Chapter Text
In that moment, all Chat could think about what that they didn't need to be soulmates for him to know that Marinette was panicking big time.
But they were, and her emotions flowed through their bond like an unstoppable waterfall. First fear, then anger, then frustration, then terror so potent that it made his knees weak. Chat gritted his teeth, his eyes darting across the front of the school. He knew from their bond that she was hiding in one of the first floor classrooms, but she was doing a good job at keeping herself hidden.
'Stay calm, My Lady,' he thought, pushing as much as calm and reassurance across their bond as he could. When that did nothing to help, he took a quick glimpse of the situation through her eyes and tried not to grimace. Okay, yeah, he could see why she was freaking out.
'You think?!' she thought hysterically. 'Chat, what do I do?'
That was a very good question.
One that Chat didn't have an answer to.
"I mean it, Ladybug!" Antielle shouted. Chat grunted quietly as the akuma's grip tightened, squeezing the air out of his body. She was unfairly strong. Then he stilled, not even daring to swallow, as the tip of her spear started to dig into his chin. He felt a sharp bite of pain and then something wet roll down his throat.
There was a tingle of magic in the back of his head and then Ladybug appeared, launching herself out one of the classroom windows and landing on the ground about a dozen feet away. To anyone who didn't know her well, she looked composed. But Chat could see the spark of panic in her eyes.
"Don't even think about calling for a Lucky Charm," Antielle said coldly. "Or I'll kill him right now."
'Let her do it,' Chat thought. 'You can just bring me back with the miraculous cure.'
'Absolutely not,' Ladybug thought back. Her fear was a sour taste on the back of his tongue. She couldn't bear losing him again...
There was no way Ladybug was going to agree to that, and frankly he couldn't blame her. But he wasn't sure that they had the luxury of choice. Right now, Antielle had forced both of his hands flat against his body. If he tried to use Catacylsm, he'd only end up hurting himself anyway. He struggled a little, but Antielle's grip was like iron and with every second she pressed the spear a little harder against his chin. It stung, but it was a pain he could ignore until she went too deep -
And then, in the distance, there was a huge crashing sound.
Antielle startled and her grip loosened a fraction.
Chat seized his chance; he jerked one hand free and yelled, "Cataclysm!" while slamming said hand against Antielle's mask.
The mask dissolved as she shrieked in surprise and let him go.
He stumbled away, belatedly realizing that it hadn't worked: she was still akumatized.
"Venom!" Queen Bee roared, scaring the daylights out of him. Chat barely got out of the way as Queen Bee leapt upon Antielle and stabbed her with the tip of her stinger. Antielle went stiff as a board and toppled over.
For a moment, there was silence.
"God that was satisfying," Queen Bee said breathlessly. "Can I stab everyone who annoys me like this?"
"No," Chat said automatically. "How did you -?" He let the question die as he glanced over at the tree and saw Nino standing there, holding the end of Antielle's yoyo in his hands. Immediately, he realized that Nino must have helped Queen Bee to untangle herself.
"Are you okay?" Ladybug asked, suddenly appearing at Chat's side. "You're bleeding." She reached up to touch his chin.
'I'm fine,' Chat thought, grabbing her hand and kissing it. 'She scared me, but that's about it.'
'She scared me too,' Ladybug thought, and her feelings flooding through the bond were so raw, and then her arms went around him in a gentle hug and Chat was hugging her back as tightly as he could. Over the top of her head, he saw Alya come jogging around the side of the building.
"Did it work?" Alya called out.
"Yup, it worked," Nino said.
"Wait. Was that crashing sound you?" Chat asked in surprise.
Alya grinned at him. "I might have accidentally toppled over one of the cabinets in the cafeteria. You know, the ones pots and pans are kept in?" she asked, her expression pure innocence. "I thought that might be enough to distract Antielle and give both you and - uh, what's her name to escape."
"The name is Queen Bee, and need I remind you all that we are on a time limit?" Queen Bee said. As though to underscore her words, a shrill beep echoed through the air as Chat's miraculous lost a pawprint. Moments later, the Bee miraculous echoed that beep and Queen Bee was down to four stripes.
"Right," Ladybug said, pulling away from Chat. She bent down and unclasped the earrings that Antielle was wearing. Queen Bee walked over to Nino and took Antielle's yoyo. They broke both the earrings and the yoyo simultaneously.
Nothing happened.
"Well, shit," Chat said, staring down at Antielle. She might have been frozen, but there was no escaping that frankly murderous look. If Queen Bee detransformed and the effect of Venom wore off, they were all going to regret it.
"It's fine. There's something else," Ladybug murmured, crouching down to take a closer look. Chat bent over her shoulder, giving Antielle's outfit a critical look. Unfortunately, he didn't usually pay that much attention to Lila. He didn't know that he would have noticed the orange hair tie, hidden underneath the red hair ribbon, but Ladybug did. She untied the red ribbon, pulled the orange hair tie free, and easily tore it in two. An akuma fluttered out and began to fly away, but it didn't get very far before a yoyo snapped out and captured it.
As the miraculous cure washed over him, Chat let out a small sigh of relief as the sharp sting in his chin faded away. He rubbed the unblemished skin and turned to smile at his lady in thanks, but she didn't smile back. She was too busy looking down at Lila.
"What happened?" Lila asked dazedly, slowly pushing herself into a sitting position.
"You were akumatized," Alya said, hurrying over to offer Lila a hand up. But as soon as Lila caught sight of Ladybug and Chat Noir, her expression twisted into an angry sneer and she slapped Alya's hand away.
"I don't need help from people who steal miraculous," she snapped, getting to her feet.
Ladybug and Chat exchanged a look.
"The miraculous weren't stolen. They're back in the hands of their rightful owners," Queen Bee told her.
"Lila, wait. Are you okay?" Alya said.
"Just leave me alone!" Lila yelled at them, before turning on her heel and storming away.
'That is not going to be fun to deal with tomorrow,' Ladybug thought tiredly. 'How did we manage to get someone mad at us in both our civilian and our hero forms?'
'Just lucky, I guess,' Chat thought back, shaking his head. They were going to have to do something about Lila, but what? It wasn't like they could trust her with another miraculous, and she had already proven that she didn't want to be friends. And to be honest, after all the rumors Lila had spread about him and Marinette, he didn't think he wanted to be her friend. Lila Rossi was a brat, and Adrien Agreste already had enough horrible people in his life.
"Wow, she's really upset," Alya said, looking worriedly after Lila. "Should I go after her?"
"Uh, I'd give her some space," Nino said, wrapping an arm around Alya's shoulders. It was hard to tell what he was thinking as he also looked in the direction that Lila had gone. His expression was both thoughtful and solemn at the same time.
Chat's ring beeped again and he realized he was down to two pads now. "I gotta go."
"Me too," said Queen Bee.
"Me three," Ladybug said. She turned to Alya and Nino. "Thanks for your help, guys. Later!" She threw out her yoyo and let it take her away; Queen Bee followed with her stinger, and Chat brought up the rear with his baton.
"Oh, but I wanted a picture for the blog!" Alya cried out in frustration as they left, and Chat had to smile himself.
At least it was good that some things never changed.