. After that, the day was uneventful, with one exception.
As a consequence of oversleeping, Marinette forgot all about her promise to babysit, until a shrill voice called up the stairs to her bedroom, 'Marinette!'
She froze, as Adrien turned to her with a questioning look. She smacked her forehead with her palm when Manon charged into her room. 'I forgot I had to babysit today,' she moaned.
'Marinette,' Manon shrieked.
She fixed a smile in place as she turned to face Manon, but, before she could speak, Manon asked, 'what happened to your face?'
Adrien choked on air, while Marinette self-consciously stroked her bruise.
'I fell,' she answered, flatly.
Manon wasn't listening. She had noticed Adrien, and was eyeing him warily. 'Who're you?'
'Manon,' Marinette gasped. 'Manners.'
However, she remained uncowed. She turned back to Marinette and raced over to climb into her lap. 'Are you drawing again? I want to draw, too.'
'No, no, we're not drawing,' Marinette answered, moving her pens and papers beyond Manon's reach. 'We're studying for a test.'
'Drawing?' Adrien asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
Marinette groaned and pouted at him, while Adrien grinned mischievously at her.
'Who are you?' Manon asked, again, frowning up at Adrien.
Marinette cleared her throat. 'Manon, this is my friend, Adrien. He's helping me study. Adrien, this is Manon, Maman's friend's daughter.'
Adrien bowed in his seat. 'It's a pleasure to meet you, Manon.'
'Do you like dolls?' Manon asked, wriggling out of Marinette's hold.
'Dolls?' Adrien asked, taken aback.
Marinette stiffened, feeling the blood drain from her face as Manon ransacked her room. She and Adrien swivelled around in their chairs to keep Manon in sight.
'Dolls,' Manon cheered, triumphantly, holding her prize up when she found them. She trotted back to Marinette and Adrien, her arms full of Marinette's hand-stitched creations. She handed Adrien the Chat Noir, Roger Cop, and the Evillustrator toys. 'You can be the boys,' she told him.
Adrien picked up the Chat Noir doll, inspecting it closely. 'I know these dolls,' he murmured. He looked at Marinette with wide eyes. 'These are your dolls?' he asked, incredulously.
'Marinette made them,' Manon informed him, as she gave Marinette the Lady Wifi doll.
Marinette couldn't look him in the eyes. 'Yeah, I did.' She had to swallow the apology that was trying to force its way up her throat.
Adrien turned back to Manon, who was flying the Ladybug doll around the room with aeroplane noises. 'So, that would mean she was,' he didn't finish the sentence.
Marinette watched Manon as well, the pain in Adrien's face too much to bear.
'You guys are supposed to come get me,' Manon reminded them, impatiently.
Marinette leapt to her feet, holding the Lady Wifi doll high. 'I'm going to defeat you, Ladybug. I'm going to win,' she announced, in a poor imitation of Alya's voice.
After a few minutes, Adrien set aside his lugubrious thoughts, and joined the game, enacting his multiple defeats with exaggerated flamboyance.
Eventually, Manon ran out of energy and fell asleep on the chaise. Marinette sighed with exhaustion, as she slumped back into her chair. Adrien collapsed into the other, his expression unreadable.
'Hey.' Marinette nudged his ankle with her foot. 'Tell me what you're thinking.'
He slowly lifted his head to look at her. 'She doesn't recognise me.'
Marinette shrugged. 'She's six, almost seven. Her attention span is pretty short.'
His lips briefly quirked up at one corner. 'Apart from the people in school, I've never really met anyone who used to be an akuma. She was Puppeteer,' he explained, nodding at Manon.
'I think I remember that day,' Marinette mumbled, incapable of looking directly at him. 'She wanted to keep the Ladybug doll, but the arm had torn off. I gave her Lady Wifi instead. Later, Alya changed back into Lady Wifi right in front of me, but she spoke just like Manon. It was so weird.'
Never before had she wanted to reveal herself as badly as she did in that moment. However, as bad as she felt about lying to him, she held back. She coughed, the confession catching in her throat, as her common sense tried to shove it back down.
Adrien didn't notice her internal struggle. He was staring at the Chat Noir doll as he turned it, over and over, in his hands.
Marinette bit her lip. 'Are you angry at Ladybug, for taking that away from you?' She sweated as she awaited his reply.
'Ladybug didn't take my miraculous.'
