Chapter Text
Adrien hadn't been paying attention. He was too tired from the last akuma attack to pay attention to Chloe's daily drama.
When he first arrived to the school, he'd been shocked by Chloe's mean comments. He'd been his best and only friend for so long, he had never imagined her being any less than nice to everyone else. Now, though, over a year later, he tried to ignore her as much as possible. Most people knew how to handle Chloe, or simply stay out of her way, and for some reason whenever he got involved it all ended up escalating.
Today's chosen victim had been Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Adrien didn't understand Chloe's obsession with messing with the shy quiet girl that sat behind him, but he knew Marinette could take care of herself. She'd run for class president when no one else'd dared, she'd been incredibly brave when an akumized classmate tried to take her on a date and she'd scared the hell out of him when he first arrived. She'd be fine. Or so he thought.
He didn't hear the snide remark, but she heard Alya's shocked gasp as Marinette jumped to her feet. He glanced over his shoulder, just in time for his eyes to meet the girl's. Tears welled in her blue eyes, her face upset and red. She momentarily looked terrified of him. He opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say. Anything. Say anything. A second later, Marinette'd ran out of the classroom, covering her face. Alya followed her.
His heart was beating loudly in his chest, the whole classroom so quiet he was sure he could hear Plagg snoring inside his bag. A familiar instinct to help came over him. He wanted to run after her, make sure she was alright.
He didn't.
He should have.
"Some people are so sensitive," Chloe laughed, rolling her eyes.
The only thing Adrian was able to do was glare at her, which was enough to make her be quiet, but definitely not enough for him. God, he wished he could be Chat Noir all the time, brave enough to stand up to people like that. He wasn't, though. He was Adrien Agreste and he was afraid of losing a life-long friendship for sticking his nose in other people's business. What could he have done about it, anyway? Sorry, Marinette.
Marinette had never come close to imagine what it would feel like, could never understand what kind of darkness inside your chest could take you to embrace someone as terrible as Hawkmoth. A horrible part of her maybe even felt superior, like it was something that could never happen to her. She was Ladybug, after all, a miraculous holder. She was stronger than him.
Except, she wasn't right now. Right now, she was only Marinette, sad and furious and humiliated. She didn't see the dark butterfly attaching itself to her handbag. All she could feel was the anger growing, hatred against Chloe and everything she represented. How could someone be so mean, so cruel, so horrible? The words her classmate had said resonated in her head, louder and darker. All she'd done was trip with her bag.
Watch where you are going you stupid klutz! You might be used to breaking your cheap stuff, but my things have more value than probably your whole house. We all know you are a walking disaster, a time-bomb waiting to happen. You keep ruining everything with your bad luck! Maybe we would all be safer if you weren't around. And that way you would save us from the pathetic sight that's you trying to talk to certain-someone every day.
And then, the gasp, because everyone knew. Was she so obvious? Was she so pathetic? And then Adrien had turned around, and her gut had twisted into a knot. Her darkened thoughts twisted the scene around. She could hear them laughing at her. She could hear him laughing.
"Ah, Marinette, you poor Bad Luck Charm," a calming voice murmured inside her head, it seemed oddly soothing compared to the pain in her chest. "It's time you show them what real bad luck is. Show them what a walking disaster truly looks like, and they will learn to fear you. They won't hurt you anymore. And then you can have Adrien all for yourself."
"Yes," it made sense. In a dark, twisted way... and she liked it. She smiled as the dark cloud covered her.
"All I ask in return is that you deliver the Ladybug and Chat Noir miraculous to me," the voice continued and Marinette was sold on the idea immediately. A smirk appeared on her face.
"Gladly."
The class had been unusually quiet after the incident. Adrien couldn't stop glancing over his shoulder at the two empty sits and back at the door, hoping the two girls would walk in. They didn't. Instead, a few minutes later, he heard Alya scream.
The whole class jumped to their feet, and, used to this kind of strange occurrence by now, the teacher didn't stop them from running out the door. Adrien all but jumped over his desk to reach the scene first. Alya was laying on the floor, several fallen lockers blocking the entrance. She looked scared.
"Alya, what happened?" Nino asked, pushing Adrien out of the way to get to her and help her up.
"I- I was walking in looking for Marinette when the lockers just fell. They almost crush me."
"What about Marinette?" Nino frowned.
A blood curling laugh came from inside the room. "You got lucky this time, Alya. I can assure you, it won't happen again."
A dark figure jumped gracefully, landing on top of the lockers, crouched like a cat. She was cladded in dark leather like clothes, a pair of black ears on top of her hair, a tail behind her and sharp claws on her gloves.
I really need to trademark that look, a part of Adrien thought to himself. The rest of him, though, was busy identifying the girl. Despite the costume, one look was enough to know what'd happened.
"Marinette," he breathed out, looking at the usually sweet girl. The smile she sent his way in return wasn't sweet, though, it was sharp and playful, in a disturbing way.
"Marinette is not home now," she purred. "I'm Bad Luck Charm, and you are looking terribly unlucky today."
Her hand came up to the wall, digging her nails into it. A big crack appeared and traveled up to the ceiling. Adrien followed it and understood what was going on just in time to push Nino and Alya out of the way of the falling lamp.
"Everyone get out of here! Run!" He urged the rest of his classmates, that didn't seem to need much encouraging. He made sure Nino and Alya got safely down the stairs while Bad Luck jumped down to the courtyard. She landed gracefully in the middle and pointed her hand at the main doors right before the students could reach them.
"It's locked!" Chloe screamed. Kim and Ivan tried uselessly to force them open.
Adrien sneaked quickly into the bathroom.
"Uh, kid," the black cat started as soon as he was let out, "there's something that you should maybe-"
"No time! Plagg, transform me!"
The kwami complained, but Adrien was used to it already, and he had no time to lose. Hopefully Ladybug would get here soon. He was unlucky enough on his own, he'd rather not have to face a bad luck akuma alone.