She tried to recall previous conversations, sorting out what he had told her, from what she remembered of that night. Her memories blurred together, so she remained silent, waiting for him to continue.
'Ladybug knocked me aside to go after Father. I'd already used my Cataclysm, so my transformation fell just after I landed on the ground. I hid behind a pile of rubble, but an old man found me. He told me I had been a poor choice, and that he was sorry things had worked out that way. Then he told me to give the ring back.'
Marinette was flabbergasted. 'So, you just did it? He could've been anyone.'
Adrien shook his head. 'I saw the proof. He wasn't some random old man. It felt like he'd been waiting for an opportunity to reclaim my ring.' He rubbed his finger, absently.
'Do you blame Ladybug for losing your powers, though?'
He took a long time to answer. 'I do, and I don't. On one hand, it was my own actions which led to my downfall. Ladybug was just doing her job, when she defeated us. On the other hand, some irrational part of me blames her for what happened afterward. She didn't have to make it so public, and I guess I resent her for my losing everything.'
Marinette gulped. 'You once said you'd apologise, if you ever got the chance to speak to her.'
Adrien wouldn't look at her. 'I still would. I'm still sorry events unfolded the way they did. I genuinely believe I would've loved being her partner. But, I'd also like an explanation. Like, why didn't she take the fight away from populated areas? Why take Father's miraculous in front of all those people? Why not conduct any of that in private, so I might still have a life?'
Marinette squeezed her eyes shut. 'You said it yourself, that you needed to be stopped. You've admitted what you did was wrong. Maybe Ladybug could have done it another way, but there was no way your father was going to escape the law.'
'I know. Father had to go to gaol, but I'm selfish. I've mentioned that, more than once.'
She wrung her hands, turning away from him. 'So, you do hate her, then.'
'I don't know how I feel,' he admitted.
They sat in silence, after that. Marinette turned back to her maths text book, forgotten since Manon's arrival, but didn't see any of it. Instead, she doodled in the margins until Nadja came to pick up Manon.
'Good afternoon, Marinette. Did Manon behave herself?' She paused when she saw Adrien looking over Marinette's shoulder, as she hovered, half stooped over to lift Manon up. She stood up straight, Manon cradled against her breast, her face a blank mask. 'I wasn't aware you had company today, Marinette.'
Adrien stared back at her, his face blank, as Marinette sought a reply.
Manon woke up. 'Hi, Mummy.'
Nadja's face softened, immediately. 'Did you have a nice afternoon, Sweetie?'
Manon nodded, a sleepy smile spreading across her face. 'We played with dolls. He makes funny voices,' she pointed at Adrien.
Nadja turned back to Adrien. 'I don't want you playing with my daughter,' she told him, stiffly.
Marinette was about to retort, when Manon spoke.
'Mummy, manners,' she scolded.
Nadja's mouth snapped shut as she looked at Manon in shock.
Manon crossed her arms. 'He was fun. We've never had a boy to do the boy voices before. He even died properly.'
Marinette could see the response to that working its way up Nadja's throat.
'Madame Chamack,' she said, loudly, 'why don't you and Manon continue this conversation at home. I'm sure we all have things to be getting on with.'
'Of course,' Nadja replied. She turned around and left without another word.
'Not even a thank you?' groused Marinette. 'Adults are so rude.'
'Did you really expect anything different, once she saw me here?' Adrien asked, bitterly.
Marinette chewed her lip and turned to face him. 'Ladybug really should have done more to keep it quiet, huh?'
Adrien rubbed his face with one hand, resting his elbow in the crook of his other arm. 'If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride,' he iterated. 'Even if Ladybug had managed to unmask us in private, Father going to court wouldn't have been kept a secret for long. Considering who he is, and why he was in there, our identities would have been revealed anyway. It would've just been a matter of time.'
'But you still resent her,' Marinette uttered.
'A part of me does, simply because people are always looking for someone else to blame, to share the burden of guilt, whether it's deserved or not. It's childish, but I can't help it.'
Marinette had no response for that. She packed up her pens and text book, Adrien following her lead, in complete silence. Her urge to reveal herself had withered and died, leaving a cold heaviness in her chest. It had mutated into guilt, a feeling she had suppressed for too long. She supposed she was long overdue in acknowledging that.
Adrien left, muttering a cursory farewell, as Marinette lay her head in her arms, and wished she still had Tikki to talk to.
- 13
- 14
- 15
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Redemption